Nanjing, General's Mansion.

In a study next to Li Yat-sen's capital hall, the two sat opposite each other. Now Baptiste Jr., Major General Kotangin, and Leibniz have all left the General's Mansion accompanied by Li Zhongzheng, Yu Qilin, and Luo Wenzao, and went to the Mochou State Guesthouse on the north shore of Mochou Lake to rest.

Father Sival first handed over a letter from Fuquan for Li Yat-sen's eyes. At this time, Li Zhongshan had already finished reading this long letter with four pages, and fell into a long silence.

After a long while, Li Zhongshan gently put the letter paper in his hand on the desk, frowned slightly, and said slowly: "Up to now, King Yu still refuses to give up, but he took back 10 million taels of silver from Yang Qilong, can he really rely on this silver to turn around?" I'm afraid there are some things that can't be solved with money, right? ”

Li Zhongshan's words are a bit cloudy, but he is actually covering for Fuquan. Although he didn't know what the situation was like in Europe? But there are two points that he believes 100%, first, Kangxi must have deliberately let Fuquan go! Second, Fuquan has no chance to turn the tables at all, otherwise Kangxi will not hesitate to solve Fuquan even if he has to bear a big infamy!

But Li Zhongshan wasn't sure if the Sofian princess knew about it? Looking at the description of "The Legend of Deer and Ding", this princess doesn't seem to be very smart, she won't be deceived by Fuquan, right? So General Li had to be kind enough to cover up for Uncle Fu.

And then Father Sival's words surprised Li Yat-sen.

"Rest assured, General, King Yu has the full support of not only the Tsar and Princess Sofia, but also the King of France, Louis XIV. Before I left France, Louis XIV had sent a military advisory group led by Count Humière to accompany King Yu and Princess Sofia back to Rakshasa to recruit troops, and Louis XIV lent King Yu 1,200,000 taels of silver as the starting capital for his army. ”

"What? Louis XIV lent Yuwang 1.2 million taels of silver? Li Yat-sen was really surprised by Fuquan's "good luck".

Princess Sofia may not be very smart, but Louis XIV is definitely the scum of the human spirits! How could he easily take out 1.2 million taels of silver to help Fuquan recruit troops?

"Wait," Li Yat-sen found something wrong again, "how many soldiers does King Yu plan to recruit?" ”

1.2 million taels of silver is a huge amount of money!

And the economy of the Mao Xiong family is very bad these days, so much silver will definitely be able to smash out a lot of troops!

"The first phase plans to raise 30,000 yuan!" "All French equipment, French training, and French tactics!" ”

30,000 new army of magic weapons woolly bears?

Li Zhongshan took a breath and said in his heart: Who is this dealing with? Deal with Kang Mazi or the big man?

To be honest, if Kangxi in history met the 30,000 magic weapons Mao Xiong Army, I am afraid it would not be good. But now Kang Mazi should not be afraid of 30,000 magic weapons woolly bears, and his army also uses training and tactics similar to the European-style army, because of cavity bullets, the infantry firepower is probably much stronger than the French woolly bear army!

And Kangxi is now squinting in the Taiping Valley, with a sense of preparing to develop Central Asia and take root in Central Asia. It is estimated that the attack on the Siberian Khanate is one thing, and it will not really go to the ice and snow to get frozen.

So if Fuquan wants to fight Kangxi, then he has to go on an expedition to Taiping Valley! And Kangxi Khan Wu Xuanye can still find his eldest brother Wu Shicong to save his life, can he beat 30,000 magic weapon woolly bears?

In addition, Fuquan relied on Mao Xiong's wife and Mao Xiong's reinforcements to fight back to the Qing Dynasty, which was impossible to get the support of the Eight Banners and Green Battalion soldiers of the Great Qing Dynasty. Even Yang Xiaomi will not support him, where is he "Wu Fuquan", it is clearly the second "Wu Sangui" who lured the bear into the house and recognized the thief as his wife!

However, Louis XIV could not have known this truth, but he was still willing to invest in Fuquan. Could it be that Louis XIV and Fuquan reached some secret agreement, and Fuquan recruited and trained woolly bear soldiers in the name of anti-Kangxi, and then took advantage of the illness and death of Peter the Great's short-lived brother to launch a coup d'état and support Sofi Adam Rakshasa regent queen?

