In a carriage with luxurious and spacious interiors, Zhu Youzhen played with the jade pendant that had just been withdrawn from Zheng Cai's hand. This was the jade pendant he had given to Bill, and it was back in his hands after a few months.

The crystal moist mutton fat jade is held in the palm of the hand, and there is still a little warmth. He looked thoughtfully at Zheng Cai, who was sitting diagonally across from him, and after a long time, he smiled and said, "Yuliang doesn't have to be so formal, in your opinion, this Bill... It should be called Dantès by now.

Do you think he really made up his mind to stand up to the Dutch East India Company? Could he have anything else to look forward to? ”

Zheng Cai's forehead was slightly dripping with beads of sweat, which made his forehead itch a little, but he endured it patiently, and did not raise his hand to wipe it, but bowed to Chongzhen and said: "Back to Your Majesty, according to the observation of the ministers, the prison life in the past few months has made Dantès completely abandon his loyalty to the Dutch East India Company.

What he is most anxious about now is finding a job to earn money to support his family back home. The second is how to take revenge on Peter. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then said in disbelief: "Let's take a look, the most valuable thing about this Dantes is his understanding of the internal situation of the Dutch East India Company, as well as his understanding of the sea conditions of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

We don't have the capacity to reach into the Indian and Atlantic oceans yet, but it would be good to learn about them. You find someone to take good care of him, and inquire about all this information while he is recuperating in his body.

Of course, the most important thing is to find out the organizational structure of the Dutch East India Company, the size of its fleet, and the deployment of troops in Southeast Asia.

After retaking Taiwan from the Spaniards, we had to deal with the Dutch. The Nanyang Islands are extremely rich, and they are also the main source of grain and minerals for the Ming Dynasty in the future.

We will never allow an outsider to control this region, let alone a small country like the Netherlands. ”

Although Zheng Cai knew Chongzhen's plan, he couldn't help but hesitate and said, "Your Majesty, will it be too hasty to talk about joining forces with the Spaniards at this time." We're still fighting them. ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "No hurry, no hurry at all." After losing the two fortresses in Taiwan, the Spaniards were most worried about the capture of Manila by our Ming Dynasty and the Dutch.

After all, in the 31st year of Wanli, when the Spaniards heard that our dynasty intended to go to Luzon to open mines, they slaughtered more than 25,000 Chinese in one go.

Now that the news that the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch have joined forces to attack Taiwan has reached Manila, it is impossible to say that these barbarians are suspicious and suspicious of the Chinese on the island.

If there is another massacre, my plans will be ruined. There is no way for me to cooperate with the barbarians who slaughtered the Chinese twice, otherwise what would be the face of the imperial court?

It was to take advantage of the small victory to explain to the Spaniards that this Taiwan was the land of the Ming Dynasty, and they could not set foot on it. In addition, the Ming Dynasty intended to maintain normal trade with Manila and hoped to redivide the spheres of influence of various countries in the South Seas.

In particular, with regard to the interests of the Spice Islands, I believe that everyone should have equal interests and not be monopolized by certain countries or organizations, which is contrary to the spirit of free trade. ”

Zheng Cai only thought about it for a while, then lowered his head and said seriously: "Then what does Your Majesty need Weichen to do?" ”

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a moment, and then said: "You just came back from Japan, do you know that Xu Xinsu and the others have already started a war with the Spaniards in Taiwan?" ”

Zheng Cai smiled and bowed his hand and said: "Although Weichen has just returned, I have already heard that my Ming Navy has fought bravely, captured a fortress of the Spaniards in Taiwan, and captured more than a dozen Spaniards. Please congratulate Your Majesty. ”

Regarding Zheng Cai's compliment, Zhu Youzhen just nodded, and he didn't feel fluttering, he quickly got to the point: "I want to hand over the matter of dealing with the Spaniards to you."

As for the matter of uniting the Spaniards against the Dutch East India Company, I hope that after you go back this time, you will persuade Zheng Zhilong to take over this matter.

I know that Zheng Zhilong is quite dissatisfied with Xu Xinsu's appointment as a patrol envoy in the East China Sea and his desire to monopolize trade with Japan.

You told him that if you take the Spice Islands, one-third of the proceeds will be allocated to the Taiwan Strait Fleet. The trade route between Daming and Manila is also under the management of the Taiwan Strait Fleet. ”

Zheng Cai subconsciously gasped, whether it was part of the interests of the Spice Islands or the trade route with Manila, it was a huge benefit, not much less than the trade interests with Japan.

The Taiwan Strait Fleet is nominally the army of the Ming Dynasty, but it still belongs to Zheng Zhilong's personal subordinates. Chongzhen handed over such a big benefit to Zheng Zhilong, which made Zheng Cai a little frightened.

Although Zheng Zhilong's power in the Eighteen Zhis is growing, he has not yet reached the point of dominance after all.

With such a large amount of benefits, if Zheng Zhilong can digest it, he will inevitably become a real maritime hegemon. But if you have indigestion, it will become the cause of the fragmentation of the eighteen zhi.

