1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 328 Involution and Extension

"I heard that a few days ago, our chief executive was almost intercepted by the Dutch outside Jianye Port?" Hu Wenjin stood on a watchtower on the mountain and asked with a smile.

Zhang Jiawen, captain of Jianye Port Coast Guard, was stunned, shook his head and said, "It was quite a fluke at the time. If it hadn't been for meeting the Yangming, and later using the sacred fire crow to ignite a Dutch warship, scaring away the other .Maybe it will really block the Dutch at sea!"

"Hehe..." Hu Wenjin chuckled a few times, and then said: "Our chief executive is a lucky star, and he is blessed with great fortune! From now on, he will really be the true son of our Hanzhou!"

"After a hundred years of the Grand Commander, it is natural that the Grand Chief will succeed us as the Grand Commander." Zhang Jiawen said.

"In the future, our Hanzhou will establish a country, and the commander-in-chief will be king." Hu Wenjin looked at the sea in the distance, and said softly.

"That's natural." Zhang Jiawen replied casually.

Hu Wenjin glanced at Zhang Jiawen deeply from the side, feeling a little impatient.

"Is your leg okay now?" Hu Wenjin asked.

"I've been lame for more than four years, and I'm used to it." Zhang Jiawen touched his right leg subconsciously, and said with a smile: "When I was on the boat, if you hadn't kicked me, I might have been hit by a shell on my back. It's my life. Speaking of which, my life was saved by you."

"Back then, I kicked you on the deck subconsciously, and I didn't know I could save your life." Hu Wenjin patted Zhang Jiawen on the shoulder, "At that time, although we were precarious, we lived comfortably. Live a chic life. We are together every day, as if we are brothers."

"However, at that time, it was bitter!" Zhang Jiawen said: "At sea, Liu Xiang, the thief, made things difficult for us. When we were desperate, we were put in front, and when we divided things, we were left behind. Next. If it wasn't for the great commander's progress back then, he would have been killed by those pirates a long time ago!"

"Yes, the chief commander is capable and has a heart, and we all obey him." Hu Wenjin said: "In the future, if there is a junior commander, maybe he will also have his demeanor. Then we will enjoy the blessings along with it!"

"Hehe..." Zhang Jiawen smiled, and said softly, "Maybe the commander-in-chief has another daughter!"

"Then... what if I have a son?" Hu Wenjin looked into Zhang Jiawen's eyes and said.

"..." Zhang Jiawen looked at Hu Wenjin calmly, and said, "That's naturally good, the commander-in-chief will have successors!"

"The commander-in-chief will become the king in the future, and his son will also be the prince of our Hanzhou."

This has been made very clear, and Hu Wenjin wants to persuade him to support Cao Xiong's unborn son as the future master of Hanzhou.

"I..., everything is subject to the commander's arrangement." After a long silence, Zhang Jiawen said in a low voice.

"The commander-in-chief attaches great importance to feelings. Sometimes, what is said may not be ashamed to take it back." Hu Wenjin said quietly: "We old brothers need some support from the commander-in-chief."

Zhang Jiawen's expression changed when he heard this, he sighed slightly in his heart, and turned his head to look at the sea in the distance.

"I will obey the decision made by the commander-in-chief. ... Whoever is the commander-in-chief, I will obey him."

"That's natural." Hu Wenjin said.

After getting down from the watchtower, Hu Wenjin couldn't help but looked up and frowned.

After walking a few steps, a person came up behind him, silently followed Hu Wenjin without speaking.

"Old Zhang said that he only listens to the commander in chief." Hu Wenjin said.

"Hehe..." Guan Zongxiang laughed, "Who in Hanzhou dares to disobey the commander-in-chief."

"...he won't try to persuade the commander in chief." Hu Wenjin said: "He is an honest man, and he will only obey whatever is arranged by the higher authorities."

"We are all honest people." Guan Zongxiang paused, and then said: "Otherwise, we wouldn't be forced to Hanzhou."

"Be honest, you have to earn your life!" Hu Wenjin said, "Not only do you want to earn your own life, but you also want to earn your life for future generations?"

The corner of Guan Zongxiang's mouth twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't speak in the end.

"Old Guan, you are in charge of the Black Clothes Guards, which is equivalent to our Ming Dynasty's Jinyi Guards." Hu Wenjin said, "I heard that from Lord Hongwu to the present Lord Chongzhen, few of the commanders of the Jinyi Guards seem to have died well. New When the emperor comes up, he has to clean up the courtiers left by the old emperor, don’t you think so?”

When Guan Zongxiang heard the words, there was a gloomy look in his eyes, he didn't respond, and continued to remain silent, following Hu Wenjin slowly towards Jianye City.

In the shipyard not far from Jianye Port, Qi Tian and Cao Xiong are inspecting the repair of war-damaged ships and the construction of new ships.

With more than a year of development, Jianye Shipyard has more than 800 related craftsmen and apprentices, two huge docks and three parallel slipways.In theory, construction of three ships could start at the same time.

Two fast cruising warships of more than 400 tons have been built consecutively, and their practicality and reliability have also been proved in actual combat.Next, the shipyard will continue to build a warship with a displacement of [-] tons, hoping to continue to highlight its fast cruise and increase its firepower and protection.

"Xiaotian, when you met the Dutchman on your return flight that day, you should throw all the wild buffaloes into the sea immediately." Cao Xiong said: "Sometimes, in order to survive and save opportunities for yourself, you need to be willing to abandon it."

