The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 141 Chimneys are a symbol of wealth
Fei Chun and Cao Zhendong stayed in Quanzhou for three days, waiting for the delegation headed by Zheng Ruian, the prince of the Duke of Min, to complete their preparations, and then the two fleets headed south to Australia together.

The Zheng family of the Duke of Fujian also had steam paddle steamers, and there were quite a few of them, but the tonnage of each ship was mostly relatively small.

On July 12, the 38th year of Xianning, the fleets of both sides arrived at the capital of Wu.

When the fleet entered the port, members of the Fujian diplomatic corps headed by Zheng Ruian came to the bow to observe the situation on the shore.

Then they slowly opened their mouths, thinking the scene before them was incredible.

When Zhu Jianxuan saw the scene of his royal capital, he felt like he was seeing a city in the early days of the industrial revolution.

Although Zhu Jianxuan was quite satisfied with the development speed of the royal capital, the royal city itself was very inconspicuous compared with the big cities in later generations.

So when Zhu Jianxuan came, he was more moved and not surprised at all.

However, the Ming native elites who came from the handicraft era were easily shocked by the scenes of early industrial cities:

Zheng Ruian looked into the distance, muttering with surprise, admiration, and confusion:

"Since the first batch of Ming immigrants arrived in Australia in the early 32nd year of Xianning, it has only been more than six years, right?
“In the past, a newly established vassal state, not to mention six years after its establishment, even ten years after its establishment, would mostly still be a rural landscape, or even a tropical rainforest.

“But here in the capital of Wu… although there are rural landscapes around it, there is actually such a huge industrialized city.

"Do you see the tall chimneys spewing smoke behind the dock? There are so many of them, more than many big cities in our Ming Dynasty."

Chen Yuyang, an aide to the Min Kingdom's Office, had a similar status to Wu's secretary and was a Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty court. He accompanied Zheng Ruian to the negotiations.

When Chen Yuyang heard his own son's praise, he echoed from the bottom of his heart:
“Your Highness is absolutely right. These chimneys all correspond to new-style factories, and they are all living treasure pots.

“There aren’t so many new factories outside of Quanzhou.

“And, Your Highness, you can take a look at the houses in this city. They are so large that you can’t see the end of them. They are larger than the average city.

“There could have been hundreds of thousands of people gathered.

"Although Wu may only have a population of over a million now, by gathering hundreds of thousands of people in the urban area, we can build so many factories."

People at that time had no modern concept of environmental protection at all. Instead of being disgusted by seeing big chimneys, they would feel yearning for them.

Because the big chimneys now correspond to new factories, and new factories are a symbol of wealth.

Wherever there are large chimneys, there is a prosperous place.

Lin Jianxing, another aide to the Duke of Min, couldn't help but express his amazement when listening to the conversation between the two:
"In just six years... you have achieved such great success. You are worthy of being the living Lu Ban, His Majesty the King of Wu."

Chen Yuyang and Lin Jianxing didn't get along very well, so when he heard this he subconsciously asked back:

"Your Majesty the King of Wu has just arrived in Australia this year. What does Australia's construction have to do with Your Majesty the King of Wu?"

Lin Jianxing immediately responded:
“It’s true that His Royal Highness the King of Wu just arrived in Australia this year, but all the inventions used in Australia’s development were invented by His Royal Highness the King of Wu?
"Which of the steamships, steam engines, hot blast furnaces, air converters, steam locomotives, and reinforced rubber was not invented by His Majesty the King of Wu?

"If there were no steamships, how could we travel to Australia so conveniently?

"If we use traditional sailing ships to come to Australia, it would be good if we could make one trip a year, and it would be good if we could bring 100,000 people a year.

“The key is that there is no way to purchase machinery and materials locally at any time.

“Let alone six years, even if we continue to build for 20 or 30 years, we won’t be able to reach the current scale.

"If it were any other prince, he would never come here to be a vassal king in the first place, and if he did come, he would probably go back.

