Zhu Xiaoen patted the wine jug in front of him, raised his hand and pointed to the vault of the Lion Tower, and added: "There are also stone beasts at the drainage, I want to build the castle like this." ”

"Now that Your Majesty has canonized me as king, if all goes well, I will have my own court, and the court should be like a court."

Chen Mu wanted to laugh, but the memories from later generations made him unable to laugh.

If it was a native of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that I would hold my stomach and laugh at the sky now.

But Chen Mu couldn't do it.

The flask is fired by a potter who earns a quarter of a cent of silver a day; The vault, the green tile cornice, the spitting stone beast, the stonemasons and carpenters were paid less, and if the craftsmen who mastered such skills went to Europe, they should be honored as artists with a little knowledge.

But here, their status is very close to the bottom of society, and they are paid very little for their work.

Chen Mu hopes that this land will be richer, that everyone's status will be higher, and that soon, the world will move in the direction he wants to see.

"If the artist you are referring to is Chen's Engineer Thousand Households Department, no problem, when we go to Ailan Country, the artist you want will arrive, and all the crafts owned by the Beiyang Military Government can be made from burning bricks and tiles."

Chen Mu lifted the hem of the python robe and sat down at the table, did not pour it into the cup, raised his head with his pottery wine jug and poured a small sip, then put his hands on the table, and said, "But why don't you worry about your territory?" ”

"According to you, you, the earl, have a bad relationship with England, and the earl has been absent from the territory for so long, and I hope that the Queen of England has taken back your family territory."

"I think what you need more than an artist is an army, and a strong army is what keeps you in power."

Zhu Xiaoen didn't speak, poured himself a glass of wine very quietly, pricked a piece of cucumber with a wooden skewer and put it in his mouth, and listened to the sound of the pipa and chewed slowly.

He is already proficient in using chopsticks, but most of the time, wooden skewers are easier for him to use than chopsticks.

"I am an earl, it is impossible to defeat England, let alone rebel locally, I thought it out before I went to sea, no matter what, it is impossible to ensure that the territory is not controlled by England without the support of the big men, Ireland is too close to England."

"Philip was very enthusiastic about Irish affairs, and seemed to be very enthusiastic about Elizabeth who was against Protestantism, but he could not give me any real help."

"The only help the Habsburgs could give me was to let me live in Seville after the defeat of the war, when I learned that a small area in the south of Seville would not be controlled by the Spaniards for the next 100 years."

"A country that had never appeared in Europa, after winning the war, demanded a piece of land fifty thousand miles away, leased, which meant that the Chinese Empire had the ambition to expand its influence eastward."

This is not the first time that Zhu Xiaoen has shown his foresight beyond ordinary people in front of Chen Mu.

Whether he was the progress of handicrafts in England and the expansion of the New World, the bourgeoisie's speculation about the future political situation, or his determination to fly thousands of miles here without hesitation, this was the reason why Chen Mugao looked at him.

Not every mediocre person can leave everything behind and come to China alone for the sake of a possibility, especially a nobleman with a territory.

"Before I came, I didn't think that the determination to expand could be put into practice, in fact, all I wanted was to trade and raise military funds, but the marshal's proposal was very appealing—King Alan."

"I know that what I have is just a name, if it is not me, I can also be someone else, any nobleman in Ireland can take such an appointment, I can't gather enough troops and knights, the independence of the Kingdom of Alan will mainly rely on the power of the imperial court."

"Therefore, I have no objection to the imperial court to set up prefectures and counties to take over the administration, set up guards to control the military, and even take over local taxes.

As a feudal aristocrat who was almost unaffected by the Age of Discovery, Chen Mu couldn't imagine how poor the nobles who had just escaped from the Middle Ages were.

In later speculations, there were only 20 tons of gold and 100 tons of silver in Europe, which had not yet begun the Age of Discovery, which was not even enough for the house of gold and two houses of silver that the Inca king was extorted.

The Ming Dynasty was heaven for Zhu Xiaoen.

If he had to choose whether to settle in Seville or Tianjin after the defeat of the war, he would definitely choose Tianjin.

Chen Mu understood that Zhu Xiaoen was crying poor, not because he was poor in the intuitive sense, but because he was saying that in the upcoming war of independence in the Ailan Kingdom, there was a limit to what he could do.

"We will set up guards, and we will also set up prefectures and counties, but this is not to control your taxes or capture your military, thousands of soldiers, thousands of taels of silver a year, not to mention the emperor, Chen will not take it into his eyes - and how much tax do you have to collect to receive three thousand taels?"

Chen Mu said with a smile: "This is to make that land fully Chinese." ”

"The blending of Chinese culture and European culture may seem nondescript at first, but maybe by the time your grandson inherits the throne, you will be able to develop a more prosperous culture - if you have to feed a thousand Beiyang Banner Army in two years, what kind of food can you provide for them?"

Zhu Xiaoen blinked, didn't understand too much, and said, "Black bread, goat's milk? ”

"I think I can only feed a thousand banner troops over there in a short period of time."

Chen Mu rolled his eyes and said, "Are you taking my people as farmers?" You know what they eat in the Beiyang Military Palace, and overseas, they eat about the same. ”

"When we were fighting in the southwest overseas, each flag soldier was supplied with eight taels of rice, six taels of meat, one tael of lard, one tael of salted fish, one tael of eggs, two taels of kimchi, and three taels of tea, and every three days we were supplied with live fish, live pigs, and local fruits."

"The rice, kimchi, salted fish, and tea needed by the 1,000-strong army will be transported with the army when they lead the fleet over, and the rest need to be collected locally, which is the foundation of ensuring their combat effectiveness."

"The gunpowder and lead pellets consumed in the usual exercises, they will bring some of them to provide a part of the local area, and they will build a shipyard to maintain six warships and six baggage ships, and the wood and iron nails will also need to be provided by the Alan Kingdom."

Zhu Xiaoen felt that what he wanted to raise was not a thousand banner soldiers, but a thousand knights.

Seeing that King Ailan's face was embarrassed, Chen Mu spread his hands and said: "However, their salary does not need to be provided by the Ailan Kingdom, this Beiyang Military Government will come out, and when they sail over, their baggage ships will carry a small amount of silk, cloth and tea, and the king needs to find merchants to sell them to supplement military expenses." ”

"If it is difficult to provide for it, can I reduce the fleet sent to the Elan country in advance, such as six ships and five hundred banners?"

"No, no, no, they can afford it, as long as they can give full play to the combat power they practiced on the school field in the event of war, and they are not afraid of more, they will be supplied according to their baggage when they fought in the southwest, and they will be given some wine!"

"Drinking is necessary, but not frequent, a pot every ten days. Well, now that this matter is understood, there is one more thing that the king needs to do. ”

Chen Mu patted the table lightly and said: "Arrive at the territory, persuade the neighboring nobles to come under your command within one year, don't go to war with England for two years, and don't anger Spain for three years, so that the Kingdom of Ailan can become independent." ”