The ninth day of the sixth month of the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse, the seventh day of the seventh month of the Western calendar.

With the return of the carrier pigeons, Xu Xiake signed mutual assistance clauses with England, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France, represented by Richelieu, in Paris.

The terms are divided into four parts, including but not limited to low-interest loans, trade in goods, trade in arms and land sales.

The four nations promised to send ships to follow the Ming fleet to the Americas, and to evacuate the 10,327 men of the four nations in the Americas.

However, the materials needed for evacuation during this period needed to be provided by the Ming Dynasty in gold and silver.

Xu Xiake has no opinion on this, after all, it doesn't cost too much, at most tens of thousands of taels.

One million taels have been spent, so I don't care about these tens of thousands of taels......

"Bang-"

"Interrupt the saltpeter trade?!"

On July 12, in the Spanish royal palace, when Felipe IV learned that the Ming Dynasty had signed a treaty of mutual assistance with the four countries, known as the Paris Trade Agreement, he was immediately furious.

He didn't expect that the four countries had snatched away the saltpeter trade belonging to Spain, and now without the three million catties of saltpeter imported by Daming every year, Spain's offensive on the battlefield would soon be collapsed.

The Eastern Front was already in danger, but now once France and other countries receive assistance and launch a counteroffensive, the war will inevitably end in the defeat of the two Haasburg families, the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Empire.

Felipe IV didn't expect Xu Xiake to be so decisive, nor did he expect Daming's message to respond so quickly.

He thought that it would take Da Ming a year to finalize this matter, but he didn't want Da Ming to finalize this matter in only two and a half months.

Thinking of this, Felipe IV stood up anxiously and walked around.

The Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Finance next to him saw his anxious appearance, and after reading the news sent back from the north, they spoke one after another:

"Your Majesty, what we have to do now should be to take the initiative to interview Xu as a special envoy."

"Perhaps we can sell some of our colonies in South America to them to keep our saltpeter trade in order."

"Impossible!" Hearing the words of the two ministers, Felipe IV put his hand on the armrest of his chair, and he exclaimed:

"It is impossible for me to give in to the Great Ming, and the Hasburgh dynasty will never accept threats."

"But Your Majesty......" the Minister of the Interior frowned and stepped forward, but was interrupted by Felipe IV:

"Now all the countries have evacuated the New World, and there are only two countries left in the New World, us and Daming."

"Most of the gold mines in the New World exist in Latin America, which we control, and the contradictions between us and the Ming are irreconcilable."

"What's more, since they have instigated João to rebel in Portugal, they must be ready for war or cold war with us."

"Are you going to try to convince a robber with a sword not to rob you of your gold with your mouth?"

"I will not make any response, tell the administrators of the New World to mine the gold as soon as possible, and order them to hurry up the construction of warships and lift the limit of two thousand five hundred tons!"

Spain has never lacked the technology to build large-tonnage warships, and the reason why they did not build them was because they were once defeated by Britain with small-tonnage clippers.

Now, in the face of the threat of warships from the Ming Dynasty, Felipe IV had no choice but to lift the ban, try to overpower the Ming on the warships, and build enough warships to protect the Spanish shipping routes in the Americas and Europe.

The contradictions between the Ming and Spain are destined to be irreconcilable, unless either of them is willing to give up the New World, but this side can never be Spain!

Felipe's words chilled the hearts of the Home Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and when the news broke, the maritime nations of the European continent understood that Spain had chosen a path of no return.

Soon, the Imperial Shop halted the saltpeter trade with Spain.

With the exception of ordinary goods, there was no military trade with Spain.

At the same time, Huang Fei ordered the delivery of military equipment from the fleet's stockpiles to the port of Marseille.

Artillery, flintlock pistols and arquebuses of all kinds fill the port of Marseille.

Faced with 24,000 flintlock muskets, 12,000 arquebuses, and 600 six-pounder guns, Richelieu chose to allocate them according to the situation.

As the main force on the Eastern Front, Sweden was to receive 10,000 flintlock guns, 2,000 arquebuses and 200 six-pounder guns.

As the main force on the Western Front, France will receive 6,000 flintlock pistols and 150 six-pounder guns.

