Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

So Zhang Shikang picked up his pen and prepared to write a reply to Zheng Zhilong. Liu Rushi immediately went over to grind the ink, Dong Xiaowan spread out the rice paper, and Chen Yuanyuan pressed the rice paper with a paperweight.

Zhang Shikang hesitated for a moment after picking up the pen, perhaps feeling that Zheng Zhilong was not worthy of his calligraphy, so he handed the pen to Liu Rushi, and asked her to dictate.

"Hai Qingbo, those thirty galleons were bought by me from the red-haired barbarians. They are the ships of the imperial court. Don't act rashly!

The red-haired barbarians have ulterior motives. I have known for a long time that they want to get involved in the business of our Ming Dynasty, but these red-haired barbarians are only interested in profit and actually sold the warships to me.

The reason I bought these ships was not for anything else, but for you, Lord Haiqing!

The Red-haired Barbarians are powerful and are the most powerful country at sea in all of Europe. While I have not fallen out with them yet, and they are still willing to sell ships to the court, I certainly cannot give up this opportunity.

This is all for the purpose of dealing with the red-haired barbarians together with you, Lord Haiqing.

Therefore, you must not act recklessly. His Majesty is paying close attention to this matter. If something goes wrong and His Majesty blames you, the titles given to you brothers may be changed.

You also know, Lord Haiqing, that His Majesty has a bad temper.

You can't waste my hard work!

treasure."

Zhang Shikang spoke in plain language, but Liu Rushi had a solid foundation in writing. When Zhang Shikang finished speaking, Liu Rushi had already finished polishing it.

Zheng Zhilong used the red-haired barbarians to disgust him, so Zhang Shikang also used the red-haired barbarians to disgust Zheng Zhilong.

The implication is obvious. The court bought the ships not to guard against you, Zheng Zhilong, but to fight against the red-haired barbarians together with you!

If you dare to attack the imperial ships, you will be attacking your teammates.

Have you thought about the consequences?

In short, Zhang Shikang kicked the ball back.

He didn't believe that Zheng Zhilong would break with the court because of thirty galleons.

After all, that would mean that the Zheng family would lose its headquarters in Quanzhou, and not only that, they would also lose the entire Ming Dynasty market.

Most of the Zheng family's business income relied on the Ming Dynasty market. The spices, rhinoceros horns, crystals, and sumac purchased from Southeast Asia had to be traded in the Ming Dynasty.

Then they imported silk fabrics, tea, porcelain, etc. from the Ming Dynasty and sold them to Southeast Asia.

If he broke with the imperial court, Zheng Zhilong would not only lose his headquarters, but also the entire Ming Dynasty market, which would be a huge loss.

Zhang Shikang believed that Zheng Zhilong would be very upset after receiving this reply letter.

Of course, even if Zheng Zhilong was really short-sighted and really decided to break with the Ming Dynasty, it wouldn’t matter.

The Ming Dynasty has passed the most difficult period. Although several provinces in the north of the Ming Dynasty are still dry and rainy, the canals have begun to play a role.

At the same time, corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are more drought-resistant than wheat, have begun to be promoted for cultivation.

With only a few people like Old Man Xing taking the lead, Zhang Shikang estimated that people would most likely start farming spontaneously next year.

Considering that there have been few wars this year and with the grain delivered by Zheng Zhilong, even though a lot of grain was consumed in digging the canals, the Ministry of Revenue's Taicang still has 1.1 million shi of grain stored.

Although the food supply will still be a bit tight next year, as long as we can hold out until autumn, the Ming Dynasty will have a food supply. If the court makes proper arrangements thereafter, the food problem will only improve.

Because of Zheng Zhilong, the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade could not be developed.

There were shackles before, but now not only the little French people want to do business with the court, but the red-haired barbarians also want to do business with the court.

In other words, the French colonial focus was on America, and the British were nowhere to be seen. Zhang Shikang did not believe that there were no Europeans who did not want to do business with the imperial court.

Therefore, the choice is obvious.

Judging from the current situation, if the court breaks with the Zheng family, all it will lose is its shackles, but what it may gain is the entire world.

If that time really comes, Zhang Shikang will immediately contact the French, the Dutch, and any foreign vassal who can be contacted and want to do business with the Ming Dynasty.

Tell them, come quickly, let’s defeat Lao Zheng together.

In this way, everyone can do import and export trade happily!

Zhang Shikang firmly believed that as long as they were willing to offer benefits, there would be no reason for the French or the Dutch to refuse.

If so, add money.

Anyway, he is confident that he can earn it back from these Europeans in the future.

Of course, the reason why Zhang Shikang still wrote a letter to Zheng Zhilong with innuendos was that he didn't want the situation to really come to that point, and he still left room for easing the situation.

After all, if a war really breaks out, even if the Europeans really agree to come to his aid in a short period of time, it will take a long time just to dispatch them, and Ming will definitely have to hold on on its own in the early stages.

Moreover, even if they won, given that the Ming Dynasty's current navy was still too small, Zheng Zhilong's many overseas territories would probably be divided up by the French and the Dutch.

This is obvious, and Zhang Shikang can't do anything about it.

So, if you can avoid fighting, then don’t fight.

Unless there is no other way.

"I heard that Zheng Zhilong has an army of 200,000 men. Given your husband's reply, what if he rebels?" Kou Baimen said with a little concern.

Zhang Shikang said disdainfully:

"What's there to be afraid of? Zheng Zhilong may be very powerful at sea, but when it comes to land warfare, let's be frank, your husband and I have never been afraid of anyone.

I’m afraid he won’t dare to land!”

He was not bragging. With the current armaments of the Imperial Guards, they would not be afraid even if they encountered the Jianlu Zhang Shikang.

Moreover, as a Tyrannosaurus Rex of the sea, Zheng Zhilong's land combat strength has to be put in quotation marks. After all, he has never heard of the Zheng family fighting any famous land battles.

All we know is that Zheng Sen lost a lot of marines in order to capture Zeelandia.

He had already sent Qin Yiming to deploy troops and station them in Taizhou in order to guard the southeast.

"Of course we know how powerful our husband is, but once there is a war, he is always away for half a year or even a year, and we are always worried about him." Gu Hengbo said softly.

"Don't say that. My husband is serving the country. How can we hold him back?" Liu Rushi shook her head.

Liu Rushi was the oldest and calmest among the girls, so generally speaking, when there were any disagreements, the girls would listen to Liu Rushi.

"Seal the letter, I'll ask the Jinyiwei to deliver it." Zhang Shikang hugged Gu Hengbo and said.

The journey from the capital to Quanzhou, Fujian is long. If the Jinyiwei rode at full speed day and night, it would probably take fourteen days to arrive.

But this time Zhang Shikang did not plan to deliver it so quickly. After all, it would take Qin Yiming at least two months to reach Taizhou.

At the same time, he wrote another letter to the Dutch merchant Leonardo da Vinci, telling him that he would send someone to pick up the ship.

In short, he would transport the thirty galleons to the Tianjin military port in front of Zheng Zhilong's spies and then arrange the defense of Taizhou.

After finishing all this, Zhang Shikang sighed, decided not to think about these troubles, and said to the girls:

"The day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. According to past experience, His Majesty will probably ask me to attend a banquet in the palace.

Before, my dad and I always went there, which was quite boring.

You probably haven't been to the palace yet, so get ready. How about going with me to the palace for a drink the day after tomorrow?"

……