"Without the invention and foresight of His Majesty the King of Wu, none of this would be possible."

The princes and grandchildren of this era, who grew up in Yingtianfu, the world's largest city, were increasingly unwilling to go overseas to become vassal kings.

Many princes were ignorant of the ways of the world when they were young, and many of them wanted to go overseas to become kings.

But after growing up, especially after becoming a feudal lord, many of them could not stand the wildness of overseas life.

In recent years, there have been several cases where the princes requested to return to Beijing and asked the emperor to arrange for other people to serve as princes.

Chen Yuyang knew that Lin Jianxing was telling the truth, but he still wanted to continue arguing with Lin Jianxing.

However, Zheng Ruian, the prince of the Min Kingdom, suddenly spoke with a hint of meaning:
“The rapid construction of Australia is of course mainly due to the new inventions of His Royal Highness King Wu.

“But it’s also because this is a newly developed area, with no other internal or external forces to constrain it.

"That's why the Wu Kingdom was able to let go and directly build the latest steam power plant."

It is impossible to completely hide what Zheng Ruian often thinks about in his heart.

The two aides of the Duke of Min had dealt with Zheng Ruian many times on the road, and they could vaguely guess the prince's mentality.

No one dared to respond to this topic and just shut their mouths and looked at the scenery.

The opinions expressed by Zheng Ruian and his team were not wrong in themselves, but they did not realize the real logic behind the rapid development of the Wu State.

This is the efficiency gap between the industrial age and the handicraft age.

Although the Wu State now only has one truly industrialized city, it is the most industrialized place in the world.

The development speed will become faster and faster in the future.

The paddle steamer that Zheng Ruian was on slowly approached the dock.

The etiquette personnel from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Wu State Cultural Department came over and escorted them to the reception desk of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Wu State.

On the other side, Fei Chun and Cao Zhendong went directly to meet Zhu Jianxuan after getting off the boat and reported the situation and gains of the trip to Yingtian Prefecture and Quanzhou.

Fei Chun finally concluded and suggested:

“Your Majesty, since Your Majesty has sent two naval divisions from the Governor’s Office to fight the Japanese directly, it doesn’t matter whether the Duke of Min participates or not.

"Whether the Duke of Min sends the one hundred large and small ships or arranges 30,000 men to participate in the battle will not affect the outcome.

“So I think there is no need to give the Duke of Min too good conditions.

"We don't even need to ask the Duke of Min to help recruit Japanese samurai. We can just occupy a port in Japan and start recruiting people."

Zhu Jianxuan opened the reply and letter from his father, and checked the two imperial edicts authorizing his actions:
“The imperial court and Wu State do have the ability to accomplish these things, but it is not good to eat alone, and the losses may be greater.

"Ming Guogong's connections in Japan...are definitely not just what we can see on the surface...

"When we use our military force against Japan, if the Duke of Min reports to the Japanese vassal states, it will be the same as other vassal states obstructing the Northern Expedition.

"We must at least make the Duke of Min truly stand on our side and wait to share the benefits, instead of running to the other side."

Fei Chun thought about it for a while and understood:
"Am I stupid, or is Your Majesty insightful?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
"What Mr. Fei said can be used to bargain with Duke Min. We can tell him that we really can do without them."

Fei Chun immediately bowed and said:
"Great King Shengming."

On the morning of July 13, the 38th year of Xianning, Zhu Jianxuan took the seat in Chengyun Hall of the Wu Palace to receive the envoys from the Min Kingdom's Mansion.

After several representatives led by Zheng Ruian paid homage to Zhu Jianxuan, Zhu Jianxuan directly asked them to sit down in the hall and talk.

Zheng Ruian greeted Zhu Jianxuan and explained his father's intention very directly.

Zhu Jianxuan glanced at Fei Chun, and Fei Chun immediately understood what he meant and repeated what he had said to Zhu Jianxuan yesterday.

