Ten Dragons Take the Inheritance

Chapter 162 The Origin of Overseas Trade

Brothers, please support Xiao Liu, the one behind is too tight, will you throw all the monthly tickets in your hands to Xiao Liu?
-

Overseas trade has sprouted since the Qin and Han Dynasties. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the blockage of the "Silk Road" and the inconvenience of land transportation, overseas trade began to prosper. It reached a peak in the Song Dynasty. Chinese ships traveled all over the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as The Persian Gulf developed maritime trade relations with nearly a hundred countries and regions at that time.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, shipping began to decline. After the last glory of Zheng He’s voyages to the West in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, China’s shipping fell into a trough. Especially in the early Qing Dynasty, the policy of moving boundaries and banning the sea basically killed overseas trade. , except for some private small-scale smuggling, overseas trade no longer exists. In August of the 26th year of Kangxi, Kangxi ordered the cancellation of the "maritime ban", but only four ports of Macao, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, and Yuntaishan were established. There are four customs, and the restrictions are extremely strict. No one is allowed to trade privately without the seal of the imperial court. The entire overseas trade volume is less than one percent of that of the Song Dynasty.The reason for the decline of overseas trade is complicated, and it is not something that can be explained clearly in a few words, but the root cause is inseparable from the Confucian way of governing the country that does not think about progress and only pursues the mean.

The importance of the ocean is clear to Yinzuo, and the cruelty of its competition is also well known in Yinzuo's heart. To bring the already somewhat backward Chinese nation back to the top of the world, overseas trade is an indispensable door. For this reason, Yinzuo made all kinds of arrangements, and it took unimaginable effort. What's even more sad is that Yinzuo couldn't find anyone to talk about in this era. Not very much in favor of engaging in overseas trade, but Yin Zuo always insisted that the two of them had to plan this matter with all their heart.

Once the door of the country is opened, not only money, technology, and ideas will follow, but also court debates and sea battles. If all preparations are not made in advance, the unlucky ones will definitely be the first Yinzuo, who is doing overseas trade, had to make various arrangements and contingency measures in advance, among which the people Yinzuo was going to meet today were the key.

In the hall of Xiaochuanzi Hutong, Yin Zuo sat on the head in a casual outfit, looked at the five or six dark-faced strong men kneeling in front of him, and said after a while of silence: "Get up, my king has heard for a long time that everyone is ready!" He is a hero of the sea, a man who sails the world, everyone is more casual, I just want to chat with you today."

Although Yinzuo's words were polite, those guys didn't dare to be rude, they kowtowed to each other, and they didn't even dare to say that, they kept their heads down and knelt all the time.Yinzuo didn't force himself, smiled and said, "Which one is Qiao Shan, Boss Qiao?"

A brawny man in his early forties, wearing a purple top and black sinus pants, raised his head and said, "Return to the prince, the youngest one is Qiao Shan."

"Well, okay, I heard that Boss Qiao has been sailing on the sea since he was a child, and he has a deep understanding of the nature of the sea when he travels across the ocean. Is there such a thing?" Yin Zuo asked with a smile.

"Yes, the little one has traveled to Japan and Southeast Asia with my father since he was five years old. He has indeed been to many places, even in Europe." Qiao Shan answered quickly.

Um?This kid actually went to Europe. It's rare, haha, to find a treasure.Yin Zuo was overjoyed. Although he had seen a few missionaries from Europe since he came to this era, those people were at most scholars besides talking about God. In addition, they had been away from Europe for a long time, so they didn't know much about the situation in Europe. Yin Zuo also had no way of knowing how far Europe has developed in this era. Suddenly, Qiao Shan, who had been to Europe, appeared, and he was so happy that he hurriedly asked: "Okay, Boss Qiao is indeed a man who has traveled far and wide. , I would like to know which country in Europa has the strongest maritime power, and what kind of warships and artillery are they using?"

