The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 32 A way out

"My brother's family has thousands of people waiting for food and drink. It's not just a matter of accepting it," Xu Xinsu shook her head and said, "This approach is not very realistic."

Wang Wenlong said: "That is the second way. The Li family's business has already grown so big. If it wants to develop and grow, it will definitely need government support. Nowadays, maritime trade is becoming more and more prosperous, and heroes from all walks of life are coveting this big piece of fat. If the Li family can wholeheartedly serve the government and find a strong backer, they can prosper for another 40 to [-] years."

This is what Li Dan is doing now, but Xu Xinsu knows that Li Dan is very dissatisfied. The government's appetite is getting bigger and bigger, and there is no backbone. Li Dan will come to him wherever he is in charge of the government to ask for money and continue to do it. One day, [-]% to [-]% of Li Dan's profits will have to be sent to these officials.

Xu Xinsu hoped that Wang Wenlong could point out a clear path. It would be best if only one line was needed to allow Li Dan's assets to continue to grow steadily.

He asked with some hope: "We have the worst and middle strategies. What do you think the best strategy is, sir?"

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "The best strategy is that there is a big island to the east of Penghu. The Japanese call it Xiaoliuqiu, and the owner calls it Dayuan Island. It is not far from the Ming Dynasty, and the number of natives is not large. It is still very deserted at this time. Reckless.”

"If the Li family is willing to spend decades to slowly colonize and cultivate the island, build an army on the island, win over or suppress it, overwhelm the local natives, and set up coastal defense, let the foreign colonists, red-haired No Japanese or Japanese dare to get involved in this island. If the Li family can slowly and finally control the island, then it is possible that the Li family will survive for hundreds of years."

Hearing this, Xu Xinsu was stunned: "But...how much money and manpower will this cost?"

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "Now the Li family is the largest maritime merchant in Fujian. If you still want to do bigger business, the imperial court will definitely be on guard against the Li family. No matter which official backer you find, there is no reason to protect you. Even if the imperial court does not have it in the future, We have the ability to directly manage maritime trade, but there are always means of differentiation, co-optation, suppression and support.”

"If the Li family does not have a real base, they will have to sit back and watch their business being dismantled by the imperial court in the future. But if they can manage overseas islands, it will be completely different. If they really manage such a large base with their heart, the world will change in the future. , maybe it’s even possible to split the soil and seal the borders.”

Wang Wenlong is really pointing out a clear path for the Li family.

More than 20 years later, in order to confront Li Dan, Zheng Zhilong sent eighteen pirate leaders to burn incense and land on the island to develop the generals. Through a little immigration and reclamation, they were able to use the generals as their base in a few years, not only defeating the pirates left behind by Li Dan after his death. The pirate group even defeated the Ming Dynasty official army one after another, wiped out all pirates from Fujian and Guangdong, and became a true maritime overlord.

Among these people, Zheng Zhilong has not yet been born. The future "King of the Stage" Yan Siqi is only ten years old this year. Most of the main characters in Shibazhi are now twenty years old. They are all still in the stage of starting from scratch. With Li Dan's current strength If you want to develop big players, the conditions are much better than them.

Early stage developers can even see results in just a few years.

But when Wang Wenlong saw Xu Xinsu lost in thought, he knew it was all over.

Maritime merchants such as Xu Xinsu and Li Dan did not want to do the hard work themselves. They only pursued the most profitable routes in maritime trade. When asking Wang Wenlong for his opinion, most of them just wanted to hear his opinion on bribing a certain force, or even just wanted to find someone. He went to negotiate with Gao Yin.

As for investing manpower and material resources to develop a desert island, the risk is too great for them, and they will definitely not be able to make up their mind to do it.

Wang Wenlong just felt bored. Such an unambitious force deserved to decline.

After Wang Wenlong left, Xu Xinsu was still struggling. For a while, she felt that what Wang Wenlong said was reasonable, but for a while, she felt that what Wang Wenlong said was too far-fetched.

After thinking for a long time, Xu Xinsu decided to take what Wang Wenlong said today and discuss it with her elder brother Li Dan before making a decision.

In the next few days, Gao Yin was still busy collecting taxes, while Wang Wenlong often went to Li Guozhu's Zhishan villa. During this period, Zhang Hong lived in the villa. After establishing a good relationship with him, Wang Wenlong pestered him every day to learn to ride. shoot.The main reason is that Wang Wenlong is afraid of what danger will happen in the future and plans to practice a life-saving skill on his own first.

It is really difficult for ordinary people to learn to ride and shoot these days. Not to mention that bows, crossbows and arrows are all consumables. Not many people can afford horses and horse breeding grounds these days.

Even at this time, the book recommended that the practice method for poor people to take the martial arts exam was to practice archery with a large wooden barrel between their legs.

Because the position of your feet when riding a big wooden barrel is similar to that of riding a horse, you can use the barrel as a horse's belly to practice. It's a bit like the driving schools in the early 21st century who used a driving simulator to practice the process of getting on the road before they could drive.

It was only through having a friend like Li Guozhu that Wang Wenlong had the opportunity to ride horses every day.

Zhang Hong also has a good impression of Wang Wenlong. He doesn't hide his secrets when teaching. Wang Wenlong himself is also smart. After practicing for more than half a month, he can be considered proficient in bow and horse.

At the same time, the "Portuguese Navigation History" written by him was published one by one along with the selected articles of the times engraved by Xiong Qingbo's Chengdetang. After a period of precipitation, it finally gained some response.

……

The first and second chapters of "Portuguese Navigation History" are all about the civil war in the Portuguese Empire and the experience of preparing to start the voyage. For readers at this time, it is just an interesting overseas story.It was not until the third article that Da Gama began to search for a route to India, and the familiar name Tianzhu appeared in the article, that this series of articles finally attracted some people's attention.

At this time, it finally fermented.

In Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou, early in the morning, a book boat rowed slowly to a deep courtyard near Nanxi.

This is the residence of Lin Shizhang, the former Minister of Rites of Nanjing who resigned from office and retired for many years.

The bookseller put down his pennies, knocked on the door three times, shouted "The book boat has arrived!" and then waited quietly.

After a while, the small door of the big house opened to the river bank, and a middle-aged servant poked his head out and asked: "Do you have the Shiwen of Chengdetang?"

"Back to my lord, this is the newly published edition of Chengdetang in Jianyang that just arrived today. It contains the fourth chapter of "History of Portugal". I know that the old lady in our mansion loves this book, so I rowed the boat to our mansion first. It’s coming up, look.”

The servant was also literate. He took the Chengdetang printed book and flipped through it. He nodded, gave the money for the book and walked towards the back room.

Lin Shizhang was a Jinshi in the Jiajing Dynasty. In the fifth year of Wanli, he was promoted to the left minister of the Ministry of Rites and was a lecturer at the banquet. At that time, Zhang Juzheng was serving as the chief assistant. Zhang Juzheng's father passed away. The ministers of the imperial court jointly wrote a letter requesting the emperor to retain Zhang Juzheng for consideration. Lin Shizhang did not want to be named. Therefore, he was excluded from the officialdom at that time, and a few years later he was thrown into the post of Minister of Rites in Nanjing as a idle official. Lin Shizhang was disheartened, so he resigned and went into seclusion.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Juzheng passed away in the 11th year of Wanli, and then things changed drastically. In the 12th year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng was deprived of his official title, and in the [-]th year of Wanli, his home was ransacked and his body was whipped.

Lin Shizhang, who had offended Zhang Juzheng and retired to seclusion, gained a reputation as someone who was not attached to the powerful. Although he was at home, he gradually established a reputation among the scholars.

(End of this chapter)