As a salted fish, I was forced to become the teacher of all ages

Hua Manlou scratched his head: "Uh... isn't it?"

Emperor Guangxing laughed very happily: "I didn't think about going out at first, but today's weather is good, suitable for going out for a walk, and you just happened to make a great contribution to me, I... can't wait!"

Hua Manlou was stunned: "Can't wait?"

Emperor Guangxing smiled even more happily: "Your fleet is back."

611. Emperor Guangxing's Lucky Year

For Emperor Guangxing, this year is considered his lucky year, because good things happen one after another after the New Year.

The initial good news should theoretically be last year's news, and it came from the Ministry of Household Affairs.

According to the past situation, when the new year is approaching, the court is very poor. The treasury is empty and can run away from the rats. There are often situations where the salary cannot be paid. Thoughts, but this year is different, the Ministry of Households made an inventory before the year: oh, it’s really strange that the salary and year-end bonus are paid out!

After careful calculation, I found out that the money spent last year was actually a lot, but there were two sources of funds that made the court look a lot more generous: one was that Huamanlou forcefully demanded that the big merchants who cooperated with him pay taxes, Although the part of tax payment is only the part of foreign trade, it is a lot of money in any case.

The second is from the lottery industry.

Ever since Huamanlou dug a mountain of silver from the Wa Kingdom, Emperor Guangxing released the lottery matter. Although several parties still controlled it, the money went to the Ministry of Households.

In addition, Huamanlou secretly put the "protection fee" collected by the Southeast Navy to the military system reform side, which reduced the military expenditure of the DPRK and China a lot in disguise. Reaching a balance of payments-this is a bit of a flourishing world.

For this reason, Emperor Guangxing was in a good mood throughout the New Year, and just after the fifteenth of the first month, the military report from Lanzhou Prefecture arrived.

As the Qi family's two hundred and five said, this incident caused a huge sensation in Beijing, because at that time no one could have imagined that the suppression of the rebellion could be so fast-again, King Yiduan's rebellion not only included the elite of Xining Wei, It also includes tens of thousands of cavalry from Tumed, so even the DPRK and China are ready for a long-term struggle.

Therefore, when the military report of Huamanlou's victory was sent back, some civil officials were even angry. They thought it was a lie about the military situation, or that Huamanlou had voted for King Yiduan. Court: The Liaodong army that started the war has not been completely wiped out yet, but you have already finished fighting Huamanlou?

But soon this suspicion was overturned, because Bo Huai'an sent back not only the seal of King Yiduan, but also the king's flag of Tumot. False report, and then, the unlucky son of King Yiduan was also sent to the capital...

Immediately, the DPRK and Central Committee began to discuss how to characterize Huamanlou's victory this time, but before the matter had reached a conclusion, news came from the northeast: the Liaodong Army was defeated and Yao Zijie was captured alive.

Although the chasing of the Liaodong Army was a mixed force, the Tianjin Navy was still reliable. Geng Tiancheng didn't know who he had learned from, and went all the way to bomb the Liaodong Army. The night I played a one-handed raid...

Since then, the chaos created by King Yiduan has completely subsided.

The gloom and sympathy at the beginning of the war are still vivid in my memory, but after a few months, the will will be dark and the flowers will be bright. Emperor Guangxing feels that things are too dreamy, but even more dreamy things seem to have just begun: the first month just started. However, the queen suddenly became lethargic and sleepy, and couldn't stop sleeping at night.

Emperor Guangxing thought she was ill, so he summoned the imperial doctor to check her up. Good guy, there is a little trumpet!

After the news spread, the capital was full of jubilation... well, at least the civil servants began to rejoice: ancestors bless you!

It has to be said that it is the consensus of most civil officials that Emperor Guangxing abolished the trumpet practice. In recent years, the voices of the chief minister of the cabinet, Zeng Ge, who demanded that the prince should be taught to be bad, have become louder and louder. Zhao Ren can be a good emperor, or in other words, Zhao Ren does not conform to the ideal image of a sage in the minds of civil servants.

But the problem is that Emperor Guangxing has only such a son, and the civil servants have to bear it no matter how unhappy they are.

But now the situation is different, there is a small trumpet!

The civil servants were even happier than their wives had a son when they heard the news that the queen was pregnant with a dragon seed. Some censors even planned to take this opportunity to impeach those people in Chunfang one by one—this group of trash has already been taught badly. If a prince is appointed, they can't be left to teach the next one badly, right?

