Daming Military Empire

Chapter 75 Overseas Situation
Zhu Cijiong came to Zheng Zhilong to understand the overseas situation. After all, he is a science student. Most of the domestic history is obtained from reading novels and TV dramas. It was probably the so-called Great Age of Discovery in the West. The powerful countries on the sea included Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, England, and France, and he didn't know any more.

To do business with European powers, the first thing is to find out their truth, otherwise not only will you not make money, but you will lose money to bad people, ships, and goods.

This Zheng Zhilong is worthy of being a sea hegemony, and he has an incomparably detailed understanding of the situation of the European powers. Judging from his description, it is now the period when the Netherlands and Spain are competing for maritime hegemony.

The Netherlands is an upstart at sea. It became independent from Spain only a few decades ago, but with its strong shipbuilding capabilities, it soon surpassed Portugal and Spain and became the country with the most ships. According to the statistics of Spain and Portugal, the world is now There are about [-] sea-going ships, of which the Netherlands has at least [-] ships, which means that the Netherlands has more sea-going ships than all other countries combined!

With a powerful fleet, the Netherlands gradually monopolized maritime trade and became the current overlord of the sea.

And Spain is said to be very powerful. After all, they have an absolute advantage in population. The Netherlands is a bigger place, with more than 100 million people dying, and even their own merchant ships have to hire people to drive them.But Spain is different. Its area is dozens of times that of the Netherlands, and its population is said to have reached tens of millions.

But the king of Spain is too troublesome, making enemies everywhere and fighting on all sides. It is said that Spain has successively fought with more than ten countries including Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France. The wealth they plundered from the colonies It has been exhausted in World War I, and now it is borrowing money to survive, and it has been declared bankrupt three times!
Against the whole world, the Spanish royal family is really crazy!

As for Portugal, an old powerhouse, it is said that they were overwhelmed by their big eyes and small belly. They already had more than 50 colonies all over the world and they were not satisfied. Less than [-] can go to the battlefield!
If 10 people have robbed more than 50 colonies, it is not enough. If they want to rob, they will have to die.This is not an exaggeration at all. You must know that a country as big as Brazil is only one of their more than 50 colonies. More than 100 million people rule a colony of more than 2000 million square kilometers.

This time can be said to be the most tragic time for Portugal. They had so many colonies, but the mainland was annexed by Spain.It is said that the reason why King Philip II of Spain annexed Portugal was very simple. He said that he had half the blood of the Portuguese royal family, so he should be the king of Portugal, and then he annexed Portugal!

Well, this reason is indeed very strong.

If you want to say who has no blood relationship with who among the royal families in Europe, and use this reason to annex other countries, you can only say that Philip II is really awesome!
The remaining Britain and France are said to have not recovered from fighting the Anglo-French war for more than 100 years. Britain is better, at least occupying North America.France was miserable. Just after the Hundred Years War between Britain and France, it faced off against the Holy Roman Empire. Now it is still fighting, fighting, fighting on the European continent.

At that time, the situation at sea was probably like this. Generally speaking, it was still beneficial to Ming Dynasty. The European powers were fighting happily, and basically had no energy to target Ming Dynasty.Only the Netherlands occupied the treasure island of Taiwan in order to fight for the dominance of the sea in East Asia, but the one or two thousand troops cannot defend such a large area, and Zhu Cijiong will take it back sooner or later.

Of course, now that the horoscope is still low, Ming's navy can be described as blank, even Zheng Zhilong's private armed forces can't handle it, let alone go to war with the maritime overlord Holland.

Zhu Cijiong roughly analyzed the current situation, and his positioning for Zheng Zhilong was even higher. This person must be wooed well.He has countless trading points in Southeast Asia, as well as trade channels with Spain, Portugal, and even the Netherlands. More importantly, he also has the invincible sea power in Southeast Asia. He has been involved in maritime hegemony for many years.

Time is money. Countless wealth from all over the world is beckoning to our little emperor Zhu Cijiong. It depends on when he builds an invincible fleet and goes to grab it.

The first step is to deal with Zheng Zhilong, so after Zheng Zhilong finished introducing the situation at sea, Zhu Cijiong immediately shot sugar-coated bullets.

The first cannonball was Zheng Zhilong's precious son Zheng Sen. Our Zhu Cijiong put his arms around Zheng Sen's shoulder and said, "I have hit it off with your son, and I want to recognize him as Yudi. I wonder if you would like it?"

