The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 281 The Prelude to Maritime Trade

In the summer of the fourth year of Shenwu, the northern border of the Ming Dynasty was still at war, and countless people in the northwest were migrating with their families.

In July, the seven provinces in the south, after a year and a half of new policy reforms, were finally completely completed. It is estimated that the commercial tax, land tax, and customs duties will reach as high as [-] million taels of silver. This is an extremely terrifying figure, especially in the ancient dynasty.

Even the Song Dynasty, the wealthiest Han Dynasty, did not have such a high tax revenue for a year, not to mention that it was only the tax revenue of the seven provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and the four provinces of North China, Southwest and Northwest were not included. After recovering, it is estimated that tax revenue will have to be doubled again.

With the complete lifting of the sea ban, Spain and Portugal successively established embassies in Nanjing, and the ocean-going ships of the two countries also came to the south of the Yangtze River for the first time.

After that, a steady stream of merchant ships docked at Ningbo, Hangzhou, and the treaty ports along the Yangtze River Estuary.

In just a few months, the merchants in the entire Jiangnan were a sensation. They rushed to these treaty ports as if they smelled blood, opened shops, and set up cargo stations.

Ships of silk, tea, porcelain and even cotton cloth, as well as rice paper, embroidery and other items were purchased by merchants from the two countries and shipped to Europe.

Similarly, in addition to shipping boats of silver, merchants from the two countries also brought spices, rubber, and other things that Ming did not have.

Rare things are more expensive. After these things are transported to the wharf, they will be bought by those far-sighted businessmen immediately, and shipped to various places in the south of the Yangtze River for sale.

In the past, the trade between the two sides was limited by the inability to conduct direct transactions. The maritime merchants in the south of the Yangtze River almost only chose to ship silk and porcelain to Manila for trading.

Now Spanish and Portuguese merchants come directly to the port of Daming. Although silk porcelain is still the first choice, they will buy some and ship them back to Europe for trial sale when they see other interesting things, and they also start to promote European specialties.

This has greatly increased the types of trade products between the two sides, and the tariffs charged by those treaty ports have also risen again and again. It can be said that this kind of direct trade has greatly stimulated the economy of the entire Jiangnan.

But this situation made the Dutch go crazy, because the local maritime merchants in the south of the Yangtze River were the most affected. In just a few months, the number of merchant ships going to Manila and Jakarta was greatly reduced. As for the Han people who went to Dongfan Island to trade Merchant ships are extinct.

It can be said that the Netherlands is about to completely cut off its trade with Ming Dynasty, and in order to prevent the Dutch from jumping over the wall, Spain and Portugal have joined forces to prevent the Dutch from robbing at sea.

He even did not hesitate to warn the Dutch that if they dared to move the merchant ships of the two countries, it would be directly an act of war, and the two countries would inevitably join forces with European countries to attack the Netherlands.

The two countries have already monopolized the trade rights with Ming, and it couldn't be easier to win over two allies to attack the Netherlands from land, so the Dutch didn't dare to touch the merchant ships of the two countries at all.

After negotiating with Daming several times to no avail, while actively looking for allies, they dispatched warships from all over the world to the east, hoping that Daming would agree to establish diplomatic relations and trade with the Netherlands.

Nowadays, except for the three countries in Europe, the English navy is passable, and it is actively developing sea power, and its tentacles have now extended to the Indian Ocean.

As a rising star, England has long been greedy for the overseas colonization and eastern trade of the three countries. However, it started late and has been rejected by the three countries, so the situation is very difficult. Now that the Netherlands, a senior, is willing to take them for a ride, the two sides almost hit it off.

Because the Dutch dispatched more and more warships to Dongfan Island, Zheng Sen did not dare to attack rashly, so he had to choose to continue to accumulate strength and build more warship artillery.

There is no way, the navy of the Zheng family is small, and if they want to defeat the Dutch fleet, they must use numbers to kill the opponent. In this way, the casualties will be very heavy. Neither His Majesty nor the Queen Mother will allow him to take the navy. The lives of the soldiers are filled.

The fact is indeed the case, whether it is Zhang Yan or Zhu Cihong's attitude, they can only win, not lose, they would rather slow down and accumulate enough strength to fight later, and don't rush to be reckless.

Because Daming can afford it and can afford to wait, the scale of Longjiang Shipyard has expanded again. After learning from the warships of Spain and Holland, Daming's own large sea-going ships have finally taken shape. You can build as many as you want.

Within a year or two, a large-scale maritime fleet will be built. By then, not to mention the more than 200 broken ships in the Netherlands, even if Spain and Portugal are added, Da Ming will not pay attention.

At this time, in Nanjing City, inside the imperial palace, Zhang Yan was discussing with a group of ministers about the construction of a new shipyard.

At the beginning, when Zhu Cihong left, he clearly told Zhang Yan that as long as the Longjiang Shipyard produced large sea-going ships, another huge shipyard would be built in Songjiang Prefecture.

The Longjiang Shipyard belongs to the royal industry, so the shipyard in Songjiang Prefecture will be placed under the Ministry of Industry, and all the required expenses will be funded by the imperial court.

Although the first model large ship in Longjiang Shipyard has not been completely completed, and sea trials will be carried out after completion, Zhang Yan does not want to wait any longer, because now she is also aware of the importance of large ships and the navy. sex.

"I want to report to the Empress Dowager that it takes a long time to build a new shipyard, and it will take at least two or three years to wait for sea ships to be launched. I suggest that you can buy some merchant ships from those sea merchants first, and then let the Longjiang Shipyard refit them. The rapid expansion of the East China Sea Fleet can at least ensure the safety of the Jiangnan waters."

Zuo Liangyu said slowly, he made a special trip to Ningbo a while ago, the merchant ships of the Xiyi people are really huge, and they have cannons on them, they are not something the small boats of the East China Sea Fleet can compete with, once the two countries have evil intentions , the consequences were really unimaginable, so he had to deploy most of the Eighth Army's troops to the coast.

This made Zuo Liangyu very upset. The Eighth Army was used to frighten the entire south, but now if any province or any chieftain rebelled, he could dispatch up to [-] field troops to join the battle.

As for going south to expand the land, it is even more powerless, but he has to be on guard, if the coastal area is captured by the Xiyi people, according to His Majesty's character, he will definitely be furious.

At that time, if His Majesty does not take him, the highest military general in the south of the Yangtze River, to question him, will he still hold the Queen Mother accountable?
So the depression in my heart can be imagined.

In fact, the ministers present here are not fools, and they all understand Zuo Liangyu's meaning and worries.

If the strength of the East China Sea Fleet is too weak, there are indeed huge hidden dangers in allowing the ships of Spain and Portugal to enter the port directly for trade.

Maybe one day they will suddenly kill the city of Nanjing, or directly beat down Hangzhou and Ningbo. Their navy is still training in the Yangtze River. The Navy can't count on it at all.

Now the imperial court has plenty of silver, and many sea merchants are also selling merchant ships, so you can indeed buy them to save money first.

So almost everyone's eyes turned to Zhang Yan. After all, buying those old merchant ships was a prodigal act. No one dared to do it unless the Queen Mother nodded.

(End of this chapter)