Daming Military Empire

Chapter 208 Great Powers Order Ming Dynasty Arms
Zhu Cijiong has been learning to paint during this time. The so-called piano, chess, calligraphy and painting seem to be a bit of cultivating sentiment, but it is not. The things I draw are scary when I see them!
As soon as he got angry, he simply found a master to learn painting. There are many novel things in his mind. If he can learn painting well, Daming will be blessed.

It couldn't be easier for the emperor to find a master to learn painting. He quickly found a suitable one. He still knew this person. He was Liu Ruozai, the second place in the first year of Chongzheng. Without Shi Kefa, he can only be ranked second.

However, at this moment, he guessed that the timing was about to change. Zhu Cijiong was notoriously nepotistic. As long as he was familiar with him and had the ability, the speed of promotion would be as fast as riding a rocket.

This Liu Ruozai was born in a scholarly family, knowledgeable, quick-witted, diligent, loyal and honest, and also a famous calligrapher and painter at that time. After getting along with him for a few days, Zhu Cijiong regretted it. He had never discovered such a talent , It's a pity, it's a pity, I have to prepare a rocket for him.

It’s far away, it’s far away, talking about painting, in fact, Zhu Cijiong’s painting skills are still good, he has been painting blindly for several years, and Xiao Liu Rushi even pointed him out in the middle, but Liu Rushi just followed him because of his young age. After Zheng Chenggong, he only learned a little bit of painting, so Zhu Cijiong only has solid basic skills.Now with the guidance of a famous teacher, it is different. His painting skills have improved by leaps and bounds. It took only one month to draw a good-looking painting. Even Liu Ruozai praised him as a genius among geniuses.

On this day, he was drawing new military uniforms under the guidance of Liu Ruozai. Cao Huachun came to report suddenly, Zhennan Wang Zheng Zhilong and Spanish envoy Cokuian asked to see him.Zhu Cijiong was surprised. Didn't he authorize Zheng Zhilong to sign a contract with Spain? Why hasn't Zheng Zhilong traveled thousands of miles with his Spanish envoy to the capital to find him?

He looked at the half-painted military uniform and had an idea. This military uniform is actually an imitation of Europeans. Liu Ruozai's painting of the popular robes of the Ming Dynasty is very lifelike, but he has never seen this military uniform before, so it is quite difficult to guide. He simply asked Cao Huachun to move a table under him, and prepared a set of pens, inks, papers and inkstones for Liu Ruozai, and asked him to prepare, and then he would draw the clothes on Ke Kuian's body, and then recruit Zheng Zhilong and Coquian came to see him.

As soon as Zheng Zhilong led Kekuian in, he was taken aback by this strange posture. Why is the emperor still standing alone? Looking at his pen and pen, he is drawing a portrait of the emperor, but the emperor doesn't say anything about him. It's not easy to ask, originally after Zhu Cijiong's permission, he didn't need to kneel down when seeing him, but he didn't want to lose his dignity in front of foreigners, so he just knelt down and greeted Zhu Cijiong.

This entangled Ke Kuian, Shete, even His Royal Highness knelt down, so he had no choice but to kneel down and salute imitatively.

Zhu Cijiong was used to kneeling by foreigners, but he didn't find it new. After raising his hand to let them excuse him, he smiled and asked Zheng Zhilong, "Didn't Chenggong go to Dongdaying? Did he come back with you?"

Zheng Zhilong's face twitched when he heard the words, but now that Zhu Cijiong and Zheng Chenggong are like brothers, he didn't need to hide it, and said directly depressed: "This kid is commanding his Chenggong and the emperor's Sun and Moon to take Wei Wei at sea. The minister's fleet was blocked, and the minister was called to surrender, and the people who ran away after being reprimanded by the minister disappeared, and did not return to the capital with the minister."

Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help laughing and said, "That's good, that's right, you're the blue one, by the way, didn't you have the full power to deal with the signing of the contract? Why did you bring this Ke Kuian all the way to the capital?"

Zheng Zhilong explained embarrassingly: "Well, not only do they want to sign a contract, but they also want to order a batch of flintlock guns. I can't make up my mind, so I can only bring him to see the emperor."

Zhu Cijiong couldn't help being taken aback when he heard this, the Spanish military technology is not bad, why would he want to buy a flintlock from Daming?He asked Coquian curiously, "Should your country be able to produce flintlock guns?"

Cokuian was in a daze right now. The strength of the Ming Empire had already scared him silly. He thought that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire should be a middle-aged man in the prime of his life, or at least a young man full of vigor. People, but they did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire was actually a child who was underage!

Seeing Zhennan King's respectful expression, His Majesty the Emperor doesn't look like a puppet, what a smart kid he must be!Ke Kuian was thinking hard there, and he didn't even notice that Liu Ruozai looked at him from time to time. At this moment, His Majesty the Emperor suddenly said something to him, and he couldn't help getting a little nervous, waiting for Zheng Zhilong to translate it for him. , He thought for a while, and replied honestly: "Our country can produce flintlock guns, but the flintlock guns we produce are front-loaded, and the reloading speed is very slow. The speed is very appreciated, so I want to order a batch and try to equip the troops.”