Well, it did look like Louis XIV did!

While he was pondering there, Xivar spoke again: "General, King Yu is worried that Grandpa Yang will not hand over the 10 million taels, so he asked me to come to you for help. I guess that's no harm to the general, right? ”

"Of course, of course it doesn't hurt." Li Zhongshan thought for a moment and asked, "What is the condition of that Royal Sun?" Will you be able to sail recently? ”

"Of course you can!" "Don't look at the fact that the ship is almost 10 years old, but it's very well maintained, and it's as good as new inside and out!" ”

"Good!" Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "I happen to meet with Yang Qilong in Japan next month, so I will take this Royal Sun!" You just follow me, let's go and Yang Qilong together. As for the 10 million silver, it's on me! ”

Li Zhongshan and Li Fuchen's palace in Mochou Lake has now been renovated. Around Mochou Lake, from the original only one palace, has been rebuilt into a building complex around the lake composed of two palaces and a state guesthouse.

Among them, Li Yat-sen's British Palace, located on the west side of Mochou Lake, Li Fuchen's Nanwang Mansion is located on the south side of Mochou Lake, and the State Guesthouse, which belongs to the Yamen of the Nanyang Minister, is located on the north side of Mochou Lake. To the east of Mochou Lake are the Qinhuai River and the city wall of Nanjing.

In addition, on the edge of the British Palace, and between the Mochou Lake State Guesthouse, there is a newly opened Mochou Lake Primary School, which was sponsored by Li Yat-sen with his own money, which is almost the Tiandihui Children's School, including Li Yat-sen's own sons Li Xiuqing and Li Xiuquan, and two daughters, who are now going to school there - this primary school is the first key public primary school in the entire Ming Dynasty, and the two palaces of Mochou Lake are proper "school district houses"!

Because of the "School District Palace", Li Zhongshan does not live in the General's Mansion now, he goes home after work, and he doesn't go out to fool around, so he is in his own palace with Wu Xiaosuo, Wu Xiaogang, Yang Xiaohuan, and Xiuqing, Xiuquan, Xiucheng, Xiuzhong's four sons, and five daughters, a family is happy, this is probably the joy of family!

He is only in his early thirties, and the house he lives in is a school district mansion or a lake-view house! And there are three wives, not only beautiful, but also have a background, Xiao Su and Xiao Jiang are all princesses of the Great Zhou, Xiao Su also has the title of the lord of Daming, Yang Xiaohuan is not bad, she is a dignified British lady - this "Mrs. Guo" is not because she is Li Zhongshan, the concubine of the British king, because her brother was named the Duke of Sui, and her sister Yang Ziyun is Emperor Zhu's favorite Yang Guifei, so it was sealed. As for the children, there are already nine successful people!

Now, Li Da Chenggong sat in his four-wheeled carriage, escorted by a team of cavalry of the Shanzi Battalion, and when he returned to the British Palace, as soon as he got out of the carriage, he saw that there was a big carriage exactly like his four-wheeled carriage parked in the front yard of his palace, and the carriage still had the sign of Yiwangfu hanging on it - this is Zheng Jing's cart!

This Zheng Jing is very good in the Republic of the Ming Dynasty, not only the number one big capitalist in the Ming Dynasty, but also the leader of the "Yanping Guoshi Department", which is second only to the "Eighteen Sons of the Kingdom of the People" in the Ming Dynasty.

The so-called "Eighteen Sons of the Guoren Faction", also known as the "Guoren faction", is a political faction headed by Li Zhongshan, Li Fuchen, and Li Laishun, three princes surnamed Li, plus the political faction in the Heaven and Earth Society that advocates the protection of the interests of the people. They represent the people and soldiers who fought hard with a knife and a gun, and advocated the division of land, the suppression of annexation, and the popularization of education. First of all, it is necessary to make compulsory education available to all children of the country.

The "Yanping Guoshi faction", also known as the "Guoshi faction", is a faction formed by Zheng Jing, the former king of Yanping, Chen Yonghua, the advisor of the Yanping Palace, and Chen Yonghua, the counselor of the Yanping Palace, plus a group of Yanping's old ministry and a group of politicians representing the interests of big businessmen. Of course, he advocates relaxing the policy of suppressing mergers and acquisitions, reducing taxes on industry and commerce, especially the "toll tax" (similar to centijin), and does not want to engage in compulsory education, and advocates encouraging private schools run by the private sector.

