Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 2182, don't make trouble, reward you with a few beauties
Inside the Study Room of the Emperor Qianqing Palace.

Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao is calling a group of ministers to discuss state affairs.

"Your Majesty, King Charles V of Spain asks us, Ming Dynasty, to provide Spain with a loan of another 3000 million taels of silver!"

Fang Yongliang, Minister of Rites, reported to Zhu Houzhao.

"3000 million silver?"

"How much loan does Spain owe Daming?"

Zhu Houzhao heard it, thought for a while and asked.

"There are already 7000 million taels of silver."

Fang Yongliang quickly replied.

"7000 million, if you count the 3000 million taels, that's 1 million taels of silver."

"What are they going to use as collateral?"

Zhu Houzhao made up his mind and asked again.

"They are going to mortgage several colonial islands in Penglai Bay of the Golden Island, which is the only land in the entire Golden Island that is not our Ming Dynasty."

Fang Yongliang replied.

"Are those islands willing to be mortgaged?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao quickly looked at the position of Penglai Bay on the world map. The island Fang Yongliang mentioned was Cuba Island and several large islands around it.

Back then, in order to annex the Golden State, the Ming Empire also united with Spain to deal with European pirates from England, Portugal, and France. The final agreement reached was that Spain recognized that the entire Golden State except those few islands belonged to the Ming Empire.

The Ming Empire recognized Spain's colonial rights and ownership of these islands, and the two sides formed an alliance to jointly fight against pirates.

Because of their critical geographical location, these islands have always been the most important Spanish colonies overseas. Relying on the geographical advantage of being close to the Daming Golden Continent, the Spaniards can rely on these islands to carry out trade with the Ming people, just by changing hands The transactions made Spain a lot of money.

For Spain, the colony of Gold Coast in West Africa is certainly important, but its status is far inferior to these islands, and its income cannot be compared with these islands.

So this is why Zhu Houzhao was surprised that Spain would take these islands out as mortgages.

"It seems that the Spaniards fought very hard in Europe."

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said.

"Returning to Your Majesty, although Spain has annexed France, it has repeatedly lost in the war with the Holy See. After the early defeat, the Holy Roman Empire has gradually stabilized the situation and is constantly counterattacking."

"In addition, on the Gold Coast of West Africa, North Korea, Persia, and Japan also attacked the Spanish colonies one after another, which greatly restrained some Spanish troops."

"Warning on multiple fronts is extremely detrimental to Spain, which is why their funds are consumed so quickly."

Yang Yun, the Duke of Australia of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, stood up and said.

"Well, it seems that if we don't lend to Spain, they may not be able to persist."

"In this case, our previous loan will be in vain."

"Give them a loan to keep them fighting."

After thinking about it, Zhu Houzhao also ordered decisively.

If Spain loses the loan of 7000 million taels of silver, wouldn't my money be in vain?

Even though the left hand came out and the right hand came in, the money still returned to his Daming people, but these are all profits and must not be lost.

"Yes!"

When the ministers heard this, they all replied respectfully.

"Your Majesty, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire are at war again in the Mesopotamia."

"Ottoman and Persia are fighting again?"

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he became energetic immediately, as if he was afraid that the world would not be chaotic.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"This time it was mainly a war launched by the Ottoman Empire to seize the oil-producing areas in the lower reaches of the Mesopotamia."

"As our Ming Dynasty's demand for oil is getting stronger and stronger, the price of oil continues to rise, and more and more oil is being discovered in the Persian Gulf area. The Ottoman Empire will definitely not let go of this rich land."

Fang Yongliang said quickly.

"It turned out to be for oil, so no wonder."

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he nodded immediately.

Liu Jin next to him also couldn't help sighing after hearing this, the Middle East is really a powder keg.

At the same time, I have to lament the speed of development of the Ming Empire.

Originally, when oil was just beginning to appear in history and was used in many fields, the price of oil was actually not high, although oil extraction still had considerable profits.

But because there are many places where oil can be extracted around the world, this amount of oil extraction can easily meet market demand.

However, once the Ming Empire embarked on the road of industrialization, the result of its huge population, market and terrible manufacturing capacity was that the speed of development was much faster than the historical speed of industrialization.

Taking automobiles as an example, it took decades for automobiles to enter thousands of households from the beginning of their appearance in history, but the current Daming is different.

Because of Liu Jin, the traveler, the Ming Empire paid attention to science and technology and basic education, and vigorously popularized basic education, which greatly stimulated the development of various technologies. The technology of automobiles developed rapidly, and it quickly became mature and Large-scale industrial manufacturing.