The Dutch received 6,000 flintlock pistols and 250 six-pounder guns, while the British received the remaining 2,000 flintlock pistols and 10,000 arquebuses.

In this way, one-third of the three million low-interest loans that the Ming Dynasty had aided the four countries had been spent, and the remaining two million low-interest loans had been used to buy saltpeter and sugar.

The 1 million taels of land silver accumulated by the Ming Dynasty to the Netherlands will be exchanged for goods by the imperial store after the Ming Dynasty gets the colonies of the four countries in the United States.

Since the capital of Europe is now pouring into the Netherlands, these goods can be quickly realized, and the one million taels of goods actually paid by the Ming Dynasty is actually less than 300,000 taels.

As long as Zhu Youzhen ordered the imperial store to purchase and transport, Qi would only need to spend 300,000 taels of silver, as well as 30,000 taels of silver for the maintenance of five ships, crew maintenance, and salaries, to fulfill the promise of one million taels to the Netherlands.

Everything was finalized at the end of July, which led to high morale among the Four-Nation Coalition and a low level for Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.

At the beginning of August, with the departure of the Western Fleet, more than 200 ships from the four countries accompanied it to the Americas.

Not surprisingly, they will arrive in the colonies of the Americas in three months to pick up immigrants, and the East Coast will be completely Qi land.

The good news came one after another, and finally they were sorted out by Xu Xiake and finally sent to Daming.

By the time Zhu Youzhen got the content from the carrier pigeon, it was already the twenty-sixth day of the eighth lunar month of the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse.

"The amount of arable land on the east coast of various countries is close to 50,000 acres, and there should be no problem in feeding 20,000 soldiers."

In the carrying hall, Lu Wenzhao reported the information he had obtained from Xu Xiake.

In front of him, Zhu Youzhen was making tea unhurriedly.

Regarding Lu Wenzhao's report, Zhu Youzhen also said after thinking about it:

"On the Qi side, there should be more than 2 million mu of cultivated land by the end of the year, what happened to the labor reform workers in Yingzhou?"

Zhu Youzhen asked, but Lu Wenzhao didn't understand this question, so he looked at Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen, who were sitting not far away dealing with the affairs of the imperial store and officialdom.

"From last year to this month, 260,000 people have been relocated one after another, and there should be 370,000 Yingzhou labor reformers, 60,000 local labor reform workers, and more than 130,000 local people in Qi State."

Cao Huachun raised his head and reported back to the situation of Qi State, and Zhu Youzhen, who heard the words, said:

"Calculated down, that is 430,000 labor reformers and 130,000 local people, plus the six battalions of soldiers and horses of Qi State and the 20,000 soldiers and horses this time, a total of about 600,000 people."

More than 2 million acres of arable land support 600,000 people, plus tens of millions of bison and billions of passenger pigeons in North America...... The situation and life of the people of Qi may be better than that of the people of the Ming Dynasty at present.

Now the east and west coasts of North America and the east coast of South America have been taken by the Qi State, and all Qi has to do is to advance slowly.

At present, the main force of Qi is in North America, and the terrain of North America is very distinctive, with plains in the middle, and the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains at the east and west ends, and the mountains are all running north-south.

The high elevation of the Rocky Mountains just clogs the Pacific airflow tightly.

The Appalachian Mountains are relatively low, and although they can barely keep out the humid air of the Atlantic, they can't stop the hurricanes of the Atlantic.

The two mountain ranges are the two wind-blocking walls of the Qi Kingdom, but these two walls have a fatal flaw, that is, the two mountain ranges are in a north-south direction, and there is a plain between the two mountain ranges.

Although the plains are good, the geographical conditions of North America determine that not only the north does not have decent mountains to block the cold air flow of the Arctic, but there are no mountains in the south up to Central America to block the humid air of the Atlantic.

To put it simply, the terrain of North America is a piercing style house with gaps in the north and south, which is more fatal.

Cold air from the Arctic Ocean can drive south through the central plain of Qi country, and moist air from the tropical Atlantic Ocean can also penetrate deep into the north through the central plain of Central America.

Once the two air currents collide head-on in the central plain, it will bring the extreme climate of ice and fire to the central plain.

