The Resurrection of the South Seas of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 807 Louis XIV's Small Abacus (please subscribe for monthly pass)
The Cossacks hiding behind the bunker were stunned.

But after they reacted, they were greeted by bright bayonets and soldiers of the Ming army in cotton armor.

Khamenkov was stunned by the sudden explosion, and when he came back to his senses, the black muzzle of the gun had already been pressed against his forehead.

He subconsciously dodged and rolled on the ground.

With a loud bang, the Ming army who was pointing a gun at him pulled the trigger instantly. The flame exploded, and the lead bullet grazed his body and shot into the snow, leaving a very obvious scar on his ribs. bloodstains.

The skin and flesh are exposed to the net, and the blood is flowing!

However, under the rapid secretion of adrenaline, Khamenkov could not feel the pain in his ribs at all.

His body leaped forward like a dexterous wild wolf, and the dagger in his hand pierced the throat of the Ming soldier in front of him.

The ferocity of the Cossacks can be seen!
Even with the gun against his head, he still dared to fight.

Moreover, Khamenkov's move is not an exception. Almost all Cossacks rose up and resisted.

It's just that some people reacted quickly and avoided the Ming army's gunshots and bayonet stabs at the moment of violence.

Then launched a counterattack and fought hand-to-hand with the soldiers of the Ming army.

Some people were killed on the spot by lead bullets while resisting.

The Ming army was also caught off guard by the ferocity of these Cossacks.

They have never encountered such a fierce enemy before. As long as they aim their guns at the enemy, the enemy will no longer resist.

They really didn't expect these Cossacks to be so fearless of death!

The muzzle of the gun was pressed to the forehead, but he still dared to resist.

The battlefield became chaotic in an instant, and the two sides began to fight hand-to-hand.

Facing the dagger stabbed by Hamenkov, Zhao Hu reacted quite quickly, took a step back to avoid it, and then raised his gun to stab.

The sharp bayonet cut open the leather robe on Khamenkov's body in an instant, and then pierced his chest, leaving a blood hole in his body, and blood oozed profusely.

At the same time, due to Zhao Hu's retreat, the dagger in Hamenkov's hand just stabbed Zhao Hu's chest.

With a clatter, the sharp dagger cut through the silk cotton interlayer outside the cotton armor, and was blocked by the inner armor.

Hamenkov felt the feeling of the dagger falling, and the expression on his face was full of astonishment.

The enemy on the opposite side seemed to be wearing only a padded jacket, why could the padded jacket be able to block the stabbing of a dagger?
Before this, he had never seen such a thing as cotton armor.

Zhao Hu stepped back again, then raised his gun and stabbed again.

This time, the sharp bayonet pierced Khamenkov's heart without accident, and Hamenkov fell heavily to the ground.

The battle on the scene is almost one-sided!
Although the Ming army was caught off guard by the fierceness of the Cossacks, they were not afraid of them when they actually fought.

These scouts who could be dispatched were all elites carefully selected by the Ming army, and many of them had extraordinary courage.

Not to mention that these Ming troops still have the advantage of weapons and armor. The bayonets in their hands and the cotton armor on their bodies are not decorations.

In hand-to-hand combat, the role of armor is much greater than imagined.

Especially for veterans like Zhao Hu, killing a few Cossacks who only wore leather robes and had almost no protection was an easy task.

With the armor on, they can't get hurt at all.

Besides, even regardless of combat experience, weapons and armor, the soldiers of the Ming army surpassed these Cossacks by a lot in terms of physical fitness.

You know, the tallest and strongest race in the world in this era is the Chinese.

These Cossacks also accounted for a wild!
It didn't take long for those Cossacks who stood up to resist were shot to death one by one.

The blood smeared and dyed the surrounding snow red.

"Platoon leader, one of us died and three were injured!"

Zhao Hu reported to the platoon leader with a sad face.

Of course, these deaths and injuries did not occur in hand-to-hand combat, but occurred when the muskets were fired just now.

In hand-to-hand combat, the cotton armor on the Ming army provided them with a lot of room for error. Even if they did something wrong, they would be fine with the armor on.

But in the musket shooting just now, although these Cossack muskets fired slowly and had poor shooting accuracy, if they could hit someone, there would be casualties.

The platoon leader nodded.

"The wounded brother heals with all his might!"

"Brothers who died in battle, prepare to be cremated. After cremation, the bones can be brought back!"

Although it is winter, there is no need to worry about corpses decomposing in Siberia in winter.

However, the mission of their trip has not been completed, and they will continue to go deep into Siberia.

It would be too much of a hindrance if he carried another corpse.

