prosperous age

Every industry has its own rules. Wei Guangde knew very well that over the past hundred years, the Salt Road must have formed a complete set of rules from salt farmers to salt merchants. Everyone in it had to act according to the rules, otherwise they would incur public outrage.

However, every merchant around Wei Guangde was a salt merchant.

After all, the profits from salt trading were so great that they no longer bothered to engage in other industries and only needed to focus on their own business.

However, most of the merchants around Wei Guangde were generalists, selling a variety of goods.

However, it was also because of this that he was able to contact the owner of a textile workshop and enter the wool textile industry.

After all, the owners of textile workshops in the Ming Dynasty were generally engaged in the production of cotton, linen and silk, and wool spinning was relatively rare.

There were textile workshop owners in the northwest who were engaged in cashmere weaving, but Wei Guangde used wool. There was not much wool in the Ming Dynasty, so no one had ever been involved in this industry.

In fact, if the Longqing Peace Agreement had not been signed, it would have been impossible for the merchants of the Ming Dynasty to conduct large-scale trade with the grasslands, and it would have been impossible to obtain large amounts of wool.

Without this prerequisite, the wool textile industry would have been impossible to develop in Ming Dynasty.

Salt merchants are a small circle, and also a circle that is closely connected to the core of power. Although Wei Guangde is already the second assistant, he has never thought of doing salt business before, so naturally no salt merchant is willing to approach him.

Thinking of salt merchants, Wei Guangde immediately thought of the nobles.

This group of people can get a certain amount of salt permits from the Ministry of Revenue every year, and with their connections, they can also use these salt permits to pick up salt from salt fields in various places, so they must have connections with all levels of the salt road.

Wei Guangde must have thought that if he made a suggestion, people would introduce him to the salt merchants they knew.

"It is better to wait until the Northern Chamber of Commerce has dealt with its affairs. After the nobles have invested in the Northern Chamber of Commerce, I will talk to them about this matter and introduce the relationships between the upper and lower levels of the Salt Road. Only then can I make some plans with a clear purpose."

Wei Guangde had made up his mind and had not yet read today's memorials. He was only looking at the salt road documents that Lubu had found.

With an idea in mind, Wei Guangde was no longer in a hurry to understand it and naturally let it go.

"Let's get down to business first."

Yes, dealing with memorials is Wei Guangde’s main job now.

While handling official business in the afternoon, Wei Guangde received a note from outside.

The note was written by Zhang Ji. He conveyed Wei Guangde's intention to the Northern Chamber of Commerce, which then asked about whether the nobles could be allowed to invest, and whether the old shareholders should transfer part of their shares or do something else.

At this time, Wei Guangde suddenly remembered that he only asked the nobles to negotiate with the Northern Chamber of Commerce about the investment, but forgot to draw the lines.

Transferring shares is certainly not an option.

Transferring shares means that the nobles use money to buy shares from old shareholders, and the Chamber of Commerce will not get a penny, so naturally there is no money to expand the scale of the workshop. At that time, it will still need to use profits to expand the workshop bit by bit, which goes against Wei Guangde's original intention.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Guangde wrote a note asking for the calculation of the Northern Chamber of Commerce's previous investment and the expected profits after wool textiles entered the market, in order to estimate the current value of the Chamber of Commerce.

Well, Wei Guangde wanted to use the "valuation method" of later high-tech companies to determine the value of the Northern Chamber of Commerce, and then let the nobles pay silver according to the valuation.

This method became popular in later generations, but now, whether in the East or the West, it is the first of its kind in the world.

The current method of calculating the value of shares is actually called the "cost method" in later generations. It means that you get the same amount of money as you invest, which will neither increase nor decrease.

This method is also widely accepted by the market.

Wei Guangde spent nearly half an hour writing a lot of things, and only then did he feel that he had explained everything clearly.

He called Lu Bu, handed him the note and asked him to deliver it.

Lu Bu took the note, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he bowed and whispered, "Master, I just heard that the memorial sent to the palace by the Prime Minister has been approved, and he will return to the cabinet to do his work in a month."

The memorial mentioned by Lu Bu was naturally the memorial of thanks written by Zhang Juzheng after he received the imperial edict.

Up to now, more than half a month has passed since Zhang Juzheng returned home to observe mourning, and the 49th day of mourning is less than a month away.

"Oh, I see."

