I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 235 The Most Expensive Seven Words in History
Chapter 234

When Cheng Shijie first arrived in Luzon, he immediately met with Luzon Chinese representatives and had a grand dinner with the Chinese representatives.

After dinner, Cheng Shijie held brief talks with Wu Shangzhi, Li Guoqun and other Chinese representatives.

"How many Chinese are there in Luzon now?"

"More than 5000 people!"

Wu Shangzhi has been busy preparing for the establishment of the Luzon Executive Committee during this period. He started to count the population according to the model of Ning Haijun. There is no such thing as a poll tax.

Therefore, when the population is counted, it is relatively smooth.

Wu Shangzhi went on to introduce: "More than half of the population living in Manila, about 5000 people, some of them are distributed on the north bank of the Pasig River, distributed in more than 20 reclamation areas, and some of them are about 7000 people, relying on landfills. Fish for a living!"

These Chinese do not include the naval and army soldiers of the Ning Navy. Now almost [-]% of the Ning Navy’s sea power is stationed in Manila. The Weidusi and the Luzon garrison where Liu Qingsong is located total more than [-] people.

Cheng Shijie nodded and said: "Luzon is a treasure land. Although there are many mountains and hills and not many large-scale plains, there is a lot of land that can be developed. There is no big problem in relocating 600 million people!"

Cheng Shijie had a brief understanding of the current situation in Luzon, but the situation is actually not optimistic.Because Zheng's fleet landed in Subic Port, they transported [-] to [-] army troops back and forth, and began to seize the territory.

What Cheng Shijie couldn't help but smile was that Zheng Zhilong was planning to fight a protracted war with Ning Haijun in Luzon, as predicted by the General Staff.

Early the next morning, accompanied by Cheng Shi, Cheng Shijie, Wu Shangzhi, Xie Jinglin, Li Guoqun and others visited the Chinese settlement area of ​​Lu Zhentou.

First of all, the past village is located about [-] kilometers northeast of the Bashi River. At the beginning, the indigenous coalition forces tried to capture this town. Under the joint defense of more than [-] villagers, the indigenous people failed to capture this town.

When Cheng Shijie arrived, he could still vaguely see mottled traces left on the outer wall of the town. As Ning Haijun took control of Manila, a town with a very convoluted original name, Siquan Town was acquired according to Daming's situation.

Because most of the residents in this town are from Quanzhou, they first arrived in Luzon during the Jiajing period and began to take root here. Of course, the current residents are three different groups from the original residents. The first and second generation residents have been They were all killed, and now they are the third generation of immigrants.

The real reason why Siquan Town survived the attack of the indigenous army is the large number of people. According to Gao Xiangrong, the town mayor elected by the people: "Our town has a total of 560 households, of which 340 live in the town, and 220 live in the surrounding fifty miles. The plantation within!"

"How many people are there in your town?"

"Three thousand five hundred and sixty five people!"

Cheng Shijie nodded, roughly equivalent to an average of seven people. This kind of situation is very common in Daming, but it is very rare in Liaodong, because the principle of land distribution in Liaodong is by household, not by population.

It is to use the method of profit to force the people to separate their families, so as to avoid the formation of a huge clan power, and the larger clan power will be scattered and resettled, and it is impossible to gather and resettle in one town.

If these reasons are not considered, it is very likely that the big will bully the small, and the struggle among the people is not weaker than that in the court, especially in ancient times, when fighting between villages, clans and clans, in Europe or in small days The Warring States Period belongs to the national war.

In fact, the daimyo of Xiaotian, even the daimyo of the Wanshi level, can barely be regarded as the village chief level, and being able to command hundreds of people to fight is already very remarkable.

"Safety issues must be paid attention to!"

Cheng Shijie said with a serious face: "If you are not of my race, their hearts must be different. If the natives dare to make trouble, don't be patient. If they dare to do something, they will beat you to death!"

A young man who was following Gao Xiangrong said, "There are many indigenous people."

"This requires us to unite. If you can't afford it, you can apply to the garrison, and the garrison will help you fight the aborigines!"

Cheng Shijie's ass is very upright. The strategy in Luzon is to want land and not people. Da Ming is different from the European powers. The great powers all have a fatal weakness. They have no people, while Da Ming has nothing but people.

When I came back from Siquan Town, it was almost night.

"In the city of Manila, it was renamed Luzon City, Manila Port was renamed Zheng He Port, the current Zheng He Port was changed to Bei Port, and the south of the Pasig River is called Nan Port!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Wu Shangzhi and said: "In Luzon, public schools will be established, and all school-age children will be enrolled in school. Time does not wait for us. Children are our future!"

Wu Shangzhi replied: "We are in Manila and have a school in Luzon, but it was built in Nancheng at that time. It is very inconvenient for children to go to school."

"Then arrange a ferry!"

