I'm really not doing business

Chapter 556 Whoever controls the ocean controls the world
In the first year of Wanli, a large sailing ship assigned by Felipe from Spain arrived at the Yue Port of the Ming Dynasty. The large sailing ship requested "tribute" trade. Of course, this was reported by Luo Gongchen, the owner of the Maritime Bureau of the Daming Yue Port City and a fellow coastal defense official. Hearing what the court said, in Captain Antonio's eyes, it was just an ocean-going trade.

The gears of fate began to turn, and everyone's destiny changed dramatically.

Zhu Yijun brought Hai Rui back from his hometown in order to calm down the feud between the officials in the court.

That trade was actually not smooth.

Because the Ming Dynasty did not have a policy to draw points for Thai and Western merchant ships. Legally, these ships were illegal, so large sailing ships could not pass the customs. The large sailing ships at that time did not even have ship guides, and were not even allowed to dock on the moon. In Hong Kong, Antonio used his "throwing money" skill to bribe Luo Gongchen of the Metropolitan Government.

Luo Gongchen came to Beijing in the sixth year of Longqing's reign, hoping to draw points against foreign ships, mainly targeting Portuguese ships. He failed. Although Zhang Juzheng accepted the memorial to draw points against foreign ships, Zhang Juzheng did not Can convince other courtiers, at that time, the main theme of the court was still dog fighting.

There is a decisive battle between Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong. After Gao Gong's fall, the Jin Party is still entrenched and even usurping imperial power.

The two eunuchs, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jin, who went to Hainan to fetch Hai Rui back to Beijing, coveted the silver on the sailboat. The national funds were really poor at that time. For the sake of the money, these two angels forced Yuegang City to ship The chief of staff assigned points to the large sailing ship. If Hai Rui had not put in some good words for the two of them on the grounds that his sister-in-law had to help him out and the situation was urgent, the two eunuchs would have been beaten by the courtiers again. One round of criticism.

Francisco Sander, the then Spanish Governor in the Philippines, was very disdainful of the Ming Dynasty. In his words, only two thousand people were needed to destroy the Ming Dynasty, because everyone in the Ming Dynasty was against the emperor.

Later, Francisco was defeated by Yin Zhengmao, the country's surname, and forced him to break open the water gate of the castle. The Guangdong guest soldiers and Lin Afeng's pirates rushed into the castle and captured the outspoken governor. He is still being held captive to this day. Imprisoned in Manila.

Francisco was still alive, at first to be used as a hostage, and later to ask Felipe in exchange for some ransom. The original intention was to use this nobleman in exchange for Spain's recognition of the Ming Dynasty's occupation of Luzon, so that Spain could swallow this sigh of relief. After all, it still needs to In business, some things need to be explained clearly.

But Felipe is not willing to pay even a penny, and he does not even mention this person in his credentials. The reason for not mentioning it is very simple. I have no choice now. Luzon is too far, but I will not give up Malacca with Antonio. Like the Strait, giving up the claim to Luzon, this is the relationship between Ming and Spain, cooperation in competition.

For example, in the third year of Wanli, Felipe purchased fifty five-masted ocean-going ships from the shipyard, with delivery divided into five years.

When the large sailing ship arrived at the port, Ming Dynasty clearly realized two facts. Ming Dynasty did not have ships that could conquer the ocean, nor did it have the technology to go ocean-going. Because of this, no one can master it anymore.

This means that Ming Dynasty has lost its commodity advantage in the shipbuilding industry, and it also means that it is an inevitable fact that it is falling behind in ocean navigation technology.

The Ming Dynasty claims to be the Celestial Kingdom. What is the Celestial Kingdom? It means being ahead of the world in all aspects, standing at a height that is difficult for others to reach, and the barbarians can only look up at it. Not lagging behind others in any aspect, that is the Celestial Kingdom.

Due to the lack of shipbuilding technology, the backwardness of ocean-going technology, and even the fact that the sun never sets on the West, Ming Dynasty came into contact with the West and learned that the Ming Dynasty was losing its status as a great country.