Therefore, the climate of the central plains of North America is a bit like a weakened version of the chaotic era of the three-body problem, which is unbearably hot for a while, and cold enough to freeze to death for a while.

It's no better to live on the East Coast, where there are Atlantic hurricanes that make landfall every once in a while, and living on the West Coast is a volcanic seismic zone.

The reason why Zhu Youzhen did not place his administrative office in Jingmen County (San Francisco) was because it was in an earthquake zone, and the place where Xijing City was located happened to avoid the earthquake zone.

In short, in an extremely fickle climate like North America, it is almost impossible for an agrarian civilization to survive there.

The germ of human civilization must be the agrarian civilization, and when the agrarian civilization develops to a certain extent, it can feed a large number of people who do not farm, let them eat and burp and look up at the starry sky, and then they can create writing and culture, and gradually promote scientific and technological progress.

Such a climate and environment, only with the blessing of industrial civilization, can a country gain a foothold in the local area.

In the era of agricultural civilization, the development of agriculture depended on climate and land, while in the era of industrial civilization, the development of agriculture depended on the level of industrialization.

If Qi wants to use the central plains of North America, it must have strong industrial strength.

It's just that with the current industrial strength of Qi with an annual output of less than 3,000 tractors, I am afraid that it will take a hundred years to unify the Americas with its own strength.

A hundred years is too long, there are too many changes, so there must be an external force to help it.

The Ming Dynasty is the best external force in this era, and the population of the Ming Dynasty will also be the biggest hole card that Qi can expel the Spaniards.

The number of tractors in Qi has reached nearly 50,000, and under such circumstances, with only 150,000 people operating them every year, Qi can reclaim nearly one million acres of land.

By the end of this year, the first batch of industrial zones in Qi will be fully operational, and the industrial zones will reach an annual production capacity of 3,000 tractors.

Zhu Youzhen can also make the Ming Dynasty align with the country's industry and population for about five years.

In five years, Qi will have an annual industrial capacity of 100 trains, 200 ships, 6,000 industrial machines, and 20,000 tractors.

In terms of arable land, Qi can reach at least 10 million acres of arable land, and with the rich protein of North American bison, Qi can feed no less than four million people.

Even if all the labor prisoners in Yingzhou are counted, Daming can still feed an additional three million people.

Judging from the news sent back by Kim Hyun, there should be no tens of millions of natives in North America, and the number of natives should be around five or six million.

If Qi wants to assimilate the natives, it must increase the immigrant population.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen felt that the immigration plan seemed to be on the agenda.

According to the current situation that Qi reclaims one million mu of cultivated land every year, but the number of labor reform workers in Yingzhou remains at 300,000, Qi can still accept no more than 100,000 additional immigrants.

"Let the Migration Department include Qi in the immigration selection, and the main immigration location is Jiangnan."

Zhu Youzhen finally spoke after pondering for a long time, and his opening was good news, at least for Lu Wenzhao and the others.

"Your Highness is wise!"

Lu Wenzhao's thoughts were all on Qi Guo, seeing that the time for the establishment of the domain was getting closer and closer, and his Royal Highness had not mentioned the matter of immigration, and the three of them were also extremely panicked.

What they are most worried about is that they will not have time to immigrate later, resulting in the Qi country being full of local natives and Yingzhou labor reformers.

Now that the immigration plan has finally begun, as long as it is vigorously promoted, there must be many people who are willing to immigrate to Qi State.

"Let the people in the Migration Division prepare, and the people in the Cabinet prepare to draw up the strips."

"Yes!"

Zhu Youzhen lowered his eyes and got up to go outside for a walk, Lu Wenzhao and the three of them should go down and send someone to protect Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen walked out of the carrier hall like this, and after he left, Lu Wenzhao also walked in front of Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen.

He looked at the door and made sure that Zhu Youzhen was far away before he said:

"The migration of the Qi Kingdom, you and I have to be careful."

"On the Yanshan faction's side, I will go to Chengde, at the moment most of the officials of the Yanshan faction are gathered in Jiangnan, as long as they nod their heads and help with propaganda, the State Newspaper Bureau, the local yamen, and Huangdian will make efforts, and the number of immigrants will only increase."

