Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"The Suzhou incident has finally been settled."

"Zhang Pu has made great contributions!"

Looking at the agreement reached between Suzhou workers and employers, as well as the government land and taxes collected, Zhu Youjian sighed.

For the current Ming Dynasty, nothing is more important than increasing fiscal revenue.

Taking advantage of the turmoil instigated by Zhang Pu and his hired workers, Zhu Youjian successfully changed the situation in Suzhou and began to pilot a single tax system in the south.

This is a major measure that can completely solve the financial problem. If it succeeds in the future, the court will no longer have to worry about financial problems and increase the burden on the people.

The north, which had suffered from disasters year after year, could also breathe a sigh of relief and use all the taxes that could be collected for disaster relief and immigration.

It can be said that this is what Zhu Youjian cares about most. Although the issue of hiring workers is more important in the long run, it is far less important than trying out a single tax system for the current court.

In addition, what concerned Zhu Youjian was the agreement between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands regarding Southeast Asia.

After successfully defeating the Dutch again and forcing them to recognize Ming's control over the coastal waters, the Dutch have realized that if they want to do business with Ming, they must sign a contract with Ming and end the current state of war.

Otherwise, not only would they be unable to trade with the Ming Dynasty, but even the shipping routes to Malacca would be threatened by the Ming Dynasty.

In this shallow strait, the Dutch ocean-going warships did not have an advantage, and the Battle of Liaoluo Bay and other near-shore wars had already proved this.

If they continued to confront the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch would have to take a detour and would always be threatened by the Ming Dynasty in the coastal waters of the South China Sea.

This forced them to face up to the strength of the Ming Dynasty and sign a relatively equal contract.

What Zhu Youjian saw before him was the final agreement signed between Zheng Zhilong and others and the Dutch:
"First, the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands coexist peacefully, and military operations in Southeast Asia need to be notified to the other party."

"Second, the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands respected each other and recognized each other's vassal states and spheres of influence."

"Third, the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands will benefit each other and trade with each other. The Ming Dynasty will lift the trade blockade against the Netherlands, and the Netherlands will not prevent Ming merchants from trading in Southeast Asia."

This clause is what the Dutch are most concerned about and is also the area of ​​most heated debate.

They only wanted the Ming Dynasty to lift its trade blockade against the Netherlands, but did not want Ming merchants to go to Southeast Asia to trade:
In the past, they relied on their trade monopoly to manipulate the prices of Southeast Asian goods at will, and even sold some worthless goods at sky-high prices.

But after the Ming merchants came, their method no longer worked. The Ming merchants would use low prices to destroy the situation they had worked so hard to create.

Therefore, the Dutch strongly demanded the abolition of this clause, believing that trade between the two sides should be limited to the Hong Kong Island Free Trade Zone and that trade in Southeast Asia should be monopolized by them.

Zheng Zhilong and others would naturally disagree with this. Although they paid more attention to establishing a fiefdom and occupying land, they would not ignore trade. After all, everyone knows that maritime trade can make money faster, far more than hard work in farming.

In the end, after fierce debate, Zheng Zhilong and others, on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, recognized the Dutch's dominance in the spice industry and other industries, and reluctantly signed this clause with the other party.

However, Zhu Youjian's vision of the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands becoming each other's most-favored-nations came to nothing and was not even proposed.

This made him sigh inwardly, knowing that Ming and the Netherlands would inevitably have disputes in the future:
"The Dutch are ambitious and unwilling to accept the defeat in this battle!"

"Perhaps in a few years, there will be another naval battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands."

The Dutch were probably not convinced that they were defeated by the Ming Dynasty, which had more ships near the coast.

After they have recovered their lost ships in a few years, they will probably start a dispute again. Zhu Youjian anticipated this scenario and called Wang Chengen, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, and said:

"How is the construction of the Royal Shipyard going?"

"Have you made any progress in copying the Portuguese warships?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengen said:
"Portuguese merchants have successively presented more than ten warships, and the craftsmen of the Imperial Household Department and the Navy Department have all copied them."

"But the cruiser that the emperor mentioned has not been designed yet."

"Westerners use mostly oak for their ships. The Ming uses less of this wood and their reserves are also insufficient."

"We are still experimenting with various types of wood to transform the Taixi people's galleon into the cruiser that the emperor mentioned."

Zhu Youjian had decided long ago to develop ocean-going warships based on galleons.

When Portuguese merchants came to the Ming Dynasty to seek asylum, Zhu Youjian offered them warships.

Although Portuguese merchants were reluctant to do this, they had to try their best to plunder retired warships under the relentless pressure from the Dutch and the demands of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty has now collected more than ten warships of various types, including three galleons. The task of the Royal Ship Group and the Navy Department is to imitate these ships and develop the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going warships - cruisers.

Zhu Youjian was not satisfied with the progress. Thinking of the teak, the king of all trees in the future, he said:
"Didn't Zheng He's treasure ships that sailed to the West use a lot of teak from Southeast Asia?"

"The most suitable material for shipbuilding in the South Seas should be this. Send people to collect it carefully and encourage nobles to establish fiefdoms in places where teak is abundant."

"The demand for teak in the future of the Ming Dynasty will be unlimited, and the Royal Shipping Group can sign a long-term procurement contract with them."

"Tell them to remember to plant after logging. In fifty or a hundred years, there will be more ships built than now."

As the most suitable material for warships, teak was even used as aircraft carrier decks during World War II. It disappeared from aircraft carriers only after the advent of the jet age after the war.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian could be sure that if he planted teak now, he could sell it fifty or a hundred years later. The Royal Shipping Group could issue long-term contracts to purchase this wood.

In order to improve the status of teak and encourage the development of the teak industry, Zhu Youjian even ordered the Imperial Household to create a batch of teak furniture and make teak floors.

Wang Chengen wrote these down and planned to build a warship out of teak.

As for what the teak the emperor was talking about was, he believed that he would be able to find out by testing the wood from Southeast Asia.

Zhu Youjian was looking at the designs of various cruisers at this time and was very dissatisfied with their progress.

Two years had passed since the mission was issued, but the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding craftsmen were still at the stage of imitation and had not even built a single cruiser.

Even the cruiser plans that some people came up with were not really battleships at all, as those craftsmen had no idea what long-distance naval warfare was like.

This made him sigh at the difficulty of naval development. In this era of sailing warships, a century-long navy was by no means an empty phrase. Ship design and manufacturing, and even wood storage, all took a long time.

Now we can only take one step at a time, encourage overseas vassal states and maritime trade, and promote the development of the shipbuilding industry. (End of this chapter)