Chu Teng and Li Chuang were both confidants who had followed Zhao Xuening for ten years. They were born and died with him for ten years. They were very capable and trusted by him.
Both of them were orphans at the beginning and did not have serious names. After they established their careers with Zhao Xuening, Zhao Xuening named them and chose words for them according to traditional customs.
Since one of them was named Chu and the other was Li, Zhao Xuening suddenly thought of something interesting, so he followed his own taste and named them two names, including Yunfei and Yunlong.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, one of them served as the chief of the army and the other as the chief of the navy. They were his most capable right-hand men.
The relationship between the two people has been a bit like enemies since ten years ago. Over the years, the two have been chasing each other and competing for each other. One has made meritorious deeds, and the other is also rushing to make meritorious deeds. They are never willing to be stepped on. underfoot.
Therefore, although Zhao Xuening initially focused on developing the navy, as actual needs changed, the originally weak army began to become stronger.
During this military parade, Li Chuang believed that the navy was of the greatest significance to Lan Fang, so the navy should be allowed to lead this military parade and he should be in charge.
However, Zhao Xuening argued that the army and navy must develop in a balanced manner, and against all opinions, let the army take the lead in this military parade, while the navy became a supporting role. For this reason, Chu Teng was embarrassed for a while, and Li Chuang was very unhappy when he saw Chu Teng.
Zhao Xuening also had his own considerations in making this decision.
The strength of Lanfang's navy is no secret in this area. The results of the battle with the colonists have shown the strength of the navy, but the army does not have many records of direct confrontation with the colonists.
Since the establishment of the Lanfang Army, its biggest opponents have been the local Chinese and indigenous forces that existed widely in the past. They serve for annexation. Their main opponents are not colonists. Therefore, although its combat effectiveness is very strong, it does not have as great a reputation as the navy.
Zhao Xuening needs to let everyone know that Lan Fang is not only very sharp in the navy, but also strong enough in the army.
These days, due to practical problems with national development plans and defense funding, it is quite common for the army to be strong and the navy to be weak, or for the navy to be strong and the army to be weak. Many countries are lame giants, and the same is true for European countries.
And Zhao Xuening does not want his country to become a lame giant, because the challenges he faces are all-round.
Therefore, he used a large amount of money earned from the trade of minerals, medicines, and spices to develop military power, invested in the construction of a large number of arsenals and shipyards, and either captured people or used his own connections to hire outstanding European technical craftsmen to serve his factories. , which laid the foundation for Lanfang's military industry.
He was well aware of the dangers of establishing a political power in the special region of the East Indies, so Lanfang's military power must be strong. Not only the navy, but also the army must be strong.
This military parade is also an opportunity to show all potential enemies and collaborators the results of Lanfang's investment in a large amount of money and time to build the military industry. A successful military parade can bring no less results than a What a winning war can bring.
Therefore, only success is allowed and failure is not allowed.
He continued to examine the soldiers participating in the military parade and their weapons and equipment. After walking for a while, someone came to report that Chen Qilong had brought Cornley and Marek to the gate of the artillery school, waiting to be received.
"It came quite quickly, Yunfei, I'll leave the matter to you."
Chu Teng stood up straight and saluted Zhao Xuening.
"As you command!"
"Um."
Zhao Xuening nodded, got on his horse, and left slowly.
After a while, Zhao Xuening arrived at the gate of the artillery school and saw Chen Qilong, Marek, and an unknown foreigner, who must have been the representative sent by Amsterdam - Cornley.
From a distance, Chen Qilong saw Zhao Xuening coming on horseback, so he stood up straight. Conley and Marek also noticed Zhao Xuening's arrival and stood up straight.
Zhao Xuening came on horseback, dismounted in front of them, walked forward with a warm smile, patted Chen Qilong on the shoulder, and shook hands with Marek and Cornley.
Marek had met Zhao Xuening and had dealt with him several times. The two exchanged a few polite words and said nothing else.
Conley met Zhao Xuening for the first time.
He saw that Zhao Xuening was tall and handsome, especially with big eyes and thick eyebrows. His eyes were extremely bright and sharp. He stood in front of him, half a head taller than him, and came towards him for a while. The pressure from the powerful male made him feel uncomfortable.
For Zhao Xuening, Ke Enli's identity is also quite special.
According to the information given to him by Zhao Xuening's informants in Batavia, he learned that Cornley could even be said to be a special envoy of the Republic of the Netherlands in a sense, while Marek was just an envoy of the British East India Company. People's identities are not equal.
But this is not something incomprehensible.
If the time were to go back more than a hundred years to the heyday of the Netherlands, the Netherlands would not send national envoys here.
Similarly, at that time, Britain was still a second-rate country in Europe. It was bullied by Spain and it was willing to change its location. Britain would also send envoys with sufficient weight here.
It can only be said that time can change everything. The powerful sea coachman is gone forever, and the empire on which the sun never sets is showing its prowess.
It’s just that in the current period, the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets has not yet fully entered the industrial age, has not yet evolved into a complete body, and has not reached its heyday. Instead, it has fallen into the quagmire of war on the North American continent, and has been targeted by almost the entire Europe. Life is very unpleasant. Better off.