Others went too far, they have already planned how to persuade Emperor Guangxing to re-confirm the position of the crown prince...

What?You said that the child has not yet been born, and you don’t know if it is a boy or a girl?

Well, it is true, but everyone agrees that it is a boy, and even ignores another fact: the national court and the Lichu have always established the elders but not the young, as long as Zhao Ren is not dead or has not made any serious mistakes , the inheritance will always be his.

Therefore, the battle for the throne of the royal family in the past dynasties cannot be summarized as "the family has no family affection", and the following courtiers also played a role that cannot be ignored.

Of course, Emperor Guangxing didn't know these things. He was immersed in the joy of suddenly having a second child-to be honest, the cutest and most playful time for human cubs is when they are zero to two years old. Seeing babies in this age group will involuntarily relax and smile, and make unexplained sounds to coax and tease, but after the age of three, they become disgusting with dogs—Emperor Guangxing has a deep understanding of this , he desperately hoped that the little trumpet could heal him, instead of being depressed by the trumpet.

In short, this series of good news made Guangxing Emperor Long Yan very happy, and even thought of amnesty for the world, but the next thing made him feel that he was too happy: in mid-March, an ocean-going fleet arrived leisurely Tianjin.

At this time, we can see the benefits of Lao Wen's arrangement of his son in Tianjin: Under the operation of Wen Yumin and Geng Tiancheng who just returned to Tianjin, the capital knows that the only people who return from this fleet are relevant people, other people, especially the censors I don't know anything about the fleet at all, let alone that this fleet not only went to sea, but also wandered around Southeast Asia, and even crossed the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean for a while...

The commander-in-chief of this fleet is He Qing. On the surface, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Fuzhou Navy by Huamanlou... or a certain young man on the Qinhuai River, but in fact he brought some of the former Tianjin Navy's soldiers with him. The old subordinates and the troops recruited in Yiwu in the past went south in the name of exterminating the remnants of Japanese pirates. They first went to Luzon, then to Brunei, and finally to Jakarta.

After searching in Southeast Asia to no avail, He Qing sold the silk and porcelain produced in the south of the Yangtze River. He planned to return home with local specialties from the Spice Islands. The ruthless man gritted his teeth and went straight north from Jakarta to Malacca, and then found a guide to cross the Indian Ocean...

By the time I regained my senses, the fleet had already arrived in Ceylon.

612. Reckless people

There may not be many people who know about Ceylon, but when it comes to Sri Lanka, everyone will know: it was once called Sinhala, Lion Country, and Lion Island by the Celestial Dynasty, and it was also known as the Kingdom of Gems. on the island.

So when Emperor Guangxing said that He Qing had gone to Sinhala, Huamanlou was numb: I obviously asked him to find a Folang robot in Southeast Asia. Isn't this guy completely off topic?It's off by thousands of miles!

Emperor Guangxing felt even better when he saw the confused Huamanlou. He waved his hand and said, "Come on, follow me into the carriage, let's talk as we go! He Aiqing, you come up too, and have a good talk with Huamanlou." What did you do when you went out to sea!"

Hearing what he said, Hua Manlou saw He Qing standing behind a group of guards, who was looking at him with a ghostly smile at this moment.

Seeing that Emperor Guangxing called him, He Qing stepped forward and saluted Huamanlou: "Uncle, the general is back!"

Hua Manlou took a closer look at this product and couldn't help but be amused: When we met in Tianjin Weigang in the past, although Lao He didn't have the image of a white-faced scholar, he still looked fair, but now he looks like a Black and purple...

"How did you become so virtuous?" Hua Manlou happily patted He Qing's shoulder: "Is the journey going smoothly?"

He Qing also laughed: "Thanks to my uncle, I finally fulfilled my mission and didn't embarrass my uncle."

Glancing at Emperor Guangxing who had already grabbed Zhao Ren's neck and boarded the carriage, Hua Manlou pointed to the carriage and said with a smile, "Get in the carriage first, and I'll catch up with you later."

He Qing hurriedly bowed and asked Huamanlou to get on the car first, and then timidly followed - I had heard of Huamanlou's Holy Grace earlier, but only now did I realize what the hell it is called Holy Grace. , Is this better than a son's treatment?

He Qing, who was secretly amazed in his heart, didn't dare to take it too seriously. After boarding the large carriage, he was even more nervous and didn't know where to put his hands. He just dared to sit with half of his buttocks on the seat as if he was striding forward——on the left It's Huamanlou, opposite is Emperor Guangxing and the prince who looks familiar, whoever will change this lineup will not panic?

