"Hurry up, please!"

As soon as Li Zhongshan heard that it was Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua who came, while instructing Zhou Chang to greet him, he stood up and walked out from behind the desk to the door of his capital room, and was about to go out to the courtyard to greet him, when the two distinguished guests had already come together.

So Li Zhongshan hurriedly handed over to the two: "Yiwang, Fufu, the two of you are distinguished guests, why don't you ask someone to come and inform them first?" It's going to be a bad time now. ”

Chen Yonghua actually often comes to the General's Mansion to visit the door, and Li Zhongshan is relatively casual, but Zheng Jing was in Fujian a while ago, and he just came to Nanjing yesterday, so he is a real rare guest. Hearing Li Zhongshan's polite words, he immediately smiled and returned the salute: "The general is polite, although the title of this king is the same as that of the general, but when it comes to official positions, after all, he is a subordinate of the general. ”

"Urgent business?" Li Zhongshan was also stunned.

Although he may have disagreements with Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua on the issue of restricting the merger, this matter has not yet been brought to the table, and he will not go into battle shirtless at the beginning to personally introduce the bill to curb the merger, but arrange for Li Laishun to take the lead. First, let Li Laishun lead a group of "camps to discuss politics" to put forward a radical proposal, and Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, and Lu Sanhao and their people first quarreled in the parliamentary meeting for a while, and finally he came forward to arbitrate and put forward a plan that most people could reluctantly accept.

But these arrangements are still on the way, how did Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua know? Could it be that Li Laishun revealed the news? This is a little fox, too!

Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan hurriedly raised his hand and pointed to the capital room where he worked, and politely invited Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua in.

When Li Yat-sen, Zheng Jing, and Chen Yonghua were all seated, and the servants of the General's Mansion served them tea, Chen Yonghua opened his mouth to explain Li Zhongshan's confusion: "General, this urgent business is related to Geng Jingzhong!" ”

"Geng Jingzhong?" Li Zhongshan was stunned again, "Found him?" Where did he slip away this time? Isn't it going to be Japan again? ”

Geng Jingzhong's trip to the Ryukyus was already heard by the Jinyi Guard, who was led by the General's Mansion. However, Li Yat-sen did not send troops to Ryukyu to arrest him, but left him to fend for himself in Ryukyu. But a few months ago, Jin Yiwei reported that Geng Jingzhong's people ran again, but not all of them, only some of them, and Geng Jingzhong himself was among them. Now the ruler of the Ryukyus side has become Geng Jingzhong's henchman Xu Wenhuan.

However, Li Zhongshan didn't expect Geng Jingzhong to run across the Pacific Ocean to Mexico, and he thought that Geng Jingzhong would go to Japan to do evil, so he didn't take it seriously.

"It's not Japan!" Zheng Jing shook his head, his face was incredible, "This Geng Jingzhong actually set up a bureau on Ryukyu Island, robbed the galleons of the Spaniards, and transported two or three thousand elites across the ocean to the New World!" ”

"What?" Li Zhongshan was really a little surprised at this time, "He went to the New World?" Did you make it there? ”

Zheng Jing shook his head, frowned tightly and said, "It's not very clear, but the possibility of successfully reaching and capturing the port of Acapulco is still very high!" And, moreover"

In fact, Geng Jingzhong did not succeed, Zheng Jing is clear! Because Feng Xifan had already taken the King Louis and the King Edward III of France, two English Galen ships built in the air, under the command of the Spanish galleon, Juan . Under the guidance of López (the chart must have also been seen), he returned to the western Pacific Ocean by the northeast trade winds, and arrived at Quanzhou Mansion, where Zheng Jing was located, half a month ago. Geng Jingzhong's crazy act of declaring war on the Spanish monarchy in the New World to carry out the republican revolution in the New World was all told to Zheng Jing in 1510!

In addition, Feng Xifan also told Zheng Jing that Geng Jingzhong promoted the republican revolution in the city of Acaprico in New Spain in the name of the general of the Ming Dynasty!

What's even more exaggerated is that this Geng Jingzhong did not run away quickly after he went crazy, but established a base in the port of Acapulco!

Originally, Zheng Jing chose the territory for Geng Jingzhong to be very good, not to mention that it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was farther away from Mexico City than Acapulco, and it was difficult for the Spaniards to send a large army to recruit them.

