Smuggling Daming

In King Zhao's Mansion in Beijing, today Zhou Zhong held a family banquet in a warm pavilion in the inner house to entertain Xie Da who came from afar, that is, Xie Lingyun's father. The business of the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce is huge, from Daming to Nanyang, and from Nanyang to India and the coast of Africa, you can almost see the fleet of the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce.

What made Xie Da even more happy was that just two years ago, one of his concubines actually gave birth to a son for him, which made the Xie family finally have a son. In addition, Xie Lingyun was also Zhou Zhong's side concubine, This was an unexpected surprise, so Xie Da was very energetic in the past two years, running on the sea almost all the time, although Xie Lingyun wrote to him many times asking him to pay attention to his body, Xie Da didn't care.

In fact, Zhou Zhong can understand Xie Da's thoughts. On the one hand, Xie Lingyun used to be his wife, but after he regained his status, he became a side concubine, which is worse than Wang Jinxuan who is the main concubine. Wang Jinxuan's father was a member of the imperial court, especially after the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate rose sharply, Wang Lun became a figure on par with the cabinet prime minister, so no matter in terms of family background or status, Xie Lingyun could not compare with Wang Jinxuan. And the reason why Xie Da worked so hard to develop his own chamber of commerce was to let Xie Lingyun overwhelm Wang Jinxuan in terms of wealth, so as to maintain a certain position.

Also, Xie Da got a son when he was old. He naturally dotes on this son who carries his hope of passing on the family, and the way he dotes on his son is no different from ordinary people. He desperately wants to keep his son. A larger family business, even if the son becomes a prodigal son in the future.It can also make him lose for a few more years.

It was for his sons and daughters that Xie Da almost tapped out all his potential. In the past few years, he managed the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce to become one of the largest chambers of commerce in the sea, second only to the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and also the most prestigious in Ming Dynasty. As one of the businessmen, it can be said that it is not easy.

Originally, Xie Da had been busy running the chamber of commerce overseas for the past few years, not to mention coming to the capital, even the Songjiang side seldom came back, but when winter was about to enter this year, Xie Da came to the capital suddenly.He also went directly to King Zhao's mansion to meet his daughter and son-in-law. Zhou Zhong did not dare to neglect Xie Da's father-in-law, so he gathered his family together and prepared a family banquet to welcome Xie Da.

Compared to a few years ago, Xie Da looked much older.In particular, a lot of gray hair had appeared on the temples, and there were a few fine lines on the forehead, and Xie Lingyun couldn't help crying when she saw her father's old appearance, which made Xie Da both moved and sad. The father and daughter had a lot to say at the moment.Finally, it was hard to stop crying.

Everything that followed seemed very harmonious, Wang Jinxuan brought Bai Mengwan and several children to salute Xie Da.This made Xie Da very happy, especially the three children born to Zhou Zhong and Xie Lingyun, which made Xie Da laugh from ear to ear. After distributing gifts to the children, Wang Jinxuan took the children and left. He ate with Xie Da, only halfway through the meal.Xie Lingyun also left with an excuse, because she also saw it.When my father came to the capital suddenly, he must have something important to discuss with Zhou Zhong. Although she is Xie Da's daughter, she is now in charge of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, so if Xie Da talks about matters related to the interests of the Chamber of Commerce, she is the daughter It will be a bit embarrassing, it is better to leave everything to Zhou Zhong.

After Xie Lingyun left, Zhou Zhong drank a few glasses of wine with Xie Da, chatted a few words, and then suddenly said: "Father-in-law, I heard that you and several chambers of commerce planned to organize a fleet to go there some time ago. Europe, I don’t know how the preparations are going, has the fleet already set off?”

Since Zhou Zhong sent Shen Zhou to drive Portugal from the west coast of India to the east coast of Africa, the entire South Ocean and Indian Ocean routes belonged to Ming Dynasty. Naturally, Ming's sea merchants dared to disturb the people's routes along the Indian Ocean, but Daming and Nanyang and other places If the goods want to get the most profit, they still have to be shipped to Europe, but now the European routes are controlled by the Portuguese. They can only sell the goods to the Portuguese in Africa, and then the Portuguese will ship the goods back to Europe. In order to obtain the maximum profit, this naturally dissatisfied the merchants of Ming Dynasty, so several maritime chambers of commerce headed by Xie Da planned to organize a fleet to go to Europe. They had invited the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce to form a fleet together before, but there was no further information. Now Zhou Zhong thought of it by chance, so he asked.