After cremation, taking the ashes home is the best option!

Zhao Hu nodded and went to do it.

He personally cleaned the blood on the body of the dead robe, adjusted his battle robe, and then removed the soldier badge on his neck.

He solemnly stuffed the soldier badge that could show his identity into his arms!
On the side, other Ming soldiers were cleaning the battlefield and interrogating the prisoners.

Before the attack, the Ming army was a little worried that those black and white wolves would be fierce and attack them.

But after the battle, when they looked at the majestic black and white wolves who looked majestic from a distance and had extremely wise eyes up close, they suddenly realized.

This is not a wolf, it is a dog that looks like a wolf, okay?

The platoon leader began to interrogate the prisoners of war, hoping to learn from the prisoners how many settlements they had in Nuer Gandusi.

Those in charge of the execution were some soldiers of Daur and Oroqen origin.

These soldiers were born in Nuer Gandusi, and the tribes they came from were not uncommonly oppressed by the Raksha people.

Many of them even have deep blood feuds with the Raksha people.

Now, the imperial court is going to send troops to take back Nuer Gandusi. These people are more excited than the Han people in the army.

For the Han people in the army, the recovery of Nuer Gandusi was for merit.

But for them, when the imperial court regained Nuer Gandusi, it was regaining their homeland.

Under torture, the captured Cossacks quickly confessed.

The platoon leader took out a piece of land and laid it on the ground, and began to write and draw on the map according to the confessions of the Cossacks, and corresponded one by one with the information he had detected before.

Soon, he roughly figured out the location of several small strongholds of the Raksha people in the surrounding area.

After pondering for a while, the platoon leader spoke.

"I'll wait for a day to repair in situ, and then continue northward!"

When everyone heard the words, they agreed in unison.

As for those prisoners of war, of course they were all disposed of.

The food and grass carried by the Ming army was limited, so how could they support those prisoners of war?

After being signaled by the platoon leader, several soldiers of the Ming army dragged the prisoners to the woods, and then prepared to execute them.

As they were escorted into the woods, these Cossacks seemed to realize something, because they did not do less to kill prisoners.

This familiar action was undoubtedly intended to kill the prisoner.

The expressions on everyone's faces also looked a little distorted, constantly struggling and cursing.

For a while, Suka Bulie's voice was quite dense.

"Who are you guys? Why are you attacking us?"

"Sukhabuli, aren't you afraid of the wrath of His Majesty the Tsar?"

"Damn barbarians, the great Cossack will definitely make you pay!"

"..."

However, even now, these Cossacks have not figured out who attacked them.

Although they knew that there was a powerful China in the south, according to their information that was out of date for many years, Ming in the south should still be at war with the barbarians in the north.

These Cossacks didn't think that Ming Dynasty was capable of sending troops to Siberia because of the war!

Pfft!Pfft!
The sound of sharp knives piercing flesh resounded continuously.

Cossacks were killed one by one in the woods, and the bodies were just left where they were.

Presumably there will be carnivorous beasts appearing soon, and these corpses will be cleaned up.

The Ming army camped on the spot and lit a fire, roasted the prey that the Cossacks left on the sled, cooked a pot of hot soup, and had a good hot meal.

Get rid of the cold in the bones.

Then, the next day they continued north.

In the vast Siberian snowfield, there is more than one scout like this.

In order to ensure the smooth process of the army's recovery of Nuer Gandusi, Daming dispatched dozens of elite scouts to Nuergandusi to find out the specific situation of Nuer Gandusi.

As time passed, news continued to be reported back to Shenyang City, the center of Liaodong Capital.

Then pass through the telegraph line in Shenyang City and transfer it to Nanjing.

As one piece of news continued to arrive, Zhu Hongyu was also constantly discussing the deployment of the military situation with the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies.

……

France, Paris, Versailles!
The Palace of Versailles, which has just been completed for a short time, looks brilliant and majestic. The building is magnificent and exquisite, and it is extremely beautiful.

King Louis XIV of France, who dared to take over the regime from Cardinal Mazarin and became pro-government, was at the most vigorous stage of his life.

He was sitting upright behind a table, with a face that was not very good-looking because of a close relative's marriage, but it was full of intoxication.

And in front of Louis XIV, there was a bottle of perfume from the East.

The body of the bottle made of pure crystal is hand-painted with beautiful patterns by the most skilled craftsmen.

He took out a little perfume from the bottle and sprinkled it on himself.

Louis XIV took a deep breath full of intoxication again, and then spoke.

"This scent smells like a fusion of roses and lavender, with some ambergris in the base..."