Cheng Shijie pointedly said: "Seize the opportunity!"

Cheng Shijie did not explain to Wu Shangzhi in detail that the various subtle influences brought about by China's 5000-year civilization, as long as the Chinese people are given a chance, they can build a completely different Luzon.

……

After the failure of the last Subic naval battle, Zheng Zhilong fell ill.As the saying goes, illnesses come and go, and illnesses go like spinning threads. Zheng Zhilong has not recovered until now.

After recovering, Zheng Zhilong is worthy of his true qualities as a hero, and he has regained his fighting spirit.

Zheng Zhilong gathered his staff and confidants, he looked at Zheng Zhibao and said: "Old Five, you have told all about Xiyi, I don't think they are happy to see the Denglai Navy defeat us and control the entire South China Sea!"

Zheng Zhibao was taken aback, and said puzzledly: "Brother, do you want to borrow troops from Xiyi?"

"It's not borrowing troops, it's joining forces with them!"

Zheng Zhilong said angrily: "Cheng Shijie acts aggressively and never leaves room. I don't think they are willing to deal with such a hard-edged character... Just tell them like this, they know what to do!"

"Yes!"

No matter what order Zheng Zhilong gave, it was better than he hadn't given any instructions in the past two months. Originally, Zheng's fleet seemed like a rusty machine, but now with Zheng Zhilong's recovery, the machine started to move.

After a while, Zheng Zhilong looked at Chen Shiqi, another staff member, and said, "Shiqi, go to Fuzhou and tell the person surnamed Zhang that he should move, or I won't spare him!"

Chen Shiqi asked with some puzzlement: "The admiral means..."

"Everyone wants to reap the benefits of being a fisherman. There is no such good thing in this world. He asked me to fight Cheng Shijie. If he doesn't make a move now, don't blame me for being rude!"

Zheng Zhilong said with a gloomy face: "No matter what means he adopts, no matter what he does, I don't care about it, but I want Cheng Shijie to change from a hero of the country to a traitor who will bring disaster to the country and the people!"

Chen Shiqi sighed: "Admiral, I'm afraid he can't do this, even Wen Shoufu can't do this!"

Chen Shiqi looked at Zheng Zhilong with cold eyes, feeling a little bitter in his heart.

Zheng Zhilong is afraid of Cheng Shijie, this is Chen Shiqi's judgment, in other words, Zheng Zhilong has given up his plan to confront Cheng Shijie head-on, and is preparing to adopt a roundabout tactic.

Win over the imperial court and Xiyi to jointly strangle and kill Liu Xiang and other colleagues like before, in exchange for a greater victory at the smallest cost.All the generals of the Zheng clan beamed with smiles, and repeatedly praised Zheng Zhilong for his good strategy. Tons of flattery made Zheng Zhilong feel good, and laughed.Only Chen Shiqi's expression became more and more worried, and he remained silent for a long time.

Shi Daxuan was surprised. Seeing that Chen Shiqi was still frowning after leaving the mansion, he couldn't help asking: "Shiqi, is the admiral's deployment inappropriate? Why are you so anxious?"

Chen Shiqi's voice was dull: "We will lose this battle!"

Shi Daxuan was taken aback: "Shiqi, you can't talk nonsense!"

"I'm not talking nonsense. The admiral's deployment seems ingenious, but it's actually wishful thinking! He forgot how good Cheng Shijie is at driving everyone to do things for him with benefits?"

Speaking of this, Shi Daxuan also understood.Chen Shiqi's judgment is correct, Zheng Zhilong's plan is impossible to succeed, first of all, those big bosses in the court, if they really have the ability to deal with Cheng Shijie, how could they promise Zheng Zhilong a lot of money?

The real backer of Cheng Shijie is not the imperial court, but Emperor Chongzhen. Emperor Chongzhen has no money, and officials all over the world ask Emperor Chongzhen for money. Only Cheng Shijie not only does not want money, but tries every means to send money to Emperor Chongzhen. position in the court.

As long as Cheng Shijie promises to hand over part of the protection fee at sea to Emperor Chongzhen, even if he kills to the point of bloodshed and is impeached by Chao Wenwu every day, Emperor Chongzhen will turn a blind eye.

As long as he promises that Xiyi can trade and preach fairly in Guangdong and Fujian, Xiyi will kneel in front of him and ask for the right to send troops to fight for him.

Now Cheng Shijie is the winner, he can give the emperor and Xiyi far more than Zheng's, Zheng Zhilong's trick is useless to him! .

Thinking of this, Shi Daxuan was a little helpless, and sighed sadly, and said in a low voice: "In the end, it's still..."

Those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes. Now Zheng Zhilong has already put on shoes, but Cheng Shijie is actually barefoot, because the navy of the Ning Navy is weak. If he is not bold and courageous, he will be killed by Zheng Zhilong in a slow process. middle.

