Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 374 Colonization and Development

On the Aegis ship, Taichang and Zhu Yujian, the king of the Tang Dynasty, in casual clothes, had a happy chat with the directors of several western companies.

Their group is leaving Dongyang Port and going south, preparing to patrol around the entire Kyushu Island.

And the first stop is Xishan County, Samo Prefecture, which is the closest to Dongyang Port.

Ma Pengfei, magistrate of Xishan County, didn't know that the emperor, Tang Wang and others were coming.

Now he didn't frown anymore, on the contrary, he was still working hard.

Because he already knows how to generate income.

This place can generate a lot of income just by cutting down wood and planting tobacco leaves and cinnamon!
His luck can be said to be quite good. Most of the mountain forests in Xishan County are made of fir trees, and many fir forests in the deep mountains are fir forests that have grown for hundreds or even thousands of years!

And Chinese fir is one of the most suitable woods for shipbuilding.

Now he really doesn't have to worry, because Daming is building ships like crazy right now, and the construction of Dragon Tooth Battleships and Aegis Ships requires large fir trees that are more than a hundred years old, and the longer the year, the better.

He was thinking about the Dragon Tooth battleship and the Aegis ship, when the Tunwei General Banner who was in charge of guarding the port pier suddenly rushed in, bowed his hands and said, "My lord, there is an Aegis ship and more than ten ships on the sea outside the port." A Spike warship, they have slowed down, and they seem to be heading towards the port pier."

what?
Right now, one of Daming's aegis ships is built, and that is the emperor's car!

Could it be that the emperor is here?
But he knew that the emperor was in Zhenwa city right now.

Since Xishan County is so close to Zhenwo City, it is very possible for the emperor to come over suddenly.

Hearing this, Ma Pengfei stood up abruptly and shouted, "Quickly, tell all the officials in the county government to put down what they are doing immediately and go to the port."

After finishing speaking, he followed the general flag and hurried to the port pier.

Sure enough, an armored warship taller than the city tower was slowly approaching the pier.

At this time, a large wharf was also built in the port of Xishan County, because the cedars with a circumference of Zhang Xu had to be transported by Dragon Tooth warships.

Taichang looked at the huge pile of trees near the pier, and asked curiously, "What kind of tree is this, and how did it grow so big?"

Xu Erjue said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, these are fir trees that are more than hundreds of years old. The best material for a ship."

Materials for making Aegis ships?
Such a thick log, even if it was sawed into two pieces, it would take dozens of people to move it.

How much is this root worth?

Taichang couldn't help being curious again: "Is this tree very valuable?"

Xu Erjue nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, Your Majesty, there are not many such giant trees in the Ming Dynasty. A Chinese fir that has grown for hundreds of years costs at least a hundred taels of silver. However, you can't spend so much money here. Meals, income, dividends, etc., even including shipping costs, are less than ten taels."

Well, colonization has such an advantage, no matter how precious materials and minerals are, it doesn't cost much.

Basically, you only need to calculate the labor and management costs, and some don’t even need to calculate the labor costs. You only need to calculate the management costs and add some food expenses.

Just like the silver produced by the Iwami silver mine, they only need to pay the wages of the smelters organized by the Ministry of Industry, plus the food for the captives, which can be described as a huge profit!
At this moment, Daming's resources are becoming more and more abundant. Not only is there no shortage of silver, but there are also more and more important materials such as timber, pig iron, and grain.

And these materials are the basis for the rapid development of Daming.

No wonder the European powers are so obsessed with colonization, I have to say, this colonization is really cool!

Thinking of this, Taichang couldn't help but smiled and said, "Your Western firm has made a lot of money just because of this wood?"

Xu Erjue quickly explained: "How can we, Your Majesty, how can we earn money from the Ministry of Industry? We only pay for these shipbuilding timbers and don't collect money. When the Ministry of Industry builds armed merchant ships for us, we will use these accounts. Just arrive."

Well, that's fine, so collaborative development is the right thing to do.

