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

Chapter 47 Demand brings progress

Faced with Xu Xueju's question, Wang Wenlong responded decisively: "The only way to defeat the red-haired people is to fight them hard to the end."

"But didn't you say, sir, that the red-haired man's ship is extremely sharp, and I'm afraid there will be some losses if we fight it to the death?"

Wang Wenlong nodded:

"Once you lose, your secret will be exposed, so you have to be tough but also maintain a sense of proportion. You can only retreat slowly."

Seeing Xu Xueju's puzzled expression, Wang Wenlong explained: "Master Fantai has also seen the story of how the red-haired people established colonies in various places in the history of Portugal. Whether it was fighting, trading or mining, as long as they found an excuse to stand firm, they would never stop. It’s hard to drive away.”

Xu Xueju agreed. After reading the history of Portugal, Xu Xueju no longer had much hope for the Ming Dynasty's ability to support European colonists.

According to the various colonial methods of the Europeans in the history of Portugal, as long as the Europeans are given a chance to establish trading houses, a large number of compradors will soon appear in Fujian, and then they will begin to corrode officialdom, and finally they will be able to create a new business in Fujian. Come to Xiangshan Ao.

Wang Wenlong said: "So we can't give them a chance to settle in the first place. They can trade if they want, but if they want to establish a commercial colony, they must use the most severe methods to force them away. If they can't be forced to leave, we will fight again. "

"The red-haired people don't know the depth of the Ming Dynasty. They are here to do business, and doing business requires investment and profit. If the Ming Dynasty expressed a harsh attitude from the beginning, they would probably not dare to settle further."

Finally Wang Wenlong said: "But this method can only last for a while. The Europeans will further expand at sea and one day they will come back to harass. When they find out the strength of the Ming Dynasty, there will always be a day when they will meet the Ming Dynasty. "

At this time, these European colonists were all opportunists. In history, when Xu Xueju encountered the Dutch who wanted to establish a colony, he sent his capital, Shen Yourong, to scare them. At this time, the Dutch East India Company was still in its infancy, and his troops were Not enough, he ran away when scared.

However, this method could only last for a short period of time. More than 20 years later, the Dutch East India Company expanded its strength and directly sent a fleet to occupy Penghu. This time it was too scary to scare away, so Ming Dynasty could only send troops to fight the Dutch. As a result, they were defeated by the Dutch. The Dutch burned the ships in Zhangzhou Port, looted the villages in the coastal areas, and robbed the people as slaves.Finally.The then Fujian governor's troops landed on Kinmen Island and fought a difficult battle to defend Penghu. Only by relying on manpower superiority did they force the Dutch to surrender.

After hearing this, Xu Xueju thought for a while and asked: "Can't the Ming Dynasty strengthen its army to scare the Europeans?"

Wang Wenlong shook his head and said bluntly: "Who in the Ming Dynasty is willing to think about strengthening the army at this time?"

He further pointed out: "The reason why Europeans' ships are getting stronger and stronger is because they are always fighting and have constant new needs. How can there be any enemy around the Ming Dynasty that needs to equip such powerful ships? If there is no need, , how could the imperial court agree to build so many ships?"

Wang Wenlong kept looking at Xu Xueju's expression when he spoke. After he said this, he found that Xu Xueju was indeed thinking attentively.

Wang Wenlong was a little surprised. This man was indeed a rare talent in the Ming Dynasty. He at least had the ability to understand and listen to these new contents. If it were another ancient version of the scholar-officials, he would no longer be interested.

He wanted to take a gamble, so he said a shocking sentence:
"If the Ming Dynasty wanted to strengthen its coastal defense, I'm afraid the only way to go to sea is to go to the sea. Otherwise, in a few decades, the pirates in Fujian would be more powerful than the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense army!"

Xu Xueju was stunned and looked at Wang Wenlong in disbelief.

This sentence was indeed shocking, but after thinking about it for a while according to Wang Wenlong's thinking, he realized that what Wang Wenlong said was indeed correct.