In short, these two factions are quite powerful, and there are also conflicts in the policies they advocate, but both Li Zhongshan and Zheng Jing deliberately control the contradictions of the people below, avoid the intensification of contradictions, and maintain cooperative relations.

Of course, for the time being, the Guoshi faction representing the interests of the bourgeoisie cannot fight the Guoren faction with the entire Ming Army standing behind it. Even if it is the navy, there are many people from a bitter background, so it is not like the army and navy dog-eat-dog dogs in the small days of later generations.

Therefore, the Guoren faction has a clear upper hand, and the Guoshi faction is, to a certain extent, a branch of the Guoren faction. They did not have their own party, and the main members of the Guoshi faction were also members of the Heaven and Earth Society.

And Zheng Jing did not have the intention of competing with Li Yat-sen for the position of general Lu Shangshushi, and the relationship between him and Li Yat-sen has always been good - there are contradictions between factions, which does not mean that their personal relations are not good, and the contradictions between the two sides have not reached the point where they have to be separated.

Li Zhongshan also did not divide the land of the Zheng family, and confiscated taxes so that Zheng Jing's business could not continue, and the "Acre Republic City-State" created by Zheng Jing provoked imperialism, and General Li was willing to help him deal with the aftermath. Even when the Nanyang Trading Company was about to encounter business difficulties, he actively helped him find a way out, but Zheng Jing resigned as governor of Fujian (succeeded by his henchman Hong Lei), and he himself came to Nanjing to serve as a leader.

"Brother Shikai, how did you talk to the French? This South Seas Trade"

Today, Zheng Jing went all the way to Li Yat-sen's British Palace, of course, to inquire about first-hand information. However, he came early, and Li Zhongshan had not yet arrived home, so Li Fuchen, who came from the South Wangfu next door, drank tea and chatted with him in the side hall of the palace. At this time, he saw that Li Zhongshan had returned, so he hurriedly went out to greet him, and after meeting Li Yat-sen, he followed suit. But before he finished speaking, he remembered that Li Yat-sen's father was also in the British Prince's Mansion today.

Li Fuchen came to Nanjing to be the director of military studies, and this position was in charge of military education (both the military academies of the army and the navy were in charge). His position in the Ming Army is second only to the general, and he is the same as the director of the navy, the director of the horse army, the director of the infantry army, the director of artillery, the director of engineering, the director of military industry, and the director of logistics. It's not weighty, but it's definitely high.

And Li Yat-sen's purpose in setting up these eight directors is, of course, to unify the military order and military government, and to arrange for him the top military leaders such as Li Fuchen, Li Laishun, Liu Jinzhong, and Wu Guogui, as well as the military leaders who are inferior to them, but also have to be well supplied.

Of course, Li Fuchen will not come out to greet him. He's a father! Knowing that his son was coming, he sat in the house with a golden sword, waiting for his son to come and salute him.

After saluting Li Fuchen, Li Yat-sen and Zheng Jing sat down as guests, and at this time, a servant came over with a cup of tea, Li Yat-sen took a sip, and then said to Zheng Jing with a smile: "Yiwang, it's a good conversation!" ”

"Can the South Seas trade continue?" Zheng Jing hurriedly asked.

The news that the Netherlands, Spain, England, and Portugal were going to jointly impose a trade blockade on the Ming Dynasty came together with the French fleet visiting China, and the original Spaniards and Dutch might have been going to implement the blockade, and as a result, they saw the Royal Sun of France. The lockdown can only be postponed.

Now the Spanish Armada has not yet reached the South Seas, so the Royal Sun is an existence that must not be messed with!

It can even be said that the armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, the Portuguese East India Company, and the Spanish Philippine Governor's Office together, no matter how many, cannot defeat the Royal Sun, a first-class sail battleship - not that they will all be sunk, but that they can't catch up with the group fight, and they can't be beaten alone, and they can't be stopped.

After all, armed merchant ships are still not comparable to the most powerful first-class battleships in the world.

But the Spanish Armada is going to come after all! Sounds scary!