Hua Manlou was quite at ease. He first gave Zhao Ren, who was huddled in the corner, a gloating look, and then he began to look at the latest carriage—everything new in Xishan since the incident with the stove would be It is produced according to several levels, among which the supreme luxury version of the highest level will naturally be sent to the palace, and this carriage is no exception.

The specially-made carriage for Emperor Guangxing was built by the best master craftsmen in Xishan. Not to mention the large body, the material is also the best wood that can be found in Xishan. The ordinary carriage has already exploded, not to mention that this car is equipped with an epoch-making shock absorber...

Hua Manlou secretly sighed that the craftsmen really can make troubles.

The interior decoration of the exclusive royal carriage is extremely luxurious. The floor is covered with a white tiger skin that looks expensive, and in the middle is a small table with exquisite drawers. The front of the carriage can accommodate three people sitting side by side. , and behind it is the special seat for Emperor Guangxing—this special seat is exactly the sofa that Huamanlou conceived at the beginning, and I don’t know what the group of craftsmen used to fill it. The one I sat in was much better.

And the most surprising part of the entire carriage is the windows. It seems that the guy who burns sand in Xishan has finally made a staged breakthrough, which has already applied glass to the windows...

After seeing Huamanlou got into the carriage, he began to look around. Emperor Guangxing said with a smile: "I forgot to mention this carriage. It was sent by someone from Xishan after you went to Lanzhou Mansion. After I sat out the door a few times, Now this thing has become popular in the capital.”

Huamanlou is happy: Isn't this routine the same as when selling stoves?It is still popular in the capital, so it must be that several 10 taels of silver went into the internal funds... Oh, this seems to be Zhao Ren's business?

Hua Manlou once again gave Zhao Ren, who was kneeling in the corner of the sofa, a gloating look.

Emperor Guangxing snorted softly to Zhao Ren, who stared at Zhao Ren who was about to cry, and then said to He Qing in a gentle voice, "He Aiqing, talk to Huamanlou."

"Yes." He Qing replied cautiously, and began to report the details of this trip to Huamanlou: "Uncle, I will go to sea in the middle of May last year. According to my uncle's wishes, I will go first. After leaving Luzon, it took only one month to wipe out the Japanese pirates left there, and then while cleaning up the forces of those we dealt with, we found people nearby to ask about the traces of the Frangji people."

This is the plan that Huamanlou made after he pacified the Japanese pirates in the Ryukyu area. Although He Qing was a bit reckless, he has been extremely convinced by Huamanlou since the Tianjin Navy was reorganized, so Huamanlou ordered He has always been meticulous in execution, without discounting at all.

In the past, the Ningbo Prefecture smuggling group left a lot of properties and personnel in Luzon. After He Qing arrived in Luzon, he unambiguously took over one of them, and temporarily assigned the subordinates to Huamanlou's partners for management. , who were dissatisfied, chopped up all of them and threw them into the sea, which scared the Luzon people enough. After a few days, the King of Luzon sent someone to communicate about the tribute...

But He Qing didn't bother to care about this at all. After he sent the Luzon envoy to the trade fleet of Ningbo Prefecture and asked him to bring him back to Dazhao, he began to search for the Flang machine with all his heart—because Huamanlou said, this matter It is the most important purpose of his going to sea.

So He Qing first found Brunei, then Jakarta, and finally Malacca... (Malacca seemed to be called Malacca during this period)

"The general thought about it. If the uncle attaches so much importance to it, he must complete the task. Therefore, after searching around in Malacca and seeing no one has heard of Frangji, the general can only continue to go far away." He Qing was a little embarrassed.

Hua Manlou wryly smiled and said: "I don't care if I pay attention to it, but it doesn't necessarily make you go so far... Well, you can continue talking."

"Yes." He Qing thought about his words while recalling, "First, the general sent someone to find a guide, and bought a nearby map at a high price. I didn't know that after crossing the Straits of Malacca, we arrived in the Tianzhu area..."

There is also a Silk Road in this world. Although there is no Sui and Tang Dynasties, India and China also had contacts in almost the same historical period, so it is not surprising to know Tianzhu.

And He Qing is also the axis. When he knew that Tianzhu could go to Tianchao by land, he thought that even if the ship was gone, he could go home by land, so he immediately decided to go west through Malacca and continue to search for the so-called Frangji.

After hearing this, Hua Manlou directly covered his forehead: What's the matter, if you really didn't meet Franji, would you be able to go all the way around the African continent to find the Iberian Peninsula?

