Dragon Sea Empire

"It is now mid-September. According to the statistics up to today, the money we can earn back from shipments this year is estimated to have exceeded [-]% of last year, which is even with three years ago. By the end of the year, when the cargo ship to Japan returns, The profit is more objective, that is to say, excluding the necessary government bribery expenses, the impact of the sea ban on our Chinese company's annual profit is almost negligible," Zeng Jingshan, who is in charge of accounting, reported the news with a little excitement.

Han Ping, who is in charge of foreign trade, said: "We were able to make up for the losses in the past few years, mainly relying on the export of cane sugar and tea, as well as the bells and grains sold to the inland provinces. We haven't fought much in the past few years, but the military expenditure The cost is still not small…”

Yin Feng took the lead and said: "A lot of the current military expenditure is spent on the development of weapons in the Weapons Research Department, as well as the production of a large amount of gunpowder and ammunition. In fact, last year we used a few old cannons from the Tokugawa Shogunate in exchange for I paid 50 taels of silver, and I have already invested all of it in military expenditures, and this year’s military expenditures have not actually increased,”

He changed the subject and said with a chuckle: "Master Han, your family has been busy buying houses at disposal sites these past few years, and you've put all your dividends into it every year, but for me, I get a tael of silver for my dividends." I didn’t take it either, and put it all into warship building.”

Han Ping blushed, stood up and wanted to say a few words, Yin Feng waved his hand and said: "Han shopkeeper, you don't need to explain, the money is yours, you can spend it as you like, but, I want to remind everyone that since we Decision-making must be upright and the world must be fought for, so when you spend money, you still have to spend it, don’t spend it all.”

Of the dozen or so directors present, the least wealthy is nearly one million taels. Everyone’s family is as rich as a country, and there are quite a few who live extravagantly like the Han family. Han Jing now travels in the mainland and overseas all year round, spending money like dirt, It can be said that he is a bridegroom every night, with more than ten wives and concubines in his family.

The gap between the rich and the poor in the area ruled by the Chinese company is also very obvious. Fortunately, a group of directors and shareholders headed by Yin Feng are usually relatively low-key in this regard, and various charities are also actively involved, so people from all walks of life in the area controlled by the Chinese company The relationship is fairly harmonious.

"Now we have basically occupied Hainan Island. The Shilu Iron Mine is expected to produce ore early next year. The coal mining industry in Taipei has expanded its mining area. From next year, we will not be short of iron, and we will no longer need to buy iron at high prices in Foshan. Now, my lord father-in-law, how does the imperial court respond to the situation in Qiongzhou?"

Zeng Yue picked up the eyes that Yin Feng sent someone to customize for him in Europe, and picked up a copy of the mansion newspaper and said, "Wu Daonan, a scholar of the cabinet, asked the imperial court to send all the troops from the southern provinces to attack Qiongya pirates... This is saying that we Yes, Xie Yuan, the censor of Zuodu, and Lin Guangle, Minister of the Ministry of War, seconded the proposal, advocating that the imperial court should strictly ban the sea and suppress our Chinese company in an all-round way. "

Everyone discussed: "Isn't this going to force us to rebel?"

"Impossible. Banks and banks all over the world have the money of officials and gentlemen, and many wealthy businessmen and big businessmen have invested in their shares. If anyone openly inspects our banks and banks, wouldn't it be against the people of the world?"

"Officials in the imperial court don't know how to open their eyes to see. Even if they want to cross the sea to crusade against Hainan Island, can they still cross the Qiongzhou Strait? ..." Yin Feng said with a cold smile: "We have basically leveled the coasts of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. Unless the imperial court can build thousands of warships in a short period of time, it is impossible to conquer us across the sea. Now, our Chinese company can be said to have wings, and it is time to show our strength. I have ordered that Fan Tao's Northern First Fleet will set off from Jeju Island in the near future to go to Shandong and Liaodong to patrol the sea and survey sea routes. Some islands are occupied along the coast, along the coast of North Korea, and used as military bases,"

Zeng Yue nodded and said: "The people in the imperial court often use sea bans to scare us. Now we are still making money all over the world. Their sea bans that are riddled with holes are nothing but tricks. Now the situation is in our favor. Well, everyone in the imperial court is arguing endlessly about the court shooting case. It may take a year until they finish their quarrel and turn their attention to us. We don’t need to pay attention to Wu Daonan’s memorial. He is a sage and a good man, but his work is pedantic and dull, and he does not get any support from the parties in the court, so the court will not deal with our Chinese company because of his memorial in a short time,"

One of the three major crimes in the Ming Dynasty, the shooting case happened at the end of last year for some reason. In the time and space of Yin Feng, it should have happened in May last year. Zhang Cha entered the eunuch with a stick and injured the eunuch At that time, it was suspected that Concubine Zheng (Queen Mother of Fortune) was instigating to murder the prince, and the case was closed by killing Zhang Chai. Shenzong had not seen the courtiers for 25 years, so the case involved the concubine and the prince, so he summoned the courtiers once. This is an inexplicable murder case Endless wars of words have been caused in the imperial court, and the imperial concubine Zheng Guifei and the crown prince's competition for the crown prince has become the most important thing in the entire imperial palace and government agencies during this period.

