Daming Yuanfu

At this moment, Gao Pragmatic was forced to calm down and think: In addition to changing East Asia, what changes have I brought to the world after traveling through so many years? How will these changes in turn affect East Asia?

The news of the "siege of Ostend" that was advanced did not spread so quickly that even Gao Pragmatic knew about it, but it didn't matter. He had just drawn his own inference from the industry report submitted by southern Xinjiang.

Although it was impossible to deduce the specific "siege of Ostend", he was obviously very aware of the large quantities of guns, projectiles and gunpowder imported by Spain and Portugal from southern Xinjiang. He even knew that the Spanish and Portuguese Empire was negotiating with Southern Xinjiang to purchase armed transport ships.

This was somewhat unexpected. He originally thought that since Spain was the largest naval power in Europe at this moment, it would be somewhat conceited and unlikely to outsource ships from Beijing. However, this is not the case. The Spaniards' mentality is to buy as much as they can, and if they really can't, they will find their own solution.

When Gao Pragmatic thought about it carefully, he understood that the Spanish royal family basically had no awareness of "protecting its own industry." As the heir to the Habsburg family with the most noble origins in Europe, Philip II's attitude towards Spain was “I rule over you as God’s blessed monarch” – in other words, you were given to me by God to rule as I please.

So how does he want to rule? "The world is not enough for me." Conquer, conquer for God every piece of land I can conquer. If England refuses me to continue to rule as co-king after the death of Queen Mary I, then I will send out the Armada to conquer it!

Unfortunately, the Armada failed, and the Dutch Revolution arose. After comprehensive consideration, Philip II decided to put down the easy things first and then the hard ones: put down the rebellion in the Netherlands first, and then go back and deal with England. Thus, the "Siege of Ostend" came about - even if Gao Pragmatic didn't know it, it did not prevent him from inferring that Spain must be more powerful in Europe at this moment than in history, and this was why he had previously approved Spain and Portugal to seize control of southern Xinjiang. Reasons for importing military equipment.

Yes, he believed that instead of letting Spain exhaust its energy but still being unable to suppress England and the Netherlands, as it had in history, it was better to strengthen Spain and Portugal through trade, so that the Kingdom of Spain could fight against England and pacify the Netherlands.

History has proven that Spain, because of its extremely strong Catholic faith, cannot get out of its own thinking limitations. Even if it occupies a huge colony, it is difficult to quickly transform into capitalism, let alone quickly launch an industrial revolution.

The UK and the Netherlands are different. Many "firsts" in history occurred in these two places, such as the "origin of the modern corporate system" and "the origin of the modern financial system" in the Netherlands, as well as the "first time" in England, which is most feared by high pragmatism. An Industrial Revolution”.

To put it simply, Britain and the Netherlands can bring greater changes to the world. If it continues to develop as it did in history, Gao Pragmatism will still be very worried that the industrial revolution will first appear in Britain, not the Ming Dynasty or southern Xinjiang. Once this happens, Chinese civilization may still face impact from the outside world - even if this time it should not be so tragic.

Ignoring this threat for the sake of global development? Sorry, I am of Yanhuang bloodline, and I am not selfless enough to let China suffer for the sake of the whole world.

In this case, let Spain continue to fight for God! Not only "God favors Spain", I, Gao Rixin, also favor you... Come, get the military aid, and wish you good military luck.

If England and the Netherlands are not enough, I will even support your Habsburg family to destroy their historical enemy France and defeat the Sacrifice League. At least at this moment, I am more determined than a devout Catholic to your ideals. Please continue to believe that God can give you everything, not industrialization.

But having said that, Spain's killing spree in Europe does have an impact on the economy of East Asia. In fact, it was not only the Jiangnan chaebols in the Ming Dynasty who had their sales blocked, but also southern Xinjiang. However, in the past six months, Gao Pragmatic always thought that this was caused by the three wars he launched, so he ignored it. The economic impact is chain-like, and then various chain reactions occur through the economic chain. For example, when the Ming Dynasty's external market declined, the revenue of the Liangyang Fleet fell for the first time, so Gao Pragmatic also suspended the shipbuilding plan of the Liangyang Fleet for the first time, and approved that all shipbuilding plans be postponed for one year.

For another example, Gao Pragmatic banned rice from southern Xinjiang from entering Japan, but obviously this batch of rice would not be smashed into his hands. This led to a decline in rice prices in several port cities in the Ming Dynasty and surrounding areas, which led to the domestic rice trade in the Ming Dynasty (such as Huguang). -Jiangnan) has declined, which has affected the business of grain merchants and transport merchants in Huguang, which also affects the economy.

As for whether these businessmen will lower the purchase price of grain, affecting landlords and farmers, and then affecting tenant farmers, even Gao Pragmatic cannot say for sure.

In a word, the economy is an issue that affects the whole body. Even if the market really has an "invisible hand", who will be harmed and who will benefit from this hand in the process of adjustment is still at this moment. What no one can predict, and no one can explain clearly, including Gao Pragmatic - after all, he is just a person, and the education in his previous life can make him deduce the general trend. Thank God, it is impossible to be meticulous and comprehensive.

So the question now is, what to do?

The Spaniards want to fight, and Gao Pragmatism also supports them in fighting. But once this happens, it will be difficult to continue to sell large quantities of Ming silk porcelain and Nanyang spices to Europe, which will lead to a decline in the export trade between Ming Dynasty and Nanyang.

The problem of Nanyang spices is actually a little better, because Gao Pragmatic's previous strategy was to pay equal attention to Europe and the Ming Dynasty, selling to Europe on one side and selling to the Ming Dynasty on the other. The part sold to Europe is left alone, and the goods are handed over to Spanish and Portuguese merchants. It is the business of these merchants, while the sales to the Ming Dynasty are the work of the two ocean fleets (including other Ming merchants), local port authorities, and Jinghua Trading Company. All need to take action. of.

To put it simply, over the years, Jinghua has been using its entire system to promote Nanyang spices to enter thousands of households, not just into the dining tables of upper-class families.

Gao Pragmatic does not intend to make these spices exclusive products for the upper class, but hopes to make them popular among the common people. Firstly, he believed that only civilianization could increase production and sales and benefit more manufacturers and traders; secondly, he also hoped that more people in Ming Dynasty could enjoy richer food tastes.

Now, the European line of the spice trade has been affected to a certain extent, but in fact the impact is not particularly large, because these spices can only be consumed by the upper class in Europe. Therefore, the impact of the war is mainly on the level of transportation capacity. Of course, the impact cannot be underestimated. It is currently estimated that 40% of sales will be lost this year. But in any case, Ming Dynasty's continued opening of the market can slow down this downward trend.

However, Daming's main export products are silk and porcelain, and the two brothers are synonymous with the world's top high-end luxury. Their market problems are not so easy to solve.
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Thanks to book friend "Crazy Xuan" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!

PS: The little guy finished his exam, so I took a video call from my mother in the evening, and suddenly I didn’t have enough time to write 4K.