"How much does a bottle of such perfume cost in francs?"

Louis XIV asked the attendants in front of him.

Although Paris in this era has not yet turned into a black Paris, the smell and smell in the city are still the same.

The reason why Louis XIV wanted to live in the Palace of Versailles was because he couldn't stand the smell of Paris.

And he invented high heels to prevent himself from stepping on Ollie when he travels.

But, that didn't work.

The smell in Paris is not because Paris has a smell, but because the "romantic" French people don't pay attention to hygiene and are used to defecating everywhere, so Paris has a smell.

Although the Palace of Versailles is located outside the city, it is relatively remote and sparsely populated, so the taste is a little lighter.

But the people are still those people, the habits are still unhygienic habits, and the smell in the Palace of Versailles is actually not much better.

Therefore, Louis XIV had absolutely no resistance to this kind of perfume that could emit a delicate fragrance and cover the foul smell in the air.

Hearing this, the attendant shook his head to show that he didn't know.

This bottle of perfume was presented by the merchants below, and he just passed it on.

"Your Majesty, this is a birthday present from the merchants below!"

"I don't know the exact value!"

"But if you think about this kind of gift that was transported from the far east, the price should not be low."

Upon hearing this, Louis XIV nodded approvingly.

"Not bad, really good!"

Suddenly, with sharp eyes, Louis XIV saw the inscription on the bottom of the perfume bottle.

Looking at the four square characters "Royal Tribute", Louis XIV's eyes became brighter.

Unlike after the Opium War, the international image of the Chinese fell directly from the altar, becoming the sick man of East Asia.

In this era, with the cultural exchanges between the East and the West, many Western countries have set off a wave of oriental fever.

The same goes for France!

Louis XIV, the Sun King, was a real oriental fan.

He doesn't know many Chinese characters, but he can still recognize the two sensitive words royal.

As long as anything has something to do with the mysterious East, its value will soar.

And if you can get involved with the royal family in the east, it will be even more valuable!

Perhaps it was out of envy of the power of the Eastern kings, the current Louis XIV yearns for the Eastern royal family very much.

And France is also under the leadership of Louis XIV, and the whole of France highly respects the culture from the East.

While speaking, Louis XIV ordered the merchants who presented the gift to be present.

After waiting for the businessman to salute, he directly asked the price of the bottle of perfume.

"Your Majesty, this bottle of perfume is worth 3000 francs!"

The merchant heard the words and said very respectfully.

The franc in this era is actually a precious metal currency, not much different from the Spanish silver dollar.

After hearing this astonishing price, Louis XIV's eyes widened and he lost his composure.

As we all know, although France's national finances are stronger than mine, they have not always been healthy.

Otherwise, Louis XIV's grandson would not have to go to the guillotine!
And now, after Louis XIV finished building the Palace of Versailles and fought the inheritance war, the French treasury is almost empty and can run away with mice.

Three thousand francs is not a small figure even for King Louis XIV.

However, as a king, Louis XIV's emotional management is still in place.

Just a little shocked, the expression on his face returned to normal.

It's just that he couldn't hold back, and still asked.

"Why is it so expensive?"

The businessman heard this and said.

"Report to His Majesty the King, because this perfume is exclusively for the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty."

"The annual output is only [-] bottles, of which [-] bottles were sent to the palace for exclusive use by the royal family."

"Only two hundred bottles will go to the market for sale!"

"Actually, the official guide price is only 1000 silver dollars, which is about 500 francs."

"But sales are really tight. If you want to buy the perfume, you have to increase the price!"

To put it bluntly, it is actually the Royal Chamber of Commerce of Ming Dynasty who is engaged in marketing methods.

As for perfume, as long as there are raw materials, it doesn't matter how much you can produce.

However, if this thing is produced more, the value will depreciate.

In the future, it will not be able to sell at a higher price, and it is called a gain outweighs the loss.

Is it true that those who buy perfume do it for the perfume itself?

What they buy is not perfume, but style!
If they really want to use perfume, then ordinary perfume can also be used. Although the fragrance will be different, the difference is far less than imagined.

There are actually quite a few workshops that can produce perfume in Daming now, and the technology and products of several perfume workshops are not much worse than the royal firm under the banner of the royal family.

The selling price of their products is only one-fifth, or even one-tenth of the products of the Royal Trading Company.

However, if there is a choice, the first choice of those real wealthy merchants and dignitaries must be the products of the Royal Firm.

Without him, because of the word royal!

Because, as long as there are these two characters, it is forced.

Imagine that at a banquet, two people of similar status both use perfume, although the taste is not much different.

