Autumn goes to winter, and soon Spain celebrates the New Year.

When the hymns of Midnight Mass sounded, the bagpipers walked through the narrow and crowded streets, the people burned towering trees in the suburbs, jumping and jumping hand in hand, the bards sat in the middle and sang praises or obscene carols, everything related to the struggle was forbidden, and the court of Bilbao called a huge feast.

Of course, the priest at the entrance of the church complained loudly about the revelry crowd, condemning them for singing and dancing like a pagan song, and drinking and feasting day and night.

In fact they have been complaining for centuries that for the past few hundred years Christmas has been a day of revelry for believers, and the priests have to endure this custom, which has been passed down by the Romans.

But the Ming army camp on the outskirts of Bilbao was incompatible with the atmosphere of celebration throughout Spain.

The mercenaries of the six Xiyong battalions were all on vacation, and they went into the city to revel, while the soldiers of the Baishan battalion fell asleep after their daily drills.

After the second batch of silks from Seville arrived in Hong Kong this year, Chen Jiujing used them to hire locals to renovate the camp and build a small city almost to the left of Bilbao.

It is known as Chinatown by the local people.

Because the design and construction were completed by the Spaniards, the land called Xiyong Camp has a lot of Spanish origin in architectural style, and it is almost a copy of the overseas colonies of the West, such as the extremely conspicuous armed square in the middle of the camp.

Around the square, there are both two-story barracks with yards in the Baishan camp and small wooden buildings where the Xiyong camp lives.

The Xiyong battalion is becoming more and more like Chen Jiujing's private soldiers, their residence planning is not based on mercenary regiments, but according to the type of troops, the infantry are eleven people crammed into a room, and the cavalry is the same as the Baishan battalion, twenty-three people live in a small courtyard, each cavalry is equipped with a name and a team leader, and there are two people living in the lower stables.

The only three-storey building on the Armed Square and the courtyard next to it are the residences of the generals of the Baishan Battalion and the Xiyong Battalion.

Both the Baishan Battalion and the Xiyong Battalion, they have been stationed in Bilbao for nearly a year, and the attack on Bordeaux is their latest dispatch, and the absence of war for a long time has made them like the Beiyang Banner Army in Changsheng and Jincheng, both officers and soldiers have married wives or found lovers in the local area, and soldiers often go in and out of Bilbao's brothels on their days of rest, which is unavoidable.

In the past, many generals, like Chen Jiujing, bought or rented on the outskirts of Bilbao and often did not live in the camp, which was not safe for the army.

It was at that time that Chen Jiujing wanted to build a Ming City here, and now they are like the local garrison, they have their own barracks, military warehouses, granaries, horse farms, school yards, and independent courtyards, and all the officers of the Baishan Battalion can take their families to live in the camp.

There is only one point, you are allowed to enter and not to go out.

At midnight, the third floor was still brightly lit, and the entourage was standing outside the door, Chen Jiujing frowned and looked at the letter in his hand, and only then did he raise his head and say to the dusty soldiers: "You have worked hard, go down and rest first." ”

After the entourage left, Chen Jiujing, who was sitting on a soft chair with a horsehair filled with crimson velvet, put down the letter casually, and smiled at Margaret, who was lying on the bench opposite with a wine bottle: "It seems that the dinner party was disturbed, which made the governor very unhappy, and he actually wanted to ask me for 12,000 and a half taels of 800 acres of land." ”

What's more, these 800 acres of land are not good land, the most in the Bacchus area are herdsmen, in the past, more than half of the land here was used for grazing or useless forest land, and there are two hills, which are not worth 6,000 taels of silver in Chen Jiujing's eyes.

Margaret on the bench was indifferent to Chen Jiujing's words, her mind full of chagrin.

On Christmas Eve, because of the decree made by the Ming man in front of him, hundreds of believers in the camp could not hold a carnival, and burning a bonfire in the armed square had become the biggest concession, and everyone was confined in the courtyard.

What's more, at this time, everyone else is doing something in the yard with love, what about her?

Her lover actually sat down with a serious face and didn't even drink wine, and discussed buying land with herself!

Who cares about buying land!

Chen Jiujing cares.

He wanted to buy this land, not only the camp, but also the land around the camp, after all, everyone else called it Chinatown, and their towns were all established, would it be for nothing to give to the Spaniards when the troops withdrew in the future?

Of course you have to buy it.

However, at first, it was just whimsical, and he wrote a letter to Governor Bacchus with the mentality of trying, but he didn't expect to get a response, and it wasn't a straightforward refusal, just a price that Chen Jiujing was unwilling to give.

He felt that the price could be negotiated again.

"Eight thousand and a half taels, Margo, what do you think?" Chen Jiujing knew that Margaret was unhappy, so he asked again, "This kind of price can already buy 1,500 acres of land in my hometown." ”

"Twelve thousand and a half taels is already a much cheaper price in Spain for your identity, and it is not easy to buy such a large piece of land in Spain." Margaret smiled stupidly, looking a little drunk, and she leaned on her chair twice before she sat up, and asked calmly, "General, how long are you going to fool me?" ”

Chen Jiujing blinked, he was still thinking in his heart whether it would be appropriate to exchange three hundred pieces of silk for this land, and when he heard Margaret's words, he asked puzzledly, "Foolish?" ”

"The war in France had begun for a long time, the king had already taken measures against the rebellion, he protected the threatened cities, he also sheltered the Protestants who had not yet joined the rebellion, there were not so many troops willing to respond to Navarre's call, but the king sent three armies."

Mayenne was on his way to the department of Dauphine, and Billund was ordered to gather his forces at Bordeaux in Guierna. Marshal Matthion went to command Picardy's army, and the nobles of the court had to join his troops, which was very close to Paris, and the Protestant Prince Condé had only one fortress of La Fère, and mercenaries were still recruited in Germany, and once the three armies were assembled, the war was over. ”

Speaking of this, Margaret changed her words, looked at Chen Jiujing and said, "You left the camp the day before yesterday and went to the mansion outside the city, and I guess you should have seen my mother's messenger. ”

Marguerite's mother was Catherine, Queen Mother of France.

"It doesn't seem like a secret." Chen Jiujing leaned back, spread his hands and said, "Huang Xi and your maid will go with me, the two of them will be interpreters, and they don't plan to hide it from you, heh." ”

Chen Jiujing smiled, judging from Catherine's secret letter, the queen mother did not like to be the daughter of Queen Navarre, and he said: "The queen mother wants me not to participate in this war, saying that she can forgive me for the crime of plundering Bordeaux." ”

"I have the final say on the war, don't ask about it. The weapons I want haven't arrived yet, not to mention the two people who are still waiting, one of them is your husband, and he hasn't sent troops either, why should I send troops, it's you and not me who are allied with him. Chen Jiujing rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "I only have an alliance with you." ”

Margaret got up eagerly, naturally raised her smooth neck slightly, clasped her hands and asked, "Then you promised her?" I don't know what your reply is. ”

"She said forgive me for my sins? The French pirates have repeatedly plundered the New Spain of the Ming Empire, this is revenge from the Ming Dynasty, where do I have any crimes, joke - if those shameless people can wantonly plunder the shores of the Great Tomorrow with impunity, I can too. ”

Chen Jiujing smiled contemptuously: "It doesn't matter if it's the Queen Mother of France or the King of France, as long as I don't compensate for the pirates harassing the coast, I will always make it difficult for everyone to sleep." ”

"As for my reply, I just asked the Queen Mother if she wanted to hire me, as long as 500,000 taels of silver were brought in, I immediately set up camp and crossed the Pyrenees to lead the army to attack Navarre."