New Shun 1730

After raising their glasses, the merchants also raised their glasses and gave a toast. After drinking it down, the merchants became more courageous due to the drunkenness and asked: "Sir, if the ships including the Dutch are near the Japanese country, It can also be sunk. What does this mean?"

Liu Yu glanced at the businessman and said with a smile: "This important matter of the imperial court must be justified. I am not encouraging you to become pirates."

"That's it, that's it. Who can be a thief when there is serious business to do? But don't worry, sir, we are full of martial virtue. If the Dutch really violate the court's prohibition, as long as the court allows it, we will dare Do it. The Zheng family also defeated the Dutch in the past, and our methods are not bad, and we have the new ships from your shipyard, so we are not afraid. "

The businessman repeatedly said that he could be martial virtuous and abide by the law. This sounded new, but Liu Yu didn't expose it. When he had drank seven or eight minutes of wine, he asked someone to remove the dishes and serve tea.

I casually said a few words about the official business of the imperial court, that is, the transfer of grain, grass and baggage. Compared with the debate over the monopoly rights of trading companies, this matter is easier said than done.

In fact, there is really nothing to say. I have traveled to Nagasaki countless times in the past few years, taking the Ryukyu route, Matsue direct flight, and Weihai direct flight.

There is even a private port on the Goto Islands outside Nagasaki that was used for rice smuggling. It was relatively closed. Historically, until after the Black Ship Incident, there were actually Catholic villages on the island secretly left over from the Tokugawa Ieyasu era.

In addition, the navy now has great advantages. In the eyes of these merchants, it is no different from going to Nagasaki to trade in the past.

After all, if there is a war this year, there will be no business to do. It is nothing more than paying for some crew members, which is not worth a few dollars. It is equivalent to gaining two years of monopoly rights in vain.

While drinking tea, the businessmen also tentatively asked about the Swedish trading company. Liu Yu only said that there was no rush. Qi Guogong was responsible for negotiating and would notify them when the results were obtained.

After he reassured everyone, he selected two more people to go to Beijing with him, and the matter of the trading company was settled.

At noon the next day, another order was issued, calling all people with official vice-captain and above levels to come for a meeting. By the way, they also went to Jinghai Palace to invite the seventh prince Li Huan.

As soon as everyone arrived in the evening, the guard closed the door.

The exotic glass chandelier in the room burned with fine whale oil, giving off a somewhat gaudy temperament in Dashun's aesthetic.

Under the light and shadow, Liu Yu asked Li Huan to sit on the left side and stood on the right side.

Even though Li Han is just a prince now and has not yet been crowned king, he still represents the royal family. He doesn't want to cause trouble such as being domineering and disrespectful, so he still has to be careful about this kind of thing.

Li Huan repeatedly refused, saying that he had not been crowned king, and Liu Yu was an earl, so he should be at the top. After refusing like this several times, some of the officers below would inevitably curl their lips and feel troubled.

This is the first time that Li Huan has participated in such a high-level meeting within the Navy. He has lived in Weihai for half a year and knows that the current situation in the Navy is that there are more captains than warships, and every intern who becomes a full-time official is the best in the Jinghai Palace.

Originally, Li Han thought that he could read any book in the forbidden palace, so he must be rich in knowledge. When he entered the Jinghai Palace Official School, he became even more arrogant when compared with the novices.

However, he realized by chance several times that even those trainee captains who could not join the warships had much higher practical skills than his.

Many of them are the first batch of officer cadets from Jinghai Palace. They have been with Liu Yu for ten years and have learned more and more. But there are people outside and there are only so many warships. There is really no way to avoid them.

After this incident, Li Han also swallowed his arrogance, and realized that there was a real crouching tiger, hidden dragon, just in terms of practical study.

When Liu Yu went to Ryukyu, Li Huan was determined to study hard in Jinghai Palace, and he did not ask about the navy.

He also had a sense of propriety, thinking that since his father had asked him to come to Weihai, Liu Yu would ask him to participate in naval military affairs when he felt it was necessary.

He thought that he would study in the Jinghai Palace Official School for another year or two, but he never thought that Liu Yu would just come back from Ryukyu and invite him to attend the meeting, which made him very nervous.

He was also afraid that he would be laughed at if he said something wrong, and he was also worried that he did not understand what Liu Yu said. He sat at the top with his neck stiffened, for fear of missing something.

I just didn't expect Liu Yu's first words to be depressing.

"Everyone, the war against the Japanese is a foregone conclusion. However, our navy can only accompany the prince to study this time, and cannot play the leading role. Making achievements does not lie in the Japanese country."

Most of them followed Liu Yu on a trip to Japan and were disheartened long ago when they learned about the situation of the Japanese naval forces.

The remaining ones who didn't go and stayed behind learned about it from their colleagues yesterday. When Liu Yu said it directly and clearly, they all smiled bitterly.

An officer below yelled: "Sir, they say that it takes a thousand days to raise an army. I have been raised for three thousand days. I wonder how long the court will support us?"

"That's right, the warships are of no use, don't we still have the Marine Corps? I'll take some more people to do what I'm doing in Tosa."

"How about we let the Army group confront the main force of the Japanese while we steal Edo?"

Li Hao sat there, looking at the officers below who were clamoring for war, and he understood in his heart that these officers' desire for war was nothing more than seeking military merit and promotion.

Now seeing that the battle achievements are not coming, everyone is naturally impatient.

Thinking about the reason why I came to Weihai, seeing the officers' enthusiasm for fighting at this time, I secretly reminded myself: If my father really asks me to take charge of the navy one day in the future, I must remember the best generals and let my subordinates have merits, otherwise I will not be a good general.