Geng Jingzhong still had a good chance of standing there, but now he was on the Spaniards' gateway to the Pacific. Although Acapulco is also hundreds of miles from Mexico City, it is a large port and must be well connected to Mexico City by road.

Geng Jing stayed there loyally, the odds of winning were really not enough!

The most speechless thing is that Geng Jingzhong also wants Zheng Jing to send more silk, porcelain, and tea to the port of Acapulco in the spring of next year. This guy is also going to do business with Spanish merchants in the city of Acapulco!

After listening to what Feng Xifan said, Zheng Jing was also blinded. This Geng Jingzhong is promoting the republican revolution and opposing the Spanish monarchy, what kind of business is this? Just wait to be defeated by the "Crusaders" of the Spanish Empire!

Moreover, Geng Jingzhong still exported the republican revolution to New Spain in the name of the general of the Ming Dynasty!

This. I don't know if it will lead to a war between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Dynasty!

And this Spain still has a large number of allies in Europe, all of them are "kingdoms", you don't have to think about it, you know, they must all be anti-republican!

If they all join Spain on the side of opposing the Ming, then there will be a worldwide anti-Ming alliance

Zheng Jing knew that the two "teeth" of Spain and Portugal had planned to conquer the Ming Dynasty as early as the Wanli period, and later because Portugal was "retained" by Spain, and the Spanish Armada was beaten down by England, so he had to give up.

But this time, Geng Jingzhong made too much trouble in the New World, and he was too good at pulling hatred!

Zheng Jing, who knew that his "human spirit" had encountered a "nerve" and was about to break into a catastrophe, hurriedly changed into a fast horse and came to Nanjing - he wanted Li Yat-sen to clean up the situation with him and prevent the situation from deteriorating to the point of being out of control.

Li Zhongshan is actually quite fine, he indulged Geng Jingzhong before because he wanted Geng Jingzhong to provoke the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan and explore the reality of this closed samurai country. So that when Japan is invaded in the future, it can be well understood.

As a result, this Geng Jingzhong was pushed to the New World, and in the entire East Asia, there seems to be only Zheng Jing who has such a great ability!

Although Li Zhongshan had already guessed that Zheng Jing was doing evil, he didn't blame this Zheng Yiwang in his heart, but looked at him - he could think of using Geng Jingzhong to test the reality of New Spain, this Zheng Yiwang's progress is still quite fast! Yes, yes, Daming needs such a political king!

This European Age of Discovery, mainly did not rely on the governments of the world to promote it, but relied on all kinds of people to go to sea together to make zero-yuan purchases, and finally turned most of the world into white-skinned territory.

Therefore, Zheng Jing's behavior should not only not be strictly stopped, but should also be encouraged and promoted!

"What's the big deal?" Li Zhongshan looked at Zheng Jing and laughed, "Isn't it a Spain?" The native population is only a few million, but it dominates the territory of the boss of the New World, killing at least tens of millions of people in the process of robbing the New World, and now forcing the natives of the New World to dig gold and silver for them, and every year there are 108,000 people who die of exhaustion, and what is even more hateful is that the Spaniards actually wanted to use 20,000 people to kill our China during the Wanli period, which is really a great crime, and it is not enough to raise the power of the Ming Dynasty! It's just that Spain is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, and it is really difficult for my Ming soldiers to reach it. If the Spaniards were really willing to send 20,000 or 30,000 people to their deaths tens of thousands of miles away, the king would not mind sending them all together to see their Heavenly Father! ”

Li Zhongshan's words also greatly surprised Zheng Jing's expectations. Although he knew that the general Li was very disgusted with the Spanish, Portuguese and Roman Catholic Churches, his disgust seemed to be in terms of spirit and mouth, except for the defeat of Macao, which was actually controlled by Portugal, and the prohibition of the spread of Catholicism in the jurisdiction of the General's Palace, he did not take any other hostile measures.

Not only were Spanish and Portuguese merchants allowed to trade in the open port provinces of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Songjiang, Yangzhou and Yingtian, just like merchants from other countries, but also Spanish and Portuguese consuls were allowed to reside in Macao, Quanzhou and Ningbo to deal with commercial issues. The consuls of these two countries were also allowed to enter Nanjing for diplomatic activities like envoys and consuls of other countries.

