Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Using slaves to run plantations?"

"These people learn so fast!"

Upon seeing the report presented by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhu Youjian sighed with emotion.

Although Zhu Youjian deliberately relinquished control over Annam to appease the nobles and divert attention from internal conflicts, it did not mean that he intended to completely abandon the idea.

In addition to the strategic and logistical control held by Zhu Xieyuan and others, the Embroidered Uniform Guard quickly established the Annan Garrison Command, responsible for judicial affairs and intelligence gathering.

The news of Wu Sangui and his men capturing slaves in Annam was naturally reported, and Zhu Youjian learned of their actions.

Fang Hongzan, the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in charge of intelligence, said:

"The Nanyang Garrison Command once reported that the Dutch and Portuguese mainly engaged in trade in Nanyang, but some also established plantations in Nanyang, imitating the Western manor."

"It is said that in the Americas, plantations that used slaves were quite popular, and the nobles of Southeast Asia must have learned from them."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, agreeing that this was something learned from European colonists.

The rice that the imperial court ordered the vassal states in the South China Seas to cultivate required a large amount of manpower for intensive farming, making it completely unsuitable for developing plantations.

The sugarcane and tobacco that European colonists cultivated on a large scale were more suitable for a plantation economy.

Of course, modern plantations are more like feudal manors than single-crop plantations.

However, Zhu Youjian could guide these plantations in this direction, making them part of the Ming Dynasty's economic system and providers of raw materials.

In that case, the various vassal states of Southeast Asia would become economically dependent on the Ming Dynasty and would be unable to break away at will.

He, who promoted the feudal system, did not want the various vassal states of Southeast Asia to engage in manorial economies. If these people were all self-sufficient, how would the imperial court control them?
Therefore, after noticing this trend, Zhu Youjian immediately summoned officials from the Planning Commission and the Court of Colonial Affairs to discuss the issue with them.

Zhang Pu, who is about to take up his post in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area, is also included.

Zhu Youjian first asked him:
"Do you understand what's most important in the development of the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area?"

Zhang Pu pondered and said:
"The most important factor in the establishment of the new district is the workers."

"Then there were government orders to support the establishment of corresponding industrial parks, which attracted businessmen to invest."

"Therefore, the most important things are human resources and capital."

Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement and concluded:
"These three points are human resources, capital, and the market."

"People are the most important thing; with technology, we can produce."

"Capital is also indispensable; money is needed to purchase raw materials and production tools."

"The market is even more important. The industries in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area can be said to have been entirely driven by orders from the imperial court."

"With this market, companies in the new district can produce with peace of mind."

When these well-known facts were explained, Zhang Pu and the others felt enlightened and began to understand why the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area had developed so quickly.

Then Zhu Youjian said:
"Human resources, capital, and markets are all important and indispensable to the new district."

"But if this industrial city in the new district is to develop well, it will need enough raw materials to supply production."

"Is there a shortage of raw materials in the new district?"

Are the prices of cotton and raw silk from the Jiangnan region rising in the futures market?

Zhang Pu pondered the emperor's words and felt they made a lot of sense.

When the Commission of Planning and Development was calculating the costs of purchasing corvée labor materials, it heard some businessmen complaining about rising raw material prices, which meant their production had to be recalculated.

Therefore, the imperial court pays close attention to the prices of bulk commodities to avoid excessively high procurement prices, which would result in the court suffering losses.

According to the emperor, this was due to rising raw material prices.

Therefore, the development of the new district should focus on raw materials.

He said to the emperor:

“There is indeed a shortage of cotton and raw silk in the Jiangnan region. The development of shipping in the new district is not only for selling goods, but also to transport raw materials from other places.”

"I heard that some businessmen have already gone to Huguang and Shandong to purchase cotton, so there shouldn't be any major problems for the time being."

Han Kuang became somewhat nervous upon hearing this, understanding why the emperor had brought up the matter, and said:
"Your Majesty, when Hubei and Hunan are prosperous, the whole country is well-fed."

"Huguang is a grain-producing area, so cotton planting should be restricted."

"In the north, only Shandong is a stable grain producer, so cotton should not be grown there."

Zhu Youjian was thinking the same thing. When he sent the Western mission to find oil palm, wasn't it to reduce the planting of oil crops and increase the area for growing grain?

The area under cotton cultivation is also quite large, so it cannot be expanded arbitrarily.

The Jiangnan region, thanks to cotton and mulberry cultivation, has transformed from a place where "a bountiful harvest in Suzhou and Huguang ensures a prosperous future" into one that requires grain imports. Huguang must not be allowed to become like this; that would be a disaster for the entire Ming Dynasty.

He addressed his ministers:

"The rise in cotton prices will definitely attract more people to grow cotton."