"Your Majesty, the interests of this spice archipelago and the Manila trade route are huge, if all of them are handed over to Chiayinan, I am afraid that his family will be monopolized and cause the dissatisfaction of other leaders, which is not good for the stability of my Daming Sea.

Besides, the Dutch East India Company was so powerful that even if the Chiayi man united with the Spaniards, he would at most expel it from the coast of the Ming Dynasty. wanted to go deep into the South Seas and seize the Spice Islands, Weichen thought that the Chiayi Nan's family seemed to be unable to catch it. Zheng Cai just thought about it, and betrayed Zheng Zhilong without hesitation.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Zheng Cai approvingly and said: "Yu Liang is really loyal and commendable, but I think that others may not be able to do it, but Zheng Zhilong may not be able to do it." All you have to do is bring me to him and see what he says..."

A four-wheeled carriage with a plain appearance, only varnished on the outside of the wooden carriage, stopped outside the gate of Yenching University on Chengxian Street.

The expanded Sung Yin Street is large enough to accommodate four horse-drawn carriages in parallel, and there are sidewalks on both sides of the street that allow five people to walk in parallel. In these sidewalks, the original locust trees are still preserved.

The trees were hugged by two or three people, and their foliage crossed the street below, enveloping the entire street in shade. Even in the scorching summer, this Chengxian Street is still cool and pleasant.

However, in the past, not all idle people could walk on this street, except for the prisoners and scholars of the Guozijian, ordinary merchants would be intercepted by the soldiers at both ends of the street.

When Guozijian changed its name to Yenching University, repaired and expanded the entire Chengxian Street, rebuilt the sewers, and poured cement pavement, this Chengxian Street was no longer restricted to people.

After Zheng Cai got out of the carriage, he looked up at the surrounding scenery, and found that there were few pedestrians on the spacious boulevard, and most people had no time to pay attention to the carriage he was riding, so they just hurried towards Yenching University.

In stark contrast to these pedestrians, there are some plainclothes people surrounding the front and back of the carriage. Watching them vigilantly pay attention to their surroundings, they knew that the people sitting in this carriage were not ordinary people.

Zheng Cai laughed in his heart, Chongzhen's hard-working disguise, in the expressions of these guards, wasn't it all in vain.

But he wouldn't be so stunned to tell the little emperor about his discovery, Zheng Cai diligently helped Chongzhen get out of the carriage, and then after a few words, he resigned to carry out the task assigned to him by the emperor.

His own carriage followed the emperor's convoy, and after Zheng Cai said goodbye to the emperor, he walked comfortably on the broken brick-faced sidewalk in the shade of the trees towards his carriage.

After the hardening of the roads in the capital, it seems that even the dust is much less. Zheng Cai wondered in his heart whether he wanted to buy a house in the capital, so that it could be used as a residence in Beijing in the future.

Unlike Zheng Zhilong, who only wants to toss in his hometown, Zheng Cai doesn't attach so much importance to his Xiamen garrison. He was full of hope that he would be able to move his family from Fujian to the capital and become a member of the noble class of the Ming Dynasty.

After Chongzhen stepped into the gate of Yenching University, Liu Yourong, who had been waiting for a long time, led several officials to greet him.

After Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and dismissed a few people's salutes, he said: "I am here to listen today, this monthly student thesis seminar of Yenching University, you don't have to make a big fanfare, so as not to alarm too many people and disrupt my itinerary today." ”

Although Liu Yourong didn't know what the emperor's itinerary was, he knew that he could neither make the emperor unhappy, nor let people collide with the emperor in the school.

He agreed to Chongzhen's instructions, turned around and ordered several subordinates to arrange the manpower in the school to control the emperor's path to the auditorium.

Once surrounded by academic buildings, Biyong has now become the most famous auditorium of Yenching University.

After a few months of changes, the auditorium has gradually become a place for the school to hold assemblies and for the school's teachers and students to present their academic arguments.

Two-thirds of the high platform in the middle of the biyong was cut off, leaving only a round platform more than half a person high, surrounded by rows of chairs facing the center of the circle.

When Chongzhen and the others walked here, today's academic symposium had already begun. The gates around Biyong were opened, and not only inside Biyong was full of people, but also outside Biyong.

Zhu Youzhen was stunned to find that these people standing there listening to the lecture were not only the students of Yenching University, but also many people outside the university.

Under the leadership of Liu Yourong, Chongzhen squeezed into Biyong with only three or four entourages. After squeezing into Biyong, Liu Yourong looked around, then walked to the front row on the left side of the round platform, whispered to a few people sitting here, and then vacated four or five seats for Chongzhen and his party.

After Zhu Youzhen nodded to the few people who gave way to him, he sat down quietly and began to listen to the speech of a young student on the stage.

“… Put the iron sheet into the copper sulfate, and the copper can be replaced; Copper can also be obtained by putting zinc flakes into copper sulfate. However, when copper sheets are placed in a solution of silver nitrate, silver can be obtained.

Therefore, I believe that all metals can be dissolved in acid first, and then the appropriate metal can be used to replace the metal with very high purity.

Although I don't know how these metal species are substituted and replaced by each other, I think there is an activity between the metal and the acid, and the more active metal can replace the less active metal with the acid..."