I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 752 How can you call him a slave!
Jose replied: "The envoy of the Ottoman Sultan Selim II. However, according to well-informed Ottoman merchants, Selim II is now dying of alcohol and he is just a figurehead.

The Ottoman envoys were actually divided into two factions, one was sent by Grand Vizier Mehmet Sokollu, and the other represented Sultan Mihrimah.

Marcelo nodded.

The current Ottoman Sultan Selim II was a notorious alcoholic and womanizer, known as Drunkard Selim. According to incomplete statistics, there were thousands of beauties in his harem, including beauties from all over Europe and Asia.

The real power of the Ottoman Empire was in the hands of Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokollu and Selim II's sister Sultan Mihrimah.

Sokollu was in charge of state affairs and held power in the outer court; Mihrimah Sultan was in charge of the harem and controlled power in the inner court.

Sultan Mihrimah represented the imperial power and was supported by royal family members, relatives by marriage, great nobles, and the Ottoman Empire's most powerful guards. At the same time, she had a special relationship with the Ottoman businessmen who had connections everywhere.

Ali Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman navy in the Battle of Lepanto, was a representative of the big merchants who connected the trade routes between the East and the West and a supporter of Sultan Mihrimah.

Her attention was on the Mediterranean and the navy.

With the support of Sultan Mihrimah, the Ottoman navy expanded westwards, eventually provoking a fierce counterattack from the European Christian world, leading to the Battle of Lepanto.

Sokollu is a representative of local power, and his attention is focused on the army and the Black Sea and North Caucasus regions.

Marcelo had heard from Spanish diplomats that this Ottoman Grand Via had proposed a grand plan to form an alliance with the Crimea, Astrakhan and other khanates to deal with the Russians.

Allied with the Kazakh Khanate, as well as the Bukhara and Uzbek peoples of Afghanistan and Transoxiana to fight against the Persians.

When the Ottoman Empire completely controlled the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, it dug a canal to connect the Volga River and the Don River, and then connected the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, turning these two seas into the North Sea of ​​the Ottoman Empire.

Now Sultan Mihrimah's Ottoman Mediterranean strategy had suffered a major setback after the defeat in the Battle of Lepanto and needed to change direction.

Sokollu's Black Sea and Caspian Sea strategies also needed major adjustments after the Kazakh Khanate was annexed by the Ming Dynasty and Russia faced a direct threat from the Ming Dynasty in the east.

After hearing what Jose said, Marcelo immediately realized that the two powerful factions of the Ottoman Empire sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty together in order to find out the true intentions of the great Eastern power so that they could adjust their own directions.

"The Ottomans reacted quickly." Leon also figured this out and couldn't help but say.

Marcelo shook his head. "In the Black Sea and Caspian Sea region, the Ottomans, Russians, and Persians have been fighting overtly and covertly for hundreds of years, and have always maintained a certain balance of power. Now a boundless and ferocious dragon has come to that region from the east.

The flames that spewed from their nostrils had already burned the Yarkand people, the Kazakhs, and the Kazan people, and made the Persians and Russians feel terrified. The Ottomans opposite them would certainly feel this fear first.

Your enemies know you best, and the Ottomans have been trying to break this balance. Now that new forces have joined the game, they will definitely come to understand the situation first. "

Leon asked bluntly: "Will the Ottomans want to bring the Ming Navy, this terrifying dragon, into the Mediterranean region?"

"After the defeat in the Battle of Lepanto, the Ottomans could only retreat to the eastern Mediterranean and rely on pirates to maintain a certain advantage in North Africa. Venice divided Greece and the northern Mediterranean, and the Spanish took the western Mediterranean.

The Ottomans will certainly not accept this. If the Ming navy is introduced into the Mediterranean, the sea will become even more chaotic. In order to maintain their existing interests, Spain and Venice will definitely go to war with the Ming navy. "

After Marcelo finished speaking, he looked at Leon, and they both understood.

It seems that the Mediterranean may have a new guide.

"Jose, where is the Ottoman envoy?"

"We left Hong Kong the day before yesterday, one day later than the Persian envoys."

"The Persian envoys are here too?" Leon felt a little silly as soon as he asked. The Persians have been fighting with the Uzbeks in the east, and now the Uzbeks are under tremendous pressure from the east. They will definitely know it first.

"Yes, it was an envoy sent by Shah Tahmasp I of Persia himself."

After hearing what José said, Marcelo looked at Leon and couldn't help but sighed: "Leon, you are right. The more important thing for Ming Dynasty to open up the world is to let the world know about it.

The Ming Dynasty just stretched its back, and the whole world was already in a state of panic. "

Leon was silent for a while, then asked Jose: "Can we catch up with the Ottoman and Persian envoys?"

