The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1872

[1872. Chapter 1782 Sharpening the knife]

No more foreign enemies dare to invade, no more days of war, the war is really over.

People can finally let go of their tense emotions and start facing their own lives.

So many veterans became teachers.

Of course, a place that has experienced many years of war cannot be rebuilt in a short time, so the schools where knowledge is taught can only be found in many ruins that have been barely repaired.

The environment for studying was indeed not very good, but when everything was booming, recruiting children to study immediately was what Fang Jifan thought he should do.

A group of uneducated kids are terrible, they are the source of trouble.

Therefore, in order to encourage the children who come to study, all children are given a ration. Naturally, food is very attractive!

A workshop was also renovated, and here, the printing workshop of the Northern Province of Xishan was established. They collected old paper from everywhere, re-melted it, re-engraved it, and printed out rough “textbooks” one after another.

The teachers were all veterans who had retired from the war. After all, they had to find something to do.

All salaries are treasures of the Ming Dynasty.

The supply of cans can temporarily establish Baoqian’s credit, but then… other food and daily necessities will be needed to supplement it.

The French were very efficient and quickly sent wheat. Of course, the Spaniards wanted to send wheat but could not get it. As the most powerful emperor in the sea today, Zhu Houzhao sharpened his knife sharply and polished it extremely sharp. Obviously, he wanted to cut off a large piece of meat from the Spaniards.

Judging from the depressed expression of the Spanish envoy, this time, it may be very painful.

Wheat is also a staple food, and its best use is that it can be made into bread.

Fang Jifan was very interested in bread.

You know, the so-called bread in this era is just a big black steamed cake. But if you add some sugar and some yeast, the texture and taste will be completely different.

In the past, sugar was actually an extremely scarce resource in this era.

But since the seizure of Luzon, the Ming Dynasty has had a steady supply of sugar. When the fleet came here, it brought a lot of sugar, so… new bread also began to be on the market.

Its price is also maintained at a level that people can still accept.

Of course, ordinary bread is still necessary, and not everyone is willing to spend money to buy new bread.

After many measures, with food as an anchor, Ming Bao Banknotes began to be accepted by more and more people.

With some people taking the lead, people gradually became accustomed to using treasure money for transactions.

In addition to providing some relief, the large amount of treasure money brought by the fleet can also be used to purchase all goods anywhere in the Northern Province.

After experiencing the economic crisis and war, most of the land in the Northern Province is controlled by Xishan, which has played a lot of convenient roles!

…………

The weather was getting colder and colder, but on this day, little Joseph came to school early in the morning.

This is a school that was renovated from an old church. Due to the war, it is difficult to find traces of God’s presence here. It only underwent some simple repairs and was used as a school for children.

Today is the first time little Joseph comes to school. He gets a simple book and two loaves of bread.

He stuffed the bread into his book bag and, like all the children, wore shabby clothes and shivered in the cold winter.

However, with Fang Jifan’s attention, the school received a large supply of coal, and the teachers built a simple stove themselves. Slowly, the classroom became heated.

The teacher, like little Joseph’s father, was a veteran who had served in the Ming army, so he already knew Chinese. However, his Dutch was very poor and he could only listen but not write.

Of course, this is the norm in this day and age.

Even for the vast majority of people, ordinary people have no language. The languages of nobles and common people are completely different. For teachers who were common people before the war, they can now teach here and receive a monthly salary of two taels of silver. I felt very contented.

This salary, according to the current price of food, can barely support a family.

He was not in a hurry to start teaching children how to write, or even how to pronounce words in Chinese.

Although there is a general consensus in the educational circles in the Northern Province that it is of great benefit to children to learn Chinese. After all, if they can have barrier-free communication with Han businessmen who come here, they can see Understanding Chinese books, and even… being able to understand Chinese in official documents is extremely beneficial to a person’s future development.

What’s more, even the treasure note in his hand is written in Chinese characters.

And this teacher was special. He had a stern expression, with a certain arrogance of all veterans. He looked at the children on the desk, and the first thing he started teaching was war.

This is a long history of wars, from the division of Rome, to the Gothic War, to the Hundred Years’ War, the Thirty Years’ War, the Seven Years’ War, between Britain and France, and between the Holy Roman Empire. There were war after war in the Northern Province.