"However, the country is facing a food shortage, and the imperial court cannot allow this to continue."

"Now that we have won the war in Annam, we are expanding our influence throughout Southeast Asia."

"My intention is to allow these areas to try growing cotton and mulberry trees in addition to grain, so as to shift the demand for raw materials out of these areas."

“Now, some people are learning from the West and setting up plantations. The court should provide more guidance and encourage them to grow cotton.”

As he spoke, he passed the intelligence sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard to everyone, asking them to take a closer look.
-
These people frowned as they saw the nobles who had been granted fiefdoms in Southeast Asia capturing slaves and establishing plantations. Shang Zhouzuo, the Minister of Works, said:
"Your Majesty, to enslave people and force them to farm is truly inhumane."

"I believe they should be reprimanded and forbidden from arresting slaves."

Most of these court officials were fame-seeking; none of them wanted to be accused of cruelty.

Even if those nobles were doing this overseas, they still couldn't stand it.

Moreover, they don't want to bear this reputation or take on this responsibility.

Zhu Youjian looked left and right, but no one objected. He had no choice but to step in and take on this responsibility himself.

The reasons for the rebuttal are readily available; a conclusion was already reached a few days ago when discussing whether barbarians are human.

He addressed his ministers:

“Barbarians are beasts and cannot be considered entirely human.”

"Only those who possess civilization, are able to communicate with the Ming Dynasty, or are willing to accept the Ming Dynasty's teachings can be called human beings."

“Those who cannot communicate and do not accept education are barbarians like beasts.”

"The Ming Dynasty used barbarians as slaves to gather them together and educate them with civilization."

“If these barbarians study Chinese language and characters properly, they will be qualified to take the exam and become naturalized as Chinese.”

"Before this, the vassal states could govern the barbarians according to their customs and methods."

What are barbaric methods? Slavery is one of them.

Even the Ming Dynasty did not completely abolish slavery, and slavery was even more prevalent among barbarian tribes.

The accusations made by these court officials against the Southeast Asian nobles for using slaves are completely unfounded.

The courtiers were speechless, never expecting the emperor to come up with such a set of reasons.

Moreover, it is what they agree with, and in the eyes of some, all foreigners cannot be regarded as human beings.

The emperor had made progress compared to them, acknowledging that civilized foreign barbarians were human.

Then they put into practice the theory of barbarians and beasts, treating those barbarians as less than human. The theory is self-consistent, but it just sounds uncomfortable; something feels off.

Bi Ziyan, Minister of Revenue, said:

"Your Majesty, although the barbarians are beasts, we cannot truly treat them as less than human beings."

"We must educate them with the same compassion."

Zhu Youjian shook his head in disagreement and said:

“Barbarians fear power but do not cherish virtue; they cannot be moved by benevolence and morality.”

"Only through labor education on plantations can they understand what the agricultural civilization of the Ming Dynasty is. They can learn the Ming Dynasty's writing and language and be naturalized as Chinese."

"Besides, which of you families doesn't have servants?"

"If you want to free the slaves, start with yourself!"

The officials fell silent, for they indeed had slaves in their households. This was a special permission granted by the emperor when he released slaves, allowing officials to possess a certain number of slaves.

They had many chores that required servants to do, so of course they couldn't be released. Some even exceeded the limit on the number of servants, possessing an even larger number of them.

Standing on moral high ground to criticize the Southeast Asian vassal states for using slaves is easy for them to say without understanding the situation. Releasing their own household slaves is absolutely unacceptable.

However, actively capturing slaves was a violation of their morality, and these people still demanded that such things be controlled and that slaves not be captured so openly.

At a time when Western colonizers were extensively using enslaved Africans, Zhu Youjian had no desire to argue with them about it. Delaying the accumulation of primitive wealth would cause the Ming Dynasty to fall behind.

In particular, his measures are already quite lenient; as long as one passes the corresponding level of Chinese language exam, one can be naturalized as a Chinese citizen.

Seeing these officials arguing endlessly over a false sense of morality, Zhu Youjian said:
"Whoever opposes the capture of slaves shall go and civilize the barbarians."

"If the people of Annam were to accept civilization, why would I be willing to send soldiers to arrest them?"

"If we don't capture and sell the spoils of the large army, how can we afford the expenses of sending troops out?"

“If Annan wants stability, it must allow the capture of slaves.”

This argument was abruptly ended, and the discussion shifted to the plantation issue:
“The use of slaves for farming in various parts of Southeast Asia must have been cheaper than in the mainland.”

"As long as there are enough ships to transport the raw materials for production, the price increase of raw materials in the mainland can be suppressed."

"The Planning and Development Commission should immediately investigate what crops are suitable to grow in various parts of Southeast Asia, contact the plantations of various vassal states, and place orders with them."

