confirmed Andre's identity, although Chongzhen was a little disappointed, but he did not have high expectations for this British envoy, so he did not continue to talk about the establishment of friendship and mutual trust between Britain and China.

When he first heard the arrival of the British envoy, the first thing that came to his mind was that the three Anglo-Dutch wars allowed the British to defeat the Dutch maritime supremacy and begin to embark on the journey of the empire on which the sun never sets.

Although he could not remember the time of the three Anglo-Dutch wars, he knew that there were irreconcilable contradictions between Britain and the Netherlands. It was not the Protestant allies who remained close and cooperative in the eyes of the missionaries and Spanish captives.

Defeating the hegemony of the Dutch at sea, so that the Ming Dynasty could restore its traditional sphere of influence in the seas of East Asia and Southeast Asia, and compress the power of the European colonizers south of the Strait of Malacca and east of the Sunda Strait, was Chongzhen's first goal for the construction of the Ming Dynasty's sea power.

If the Ming Dynasty, with a population of more than 150 million, wants to transform from an agricultural country to an industrial country, then at least a population market of the same size is needed, and a natural resource supply area that can provide the industrialization of such a large number of people.

In the maritime neighbors around the current Ming Dynasty, Japan has a population of more than 20 million, North Korea has a population of 3 million to 4 million, Ryukyu has a population of nearly 300,000, Vietnam has a population of nearly 3 million, and the population of the rest of Southeast Asia is about 00,000.

In other words, the above-mentioned areas have a population of nearly 40 million, and the combined sea and land area of these areas is several times that of the current Ming territory.

Considering the largest and cheapest shipping method in this era, these areas are the godsend of the Ming Dynasty to embark on the road of industrialization, only by mastering the above countries and regions, the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as reluctantly establishing an industrial country to the agricultural area of the economic circulation order.

At this time, the adjacent areas on the land of the Ming Dynasty were either in a state of war with the Ming Dynasty, or the roads were difficult and difficult to travel, and the transportation costs were high, so they could only sell some high-value goods. In this state, it is impossible to support the industrial development of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the Indian continent, the Middle East, Africa, European countries, and North and South America beyond the Strait of Malacca and Sunda Strait, limited to the current navigation technology and merchant ship scale of the Ming Dynasty, it was not enough for the Ming to cross out of this sphere of influence.

But in order to control this sea, the first enemy that the Ming encountered was the Dutch East India Company. Although the Dutch East India Company controlled only Batavia and the Spice Islands on land, the Dutch had begun to gradually gain maritime supremacy in Southeast Asian waters.

For an archipelago such as Southeast Asia, the Dutch East India Company, which has control over the sea, is equivalent to trapping the forces on the islands. The Dutch were able to use various means to defeat the natives on the islands, and they were also able to monopolize the commercial interests of the islands by blocking the trade between the islands and driving the Spanish, Portuguese, British, and even Ming merchants out of the region.

According to the news from the Shen family, the Dutch's colonization finally aroused the anger of the local natives. The emerging * religious kingdom of Mataran Sudan in the Yogyakarta region of Java after unifying the regions of Central Java and East Java, conquering the coastal Java provinces of Rinshui, Madura and Cirebon, and extending its power to eastern Sumatra and southern Kalimantan.

Dissatisfied with the Dutch's desire to control the country's maritime trade and monopoly of the Spice Islands, Sultan Agung's self-proclaimed king* Langsan launched an attack on Batavia in July to drive the Dutch out of Java.

However, according to Shen Pei, who happened to be passing by the island of Java, after observing the war, he sent someone to report to Chongzhen, * Langsang organized tens of thousands of troops to besiege the fortress of the Dutch, although these Javanese were brave and disciplined, but the weapons in their hands were only suitable for hand-to-hand combat in the jungle, and they were not at all opponents of the Dutch firearms who relied on the fortress guards.

In addition, the swampy terrain around Batavia also made it impossible for the Javanese to exploit their numerical advantage. At sea, the Dutch ships were firmly in control of the surrounding seas, and the army of *Langsan could not attack from the harbor through the bay.

Langsan's siege of Batavia eventually turned into a siege, but for a port city, such a siege was meaningless, as the Javanese simply could not cut off the Dutch supply by sea.

Although Shen Pei wrote this letter at a time when the Javanese had just begun to besiege Batavia, he believed that the war had already been declared a defeat for the Javanese. * Langsan's persistence could not achieve anything other than the consumption of supplies and the lives of the soldiers.

However, the war launched by the Mada Lan Sudan Kingdom caused Shen Pei to sell 3,000 three-eyed guns and 15,000 catties of old style*. The three-eyed gun is 6 taels per stick, and * is 30 taels per 100 catties. The deal was as high as 22,500 taels, and the profit reached 8%.

The island of Java is rich in abundant land, especially rice cultivation is very extensive. Although there are no silver mines on the island, there are many gold mines. * Langsan paid the price with gold this time, and although he set a ratio of 1:10 between gold and silver, it still did not reduce much of the profit of this trade.

However, the only regret is that when the war began, the poor range of the Three-Eyed Gun was revealed. Langsan rejected his offer to continue the supply of the Three-Eyed Guns, and instead offered to buy the same arquebuses and cannons as the Dutch.

