Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 225 Letter from the Governor of Australia
Ma Shijialu didn't care about the promised money. His purpose was very simple, that is, to take this opportunity to help the Franji people obtain the ownership of Haojing Ao, and truly help the Franji people obtain Haojing Ao.

Ma Shijialu then contacted Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua through the church. Although many of the Thai and Western craftsmen who went to the capital of the Ming Dynasty from Hao Jing'ao and Sun Yuanhua were their subordinates, most of these subordinates are now in the Ming Dynasty court. However, they are all technical positions after all, so contacting them is useless.

Therefore, it is better to contact Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua directly. After all, both their teachers and students are now important ministers of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Guangqi is the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, so he can really speak.

Ma Shijialu's letter was quickly delivered to Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua. Of course, in the letter, Ma Shijialu did not directly mention that he wanted to discuss with the Ming court the fact that the Thai and Western merchant ships were repeatedly robbed by Mao Wenlong. What he wanted to say was that he wanted to pay a state visit to the Ming Dynasty on behalf of Franji and meet the Ming Emperor.

According to etiquette, Mashakallu was just a governor, and a governor that the Ming Dynasty did not recognize. How could he be qualified to represent the Franji people on a state visit to the Ming Dynasty? Moreover, Mashakallu did not have the credentials of Emperor Franji. .

However, after all, Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua were contacted by Mashajialu through the church. The teacher and students still felt that they could not refuse the church's request. After all, when Sun Yuanhua went to Haojing'ao to purchase Hongyi cannons and recruit Thai and Western craftsmen, the church also provided a lot helpful.

Therefore, Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua finally decided to meet the emperor and report to the emperor Ma Shijialu's request to visit the emperor in the capital.

Zhu Tianqi heard that a Franji governor wanted to come to the capital to see him, but he didn't think much about it. After all, since he sent Sun Yuanhua to Haojing'ao to purchase Hongyi cannons and recruit Thai and Western craftsmen, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Haojing'ao had begun. The Langji people entered the "honeymoon period", and the Franji people's intention to please Daming became increasingly obvious.

But when he heard that the name of this Franji man was the Governor of Hao Jing'ao, his face instantly darkened. It wasn't that he didn't know that the Franji people wanted to take Hao Jing'ao as their own, and it wasn't that he didn't know that the Franji people wanted to take Hao Jing'ao as their own. People set up the Governor's Mansion in Haojing'ao and stationed the Governor.

But the Franji people could do this secretly, or they could pretend not to know, but this Mashakarlu dared to openly write his name as Governor of Hao Jing'ao on a letter to the Minister of Rites and the Chief Minister of the Cabinet of the Ming Dynasty. You still want to come to the Ming Dynasty to worship under this name. Isn't this a bit too arrogant?

Zhu Tianqi sneered and nodded, and said to himself: "Very good, since you are the ones who want to bring the matter of Hao Jing'ao to the surface, then let's talk about it openly!"

Zhu Tianqi then said to Xu Guangqi: "Xu Aiqing, go and tell this Maaskar Road that there is no need to visit the capital. If he needs help from Ming Dynasty for anything, he can just tell him. The court is mindful of the fact that the Franji people have done nothing to Ming Dynasty before." With help, Daming will also help the Franji people solve their troubles!"

Xu Guangqi didn't think much about it. According to Zhu Tianqi's instructions, he wrote a reply to Ma Shiqi Lu.

After seeing the letter, Mascara did not show any disappointment. Instead, he was excited because of the friendly attitude shown by the Ming Emperor towards the Franji people, so he directly sent the messages from Franji, Helan and the British people. He wrote in the letter that the merchant ship was plundered by Mao Wenlong, and expressed the hope that Ming Dynasty could give everyone an explanation on this matter.

At the same time, Zhu Tianqi had begun to lead the cabinet to discuss the reform of the Municipal Shipping Department and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Customs. Although the time was not yet ripe for this matter, Zhu Tianqi was "received by Maaskar Road" After "stimulating", I couldn't help but bring the matter forward.

In fact, with Zhu Tianqi's current words, no one dares to stand up to oppose his reforms, and it can also ensure that the decree can be implemented. However, the difficulty in this matter is not to reform the Municipal Shipping Department, but to fully open up the Ming Dynasty. Sea ban.

Although since the opening of Longqing, Daming has lifted the sea ban, but in fact it is not the case. Longqing opening is quite conservative, only a few treaty ports have been opened, and Ming's sea ban policy is still continuing.

Now, if Zhu Tianqi wants to fully open the maritime ban, he will inevitably encounter opposition from the old diehards in the DPRK and China, who will attack him with words such as "the laws established by our ancestors cannot be abolished."