Zhu Zaiyu was abducted to the capital by a precision sextant. Although he had various conflicts with the Ming Dynasty, although Zhu Zaiyu refused to admit that he was the crown prince of Prince Zheng, and refused to accept Prince Zheng's hereditary inheritance, even though Zhu Zaiyu was in front of the palace gate. After suffering for fifteen years, I was silently complaining about the injustice of the court and the emperor.

But when faced with the precision sextant, Zhu Zaiyu had no choice but to go to Beijing. He had no choice but to refuse this invitation. He, Zhu Zaiyu, could never miss this great romance of exploring the boundaries of human cognitive world.

Now, ten years later, Ming Dynasty has finally completed the global voyage and become a diner on the dining table in the process of rapid and slow development. It has also completed the global voyage and trade, and has become the strongest eater.

Neither Felipe nor Antonio had the ability to trade globally, because the relationship between Spain and Portugal was very tense, and there were countless conflicts over the fight for colonies, so Felipe chose the Atlantic-Pacific route to arrive in Ming Dynasty, while Portugal Choose the Atlantic-Indian Ocean to come to Ming Dynasty.

And Ming became the only diner who could trade through the three oceans, and everyone else was just on the menu.

There are few behind, so we can catch up quickly. If it were another three hundred years, it would not be a problem that could be solved by insisting on opening up the sea for ten years.

Since the maritime ban policy after Yongle, the world's scientific and technological center and cultural center are moving to the West, and the speed is accelerating, because the spread of Western learning to the East, or the transfer of Western learning to the East, has begun.

Western learning came from the East when missionaries spread Western academic ideas and knowledge to the East.

In the tenth year of Wanli, Matteo Ricci's visit to China was a representative event of the spread of Western learning to the east.

After all, Matteo Ricci came to the Ming Dynasty not only to preach, but also to bring Western learning to the East. Matteo Ricci translated all 7,000 Taixi acting books into Chinese, and the books he translated were selective. These 7,000 volumes, absolutely Most of them are religious and theological books.

Matteo Ricci was a missionary. His main purpose of coming to Ming Dynasty was to preach, and his books mainly came from the Holy See.

At this time, Taixi was experiencing a Renaissance, and science had sprouted. In the first year of Wanli, Taixi's arithmetic was ahead of the Ming Dynasty.

In the West, if you want to preach among the nobility and upper-class intellectuals, you must provide some books. In order to maintain the authority of the Holy See, the Holy See set up many hand-made workshops for movable type printing, and then used the various books collected in the Holy See to , published in a volume.

Missionaries often use books as a stepping stone to knock on the doors of aristocrats and upper-class intellectuals, and then use the influence of aristocrats and upper-class intellectuals to preach.

This is called the library apologetics movement in the West, and it is parallel to the Great Travel Movement. Later generations call it the blood of the Renaissance.

Science is the stepping stone, and theology is the doctrine that the church really wants to promote. Therefore, among the seven thousand books of Matteo Ricci, there are not enough scientific works of sufficient weight. They are all theological books.

This method was unfavorable in Europe and the West, and it was also very effective in the Ming Dynasty. Li Zhizao, Xu Guangqi, etc. all had close contacts with missionaries in Europe and the West because of their arithmetic.

And now the world's science and technology center, cultural center, trade center, economic center, or world center, has returned to the East again!

The Ming Dynasty is the most special and unique kingdom in the world.

"Your Majesty, a circle is a set of points. Which point is it? A set of points that are equidistant from the center of the circle." Zhu Zaiyu stood in front of the emperor, drew a circle with a compass, and explained to His Majesty.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said: "I can understand what you said, please continue."

"Let Li Kaifang explain it now." Zhu Zaiyu was about to speak, but suddenly he pulled Li Kaifang, who was standing respectfully aside, to him, and said with confidence: "You were the one who discovered it."

Li Kaifang had offended the emperor. He relied on his being a genius, relying on his ability to learn arithmetic to get full marks in the exam, and relying on His Majesty's cherishment of talents. He went to the Meridian Gate to plead for his brother.