For generations, countless wars have never stopped.

How his fathers and grandfathers died, how the plague caused by the war spread, and then the massacre by the Crusaders…

little Joseph opened his eyes wide with a hint of horror.

“This is what the Ming Emperor said.”

The terms Ming Emperor and Zhen Guogong are already familiar to many people in the Northern Province. Even little Joseph already knows them.

“We don’t want this damn war. The war has passed. From today on until the future, we will spurn war. All our struggles in the future will come from using our own hands to exchange for wealth. Or use our own hands to exchange for wealth. Based on this concept, His Majesty the Emperor will recruit a peace army in the Northern Province. In the future, we will be stationed with the Ming Army in Gibraltar, Egypt, and maybe even Austria to defend peace. There is a fleet that defends the peace of all Europe and guarantees our peace.”

When the teacher said this, his expression was serious and his eyes were shining. He was convinced that

His Majesty the Emperor only trusted people from the Northern Province.

At least for the time being, this is the case. Therefore, although many veterans have retired, a considerable military force will still be guaranteed.

He believed in any promise made by Emperor Ming, or in other words, thought it was the grace of Emperor Ming.

Little Joseph and his friends still remember this class very well.

Because… they also experienced war after war. After the war, everything began to get better.

Without the war, the once depressed market began to become lively. On the way home from school, merchants could be seen transporting a lot of wood along the way. Men took hammers, climbed onto the roof, and began to repair the houses!

At noon, every house starts to smoke, and even in some muddy places, workers begin to lay gravel, making the road smoother!

Next, a large number of buildings began to be constructed.

I heard that the French selflessly supported the establishment of the Northern Province. Of course, this was guaranteed by the Duke of Zhen using the Peace Fleet as a bargaining chip.

Therefore… the new Xishan Bank and Xishan Jianye were reopened here.

It seems that nobles from all over Europe have sent people to arrive here. They have temporarily surrendered in this dilapidated inn. Some people have come to the negotiation table, and more people are not even qualified to be on the negotiation table. They can only Outside the Governor’s Mansion, people were anxiously waiting for the latest news.

Zhu Houzhao was too lazy to negotiate with others.

Fang Jifan excused himself to be ill, and was carefully cared for by several maids made by Wang Xi of the Governor’s Mansion to nurse him back to health.

So this matter fell on Liu Wenshan and Xu Jing, so they met with foreign envoys from all over the world every day.

Naturally, this negotiation cannot be something that can be settled in a few words. The initial agreement was very difficult to formulate, especially the Habsburg envoys who were the most noisy. Of course, they left the meeting angrily several times, but soon They found that no one persuaded them to stay. While the others continued to talk in detail with Liu Wenshan and Xu Jing, after two days, they gradually understood the situation and obediently returned to the negotiating table. After doing this several times, their attitudes changed. Much better.

This agreement included many items, including the number of troops to be abolished to maintain the balance of power, strict regulations on the maximum number of warships that could be built, and even requirements that enslaved peoples should be allowed to break away from the rule of the suzerain country.

Among them, none was more damaging than Habsburg.

Through marriages, the Habsburgs occupied almost half of Europe.

This is equivalent to…the Ming Emperor used a hammer to knock them into pieces very rudely.

Under the title of the Holy Roman Empire alone, there are hundreds of German princes, all of which need to be separated from the influence of the Habsburg family. Not only that, the Habsburg family is not allowed to rule Austria and Spain at the same time. , which is even more unacceptable.

What’s more, the destruction of the Armada led to the loss of all Spanish and Portuguese overseas territories.

The French actually strongly support this.

Because being able to dismember the Spanish Empire is not a bad thing for the French!

As long as the Ming Dynasty’s status in the Northern Province is recognized, it means that France will become the leading power! Although this big country is very capable, Xu Jing does not allow them to build warships after all, and all ports can only be opened to the Northern Province.

However, this is not unacceptable to the French. Their biggest motivation now is to encourage the Ming Dynasty to dismember the Spanish Empire into more fragments. Whenever they see more harsh conditions being introduced, they are overjoyed, as if they want to Same as New Year.

As a result, Fang Jifan, who was still well aware of the external situation, couldn’t help but be a little confused as to what these people were thinking.

(End of chapter)