However, Zhu Tianqi has already thought of countermeasures. Isn't the reason why Ming Dynasty implemented the maritime ban policy because of the serious Japanese rebellion along the coast?Now that the Japanese country is about to be destroyed by itself, there is still a Japanese rebellion?

Of course, Zhu Tianqi also knew that the so-called Japanese rebels were not legal citizens of the Japanese country, but a pirate gang composed of rogues and bandits from the Japanese country. Even their leader was Akito.

But it doesn't matter. Anyway, those ministers only know that there are Japanese pirates harming coastal counties. They don't know the composition of the Japanese pirates. They can definitely fight back on the grounds that the Japanese country is about to be destroyed and there will be no more Japanese troubles in the future.

Furthermore, now that the navy of the Ming Dynasty has risen, it is fully capable of defeating any maritime force and dominating the sea areas around the Ming Dynasty. In the future, there will indeed no longer be worries about Japanese pirates and pirates coming to plunder the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, as a time traveler, Zhu Tianqi sees this matter far more clearly than these unrepentant ministers. The reason why Daming caused Japanese riots was not because of Daming's "sea ban" policy to put it bluntly.

The imperial court implemented a sea ban and closed the country. It seemed that it cut off all communication with the sea, so that there would be no more Japanese and Thai invaders. This could ensure the safety of the Ming Dynasty's territory and its people. It is really ridiculous!
This move of the Ming Dynasty completely destroyed the Great Wall, gave up its own maritime territory of thousands of miles, and gave up the control of the sea that was originally in its own hands. So can the sea areas around the Ming Dynasty not be chaotic?Can those Japanese pirates and pirates stop being rampant?Think back to the Yongle Dynasty, when the Ming Dynasty's fleet traveled all over the world, were there any Japanese pirates and pirates causing trouble nearby?

Now that the Ming Dynasty's navigation industry has once again ushered in a new era of prosperity, then it must firmly hold the control of the sea in its own hands, and use the control of the sea to bring benefits to the Ming Dynasty.

The decree to reform the Municipal Shipping Department and establish the Ming Customs was quickly implemented in the northern and southern capitals and major coastal prefectures and counties. However, because there were indeed many ministers in the DPRK and China who opposed the opening of the maritime ban, it could only be done in stages and step by step. gradually liberalized.

At this moment, the letter from Mashajia Road arrived, and Xu Guangqi directly presented the letter to Zhu Tianqi.

Zhu Tianqi couldn't help laughing after reading it. He never expected that these foreigners would shamelessly come to him to demand compensation, and even bite Mao Wenlong to death. He was once an officer of the Ming Dynasty, so the Ming Dynasty must deal with this matter. Responsible.Zhu Tianqi originally asked Mao Wenlong to plunder in the East China Sea and South China Sea, mainly targeting the merchant ships of the Taixi people. After all, their merchant ships were large and they did a lot of business. It can be said that all of them were "fat sheep" and relied on plundering. They can definitely make a fortune.

But the Franji people, the Hollanders and the British would come to Ming Dynasty to claim compensation with shame. This was beyond his imagination. After all, the law of the jungle is the law of the jungle. If you can't beat others, if you are robbed by others, you have to admit it. plant!
Zhu Tianqi couldn't help but wondered whether Daming had been too "kind" to these Thai and Western people before, so that they thought that Da Ming was too talkative, and they were able to "make trouble for no reason" to him.

However, Zhu Tianqi was not angry. He was going to attack these Taixi people soon anyway, and he was not in a hurry. He might as well find a way to squeeze some money out of them before then.

Zhu Tianqi immediately had a plan in mind. He immediately sent someone to make dozens of "Ming" flags and handed them to Xu Guangqi, who asked Xu Guangqi to reply to Ma Shijialu and tell Ma Shijia Lu that Mao Wenlong had betrayed him. Ming Dynasty has been around for a long time, and what he did has nothing to do with Ming Dynasty. Naturally, Ming Dynasty will not bear any responsibility for what he did.

However, the Ming Navy is now in Japan and is fully capable of defeating Mao Wenlong. Mao Wenlong also knows the strength of the Ming Navy very well and does not dare to fight against the Ming Navy. Whenever he sees the ships of the Ming Navy, he will avoid them. Not as good as.

Therefore, in memory of the old friendship, Ming Dynasty could give some "Ming" flags to the Franji people. As long as the "Ming" flags were planted on the ship, it would be guaranteed that Mao Wenlong would not dare to plunder merchant ships again!