The Ming Dynasty had just finished fighting the Japanese in Korea, and now it was attacking Yang Yinglong in Bozhou. The treasury was already complaining about the wars for years, and there were no powerful maritime forces around the Ming Dynasty. At this time, the treasury needed to spend more money to create After the gunboat is built, who will it attack?

Needless to say, this kind of suggestion will definitely arouse the disgust of the sergeant-officials of the DPRK.Even today I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to part with this money.

From Wang Wenlong's words, he also understood the relationship between technical needs and technological progress. The reason why European warships are getting better and better is because they have always had enemies competing in technology. Even if Ming catches up with European warships at this time, The technology of the ship is great, but there has never been an enemy. Even if we catch up now, we will fall behind one day.Xu Xueju finally found out that, as Wang Wenlong said, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to be able to defeat the Europeans in naval warfare, the only way was for the Ming Dynasty to also invest in maritime trade and compete with European countries, so that its technology would become more advanced.

But as soon as this thought flashed through his mind, he smiled bitterly.

Although Xu Xueju was not conspicuous in the party struggle and did not consider himself to be a member of any faction, he was born in Lanxi, Zhejiang Province. In fact, he could not hide from it. If you can barely say it, he can be regarded as a member of the Zhejiang Party.

He was well aware of the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, and knew that if he proposed that the imperial court conduct ocean-going trade, people from all parties would have great objections to him.

Xu Xueju couldn't help but feel a little worried and angry because he knew that there was great benefit but could not do it because the court was not united.

"Mr. Yi thinks, if we scare away the red-haired people, how long can we protect the Fujian Sea Territory?"

Wang Wenlong said: "The Europeans were still fighting for the sea at this time and had very little intervention in the waters off Fujian. However, the results of their struggle in the West would be known in more than ten years. Therefore, even if they could scare off the colonists at this time, the most they would do is give them a Fujian strives for more than 20 years of peace."

Xu Xueju sighed after hearing this, but he could only comfort himself by saying that in 20 years of peace, the Ming Dynasty might also be able to develop its own maritime power.

After talking about the situation in Fujian, although Xu Xueju felt a little unhappy, he had a good impression of Wang Wenlong, so he asked about the situation in the DPRK.

"I wonder if Mr. Wang knows the current situation between the DPRK and China?"

Wang Wenlong knew that this was a taboo topic, and Xu Xueju's ability to ask it calmly showed that he was already considering including himself in the shogunate.

Wang Wenlong said: "The old are old and the old are retreating. At this time, it is natural that only those who are peaceful can ascend to the throne."

Xu Xueju laughed when he heard this. He could tell in one sentence that Wang Wenlong was talking about the cabinet at this time.

The Ming cabinet in the 27th year of Wanli's reign was just like Wanli himself. It couldn't handle anything. It was scolded every day, and it was all scolded.

There are four people in the cabinet, and the "old" one is naturally the current chief minister Zhao Zhigao. He is in his [-]s and is scolded every day. His health is not good, and there has been news that he will retire due to illness.

The "retired" were Zhang Wei, the second assistant who was implicated in impeachment for recommending Yang Hao to preside over the Korean War, and Chen Yubi, who ranked third.

At that time, Zhang Wei praised Yang Hao as a genius descended from heaven, saying that he would be able to quickly defeat the Japanese pirates as soon as he arrived in North Korea. As a result, Yang Hao contributed to an epic defeat as soon as he arrived, and the defeat was caused by him leading his troops to escape from the battle. Absolutely amazing.

He was so angry that even Emperor Wanli scolded Zhang Wei. It was obvious that neither of them would stay for a long time, so it would be good if they could abdicate safely.

"Sir, what you mean is that Mr. Shen Ge can take the position of chief assistant?"

The only remaining pavilion elder is Shen Yiguan, who is smooth and low-key.

　I'm late, I'll make up for it tomorrow, tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)