Ming Zuo

Chapter 422 Naturalization
Gao Qiqian immediately understood what Chongzhen meant.

The emperor wanted to make peace with the rebels.

But he was afraid that it would affect his reputation as an emperor, so he sent himself, a guilty eunuch, to do it secretly.

No matter what the result is, Chongzhen has a way to get out.

Gao Qiqian understood that he was going to take the blame.

But the situation is like this, he has to bear the blame if he doesn't.

"The slaves obey the order."

His happiness made Chongzhen feel better.

"Do it carefully, don't make any mistakes."

If something goes wrong, I will take the blame on you.

Gao Qiqian quit, thought for a while, and went to see Wang Chengen.

"Father-in-law, it's bad luck for our family to be in such a state today. But when we go to Shandong, if things go wrong, we're afraid that we will bear the eternal infamy. But I don't know, what is the emperor thinking?"

As an eunuch, if you can't figure out what your master is thinking, then everything you do is wrong.

Gao Qiqian is not afraid to go to Shandong to negotiate peace with the rebels, but he is afraid that Chongzhen will be dissatisfied if he does not do well, and the government and the opposition will criticize him, and then he will really die.

In the inner court of the Chongzhen Dynasty, because Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun were both kind people, the competition in the inner court itself was not fierce.

The rest of Da Dang knew that his status and closeness were not as good as these two, so he gave up on the supervisor of ceremonies.

What's more, after Chongzhen began to send eunuchs abroad, everyone had a place to make a fortune. Instead, they had to rely on Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun to mediate in the inner court, so the relationship was quite harmonious.

Wang Chengen pointed Gao Qiqian to a bright path.

"The success of this trip depends entirely on the traitor's intentions. If you can persuade Li Jiuzheng and Kong Youde to surrender voluntarily, you will be of great merit. Even if you fail, you must stabilize them anyway so that they will not revolt for the time being. After a while , if you get away, you won't be afraid of the Emperor's wrath."

Get up high and dive.

"Hey, I'm afraid of rebelling against the wolf's ambition and coveting the heavens. Our family... our family can't be the master."

Wang Chengen also hesitated.

He has always been in the inner court and has never gone out. He has no experience in the local situation at all.

After thinking for a while, he said to Gao Qiqian: "Commander Jin Yiwei knows Han Chuan, he is skilled and fair. After your accident, only he speaks uprightly, can you get out of prison. The Shandong matter is full of civil and military affairs. No one knows better than him. Why don't you pay a visit, maybe you can get help."

Only then did Gao Qiqian realize that he was able to get out of the disaster because of the help of noble people.

"Oh, thank you father-in-law for telling me, otherwise our family has missed our benefactor, and it would be a great crime."

..........................................

The new shipyard was arranged by Zuo Menggeng near the mouth of the east side of Jiaozhou Bay.

Here is the famous Qingdao Port in later generations.

There is a "factory" peninsula deep into the sea, which happens to form an excellent harbor.You don't have to worry about being attacked by waves, and the security and defense are also excellent.

E Honglue, Ami Er, Wu Ruowang and other people who know how to build ships are all here.

When Zuo Menggeng came over, they were receiving craftsmen.

A new batch of graduates from Linqing who understand simple physics and buoyancy also came to join under the leadership of Sun Yuanhua.

"Land artillery and naval artillery are completely different things, so uncle needs to preside over casting naval artillery for the future navy."

Zuo Menggeng said the reason.

Sun Yuanhua was a little puzzled.

"In Dengzhou, there was nothing wrong with placing the artillery on the ship. Why did it need to be redesigned?"

After coming to the New Army, Sun Yuanhua quickly fell in love with it.

Especially now that he doesn't have to care about administrative affairs at all, he only needs to concentrate on the research and development and casting of artillery.He didn't need to intrigue, and he was full of talents and knowledge, which made him suddenly realize that his former self had really gone astray.

At the same time, I also deeply felt that the Ming court really had many problems, so that it was a waste of talents.

It is not surprising that the state affairs are so difficult.

"President Sun, look, this is the blueprint of the battleship we designed. According to the plan, this kind of battleship is divided into upper and lower decks, and a total of fifty naval guns equivalent to infantry guns will be deployed."

The speaker was Peng Shanguan, a graduate of the advanced class of Zuozhuang Academy last year, and he was outstanding in the Artillery Research Institute.

Zuo Menggeng decided to build a navy. Considering that everything here starts from scratch, he mobilized the best talents.

After Peng Shanguan came over, he led his team to find ways to improve Zuoying artillery, hoping to apply it to warships.

However, because there is no actual warship yet, their research progress is not great.

After the efforts of E Honglue and others, the blueprint given by Zuo Menggeng has been improved, from the original blueprint of the first-class battleship to the blueprint of the fourth-class battleship.