Therefore, in the past few years, the United Kingdom has been unable to use all its strength to deal with the threats posed to them by its own rise. It can only use diplomatic means to ease conflicts with itself. It can be said that this is a good window period for its rise and development.
So Zhao Xuening felt that he had to thank Louis XVI and Washington to some extent.
Especially in Washington, Zhao Xuening feels that both the President and the White House have been "preemptively registered trademarks" by him, and he feels a little sorry for him, but he believes that Washington will not care about this problem. He must survive under the gunpoint of the British first. yes.
Louis XVI didn't care about this issue. Rather than the ownership of the president and the White House, he should care more about whether he could have a few more beautiful clothes, and whether his beloved queen could have a few more beautiful clothes.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhao Xuening will do his best to make Lanfang rise to a peak that no one can imagine, seize the power of the West, and dominate this era.
Lanfang is still small now, but it can also be big.
It will definitely be very big.
Therefore, the first step is to make full use of the contradiction between the Netherlands and the British to obtain more benefits for Lanfang.
"Mr. Cornley, it looks like you're on the mend. I'm really glad to see you so healthy."
Zhao Xuening spoke fluent Dutch and said hello to Cornley.
Cornley was originally sizing up Zhao Xuening's height and handsome face, which was a head taller than him, when he suddenly heard a familiar language, was stunned for a moment, and then smiled.
"I just heard that you are very fluent in French. I didn't expect that you are also so fluent in Dutch. No wonder Mr. Governor thinks so highly of you."
Zhao Xuening laughed.
"I am studying with Mr. Governor. I cannot just learn French without learning Mr. Governor's mother tongue. Although I have heard that people with status in Europe are more willing to speak French, I think that as a citizen of a country, it is not You shouldn’t be ashamed of your mother tongue, right? Language is an inseparable cultural symbol of a country.”
"That's true."
After listening to Zhao Xuening's words, Cornley paused, smiled, and said slowly: "As expected, you are not only smart, but also knowledgeable, as the rumors say, which makes me more interested in your home country. Mr President."
Cornley said these five words "Mr. President" in Chinese.
To be precise, it is Chinese with some accents from Guangdong and Guangxi.
When Zhao Xuening heard this, his eyes moved, then he laughed and returned to French.
"Hahahaha! Mr. Cornley must have put in some effort. The Chinese language is very difficult to master... I am also very interested in my mother country, but it is a pity that I have never returned to the Qing Dynasty. I have lived here for as long as I can remember.”
"So, Mr. President, have you ever thought about returning to the Qing Dynasty to take a look?"
Cornley looked curious.
Even Marek looked curious.
Zhao Xuening nodded.
"Although I have no memory of the Qing Dynasty, I know that my hometown should be in the Taiping Prefecture area in the Jiangnan area. If I have the opportunity in the future, I will go and take a look to find out about my hometown and my family. trace."
As he said that, Zhao Xuening stopped looking north and laughed again.
"But today is a good day. Let's not talk about things in my hometown. I have been preparing for today's military parade for a long time. I will definitely make you satisfied with it. Are you two interested in taking a look with me first?"
"certainly!"
"That's the best!"
Cornley and Marek were very excited - this was one of the important purposes of their visit today. Only when they achieved this purpose could they truly complete their mission.
Now Zhao Xuening personally leads them to visit Lanfang's army, and maybe there will be professional explanations, which is perfect.
Like the entire East India Company, Cornley didn't know much about Lanfang's army. They all knew how sharp Lanfang's navy was, because Lanfang's navy was born out of the Netherlands' navy, and it was right under their noses. grew up under the child.
Lanfang's army was established after Zhao Xuening received permission from Petrus to establish Lanfang Company. It came from his naval fleet, but its main combat targets were Chinese and indigenous power groups on various islands.
At that time, Petrus hoped to expand the company's financial resources to meet the growing demand in Amsterdam, and Zhao Xuening provided him with a suggestion.
It is for him to lead an army and cooperate with the navy to start a battle to eliminate these Chinese and indigenous forces that compete with the company for financial resources.
Zhao Xuening believes that after wiping out all these companies, the East India Company will be able to obtain the gold, silver and various minerals they control, which will increase the East India Company's financial resources.
Petrus was very happy, so he gave Zhao Xuening a lot of support, so that Zhao Xuening obtained enough equipment and funds to establish an army in a short period of time. This was the basis for him to establish an army.
After that, Zhao Xuening led this army to fight in the north and south, fighting continuously on islands such as Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Celebes, etc., constantly winning, and constantly annihilating and annexing the forces of the Chinese and indigenous people, making them the Lanfang Company to grow and develop. of nourishment.
In the end, wherever Lan Fang set foot, there was no local force that could compete with Lan Fang's company's army.
They were all defeated and annexed by Zhao Xuening, and Lanfang became the largest and strongest force on several islands.
The East India Company also gained huge financial resources as a result. The share of the money handed over by Lanfang as a subsidiary made Petrus very happy, and Amsterdam was also quite satisfied.
Then, there is the "disaster" that everyone knows caused by trust and betrayal.