The emperor indeed cherished talents.

His achievements were all presented by the emperor's uncle Zhu Zaiyu to avoid contact with the emperor. Zhu Zaiyu did not feel that he should escape. He was still a crazy husband before! Regarding the matter of offending Da Zong, he lived in the thatched cottage outside Prince Zheng's palace for fifteen years, and even if he gave Da Zong a big mouth, didn't His Majesty not blame him?
Now that you have entered the Institute of Geosciences and become a doctor of the Five Classics, you have cut off the cause and effect in the world and are not among the Five Elements. If you have any results, you must tell your majesty loudly and squeeze out all your talents to lay the groundwork for the study of Geophysics in the Ming Dynasty. The broadest road should be the most respectful!

"Does Your Majesty know the Pythagorean Theorem?" Li Kaifang was a little trembling.

Zhu Zaiyu covered his face and really wanted to hide his face and run away. He was already very bad at dealing with people. As a result, Li Kaifang was even more clumsy than him in this aspect. Your Majesty is a mathematical genius. If it weren't for the delay in general affairs, Your Majesty would definitely He is the top Doctor of Gewu in the Gewu Academy.

How could your Majesty not understand such a simple arithmetic as the Pythagorean Theorem?

Zhu Yijun nodded and said: "I know, hook square + stock square = string square."

In a right triangle, the hook is the short right-angled side, the strand is the long right-angled side, and the chord is the hypotenuse. The Pythagorean theorem is something that all junior high school students are familiar with.

(Photo by Li Kaifang)
Li Kaifang constructed a rectangular coordinate system with the center of the circle as the origin, then took a point on the circle, marked the Pythagorean chord, and said: "We found that the circle can also be expressed by algebraic expressions, not just linear, but quadratic. , circles, and ellipses can all be expressed using algebraic expressions.”

The moment Li Kaifang drew the rectangular coordinate system using a certain point on the circle, Zhu Yijun immediately understood that it was the standard equation of the circle.

Li Kaifang did not end it here, but expanded it and began to deduce it. Every time he deduced it, he waited for His Majesty's understanding. In order to take care of His Majesty, he spoke in great detail, while Zhu Yijun kept nodding and occasionally asked questions.

"What's the use of this?" Feng Bao asked Zhang Hong in a low voice. Feng Bao actually didn't understand, but His Majesty seemed to understand, because His Majesty would occasionally ask.

These people seemed to be discussing in another world.

"I don't know, I don't understand either." Zhang Hong sighed and shook his head and said, "I'd better read some of His Majesty's agricultural books, I know how to farm."

Feng Bao's scalp went numb for a while and he said, "I don't even know how to plant the land."

"It doesn't matter if you don't know." Zhu Yijun looked at Feng Bao and said, "What he did seems useless. It is extremely pure mathematics. In the eyes of most people, it is no different from ghost paintings. You say it is useful, it is useless, you say it is useless, he provides us with another perspective to look at the problem from the perspective of mathematics."

What Li Kaifang tinkered with is actually called analytic geometry.

It's not a technological breakthrough, it's all about hydraulic principles, applications, and prospects that can be applied immediately.

Sometimes new breakthroughs may not be able to solve existing and imminent problems more simply. The greatest value of such new breakthroughs is that they provide a new perspective on thinking about problems.

For example, curvilinear motion in physics, instantaneous speed, parabolic parabolic motion in military, planetary orbits in astronomy, etc., there is no combination of numbers and shapes in various fields such as navigation, astronomy, mechanics, economy, military, production, etc. Without analytic geometry, it cannot be said that progress is difficult, it can only be said that progress is slow.

Li Kaifang actually turned arithmetic into mathematics because he introduced variables and the combination of numbers and shapes into arithmetic, which brought arithmetic into a new development period.

The era of variable mathematics has quietly arrived.

