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

Chapter 35: Puncture Mr. Li’s dream

Li Dan walked to Wang Wenlong and took off his arm guards as well. While washing his hands in the basin brought by the servant, he said to Wang Wenlong: "I heard that Wang Jiansheng is a returnee from the West. I wonder if you have grown up since you were a child. Where?"

Wang Wenlong had long thought about where he wanted to locate his hometown. The final result he came up with was that he had to include some places with more Chinese people. He also said that he had been traveling with his father since he was a child and had not settled down for a long time, so that he would not be easily identified by others. Find out the details.

So Wang Wenlong said: "When I was a child, my parents were doing business everywhere. I went to Old Port with my father. When I was older, I went to Jiaolan Mountain and Malacca with my parents. Later, my father did business with the red-haired people. I also went to Xi'an with my father. Lan and Guri.”

Li Dan was quite surprised: "I didn't expect you to have been to so many places at such a young age?"

Then he smiled and said: "You have been to a lot of places, but you said that you grew up in Jiugang when you were a child, and you are from Jianyang. I probably know which family you are from."

"There are a group of Chinese descendants in Old Port who went to the West with the eunuchs of Sanbao. Do you dare to have heard of Zheng Laocai's name? There are also Wang Qiliu and Zhao Tie - all the Chinese in Old Port know them."

Li Dan said a bunch of names with a smile, obviously trying to establish relations with Wang Wenlong, but Wang Wenlong couldn't avoid it.

These people are probably overseas Chinese leaders. If they say they don't know each other, Li Dan will definitely doubt his identity. Wang Wenlong can only vaguely say that he seems to have heard of them, but he was too young at the time and his memory is not clear.

Li Dan laughed when he heard this: "I'll tell you, I'll tell you, big boys like you call these uncles. They and I are all brothers, so we should wear a pair of pants."

He also said with great admiration to Wang Wenlong: "My wise nephew grew up in a foreign domain, and he still has such literary talent. He is indeed not an ordinary person."

Wang Wenlong rolled his eyes inwardly, and after talking to this guy, he became his uncle.

He was too lazy to listen to Li Dan's rambling, so he simply said directly:
"Master Li probably also wants to ask about sea trade, right?"

"Do you have any insights?"

Wang Wenlong said while washing his hands:
"To be honest, I'm not optimistic about Mr. Li's business."

Li Dan frowned momentarily but refrained from interrupting. Instead, he looked at Wang Wenlong and motioned for him to continue.

"I am now able to establish relations with the Ming Dynasty, Japan, and the red-haired people, and I have exchanges with overseas Chinese leaders and native kingdoms in various places. But how can these people guarantee my interests at sea?"

Li Dan smiled awkwardly and said nothing, his eyes clearly disapproving of Wang Wenlong, and even a little offended.

Wang Wenlong ignored it.

He has already seen that Li Dan is very conceited. Telling the truth to him will definitely make Li Dan unhappy, but even if he flatters him, he will most likely be despised by him.

You can't get any favors from the left and right, so why bother yourself.

"Mr. Li is probably trying hard to make friends with Japanese people recently."

Li Dan narrowed his eyes slightly. His sea trade gang was in contact with the Japanese. It had even obtained a supply port in Hirado, and was planning to make friends with Japanese dignitaries to monopolize the bulk of maritime trade between China and Japan. However, Japan and Ming Dynasty are still there. North Korea was at war, so this matter was definitely taboo. He had never disclosed it to the outside world, and he didn't know where Wang Wenlong got the news.

"I have no interest in this matter, and I don't have any evidence. Even if I report it to the court, they won't listen to me. Mr. Li can rest assured."

Li Dan's expression relaxed slightly after hearing this.

Wang Wenlong: "Does the master just think that he can make a profit without losing money by getting the official documents of trade with Japan?"

Li Dan: "Sea trade is a huge profit. If you can get official documents from any country, it will be a great deal."