"We are on the Luxi clipper ship, so we will arrive in Shanghai earlier than them."

"Jose is coming north with us?"

"Yes." Jose replied meaningfully, "I received a notice and waited for you to board the Luxi to go north together."

"That's great."

Marcelo frowned slightly and asked, "Leon, why should we contact the Ottoman and Persian envoys?"

"My Lord Marquis, at present, the goals of the Ottomans and Persians are the same as ours, both of which hope to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty. Just like doing business, we are the buyer and the Ming Dynasty is the seller.

Now we have three buyers and only one seller. In this case, the seller's bid is not important, but the buyer's bid becomes very important."

Marcelo and José understood.

Yes, now the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Portugal are begging the Ming Dynasty for an alliance, and the Ming Dynasty can wait for a good price. The Ottoman Empire, Persia and Portugal are competitors in a sense, especially Portugal and the Ottoman Empire.

The Ming Dynasty allied with the Ottoman Empire and went to war with Spain. Morally speaking, Portugal had to stand on the same front with Christianity. You can do all kinds of things in private, but you can't lose points in the interests of justice, otherwise the Pope will be furious and announce the cancellation of your membership in the church, and it will be difficult for Portugal to survive in Europe.

If Portugal formed an alliance with the Ming Dynasty first, he would be able to do so with ease and gain some advantages.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty had an extremely rich variety of goods, which were sold well all over the world and were in great demand, a big piece of fat meat. If the Ottomans and Persians took more, wouldn't Portugal get less?
Too bad!
The next morning, Marcelo, León and José boarded the Luxi.

At nine o'clock, we set sail on time.

When it reached the wide sea, the Luxi spread out all its sails and flew across the sea like an arrow.

José was knowledgeable. He accompanied Marcelo and León to the deck and pointed to the high-raised bow in front of them.

"The bow of a clipper not only looks like a pair of scissors, it is also very solid and hollow inside. It always keeps its head held high and tilted upward, like a knife, riding the wind and breaking the waves."

Marcelo couldn't help but ask, "Can Portugal imitate it?"

Jose shook his head. "No."

"why?"

"Because Portugal has no ship design bureau, no Shaofujian Planning Bureau, no Wusong and Qinhuangdao shipyards, no Luanzhou Coal and Iron Group, no Kaiping Manufacturing Bureau Group Company, no Songjiang Cotton Textile Bureau Group, no Imperial Household Department, no Right Military Governor's Office, and no cabinet."

Marcelo was a little confused by Jose's answer.

"Jose, does it take so many agencies to build a clipper?" "Uncle, it doesn't take so many agencies to build a Luxi, but it does take so many agencies to build ten, twenty, or fifty clippers."

Marcelo remained silent.

The Luxi flew over the sea, passing one ship after another. In the afternoon, it flew over an area of ​​sea.

"To the west is the Fujian Province of the Ming Dynasty, where the most famous port is Quanzhou Port, which is also known as Citong Port by Arab merchants.

However, starting from the first year of the Wanli period, the Fujian Coast Guard Commander and the East China Sea Navy's Third Fleet moved to Xiamen Island, which gradually replaced Quanzhou Port and became the largest seaport in Fujian.

To the east is the newly established Liuqiu County of Fujian Province, which includes the Great Liuqiu Island in the east and the Small Liuqiu Islands in the northeast.

Jose pointed to the fleet of ships moving east and west on the sea like a school of fish and said, "Some of those ships are fishing boats and some are transport ships.

The cabinet has made great efforts to develop the Great Ryukyu Island, preparing to develop it into an important transit station connecting Luzon, the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the North Sea. It plans to build a Class A port in the north and south of the island, and a Class B port in the west and east.

In the name of the Agricultural Reclamation Company, wasteland was reclaimed on the island, and sugar cane and rubber trees brought from the New World were planted.
However, the progress is not satisfactory, and the biggest problem is that there are too few people. "

"Too few people? How many people are there in Ming now?"

"The Ming Dynasty conducts a population census and economic survey every five years, and the relevant statistical work began last year, but the final data will not be available until next year.

The latest population data is from the first year of the Wanli reign, when the Ming Dynasty had a total of 184,360,000 people.

"How many?"

"One hundred and eighty-four million, three hundred and sixty thousand people."

Marcelo looked at Jose and wanted to ask a question.

Explain to me, what is a small population? What the hell is a small population?!
It is unknown whether the entire Europe has a population of 10 million now.

But then I thought, Ming Kingdom is such a vast land and people are needed everywhere.

One hundred and eighty-four million, three hundred and sixty thousand people may sound like a lot, but when you spread it out everywhere, it's like pepper sprinkled on the sea; there really aren't that many people left in each place.