Of course, this "Ming" flag is not an ordinary flag. The placement of the "Ming" flag means that the ship is protected by the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Navy will also protect it, so this The "Ming" flag is expensive. Each flag costs ten thousand taels of silver every year.

But don’t worry, the dozens of flags given to the Franji people by the Ming Dynasty are now given to the Franji people for free, which can be regarded as repaying the favor of the Franji people who sold the Hongyi cannons to the Ming Dynasty and helped the Ming Dynasty recruit Thai and Western craftsmen. , in this way it can be regarded as a courtesy.

However, there is an old saying in the Ming Dynasty, which is called "brothers, settle accounts with the Ming Dynasty". These "Ming" flags can only be valid until the end of the 12th year of the Apocalypse. In other words, if the Franji people still need the protection of the Ming Navy, they will need to The new "Ming" flag must be purchased from the Ming court before the 13th year of the Apocalypse.

When Ma Shijialu received Xu Guangqi's reply and these "Ming" flags, he was also surprised. He did not expect that the Ming Dynasty court would not even discuss and negotiate with him about the plundering of the Thai-Western merchant ship by Mao Wenlong. Without leaving, without giving myself a chance to bargain, I decided on my own solution.

However, Ma Shijialu had no choice but to do so, and he could not say that he was dissatisfied with the "compensation" given by Daming. Although it did not meet his expectations, it was still within his acceptance range.

After all, negotiating with the Ming court and letting the Ming court cede Haojingao to Franji was just a beautiful fantasy of his. Even if it failed to come true, Mashijialu was not too disappointed. It can be said that the time has not come.

And now the "compensation" given by the Ming Dynasty is indeed full of sincerity, which makes people unable to find reason. A "Ming" flag is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, and the Ming court gave him dozens of them in one go. It's just a few hundred thousand taels of silver, which is quite generous.

But Mascara Road only has one question: when did the Ming Dynasty also start issuing flags and collecting "protection fees"?Maaskar Road is no stranger to this kind of behavior of issuing flags and collecting protection fees. For example, nearby Zheng Yiguan has been selling "Zheng" flags for many years. Basically, all ships traveling between them have to buy one. Rod.

Of course, in addition to Zheng Yiguan, there are many countries, companies or big pirates in other sea areas who are also doing similar transactions, but only the Ming Dynasty court, this is the first time that Ma Shijia Lu has heard of this matter after coming to the Ming Dynasty for so many years.

However, Mascaru didn't bother to delve into it. Now that the matter was over, he should still think about how to maximize his own interests.

Now that June has passed, these flags can only be used for another half year. Next year, Ming Dynasty will no longer give away its flags for free, and will have to spend money to buy them from the Ming Dynasty court.

There are now ten merchant ships in Franji's fleet, which means that next year they will have to spend 10 taels of silver to buy flags from the Ming Dynasty. This is a big expense, and Masgaru feels sick just thinking about it.

Therefore, Mascara planned that of the dozens of flags in his hand, in addition to leaving ten flags for the Franji people's own merchant ships, the remaining flags should not be given to the Hollanders and the British in vain. It's better to sell it to them, not only to make money for the Franji people to buy flags from the Ming court next year, but also to make a fortune.

Therefore, Mascaru lied to the Holanders and the British that the Ming Dynasty refused to negotiate with the Francois about the plundering of the Thai merchant ships by Mao Wenlong, and also told him that if he wanted to keep his own ships safe, Then you want the Ming Dynasty to buy a flag with the word "Ming".

Because the "Ming" flag of the Ming Dynasty was clearly marked with a price, Ma Shijialu did not dare to lie about the price, and told the representatives of Helan and the British that a flag was 1 taels of silver.

When the Helan and the British heard about this, they were naturally very dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty, but they were dissatisfied, and they had to follow the same rules in future business, so they really couldn't live without this "Ming" flag, so facing Ma Shi With Lu's peddling, they could only pay.

Mascara acted very sincerely and took the initiative to propose to the Helan and the British that because the flags were only useful for half a year, the price of each flag would be cut in half to 5000 taels of silver per flag. The British were moved by Maaskar Road's sincerity and readily paid in cash, bought a dozen rods each and went back.

Ma Shijialu made nearly 20 taels of silver through this. Not only did he earn the money to buy the flag from Ming Dynasty next year, but he also had less than half of the money left. Naturally, he was so happy that he burst into laughter.

However, in fact, the "Ming" flag of the Ming Dynasty was far less expensive. Maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty only needed to complete the registration and filing at the maritime yamen established by the imperial court, and they could receive one for free. As long as they continued to do business legally and pay taxes, Then you can exchange for a new flag in the coming year.

(End of this chapter)