Shi Daxuan didn't say anything, but he agreed with Chen Shiqi's statement in his heart.

Yes, in the past few years Zheng Zhilong has indeed given him a feeling of being full of stagnation. On the surface, he still looks majestic. Those who follow the trend will prosper, and those who go against it will perish, but in fact he has lost his aggressiveness and is just blindly conservative .

But Ning Haijun, who has already ruled less than half of Liaodong, is just at the time when he is full of vigor and swallows thousands of miles. They don't have the slightest intention to defend themselves. Expansion, Zheng Zhilong blocked the dragon and beat Zheng Zhilong, the Spaniards blocked the way, they took Manila unceremoniously, and raised four or five thousand Spaniards like pigs.

The current Ning Haijun is just like Yan Siqi who had just inherited the territory and power of the founder of Taiwan.

Now, even the soul of Zheng Zhilong is afraid, how can this battle be fought?
Shi Daxuan smiled wryly, patted Chen Shiqi on the shoulder and said, "Shiqi doesn't have to be so pessimistic. The admiral is only depressed for a while, and he will recover soon. Although our army has lost a lot, we still have two With more than a thousand ships and tens of thousands of troops, no matter how powerful Cheng Shijie is, it will not be so easy to defeat us!"

"The Zheng Group is not as powerful as we imagined. I believe the imperial court and Xiyi will see through this soon, and our life will only become more and more difficult."

Chen Shiqi shook his head, with frustration and disappointment written all over his face: "Evidently we still have such elite sailors and so many warships, but the admiral dare not fight head-on with Ning Haijun again. What hope do we have for victory?"

Chen Shiqi's frustration was because he participated in the Subic naval battle. He witnessed with his own eyes that the Ning navy suffered heavy losses under the crazy attack of the Zheng's fleet, and the losses skyrocketed.

At that time, the Ning Navy's fleet was getting weaker and weaker, and the Zheng's fleet seemed to have lost a lot, but the problem was that the Zheng's fleet was very large. As long as the wheels were used, even human lives could exhaust the Ning Navy's naval guns.

But the problem is that Zheng Zhilong, the soul of Zheng's fleet, chose to retreat, even if he retreated to Subic Port City, the Ning Navy Fleet, which suffered heavy losses, had already retreated to Manila Port.

However, Zheng Zhilong has been pretending to be sick, but he is unwilling to face this bad situation.

Zheng Zhilong used to be Chen Shiqi's belief, but he showed a cowardly side, and he couldn't help but be disappointed.

Chen Shiqi didn't know what would happen if the news reached the capital.

Compared with Cheng Shijie, Zheng Zhilong was born as a pirate and was recruited by the court in desperation. He actually naively thought that the court would stand by him.

It's ridiculous, no matter how bad Cheng Shijie is, he is the most orthodox hereditary family of the Ming Dynasty after Cheng Yongxing, and the Ning Navy was also formed by Sun Yuanhua himself.

But Zheng Zhilong?What does he have in the court?
……

Cheng Shijie knew nothing about Zheng Zhilong's reaction, and was not interested in knowing.The Ning Navy Navy is in Manila, not resting in Luzon Port, while the fifth and sixth new squadrons are actively attacking the warships of the Zheng Fleet.

Of course, it was only to attack the patrol warships of the Zheng fleet in the Subic Strait, just like Li Zhixiang led the main fleet back then, practicing with pirate ships that did not have much combat effectiveness.

Cheng Shijie was very clear about Li Fang and Chen's confession, don't feel sorry for the cannonballs, the sharp gunners are all fed by the cannonballs, and the veterans and elites are all recruits.Only by training hard and training with battles can one achieve rapid growth.

In a capitalist society, everything is based on profit. As long as the price is high enough, you can sell anything. Of course, as long as the profit is big enough, you can buy anything.

After nearly a month of consideration, Catherine also discussed with other people in the city-state of Venice, and finally decided to spend 100 million ducats, which is equivalent to 560 kilograms of gold, to buy Venice's solution to the problem.

A solution to a problem cost three and a half tons of gold, which is not a small amount, because although the ducat is a gold coin, its actual value is actually higher, because all countries in Europe use this gold coin.

Just like the British pound, with the improvement of British status, 1 pound contains 7.32238 grams of pure gold, but in fact, the purchasing power of the British pound far exceeds the value of 7.32238 grams of pure gold.The same is true for ducat gold coins. Based on the financial revenue of the Venetian city-state Republic, it is about 400 million to 800 million ducat gold.

Taking out 100 million gold coins is not a small amount of money for the Venice City-State Republic.

"Your Excellency, I have decided that we, the city-state of Venice, are willing to spend 100 million ducats to buy your solution to the problem!"

"no problem!"

"When it comes time to pay, we want to be able to pay in installments!"

