The smooth trial voyage of the steamship not only made the people of Nanjing addicted, but also showed a strong effect in the current capital market, as the Yanhuang Development Investment Company, which currently holds the patent of the steam engine, almost ushered in the daily limit of several days in the regime exchange, adding a new fire to the stock market that was already in a bit of decline.

The Yanhuang Development and Investment Company originally belonged to the Chamber of Commerce under the name of the imperial court, that is, it was 100% controlled by the imperial court, and the steam engine was the only product that the company currently operated, and all profits obtained would be directly attributed to the state treasury.

After the successful trial voyage of the steam steamer, the development of the steam engine has naturally been amazed by everyone, and they now understand how great the infinite energy of the steam engine is, and it can be said that every technological progress will bring huge wealth benefits in practical application.

At the same time, as a subordinate of the imperial court, the steamship China Merchants Bureau was also formally established, and will issue its own shares on the stock exchange, although there is only such a prototype ship now, but it is still coaxed by everyone - unlike the ordinary people who watch the bustle on the Qinhuai River, there is no simple person who buys and sells on the stock exchange today.

These men were very discerning, and they soon saw the great potential of the steamship, which, although it was now slow and could not run far, would naturally have the ability to sail the seas without the need for sails, which would mean that the route could be changed.

You know, in this era, sail ships are extremely dependent on the wind, and any change will cause the ship to be unable to sail smoothly, and can only adjust to the direction of the wind, which is invisibly running a lot of wrongful roads - but with the ship, it can no longer sail in the direction of the monsoon, which can greatly shorten the voyage and time.

Therefore, when the steamship showed its strong potential, it quickly became a very hot stock like the train, but compared with the train stock that is already difficult to grab, the steamship China Merchants is still in the trough period, and it is favored by many people.

Of course, among these coveters, the Royal Chamber of Commerce naturally got the biggest piece of fat, spending a million silver dollars to swallow 20% of the shares in circulation - not that they didn't want to eat more shares, but Ning Yu had set a rule for the Royal Chamber of Commerce before, that is, they could participate in shares but were forbidden to hold shares, no matter what company or chamber of commerce, the shareholding ratio should not exceed 20%.

The reason why this rule was set is because Ning Yu knows that in the current nascent capital market, the Royal Chamber of Commerce is almost a behemoth like Mount Tai, if you wantonly suppress people, you are afraid that no one can stop it, and no one dares to stop it, and then it will not be conducive to the blooming of industry and commerce, so this is also an iron rule.

And after this 20 percent, the rest fell into the hands of other large chambers of commerce, not that they did not give those lieutenant chambers of commerce a chance at all, but that China Merchants did not give profit expectations, and even had a long research and development period, and still needed to invest money in it, so for a long time, it was a complete loss of money - for those small and medium-sized chambers of commerce, it could not bear such a loss, and as for individuals, they could not afford to buy.

"President Cui, Cheng has been waiting for a long time, I hope to find an opportunity to visit you today, I don't know if I can enjoy it. If it was inappropriate, Cheng would not dare to disturb it. ”

A middle-aged man followed closely beside Cui Yu, the president of the Royal Chamber of Commerce, with a somewhat humble smile on his face, and appropriately handed over a name card in his hand.

Cui Yu squinted his eyes slightly, he took the name card and glanced at it, and the words "Cheng Dewang" were written in block letters, but he smiled slightly.

This person is not from the famous Cheng Family Chamber of Commerce, but another Cheng family in Guangzhou, who was originally doing some foreign trade business in Guangzhou, and his reputation in Nanjing is not very big, but he is a little famous in Guangzhou.

"If you are because of the matter of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, you can go directly to the shopkeeper Cheng, I think you should have more fate with the same surname, as for me, I can't give you what you want."

Cheng Dewang was taken aback, and hurriedly shook his head and said: "Actually, I don't hide it from President Cui, I am also entrusted by others, and now the shopkeeper Chen of the Dongmin Chamber of Commerce hopes to meet President Cui, for the sake of not the matter of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, but the issue of dispatching labor, and there may be a chance for cooperation in this matter." ”

"Dispatched laborers?"