Although it has shrunk significantly, it is still a difficult subject for the current new army.

People from the School of Physics are following E Honglue and others to repeatedly demonstrate the construction process.To start construction, at least until next summer.

And such a long time, I believe it is enough for the improvement of naval guns.

Hearing that a ship could carry fifty cannons, Sun Yuanhua was dumbfounded.

He couldn't imagine at all, with so many cannons on board, who were they used to hit?
"The land has never been the end of our development. Now that the earth is becoming more open, we have to integrate into this era."

Zuo Menggeng spoke a little.

Sun Yuanhua was greatly stimulated by his ambition.

Tomorrow has not yet been decided, and this young man has already started to focus on the ocean.

But even if he doesn't know the navy anymore, Sun Yuanhua understands that once this kind of ship on paper becomes a reality, at least in the coastal area of ​​Ming Dynasty, the navy of the new army will be invincible.

I don't know if Zheng Zhilong, the giant from the southeast, is Zuo Menggeng's opponent?
Sun Yuanhua didn't think too much, and happily took over the task of improving the naval gun.

With him as an artillery expert, I believe the speed can be much faster.

Zuo Menggeng still has one more thing to implement.

He called E Honglue and the Portuguese over.

"Gentlemen, are you enjoying your life and work here?"

"Dear general, thank you for your concern. You are definitely the kindest and most generous employer in the world. It is really a great honor for us to work for you."

On behalf of everyone, E Honglue expressed his feelings sincerely.

They really like it here.

They were in Dengzhou before, although they also got Sun Yuanhua's trust.But with their blond hair and blue eyes, many Ming people still look at them like monsters.

And in Dengzhou, they just work.In many important matters, it is not their turn to intervene and make decisions.

Even the salary here is higher than that in Dengzhou.

With generous rewards, some power in their hands, and respect, how could they, wandering Portuguese, not like it?

Zuo Menggeng looked at them one by one, and said truthfully: "You know, many people told me that I need to be more careful with you. Because you are outsiders, you can't know too many secrets here."

"Oh, God. Dear general, please don't listen to these slanders. We swear that we are the most honest people. I believe in your wise eyes and see our piety and hard work. No one in this world will agree with you. It’s hard to pass the white money.”

Amir was terrified, and hurriedly expressed his loyalty.

Zuo Menggeng looked at them fixedly, "But you are Portuguese, not our Ming people, let alone our own people."

E Honglue and the others looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't know how to respond to this statement.

Wu Ruowang thought for a while and said painfully: "General, you don't know us people. Although our appearance is completely different from Ming people, we have already regarded this place as our home. When we were in Portugal, we were all Penniless paupers. If we are rich, why do we risk our lives to come to Daming? We have shown our talents here and made a lot of money. Even if we go back to Portugal, we I don't want to."

Zuo Menggeng didn't doubt his words.

Europe was also affected by the Little Ice Age.

With the advent of the Age of Discovery, in addition to avoiding the Ottoman Empire and looking for new trade routes, Europeans who could not survive could only choose to leave their homes and venture out.

It was based on this understanding that Zuo Menggeng was able to implement his plan.

"So... Everyone, if you were given a choice, would you continue to be Portuguese, or would you like to be one of us?"

E Honglue and the others were stunned.

Never thought that Zuo Menggeng would make such a request.

But I have to say, this request is so exciting.

E Honglue strengthened his heart to suppress his throbbing, and asked hesitantly: "General, we respect you from the bottom of our hearts as being with God. But our appearance determines that it is difficult for us to be accepted by the people here. "

Only when people are in a foreign country can they feel the sense of incompatibility and alienation.

So many years have passed, E Honglue and others have gotten used to being pointed at no matter where they go.

But in Zuo Menggeng's eyes, their worries were not a problem at all.

What happened to them, not to mention the present, even hundreds of years after the development of information and culture, foreigners are novel existences.

But this has not affected people from all over the world to carry out extensive immigration in pursuit of life and happiness.

"Although all you see are Han people like me. But our country has a vast territory. In our land, besides Han people, there are many people of different nationalities. There are Mongols, Jurchens , there are Miao people, there are Tibetans, etc. etc. In fact, in this land, we do not exclude outsiders. What's more, you are so outstanding and have helped us a lot. I think, if you can put down If you don’t worry, there will be no difficulty in becoming one of us.”

Yes, what Zuo Menggeng wanted was to naturalize E Honglue and others.

These people may be penniless in Portugal, in Europe.However, the shipbuilding and cannon-building technologies they have mastered, as well as the experience of traveling the world, are the precious wealth that Daming currently lacks.

For Zuo Menggeng, it is not a difficult choice to introduce excellent talents to help him make progress.

But his enlightenment made E Honglue and others go crazy.

They were actually accepted by the richest, most civilized country in the world...

(End of this chapter)