Langsang offered Shen Pei a price that could not be refused, 100 taels per arquebus, 5,000 taels for a cannon capable of damaging the walls of Batavia, and 10,000 taels for a cannon capable of hitting ships at sea.

He bought 300 arquebuses, 10 cannons, 5 cannons, plus 100,000 catties, a total of 160,000 taels of silver.

According to Shen Pei's investigation of the market on Java Island, the rice here is about seven or eight yuan of silver per stone, but the buffalo is exceptionally cheap, more than 2 taels of silver in Yogyakarta, and only 4 or 5 taels of silver in coastal areas. In the Jiangnan region of China, a buffalo is about 15 or 6 taels, and in the north it is also 11 or 2 taels.

In his letter, he wrote, it would obviously be a good deal to be able to bring firearms and* from Daming, and then bring back cattle and rice from here.

Shen Pei's sale* and firearms are still in stock of the capital's arsenal, and these inferior firearms and some weapons and armor that were eliminated by the Ordnance Supervisor were sold to Southeast Asia by Shen Pei, and nearly 150,000 taels of silver were recovered, which was equivalent to three times the cost of this batch of munitions, which gave the officials of the Ordnance Supervisor a great incentive.

In addition to the arms orders of the Mataran Sudan Kingdom, the land kings of the islands between the Philippines and Java also placed orders of nearly 20,000 taels. And the Truong clan, who was at war with the Nguyen clan in northern Vietnam, also offered Shen Pei* 20 artillery pieces and 30,000 catties* at a price of 1,000 taels and one door.

The Shen family's ships walked around Southeast Asia and received more than 20 taels of arms orders, but the current Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau does not have the ability to manufacture arquebuses and artillery, so it can only be used in small quantities. The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau controlled by the Shen family obviously can't complete this order.

Moreover, arms transactions also need to be approved by the General Staff, and Shen Pei had contact with these staff officers when he was in the capital, and it is okay to sell other firearms, but not artillery. Therefore, Shen Peicai pinned his hopes on persuading the emperor, hoping that through this letter, Chongzhen would put pressure on the General Staff.

More than 20,000 taels of arms orders, profits alone can reach about 150,000 taels, Chongming and several merchants in Shanghai set up the Nanhua Commercial Bank accounted for 3 percent of the profits, the palace accounted for 3 percent, and the remaining 4 percent went to the Ordnance Prison. Shen Pei felt that there was no reason for the emperor to have trouble with his wallet.

Moreover, this business is only the beginning, and if the credit of the South China Commercial Bank can be established in the Southeast Asian countries, then the arms business is obviously a long-term business.

Chongzhen, who received Shen Pei's letter, did not intend to deny this arms deal. In fact, he was also going to have the Army Military Academy send several artillery cadets with artillery to teach the Javanese how to use artillery.

Although the ordnance supervisor led by Sun Yuanhua increased the success rate of casting bronze cannons to 60%, and the caliber of the artillery also reached 135 centimeters, no one knew what kind of performance these artillery pieces would have on the battlefield without actual combat, nor did they know what the difference between these artillery pieces in siege warfare and field warfare was.

And the artillery cadets trained by the Army Military Academy also need a war to prove that their current training is in the right direction. Many problems are only exposed on the real battlefield. And the knowledge taught in military academies is an experience and a lesson that needs to be summed up with life and blood.

Being able to exchange the blood of Javanese, Dutch, and Vietnamese for such experiences and lessons is a rare opportunity for the Ming Dynasty.

However, the ordnance superintendent felt that bronze artillery was expensive and hoped to use wrought iron to make artillery, but there was always a lack of funds for testing. Now that the Javanese and Vietnamese were paying for it, Sun Yuanhua proposed to Chongzhen to set up an artillery factory in Guangzhou and use the iron materials from Foshan to cast artillery.

This was obviously a happy situation, and under Zhu Youzhen's persuasion, the General Staff finally approved the order. The Ordnance Superintendent immediately sent people south to prepare an artillery factory in Guangzhou.

As for the Army Military Academy, 10 artillery non-commissioned officers were also transferred, with 1,000 arquebuses of the first type of Chongzhen, 500 arquebuses of the second type of Chongzhen in the first year, 5 4-kilogram guns, 5 6-kilogram cannons, 2 9-kilogram cannons, 2 11-kilogram cannons, one 16-kilogram cannon, plus 250,000 kilograms of guns, and went to Shanghai.

On the one hand, they are waiting for Shen Pei to come back and set off together, and on the other hand, they are waiting for the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to manufacture shells of various specifications. The iron materials in the capital were expensive, and the ordnance supervisor was short of manpower, so he simply handed over the order for artillery shells to the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. Although the iron ore produced in Ma'anshan has high phosphorus and sulfur content, it is still enough to make artillery shells. After all, the current cannonball is a solid iron ball, as long as it can ensure that the clearance of the same barrel does not exceed the standard, it is considered to meet the requirements.

However, since this Andre was not a real British envoy, Zhu Youzhen was not interested in continuing to discuss political matters with him, so he changed his tone and asked: "... So what goods did you bring with you to Daming this time? What goods did British merchants plan to sell to the Ming in the future, and what goods did they want to buy? ”