But one person used the same style of Tianhuang Guihua, which was specially tributed by the royal family, while the other person used only ordinary miscellaneous brands.

Invisibly, the person who uses the ordinary miscellaneous cards will be a head lower than the person who uses the royal tribute.

This time, won't you get up?

For this price, even if the premium is several times higher, some people rush to pay for it.

It can be said that doing business in the Daming Royal Firm now is almost like picking up money.

But even so, the Royal Trading Company was quite picky when it released the goods.

Every time it is released in a very small amount!

Act like you don't care about money at all.

What for?
To put it bluntly, it is to maintain a strong style!

With such a marketing method, it was not easy for this French businessman to buy the perfume exclusively tributed by the Ming Dynasty.

As for whether he would use fake products or imitations to deceive Louis XIV...

How to put it, although the status of businessmen in the west is higher than that in the east, if you offend the king, the king is also capable of making you unable to eat.

Louis XIV was very addicted again, and took a deep breath of the fragrance of the perfume.

The expression on his face became more and more intoxicated.

However, he still spoke.

"Sir, I wonder what you want in return for giving me such a precious gift?"

There is no free lunch in this world, even if he is King Louis XIV.

Hearing this, Frion bowed slightly to salute, and then spoke.

"Respected Your Majesty the King, I am presenting you a gift just to express my respect and admiration for you!"

"If my gift satisfies you, please display it in public..."

The meaning of Frion is obvious, he wants Louis XIV to promote him.

The goods he purchased from the East were of high value, and they were not affordable for ordinary people.

The only ones who can afford it are the high-level dignitaries and nobles in France!

If there is no one with enough weight to stand up and lead the trend, it will not be so easy to sell the goods purchased by Fulion from the East.

The most sought-after is the most sought-after, but not many people can afford it.

Therefore, he turned his idea to Louis XIV.

After all, in his opinion, is there any top class who is more suitable for carrying goods than His Majesty the King? !
When Louis XIV heard the words, he had his own thoughts in his heart.

After pondering for a while, he spoke.

"Very well, you can discuss with the royal family's personal butler!"

After all, Louis XIV got up and left.

To be honest, Louis XIV saw business opportunities here.

Since these businessmen want to use him to advertise, then the share of Louis XIV's key points is not too much, right?
However, as a king, he, Louis XIV, still needs to be so forceful. Of course, he would not choose to come forward to bargain with the merchants in person.

At this time, it was time for the royal family's private butler to step forward!
……

Louis XIV left the room to take a walk in the garden.

Since there are a lot of flowers and plants planted in the garden, the air is quite fresh, without the foul smell that can be seen everywhere in Paris.

Just then, someone came to report.

"Your Majesty, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is here to see you!"

Upon hearing this, Louis XIV nodded and said.

"Bring people in!"

It didn't take long for Louis XVI to wait before Doron, the French Minister of Finance, came to him.

After saluting, Doron spoke.

"Your Majesty the King, France's finances are now facing great challenges. The imbalance of revenue and expenditure is the biggest problem in France at present."

"If this continues, France will have to borrow money to survive!"

"Before there is a problem with the country's finances, we have to think of a solution."

Doron said in a very serious tone.

During the reign of Louis XIV, although France dominated the European continent strongly, its strength was at its peak, and it won the title of Sun King for itself.

But it was also at this time that France became a usurer empire.

The collapse of the Bourbon dynasty was also the scourge planted at this time!

When Doron stood in front of Louis XIV and spoke, a wave of body odor commonly possessed by Westerners rushed to his face.

It made Louis XIV miss that bottle of perfume from Daming.

Faced with the problems raised by Doron, Louis XIV had no good solution.

After thinking for a while, he spoke.

"To solve my current financial difficulties in France, it may be a good way to strengthen trade between the East and the West."

Although the trade between the East and the West has been increasing, most of it has been eaten by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Portugal and other maritime countries.

The reason why there is no Spain is because the Spaniards once massacred the Ming people in Nanyang, so now the Ming side unilaterally sanctioned Spain and refused to do business with the Spaniards.

The waters controlled by Ming Dynasty prohibited Spanish merchant ships from sailing, and they were sunk when found.

Over the past few years, the Spaniards' share in the East-West trade has plummeted, and their interests have been seriously damaged.

However, Spain has no corresponding countermeasures at all.

And, more importantly, the Spaniards sent people to take the initiative to show softness, and wanted to negotiate peace with Daming, but Daming refused to negotiate peace.

It looks like I'm going to fight you to the very end in Spain!

While the whole of Spain was helpless, it was also full of regret.

