After entering the third year of Chongzhen, various contradictions in the Ming Dynasty began to erupt fiercely.

The Jianlu defeated the city of Beijing last time and did not plunder enough money, food, people and animals, and suffered a lot of losses. Now he can only lick his wounds silently, and his short-term inability to pose an urgent threat to the Ming Dynasty.

However, the contradictions within the Ming Dynasty were in full swing, and the chaos in the northwest was in a prairie fire. The government and the people were shocked and had already focused on Liaodong to Shaanxi.

The party struggles in the court were killed by Yuan Chonghuan and Zhou Yanru succeeded as the chief minister, which seemed to be suppressed, but in fact, there was still a turbulent internal tide. Nan Juyi, the Minister of Works, was forced to resign, and Han Jisi, who had just taken office as Minister of Justice, had also submitted a letter to retire. Liang Tingdong, the Minister of War, was counterattacked and was already shaky.

While pursuing speed, Zhou Zheng completed the control and development of his basic plate, and also closely monitored the trends of the entire Ming Dynasty.

In early October, Dagu.

The port is busy, with many ships hanging from the Ming Dynasty flag, but you can tell at a glance that they are ships from the Western Yi, busy loading and unloading goods.

The court resumed shipping, and Zhou Zheng took advantage of this excuse to start the maritime trade quietly.

In a restaurant not far from the port, Zhou Zheng and others stood at the window and could see the busy scene of the port.

Behind Zhou Zheng were more than a dozen tall and blue-eyed Westerners standing, saying something with a smile on their faces.

Yao Tongshun and others accompanied him, and several others translated.

After a while, a tall man stepped forward and said something to Zhou Zheng.

The translator immediately said: "Sir, this viscount said that he highly appreciates the spirit of trade and hopes that our cooperation will continue and further expand."

This person is Little Folangji, also known as Portuguese.

Zhou Zheng looked at the port with his hands behind his back, without looking back: "I hope their appreciation can become their credit."

The translation immediately reposted the past.

The little Francisco man said a long string of things.

Translator: "Sir, Viscount said that their little Folang Ji people have always believed in the spirit of contract, and we are paying money and delivering goods in one hand. If the adults fail to believe it, they can take out part of it as collateral. I hope that the adults can allow them to stay in Tianjin and choose trade objects independently..."

Zhou Zheng's expression remained unchanged and said, "This needs to be discussed for a long time."

Now is the early stage of the Age of Discovery. Although the Westerners' merchant ships were already spread all over the world, the caravans were very weak. It is possible to bully some uncivilized natives. In countries like the Ming Dynasty, they just had eggs and stones, and the whole country could not do it.

Daming is indeed the most wealthy in the world. The Western Barbarians were extremely eager to start trade with the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty was very alert to the outside world and rejected it. It once banned the sea, which made the Western Barbarians very helpless.

Seeing that Zhou Zheng had opened a hole, even if the hole was a smuggling, their eyes were still blood-red, like a bloodthirsty beast pounced on it.

The tall man smiled and said something about the translation.

The translator quickly reposted it to Zhou Zheng and said: "Sir, they want to sign an agreement to purchase a lot of goods from the Ming Dynasty. There will be a list for the adults, worth more than one million. If the adults have something they need, they can also sell it to the adults, including arms..."

Zhou Zheng heard the heart move, turned his head, looked at the group of Westerners, and said, "I have a martial arts field in school, and I can take you to see it in a few days."

The Westerners shrugged as they looked at each other.

Zhou Zheng smiled and talked with the group for three days, set a detailed transaction directory, took a boat north to go to Xiangyun Island.

Xiangyun Island is east of Yongping Prefecture and northeast of Xinqiao Haikou, where Zhou Zheng’s military weapon bureau is placed.

A group of people were floating on the sea and finally arrived at Xiangyun Island.

Welcome Zhou Zheng and others was Liu Liuzhe. He had one arm and half apart. When he saw Zhou Zheng coming ashore, he walked up happily and said, "Second Young Master, is it okay at sea?"

Zhou Zheng nodded, looked at his right arm and said, "Okay?"

Liu Liuzhe smiled, raised it up and shook it twice, and said, "Other than not being too hard, eating and writing, it's okay."

Zhou Zheng nodded slightly and said, "You are one of the seven directors of the Chamber of Commerce, and you don't have to do anything yourself."

Liu Liuzhe knew that Zhou Zheng was very concerned about his injury this time, and said with a smile: "I just ran away for the second young master, but I didn't do anything."

Zhou Zheng smiled, took his shoulder, walked forward, and whispered: "Are you ready?"

Although this is a bit unruly to the master, when Zhou Zheng asked, Liu Liuzhe quickly whispered: "Everything is ready, artillery and bird guns gather the techniques of our Ming and Westerners. Those craftsmen said that even if they were sold to Westerners, they could not imitate them, so they had to buy them with us."

This is what Zhou Zheng wanted and asked, "How many are there now?"

Liu Liuzhe stretched his head and glanced at the Westerners and whispered: "There are only fourteen gates and only twenty muskets. The main reason is that many things are difficult to deal with, and they are afraid that others will notice them."

Zhou Zheng nodded, muttering in his expression.

There are too many firearms involved, iron ore, gunpowder, etc., which are very sensitive. Even if there is a legal military weapon bureau, if it is too frequent or large in quantity and is noticed, it will definitely be a troublesome thing. If you find Xiangyun Island again, it will be a disaster.

Zhou Zheng thought for a while and whispered: "In this way, let the economy be separated, with a small amount and a little effort. Arriving on a boat in different places, covering it with merchant ships, transporting it in the canal or at sea, and delivering it to the island."

Liu Liuzhe said: "Shopkeeper Cheng is thinking so too. He is trying to figure out a way, but the output will not increase for a while, and the court is also watching, so we can't use it."

Zhou Zheng looked at the wall in front of him and said, "Try it first, sell it, make some money, and you will definitely use it in the future."

Liu Liuzhe responded, took off Zhou Zheng's arm, and deliberately said loudly: "Second Young Master, you're ready."

Zhou Zheng smiled and said to the Westerners behind him.

These Westerners seemed very curious, looking at the tall walls, and talking in a gurgling manner.

Everyone entered the courtyard and found that there were scattered places here, including warehouses, dormitories, school martial arts field, weapons workshops, people coming and going, and all kinds of voices gradually emerged, and they were resounding.

Liu Liuzhe led everyone directly to the school martial arts field. The school martial arts field was in an open space. Except for some decorations in front, there was wasteland in the distance.

There were more than a dozen neatly arranged artillery guns on the stone bricks, aiming at the distance.

A row of artillery soldiers stood, waiting for orders.

Zhou Zheng looked at him and said to the viscount from Xiao Folangji beside him: "This is what I want to show you, cover your ears."

The translation immediately passed on, and the Westerners looked at each other, slowly covered their ears.

After Zhou Zheng signaled, Liu Liuzhe waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "Fire the cannon!"

At the command of Liu Liuzhe, more than a dozen cannons were ignited together.

Bang bang bang

The huge roar seemed to be the thunder in my ears, and everyone was shocked.

Before they could react, a few miles away, there were another series of explosions, the ground trembled, and the opium rolled, and several small piles of soil were blown away.

The Westerners opened their eyes wide and their faces were horrified.
Chapter completed!