"I thought the sea was vast, and the Dutch were unstoppable, and they could easily be dragged into the night." Qi Tian smiled wryly, "Who would have thought that the Dutch could almost hold our Yangbo with only two ships. On the sea , we are indeed too far behind the Dutch!"

"Yes, we may have to wait many years before we can catch up with the Dutch."

"If we don't have combat skills, then we'll fight with them to emigrate and build ships." Qi Tian said harshly.

"Little Tian, ​​in fact, with our current reserve of sailors, even if we build a battleship, there may not be so many people to operate it." Cao Xiong said: "If we rely heavily on those captured Portuguese and Dutch, we will They are not worried."

"Uncle, there are oceans beyond Hanzhou. All we can rely on is the ever-increasing number of ships, and they are professional warships with powerful force." Qi Tian said: "We don't have enough sailors in reserve, so we train a large number of them. Line immigration has already started operation. In the future, Hanzhou will usher in a steady stream of immigrants from Ming Dynasty. With our current transportation capacity, we can bring back at least [-] immigrants a year. In this way, our manpower will present a rapid increasing trend."

"In addition, as a consumable of war, warships are bound to be damaged or even sunk. This requires us to ensure that there are some war reserves in the naval force. We would rather let the equipment wait for others than to be in danger of war. , there is a phenomenon of people waiting for equipment."

After Cao Xiong heard this, he suddenly came to his senses.Due to the huge size of the warship, I always regard it as a very valuable strategic material.Now, as Qi Tian said, a warship is nothing more than a larger weapon, and naturally it has a reserve like artillery and muskets.When it is urgently needed, as long as people are equipped with it, they can go to sea to fight.

"However, we still need to build a special immigration ship for transporting people." Qi Tian said: "This kind of ship can be suitable for long-distance transport of immigrants without considering cargo shipment or armed protection. The environment on board should be improved. For a moment, the speed must be a little faster.” Qi Tian considered that using conventional armed merchant ships to transport people is very uncomfortable for immigrants, and it is also one of the reasons for the high death rate on the road to some extent.

"Indeed, we have to build a few more large ships specially for transporting people. The wind and waves are rough at sea. It would be a pity if we died on the road for nothing!" Cao Xiong nodded and said.

"Moreover, the distance between the supply points on the road should be shorter." Qi Tian said: "The distance between Hanxing Island (today's Miyako Island in Japan) and Midway Island (today's Koror Island in Palau) in Ryukyu The distance is a bit far. We should find another hidden island near Luzon as a transfer point between the two places. In this way, the voyage between all nodes on the eastern route will not exceed seven days."

"Two exploring flying fish boats followed Dajiang and they were near Daming, one exploring flying fish boat was looking for a new settlement in the south of Weihai (now Cairns, Australia), and the last flying fish boat went between Hanzhou and Xinxiangbao, Weiyuanbao (now Cairns, Australia) Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) and Dog Island (now Christmas Island, Australia). At present, there is no flying fishing boat that can carry out explorations to Luzon." Cao Xiong sighed.

"How can the world be as expected? This year's Eastern Route can complete a small amount of tentative immigration, which has exceeded our earliest expectations." Qi Tian smiled and said: "Besides, no one can threaten us on this voyage. However, we still Be careful to avoid the Spaniards' annual Pacific round-trip trade fleet."

"Our Hanzhou has this eastward immigration route, and the Dutch can't do anything to us." Cao Xiong was also shocked, "Even if we shrink in Hanzhou, a large number of immigrants every year, land reclamation, farming, building room, you can also live your own life.”

Qi Tian shook his head when he heard this, and solemnly said to Cao Xiong: "We will try our best to negotiate peace with the Dutch. Just farming and eating will not make Hanzhou stronger. We not only need the market of Ming Dynasty, but also the whole Nanyang Even the Indian market in the future. Only by developing industry and commerce simultaneously and expanding overseas can we promote faster and better development of Hanzhou."

Farming and eating is a typical agricultural society, and agricultural civilization is naturally involuntary.

The logic is not complicated. The core of farming is to plant all the land with crops. At the beginning of each dynasty, there are more land than people, and how to grow it can be obtained. Therefore, it is thriving. Generally, a prosperous age will appear at the beginning of a dynasty.But as time went by, the land gradually became less and less enough to grow, and finally the land completely exceeded the limit of the population. At that time, Malthus' sickle began to be activated, and the dynasty completely collapsed at the end of the dynasty.

However, industrial civilization and commercial civilization have an impulse to expand, and use expansion to solve involution.

The reason is not complicated. Businessmen have to make a profit. If one field reaches the Red Sea, naturally some people will choose to make breakthroughs in other fields in order to obtain the "first mover bonus". Therefore, every time the technology is exhausted, there will be new fields to be explored. Come out, every time energy is exhausted, new energy will be generated. The great power of business lies in stimulating everyone's potential to explore uncertain areas.

And the core of commercial civilization is not cost, but "revenue minus cost". Why Zheng He couldn't continue to play after his voyages, because the purpose is not to do business, only consumption without profit, it all depends on financial support, and when the financial support is not enough If you move, you won't be able to play anymore.

However, Western colonists used a few sampans to go to the Americas, India, and the Far East. Although it has not been smooth, the profits have always been positive. In other words, there are profits in most years, so they can play bigger and bigger.

In the future of Hanzhou, agriculture is the root, industry is the foundation, and business expansion is the main focus. We will try our best to expand outward. In addition to obtaining the living space needed by future generations, we will also sell industrial products to promote the development of the entire country. Industrial development and progress.

This model of simultaneous development of business and overseas expansion was given by the British Empire in later generations as the best reference example.

(End of this chapter)