Cui Yu was stunned for a moment, and a meaningful smile quickly appeared on his face, and when he nodded, he said softly: "Since that's the case, let's meet." ”

To put it bluntly, for Cui Yu, he only has a profitable business in front of him, but no identity and regional view, which is also his true nature as a businessman, and he actually forms a natural difference from officials.

........

In the imperial garden, Ning Yu walked in front wearing a big hand, Cui Wancai, Li Fu, Ning Zhongyi and others followed behind, walking along a fine gravel road.

"It's been an eventful year!"

Ning Yu slowly stopped, and he sighed softly: "At present, the affairs of Tibet have just come to an eyebrow, but there is chaos in Myanmar, there are several feudal monarchs who have some conflicts with the Luang Prabang Kingdom and Vientiane Kingdom, I heard that there is a war on the border, and those feudal monarchs have almost occupied Vientiane - Shoufu, what's going on?" ”

Cui Wancai sighed in a low voice, the emperor is completely pretending to be confused, if you want to talk about the inside story of this matter, it must be the emperor's hand, but in the end, you have to explain it yourself!

Since the implementation of the feudal monarchy system in Burma that year, that piece of land has nothing to do with stability at all, because those feudal monarchs are not ordinary people, they are all generals who have made great contributions in the past wars, they are any marquis or uncle, and then they can develop their military strength in Burma - which has led to the suffering of those small countries around it.

In particular, the Luang Prabang Kingdom, the Vientiane Kingdom, the Chuankuo Kingdom and the Champasak Kingdom on the side are facing the force of these feudal monarchs, but these countries themselves have little strength, and their forces are weak.

Now Cui Wancai had to smile bitterly: "Your Majesty, the feudal monarchs are also thinking about developing their feudal country, where the fields are fertile and the area is also very vast, just the landless peasants in the country in the past are not enough, they have attracted the attention of their neighbors, and it is really a bit ....... to plunder the people of neighboring countries to become serfs."

There is a sentence that he didn't say, that is, he is really too unparticular about eating and eating, not only grabbing other people's land, but even the people of other people are snatching them back to be slaves.

Ning Yu smiled slightly, in fact, this is what he wants to see, otherwise why did he have to realize the feudal monarchy system in Myanmar in the first place? It's not because the local situation is complicated, if you rely exclusively on the capital to govern, I'm afraid that it will be difficult to completely annex it, and it will cause a commotion, but now that these feudal lords are digested, they can finally swallow it in their stomachs.

Some things may seem like a hassle to turn around, but they have to be done, and if they don't, the results will not be much better than what was done during the Ming Dynasty, whether it is Burma or Cochin, their loss is never just a military problem, but also a political failure.

Of course, for the current situation, Ningyu still has some understanding, the current so-called Luang Prabang Kingdom, Vientiane Kingdom, Sichuan Kuo Kingdom and Champasak Kingdom and other four small countries, in the Ming Dynasty was subordinate to Yunnan Chengxuan Political Envoy Department of the Nanzhang State, and later gradually split into such a few small countries.

The country of Nanzhang is also known as Laos in China, and it was once recorded: "Laos, commonly known as Laos, is not known as China in ancient times." Chengzu ascended the throne, and the Lao Tuguan knife line paid tribute, and the Lao military and civilian propaganda envoys were initiated. In the second year of Yongle, the knife line was used as a consolation envoy and a seal was given. Five years to send people to pay tribute. ”

This place was the Yongle period began to communicate with the Ming Dynasty, and also paid tribute, and the Ming Dynasty also set up the Lao military and civilian consolation envoy in the place, the meaning is very simple, that is, this place is not treated as a foreign country at all, but as a general Tusi with Myanmar to treat, and later because of the rise of Myanmar power in the Wanli period, the Ming Dynasty also severed the tributary relationship with Laos.

Now that Laos has naturally disappeared from history, the four small countries it has divided into are eager to re-establish tributary relations with the Great Chu - the key is that they do not want to be targeted by the Great Chu and eventually fall into the fate of Myanmar.

