But the problem is that Zheng Zhilong, as the soul of Zheng's fleet, chose to retreat. Even if he retreated to Subic Port City, the Ning Navy Fleet, which had suffered heavy losses, had retreated to Manila Port. They made it clear that they wanted to rely on the forts at the port for defense.

However, Zheng Zhilong has been pretending to be ill and is unwilling to face this terrible situation.

Zheng Zhilong was once Chen Shiqi's belief, but he showed a cowardly side, and he had to be disappointed.

Chen Shiqi didn't know what would happen if the news reached the capital.

Compared to Cheng Shijie, Zheng Zhilong was a pirate and was recruited by the imperial court out of desperation. He actually naively believed that the imperial court would be on his side.

It's really ridiculous. No matter how bad Cheng Shijie was, he was still the most orthodox hereditary member of the Ming Dynasty after Cheng Yongxing, and Sun Yuanhua personally established the Ning Navy. After Sun Yuan's incarnation, there was Xu Guangqi, the second minister of the cabinet, Cheng Shijie, and Sun Chengzong, the teacher.

But Zheng Zhilong? What does he have in the court?

…

Cheng Shijie knew nothing about Zheng Zhilong's reaction and had no interest in knowing it. The Ning Navy was resting in Manila instead of Luzon Port, while the fifth and sixth squadrons were actively attacking the warships of Zheng's fleet.

.

Of course, it was just to attack the patrol warships of the Zheng fleet in the Subic Strait, just like when Li Zhixiang led the main fleet, he practiced with pirate ships that did not have much combat effectiveness.

Cheng Shijie told Li Fang and Chen sometimes very clearly, don't worry about the cannonballs, the artillerymen are all fed by cannonballs, and the veterans and elites are all recruits. Only by training hard and practicing through battle can you achieve rapid growth.

In a capitalist society, everything is based on profit. As long as the price is high enough, anything can be sold. Of course, as long as the profit is big enough, anything can be bought.

After nearly a month of consideration, Catherine also discussed with other people in the Venetian City-State Republic, and finally decided to spend one million ducats, which is equivalent to 3,560 kilograms of gold, to buy Venice's solution to the problem

.

The solution to the problem cost three and a half tons of gold, which is not a small amount of money, because although the Ducat is a gold coin, its actual value is actually higher, because this gold coin is used by all countries in Europe.

Just like the British pound, with the improvement of the British status, 1 pound contains 7.32238 grams of pure gold, but in fact, the purchasing power of the British pound far exceeds the value of 7.32238 grams of pure gold. The same is true for the Ducat gold coin, based on the Venetian city-state Republic

Fiscal revenue is approximately 14 million to 18 million ducats in gold.

Taking out one million gold coins is not a small amount of money for the Venetian City-State Republic.

"Your Excellency, the Duke, I have decided that we, the Venetian City-State Republic, are willing to spend one million ducats in gold coins to purchase Your Excellency the Duke's solution to the problem!"

"no problem!"

“When it’s time to pay, we hope we can pay in installments!”

Catherine said with a serious face: "The first payment is 30%, which is 300,000 ducats. After His Excellency the Duke gives us the solution to the problem, we will pay another 30%, and the remaining

The 40% lower payment needs to wait for our city-state Republic of Venice to verify it for at least three years. If this plan is effective, we will pay the 40% final payment!"

"In principle, I agree to this deal!"

Cheng Shijie also understands Venice's concerns very well. After all, if you put yourself in someone else's shoes, some people say that if you tell Chongzhen that I can solve the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen will at most promote him to an official position instead of spending real money!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Catherine and said: "I also have a request, that is, the transaction must be done with Dukat gold coins..."

"This can't be done!"

Catherine smiled bitterly and said: "One million ducats will cause huge fluctuations in the market. We can take silver or other goods of the same value, such as the valuable wood, equipment and even the books and seeds you need from various European countries.

, mineral resources, or land, if the Duke is willing, we can sell part of the land use rights!"

"land?"

Cheng Shijie was very interested in land. He asked curiously: "Do you have land in the east?"