This ad was made, but he didn’t expect the Portuguese to help him send the ad to Spain. He couldn’t help hesitating a bit. Portugal was Ming’s first ally after all, so helping their enemies doesn’t mean harming them.However, the interests of countries have always been the priority in exchanges between countries. Spain is obviously much stronger than Portugal. Should we abandon Portugal to develop relations with Spain?Maybe both can be developed, he tentatively asked: "Are you equipped with these flintlock guns to use against Portugal?"

The translation process in the middle was omitted, and Coquian couldn't help being taken aback when he heard this inexplicable question, Portugal?Why did he deal with Portugal? He was a little puzzled and said: "Well, I don't know if your Majesty the Emperor knows that we Spain and Portugal are now the same king."

This Zhu Cijiong certainly knows, but he is not very clear about the messy relationship among those European countries. It seems that Spain has not noticed that Portugal wants to get rid of their king's rule, and they don't know that Portugal has already formed an alliance with the Ming Empire. It is right to think about it, Portugal Those aristocrats are just like the underground party now, why would they go around to advertise what they are doing.

Spain is now going to Daming to buy guns. It seems that Europe is a bit chaotic. What is the situation? Zhu Cijiong nodded and said: "I know that you are the same king. I thought your two countries were in trouble. It’s a contradiction, since it’s not against Portugal, which country is it against, the Netherlands?”

After all, Coquian is a high-level Spanish leader, and he is quite familiar with this. This is not a military secret. He has no need to hide it, so he directly replied: "We are going to fight the Netherlands, but it is not only the Netherlands. They are not yet Our primary target, the coalition forces of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire are competing with the Protestant Alliance for the dominance of the European continent. Sweden has been defeated by us, but France is preparing for war. We ordered this batch of flintlock guns mainly to fight with France preparing for the great war."

Zhu Cijiong didn't have much research on the history of continental Europe. He didn't know that Europe was at the critical stage of the Thirty Years' War, which belonged to Sweden and France. He couldn't help asking curiously: "Oh, which countries are in the Protestant Union?"

This is known to almost everyone in continental Europe, and Coquian naturally has nothing to hide, he said in detail: "The main ones are France, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Russia, and there are also some small vassal states on the German side. "

Zhu Cijiong was overjoyed when he heard that so many countries participated. Doesn’t it mean that the whole of Europe has been smashed into a pot of porridge? The fight is good and we must support him. He said straightforwardly: "Since your country has so many enemies, then I can consider selling one Give you a batch of flintlock guns, how many do you want?"

Ke Kuian was also overjoyed when he heard the words. He did not expect His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire to agree so quickly. He quickly replied: "Our Majesty the King wants to order [-] pieces to test the effect first. Pack."

One hundred thousand!It's just a trial, that's 2000 million taels, local tyrants!Zhu Cijiong did not know that the gold and silver plundered by Spain from the Americas alone was worth nearly 3000 million taels of silver every year, and that the profits extracted from commercial crops such as sugar and spices were higher than gold and silver.

However, there is a very critical question, how do they transport so many flintlock guns back? Spain's current strength at sea is not comparable to that of the Netherlands. If it is robbed by the Netherlands, it will be a big trouble, he asked worriedly. Said: "How do you transport these guns back to Europe? Won't the Dutch intercept you?"

Coquian was instantly embarrassed, and he said hesitantly: "This, this, our king heard that the Ming Empire had just defeated the Dutch Navy, so he wanted to ask the Ming Empire to send a fleet directly to Europe. This, you see, we are here I didn't ask for a discount at all on the price, but only asked for home delivery, shouldn't it be too much?"

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he just wanted to roll his eyes. What kind of joke are you kidding? Daming just had a battle with the Dutch. If the Dutch knew that Daming’s fleet was going to sail to Europe, it would be strange if they didn’t intercept it halfway. Now, Daming is not going to war with the Netherlands in the ocean. strength!He said a little displeased: "You also know that Daming just defeated the Dutch fleet at sea, won't the Dutch retaliate? What if they intercept it halfway?"

This Coquian had thought about it a long time ago. He patted his chest and assured: "Please rest assured, the main force of the Dutch is now guarding near the mainland. If they dare to stay away from the mainland to intercept the fleet of the Ming Empire, our Spanish Empire will Just send troops to attack their homeland, this can be stated in the contract, they will never dare to attack rashly."

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, his heart moved. No wonder the Netherlands did not move at all. It turned out that the main force was restrained by Spain and could not move in Europe. It seems that they are going to choose peace talks. They accompany, and they want to kill them ruthlessly!

(End of this chapter)