Zhu Yijun fully affirmed Li Kaifang's achievements and made additional rewards, ending today's memorial. He went to the Imperial Academy to see the practice of hydraulic punches. Of course, the results were not very good. The hydraulic punches were not as expected. There is a long way to go from theory to engineering practice.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty left from the back door of the Imperial Palace and walked for five minutes to the imperial study room of Tonghe Palace, which was within the scope of the Forbidden Garden. While the very industrious Emperor Ming was busy with the general affairs of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's ocean caravan had just set off from Naha Port in Shuri, Ryukyu, and began to return to Matsue Prefecture.

After setting off from Songjiang Prefecture in March of the 10th year of Wanli to the third day of May in the 11th year of Wanli, one year and two months after leaving the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty Ocean Caravan finally returned home, one month earlier than expected. , because the journey from the West to the Mughal Kingdom was very smooth. The Ming Dynasty regained the Strait of Malacca and had a strong influence on the West.

The governor's palace and ports along the way did not dare to embarrass Ming's fleet too much, for fear that Ming's ships would suddenly appear in their ports.

"Going home." Liu Ji stood at the bow of the ship, facing the sea breeze and looking at the vast sea. He felt unprecedentedly happy, but also a little scared and timid about being close to home.

Master Chen Tianrui was the master who sailed around the world last time, and he is still responsible for leading it this time. This voyage around the world greatly enriched the star map, and also brought out four masters who also had ocean-going capabilities. The four boat masters, like Chen Tianrui, all belong to the Ming Navy.

"Even if you want to go to Ryukyu, you still need a big ship. It would be great if the Ming Dynasty had a bathtub like the Mediterranean." Chen Tianrui looked to the south, where there was a big black ditch. Starting from Yuegang, he had to go to Ningbo Shuangyu first. After arriving in Ryukyu, we took a detour to Tamsui Town on Jilong Island. The Daheigou was a natural chasm on the sea, blocking the Ming Dynasty from exploring the ocean.

The water in Daheigou is not deep, but the hydrology and trade winds are changeable. You have to wait at the Penghu Inspection Department to wait for the wind direction to change before you can go to Xinglongzhuang on Jilong Island.

Having a bathtub means that navigation technology can develop steadily, and step by step towards the ocean and the deep blue.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty had done it before. Under many natural and unfavorable circumstances, the Yongle period made seven voyages to the Western Ocean, that is, the ocean.

Chen Tianrui and Liu Ji did not cling too much to the past and criticized the scholar-bureaucrats' obstruction to the opening of the sea in the past. Maybe there were various problems at that time that had to be solved, but after the Wanli Reform and the opening of the sea, the Ming Dynasty must not be allowed to do so again. Lose the ocean!

The West mainly relies on the ocean currents of the North Atlantic for navigation, but the ocean currents offshore of Daming are too complex and scattered. Such complex ocean currents mean half the effort with half the effort when opening the sea.

The progress of marine technology such as stern rudders, compasses, multiple masts, star charts, needle charts, propellers, etc., are partly archaeological research, found in the old manuscripts of Zheng He's voyages to the West, and partly are learned from the culture of the West. Although missionaries always like to bring religious books, the Ming Dynasty’s special envoys to the West like to bring books on arithmetic, astronomy and other topics from the West.

However, most of the technological progress is due to active exploration and innovation since the Wanli Restoration.

"Whoever controls the ocean controls trade; whoever controls world trade controls the world's wealth, and therefore controls the world." Chen Tianrui said with a solemn expression: "Your Majesty's words have been fulfilled again."

This sea trade yielded extremely rich harvests, the most lucrative of which was that the Ming Dynasty found two more world-class commodities, one called pepper and the other tea.

Global commodities are a concept mentioned by Wan Shihe. Global commodities require several necessary conditions: bulk commodities; universal use; and easy storage and transportation.

Pepper is an essential spice in cooking and is in great demand all over the world. It is a spicy fruit produced by a tropical vine. In the West, the Thai people call pepper the bride that everyone dances around.