"I hope that the plantations are controlled, with each plantation growing one or two crops, reducing the need for slaves to cultivate crops and minimizing costs."

"The imperial court should provide them with other goods and strengthen ties with vassal states."

This clearly increased the power of the Planning Commission, allowing them to intervene in the affairs of the vassal states.

Han Kuang immediately said:

"Each plantation grows one or two crops, and other supplies depend on the imperial court."

"I believe we can place orders with the various vassal states to support their development of monoculture plantations."

Huang Lijie shared the same view, believing it would strengthen the imperial court's control over vassal states.

Zhu Youjian nodded in approval, seemingly satisfied with the reactions of these people.

He drew inspiration from the international division of labor in later generations, assigning some less important tasks that the Ming Dynasty lacked to its vassal states.

If the vassal states' economies depended on the Ming Dynasty, they would naturally be even less able to break away politically.

He addressed his ministers:

"Not only agriculture, but also industry needs to be planned. We cannot allow any vassal state to own all the industries."

"The industries of vassal states should be dependent on the Ming Dynasty, and it is best for them to serve as suppliers of raw materials and places of sale for goods."

He then instructed Zhang Pu:

"The Suzhou-Songjiang New Area has a large workforce. In the future, we should encourage enterprises in the New Area to import raw materials from tributary states and sell their products to them."

"This completes the cycle, allowing the Ming Dynasty to use industry and commerce to produce goods and feed more people."

"As urban industry and commerce develop, more laborers will be needed, and the surplus laborers in rural areas of the Ming Dynasty will no longer have to go overseas."

"This is true benevolent governance, directed at the people of the Ming Dynasty."

It subtly criticizes those who show kindness to barbarians but forget the common people of the Ming Dynasty.

Some of the officials felt ashamed upon hearing this, while Zhang Pu was completely convinced and overjoyed.

He knew that according to this plan, the development potential of the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area would increase tenfold or even a hundredfold.

The raw materials and markets provided by overseas vassal states far surpassed those in the Jiangnan region.

As a native of Suzhou, he naturally wants his hometown to develop greatly.

He even had a plan: to portray this measure as a preferential treatment given to the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area by the current emperor, who is also the son-in-law of Suzhou.

This was intended to encourage Suzhou and Songjiang merchants to purchase raw materials and sell goods overseas.

As a result, the shipping industry will be of vital importance to the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area.

Zhang Pu thought of the shipbuilding plan that had been formulated some time ago and suggested that teak and oak be included in the procurement order.

We can encourage the various vassal states to plant trees in areas where planting is difficult, and then purchase them later.

Zhu Youjian highly praised this and approved of it, saying:

"As I have said before, I will acquire teak indefinitely."

"You can also work with major shipyards to place orders with vassal states for other trees suitable for shipbuilding."

"The imperial court needs an unlimited number of maritime trade ships; they are needed for immigration and cargo transportation."

By utilizing imperial procurement, the Ming Dynasty was further propelled into the Age of Exploration.

After the Ming Dynasty upgraded its firearms, the Ming army, which was already using single-shot muskets, had a huge advantage over the surrounding armies that used cold weapons or a combination of cold and hot weapons.

Zhu Xieyuan's easy victory in Annam has already proven this point.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was able to easily defeat other countries; its only deficiency was naval strength.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian decided to build ships like crazy to transport the people and goods of the Ming Dynasty out of the country and shift internal conflicts to external areas.

Zhang Pu clearly sensed this and decided to focus on developing the shipbuilding industry after moving to the new district.

He was quite knowledgeable about the industry, having formulated the shipbuilding plan. He knew that the shipbuilding technology in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area was good, but the raw materials needed to be transported from elsewhere.

Thinking about this matter, Zhang Pu felt that in addition to purchasing from northern vassal states such as the Principality of Jiangling, he could also place orders with countries in Southeast Asia.

After all, teak is the most suitable wood for shipbuilding, and it is distributed in the Southeast Asia.

With this in mind, Zhang Pu boarded a mail ship bound for Jiangnan.

These ships were specially built at the emperor's request after the reform of the postal system, for the purpose of transporting mail.

Because of the high time sensitivity, these ships are fast and have regular schedules.

Therefore, people who needed to visit relatives and friends or do business began to use these boats. Imperial officials were also arranged to travel on these boats.

Driven by officials' demands for comfort, these cruise ships developed rapidly, with numerous design improvements. Shipping companies such as the Canal Shipping Group specifically purchased cruise ships.

The ship Zhang Pu was traveling on belonged to the Canal Shipping Group. He would be traveling by mail ship, heading down the canal to the south of the Yangtze River. (End of Chapter)