I regret that I should not have massacred the Chinese in Manila!

Now, the share of trade that originally belonged to the Spaniards has been divided up by countries such as Britain, Netherlands and Portugal, and France has also eaten some.

But not much!

If France wants to solve its financial problems, it may be a good way to expand trade between the East and the West.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Doron nodded and said.

"What His Majesty said is reasonable, but if France wants to expand its trade volume with the East in a short period of time, it may not be easy."

After Spain was kicked out of the East-West trade circle, most of the current East-West trade is monopolized by countries such as Britain, Holland and Portugal.

It is not easy for France to bite off a piece of meat from them!
After pondering for a while, Louis XIV spoke.

"Maybe we can send someone to contact Daming for an alliance..."

Louis XIV had an idea in his mind.

Who is the most powerful country in Europe now?

There is no doubt that it is the United Kingdom.

In other words, from now until the end of World War II, Europe will be the stage for the British.

Although France, Germany, Tsarist Russia and other countries can occasionally rise up, they will stand up to Britain for a while.

But no surprise, it was the British who won in the end.

Even Napoleon, the pride of France, overturned in front of the anti-French alliance organized by the British.

Louis XIV was aware of this, but he was unwilling to accept it.

From the current point of view, if France wants to break the situation, it can only attract external forces to enter the field.

For example, the ancient empire dominating the east...

Because of offending Ming, Spain has almost lost [-]% of the trade share between the East and the West.

Even if the Habsburg dynasty and the income from the Americas can make up for it, it is well known that its national strength has been greatly damaged.

In the past, Spain's annual income in the East was no less than that in the Americas.

If France can complete the alliance with Ming Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty can also target Britain like Spain, then Britain will be greatly weakened.

At that time, France may be able to fight back and truly seize the dominance of the European continent.

Faced with Louis XIV's vision, Doron did not object, but spoke.

"Your Majesty is right!"

"However, if the trade between the East and the West is to be strengthened, the most important thing is shipbuilding, and shipbuilding requires a lot of financial investment..."

In this era, ships capable of ocean-going trade are all big money-throwers.

Whether it is made or bought, the price is not cheap!

Upon hearing this, Louis XIV scratched his head in distress.

However, suddenly his eyes lit up, and he spoke.

"Why don't we borrow money from Holland?"

The Netherlands is a country of merchants and a well-known dog family throughout Europe.

If France is willing to offer high interest terms, they will borrow a sum of money from the Dutch for shipbuilding, and the Dutch probably will not refuse.

Duo Lun fell into deep thought when he heard the words. The beard around his lips was raised up and down, which looked a little funny.

"Your Majesty, if we borrow money from the Netherlands, we can temporarily solve the financial problem."

"But if you pay back the money later, the pressure will only increase."

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Doron was farsighted.

He knew that he could not borrow money that he could not repay.

However, as a king, Louis XIV knew how to borrow money.

Because he knows, why should he pay back the money he borrowed with his ability?
"Who said we have to pay back the money?"

"A few days ago, Charles II sent someone to deliver a letter to me."

"The British are brooding over their defeat at the hands of the Dutch, and are going to invite us, France, to attack the Netherlands together."

"When I borrow money from the Netherlands, I will send someone to contact the British and agree to their request to flank the Netherlands."

"When the war is over, we will not have to pay back the money we owe the Dutch!"

Louis XIV's little abacus crackled.

Just the year before last, the second Anglo-Dutch war ended, and the Dutch took advantage of the changes in the British political situation and the restoration of the Stuart dynasty to give the British a big blow in one fell swoop.

The British are obsessed with this!

No, within a few years, they were planning to contact France and attack the Netherlands by land and sea.

Well, the reason why the UK wants to contact France is because the defeat of the UK in the last Anglo-Dutch war has something to do with the French.

In 1667, Britain intervened in France to return the Spanish lands that France had won in the War of Inheritance.

Then in the same year, the Netherlands achieved a naval victory over Britain.

If there is no French in this place, the dog will not believe it!

Now that the British want to retaliate and teach the Netherlands a lesson, the first thing to do must be to ensure that France will not end.

It was precisely because Louis XIV knew this that he was ready to borrow money from the Netherlands.

France supported the Netherlands last time, but it didn't gain anything at all.

Now they are going to borrow some money from the Netherlands. The Netherlands can't say no to borrowing money, right?

Hearing this, Duo Lun said with a comprehension expression on his face.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I am going to send someone to contact the Dutch!"

Louis XIV nodded to show that he understood, and Duo Lun resigned and left.

(End of this chapter)