In Thailand and Lisbon, Chen Tianrui and Liu Ji tasted black pepper steak from France, pepper sheep cheese from Italy, and pepper biscuits from the Holy Roman Empire. Objectively speaking, most Ming people are not used to the taste. The taste is too A bit stronger.

In Lisbon, Liu Ji once met a businessman from Nuremberg. The businessman drank too much and began to complain to Liu Ji. The businessman said: The King of Portugal, the owner of spices, sets the price for pepper based on his likes and dislikes. No matter what the price, no matter how expensive, it will be sold to everyone before long.

Price is never an issue as long as you have the pepper.

In the Ming Dynasty, pepper was mainly used for medicine, and secondly for seasoning. This kind of pepper with a spicy taste is very suitable for cooking food with a strong fishy smell, and it is also a necessity for the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty had more than 150 plantations in Nanyang, and the cultivated land area had reached million hectares. This number was still increasing rapidly. The more than plantations in Nanyang were the greatest confidence in defining pepper as a global commodity.

As for the other tea, the main function of tea is to refresh the mind. The bricks of tea sent to Taixi this time are well preserved, not affected by moisture or mold, and are very popular in Taixi. As long as they can reach Taixi smoothly, the profit of the tea will exceed 1000. %!

In Thailand and around the world, tea is a very expensive refreshing drink. In England, even moldy tea bricks are added with various seasonings for cooking, and a very sweet, milk-filled tea was even born. For Ming people, the taste of tea is really hard to describe.

In the entire global trade, the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet discovered that people all over the world are extremely sought after for refreshing products.

Demand represents the market, and the market is silver.

Most of the tea bricks brought to the West by large sailing ships from the West were moldy, but they could still be sold at a very high price. Because the Ming Dynasty paid special attention to firearms, it paid special attention to the preservation of gunpowder in the ocean. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty was very advanced in sealing and moisture-proof technology. It is ahead of Taixi, and the tea bricks brought to Taixi are of even higher quality.

Fujian is most suitable for growing tea.

Fujian is a mountainous area and has been an indisputable place for military strategists since ancient times. This place has poor mountains and rivers, and eight mountains and one water are divided into fields. The military strategists do not fight because there is no need to rob. If tea bricks can be sold overseas, then the lives of the people on the ground in Fujian can also become better. good.

Cotton, pepper, and tea were the biggest gains during this ocean voyage.

On the seventh day of May in the eleventh year of Wanli, the ships of the Ming Dynasty's ocean caravan successfully arrived at Songjiang Prefecture's new port. Songjiang Prefecture had three ports in total, and Xingang was the largest seaport in the Ming Dynasty. The City of All Nations was established near the new port.

Five five-masted ocean-going ships and fifty three-masted plywood ships slowly docked at the pier under the guidance of barges.

"What is that?" Liu Jigang was about to get off the boat and set foot on his long-lost homeland. As soon as he raised his feet, he saw a large ship sailing far away on the sea. Only the sails could be seen, but the hull could not be seen.

Chen Tianrui still knew something about Songjiang Shipyard. Before the ocean caravan left, the fast sailing ship had already started manufacturing. He tentatively said: "Youlong?"

Soon the ship lowered its sails, the speed of the ship began to slow down, and the barges began to go to pick them up. Only then did Liu Ji and Chen Tianrui see clearly that they were two ships, and one was behind the sails.

It was indeed the Youlong and Feiyun. They successfully completed the sea survey and returned to their home port together.

The sea test of Youlong went well, but the sea test of Feiyun was not very smooth. The propeller was entangled in seaweed, and it was extremely troublesome to clean it every time.

The implementation of the project has never been smooth sailing. It has always been stumbling and trial and error, and the final design has been completed. This is a brand-new ship design concept that requires a longer journey.

Daming is now patient and can afford to wait.

The wharf of Xingang suddenly became busy. The laborers shouted slogans and came towards the big ship. There was a lot of cargo on the ship.

Mainly cotton. This time when passing through the Mughal Kingdom, a large amount of the goods on the ship were replaced by cotton. Liu Ji even used part of his silver to buy some cotton. Cotton is not cheap in Songjiang Prefecture, but in the Mughal Kingdom , it’s really, really cheap. You only need one tael of silver goods in exchange for six bags of cotton.