Wei Guangde nodded and waved his hand for him to go down.

Wei Guangde was concentrating on dealing with the memorials, but soon his attention was distracted by other matters.

It was still the envelope that Lu Bu brought back from outside, with the seal of the Jinyiwei on it.

After receiving the envelope, Wei Guangde carefully checked the seal before opening it and taking out the documents inside.

Things like this were already very common, and every two months the Imperial Guards would compile a list and send it to him.

Among them, there are not only news about Jinyiwei spies in Mongolia in the north and Japan in the east, but also news from Southeast Asian countries and the West.

The situation in Mongolia, Korea and other familiar neighboring countries of the Ming Dynasty is relatively stable now. Except for some tribes within Mongolia that want to increase tribute to the Ming Dynasty, the others are not worth mentioning.

However, the island country that Wei Guangde has always cared about seems to be caught up in chaos again.

At the beginning of the year, when Oda Nobunaga led his army to attack the Kishu Saiga clan, Uesugi Kenshin also sent troops to attack Nanao Castle Nagatsuren. While enduring the attack, Nagatsuren sent his son Nagatsuren Ryu to ask Oda Nobunaga for help.

However, what Wei Guangde did not expect was that the reinforcements sent by Oda Nobunaga were defeated by Uesugi Kenshin's troops.

Now, the situation that Oda Nobunaga is facing in Japan is not very good. He is facing strong pressure from the Uesugi clan, the Mori clan, and Ishiyama Honganji.

Wei Guangde now has a very unclear understanding of the situation in Japan, because he only knows that Oda Nobunaga is very powerful and almost unified Japan.

But in the end, Toyotomi Hideyoshi plucked the fruits of his labor.

However, there is still no sign of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, whom he has always been paying attention to.

Given the current chaotic situation in Japan, Wei Guangde found it hard to believe that someone could suddenly appear and take over Toyotomi Hideyoshi's power and unify Japan.

Just as Wei Guangde was studying the international situation, or more precisely the situation in East Asia, on the other side of the earth, in Europe, an event that would completely overturn the balance of power in Europe was quietly unfolding.

In 1577, Drake led his fleet from Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth, as the behind-the-scenes investor, held a partial share in this voyage.

Drake, the most legendary pirate in Britain, robbed under orders and finally defeated the most powerful Spanish navy at the time, helping Britain overthrow its most powerful enemy and giving Britain the opportunity to catch up later. However, at this time, Queen Elizabeth of Britain had not yet issued a "letter of marque", so all British piracy was not actually considered "legal behavior."

As for why Queen Elizabeth chose to issue "letters of marque" to pirates in this way, it was because she was helpless in the face of increasingly dire financial problems and had to take this measure.

In fact, before this, Britain had always cooperated with Spain to fight against France.

On November 1558, 11, when Elizabeth I of England succeeded her half-sister Queen Mary (wife of Philip II) to become Queen of England, Britain and Spain were still in an alliance to fight against France.

The following year, the friendship between the two kingdoms seemed still strong, so during the negotiations preceding the Treaty of Cardocampegy, Philip was prepared to recapture Calais for Elizabeth, which the Duke of Guise had taken from Mary on January 1558, 1.

He then proposed to Elizabeth, but was rejected.

Philip's enthusiastic support for England was entirely based on self-interest, and his policy was directed at Mary Queen of Scots.

Queen Mary was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England and the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise.

From the perspective of the Catholic Church, she was the legitimate heir to the English throne, and on April 1558, 4, she married Francis II of France.

At this time, her uncle, the Duke of Guise, was in power in France. He wanted to use Mary's connections to unite France, England, Scotland and Ireland into a great Guise Empire.

This would be a fatal blow to Spain, so for the 1558 years after 12, Philip helped Elizabeth at all costs to secure her throne and maintain a countervailing force against Mary.

A friendly England was of great importance to Spain, because England's position threatened the flank of the sea routes between Spain and Jutland.

However, all this changed in 1560 when Francis II died and was succeeded by his brother Charles IX, who was temporarily regented by his mother Catherine.

In August 1561, Mary returned to Scotland, and in 8 she assassinated her second husband, Lord Darnley, in Scotland, and in 1567 she fled to England for refuge.

From then on, she was imprisoned by Elizabeth for the rest of her life.

This evolution, coupled with the rise of anti-Spanish parties in England, caused Philip to change his policy towards Mary.

