Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

A few days later, Zheng Zhilong's ship slowly left Nanjing. Zheng Zhilong's trip to Nanjing was very fruitful. He not only obtained the Liaodong trade he had been longing for, but also reached an agreement with the emperor on trade issues such as silk and porcelain.

"Brother, now that we have the Emperor's support, can't we open up more channels? The East India Company is in charge of trade with the Franks, and we should get a share too!" Zheng Zhibao said to Zheng Zhilong, outlining their future plans.

"Send some men to scout ahead for the East India Company, and subtly remind them to prioritize!" Zheng Zhilong's eyes narrowed, his amiable demeanor from a few days ago completely gone.

Zheng Zhilong believed that although the East India Company was paying protection money to the Zheng family, its actual trade was directly handled by merchants in Zhejiang and Southern Zhili. Now that they had the emperor's support, they could directly cut off the East India Company's supply of goods, forcing them to take the goods from the Zheng family, thereby achieving a complete monopoly on trade in the eastern sea area.

"Yes! I'll send someone to contact them as soon as I get back and discuss the profit distribution!" Zheng Zhibao said without any hesitation.

Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "I feel that the Emperor is more interested in firearms and other Portuguese items, as well as those coin-making tools. It seems the Emperor is demanding more blueprints. You should gather more Portuguese craftsmen in Fujian and Taiwan, and send them to the Emperor, regardless of whether they are useful or not. You might be able to win his favor!"

After hearing this, Zheng Zhibao nodded, and said with a slightly dejected tone, "Although we have received the Emperor's support in trade this time, our official positions remain unchanged!"

Zheng Zhilong's lips curled slightly: "The Emperor's initial mention of Taiwan is an opportunity. If we can occupy the entire island, we will have the title of Governor of Taiwan, just like Xiong Wencan, the Governor of Fujian—both are of the second rank! If our cooperation with the Emperor deepens, even the Governor-General of Fujian and Taiwan wouldn't be untouchable!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhibao slapped his forehead: "How could I forget that? I knew the Emperor didn't bring up Taiwan for no reason."

"But we can't act yet. We'll use the East India Company to establish trade routes, and then drive them away!"

Zheng Zhilong paused after speaking, then continued, "The Emperor has given 150,000 taels of silver to order 20,000 long-handled self-propelled firearms. Go and talk to the Portuguese, and bring back 30,000 of them. Give 10,000 as gifts to the Emperor!"

"Yes! But this thing isn't widely used in the Portuguese, so it might take a long time!" Zheng Zhibao replied.

"Then let's trade them more of the porcelain they like! Let them prioritize supplying us with 30,000 pieces, and try to get them over by the end of this year! At least we need to get a few thousand first! And send them to the Emperor!"

In Zheng Zhilong's eyes, tens of thousands of taels of silver were nothing. He now had an annual revenue of tens of millions of taels of silver, with profits of several million taels. Therefore, it was most important to maintain a good relationship with the emperor. His first step was to monopolize maritime trade.

Zhu Jian's idea was the opposite of Zheng Zhilong's. The court had no way to engage in maritime trade, and increasing commercial taxes required the cooperation of local gentry. They couldn't expect these illiterate soldiers to collect the taxes.

As long as the imperial court increases tax rates, there will inevitably be people who outwardly comply but inwardly defy it. In that case, he joined forces with Zheng Zhilong to cut off the foreign trade channels of wealthy merchants in the interior, and at the very least, to cut off the gentry and merchants who did not use Zheng Zhilong's channels.

The Dutch and Portuguese are now entrenched on Taiwan, trading partly with Japanese pirates and partly with Southern Zhili and Zhejiang. As long as Zheng Zhilong controls the maritime trade, the profits from these goods will fall into the hands of the imperial court.

After all, it's not feasible to rely on one-off revenues like confiscating property to maintain military spending and people's livelihoods. Therefore, a long-term channel for accumulating wealth is needed.