A bag of cotton weighs one hundred and twenty kilograms. A bag of cotton can weave twelve pieces of large cloth and fifteen pieces of small cloth. The price of a bag of cotton in the Ming Dynasty is nine coins. Cotton from the Mughal Kingdom is trafficked to Songjiang Prefecture. , the gross profit of a bag is as high as 0.73 silver.

The price of woven large cloth sold to the Mughal Kingdom was one silver per piece, and the gross profit was also about 0.6 silver.

The Ming Dynasty only needed to transport it to the port of the Mughal Kingdom. Akbar of the Mughal Kingdom was the largest agent of the Ming Dynasty in the West, and the export of cotton cloth was a bulk commodity of the order of 100,000 pieces.

Liu Ji had already exercised great restraint. He only brought 100,000 bags of cotton this time. For such a lucrative deal, the reason why he did not bring more was to prevent the influx of large amounts of Mughal cotton from causing disaster to local cotton farmers. Songjiang Prefecture has More than half of the fields are planted with cotton. The climate in Songjiang Prefecture is actually more suitable for growing rice than cotton, while Shandong is more suitable for growing cotton.

Changing the crops grown in Songjiang Prefecture takes time.

It's not like the imperial court just slapped the head and issued a decree to let the people switch from cotton to rice, and then it can be implemented smoothly. It needs to change the overall environment bit by bit to make the price of cotton drop steadily. The local officials who need to persuade farmers and mulberry trees need to be persuaded. , it takes time to adjust little by little. When it becomes unprofitable, the cotton fields all over Songjiang Prefecture will slowly disappear.

In addition to cotton, there are also goods such as pepper, fish oil, palm oil, sugar cubes, abaca, rubber, red copper, etc. These are all purchased in Manila. These goods are more for filling warehouses, and their prices are higher than Lu Song Dynasty is about 40% more expensive. Due to the continuous prosperity of sea trade, profits are actually not as high as before.

After the fleet unloaded its cargo in Lisbon, it was actually an empty ship, mainly because it carried no valuable cargo, even in the West. It was not until it arrived in the Mughal Kingdom that cotton and saltpeter began to be added to the warehouse, and in Manila The cabin was completely filled.

The lack of goods worth carrying was one of the difficulties faced by Yongle in the Ming Dynasty when he opened the sea. The Western Ocean was huge, but the places worth going to were the ports. There were not enough goods worth exchanging. Every time he sailed to the Western Ocean, the scale was huge, but the The harvest was meager, which made the motivation to go to sea weaker and weaker.

After the cargo, there is a huge amount of silver, which also needs to be unloaded, because the ocean-going sailing ships need to be rested, the damaged sails, the ship's sides are covered with barnacles, some watertight compartments have been activated and need to be repaired, and the ships need to be completely cleaned. , to prevent rats from running ashore and spreading plague, etc. Ocean caravan ships need maintenance.

Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others put silver on the fast sailing ship Youlong. The fast sailing ship was faster and safer.

Along with the fast sailing ship, there was a huge fleet of 150 ships.

This fleet has to carry out the task of shipping grain. Four million stones of grain have been loaded into grain boxes and moved to 450 grain ships. The 450 ships will be divided into three batches. This is the largest number of grain shipping since the second year of Wanli. Results.

The sails covered the sky and the sun, and headed towards Tianjin Wei.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun received a memorial from Songjiang Prefecture.

Songjiang Governor Shen Shixing went to the dock to greet the returning Ming Dynasty warriors, and counted the goods. The list of goods has been kept by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

"I actually brought back more than three million taels of silver this time." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand and said with excitement.

It’s time to test the productivity of Ming craftsmen!

Huang Zifu, a doctor of the Five Classics, promised to increase the production capacity of imperial silver coins to 250 million silver coins per year by the end of this year.

At present, it is far from enough!
(End of this chapter)