Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 377 Rules for going to court

Tianjin.

The army prepares for the government office.

"Bing Xian, is it inappropriate to allow those Western merchants who are going north to live in Tianjin Acropolis directly?"

Cao Wenyao frowned slightly, looked at Chen Qiyu who was busy at the desk, and expressed his worries: "After all, their identities have not been verified clearly. What if they..."

"Nothing wrong."

Chen Qiyu put down his pen, raised his head and looked at Cao Wenyao and said: "No matter what their identity is, as long as they enter our territory of the Ming Dynasty, they have only one identity, which is to respond to our national policy and stop trading. As for what their hidden intentions are, they will be contacted later. Just understand.”

This……

Cao Wenyao was speechless for a moment. Although he knew that Tianjin's opening up to the sea for trade was a national policy set by the emperor, and even the establishment of the Thirteenth Bank of Tianjin was closely related to this, but for a long time in the past, there had been no Western invasion of Tianjin. Now that a group of Western merchants have suddenly arrived, they will inevitably murmur in their hearts.

"General Cao, I know all your worries and concerns."

As for Cao Wenyao's worries, Chen Qiyu saw it at a glance, "But there are some things that we need to learn to adapt to, instead of just being wary of. Since the establishment of Tianjin Port, isn't everything Tianjin has done just to open up the sea?"

"Yes, as the gateway to defend the capital and the capital, there are more or less hidden dangers in allowing these north-bound Western merchants to land and enter the city before there is any news from the capital. But don't forget, we, the Tianjin Garrison The Admiral's Office and the Tianjin Navy are also not vegetarians."

"When dealing with unknown people or things, you must know how to understand and accept them, instead of blindly rejecting them. This is what His Majesty told me, and I will relay it to you now."

"I will understand at the end."

Cao Wenyao responded with clasped fists upon hearing this.

The reason for this reaction is purely related to the ships of the Western Yi merchants who went north this time. Whose fleet is engaged in maritime trade, and there will be two four-masted sailing ships escorting them.

"In the following period, in the name of Tianjin Navy, you will keep in touch with Spanish maritime merchants. I will not meet them for the time being."

Chen Qiyu lifted up his robe sleeves, looked at Cao Wenyao and said: "The Tianjin Navy garrison affairs are temporarily under the control of Chen Jisheng. It is necessary to find out as much as possible about the situation of Southeast Asian countries, including the distribution of power in European countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands. This is important for It’s very important to Ming Dynasty.”

"Spain?"

Cao Wenyao frowned slightly.

"This is the briefing that His Majesty sent earlier. Take it back and familiarize yourself with it."

Chen Qiyu took out a document and handed it to Cao Wenyao, "Spain is the Big Franji mentioned earlier, Portugal is the Little Franji, and the Netherlands is the Netherlands. These are the most accurate country names. The previous ones were all transliterated. I think If we want to carry out foreign sea trade with European and Southeast Asian countries, we must know ourselves and our enemies."

"The Ming Dynasty was too far behind in this regard. Not only did it have insufficient understanding of the actual situation of the Southeast Asian countries, but it was even less clear about the situation of the European countries." "In this briefing, we briefly summarize the distribution of power of the European countries in Nanyang. For example, the Spanish maritime merchants who arrived in Tianjin this time were very powerful in Luzon, but they were by no means invincible. They were defeated in the naval battle between Spain and Britain in the 16th year of Wanli, which severely damaged their maritime power. …”

Cao Wenyao's mouth opened wide. What Chen Qiyu said was like listening to a book from heaven, and he had no big idea at all.

After the Tianjin Garrison Admiral's Office was formally established, He Kegang was appointed as the Tianjin Garrison Admiral. He returned to serve in the Tianjin Navy and took charge of the Tianjin Navy together with Chen Jisheng. What he did more was to train the navy under his command. In the previous daily drills, he had many I took a boat to the Jinzhouwei waters for the first time, but I hardly knew much about the maritime forces outside the Ming Dynasty.

"This is why I want them to disembark and enter the city."

Looking at Cao Wenyao in front of him, Chen Qiyu sighed softly and said: "As a guerrilla general of the Tianjin Navy, he hardly knows much about the situation outside the Ming Dynasty, let alone other groups."

"If one day, the maritime forces of the European countries active in the Southeast Asian region want to invade our coastal areas, how should we deal with it?"

"I will understand at the end."

Cao Wenyao's expression became serious when he heard this, "Please rest assured, Bing Xian, the general will definitely mediate with those Spanish people and find out as many useful things as possible."

Chen Qiyu replied: "The interpreter has been prepared for you. Don't think that people don't understand anything. They can go all the way north to Tianjin, but there is no news about going north from the southeastern provinces. This speaks volumes."

Cao Wenyao nodded heavily.

Speaking of which, Zhu Youxiao made it clear that Tianjin's opening of maritime trade to the outside world was not only to make money through maritime trade, but also to stimulate the shipbuilding industry in this way. The most important point was to force the Ming Dynasty to grow its maritime power without using this method. If so, when will the Ming Dynasty be able to intervene in the great voyages?

Regarding the distribution of the Nanyang region during this period, including the active maritime powers of the European countries, Zhu Youxiao actually did not know much. He was limited to the superficial knowledge he knew, such as the military, economy, trade, actual control areas of various countries, etc. , there is no accurate data support at all.

Therefore, a long time ago, Zhu Youxiao ordered the Luan Guards led by Li Ruolian to secretly send a group of hidden stakes to the trench mirror to collect corresponding intelligence.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty will make it clear that it will move overseas and launch a large-scale overseas voyage. It must first understand the situation of surrounding forces, the internal contradictions, and the naval and military strength of various countries... If they are not clear about these, they will want to take advantage of the situation to seize strategic locations. It is undoubtedly a fantasy.

"Your Majesty, if the Western merchants have really landed and docked, will the national policy of opening up the sea from Tianjin be a blessing or a curse to the Ming Dynasty?"

Looking at Cao Wenyao's leaving figure, Chen Qiyu muttered to himself, "What if these Western merchants heading north are disguises for the maritime powers of the European countries, and if they know the actual situation of our country, then how should our country face it? "

Before the Spanish maritime merchants came north to Tianjin, Chen Qiyu had no such worries or thoughts about opening up sea trade. Instead, he acted in accordance with the secret decree issued by Zhu Youxiao, selected a location to build Tianjin Port, and accelerated the construction of a government-built shipyard. , preparing for the establishment of Tianjin Customs, etc., these things almost made him extremely busy.

Not to mention that after the Tianjin Thirteenth Bank was established, Chen Qiyu had to compete with the dignitaries in Beijing behind it to ensure the stability of order and rapid development in Tianjin. Chen Qiyu had no time to think about anything else.

But it wasn't until he met the Spanish merchant fleet, especially the two four-masted sailing ships, that it had such a huge impact on Chen Qiyu that he began to really examine the matter...

(End of this chapter)