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Chongzhen did not pursue the crime of Queen Zhou's rash words, but he did not mention this matter again. The reason why he did not pursue the queen was because he knew that what Queen Zhou said actually made sense. The current situation of the Ming Dynasty should really consider the issue of retreat, but this matter cannot be mentioned easily because this matter was too unpolitical. When Emperor Chengzu established his capital in Beijing, one of the reasons was that "the emperor guarded the country's gates." Moreover, when Emperor Yingzong was Emperor, the Tumu Fort changed the 500,000 troops were destroyed, the emperor was captured, and Yexian's troops were at the city, and the Ming Dynasty had never moved the capital to hide. Now, to be honest, the current situation is more than when Emperor Yingzong was in the past.

The wait was much worse. When I was in Tumu Fort, my Ming Dynasty did not have such a serious financial crisis. Although I lost hundreds of thousands of troops, the Ming Dynasty still had the money and food to build and maintain the army, and there were also troops who could fight in various places. Now, Chongzhen sometimes thought that if Beijing was suddenly surrounded by Jianmao or Li Chuang at this time, then Beijing would be incapable of rescue outside and food available inside. However, no matter what, isn’t there any enemy outside the city of Beijing? Before the enemy arrived, the emperor had the idea of ​​running away. Is this the emperor of my Ming Dynasty? Chongzhen was still shameless, so although he knew something was right, he did not dare to mention such a thing on his own.

However, since the Qing Dynasty was over and out of the clearance, the situation gradually stabilized. Li Zicheng defeated Luo Rucai, and is now eager to rectify the internal affairs, and there seems to be no intention to continue to expand the territory in a short period of time. So the situation has temporarily stabilized. Of course, everyone knows that this kind of stability is extremely unstable.

...

Taiwan Beigang, a foreigner residential area, the Dutch East India Company’s representative office in Beigang is holding a dance for the newly appointed trade representative Kairo. This is not only a celebration, but also a way to make subordinates familiar with the newly appointed chiefs faster. Since joining the Zheng family to fight against the Spaniards, the Dutch business has become better and better. Nowadays, most of Chinese goods are re-exported to Europe through the Netherlands. The Dutch and China trade are the most

In Taiwan and Fujian, it was achieved through transactions with the Zheng family. So now the trade representative of the Dutch East India Company in Beigang has naturally become a hot topic, because even if you are lying down, you can "make outstanding contributions" to the company. The representative of the former has been promoted because of his "make outstanding contributions". He returned to Amsterdam and is said to be likely to enter the board of directors. The newly appointed Mr. Kairo is said to be from a famous family in Amsterdam.

Amid the sound of the music, a pair of men and women were dancing on the dance floor. However, the host of the dance welcomed by Kairo did not dance on the dance floor. Instead, he sat on the sofa on the side, holding a glass of iced wine, watching others dancing while chatting with several others.

"Mr. Kairo, you've just been jumping for a while, why don't you jump?" asked a man with a curly mustache.

"Ah, Mr. Robben, this is mainly because the weather in Taiwan is so stuffy. When I don't move, I don't feel it. When I move a little, I can breathe. When I'm in Amsterdam, I can dance for two hours at a time, but here I've only played two songs and I can't breathe." Kairo said with a wry smile.

"Ah, I thought it was because our girls were not outstanding enough," Robben smiled. "If it were to be sultry, it would be much hotter than Amsterdam. But it was the most profitable business here, which was really hard to let go. Moreover, in the future, I think the scale of our business may be further expanded."

"Oh, Mr. Robben, have you observed anything new?" Kairo asked.

"It's not new. It's just that our business partners may be preparing to step into a super-large war. And Mr. Keiro, you know that at any time, war means business to do," Robben replied.

"Tell me what you know." Kairo said, sipped the wine in his cup.

Robben took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and said to Kairo: "Mr. Kairo, are you going to have one?"

"Chinese cigarettes? I have tried them on the boat where I came here, and they are indeed much better than ours. Speaking of which, their tobacco was also bought from us, and I don't know what process they used to have such a taste. These Chinese people always have some technical secrets that we don't know." Kairo sighed.