But looking at Li Yat-sen's attitude now, it seems that he doesn't mind going to war with Spain, and this attitude has changed a little quickly!

Thinking of this, Zheng Jing, who was not sure what Li Yat-sen's way was, hurriedly gave Chen Yonghua a look.

Chen Yonghua also just officially knew that Zheng Jing was pushing Geng Jingzhong to go to the New World to die behind his back. Now that Zheng Jing greeted him, he now has no choice but to help his old superiors.

"General, if the Spaniards go to the coast of our Ming Dynasty, with the general's tiger power and the good fighting of the model army, not to mention 20,000 or 30,000 people, even if it is several times more, it can be annihilated in one go." Chen Yonghua said, "Now I am afraid that the Spaniards will not go ashore, but use their invincible fleet to unite with England, France, the Netherlands and other countries to deal with our Ming Dynasty at sea." Compared to them, our Ming sailors are still a little weaker. ”

Li Zhongshan had already understood, it turned out that Zheng Jing was afraid that the Spaniards would unite with Portugal, the Netherlands, England, France, and other Western maritime powers, and fight his local tyrants at sea.

Although Zheng Jing's fleet is extremely large, it can already be compared to the navies of the Netherlands, England and other countries. However, the main forces of Zheng Jing's fleet were the big bird ships and the old lock ships, which were undoubtedly qualified as armed merchant ships, but it would be too much to let them fight naval battles with the sail battleships of the serious navy of the Western powers.

In addition, Zheng Jing has also been engaged in Western-style soft sailing ships in recent years, but it is just starting now, and the number is not worth mentioning, and it has only reached the level of armed merchant ships. It's still too early to build a sail battleship!

"Wing King, Chen Zuocheng, have you heard? Recently, King Zhong and a group of Hubei councilors wanted to push the "Land Restriction Order" and the "Juntian Law". What do you guys think? Li Yat-sen suddenly changed his words and talked about the two decrees promoted by Li Laishun aimed at "equalizing the rich and the poor and suppressing mergers".

Of course, Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua are not in favor of "equalizing the rich and the poor, and suppressing mergers", because they are both rich, and Zheng Jing is still the richest man - the tonnage of his family's shipping fleet is "great power navy class", although it is a little less than the Dutch East India Company, but the profitability of his family's ships in the coastal waters of East Asia is super strong. Bird boats and old lock boats use fewer personnel, and the efficiency of using coastal wind is high, while the risk of near-shore navigation is low, and the success rate of voyages is extremely high. This makes the soft sailing ships of the Westerners simply unable to compete with the Zheng family's bird boats and old lock boats, and they do not dare to start a war with Zheng Jing. This means a war with the Ming Dynasty!

If you start a war with Daming, how can you make money?

Therefore, the policy of the Dutch in recent years has been to retreat to Java and Malacca to receive goods, and basically give up competition with the Zheng family and other Chinese merchant ships off the coast of China, Annam, and Korea.

And Zheng Jing, who has made a lot of money, and his subordinates, of course, want to invest the spare money in their hands in the cooked land in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

If the "Land Restriction Order" and the "Juntian Law" were passed by the Parliamentary Assembly, and then approved by the General's Mansion and Shangshu Province, and finally added a jade seal to Zhu Cijiong, then it would be difficult for them to buy land on a large scale in the future. Even the land they bought before would be hit by the Land Restriction Order and would have to be sold.

But compared to the benefits that the Zheng Ching Group gained in maritime trade, and the benefits they were able to gain in Luzon, the losses that could be caused by the Land Restriction Order were not worth mentioning.

"If you limit the field, you can limit the field." Zheng Jing gave in, "But this Juntian. You'll have to think about it! ”

Chen Yonghua also nodded and said: "That is, if Tian Jun is given to the generals of the National People's Army, then the Yiwang and the lower officials are all in favor, and Lu Youcheng will definitely approve of it." But according to the uniform law of the Zhongwang Mansion, it is too much. ”

The method of Juntian of the Zhongwang Mansion is to divide the rest of the land equally after ensuring the share of the countrymen's soldiers and generals!