In short, it means that even without the assistance of the Duke of Min, the imperial court can still accomplish this task by head-on.

The three people on Zheng Ruian's side were obviously stunned for a moment. They didn't expect that King Wu would actually take an attitude of not allowing the Duke of Min's Mansion to continue to participate.

The three of them hesitated for a moment, and Lin Jianxing, an aide to the Duke of Min's Mansion, was the first to respond:

"Your Highness, the King of Wu, His Majesty has already issued an order allowing our Duke of Min's Mansion to participate in this matter. Your Highness, the King of Wu, should not act so stubbornly.

"The Duke's Mansion has a lot of connections in Japan. It can help Your Highness avoid a lot of unnecessary troubles and can also provide warships and soldiers to participate in the war."

Lin Jianxing's words can be read in reverse: the connections of the Duke of Min can avoid trouble, but if the Duke of Min's Mansion is not allowed to share the profits, that could in turn create trouble.

Fei Chun immediately continued his tit-for-tat response:
"With the navies of the two governor's offices of the Ming Dynasty, it doesn't matter whether we recruit Japanese samurai or not, and we don't need the connections of the Duke of Min."

This time, another staff member of the Duke of Min's Mansion, Chen Yuyang, followed up and spoke:

"The Muslims are extremely cruel. If we use the officials and civilians of the Ming Dynasty to wipe out the Muslims, I don't know how much loss we will suffer.

"Japanese samurai are very good fighters, and they can be used to deal with the Muslims around the Red Sea.

“Moreover, His Majesty only approved the participation of the naval forces of the two governorates, and did not order the land forces to participate. He wanted to use Japanese samurai to fight this land battle.

"The actions against Japan and the actions in the Red Sea region can be considered as part of the same action plan and cannot be separated."

Zhu Jianxuan felt that the situation was almost over, so he spoke up as the host to smooth things over:
"If the Duke of Min wants to participate in the operation, he also wants shares in the canal operating company.

“Then recruiting samurai in Japan is not just a simple business, it is also a part of the cooperation.

"No matter now or in the future, the Duke of Min should continue to provide it free of charge."

The three people, led by Zheng Ruian, exchanged opinions in a low voice, and finally Zheng Ruian came out and accepted the condition:

“If the Duke of Min’s Mansion can have 20% of the canal’s shares, it can participate in the management of the canal company with His Highness in the future.

"Then the Duke of Min and Your Highness are naturally partners. There is no need to discuss money when providing these assistance to Your Highness."

Their conditions were: Duke Min could always help Zhu Jianxuan recruit people in Japan for free in the future, and Zhu Jianxuan would allow Duke Min to get 20% of the canal shares.

Zhu Jianxuan hesitated for a few seconds and then accepted the terms of the cooperation, but he did not agree with the share ratio at all:
"Completely defeating the Omani navy and controlling the main shipping routes in the Indian Ocean are the premise and core of building the canal.

“The imperial navy is responsible for actual combat operations, and it is also the Ming navy that will control the Pacific shipping routes in the future, so my father wants to take 70% of the shares of the canal company.

"The remaining 30% is what the Duke of Min and I will share. I think half of the shares will be enough to complete the recruitment of Japanese samurai."

The emperor did not tell Zhu Jianxuan how many shares he wanted, but Zhu Jianxuan could use the emperor as a banner, and this request was completely reasonable.

Next, the two sides discussed this and that for a long time, and finally decided that the Duke of Min’s shares would be at 8%.

Nominally the emperor holds 70%, the King of Wu 22%, and the Duke of Min 8%.

Eight percent may seem like a small number, but it is already a huge amount of wealth.

The Duke of Min was only responsible for using his connections in Japan to recruit enough desperate criminals for the project.

King Wu Zhu Jianxuan was the project initiator, the person in charge of the project implementation process, and the manager after the project was implemented.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was the largest investor and the undisputed major shareholder, and he could simply wait for dividends.

(End of this chapter)