Chapter seven hundred and twenty sixth benevolence and righteousness
Adelbert, the commander of the Dutch fleet, was very tall. He looked around the surroundings of the school arrogantly, and then said to Shi Kefa: "Our East India Company wants to open the sea ban in the south of the Ming Dynasty and allow our ships to anchor at will.
Go to any city in the south of the Ming Dynasty to buy raw silk and porcelain."
The translator translated the words of the Dutch Fleet Commander to Skofer.
When Shi Kefa heard what the Dutch said, he frowned with concern. What worried Shi Kefa was not the raw silk trade, but the burning, killing and looting of the Dutch.
The Dutch are not kind people. Since the East India Company's fleet arrived in the waters of the Ming Dynasty, this force from far away Europe has never given up the method that Europeans are best at - plundering. Perhaps in the Americas, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean
The Dutch were used to bullying the local natives, and the Dutch treated the Chinese by burning, killing, and robbing them.
I don’t know how many people in the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian were robbed by the Dutch. The Dutch never bothered to spend money to enter the port for supplies, and always robbed the people of their pigs and sheep in the coastal areas.
But for Jiangbei Army, this is not a big problem.
Compared with the occasional burning, killing and looting by the Dutch, the victory over Li Zhi was obviously more important. The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty also burned, killed and looted, and some officers and soldiers even killed unarmed people at every turn, such as Zuo Liangyu's army. However,
But the court never punished. In the Ming Dynasty, as long as the person who died was not a gentry, it was no big deal.
Shi Kefa only thought about it for a few seconds before nodding and saying: "Yes! I will write to the chief officials in various places and immediately allow Hongyi ships to dock at various ports in the south for trade."
Adelbert was very happy when he heard this. For the Dutch, China's raw silk trade can be said to be the largest income in the Far East. After losing the stronghold of Taiwan officials, the Dutch's annual trade profit loss was
Calculated in millions of taels. This directly caused the East India Company's stock price to plummet.
If trade with the Ming Dynasty could be re-opened, the East India Company would gain huge benefits.
Adalbert felt that he had gained something from the conversation with the yellow man. He raised his chin arrogantly and said: "Secondly, we want Formosa!"
Formosa is Taiwan. For Shi Kefa, Taiwan is Li Zhi's territory and has nothing to do with the gentry. The cession of Taiwan to the Hongyi was completely out of generosity.
Without thinking, Shi Kefa said: "Yes! As long as we can defeat Li Zhi, we will give Taiwan to the Hongyi."
Seeing that both of his requests were agreed to, Adalbert became happy.
"Third, we want to establish two trading colonies on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary and the south bank of the Yangtze River estuary."
Hearing Adelbert's words, the Ming generals behind Shi Kefa changed their colors. Different from the previous two requests, this third request is to directly cut off two areas from the territory of the Ming Dynasty. To put it lightly,
Yes, this is inviting the wolf into the house. To put it more seriously, this is abandoning the land and losing the territory.
All the generals looked at Shi Kefa.
Shi Kefa felt the gazes of the generals and stroked his beard.
In fact, Shi Kefa was not a nationalist. Although historically he did defend Yangzhou, he was just defending the interests of the gentry on behalf of the gentry class. You must know that before the Manchus went south, Shi Kefa actually "joined forces with the captives to suppress the bandits."
"A strong promoter of the policy.
That is to say, in real history, when the Nanming regime faced the two enemies of Li Zicheng in Shaanxi and the Manchu Qing who occupied Beijing, Shi Kefa mainly united with the foreign Manchus to attack Li Zicheng.
When the Manchu Qing Dynasty had just entered the pass and its foothold was still fragile, it was Shi Kefa's "union with the captives to suppress the invaders" that prevented Nanming and Dashun from uniting to expel the Hulu. This shows that Shi Kefa did not put national interests first.
What Shi Kefa hates most is the thieves who threaten the interests of the gentry.
For the Southern Ming Dynasty, which represented the interests of the gentry, the dying bandits who retreated to Shaanxi were mortal enemies, while the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was on the verge of turning the Han people into slaves, was an ally that could be united. This is extremely absurd, but it is also true and appreciable.
The history of sigh.
Of course, after Li Zhi traveled through time, Shi Kefa hated Li Zhi the most. Although Li Zicheng was hateful, he could only operate in the disaster area. Li Zhi was unstoppable and had the momentum to sweep the world's gentry.
Since Shi Kefa in history could unite with the Manchus to occupy Beijing, he would rather give up the entire North China Plain to attack Li Zicheng, the enemy of the gentry. So for Shi Kefa at this time, giving up two small places on the edge of the Pearl River and the Yangtze River in exchange for the Red Barbarians
The important new rifle is naturally the obvious choice.
Sure enough, Shi Kefa thought for a while and said: "The Franji people in Macau are quite helpful to the Ming Dynasty. The Hongyi are willing to imitate the Franji people, but!"
Seeing that Shi Kefa agreed to his three conditions, Adalbert raised his head and laughed. He patted Shi Kefa's shoulder arrogantly.
"Jiangbei Army, yes!"
Shi Kefa was a little unhappy with Hong Yi's impoliteness, but he did not get angry. He said to Zuo Liangyu: "I will write letters to officials and gentry in various places, and gather all the gunsmiths in the south to Nanchang Mansion to start making new rifles."
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In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Zhu Youjian looked at the memorial from Henan and frowned without saying a word.
The previous governor of Henan, Gao Mingheng, had been captured by Li Zicheng and tortured to death in Kaifeng City. The new governor of Henan, named Zhang Rengui, retreated to the north of the Yellow River with a hundred thousand exhausted frontier troops.
Zhang Rengui stated in his memorial that Li Zicheng had been actively preparing for war in recent months, preparing equipment and weapons in various places, preparing to attack Shaanxi, which was also in a bad year.
This news made Zhu Youjian frown.
Li Zicheng's occupation of Henan has already made Zhu Youjian very worried. Li Zicheng used the slogan in Henan to welcome the king of Chuang but not pay for food, equalize land and exempt taxes, and quickly won the hearts and minds of the lowest farmers. Today, Henan south of the Yellow River not only has no more wars,
Instead, there was a scene of green crops.
It can be expected that by the time of the winter wheat harvest next year, the people of Henan will have enough food and clothing. Under Li Zicheng's rule, they will have enough food and clothing.
The irony is that in the Ming Dynasty, when the scholar-officials and the emperor co-ruled, the people were displaced and exchanged their sons for cannibalism. The scholar-officials talked so much about benevolence, justice and morality, but in the end these morals not only failed to govern the country, but actually ate people.
But under the command of Li Zicheng, who was robbing and killing people everywhere, the farmers could farm with peace of mind. Li Zicheng was cruel and easy to kill, and he slaughtered the gentry, but he was able to survive for a while.
If Li Zicheng is allowed to develop like this, people across the Ming Dynasty may enthusiastically open their city gates to welcome King Chuang. Zhu Youjian suddenly felt anxious and felt that he seemed to be losing something.
Zhu Youjian suddenly thought of the "public morality" promoted by Li Zhi in Tianjin and Shandong. It seems that because of this public morality, the situation in Tianjin and Shandong is prosperous, and the people's lives are getting better and better day by day.
Zhu Youjian vaguely felt that only this "public morality" could resist Li Zicheng's "equal land and exempt from taxes".
Zhu Youjian rubbed his temples and asked Wang Chengen: "Wang Chengen, tell me, is it morality that is loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, or the public morality of the Duke of Jin?"
