At the same time, the requisitioned barracks outside Manila were brightly lit, and a group of officials from the Nanyang Military Government gathered to hold a second round of banquets.

"No, no, no, you can't think of them the way I think about them!" Facing Gao Gong's lease and customs to Chen Mu, Chen Mu waved his hand and said: "If I am asked to hand over the customs defense to Waiyi, it is impossible, but they are different." ”

"Can their king give the tax as collateral to the merchants, can the Ming do it? Since ancient times, our officials have been in charge of the localities, not only collecting taxes, but also building water conservancy, dealing with disputes, and even importing Dingding, they have no officials, and the nobles under the jurisdiction of each place only collect taxes, and do not care about anything else. ”

"I don't think it's the most difficult thing to lease land and customs, it's hard to appoint local officials and select merchants, who will definitely require that both merchants and officials be devout believers." Chen Mu took a sip of the wine bowl, shook his head and laughed: "I drank too much wine today, which makes me even more excited!" I heard old Pinto say that King Philip had said that he would rather die than rule a country with pagans. ”

"That's the biggest reason why he might not agree to the lease."

Gao Gong was a little unaccustomed to Chen Mu's situation of chattering while eating snacks and drinking, and talking about such important matters, so he sat down without drinking a mouthful of wine and eating, and said: "What is the purpose of Chen Shuai to lease the land, one million taels of silver, so generous!" ”

"Could it be that I still lack so much land in the Ming Dynasty?"

Chen Mu pursed his lips and smiled, waved his hand and said: "It's not generous, it's not generous, to tell you the truth, to Gao Gong, these seven million taels of silver, Chen, I don't plan to ask for one tael." ”

"As long as their king accepts the lease of Seville, we merchants can justifiably send to Spain, the sea route is far away, whether he wants it or not, my fleet will dock in Mexico, I wait for two big victories, the fleet will dock in Mexico, will he dare to stop it?"

"Dare, I have an excuse to send troops to Mexico and garrison the Seville lease; Don't dare, then our troops are stationed in Mexico and Seville. Chen Mu cocked his thumb and pointed to himself, and said: "For us and others, the two big victories of Luzon, Lin Lai, and my tiger and wolf division are already doomed - they can't beat me." ”

"Like these seven million taels of silver, should they give it to me? Of course not, why should I ask someone for seven million taels, it's not because I overturned their fleet. Chen Mu said barbaric words without grace, and said: "Now they themselves feel that they owe me seven million taels!" ”

"They would never have guessed that I wanted Seville's leased land to garrison troops in Mexico, which was the source of their wealth, and they would definitely not agree to it." Chen Mu said and leaned forward, and said mysteriously: "I have to do something worse than the garrison first, and then propose the garrison, and they will agree without thinking about it." ”

Gao Gong frowned, Chen Mu is too evil, even if he does a good thing, if he doesn't take the right path, it will become the source of the disaster, he asked: "Then the cooperation you said is deceiving people?" ”

"Certainly not a lie! I really plan to send Dan'er to them as customs and tax officers, and to rectify their taxes well, and our businessmen used to do business in a dignified manner, so I not only let people buy and sell in the past, but also give them a school to build a school, teach them the Analects, bring them advanced humanistic thoughts, and open a nursing home, a leaky garden, and a Huimin pharmacy. ”

"If Spain is in need, I will sell him as many arquebus guns as he wants; I will sell him as many gunboats as he wants; I'll sell him as many guns as he wants! Even if I bid for the mercenaries of the Ming Dynasty, I will still persuade the imperial court to send him mercenaries - as long as it is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, now, landing in Spain is the most profitable for the Ming Dynasty. ”

Chen Mu didn't know much for the people of the time, so he was always an uneducated guy in the eyes of Gao Gong and others, but this did not prevent him from starting from a high starting point, and at the level of his understanding, no one could quarrel with him.

"What's in it for Da Ming?" Gao Gong didn't like to fall into Chen Mu's context, he couldn't speak at all, he could only listen to the details that he could understand in his remarks, and asked: "What is the benefit of selling weapons to others, teaching others knowledge, and opening a nursing home for them?" ”

"The Ming can affect Spain's economy, the defeat will also affect their military, and the merchants can affect their politics, but this will bring their anti-Ming to them, so we need to give them some sweetness, let them feel that the Ming is not bad, and then exert influence from it, all activities are the whole and cannot be viewed separately."

Chen Mu said and smiled slyly, and said: "I learned from the Jesuits, they are recruiting businessmen, building hospitals, and universities in Haojing, and on the other hand, they are also collecting intelligence and estimating the strength of the army. ”

"The interests of the Ming Dynasty overseas, in Japan, Ryukyu, Luzon, Sulu, Borneo, Malacca, now only Malacca has not been able to exert influence because it is in the hands of the Portuguese, and the rest of the countries have been pocketed, as long as the Great Wall of the Ming Inland Sea is stable, the hinterland of the Ming and Xinming will not be threatened from overseas."

"Overseas, no matter what happens, Yu Daming is irrelevant."

With a high arch and a high chin, the name of the Great Wall on the Sea was still called by him, and he naturally understood its power, but: "The country of Xiyi is so far away, even if it exerts influence on it, it is not as good as the countries of the South Seas." ”

"Sending troops, sending merchants, and transporting goods to the western country is a long journey, and you should know the risks and consumption."

Gao Gong shook his head slowly, and said: "In the past, where did you recruit soldiers wherever you went, the countries of Nanyang were not far away, and it was not difficult to transfer troops and send generals between them. The military government and the guard now have only 5,600 personnel, and they have to garrison Mocheng and Saicheng, and where does the military government get these troops, the burden required is huge, and it is difficult to come and go, not to mention profit. ”

"But what you can do even if you give up your money."

Old man Gao also drank today, and he still drank northern soju, he arched his hand in a daze, I am afraid that he didn't know what he said, and finally Chen Mu understood this sentence, he said: "The old man also wants to know." ”

Seeing Gao Gong so solemn, Chen Mu was embarrassed, he smiled and said: "Actually, it's nothing, the key is not in the interests of the merchants, the purpose is to understand the Xiyi countries and exert influence in them, deepen our understanding of them, as for them to understand us, it is enough to know that we are very powerful." ”

"In addition, if you really want to talk about profits, Chen has no better ideas, it is nothing more than to fight for labor costs, they don't have many handicraftsmen, and the wages are expensive, but there are many colonies, but the raw materials are not expensive, my wages are cheap, from doll carts to coffins, from guns to cannons, from carriages to sea ships, shipping is too expensive, so they directly open the factory in Mexico and use their raw materials, and they can always make a profit."

"When their attention is still on the well-made utensils produced by my Daming, Ma Gui should have already run North Asia Melica, and when they want to turn their faces again, for the military government, it is already a local battle."

The corners of Chen Mu's mouth curled, and he squinted and said: "That Jurchen warrior and Mongolian iron horseman, fighting for the land rewarded by the emperor in America, and raising the prestige of the country on another continent, doesn't Gao Gong want to take a look?" ”