It has only been more than ten years since the appearance of cars in the Ming Empire, but now the cars made by the Ming Empire not only fill the streets and alleys of the Ming Dynasty, but also have a large number of exports all over the world.

The Ming Empire produced millions of cars a year.

Such a huge scale and output are all due to the advancement of science and technology and the popularization of basic education. Of course, it is also inseparable from the huge domestic market demand of the Ming Empire.

A large number of cars have an increasing demand for oil, so that even if the people of Ming Dynasty search for oil all over the world, the supply of oil is still in short supply, and the price continues to rise.

In addition, the development of chemical science and technology in Daming is also extremely rapid. The use of petroleum in the chemical industry is also an important purpose, and it also intensifies the demand for petroleum.

As the most important oil-producing area in the world, the Persian Gulf region has naturally become a key area of ​​competition between the Austro Empire, the Persian Empire and Egypt. Just for oil, several wars have broken out before and after.

There were victories and losses between the two sides, but the Persian Empire had a geographical advantage, seizing the lower reaches of the Mesopotamia, the main oil-producing area, while the Ottoman Empire occupied the upper reaches of the oil-scarce areas.

"Did Egypt join in the fun?"

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and asked.

"Egypt made a request to the Persian Empire to share the oil revenue from the Mesopotamia, but was rejected by the Persian Empire."

"So this time Egypt did not send troops, nor did it join the Persian Empire against the Ottoman Empire."

Fang Yongliang quickly replied that these are all things that belong to the Ministry of Rites.

"It seems that the strength of the Persians has increased a lot in recent years. They monopolize the oil in the Mesopotamia and compete for colonies in West Africa."

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said with a smile: "Let's fight, let them fight hard, so that we can sell arms and weapons again."

"Yes!"

When everyone heard it, they also replied in unison.

The chaos in the world must be a good thing for the Ming Empire. Arms and weapons can be sold at a high price, making money and making hands cramp.

"There are two colonies of our Ming Empire in the Persian Gulf."

Zhu Hou took a look at the map of the Persian Gulf, and he could clearly see that there were two colonies of the Ming people on the south coast of the Persian Gulf, and these two colonies were the most oil-rich in the Persian Gulf. area.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"The colony on the west belongs to the Chaling colony where former cabinet minister Li Dongyang left home, and the colony on the east belongs to the British Duke."

When Liu Jin heard this, he quickly replied.

"It's really good at choosing locations. Who would have known that these two desert areas actually contain a lot of oil. This is a big profit."

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said in combination with the current oil distribution map.

After discussing major national affairs, there was nothing else to do. When Zhu Houzhao was about to let everyone go back, Liu Jin stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I beg you to return to your hometown to retire."

As soon as Liu Jin's words came out, not only Zhu Houzhao was shocked, but also Zhong Fan, Fang Yongliang, Tong Rui, and Yang Yun were all shocked. Only Wang Shouren sighed lightly without accident.

"You want to go home to retire?"

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, his eyes widened, and he looked at Liu Jin in disbelief.

"You are only 50 years old. You can kill a tiger if you are in good health. Why are you going home to raise your old age?"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Jin and asked back.

"Your Majesty, the reason why I decided to go home for the elderly is because I want to use the remaining time to go around the world and see the great rivers and mountains all over the world while I can still walk. Get a taste of the customs and customs from all over the world."

"If you really wait until the age of seventy and eighty, even if you want to go around the world at that time, I'm afraid you won't be able to go."

"In addition, Your Majesty, you are the most prosperous spring and autumn, and you are the emperor of the ages. My Ming Dynasty is now in a prosperous and prosperous age. The country is strong, the people are rich, the force is strong, and the power is powerful all over the world."

"The princes in the court are all virtuous and upright people. Even if there are fewer ministers, the Ming Empire can still become more prosperous and powerful."

"So I implore Your Majesty's permission, the world is very big, I want to have a look around."

Liu Jin expressed his inner request to Zhu Houzhao very sincerely.

Hearing Liu Jin's words, Zhu Houzhao also stared slightly. There are always many unexpected things about this Liu Jin. In the position of Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, he can retreat as soon as he says he wants to, and let him go as soon as he says he wants to. It's impressive to be able to let go.

However, he has only been on the throne for two years. Although what Daming and Liu Jin said is the same, Zhu Houzhao feels that Liu Jin's assistance is still indispensable. With Liu Jin around, he is very comfortable as the emperor.

"Don't make trouble, I will reward you with a few beauties, and work hard for me."

(End of this chapter)