"No, but we do in the Mediterranean!"

Catherine held a chart and said: "I heard that His Excellency the Duke and the Spaniards spent three million taels of silver to purchase a piece of land in Dajuan. We can sell our island of Crete in the Mediterranean. We can offer no less than

Land the size of Tamsui City..."

“Oh, just the Mediterranean island of Crete!”

Although Cheng Shijie showed no interest, in fact he was still interested in Crete. Cheng Shijie does not have the strength to arrive in Crete now, which does not mean that he will not have the strength in the future. He also knows Catherine's true intention. Catherine and Coraqua

The idea is the same, which is the European version of diverting trouble to the east. I hope to lead the Ning navy to confront the Ottoman Empire.

If nothing else, the Ottoman Empire captured Crete in 1669, more than thirty years later. As long as the warships of the Ning Navy arrived in Crete before Venice lost Crete, this territory transaction

Venice must accept the contract.

It's not a big problem if they don't accept it, Battleship will let them accept it.

"I agree in principle!"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said, "Do you have the authority for this transaction?"

"I will report it to our Governor and try to get authorization. Of course, we can put it in the next transaction to offset the payment for the solution to the problem!"

"Very good, okay!"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "When the first advance payment arrives, the solution to the problem of the City-State Republic of Venice will naturally be handed over to you!"

Catherine was very excited. She was very aware of Cheng Shijie's ability and strength. Even if she didn't know it before, it would be impossible to understand it now, because Cheng Shijie is now a famous person, and his deeds are treasured by every soldier in Ning Haijun.

Basically, it includes getting to know Song Xiance, buying an official position in Dengzhou to defend Zuo Qianhu, the rise of Dengzhou to defend Zuo Qianhu, Ning Haijun's garrison, and the Dengzhou incident that left everyone hesitating.

Cheng Shijie's real success was during the Kong Youde Rebellion. After pacifying the Kong Youde Rebellion, Cheng Shijie was promoted to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Ning Navy. He then traveled east to Liaonan and developed Liaonan. He can be said to be a model of starting from scratch.

Spending one million ducats to obtain a solution to the problem of the City-State Republic of Venice is the most profitable business in Venice. If Cheng Shijie grits his teeth and persists, Venice will buy this solution even if it is 10 million ducats.

Cheng Shijie thought that Catherine would delay for a long time, but he did not expect that in just five days, Catherine would put 300,000 ducats worth in front of Cheng Shijie, which is more than 287,600 taels of silver.

It turned out that Catherine sold the goods from Shanghai directly to the Dutch and earned a small commission.

"Your Majesty the Duke, I have already given you the money. When can you give me the solution to the problem?"

"immediately!"

Cheng Shijie took a brush and wrote directly on the paper in front of Catherine: "Liaodong model, copy the homework!"

Seven words.

When she saw these seven words, Catherine was so depressed that she wanted to vomit blood.

Seven words cost one million ducats, and each ducat was equivalent to nine cents and five cents. This meant that she spent 950,000 taels of silver to buy seven words from Cheng Shijie. On average, one word was equivalent to ten cents.

Thirty-five thousand, seven hundred taels of silver.

"Just these seven words?"

"Yes, these seven words can perfectly solve the problems faced by your city-state Republic of Venice!"

"How is this possible!"

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "In the final analysis, the problems you encounter in Venice are only two words, population. There is no biggest shortcoming in population. Facing the behemoth of the Ottomans, they can fail countless times, but one tragic victory is enough to make your Venice

You are in trouble. If my prediction is correct, your total population should be less than 200,000 now, right?"

"Yes, we now only have about 187,300 people including the newborn children!"

"In fact, your situation is very similar to mine in Liaodong. You are short of people, but the problem is that you have money, why don't you poach people from the Holy Roman Empire?"

Cheng Shijie said: "You and the Holy Roman Empire speak the same language and have similar customs. You can hire people from the Holy Roman Empire to fight, work, and farm for you. As long as the population increases, are you still afraid of the Ottomans?"
Chapter completed!