Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 788 Scientific and Technological Achievements Are Natural

On the third day after the visit of the Spanish mission, Zheng Zhifeng, who was given the opportunity by Zhu Youjian, held talks with the mission on behalf of the Ming Dynasty. After three negotiations, the two sides reached a relevant agreement. was reported.

On behalf of the Spanish government, the Spanish mission acknowledged the fact of the two defeats (or not), announced that it would give up its interests in Luzon, and would not seek to regain it in the future, and clearly expressed its respect for Ming as the suzerain of Luzon; Spain is willing to compensate [-] Give gold coins to Daming, and accept silver coins from Daming to circulate in the domestic market.

Ming will release the captured Spanish soldiers and provide Spain with appropriate armaments for a fee; all goods of Ming will not be subject to tariffs in Spain, Spain welcomes the sale of Ming goods in Europe, and will take specific actions to increase procurement.

Thousands of Spanish captives will end their labor career that lasted more than a year, and return to China in batches by boat. One hundred thousand gold coins can be regarded as a ransom fee.

Zhu Youjian hopes that these captives can quickly join the war against the Ottoman Empire after returning to China, and try to prevent the backward and stubborn system from invading the evolving system.

Through Zheng Zhifeng's intentional or unintentional words, the Spaniards learned that the Portuguese purchased ordnance from Daming. The members of the Spanish mission who had no intention of purchasing ordnance from Daming, after an overnight emergency consultation, temporarily made a decision during the second meeting. Added the terms of purchasing ordnance.

There is also constant friction between the armies of Spain and Portugal. This time, the Portuguese used Ming's armaments and were able to invade Spain. This shows that the quality of Ming's armaments still has certain advantages. Will not be willing to spend money to buy.

Now Spain already knows that the reason why Spain's proud phalanx has been defeated by the Ming army is because of the huge gap in ordnance power, although the members of the mission also understand that Daming will not sell the most advanced ordnance Give them, but after inspecting the firearms replaced by the Ming army, the Spaniards felt that such firearms and ammunition were indeed much stronger than the heavy firearms used by their own army.

After completing the corresponding procedures, the Spanish mission left the full amount of money and left the capital with the purchased ordnance for Manila, accompanied by relevant personnel from the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty.

Subsequently, Zhu Youjian ordered to increase the production of old-style firearms and ammunition in preparation for European customers to visit again.

Ottoman, Portugal, and Spain, once the war between these three countries starts, it will definitely not end in a year and a half. After tasting the sweetness of the firearms, the Spanish and Portuguese will definitely come to purchase again. And the amount will increase accordingly.

Invisibly, Ming's export commodities have added a lucrative industry. After the development of breech-loading muskets in the future, the reduced power of the Minie gun can be sold in large quantities.

Later generations say that the history of China is a history of wars, but why not in Europe?
Take the present as an example, the naval battle between Britain and the Netherlands has begun, and Portugal, Spain, and Ottomans are also facing fierce conflicts. As long as Ottomans attack Spain, the unwilling Tsarist Russia is likely to take advantage of it. Then, stab Osman from the back. As for whether France will be involved in this series of wars, it all depends on its interests.

As long as the Spaniards give enough benefits, Austria and France, which originally hated each other because of their different beliefs, are likely to join this melee. He became the target of everyone's looting, which played a very important role in expanding Daming's influence and improving Daming's world status.

Zhu Youjian originally did not want the war in Europe to continue, because the war meant economic stagnation, which would directly affect the foreign sales channels and markets of Ming products, and delay his plan to let the people of Ming live a better life.

But looking at it now, according to the peeing nature of this group of Europeans, they all want to beat the opponent's dog brains out. For these barbarians, force is the best way to resolve disputes, until one party finally gives in. Or the two sides can't make a deal, and that's the time to sit down and negotiate.

Zhu Youjian hoped that Ming Dynasty would become stronger, and then he could act as a mediator for the warring countries with his super strength. If someone refused to accept the mediation, he would invite other people who were willing to be mediated and beat them until they were convinced.

To have super strength, world-leading scientific and technological talents and achievements are the most important.

Taking the present as an example, if Ming Dynasty built a steam-powered ironclad ship, there would be no problem sweeping the world, and the combined navies of Britain and the Netherlands would be useless.

Since Zhu Youjian proposed the concept of the steam engine, it immediately aroused the strong interest of Song Yingxing, Di Ka and others. The two scientific experts have started special research with their students.

For this reason, Zhu Youjian specially decreed to allocate 30 silver coins in the internal funds for the research of this cross-age black technology, and emphasized in the imperial decree that as long as the steam engine is successfully developed, all participants will receive unprecedented benefits. A heavy reward, and it may even be a knighthood.

Although the research and development of the steam engine has not made much progress so far, Zhu Youjian did not send anyone to urge him.Everything has a process, from quantitative change to qualitative change, which cannot be achieved in a short while, especially this kind of epoch-making product requires enough patience, huge investment, and sufficient professional talents. As long as these basic conditions are met, everything It will all work out.

At present, the bulk of Ming's fiscal expenditures are mainly concentrated in infrastructure, military expenditures, and improvement of people's livelihood. Military expenditures and related expenditures are about 400 million to 600 million taels per year.The infrastructure expenditure is slightly lower, about 300 million taels per year. In fact, in terms of the benefits generated, the invisible value driven and generated by these 300 million taels is inestimable.

Another major expenditure item is people's livelihood.

After the Sun Cheng incident, Zhu Youjian decreed that all prefectures, states and counties should establish nursing homes, the scale of which depends on the local conditions, and the local governments should conduct a comprehensive investigation to respond to all the widows, widows, lonely and disabled people in their jurisdiction. Collect everything, and strive to make every person who agrees with the conditions can be settled in the nursing home. Taicang is responsible for allocating the expenses of the nursing home.

For families with similar circumstances to Sun Cheng’s family, after verification, the local government will provide long-term assistance and assistance to provide such families with public welfare jobs, so that they will not be in a state of loneliness and helplessness. The achievements of this work It will be included in the scope of assessment for the promotion of officials, and those who are slack and dereliction of duty will be dismissed on the spot.

If the people of the world cannot enjoy beauty and happiness, then no matter how big the country is and how much money there is, what the emperor does will not be interesting.

The cost of the nursing home is about one million taels per year. If the newly increased relief funds are included, the total improvement of people's livelihood will be about 200 million taels. It is about 1000 million taels. Compared with these three major items, other expenditures are considered small money.

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, the total income of Taicang was about 100 million taels of silver, of which the proportion of agricultural taxes dropped to [-]%, and industrial and commercial taxes suddenly rose to [-]%. This is a very welcome trend and change.

(End of this chapter)