This technical secret is actually very simple. When processing tobacco, cut the tobacco into shreds, then grill them in the leaching solution of coca leaves. To put it more clearly, these tobaccos contain a certain powerful stimulant - gucca alkali.

"That's normal, because they have thousands of years of civilization history. Naturally, there will be a lot of technical accumulation. And they also have clever ideas." Robben said while taking out a lighter. Yes, the lighter is another foreign trade product from the Zheng family. Of course, the lighter at this time cannot be as small and sophisticated as the descendant Zhibao lighter. In general, this thing is more like a flintlock firing device that has been slightly reduced, but the corresponding fire pool is not gunpowder, but cotton soaked in fuel oil. The whole lighter is about the same size as a person's palm, but can be put in a pocket very easily.

Robben used this lighter to light two cigarettes, handed one of them to Kairo. Kairo took it, took a deep breath, and said, "Friend, let's continue the topic just now."

"Okay, Mr. Keiro. You know that China is a very large country, almost as big as the entire Europe. In a sense, you can think of it as a Rome that has always existed." Robben said, "But this Rome is now facing the same problems as Rome in the past - the threat of the barbarians in the north, and internal divisions. Now a large-scale civil war is being carried out in the north of this country, as well as wars with the barbarians. In these wars, the power of the generals is gradually increasing, so that they can be completely independent of the lord - this is also something that has happened in the history of Rome, right? Our business partner, General Zheng, is actually such a general."

Speaking of this, Robben paused, took another breath of cigarette, and continued: "Just like the army of Caesar crossed the Rubicon more than 1,500 years ago, our business partner also intends to fully intervene in the imperial civil war and the war against the northern barbarians in order to make himself the ruler of the empire. You may not know that in China, there are no eternal nobles, and the emperor is no exception. A person does not need bloodline reasons to become an emperor, but only because of his power. Mr. Keiro, who is familiar with history, you naturally know how large a war this means, and how much business this means."

"My friend. How did you make such a judgment?" Kairo asked, sitting upright.

"Ah, Mr. Kairo, you know, it is impossible to prepare for such a large-scale war without any signs. And we are their largest trading partners, so through research on their trade conditions, we are not difficult to find out. You know, our business partner is also our trade rival in some aspects. For example, in the past, we were able to export various artillery to the Chinese, but later, when our trading partner started to produce cannons by themselves, our products were squeezed out of the market. Not only the Chinese market, but also the markets of other East Asian countries. Of course, compared to our ally with them, we have obtained the

The benefits gained are insignificant. But recently, they voluntarily withdraw from this market, and as far as I know, nothing happened to reduce their production capacity. This can only be explained by the fact that they are preparing for war." Robben said, "In addition, in many other war-related materials trade, they can also see clues, such as reducing the export of various metals and metal products, including pig iron, ripe iron, copper, and increasing the import of some materials, among which the largest increase is saltpeter. If this is not a sign of their preparation for war, then I don't know what signs represent war."

"Mr. Robben, what you said makes sense is, it will be a big deal. However, how is the level of the army in General Zheng's hands? Well, I know that their navy is very elite, and has defeated the Spanish navy more than once, and even defeated us. At least in East Asia, it is an invincible existence. However, to pursue hegemony on a continent, the combat effectiveness of the army is more important. How about General Zheng's army? Do we need to provide them with weapons and technical guidance?" Kairo asked.

"Mr. Keiro, General Zheng's army also had wars with the Spanish army in Manila, and the situation was one-sided. General Zheng's army swept across the Spanish army in Manila with a terrible exchange ratio. Of course, this is just the army of the Spanish colonies, and their level is still far from the real Spanish army. But General Zheng's army, according to some old soldiers, is at least at the general level of the European army. And their equipment level is even higher than that of the European level.

The army is generally equipped with flintlock rifles and a large number of artillery. As far as we know, it should be significantly higher than the level of other armies. Moreover, General Zheng has a very obvious financial advantage compared to his other opponents. Therefore, I think General Zheng has a very high chance of winning this war. Considering General Zheng's open-minded attitude towards trade, if General Zheng gains dominance over the entire China, it will undoubtedly be very beneficial to us."
Chapter completed!