Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 483, I'm afraid they won't come

In the East China Sea of ​​Daming, hundreds of large and small ships are sailing from north to south on the sea. Among these hundreds of ships, there are hundreds of Fuchuan and sailing boats. They are huge and have bulging sails on the masts.

The entire huge fleet is led by a fleet of more than [-] Dafu ships and sailing ships. The dragon flag of Ming Dynasty and the flag of Tianjin Ocean Trading Co., Ltd. are hung on the high masts.

More than [-] large ships sailed in a triangle shape on the water, like the formation of wild geese. The leading ship had the three characters "Taishan" written on its huge hull.

Behind the triangular formation, there were hundreds of large and small ships. These ships, like the ships of the Tianjin Ocean Trading Company, all hung the dragon flag of Ming Dynasty and the flags of their respective trading houses on their masts.

Sangong Ocean Trading Company, Zhang's Trading Company, Li's Trading Company, Northern United Trading Company, Huishang Ocean Trading Company... The ships of each large trading company followed the ships of Tianjin Ocean Trading Company in an orderly manner. The triangular formation is on the sea route.

Each of these large trading houses is strong, and they not only own a large number of ships, but also many large ships, at least medium-sized ships.

Behind these large trading houses are many small trading houses or some individual merchant ships. These small trading houses are often weak.

Not only is the number of ships in a trading house small, but there are very few large ships, usually medium-sized ships, and some small ships can even be seen following behind the team.

It's really crazy. In order to go to Nanyang to make money, even small ships dare to go to Nanyang.

Hundreds of ships, big and small, sailed together on the sea. The scene was very spectacular. Hundreds of boats competed and thousands of sails raced. Between the water and the sky, seagulls kept singing around the fleet, landing on one of the ships from time to time. Rest on the boat.

On the 'Taishan', Taiping Hou Du Mingen looked at the surrounding sea with a telescope, as if he was expecting something.

"With such a big fanfare, they shouldn't dare to rob us, right?"

Beside Du Mingen, Lin Shuhong put down the binoculars in his hand and said with a smile.

"I don't know, but I still hope that they can show up. It is best to all come and wipe out these pirates and Japanese pirates. This route can be considered truly safe. Otherwise, these pirates and Japanese countries will be on these routes. Those who travel from south to north will definitely be looted, and they will suffer heavy losses by then."

Du Mingen put down the binoculars, smiled and said.

Pirates and Japanese pirates, these must be cleaned up.

They pose a major threat to Ming's expansion at sea and global colonization, which will seriously affect Ming's foreign strategy and hinder the development of capitalism.

More importantly, behind these pirates and Japanese pirates are actually big merchants and big families in the Jiangnan area. Fighting these pirates and Japanese pirates can severely hit these big merchants and big families in the Jiangnan area.

After cleaning up these pirates and Japanese pirates, everyone can travel freely and safely, and their monopoly will naturally be broken.

If they want to share benefits from maritime trade again, they must support Ming Dynasty's policy of opening up to the outside world, instead of asking the court to strictly enforce the maritime ban as before.

"If they don't come this time, then they will have no chance in the future. When the new army is trained, the mentor will definitely form a special navy, and then they will be able to hunt and kill them in five great lakes and four oceans."

Lin Shuhong nodded slightly, thought for a while and said: "I guess, they will definitely come, and this time they will definitely come out in full force. The pirates and Japanese pirates around our Daming will definitely come back."

"I'm afraid they won't come. If they come, I will kill them all this time and return the ocean to a clear sky."

Du Mingen didn't care at all.

This trip to Nanyang can be said to be the largest trip of Ming Dynasty to Nanyang since the Three Treasures Eunuch. The scale of these hundreds of ships is comparable to that of Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Of course, the purpose of the two is completely different.

Back then, Zheng He had many purposes in his voyages to the West, but the only one that lacked was the purpose of making money. This time, many commercial firms went south to Nanyang with no purpose, only one purpose, that is to make money, to make money, and other things None of it matters, only for the money.