Marcelo shook his head. How Versailles!
But he immediately realized a very important problem, "Jose, you said that Mingguo has to conduct a census and economic survey every five years?"

"Yes."

"What are you investigating?"

"How many men, women, old and young are there in the Ming Dynasty? This is called a census.

How many factories, how much goods are produced each year; how many fields, how much grain is produced each year; how many mines, how much ore is produced each year; how many ships, how many carriages, how many straight roads, how many bridges are there. Investigating how much a family has, this is called an economic census. "

Marcelo was extremely shocked and looked at Leon, "Did you know they had such a move?"

Leon shook his head, "I don't know."

Jose explained: "The old rule was to take inventory of the assets only when a new dynasty was established, for example, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty took inventory once during the Hongwu reign.

After Emperor Wanli ascended the throne, he stipulated that an inventory of the family assets should be taken every five years.

Marcelo's surprise turned into admiration. "Perhaps this is the strength of a unified dynasty. Only a unified country can have a unified writing system, a unified culture, and unified weights and measures."
Not only that, but we will also count our own population and strength. We have nothing but endless wars and slaughters among ourselves.

These wars and massacres were launched in various names, in the name of hatred, in the name of the people, in the name of the king, in the name of God, but in fact the ultimate goal was to fight for wealth. "

Marcelo looked at his nephew José and said, "I understand you a little bit now. The longer I stay in Ming, the more I am shocked by it, and the more desperate I feel."

Jose smiled and replied: "Uncle, I am not in despair, but in ecstasy. I am just a small person, and my nature is to follow and rely on the strong.

The stronger the strong person I rely on is, the happier I will be, which also proves that my original choice was not wrong. "

"Rely on the strong, where is your chivalry?"

"Uncle," Jose replied with a smile, "I am not a knight, I am just a bastard."

Marcelo was speechless.

Leon heard that there was something wrong with the tone of the uncle and nephew, and there was a hint of tension in the air, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Jose, the biggest problem is the small population. Is that your opinion or that of the people of Ming?"

"The understanding of the whole country. The China Political News published a speech made by Prime Minister Zhang Xiang last year, saying that what he lacks most now is not money, but people. People are asking him for people everywhere.

The numerous factories need manpower, the newly occupied South China Sea needs manpower, the copper mine in Luzon needs manpower, the Hongji coal mine in Jinghai needs manpower, and the development of Fangzhou and Genxunzhou needs manpower.
Zhang Xiang wishes that the population of the Ming Dynasty could double immediately."

Marcelo's attention was quickly drawn, and he couldn't help but say, "The Portuguese and the Dutch are sending black slaves to the Spaniards in the New World to ease the labor shortage.

Why didn't the Ming people use black slaves? They could hire Ottoman merchants to bring slaves from East Africa and India."

Slave trading is a traditional skill with a long history in Europe, which has been flourishing since the ancient Greek era. In the eyes of these slave traders, people are not divided into black and white, but only whether they can be sold for money.

They could hire Crimeans and Cossack cavalry to plunder Slavs in the steppes of Eastern Europe and sell them to the Ottomans and Persians; they could hire North African pirates to plunder people in the coastal areas of Greece, Italy and France and sell them to the North African Moorish leaders.
Trafficking black people to the New World was just a sideline of the new era.

Jose understood this European tradition and shook his head and said, "The land of the Ming Dynasty is managed by a provincial government, and the land under management is called the territory. The people who live and work in peace and contentment on it are called the people of the Ming Dynasty, and are called the citizens.

The territories that were only set up as governor-generals for pacification and rectification were called new territories; the territories that were directly governed by the Imperial Household's Junior Household Supervisor and the Cabinet's Senior Household Supervisor were called Imperial Overseas Territories and Cabinet Overseas Territories.
The differences between them are a bit complicated, and I can't explain them clearly in a short time.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Taizu, laws have been enacted prohibiting the buying and selling of human beings as slaves and servants.

Therefore, the local natives employed by several large mines in Luzon and Yanzhou, as well as the plantations that planted rubber trees, were called overseas workers. They were not citizens of the Ming Dynasty, but employees of Ming Dynasty enterprises, and could not enjoy the treatment of Ming Dynasty citizens.
But they were not slaves. They came and went freely, and had the power to be hired or refuse to be hired.”

After listening to Jose's explanation, Marcelo and Leon suddenly understood.

Yes, although these overseas workers work in harsh conditions and have high casualty rates, they can support their families through their hard work.

More importantly, they own their own property and can choose to be employed or starve to death.

How can these people with free souls be called slaves? At most, they are called cattle and horses.

Six days later, the Luxi sailed into the Yangtze River estuary, with Wusong Port in front of it.

From afar, they stood at the bow and saw a scene they would never forget.
(End of this chapter)