Royal brother!That's not equivalent to a prince!Could Zheng Zhilong be unwilling?He immediately knelt down on the ground and kowtowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

Zhu Cijiong hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, and said kindly: "We will be a family from now on, so there is no need to be so polite."

Zheng Zhilong is shrewd, the emperor's attitude is obviously a little bit wrong, there must be some intention.But his own son is already a proper prince, this is the great glory of Guangzong Yaozu, so what if the emperor has plans, a prince is already worth a lot of things for him to exchange.

Thinking of this, he tentatively asked, "I don't know what else the emperor ordered?"

This is a hint: Your Majesty, please make an offer.

He used the word "command" quite delicately, which means that as long as it is not too much, he will not refuse.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cijiong nodded in satisfaction, and said with a smile, "I want to make a few deals with you."

trade?How many more!Zheng Zhilong is a little confused, can't we use code words, why use the word transaction directly?How embarrassing!

But he is the emperor, so he can say whatever he wants, who cares, he can only follow the emperor's will and ask cautiously: "I wonder what the emperor wants to trade?"

Zhu Cijiong explained in detail: "I plan to integrate all the confiscated workshops and set up Jiangnan Weaving, Jiangnan Porcelain, and Jiangnan Tea Industry to specialize in the production of silk, cloth, porcelain, and tea. A Tianjin weaving company also specializes in the production of cloth. There are so many things produced by such a large workshop, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely not be able to sell them all. I want to set up a Daming Western Trading Company to do business with foreigners. Hand over all your overseas trading points. How about giving it to me? I'll give you [-]% of the shares."

Zheng Zhilong was a little dizzy when he heard it, and he asked curiously: "Excuse me for my stupidity, what does this trading company mean?"

Zhu Cijiong patted his forehead and said: "It's just a business name, a trading company is what foreigners call it."

It turned out to be a business name, which means that the emperor is ready to intervene in transactions with foreigners, and he just wants to use a few trading points he has set up in Nanyang.This relationship is good, Jiangnan Weaving, Jiangnan Porcelain, Jiangnan Tea Industry, Tianjin Weaving, once you hear these names, you know that it is definitely a big and scary workshop, and the profit is absolutely astonishingly high. I am afraid that [-]% of the shares are more than his current income. Even higher.

There is no reason to hesitate, Zheng Zhilong replied directly: "But it is up to the emperor to decide."

Zhu Cijiong nodded, and said seductively: "I don't know if you are interested in King Zhennan."

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, his eyes almost popped out, just kidding, who wouldn't be interested in Zhennan Wang!Zheng Sen was already very excited to be an idle prince. He didn't expect that he could become the powerful King of Zhennan himself, and he was willing to pay no matter how high the price was.

He was so excited that he even forgot to say the secret word, and asked directly: "I wonder what the emperor wants?"

Zhu Cijiong smiled and said: "I don't want you, I just want to incorporate all your navy into the official establishment of the imperial court, and you will still be in command, but you must obey the dispatch of the imperial court in the future."

This means that you can no longer be a pirate in the future, and you must restrain your subordinates according to the requirements of the regular army. This is the king of Zhennan, what kind of pirates are you still doing!

Zheng Zhilong knelt on the ground excitedly and shouted: "My humble minister, thank you for your kindness."

Seeing Zheng Zhilong's straightforwardness, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help laughing and said: "Hahaha, okay, from now on you will be the king of Zhennan, hereditary. I authorize you to governor the military affairs of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, train the navy for me, and guard the southeast coast."

Zheng Zhilong didn't expect the emperor to give him such great power. The governor of the three Jiangnan provinces' military affairs is the real King of Zhennan. Who in Jiangnan would dare not listen to him.

He was so excited that he became incoherent for a moment, and even knelt down on the ground to swear: "I swear to be loyal to the emperor to the death."

Seeing his stupid look, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help laughing secretly in his heart: "Hey, the authorization can be withdrawn, and besides, you won't be King of Zhennan for long. When Zheng Sen grows up, you should retire. He is much more reliable than you." .”

Of course, he definitely couldn’t say it on the surface. He added the icing on the cake and said, “From now on, you can sit in Nanjing. I think Wei Guogong’s mansion is pretty good. The maids and servants are all ready-made, so I will reward you as the Zhennan Prince’s mansion.”

Zheng Zhilong was naturally grateful and vowed again and again that he would do his best to manage the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River for him.

(End of this chapter)