This is the fundamental difference between the two.

This will also determine that the two will have completely different fates.

Although Zheng He's voyages to the West were large in scale and promoted the national prestige of Ming Dynasty, it also exhausted the national power of Ming Dynasty, and it was destined to be unsustainable.

Many commercial banks in Tianjin went to the West, and the scale is also huge, but only for profit and money. The larger the size, the more frequent contacts will be.

With such a large scale, the goods carried by the major commercial firms in Tianjin are worth several million taels of silver. In addition, without the escort of the navy, if these pirates and Japanese pirates don’t seize the opportunity, then they will really never come back. There is no chance.

Liu Jin also calculated all of this.

These big merchants and big families in the Jiangnan area will never let go of this opportunity, this is their last chance.

They have already lost the markets of Wa and North Korea in the north, and if they lose the market in Nanyang, they, big merchants and big families, are doomed to decline.

Once there is no huge profit from sea trade, what do these big merchants and big families have to support them?

The fleet was going south continuously. Their first stop was Ryukyu City. In a few days, they would almost arrive at Ryukyu City.

Here in Ryukyu City, they will rest for a few days, replenish fresh water and food, and then continue directly south to Luzon. After arriving in Luzon, they will go to Siam, Annan and the entire Nanyang region, and finally come back depending on the situation. Decide whether to travel to South Asia.

Du Mingen and Lin Shuhong were discussing whether there were pirates, and on other ships, everyone was also discussing pirates and Japanese pirates.

On the 'Huishang', Zhu Benduan and Feng Xiang stood on the deck, looking at the mighty fleet on the sea, and they were also a little obsessed with it.

These hundreds of ships are running rampant on the sea, giving people the feeling of thousands of troops. When standing on the bow of the ship, I feel like a general commanding thousands of troops, pointing the country and berating Fang Qiu.

"Brother Feng, do you think we will encounter pirates and pirates?"

Zhu Benduan said with some concern, this time the two decided to follow the fleet to the Nanyang region, and that was also a great determination.

They are both Huizhou merchants and salt merchants, but the life of Huizhou merchants and salt merchants is not easy now. They lost the northern market last year. This spring, Changlu Salt Farm began to enter the southern market. Wherever Changlu Snow Salt went, they These salt merchants were completely defeated, and they had no resistance at all.

He could only watch helplessly as his market was eaten up by the Changlu Salt Farm, and it would be a matter of time before he completely quit the ranks of salt merchants.

In fact, with Changlu Salt Farm doing this, there will be no more salt merchants in the future, and there will be no more salt merchants.

It is almost impossible to make money from salt.

So they had to look for new sources of income, and the salt merchants, who had always had a huge appetite, naturally looked at sea trade first, because the profits of sea trade were too great.

Silk, porcelain, and tea, which are common in Daming, will cost them several times when they go to places other than Daming. When they come back, they will be filled with local specialties. If they go back and forth, ten times the profit is the least.

And now it has been confirmed that the Golden Continent is full of gold. A trip to the Golden Continent can bring back wealth worth [-] million taels of silver, which also attracted the attention of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Naturally, these salt merchants would not miss it.

If you can go to the Golden Isle, what kind of salt are you selling? The salt merchants don’t make much money. Ten ships go to the Golden Isle, and they bring back thirty million taels of silver in more than a year. There is no such thing in the world. There is no more lucrative business than this, and a huge profit is nothing more than that.

There is no way, they have to change and find a new way out.

Huizhou merchants were mainly salt merchants, grain merchants, and tea merchants, and no maritime merchants were involved. The maritime merchants were mainly merchants from the coastal areas of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangsu.

As salt merchants among Huizhou merchants, Zhu Benduan and Feng Xiang naturally knew about these sea merchants.

In the Jiangnan area, if they are rich, these Anhui merchants can be second to none, and then these merchants and families who go to sea are next.