As for Ning Yu, he also did not want to establish a so-called tributary relationship, after all, the strategy of swallowing Burma has been proven to be very effective, and according to this set of strategies, it is completely possible to gradually swallow the four countries, so why keep the tributary on face?

The privy envoy Ning Zhongyi still had a good grasp of the emperor's thoughts, so he said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, although the feudal monarchs have behaved inappropriately, they have reported to the Protectorate of Annan and the Privy Council after all, and it is not a big deal. ”

Ning Yu naturally didn't really want to punish the feudal monarch, so he said softly: "After all, this matter has to be cleaned up, and directly let the Annan Protectorate come forward to see how it can be over....... However, I think that the enthusiasm of the feudal monarchs cannot be dispelled, after all, in the future, the governance of the entire southern Xinjiang will still depend on the feudal monarchs. ”

Hearing this, the ministers naturally understood, in fact, this is also telling the cabinet that don't care about things that shouldn't be taken care of, and when the feudal monarchs unify the whole of Laos in the future, won't the matter be gone? At that time, everyone will be able to enjoy a profit, and even the emperor will not mix too much.

Don't say you oppose something like this, even if you don't get involved, the people below will probably be unhappy.

Cui Wancai couldn't help but smile bitterly, in fact, he would not object to this matter, the key is that he still felt that the emperor was too blatant, and he was afraid that when the time came, whether it was Annan or the Ayutthaya Kingdom, they would be a little vigilant, which would be unfavorable to the overall situation, especially not conducive to the integration of the entire southern Xinjiang in the later period.

But Ning Yu also has his own thoughts, that is, the international situation has begun to undergo subtle changes in this era, so that he has to start to speed up his pace.

The reason is actually very simple, in the eyes of the original Western colonizers, the East at this time is a piece of fat fresh meat, especially Myanmar itself is the first fat meat to be resisted by Western countries, among which as early as the 16th century during the Taungoo Dynasty, the Portuguese have begun to set foot in Burma, and the Netherlands, Britain and France and other countries have also come to southern Myanmar one after another, organizing companies, asking for trade, and making it clear that they want to intervene in Myanmar through various ways.

It's just that what everyone never expected was that Da Chu was born out of nowhere, and directly occupied Myanmar at a rapid speed, and ruled Myanmar in the way of feudal kings, which made the Western colonists have a feeling that the cooked ducks have flown away, so the British and French ambassadors also expressed some dissatisfaction at the beginning.

Of course, now that this matter has become a foregone conclusion, the Western colonists will not fight with Dachu in Burma, but they will also irrepressibly pour into the original Laos, that is, the Kingdom of Luang Prabang, the Kingdom of Vientiane, the Kingdom of Chuankuo and the Kingdom of Champasak.

At that time, it will be easy to face conflicts, and Ning Yu is not willing to have too many contradictions with Western colonizers in this environment, the reason is also because there is no need for the two sides to fight for the life and death of the colony, anyway, the world is so big, isn't it good to cooperate for a win-win situation first?

When he really wants to turn against Britain and France in the future, Ning Yu can use Asian ideas to drive these Europeans back to his hometown at any time, which means that he has always held the initiative, but the time has not yet come.

However, as soon as he thought of the twists and turns that Ning Zuyi had handed over, Ning Yu's brows furrowed slightly, because he found that Da Chu and Britain would probably have a battle to fight in the future, because after the cooperation interests between the two sides gradually became smaller, the contradictions between them on the territorial issue would become even greater.

Especially for this place in India, Ning Yu did not want to just let it become the most brilliant pearl on the head of the British, although this place is a little strange, and the people's ability to open up is stronger, but after all, it is still very rich - the British in later generations can make trouble all over the world, and they rely on India's wealth to a large extent.

"Burma, India, Australia, and the ........ of the Americas"

There was a slight smile on the corner of Ning Yu's mouth, fortunately, he crossed early enough, and he hadn't waited for the British to become the number one in the world, otherwise it would be really difficult to clean up.

Of course, although it is not easy to clean up, there are some things that need to be done first, such as occupying Burma first, then contacting some princely states in India in advance, or sending people to the Americas at this time........ We have to do all of this, and at least we can see some results in the future.