When Zhou Zhong asked about this matter, Xie Da smiled wryly and said: "Don't mention it, we were too arrogant at the beginning, thinking that we could organize a fleet to go to Europe if we had money and ships, but when we inquired I just discovered that the Portuguese do not allow anyone to interfere with their interests, so as long as we dare to send a fleet, I am afraid that we will be ambushed by their army just after crossing Africa, and it is impossible to reach Europe, so the key to this matter It's not about us, it's about the Portuguese, but it's absolutely impossible for the Portuguese to agree to their own interests, unless our Ming navy can drive the Portuguese back to their European homeland!"

"Hehe, I know this is the result. The Portuguese are a bunch of pirates. Let them give up the route to Europe unless they use force. It's just that Ming's troops are mainly used to clean up the border troubles in the north. The navy only I can take it easy, I'm afraid it will be difficult to use troops against the Portuguese in the past few years!" Zhou Zhong shook his head with a smile, he knew that this was Xie Da's tricks on him, but he didn't mind talking about some of the court's movements. Leak it to Xie Da, lest those big businessmen think about it.

Sure enough, after hearing Zhou Zhong's answer, Xie Da obviously showed some disappointment, but this disappointment was only fleeting, and soon Xie Da returned to normal, and then smiled and said to Zhou Zhong: "Wenda, The route from the Portuguese side will definitely not be able to pass in a short time, but we have inquired about a new route, but if we want to pass this route, we need the court to come forward, so I came to see you."

Hearing that Xie Da directly stated his intention of coming, Zhou Zhong also smiled and said: "To tell you the truth, my father-in-law, I have also received some news about your intention before, but the person who sent the news is not as good as the Red Sea and Africa. I don't know much about the situation around here, so I know very little, so I ask my father-in-law to tell my son-in-law about this matter in detail."

In fact, Zhou Zhong already knew the reason for Xie Da's visit. After all, Xie Da did not come alone this time, but with a group of famous businessmen from Ming Dynasty. In addition, Zhou Zhong also heard some news, so I also know the reason why Xie Da came to find me, but it was inconvenient to say it just now, and I could only deliberately bring up the matter of going to Europe, which led to the following topic. Now that Xie Da said it himself, Zhou Zhong will no longer act .

Xie Da also knew that Zhou Zhong's identity was different now. As the supervisor of Daming, if he didn't even know this, it would be a little abnormal, so he didn't show too much surprise, but clicked He nodded and explained his reason for coming.

It turned out that what Xie Da came to discuss with Zhou Zhong this time was a big deal. Although the Portuguese were driven out of India by Ming, they still firmly controlled the route from India to Europe, so that they could share the benefits of the exchange of goods between the East and the West. The biggest profit made the merchants of Ming Dynasty greedy and hated, so in this case, the merchants of Ming Dynasty also began to prepare to find a new route to Europe, and then use the new route to break the Portuguese monopoly.

However, anyone who has read the world map can find that there are only two natural routes from India to Europe. One is to bypass Africa in the west and then reach Europe. This route is also the shortest, and the other is to go east. The South Seas and the Pacific Ocean, after reaching the Americas, go around and reach Europe through the Atlantic Ocean, but this route is too far away, and the route is too dangerous, so it is not practical at all.

It is also because there are only the above two routes, one of which is not practical, and the other is monopolized by the Portuguese. Therefore, although the businessmen of Ming Dynasty spent a lot of money and material resources to find a new route, there has been no progress until Once a Muslim businessman learned about this incident and finally told them another route, but this route is not natural, but artificially excavated. This route is the famous Suez Canal that runs through the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. .

The later Suez Canal was built by the French in the 200th century, but in fact, as early as 117 BC, the Egyptians had dug a canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and this canal was in the Roman period in [-] BC. And the long-term opening during the period of the four caliphs in the seventh century AD made it easier to communicate by sea between Europe and Asia.

But in the eighth century AD, due to various reasons, the Arab Empire abandoned the canal at that time. As a result, the canal was slowly abandoned due to disrepair. Since then, the connection between Europe and Asia has either Either through difficult land traffic, or they can only reach each other's ports by bypassing Africa.

After Xie Da and other Ming businessmen heard about this incident, they immediately organized a batch of goods to be sent to Egypt. Really, this made Xie Da and others ecstatic, and immediately began to discuss the possibility of reopening the Suez Canal.

However, Xie Da and the others were obviously overjoyed. When they found out the situation on both sides of the Suez Canal, they suddenly found that they had no way to open the canal. Unless the Ming court came forward, this matter would be possible. . (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)