Anhui merchants and sea merchants have one thing in common, that is, monopoly, they are both doing monopoly business, especially salt merchants and sea merchants, which are in an absolute monopoly position.

The monopoly position of the salt merchants is mainly formed by the imperial court's salt introduction system. They have mastered the imperial court's salt field, and naturally they have also mastered the salt business, but now it has been broken by the Changlu Salt Field, and the salt merchants have declined.

The monopoly position of maritime merchants is due to the court's maritime ban policy, and the other is to rely on these Japanese pirates and pirates. Almost every maritime merchant or family that goes to sea is inextricably linked with Japanese pirates and pirates.

Regarding this point, Zhu Benduan and Feng Xiang are very clear. They are both from the Jiangnan area, and many of them are married to each other. How could they not know.

"Yes~ definitely will~"

Feng Xiang nodded solemnly and said, very sure.

"They can't survive anymore. If they don't struggle, they will have no way out. If this Nanyang's source of income is cut off, they will have no chance."

Feng Xiang smiled and said, people in the Jiangnan region have never been so embarrassed.

The imperial court has been hit hard, and even the economy is the same. They, Huizhou merchants and salt merchants, have a hard time, and these maritime merchants have a hard time.

In fact, for these maritime merchants in the Jiangnan area, the most stable source of income is the route to the Wa Kingdom and North Korea. North Korea, the Wa Kingdom and Ming Dynasty are very closely connected.

Moreover, these two countries are deeply influenced by Daming, and the things of Daming are very popular in Japan and North Korea, because the upper class people in these two countries learn everything from Daming.

People in the upper class in North Korea and Japan are proud of speaking Ming dialect, writing Chinese characters, and reading Tang poetry and Song poetry. This Ming Dynasty's tea, cloth, silk, porcelain, etc. are absolutely in demand.

In addition, going to North Korea and Japan is closer and much safer, and it is a stable source of income.

It's just that it has been completely robbed by the Tianjin Port in the north, and the maritime merchants in the Jiangnan area can't compete at all, losing this important source of income.

The way to make money in the Nanyang area is a long way, and the risk is greater. If you are unlucky and encounter a typhoon, you will lose everything.

Losing the wealth of the Wa Kingdom and North Korea, the days of maritime merchants in the Jiangnan area can be imagined.

"Since you are sure, then why go to Nanyang, once something unexpected happens."

After hearing this, Zhu Benduan asked again.

"Because I think these pirates and Japanese pirates are definitely not the opponents of Tianjin Ocean Trading Company~"

Feng Xiang smiled and said: "Have you seen the ships of Tianjin Ocean Trading Company? These ships are not only merchant ships, but also warships. There are rows of gun holes on both sides of the ship's sides."

"Last year, there was a rumor among the maritime merchants in the Jiangnan area that the big pirates and Japanese pirates in the Jiangnan area jointly wanted to loot the fleet bound for Ryukyu."

"As a result, the entire army was destroyed, but the fleet of Ryukyu City was unscathed."

"I have been thinking about a question all the time, that is why we still can't beat that Liu Jin and them."

Feng Xiang smiled slightly, then turned around, leaning his back against the side of the boat, as if he had a lot to say.

"Keep talking~"

I wish this end became interested immediately.

"During this time we were in Tianjin and Beijing, did you find anything special?"

Feng Xiang looked at Zhu Benduan and asked.

"Something special?"

"You mean the high-rise buildings in Tianjin? Or the concrete road?"

Zhu Benduan thought for a while and said.

The prosperity of Tianjin New City is indeed dazzling. Surrounding the vicinity of Tianjin Port, Tianjin has also formed a commercial block about several miles away, which is very prosperous and lively.

"No, these are superficial things. The real special things are the factories and workshops in the Beijing-Tianjin area."

Feng Xiang shook his head and said.

"Factory, workshop?"