Wang Wenlong laughed loudly when he heard this. "Then if the Japanese can go to sea on their own, how can they give foreigners a monopoly on routes? If they can't go to sea on their own, what's the point of giving you a monopoly on routes?"

"If one day my merchant ship is really in danger at sea, can I take the red seal and say to the pirates who came to rob me: I am doing legal business, you go away quickly, or I will go to Japan to report it to the official?"

Li Dan was stunned. Although Wang Wenlong's statement sounded harsh to him, when he thought about it carefully, it seemed to be the same thing.

Wang Wenlong didn't want to keep entangled with him, so he simply said it bluntly:

"The same is true for the Ming Dynasty, the red-haired people, and the Chinese in various places. They issued various business licenses just because the local forces could not monopolize the sea routes, so they could only share profits with maritime merchants from other countries. Now European countries The capital of the country is rising, and the military competition at sea will only become more and more fierce in the future. If there is no real ability, what can a red seal protect?"

After saying this, Wang Wenlong saw Li Dan frowning more and more.

Since becoming a seafarer, Li Dan's main thing has been to monopolize lucrative routes in various places, reach agreements with officials from various countries, and pay many bribes for this, thinking that this will ensure that his business will grow bigger and bigger.

But when he heard Wang Wenlong say this, he suddenly realized that if his business was not protected by strong force, it seemed that it would one day die out as Wang Wenlong said.

Li Dan asked: "I read in your book that the Portuguese have a model called Sugar Island. I wonder if we can also do business like this?"

Wang Wenlong shook his head when he heard this. This guy still didn't want to do the hard work of opening up people, and just wanted to grow his power through simple colonization.

The Portuguese sugar island model was the original version of the plantation. The Spaniards carried this model forward and used plantations to colonize South America and mine and grow cotton and sugar cane.

The Spanish were able to do this because they were close to America and Africa. Africa had people, and America had land and people. But what did Li Dan have?
“It is absolutely impossible to replicate the Sugar Island model in Ming Dynasty.”

He explained to Li Dan: "The foundation of Sugar Island is land and slaves. Even if Dajuan Island has enough land, where can you get so many slaves to work for you?"

"If you want to recruit refugees to open up wasteland, the income of refugees from opening up wasteland is not as good as farming in your hometown or doing business at sea. Who would be willing to go if there is no chaos or disaster in the world?"

"Unless you have a way to obtain a large number of laborers who will work hard for you for free. Now there are red-haired people in places in the West that are easy to be colonized. With the number of gunboats Mr. Li has now, he can defeat them. Which red-haired force?"

As soon as Wang Wenlong explained to Li Dan, he immediately understood that if he wanted to learn from the Spanish plantation model, he had to conquer a land by force, force the local natives to work for him, and even have the ability to capture people from other places as slaves.

In the final analysis, it comes down to force. Although Li Dan has great commercial strength, the gunboats he currently owns can only deal with pirates. He is still far from conquering cities and territories.

What Wang Wenlong didn't say is: This guy is not even willing to pay the cost of developing a desert island, so how can he have the courage to go to war?
At this time, Li Guozhu poked his head in front of the door. Wang Wenlong nodded to him when he saw it.

He turned to Li Dan and said, "I thought that the future of Mr. Li's business is only those three ways. What I said may be wrong. Please don't take offense to Mr. Li."

After Wang Wenlong finished speaking, he left, leaving Li Dan alone in the back room struggling.

Is it true that, as Wang Wenlong said, he must go to hard-working developers to accumulate enough strength to make it possible for his business to continue to develop and grow?
But after much deliberation, Li Dan still made up his mind to develop Da Yuan Island. In that case, he would have to invest his manpower on the desert island, and therefore would have to give up many profitable routes to his companions. business.

Even so, it is still uncertain whether the development of the island will be successful in the end.

Li Dan is already a big businessman and is really unwilling to take risks.

He could only hope that what Wang Wenlong said might not be the truth.

Li Dan thought: Since his cards are so good now, there must be other ways.

(End of this chapter)