Chapter 419

PS: I'm sorry. I missed the snail at five o'clock tonight. I must have a long memory next time. Please forgive me!

In the main hall, Xiao Ming and Wang Xuan stand opposite each other.

After getting Xiao Ming's order, Wang Xuan said, "Your Highness, the secret guards have already gone to Chu. If such a big event really happens, it is estimated that they will get the news soon."

Wang Xuan's tone is very confident. In the past two years, the government has invested a lot of money in the secret guards, which has made the secret guards expand rapidly. Now there are thousands of secret guards under his command.

There are strict organizations in these areas where the secret guards are distributed and monitored, and it is they who deliver a steady stream of information back.

Nodding, he said to Wang Xuan, "yes, but the work of the secret guards needs to be strengthened. The emperor has long known about your arrest of Shanxi merchants. It seems that his father also has a spy organization."

Wang Xuan nodded, "we really neglected. Later we learned that they were from lijingmen."

"It's not bad. You finally have opponents. You can compete with each other. In addition, the monitoring of Chang'an and barbarians can't be relaxed. The dynamics of these two places are also very important."

"Yes." Wang Xuan nodded and turned to leave.

Watching Wang Xuan leave, Xiao Ming is lost in thought. Cao Zhengtong's news really surprised him. He didn't expect that the king of Chu would go to war with the Dutch.

It has to be said that the Dutch really pushed the king of Chu. However, the emergence of such a domineering Dutch Earl in this area is not good news for Xiao Ming.

Now the sea trade routes are completely blocked, which is also a great problem for Xiao Ming. As Cao Zhengtong said, the sea trade routes are wealth.

He can't let such a huge fortune be in the hands of the Dutch.

The Silk Road on land has been cut off, and now the sea route has also been cut off. Xiao Mingzhen is two big at the same time, which is a mess in Chongqing.

Two days later, Wang Xuan brought the news of the Qiantang naval battle in Chu. The Dutch destroyed more than 30 ships of Chu's fleet, and Li Chuyuan, his son, was almost captured by the Dutch.

The Lin'an wharf was destroyed by the Dutch. Finally, under the coercion of the Dutch, the king of Chu had to sign a new negotiation agreement on the Dutch warship.

This agreement recognized the Dutch ownership of the sea trade, all ships through the trade routes must pay heavy taxes to the Dutch, at the same time, all goods sold by the Dutch to Chu must be exempt from tax and so on.

"Is the news reliable?" Taking the news from Wang Xuan, Xiao Ming asks.

"It's very reliable. It's said that in order to humiliate the king of Chu, the Dutch made this agreement public to the local maritime merchants. The news came from these maritime merchants." Wang Xuan said.

Xiao Ming sneered twice and said, "I didn't expect that the king of Chu really set a precedent for the state of Chongqing. He was the first to sign the first unfair treason treaty in history under the threat of the colonists."

"The king of Chu always has a high heart. I'm afraid he will cry to ask his highness to buy arms this time." Wang Xuan suddenly said with a smile.

"Hey, it's really hard to say. This time, the Dutch taught the king a hard lesson. Because of the king's urine, he had to buy a lot of arms. Because of this, the Dutch would not sell arms to the king of Chu." Xiao Ming suddenly had some expectations.

As they were talking, the voice of a servant came from outside the door. "Your Highness, the messenger of the king of Chu outside the door asks for a meeting."

"Your Highness, it's called Cao Cao. Cao Cao will arrive." Wang Xuan laughed.

Xiao Ming nodded, "it seems that the king of Chu is very angry this time. It's just the so-called fight between Snipes and mussels, and the fishermen get profits. In the past, the king of Chu was waiting for the king and the barbarians to fight. Now we can finally see his joke."

After that, Xiao Ming asked Wang Xuan to stay away for a while, but let the messenger of the king of Chu come in.

"I'm here, Li Wei. See you, your highness." The visitor is an old man, about fifty years old.

With a frown, Xiao Ming said, "excuse me. I don't know what the messenger is doing here."

"Back to your highness, this time the king of Chu sent me here to buy guns and fireguns. His highness asked me to take a message to the king of Shu. Please remember that he is a Chinese and must provide a thousand naval guns for Chu."

"A thousand naval guns?" Xiao Ming almost jumped up. He said, "the king of Chu is crazy. He has so many naval guns. Eh, how does the king of Chu know about naval guns?"

At last, Xiao Ming was surprised.

Li Wei was not in a hurry. He said: "it was the Dutch who told his Royal Highness the ship guns to show off. His highness said that as long as he could get a thousand ship guns, he could consider the demands of his Royal Highness the king of Qi."

Xiao Ming's eyes turned. A thousand naval guns are really a big business. It's enough for the king of Chu to build a fleet with powerful guns.

Moreover, the naval guns are generally heavy guns, which are much more expensive than ordinary city defense guns. A thousand guns are a lot of money.

Generally speaking, this business is really attractive, but Xiao Ming's naval guns are not enough, let alone to the king of Chu.So he said, "I'm afraid I can't help you. The number of guns produced in Qingzhou is limited. One thousand guns are too many."

Li Wei was still not in a hurry. He continued: "wait a minute, your Highness the king of Qi. His Highness the king of Chu said that what Qingzhou lacks is ships, not guns, and what Chu lacks is guns, not ships. It's good for everyone to complement each other. His Highness the king of Chu is willing to trade merchant ships and shipbuilders for guns. Please think twice."

"Merchant ships and craftsmen." Xiao Ming's heart beat in frustration.

This time, the king of Chu was right. What he was short of was ships. Both merchant ships and shipbuilders were short of ships, and they were in urgent need.

After pondering for a while, he said: "I can squeeze out some naval guns, but the number will not be large. There can only be more than 30 naval guns. The remaining naval guns will be delivered in the next few years. In addition, I have no choice."

After all, the agreement has been signed. Every year, the king of Chu will lose more.

"Your Highness said, you can wait." Li Wei said.

Xiao Ming nodded, "that's OK, but according to the old rule, the deposit must be in place, otherwise the king can't do the business. The king has to see the merchant ships and craftsmen first."

With such a large order, Xiao Ming can only let the military workshop continue to expand. It seems that there are more than 1000 guns, which is actually the scale of ten galleons.

Moreover, the delivery in several years is not enough to pose a threat to him, because after three or four years, who knows how far the Qingzhou Navy will develop? At that time, these naval guns are estimated to be obsolete.

"As your highness wishes." Li Wei nodded heavily.

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