Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 61 Jiangnan
In a broad sense, Jiangnan can refer to the south of the Yangtze River, but in the usual sense, Jiangnan refers to the ten prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, namely Yingtian, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and Ningbo. The first five prefectures belong to Nanzhili, and the next five prefectures belong to Zhejiang.

Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, this place has been one of the richest areas in the world.Even 200 years later, the handicraft industry in Jiangnan could still compete with the machine industry after the Industrial Revolution, so that the British devils could only use opium to knock on the door of the Qing Dynasty.

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the vigorous development of the silk and cotton spinning industries, dotted towns have sprung up in the south of the Yangtze River like bamboo shoots after a rain.These towns were connected by a dense water network. Countless small merchants traveled by awning boats, transporting silver, grain and cotton, and also transported raw silk, satin and cotton to the ends of the earth.

The cotton produced here allowed hundreds of millions of Ming Dynasty people to take off their coarse linen clothes, while the silk produced here allowed the rich and powerful around the world to wear silk and satin.

Miguel held a telescope and looked far away in the direction pointed by Lin Hai. The dense smoke near the coastline showed that the population density here was very high. The endless plains were filled with regular fields, and it was unclear whether they were rice fields or mulberry fields.

Miguel watched silently for a long time, the scenery in the telescope was always like this.In his impression, except for the Ganges River Delta in the Bay of Bengal and the Red River Delta in the Gulf of Tonkin, he had never seen such developed agriculture and such a dense population.

"Okay, Lord Marquis, you will still be like this when the sun goes down. You can't tell anything by just looking around. I'll take you for a walk in Jiangnan Town when I have the chance." Lin Hai patted Miguel on the shoulder. , "Now please come with me and I'll show you something."

Miguel followed Lin Hai into the official hall of the stern building and saw a scroll on the table. Lin Hai's two followers were standing on both sides of the square table.

"Open the map." Lin Hai ordered Zhang Yong and Chen Yaozu.

A detailed map of the world appeared in front of Miguel. Of course, it did not include places such as Australia that are not yet known to Europeans.

Miguel's pupils shrank, and then he took a closer look at the places he was most familiar with, including the Persian Gulf, India, and the Pearl River Estuary.Soon he was convinced that he had never seen such an accurate map.

Oh my God!This is not a map of a certain region. There are Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas on this map. Who but God could carry out such a large-scale surveying and mapping work?

"I can swear to you in the name of God and Satan at the same time that this map was not obtained from the devil. But, my dear Lord Marquis, please forgive me for not telling you the secret of the map. You should fully understand this thing. value."

Of course Miguel understands the value of the picture in front of him. It will make adventurers all over Europe crazy for it, and it will make the monarchs of Western European maritime countries sacrifice everything for it.

Lin Hai continued: "I came to you today because I want to continue our last conversation and talk about some of my future plans."

Miguel nodded and said: "I am listening with all my energy."

Lin Haidao: "As I told you not long ago, shopkeeper Xu from Fujian promised to help me find an official position in Zhoushan. The matter was completed yesterday and he will take office when I return. Mr. Hou, you know Why should I choose Zhoushan?”

Miguel's eyes flashed and he asked tentatively: "Because the place you mentioned is Zhoushan, it's called Jiangnan. Is it very close to Jiangnan?"

"Absolutely correct." Lin Hai expressed appreciation for Miguel's cleverness, and then drew a circle on the map with his finger, "This is the Jiangnan I'm talking about. It only accounts for one percent of the Ming Dynasty's land, but it is the capital of the Ming Emperor. The tax contribution is as high as a quarter." Miguel's face showed an incredulous look: "Are you saying that a quarter of the empire's financial expenditures depend on Jiangnan?"

"That's right." Lin Hai said with a smile, "In the previous dynasty, this ratio was higher. The Ming government was not good at collecting taxes. You should have a deep understanding of this in Haojing. But even so, the Ming Emperor also supported hundreds of thousands of people. The royal population and millions of troops, not to mention the huge palace expenses and administrative expenses."

Miguel probably understood what Lin Hai meant, and he asked: "Is Nanjing just in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Lin Hai nodded and said: "Yes, in fact, the Nanjing silk in Haojing refers to the raw silk produced in Jiangnan. I estimate that the raw silk production here accounts for more than half of the Ming Dynasty. Do you know why Haojing merchants collectively refer to Jiangnan raw silk as Nanjing?" Silk?"

Miguel shook his head, and Lin Hai gestured on the map: "Because all the Nanjing silk in Haojing has to pass through Nanjing, from the Yangtze River through Poyang Lake, into the Ganjiang River, and arrive at Dayu County, Nan'an Prefecture. All merchants here need to Get off the boat and take a mountain road called Meiguan Ancient Road into Guangdong, then pass through Zhenshui and Beijiang to reach Guangzhou."

Miguel suddenly realized that this is how Nanjing Silk came to be.In fact, Lin Hai only found out about it in the past few days. After meeting Hong Chengchou, he bought several books on business travel. The trade routes from the Yangtze River Basin to the Pearl River Basin were all just read in the book.

"This trade route is the lifeline of Haojing's overseas trade. In addition to raw silk, porcelain is also transported from Jingdezhen near Poyang Lake to Guangzhou. As I said, not only is the journey long, but there is also a section in the middle that must be traveled by land. But from Poyang Lake to Zhoushan, you can travel by water."

Of course Miguel could understand the difference, but Lin Hai said again: "Besides silk and porcelain, I also want to tell you about one more thing - cotton - this Marquis should know about it very well, right?"

Miguel nodded. He had been a pirate on Sundib Island for a few years. Bangladesh and the Coromandel Coast were the largest cotton export regions in global maritime trade at this time.Cotton cloth can be used as hard currency in Southeast Asia. The Dutch have little money and mainly rely on Indian cotton cloth and Moluccan spices to do business.

However, Miguel didn't know why Lin Hai mentioned cotton cloth, because there were not many cotton cloth exports in the Ming Dynasty at this time. He wondered: "Could it be that Jiangnan also produces cotton cloth?"

Lin Hai nodded and said: "That's right, in terms of output and quality, it is by no means worse than Indian cotton, and the cost is not higher than Indian cotton."

"But..." Miguel was about to interrupt, but was immediately interrupted by Lin Hai.

"Listen to me, the reason why Ming Dynasty's cotton cloth is not exported in large quantities is because the internal market is too large and ordinary people can afford it. Do you know how many people there are in Ming Dynasty?"

Miguel shook his head, and Lin Hai continued: "Close to [-] million, which is more than twice that of the whole of Europe. There is a saying in the Ming Dynasty that 'Songjiang cotton is the world's clothing and quilt', which means that the cotton produced in one Songjiang province can make all the clothes and quilts available to everyone." The people of Ming Dynasty put on cotton clothes."

"This is Songjiang Prefecture, one of the ten prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River." Lin Hai pointed to the Shanghai area in later generations. "This is where we will go next. Look how close it is to Zhoushan."

(End of this chapter)