Qiao Shan didn't expect Yinzuo to ask these questions, he was stunned for a moment before he said: "My lord, I have only been to Europa state once, and I only stopped at a port called "Eating for You", so I don't know much about Europa state. However, I heard that the countries in Europa State are all strangers, and they always fight back and forth. Now a country called "Inglesia" has the strongest fleet. At the moment, most of the Southeast Asia belongs to They occupied it. They also used sailing ships of different sizes. The large one had three-story gun towers with twelve cannons on each floor, and the small one had two-story gun towers with eight guns on each floor. It is not clear how small the artillery is .”

for you?Hey, it’s just Venice. Well, it seems that my arrival didn’t mess up history. This should be the time when Spain and Portugal will completely decline and England will rise strongly. Well, according to time, England should be I am busy taking over the colonies, interesting, it seems that I really have to prepare for a big fight with England one day.Well, it seems that the Yankees have a famous saying——America is the America of the Americans, and we can also make a similar sentence: Asia is the Asia of the Asians, hey, just wait and see.Yinzuo was a little distracted thinking about it, and it took a while to remember that there were still a bunch of people kneeling in front of him, and he laughed at himself and said: "Oh, my king intends to devote himself to shipping, and now the most lacking thing is people like you. A good man who knows how to sail, if he follows this king, he won’t be able to treat you all badly, um, how about getting a [-]% profit every time you come back from the boat?”

A [-]% profit is not too much for these sailors. Generally speaking, they can get [-]% or more for helping others run the ship. The goods are not worth much, but Yinzuo is different, the handwriting is very big, the ship alone is nearly a hundred times larger than others, and there are more than a dozen ships in a fleet when going to sea, the value of the goods is really higher than others No matter how much you pay, the profit will be frighteningly high.A group of strong men all looked at each other in surprise and doubt. They couldn't believe that Yin Zuo gave such a high reward. Qiao Shan was obviously the backbone of everyone, and everyone looked at him with eyes.

Qiao Shan was obviously also frightened by such a huge profit, his expression changed for a while, he took a deep breath, calmed down his agitated mood, kowtowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, you have rewarded us so much I dare not accept it, if the prince agrees, I will only accept half of it, and ask the prince to take back the rest."

"Huh? This king is just following the usual practice, and it's not a big reward. The sea is ruthless. If you bet your life, you should be rewarded." Yin Zuo said with a smile.

Seeing that Yinzuo is not difficult to speak, Qiao Shan couldn't help feeling a little lively in his heart, and asked tentatively: "My lord, I have a merciless request, but..."

Yinzuo smiled, put away the folding fan in his hand and said: "Let's hear it, if this king can do it, then of course you won't be at a loss."

"My lord Xie, we are all people who regard the sea as our home, wandering without roots, and originally begging for food in the sea. Our ancestors have relied on the sea for food for generations, but..." Qiao Shan looked at Yinzuo, gritted his teeth and said : "I just want my children and grandchildren to have a future. I will wait even if I don't get a penny."

Uh huh, isn't this the admiral who came to your door? Hehe, the descendants of this group of people are used to working in the sea. With a little tempering, it is not difficult to become a master. If you are really sleepy, someone will send you a pillow.Yinzuo was happy in his heart, but his face was very calm, with a look of contemplation, Qiao Shan was sweating, thinking that he had offended Yinzuo, he quickly kowtowed, not daring to say a word .

As for your servant, you have to give kindness and majesty at the same time. Blind mercy is not enough.Yinzuo has been a superior for a long time, and he still understands this truth. He was silent for a long time, probably frightening the gang of sea men, and then said lightly: "This king said that you will be rewarded with a [-]% profit. This will not change. As for the future of your children and grandchildren, this king can give it to you, but you have to make achievements first, right? How about this, some people in your family who are proficient in navigation will report to you, and then let the king Hao asked Liu Yao to handle this matter, so how about giving him the title of Chief Qian, and rewarding him later when he has credit for it?"

"My lord's kindness, it's hard to repay my lord, and I'm willing to do my best for my lord..." A group of sea men saw their children and grandchildren's success, and they burst into tears and expressed their sincerity.