Obviously, He Qing's luck was better. He really found the Folang machine, and he met him in the island country called Sinhala by Da Zhao——he completed the first cultural exchange between the East and the West at a rather strange timing. collision.

(Addition after half a year~)

613. Reckless people

It has to be said that since the era of great voyages in Huamanlou’s previous life, Ceylon’s struggles have never stopped: Frangji, the Netherlands, and Britain, the three royal families that have risen successively, have all drawn Ceylon, and the capital Colombo has been captured several times, it is simply miserable.

When Ceylon was dominating the Frangipani Sea, it strangled and even defeated it. However, since the rise of the Dutch coachman, this island country, which was called the most beautiful island by Marco Polo, has become the most beautiful island in the world. After the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, Ceylon officially became a colony of the Empire that Never Settles, and then became a Dominion of the Commonwealth of Nations until 1948, and then from the 70s to [-], a certain organization in its country Still building an independent country...

Capitalized miserably.

As for why it is so miserable, the reason is generally not only because it is on the air route, but also because it is also called the Kingdom of Jewels. As for the bandits in the West, if they encounter this kind of kingdom with shiny specialties but average military strength, how can they be Don't you want to give you a wave of plunder?

Although this matter is the history of Hua Manlou's previous life, history will always repeat itself day by day, so when He Qing, a reckless man, arrived in Ceylon with his fleet, he just ran into a wave of Franc People are landing in Colombo in a very impolite way...

When the three parties met, everyone was stunned.

The Frangji and Sinhalese who were fighting stopped at the same time and looked blankly at the huge fleet at sea. The former thought it was the latter's reinforcements, and was so frightened that he wanted to run away; while the latter also thought it was at first. When the opponent's reinforcements were in despair, they found that the painting style of the ship was obviously different from that of the invaders—there was no Sanbao eunuch who sailed to the West seven times in this world, so Da Zhao's influence was not here, so of course the Ceylons did not Knowing the bright Zhaolong flag on the bow of the ship, and thinking that there was another wave of pirates due to bad luck, it was almost pessimistic to lie flat and let it be ridiculed.

As for the Ningbo Navy, He Qing stood on the poop of the flagship and saw the two warring parties with a dazed look: Who the hell is beating whom?I don't know each other!

"Before the trip, my uncle said that the person who will leave the door at the end represents Da Zhao. Everything should be done from Da Zhao's standpoint. According to Da Zhao's practice, if there is a war in Fanbang, it should be mediated first, but the two parties are obviously not Da Zhao. Zhao's vassal, so the final general doesn't know what position to use to mediate." He Qing explained: "So the final general has no choice but to not help each other, and just wait for them to come to a conclusion."

Not only did Hua Manlou laugh at what he said, but Emperor Guangxing also laughed at it, and the latter even boasted in passing: "He Aiqing did the right thing, I am very relieved."

At this moment, Zhao Ren was fascinated by hearing it. Originally, he was squatting at Emperor Guangxing's feet in aggrieved manner, but now he was sitting cross-legged on the ground.Seeing He Qing bothering to explain, he waved his hands impatiently: "These little things are irrelevant, then what?"

Emperor Guangxing gave Zhao Ren a hard look, but in the end he didn't beat him in front of outsiders - don't worry, this can't run away, we will beat him together when the time comes.

Seeing the prince's urging, He Qing didn't dare to let it go, so he said, "Your Highness, our Ningbo navy is much more powerful than the Tianjin navy in Pingwo the year before last. There are more than a hundred warships of various types. The soldiers are strong and the weapons are sufficient. So we just stood on the boat and watched, and the two sides dared not continue to fight."

He Zongbing is not good at eloquence, in fact, things are far more fun than what he described.

You must know that whether it is France or the Netherlands, they are generally small countries in the West in the eyes of the Celestial Dynasty—and they are actually the same. The land area and population have never been their advantages. These people who pan for gold usually only have three or five ships to form a fleet, and when they need to replenish their combat power, they will find people nearby.

For example, in the Naval Battle of Keluo Bay in Huamanlou's previous life, there were only five ships in the Netherlands that fought against Ming Dynasty, and the rest were the pirate Liu Xiang's men.And the same is true for Franz's attack on Colombo this time. Except for the sailors on the three foreign ships, the rest are all recruited, and most of them look like Ah San.

As for Ceylon, the natives of Sinhala are even worse. They can all be caught and beaten by this group of mobs. How can they be better?