I also thought that the officers and students of the navy can be regarded as Liu Yu's disciples, and they were built from scratch. Even if there is no war to fight, they can still keep calm. I don't have this level of status, and I have to fight a war to win the hearts of the soldiers.

If I fight, I will inevitably take a boat, and I still need to practice my skills more. From now on, these naval officers will not obey a general who doesn't know how to drive a boat and dares not get on the boat.

Li Li thought to himself that Liu Yu called everyone here this time, maybe he was worried that these soldiers would not obey the transfer order and rush forward for military merits without considering the overall situation? Therefore, before the war, he suppressed everyone's desire to fight, so as not to ruin the big thing because of greed?

Just when he was about to learn how Liu Yu would subdue him, he didn't expect Liu Yu to press his hands and smile: "Don't even think about such crooked ways. Now I'm standing here, and the Seventh Prince is here too. What, do you think you can replace me as the Navy Commander if you make achievements?"

Everyone knew that this was a joke, and they also heard what Liu Yu meant, implying that the Seventh Prince would be in charge of the Navy in the future. There was a burst of laughter from the audience, and Li Li felt comfortable listening to it.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Sir, this is a matter of face. If the army was in the confrontation in front, we would not only capture Edo, but also capture a few Japanese cities, which would be a face-saving thing. Without the navy, the army cannot attack Japan, but we didn't get to fight, and I'm afraid the army may not accept our kindness."

"Besides, if the Japanese pay compensation and we build ships, I'm afraid the army feels that they have made great contributions, so why does the navy take the lion's share of the money?"

"That's right, if we capture a few Japanese cities, why don't the samurai and merchants in the city ask for a ransom of a million or a few hundred thousand taels? When we come back, we can also exchange the slow horse for the red rabbit and get a battleship."

After listening to the shouting, Liu Yu secretly glanced at Chen Qinghai, knowing that he must have heard what he said to Chen Qinghai in private that day.

Today, no one is shouting about feudal Japan. It is unknown whether these people know that it is not good to shout in front of the prince, or whether the associations they organized privately have reached some consensus. If some associations are organized privately, he does not want to manage them and let them develop.

Although they are shouting loudly, they are all about shipbuilding and money sharing, and they did not say too many thrilling remarks.

It seems that although these people are arrogant, they also know the importance of things. They know that some words cannot be said easily in front of the imperial power even if they think about them in their hearts.

Liu Yu held this meeting today not for pre-war mobilization, because that is meaningless; nor for suppressing everyone to prevent reckless advances, because there is no opportunity to recklessly advance.

This meeting is for the prince Li Li who sits at the top.

After everyone gradually quieted down, Liu Yu talked about the war against Japan and the request for opening the gate, which was not a secret within the navy. He then asked, "Before the war starts, we must know why it starts and what to expect after the war. You all talk about it."

This time, there was no chaotic talk like before. The officers were very orderly and raised their hands in turn to talk.

The reasons for starting the war were varied, and there were even some fantastic ideas, which either made people think deeply or caused laughter.

Li Xi, who was sitting there, listened for a while and nodded involuntarily to some reasons. Until the end, Li Xi suddenly woke up and noticed something wrong.

Among so many reasons, no one said "because of the Ryukyu incident" or "because they did not pay homage to the emperor".

Not a single word.

On the contrary, they were all reasons such as "How can I allow others to snore beside my bed", "What if I don't beat him in the future?", "Make money by opening the gate", "Build ships with compensation", "Build practical schools with more compensation", etc.

What surprised Li Li the most was that he seemed to have been assimilated. He didn't even think of reasons such as justice at the first time, but thought of some tangible benefits.

Not only that, he also felt that these ideas were very consistent with his heart, and even applauded some ideas that sounded a little strange, and felt that the door to a new world had been opened.

In particular, a few words said by an unremarkable officer made Li Li completely lost in the way of thinking of naval officers.

"I followed the adults to Tosa and asked about the prices. I felt that if Japan opened the door, everything else in our dynasty would be fine, but we had to be careful of one thing. That is the paper from Korea and Japan."

"Korea doesn't need to be mentioned. Paper is a tribute, and we good families also have rewards from your majesty every year. The quality of Japanese paper is also good, and the labor cost is very low."

"Merchants value profit. They know that if Japanese paper enters the country, the domestic papermaking business will probably be difficult to do and it will be difficult to make a living, but they won't care. They will do whatever makes money. This needs to be guarded against, or tariffs should be increased. To protect."

"Only this one thing, the rest are all benefits."

"I think the silk weaving, cotton spinning, iron smelting, wood industry and porcelain industry of Japan will all be ruined. Once Japan is ruined, those who make a living from these industries in our dynasty will be able to profit and sell more."

"Gold is cheap and silver is expensive in Japan. I think Japan's gold will be gone in a short time. There are few people who can exchange gold and silver. The Japanese warriors are paid with rice. They will definitely find a way to export rice in exchange for gold, silver and silk. If the merchants slightly lower the price, the warriors will go bankrupt and can't survive. They will definitely think of changing. When the warriors think of changing, the country will be in chaos."

"If the Japanese are determined to endure hardships, they will have to impose additional taxes to build ships. Farmers are already suffering greatly. If this is the case, won't they rebel everywhere?"

"When the Japanese farmers rebel, our dynasty may send troops to help farmers split the land in the name of benevolence and righteousness; or send troops to help the shogunate to quell the rebellion in the name of etiquette and law. The former will be eaten away, and the latter will raise pigs and cut meat. I think the Japanese country is finished."

What surprised Li Li even more was that there were no voices exclaiming their insights. Instead, some people nodded, some smiled and said that they thought so too, and some people added the considerations of the opposition between the various feudal domains and the shogunate.

Such ideas are just ordinary words here.

Ordinary.