Catherine said with a serious face: "The first payment is 30.00%, which is 30 ducats. After His Excellency the Duke gives us the solution to the problem, we will pay another 30.00%, and the remaining 40.00% will need to wait for us After the Venetian City-State Republic has been verified for at least three years, if this plan is effective, we will pay 40.00% of the final payment!"

"In principle, I agree to this deal!"

Cheng Shijie also understood Venice's concerns very well. After all, he put himself in another place. Someone told Chongzhen that I could solve Ming's financial problems. At most, Emperor Chongzhen would promote him instead of giving real money! "

Cheng Shijie looked at Catherine and said, "I also have a requirement, that is, to trade with Ducat gold coins..."

"This can't be done!"

Catherine smiled bitterly: "100 million ducats will cause huge fluctuations in the market. We can take silver or other goods of the same value, such as the precious wood you need, equipment, and even the books and seeds you need from European countries. Mineral resources, or land, if Your Excellency the Duke is willing, we can sell part of the land use rights!"

"land?"

Cheng Shijie was very interested in land. He asked curiously, "Do you have land in the east?"

"No, but we have them in the Mediterranean!"

Catherine held a chart and said: "I heard that Your Excellency the Duke and the Spaniards once bought a piece of land owned by Dayuan for 300 million taels of silver. We can sell our Crete Island in the Mediterranean Sea. The land the size of the city..."

"Oh, just Mediterranean Crete!"

Although Cheng Shijie showed no interest, in fact he was still interested in Cree Island.Cheng Shijie does not have the strength to reach Crete now, but it does not mean that he will not have the strength in the future. He also knows Catherine's real intentions.It is hoped that Ning's navy will confront the Ottoman Empire.

If nothing else, the Ottoman Empire took Crete in 1669, that is, more than 30 years later, as long as the warships of the Ning Navy arrived in Crete before Venice lost Crete, this site transaction contract, Venice will have to accept it.

It's not a big problem not to accept it, the battleship will let them accept it.

"I agree in principle!"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said, "Do you have the authority to do this transaction?"

"I will sue our governor to try to get the authorization. Of course, we can put it in the next transaction to compensate for the payment of the solution to the problem!"

"Very good, yes!"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "When the first advance payment arrives, the solution to the problem of the Venice City-State Republic will naturally be handed over to you!"

Catherine was very excited. She knew Cheng Shijie's ability and strength very well. Even if she didn't know it before, it was impossible not to know it now, because Cheng Shijie is now a celebrity, and his deeds can be counted by every soldier in Ning Haijun.

Basically, it includes getting acquainted with Song Xiance, buying an official Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu, the rise of Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu, the garrison of the Ning Navy, and the Dengzhou Change that made everyone hesitate.

Cheng Shijie's real fortune was the Kong Youde Rebellion. When the Kong Youde Rebellion was put down, Cheng Shijie was promoted to the commander of the Ning Navy, and then went east to southern Liaoning to develop southern Liaoning. He can be said to be a model of self-made.

Spend 100 million ducats to get the solution to the problem of the city-state of Venice. This is the most profitable business in Venice. If Cheng Shijie insists on it, Venice will buy this plan even if it costs 1000 million ducats.

Cheng Shijie thought that Catherine would delay for a long time, but he did not expect that in just five days, Catherine would put the value of 30 ducats, which is more than 28 taels of silver, in front of Cheng Shijie.

It turned out that Catherine dumped the goods from Shanghai directly to the Dutch and earned a small commission.

"Your Excellency, I have already given you the money, when will the solution to the problem be given to me?"

"immediately!"

Cheng Shijie took a brush and wrote directly on the paper in front of Catherine: "Liaodong model, copy homework!"

seven words.

When seeing these seven words, Catherine felt so depressed that she wanted to vomit blood.

Seven characters cost 100 million ducats, and each ducat is equivalent to nine cents and five cents of silver, which means that she bought seven characters from Cheng Shijie for 95 taels, and an average of one character is equivalent to 13 700 taels of silver.

"Just these seven words?"

"That's right, these seven words can perfectly solve the problems faced by your Venice city-state republic!"

"How is this possible!"

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "In the final analysis, the problems you encounter are only two words. Population, population is not the biggest shortcoming. Facing the behemoth Osman, they can fail countless times, but a miserable victory is enough for your Venice In trouble, if my prediction is not bad, your total population should be less than 20 now, right?"

"Yes, we now even count the newborn children, there are only 18 people!"

"You are actually very similar to my situation in Liaodong. You lack people, but the problem is that you have money in your hands. Why don't you dig people from the Holy Roman Empire?"

Cheng Shijie said: "You have the same language and customs as the Holy Roman Empire. You can hire people from the Holy Roman Empire to fight, work, and farm for you. As long as the population increases, are you still afraid of Ottoman?"

(End of this chapter)