As Zhu Jian walked, he pondered, and soon arrived at the Ministry of War in Nanjing.

In the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign (1635), Bi Maokang wrote an illustrated treatise on military weapons and presented it to Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian. For this merit, Bi Maokang was awarded the title of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. Zhu Youjian remembered that flintlock muskets were found there.

The book "Illustrated Treatise on Military Weapons" was banned and destroyed in 1781 due to a literary inquisition, and was not published again until the Daoguang era. The Jurchens strictly controlled firearms to consolidate their power, and cultural factors also limited the spread of technology, resulting in the failure of flintlock and other firearm technologies to continue developing. This meant a loss of nearly two hundred years of firearms development time... This period also coincided with a crucial era of industrial transformation worldwide.

Upon seeing Zhu Jian arrive, Bi Maokang immediately bowed and knelt, saying, "Your subject Bi Maokang greets Your Majesty!"

"Rise!"

After Zhu Jian finished speaking, he had the soldiers place the ten flintlock muskets left behind by Zheng Zhilong on the table. Pointing to the flintlock muskets, he said, "These are self-propelled firearms that Zheng Zhilong obtained from the Portuguese. They are similar to the self-propelled firearms in the weapon illustrations you presented to me. Take a look!"

"yes!"

Bi Maokang picked up one and examined it, turning it over and over before slowly putting it down: "I can't see what's inside. May I disassemble it?"

"I'll give you five. Disassemble them yourself!"

"Let's see if we can combine your previous research and replicate it. I plan to equip the army with this self-propelled musket on a large scale!"

"How much is one of these Francois?" Bi Maokang asked.

"Seven taels!"

Bi Maokang was startled upon hearing this: "Seven taels!"

"A three-barreled gun only costs seven qian of silver; this one is equivalent to ten three-barreled guns!"

Zhu Jian nodded slightly: "If the Ming Dynasty were to manufacture it itself, without compromising performance, a cost below seven taels would be considered a success!"

"I have commissioned Zheng Zhilong to order 20,000 of these from the Franks! If the research is unsuccessful, more will be ordered! I believe this weapon is far superior to the three-barreled musket, with a much faster rate of fire and the ability to be reloaded and fired multiple times. It is an excellent counter to cavalry!"

There are no Maxim guns in Europe now. If there were, Zhu Jian would buy a hundred of them even if it cost ten thousand taels of silver each, and he could turn Huang Taiji into a sieve.

However, this flintlock musket already represents a generational leap over the firearms brought by Kong Youde and his men. As long as it develops steadily for a period of time, it will create a crushing advantage in firearms. Since the Jurchens like their damn archery and horsemanship, let them practice it. In the future, the rules of war will change because of firearms, not because of their damn archery and horsemanship!

"Your subject will certainly not fail in his mission!" Bi Maokang said firmly.

"In a few days, you will accompany me back to Beijing. There is an Ordnance Department under the Military and Political Bureau, and you will be the Director of the Ordnance Department!"

"As you command!"

Afterwards, Zhu Jian left behind five flintlock pistols and took the remaining five with him. These five were to be tested by the soldiers to gather feedback.

Before long, Zhu Jian arrived at the camp: "Cao Bianjiao, have someone test these five newest firearms and let the soldiers tell you how they compare to the three-eyed musket!"

Cao Bianjiao took the firearm, examined it, and nodded slightly: "This subordinate obeys the order!"

Zhu Jian pondered for a long time. If he wanted to confront the Jurchen field army head-on, he could only suppress them with firearms. If he wanted to fight them entirely with horsemanship, the training time would be too long and too slow. Now time was running out. The Jurchens had not entered the pass since their last retreat. They were definitely waiting for the autumn harvest before they could plunder.

Therefore, Prosecutor Zhu needs to produce a batch in advance for use on the battlefield, in preparation for the full-scale war to come! There's no such thing as a thousand days of guarding against thieves if you're a thief for a thousand days.