Yin Feng took the opportunity to expand around and seize important coastal islands in various places.

After being besieged for more than a month, the officers and soldiers of Qiongzhou Prefecture in Hainan were forced to surrender. Yan Siqi showed great generosity this time and sent almost all the officers and soldiers who surrendered back to Guangdong. There are more than 8000 people, and there are still more than 1000 people left. Among them, only [-] people followed Yu Zigao to Guangdong, and the rest stayed behind. Some of them later became the garrison troops and Zhuang Ding team in various places in Qiongya. .

It is obvious to all who is the hegemony at sea today. Driven by this general trend, most of the Zhejiang, Fujian, and Cantonese merchants involved in overseas trade have hooked up with Yin Feng, and many of them imitated the Chinese The joint-stock company established by the company has taken over bureaucratic gentry at all levels, and has vaguely become a political ally of the Chinese company. In addition, the domestically powerful Huizhou merchants, Shanxi merchants and other business gangs have also changed their original respect for the Chinese company. attitude, began to actively show favor to the Chinese company.

The attitudes of several of these companies are quite interesting: Shanxi merchant Qiao’s family actually sent a large number of people to Taiwan this month, and one of them is said to be Qiao Ling’er, a girl from the direct descendants of the Qiao family; There are more than a dozen wealthy businessmen who have problems, and several of them, like the Qiao family, can't wait to send their own daughters to their home. This is something that Yin Feng has been very distressed for the past six months, and it is also something he can't say because he plans to go to Nanyang for inspection. One of the reasons.

The representatives of Lianghuai salt merchants are Huizhou merchants, the largest commercial group in Ming Dynasty. They almost monopolized the entire circulation process of the salt produced in Lianghuai. The ingenious business strategy relies on the combination of government and business, making a fortune not by products, but by bribery and other means. The salt merchants rely on collusion with the government to take over the profits of the imperial court's monopoly on the salt industry. The purchase price and sales price of salt Generally, it can reach three or four times, and the annual profit rate is as high as 194%. From this perspective, Huizhou merchants are typical official businessmen, and they are closely related to the Ming court. However, even they are aware of the political and economic situation along the coast. Changes, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou used to produce salt by themselves, and Lianghuai salt merchants relied on the monopoly of the government to monopolize the salt market in Zhangquan in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Since ten years ago, Zhonghua Company has restarted the production of sea salt along the coast of Zhangquan, and at the same time Open up salt fields along the coast of Taiwan. In this way, not only the sea route for Lianghuai salt merchants to transport salt from Zhejiang to Fujian was cut off by the Chinese company fleet, but the land salt road was also blocked by Fujian officials who had benefited from the Chinese company with various excuses. .

Over the years, Lianghuai salt merchants have lost all their markets in Fujian and Guangdong.

Huizhou merchants also tried to fight back, but in any case they could not close the salt fields along the coast of Fujian, because these places were within the range of the artillery of the Chinese fleet. Salt fields are either on islands or on coastal tidal flats, and the main suppliers and sellers are Chinese companies.

As a result, some Lianghuai salt merchants who were good at judging the situation began to show their favor to Zhonghua Company. Under the general trend, some salt merchants also began to sell land and buy properties in Taiwan, and even planned to buy shares in the newly opened tea garden of Zhonghua Company. Encourage them to invest funds in the development of Taiwan, Luzon, and Java; the financial strength of salt merchants is stronger than that of Chinese companies, and they can use more liquidity at any time than Chinese companies; Thousands of merchant ships are running on the sea, and the funds for the goods have to wait until the goods are sold before they can be returned. At the same time, the Chinese company has to raise soldiers and people; and the salt merchants are government-owned merchants. Although the market is huge, they don’t need to raise many people to operate, and they don’t need to raise soldiers. To support the people, the funds come from court officials, and they can use them as they want. How much is not a problem at all. As long as the salt merchants use a fraction of the funds to invest in Chinese companies out of curiosity, it will be a lot.

Among the other small business gangs in China, there are still many hesitant ones, but Jiangxi merchants are another manifestation. Due to the various risks on land in the domestic sales of ceramics, the situation in various places is turbulent, and there are many government tax cards. Therefore, the main annual sales income of Jingdezhen Porcelain Industry is actually from overseas trade. The business routes for Jiangxi merchants to export ceramics overseas are now completely under the control of Chinese companies. Therefore, the ceramic industry The merchants in Jingdezhen, the center, have almost regarded Zhonghua Company and Yin Feng as equal units to the imperial court. Zhonghua Company also invested a huge amount of money in Jingdezhen and built a kiln factory called "Huaxing Kiln".

Politically, many insightful people have seen the crisis brought about by the rise of Chinese companies.

However, all of this was submerged in the daily factional disputes and quarrels of the imperial court. Hainan Island was just the remotest corners of the earth, and had never played an important role in the imperial court's mind. Moreover, this time the Li chaos lasted for half a year. There is no sense of urgency at all for the cabinet masters who have to deal with endless riots and riots.

Therefore, until the entire island of Hainan fell and the remnants of the official army were sent back to Guangdong, the court still did not respond at all.