"I'm afraid the trade in the South Seas will have to be intermittent." Li Zhongshan said: "At present, the French are only willing to sign a mutual assistance agreement with us, but cannot provide an alliance. Even if Louis XIV was willing to form an alliance, his French navy would not be able to control the Indian Ocean. So our armed merchant ships still can't go to Europe through the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic. ”

"How, how is this good?" Zheng Jing was a little big, when he pushed Geng Jingzhong to grab the port of Acapulco before, he didn't expect that the Spaniards and the Portuguese would unite to engage in a trade blockade! I didn't expect the Spaniards to come up with an invincible armada to find trouble with Daming.

This time the disaster is really a bit of a big deal!

"Wing King, don't panic." Li Zhongshan smiled, "I have already negotiated with the envoy of the French. A trade route through the New World of the Pacific...... This trade line. There was no way for the Dutch, Spaniards and British to blockade. It's just that you have to travel four or five thousand miles by land, and the cost is a bit high. ”

"Four or five thousand miles of land, this ......"

How high is the cost? It's ridiculously high!

Zheng Jing sighed: "Hey, it's better to talk than nothing!" Silk and tea may still be made, but sugar porcelain seems impossible......"

"Nothing is impossible, it's man-made." Li Zhongshan smiled, "There is another way!" ”

"What's the solution?"

"When the French mission returns, we can mobilize a group of armed Galen ships loaded with sugar and porcelain and return with them. Ship a little more at a time to France, and then leave it there and sell it slowly. The silver obtained was then transported to Louisiana, the French colony in the New World, by cover steamer, and then transported back after the trade routes in the New World were opened. ”

To be honest, this circle is a bit big. Fortunately, the Indians of North America in this era are not likely to rob money, otherwise they will be robbed halfway.

"That's it...... But this is just a one-shot deal, what should we do in the future? ”

Zheng Jing was immediately worried.

"In the future, we will build a navy, and the Dutch, English, and Spaniards will fight with their heads and rats!"

"How can it be that easy?"

"Wing King, don't worry, the first-class sail battleship is not so difficult to build." Li Yat-sen was full of confidence when he said this.

With Leibniz here, what's so hard about building some wooden sail battleships?

"A first-class sail battleship?" Zheng Jing was suspicious, "Our fourth-class ships have not built a profit." ”

"If the fourth level is not well made, there is no sample." Li Zhongshan smiled, "There is a sample this time...... The French are willing to sell us their Royal Sun for 500,000 taels! And also sent a very powerful shipbuilding expert to help! ”

"Really?" Zheng Jing was taken aback, and at the same time showed a surprised expression.

"500,000 taels? That's too expensive, right? Li Fuchen looked pained.

"It's not expensive, it's not expensive," Zheng Jing shook his head, "This can be used when you buy it, but now it's an emergency!" Money can't buy it! ”

Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "Father, the Wing King still has something to tell you, do you know that Fuquan?" That's the King of Yu of the Great Qing Kingdom! ”

"I know, I almost became the emperor twice!" Li Fuchen nodded.

Zheng Jing asked, "What's wrong?" He wants to try it a third time? ”

"Pretty much." Li Zhongshan said, "He deposited 10 million taels of silver with Yang Qilong. He wanted to use it as a military expense to hire 30,000 Rakshasa soldiers, and asked Louis XIV to send officers to help him train. ”

"30,000?" Li Fuchen asked, "There are not many of them, what does he want to do?" ”

"Whatever he wants." Li Zhongshan smiled and said, "The 10 million taels of silver, as well as the 500,000 taels we bought a ship for the French, are all opportunities!" ”

"Opportunity? What chances? Zheng Jing didn't understand.

Li Fuchen frowned and asked, "Shikai, do you want ......?"

He probably thought that Li Zhongshan had a bad idea of this money.

"Father!" Li Zhongshan hurriedly interrupted his father, "Who do you think of me?" Am I the one who did the roadblocks? ”

"Ten million taels!" Li Fuchen gritted his teeth, looking at this, he wanted to grab it himself.

"Wing King," Li Yat-sen ignored his father, but turned to Zheng Jing and said, "The French and Fuquan probably won't go back with silver...... See if we can find more porcelain, sugar, tea, and silk...... Spices, exchange these more than 10 million taels of silver? ”

"Of course ......," Zheng Jing suddenly frowned. But when you think about it, it's wrong, "Spices? But the spices that Europeans like are all produced in the East Indian Islands! Where are we going to get it? ”

(End of chapter)