"Good!" Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun responded in unison.

They are eunuchs, only by relying on Zhu Youzhen can they keep their glory and wealth, and now that Zhu Youzhen is going to Qi State, then they can only make Qi Country prosperous and let them enjoy it when they are old.

For the development of the Qi country, they have no reason to refuse.

"Then I'll go find Chengde now!" Seeing that the two agreed, Lu Wenzhao immediately walked outside the palace gate.

About half an hour later, Lu Wenzhao came to the neighborhood where the three divisions were located, and entered the Metropolitan Procuratorate after the transmission.

The arrival of Lu Wenzhao, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, made many Yanshan officials in the Metropolitan Procuratorate unable to help but pay attention.

They were thinking about what Lu Wenzhao's purpose was, but without waiting for them to pay attention, Lu Wenzhao went to the Metropolitan Cabinet where Chengde was located.

Chengde called officials at all levels in the Imperial Procuratorate, including himself, a total of twelve people.

However, when Lu Wenzhao walked into the general pavilion, he swept everyone at a glance.

These twelve people, all of whom are Yanshan officials, are obviously the place where the Metropolitan Procuratorate is completely controlled by the Yanshan faction.

"I'm here for ......"

Lu Wenzhao told his intention and Zhu Youzhen's order to immigrate to Qi State.

These made everyone's expressions change, some were nervous, some were angry, and some were happy.

From here, it can be seen that everyone has a different opinion on King Qi's choice.

After Lu Wenzhao finished speaking, Chengde's face was like stopping water:

"The Metropolitan Procuratorate already knows, and the Commander Lu personally passed the message."

"Now that the matter has been passed on, the official will also leave......" Seeing that Chengde did not make the decision directly, Lu Wenzhao also returned the salute, and then turned around and left.

After he left, the door to the door was shut, and a quarrel broke out within the cabinet.

"Since it is for the Qi country, then you and I should cooperate with His Highness to ......"

"Cooperation? Get the Qi State right, and then let His Highness take over the domain? ”

"So what's not? What do you want? ”

"Your Highness can't go!"

"Yes!"

"Not leaving? Why don't you leave? Working with the old-fashioned bugs? Isn't it disgusting? ”

In just a few breaths, the cabinet was fried into a pot of porridge.

Some people are waiting, some are against it, and some are in favor.

To put it bluntly, there are only two choices, let the king of Qi stay, or support the king of Qi to become a vassal.

Supporting the establishment of the king of Qi was ungrateful in the eyes of most Yanshan faction officials.

"Why does Your Highness have to go? Who has settled down in this world? Who laid the territory? Who are you and I raised? ”

"Is it the Cabinet? Is it hooray? Didn't His Highness train us! ”

Zhang Chun, the left deputy envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, shouted, like Li Demao and Zhang Maocai, he was a proper left-behind faction.

In their opinion, even if His Royal Highness King Qi doesn't want to be the emperor, then at least he should stay and lead the government.

Anyway, the emperor doesn't care about state affairs, so what if he lets him supervise the country for the rest of his life?

"Your Royal Highness is for the sake of the Ming Dynasty's vassal system, the quotations of King Qi in the third volume of "Yanshan Politics", has Zhang Zuo's deputy envoy forgotten?"

"I went to North Asia for the sake of the Qi Kingdom, but also for the Ming Dynasty's clan system!"

The person who refuted was Sun Zhaokui, the right deputy capital of Yushi, who was a faction that supported the establishment of the king of Qi, but there were not many people in his camp.

"For the sake of Da Ming? If it's for the sake of Daming, you should stay! ”

Zhang Chun's words were full of disdain for Zhu Youxiao's father and son, and it seemed that in his opinion, Zhu Youxiao's father and son were "faint kings".

He was too lazy to waste his tongue with Sun Zhaokui, and directly addressed Cheng De, who was sitting at the top:

"Chengdu Yushi, how to do this thing, please have an idea!"

Zhang Chun knew that Cheng De was Zhu Ciran's teacher, but he also knew that Cheng De's heart was in the Qi Palace, so he wanted to know what his choice was.

Facing Zhang Chun's questioning, Chengde frowned slightly, and then spoke:

"Your Highness has made a decision, you and I can't stop it."