If all materials count as money, the cost of an Aegis ship would be at least 10 taels!
If calculated in this way of cooperation, it is estimated that tens of thousands of taels would be enough for the Ministry of Industry to build a building boat and gunboat.

This is the best way, not only the Daming Navy can develop rapidly, but also Western companies can follow suit.

While the two were talking, the Aegis ship had already landed on the pier, and Taichang was the first to go down the hanging ladder like a suspension bridge.

At this moment, almost all the officials of the Xishan County Government have arrived.

Although Taichang was not wearing a dragon robe, Ma Pengfei recognized him at a glance.

Including Tang Wang Zhu Yujian, including Xu Erjue, including Zheng Zhilong and others, he has seen them all, and naturally recognizes them.

He hurriedly took the lead and bowed his hands: "Weichen Ma Pengfei, magistrate of Xishan County, sees the emperor, sees the king of Tang, and sees Mr. Xu."

Seeing this, Taichang smiled and raised his hand and said, "Okay, okay, let's come and have a look, there is no need to be so polite."

Ma Pengfei quickly bowed his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Taichang shook his head helplessly, then smiled and said: "Okay, keep quiet, it's best not to let people here see our identity, understand?"

Oh.

It turned out that the emperor and the king of Tang wore casual clothes for this reason.

Indeed, it is better not to let the Dongying people know the identities of the emperor and the king of Tang.

Ma Pengfei nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Taichang nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go, take us to the county seat."

Ma Pengfei quickly made a gesture of invitation, and then led Taichang and his party to the county seat.

There are not many people in the county at the moment, because only a few places such as the city wall, the county government office, and the school have been built in the entire county. Other than that, there are only a few shops of Western companies and the branch of the Daming Bank.

The civilians in Xishan County have not yet lived in the county seat, and most of them are busy working in the port, wharf and nearby forests.

Although there were not many people on the road at this moment, they were quite respectful when they saw Ma Pengfei, the county magistrate.

When the group of them walked over, the civilians would seriously bow when they saw them.

Seeing this, Taichang couldn't help smiling and said: "Looking at them like this, they shouldn't be putting on airs. Are you quite loved here?"

Uh, how should I say this?
Ma Pengfei thought for a while, and then explained in a serious manner: "Your Majesty, I'm trying to help them find jobs and make money. They may feel that their lives are better than before, and they are a little grateful."

That's it.

Taichang didn't want the common people here to tremble with fright and hide away when they saw the magistrate as if they saw a devil.

If that's the case, Daming won't be able to control this place for a long time.

Taichang nodded slightly, and then asked again: "There must be Xishan among the captives released. What are they doing and how are they behaving?"

Ma Pengfei said without hesitation: "Yes, several of the captives released this time belonged to Xishan, and I asked them to go to the mountains to cut trees. They still worked very hard, because I counted them according to the number. For wages, the more you cut, the more wages you will get.”

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help but asked with great interest: "Oh, how much do you pay them for a tree like that?"

Ma Pengfei still didn't think about it: "The wages for that kind of tree are relatively high. Cut it down, remove the branches and leaves, saw it according to size, and then pull it to the wharf. Each tree is worth one tael of silver."

Uh, you still call it high wages?
There are hundreds of taels of this tree in Daming, you just count one tael of silver with others!
Taichang couldn't help being surprised and said, "Is one tael of silver enough?"

Ma Pengfei nodded repeatedly and said: "That's enough, that's enough. There are about [-] or [-] people here. If they only cut down this kind of tree for a day, they can cut down two trees and deal with them. It's not a problem to pull the wharf again." Calculated in this way, no matter men, women, old or young, each person can earn more than one or two taels of silver every month, which is enough for them to eat, and they can save some money to pay off their debts."

Uh, you've even saved your food expenses. A tree of this size only costs one or two taels of silver!

All right, as long as people can eat enough and don't want to make trouble.

As for wages, it is not good to give too much.

Of course, it doesn't work if you don't give it.

There is a limit to this.

Only when this speed is well grasped can the civilians here be controlled well.

Whether Daming can control the entire Dongpu for a long time depends on these.

They came out for inspection this time mainly to see these things.

(End of this chapter)