Yinzuo waved his hand to make these men retreat first, and then said to Wang Hao who was standing aside with a smile: "Wang Hao, I will leave it to you to take full responsibility for the shipping, but if there is something wrong with the dispatch of the fleet and the source of goods Just go to Liu Mingchuan, if Liu Mingchuan can't solve it, just come to me and go." Wang Hao bowed and said yes, strode out of the door by himself, and went to find Liu Mingchuan on his own to handle the handover. carry.

The reason why Yinzuo wants to hand over the shipping matters to Wang Hao instead of Liu Mingchuan is, to put it bluntly, a way to play a game of balance——over the years, Liu Mingchuan has become very popular with Yinzuo. Those who became officials became officials, and those who got rich got rich, all of them became prosperous, and together with his brother Liu Shuangcheng's line of people, they became the most powerful force under Yinzuo's subordinates.Although the Liu family is loyal to Yinzuo, but the superiors have to be on guard. Since ancient times, is it not rare to have a yellow robe or a powerful official?Yinzuo's support of the Wang family is just to play a balancing role, not to let the family dominate.

The fleet and the captain have been settled, there is no shortage of foreign trade customs seals on hand, and there is no major problem in the mobilization of sources of goods. It is not a big problem for old Jianghu such as Wang Hao and Liu Mingchuan to handle such chores. Next However, things are a bit tricky—if you want to engage in overseas trade, you will inevitably conflict with the gang of sea robbers in Europe. War is a matter of time. In terms of the sea power of the Qing Dynasty at this time, it is inevitable that the first battle will be defeated. But one defeat is okay but not another defeat, otherwise losing some money will be a small matter, but damaging the country's prestige will be a big deal. Yin Zuo must be prepared for this.

Ironclad?Hey, that's pure nonsense. Not to mention internal combustion engines and steam engines, even the production of steel products is very low at the moment. Things like aircraft carriers can only be imagined.Xu Zuo understands mechanical manufacturing, at least those principles are very clear, but the question is where is the machine tool?What about electricity?Not to mention some other infrastructure, the smelting of steel is a layman at all, at most he only knows that coke steelmaking can produce good steel, but how to practice it will be blind.There is no shortage of mines and mines, and some mines have been discovered in the barren hills bought a few years ago. They also used the time when they were in charge of the Ministry of Industry to gather a lot of skilled craftsmen to solve the problem of steelmaking. Years have passed, but there has not been much progress, which makes Yin Zuo helpless, and can only increase investment and offer heavy rewards in order to break through.

Explosives, Yinzuo is very clear about this thing, not to mention black gunpowder, even yellow explosives, plastic explosives, etc. Yinzuo is also very clear. At this moment, Yinzuo already has a voltaic battery and has The basis for large-scale production of nitroglycerin, but Yinzuo has never been launched on a large scale.Of course, nitroglycerin is extremely dangerous. The more important thing is that Mr. Kangxi did not like to engage in weapon innovation. Yin Zuo didn't want to violate the old man's big taboo, so he never officially launched this project.Of course, Yinzuo did not let go of such a good thing in private. A few years ago, he set up a small laboratory in the barren hills, and found more than a dozen reliable students from the elementary school technology training class he organized to specialize in this area. Needless to say, the results of his work were gratifying, and he also produced a lot of dynamite.

With explosives, more than half of the problem of artillery can be solved, but the problem is that explosives are easy to manufacture, but artillery is difficult to fix. As long as explosives are not exposed in public, building a cave in the wilderness can solve the problem, but artillery It's different—not to mention the test firing of artillery, even casting a cannon is not easy, and it's not something that can be done by dozens of people. It's a good end, so Yinzuo never dared to do it, but it's time to start doing it now, otherwise when the war starts, Yinzuo doesn't have a trump card in his hand, so what can he use to persuade Mr. Kangxi and those important officials in the court .

According to the Qing system, the Ministry of Industry is in charge of manufacturing weapons, the Ministry of War is in charge of receiving and distributing weapons, the army is only in charge of using weapons, private manufacture of weapons, especially firearms, is strictly prohibited.If Yin Zuo wants to build artillery, he cannot do without the cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War. After exhorting Liu Yao carefully, and then instructing Liu Yao carefully, he was waiting for Liu Yao to put on a big show tomorrow when he saw the driver and reported on his duties.

(End of this chapter)