"If you want to prevent the people from immigrating to Qi country, this is not something you and I can stop."

"You and I both want His Highness to stay in Daming, instead of going to Qi to become a vassal in the Qi Kingdom, but this does not need to curb the migration of the Qi Kingdom."

"The Qi country has immigrants only good for the Ming Dynasty, there is no harm, and it is also good for His Highness."

"No matter where His Highness sits, the immigration to the Qi country will be carried out."

Chengde Che said back and forth, which made Zhang Chun frown.

"We will not block or support the migration, let's wait and see His Highness's attitude first."

Chengde knew that this matter had to be decided, and in the end he made a neutral attitude.

This made Zhang Chun dissatisfied, but at least Chengde showed his attitude, he supported King Qi in the Ming Dynasty.

"In that case, then don't talk about it anymore, just wait and see!"

Zhang Chun got up, and even the other nine officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate also got up.

They left the general cabinet, and when Sun Zhaokui saw this, he and another official also returned the salute to Chengde, and then left the general cabinet.

After they left, Chengde also got up and went to the side hall of the general cabinet to continue to deal with the tedious official business.

As for Lu Wenzhao, after leaving, he went to the National Newspaper Station and the Migration Division, but fortunately, the National Newspaper Station and the Migration Department were conservative factions and fought against the Yanshan faction.

In order to send off the king of Qi, the conservative parties have exerted their strength.

The National Newspaper will publish the recruitment of immigrants in Qi in the next issue of Daming Daily, and the Migration Department will add a site in Jiangnan.

When all the yamen were ready, the news reached the East Palace.

It was Lu Yuangao who brought the news, and Zhu Ciran, who heard the news, was dealing with the music at that time.

Hearing the news that Qi Guo began to recruit immigrants, he was stunned for a moment, and then his head was complicated: "Got it......"

"Xiaguan retires ......" Seeing Zhu Ciran's appearance, Lu Yuangao withdrew from Chunhe Palace.

Zhu Ciran looked at his back as he exited, silently lowered his head and continued to deal with the music, but the irritability in his heart could not fade.

After a long time, when the footsteps sounded again, a man who walked in was a Wenchen who was thirty-six or seventeen years old, dressed in the regular uniform of a six-rank official.

Zhu Ciran raised his head and smiled when he saw this person: "Zhong Xuan, you are here." ”

"Xiaguan Zhan Shifu Right Division Naolang blocked Yinxi, see Your Highness, Your Highness Chitose ......"

Du Yinxi has a delicate face and a sparse beard, if you only look at his face, it is difficult to associate him with loyal ministers, because his appearance is a typical thin look.

However, after Zhu Ciran got along with Du Yinxi, he found out that Du Yinxi was loyal and patriotic, and he was also honest and fair.

Perhaps it was precisely because of his character that his uncle would let him serve as the right secretary Naoro, in charge of the picketing and impeachment matters of the Zhan Mansion.

"Flat." Zhu Ciran raised his arm and motioned for Du Yinxi to get up.

Seeing this, Du Yinxi also got up slowly, and said: "The lower official heard about the recruitment of immigrants by the Qi State, so he specially came to warn His Highness. ”

"Warning?" Du Yinxi's words made Zhu Ciran frown, and Du Yinxi also nodded and continued:

"King Qi's move may make many officials dissatisfied, and Jiangnan may have troubles."

"Your Highness should remind you that long live is ......"

"Hmm......" Zhu Ciran bowed slightly, but after a moment he shook his head again and said:

"No need, if the matter will involve my father, then Uncle Qi will probably have made arrangements a long time ago."

"This ......" Du Yinxi didn't know what to say about Zhu Ciran, so he could only change his statement:

"King Qi arranged it as a brother, and His Royal Highness should also remind him as the eldest son, this is not a conflict."

"Hmm...... That's just as well. Zhu Ciran happily accepted this statement and responded: "Then you will write it on your behalf." ”

Seeing Zhu Ciran's response, Du Yinxi breathed a sigh of relief, and then withdrew from Chunhe Palace.

After he left, Zhu Ciran rubbed his eyebrows:

"What an eventful time......"