Zhu Benduan was slightly surprised.

"Yes, according to my statistics, in Tianjin alone, there are tens of thousands of large and small factories and workshops, among which there are hundreds of cement factories, various workshops, cement factories, It’s very dense and employs a lot of people.”

"These are not seen at all in our Jiangnan area. It is difficult for us to see dense factories and workshops. Even if there are, they are only workshops with hundreds or thousands of people, and the number will not be too many. "

"However, in the Beijing-Tianjin area, factories and workshops with hundreds or thousands of people are nothing at all, but factories and workshops with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people are all that matters."

"How to manage such a huge factory and workshop?"

"And the things they produced, didn't you take a closer look?"

"It's very standardized. If you look at the ships on the sea, as long as they come from Tianjin Shipyard, they are almost the same without any difference. This is very scary."

"There are also ironware produced by Miyun Iron Works in Beijing, glass products produced by glass factories, cloth produced by textile factories, etc. The things produced by these factories are not only large in output, but also of good quality, and more importantly, almost all The products are all similar, and it is difficult to find the difference, as if they all came out of the same mold.”

"This is what makes it special."

Feng Xiang spoke out his discovery in one breath.

"Is this a special place?"

I wish this side is still a little unclear.

"Technology~"

"When I chat with factory owners and workshop owners in Beijing and Tianjin, I often hear them talk about this term."

"At first, I didn't quite understand what this technology is. It was only after chatting with a factory owner who also runs an iron factory that I learned what technology it is."

"Ironmaking in Miyun Iron Works is completely different from our traditional ironmaking. They use a blast furnace to make iron. The weight of a furnace of molten iron can exceed [-] catties, and it only takes one day to make it." , the iron produced is still the best iron.”

"Maybe you still don't know much about this, so I'll just talk about salt."

"We are all in the salt business. We all know that the salt is boiled, but the salt in Changlu Salt Field is not boiled at all, it is dried."

"A Changlu saltworks employs tens of thousands of people, but the salt produced is enough to supply our entire Ming Dynasty, and there is still surplus, which can be used to pickle salted fish and sold to North Korea and Japan."

"We have all been to the salt field. The stove households in the salt field cook salt all day long, and can cook ten catties of salt in a single day."

"This is technology, and that's why we can't beat Liu Jin all the time, because Liu Jin is invincible if he masters these technologies, plus he also pulls the emperor and prince into his boat, we can't win his."

"Similarly, these big merchants and big families engaged in maritime trade can't beat him, and they will eventually lose in his hands. I heard that the cannons produced by Miyun Iron Works are very powerful. Last year they stumbled. planted on it."

Feng Xiang finished speaking with a smile. When he came to this point, he admired him from the bottom of his heart: "This Liu Jin really deserves to be the son of a master. He is far from what ordinary people like us can compare with. There is nothing to fight with him." For the benefit, it is better to learn from the northerners, follow in his footsteps, and there will naturally be a steady stream of benefits."

Hearing this, Zhu Benduan finally understood, and immediately became contemplative. After careful consideration, he nodded and said, "So, the recent slow sales of cloth in our Jiangnan area is also related to this technology. The cloth in the north Not only is the quality good, but the price is also very cheap, unbelievably cheap.”

"That's right, as far as I know, the textile factories and weaving factories here in the capital use the new textile machines and looms manufactured by the Jingcheng Machinery Factory. One person can spin several bolts of cloth in one day. , How could the cloth from our south of the Yangtze River compete with it?"

"This is technology~"

Feng Xiang nodded and sighed.

"However, what is really admirable is that this Liu Jin is willing to share all these profitable transactions so that everyone can make money together. This is the son of a master, and his mind is admirable."

"It's just some pirates and Japanese pirates now, just wait and see, it's fine if those pirates and Japanese pirates don't come, if they really dare to come and rob our fleet, most of them will be beaten up and there is no scum left. "

　5200 words chapter~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)