Although Li Laishun did not have any of his subordinate councilors to put forward the "Juntian Law" in full accordance with the standards of the five prefectures in eastern Hubei Province, the Juntian method they were about to put forward was still very strict, of course, and this was not necessary to be passed. Because this draft of the "Juntian Law" was originally instructed by Li Yat-sen to Li Laishun to put forward it to scare people.

According to Li Yat-sen's thoughts, as long as the "Land Restriction Order" can be passed, the "Juntian Law" can first "hang" and scare the big landlords in various places, so that they can invest less money in land and more money to develop industry and commerce. If you really want to buy land. The world is big!

"Let's study the Juntian Law slowly!" Li Zhongshan said: "Fufu, we must also get a good grasp of the establishment of water and land tax customs in the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, as well as on the Yangtze River waterway. In addition, the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division has always been directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households, and now that you are in charge of the Ministry of Households, can you be more careful?

Now that the imperial court is in high debt, and Jin Fu's plan to dig a new channel of the Yellow River has been completed, construction will start next year, which is a great project related to tens of millions of lives in Huainan and Huaibei, and it must be done as soon as possible! ”

As far as Li Zhongshan is concerned, the real problem now is not how to deal with foreigners, but how to solve financial difficulties. I fought for several years before, and I was supported by debt, but I owed debts. Always have to pay it back!

After all, the Zhongshan Silver Horn (formerly the Guangdong Customs Silver Horn) controlled by Li Zhongshan himself, the UBS Tang Silver Horn jointly controlled by Chen Yonghua and Lu Sanhao, and the Nanyang Tang Silver Horn jointly controlled by Zheng Jing were the biggest creditors of the Ming Dynasty!

At present, Li Yat-sen could not take many ways to increase fiscal revenue, and the only way he could think of it at present was to be more careful about the salt tax, and at the same time set up tax collection points in the four rich coastal provinces and the Yangtze River waterway to collect tolls - this kind of tolls are a bit like the centigold that appeared in the Taiping War in history. Although cents are not conducive to the circulation of goods, it is true that it is easier to receive money.

However, Li Zhongshan's heart was not as dark as that of the Qing court, and he only planned to set up water and land tax customs in the four coastal provinces, and the tax density did not need to be too large, and it was best to avoid double collection. It's good to collect five or six million a year. Combined with the increase in revenue from the strict salt tax, there may be seven or eight million.

However, these two increases in income are also indispensable to the support of Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, Lu Sanhao and Liu Jinzhong, and the attitude of Zheng and Chen is the key.

"Wrapped up in Chen!" Chen Yonghua and Zheng Jing looked at each other and patted their chests.

After getting a satisfactory answer, Li Zhongshan also had to come up with a "solution to the Geng Jingzhong incident", he said with a smile: "Yiwang, Fufu, you help me to do things well, of course I will also settle things for you!" Isn't it just a few Western powers that are rampant and domineering on the ocean? Nothing is difficult to deal with. As long as we don't let the Netherlands, Spain, and England unite to deal with the Ming, the rest will be easy to handle. ”

"General," Zheng Jing said with a smile, "what kind of tricks do you have, can you tell me about it, so that I can have peace of mind." ”

Li Yat-sen said with a smile: "Let's talk about it, the first thing is to hold the Netherlands, the Dutch East India Company controls the main sea routes to Europe, as long as they continue to do business with us and do not rob us in the South Seas, it will not be a big problem." ”

"General, this Dutch is a profiteer, and they are not very easy to woo!" Zheng Jing reminded.

Zheng Jing had a bad relationship with the Dutch East India Company, and these profiteers saw that the Zheng family was rectified by the Spaniards, and they still had to fall into the ground?

"I have a way!" Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "Wing King, don't worry!" ”

He paused, and suddenly lowered his tone: "The second is to hit Spain hard!" Since you have already torn your face with Spain, there is no need to keep your hands, you must beat it hard, so that the Spaniards will never dare to peep at Daming! And we have to cut off the thieves that the Spaniards stretched out to the side of the Ming Dynasty, and greatly expand our influence in the New World! ”

When Zheng Jing heard this, his heart sank: It's bad, with such a method, maybe Spain can really create a worldwide anti-Ming alliance!

(End of chapter)