So looking at the hundreds of majestic ships on the sea and the seemingly impatient soldiers on the ship, both sides were shocked-they were not wrong about this emotion, after all, this group of navy soldiers came all the way from Malacca across the Indian Ocean Yes, everyone was already sick on the boat, and now they have finally reached the shore, and they still have to wait for you to finish fighting?

In short, after the two parties looked at each other, they retreated at the same time, and then carefully put away their weapons for fear of unnecessary misunderstanding with the huge fleet at sea, and then...

The two parties each found some representatives and translators. While spouting obscenities and spitting at each other, they rowed their boats carefully to contact the Ningbo navy. If He Qing had not received professional training, it would be impossible to tell the scene. I can really laugh.

It’s just that the group of people from the Ningbo Navy saw the “red-haired fanzi” that Huamanlou mentioned for the first time. Although they were mentally prepared earlier, many people were still terrified: This group of people...don’t eat people, right?

Otherwise, history will always repeat itself day by day. This kind of misunderstanding has also been experienced by the Chinese people in their previous lives. That is to say, the Chinese people are more restrained.

The tripartite contact was originally a good thing, but after the first contact, I became confused: the ethnic groups are different, the language is not clear, and the mutual communication can only be gestures and guesses - one side is Chinese, the other is Portuguese, and the other is Sinhala. After talking for a long time, no one knew whether the other party wanted to fight, or simply wanted to show friendship, or both.

Later, a guide from Malacca and a Toungoo man from Calcutta who fled to Madras solved the communication problem. He Qing asked patiently for a long time before he understood who was who on both sides, and was very pleasantly surprised: finally We found Francobot!

Originally, He Qing planned to ask about the business first, but before he could open his mouth, the Folang machine quarreled with the Sinhalese again, and it took a long time for the guide to ask He Qing to know what the current situation on the island was.

So Lao He got angry on the spot: After a long time of trouble, you group of Frangji barbarians are also pirates?Come, I will take them all!

That's right, this reckless person directly treated Folangji as a Japanese pirate, and after taking down the person who came to negotiate, under the surprised and joyful eyes of the Sinhalese, the Ningbo navy directly treated Folangji's Those Caravelles and Asan's messy pile of broken ships surrounded them, and after a few symbolic demonstrations, they forced the arrested people to shout to their companions, demanding that they, the group of thieves, show justice to the mighty, domineering, bright and righteous. The Chinese navy surrendered...

Franz fainted from crying in the hut.

614. Open Your Eyes to See the World

When He Qing talked about this part, Hua Manlou sincerely praised: "Good job!"

The so-called looking at the essence through the phenomenon, no matter how beautified, no matter how great the age of navigation, Franji, the Netherlands and Britain are all playing plunder, which is no different from pirates in essence.

If you have to say it, it is generally the difference between the four emperors who occupy the territory and the ordinary pirates who plunder everywhere. They are not good birds anyway.

But Tianchao is different.

Although the matter of "the Kingdom of Heaven" was severely criticized later, no one can deny that the Celestial Dynasty was entitled to be proud during this period. Thanks to strong national self-confidence and cultural blessing.

Think about it, these countries in the surrounding vassal states disdain trade-trade?Both sides of the trade stand on an equal footing. What qualifications do you have to be equal to us?

Taking a step back, even if we allow trade, our country is vast and abundant, how many things can you trade?This is not blind self-confidence or nonsense. Later, the British people poured smoke into the sky, isn't it fundamentally because of the huge trade deficit?

In short, there has never been a national-level practice of masking your face and going out to rob. The robot is so ugly-in He Qing's words, going out represents our big Zhao, we can't lose the face of the state of etiquette because of small mistakes, right?

So even though Huamanlou didn't tell He Qing about the law of the jungle or their code of conduct, after He Qing figured out the situation, he immediately understood the nature of this group of red-haired fans: barbarians!They are all barbarians!A barbarian who drinks blood and does not respect education!

"I'm thinking about the lawlessness of this group of Fulangji people. Even if they win, their own country will not have any objections, just like the situation of the Japanese pirates, so..." At this point, He Qing specially explained, for fear I did something wrong - there is a custom, doesn't the Japanese country also have a headache for Japanese pirates?

When Emperor Guangxing heard the words, he first glanced at Hua Manlou, and then said softly: "Aiqing is right, if that Fu Langji has any objections, let them come to me to discuss it!"

Franz: I have an opinion, but I dare not say it...