Because Mary was no longer a direct tool of the Gasses, Philip no longer stood on Elizabeth's side, but instead used Mary as a pillar for his anti-Elizabeth conspiracy.

In this work he was also supported by Pope Pius V, who had excommunicated the Queen of England in 1570.

Another factor in the breakdown of relations between Britain and Spain was economic conflict.

John Hawkins of Plymouth began to plunder the African slave trade, which was originally a monopoly of the Spanish crown.

Because this illegal business could generate extremely high profits, the Queen of England actually partnered with Hawkins and lent him one of her own ships, the "Jesus".

On October 1567, 10, Hawkins set sail from Plymouth with two other ships, the Milon and the Judith, the latter of which was commanded by Francis Drake.

Hawkins first sailed to the coast of Guinea, where he captured or purchased more than 500 blacks, and then sailed to the West Indies and secretly sold them to Spanish colonists.

On the way, he entered the port of San Juan to find water and shelter, and fortified the harbor to keep out Spanish ships.

At this time, the newly appointed Governor of New Spain Enriquez also arrived with his fleet. Because there was a storm, Enriquez was afraid of capsizing, so he negotiated with the British, promising that as long as he was allowed to enter the port, he would never invade the British, and would let them replenish their food and water and then leave on their own.

A few days later, Enriques suddenly opened fire on Hawkins' ships. After a battle, the Jesus had to surrender, but the other two companion ships escaped and returned to Plymouth in January 1569.

Just as Hawkins was returning to his homeland, another incident occurred, which was more serious.

A group of privateers drove a Spanish detachment into the English ports of Fort Worth, Plymouth, and Southampton. The gold bars on board belonged to the Bank of Genoa, which was to be delivered to the Duke of Alva in Antwerp, the commander Philip had sent to the Netherlands to suppress.

Elizabeth confiscated the gold bars for her own use, which caused great dissatisfaction among the Spaniards. In retaliation, Alva confiscated all British ships and cargoes left in Jutland.

Elizabeth was not to be outdone and confiscated the Spanish ships and cargoes remaining in England as usual.

At this time, news came that the "Jesus" was lost.

As a result, England and Spain parted ways completely. Philip supported the Catholics in England, while Elizabeth opened England to Dutch Protestant traitors as a refuge.

In fact, there were fifty privateers, no fewer than thirty of whom were British.

Queen Elizabeth had already gained huge profits through British privateers, so she chose to support Drake's action, because the information Drake gave her was that he would lead this fleet to find a passage into the Pacific Ocean and find a larger hunting ground for British privateers.

You have to know that there was no Panama Canal at that time, and the only channel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was the Strait of Magellan. People believed that Tierra del Fuego on the south shore of the strait was the northern end of a southern continent, where not only were the winds and waves high, but it was also heavily guarded by Spanish troops.

Since Magellan completed the first human voyage around the world in 1519, the Spanish have controlled the Strait of Magellan and kept it strictly secret.

However, when the Spanish brought back spices similar to those from the Portuguese from the west, Drake became suspicious.

Drake's crossing of the Atlantic to find a passage to the Pacific was not an impulse. He also brought a letter from the Queen of England to the Emperor of China, expressing Britain's desire to trade.

Don't be surprised by this. In fact, when Columbus was sent by Queen Isabella I of Spain to circumnavigate the world, he carried letters to the monarch of India and the emperor of China.

It has long been no secret that there are huge countries in the East, and they have been looking for opportunities to conduct direct trade with Eastern countries.

It can be said that it is not important whether Drake can reach the Ming Dynasty. What is important is that he will definitely bring the letter from the Queen of England with him on this voyage.

It was soon time to adjourn the court session. Wei Guangde was just about to summon Lu Bu to see Zhang Siwei to see if he needed to discuss government affairs, but Lu Bu had already come in.

"what's up?"

Since he wasn't summoned in, Lubu must have something to report.

"Master, this is the note that Eunuch Chen handed over."

Lu Bu stuffed another note into Wei Guangde's hand and then took two steps back.

Wei Guangde looked down and was immediately stunned.

There was only one name on the note, but Wei Guangde knew that this name would soon become well-known in the official circles of the capital because she would become the new queen of the Ming Dynasty.

The 13-year-old queen, Wang Xijie. (End of this chapter)