"Mary, do you know what the specialty of the Americas is?"

Zhu Cihong didn't seem to know what the specialty of the Americas was, so he blamed the problem on his little Yanma Mary. Mancini.

Little Yanmar giggled: "Your Majesty, you really don't know what the specialty of the Americas is?" Gold and silver, the specialties of the Americas! ”

Zhu Cihong glared at Zheng Zhilong again and asked, "Old Taishan, what do you think of bringing some gold and silver treasures back?" Is it enough for shipping? ”

Treasure...... Zheng Zhilong looked at Emperor Zhu in surprise, "Your Majesty, are we going to rob the Spaniards of gold and silver mines?" That's the lifeblood of the Kingdom of Spain!

Moreover, only a small part of the gold and silver obtained by the Spaniards in America remained in their own hands, and most of it was earned by us and the Netherlands, England, France, Italy, and Germany through trade. If we rob the gold and silver mines of New Spain, we are afraid that we will be angry! ”

Spain is the "fortune boy" of the Age of Discovery, who lost his conscience and sweated blood and sweat in New Spain to loot gold and silver, and then risked being shipwrecked and robbed, and the risk of scurvy, the gold and silver were shipped out of the Americas, and then they were all cheaper than the Netherlands, England, France, Germany, Italy, and even China, which had developed manufacturing industries.

The Netherlands, England, France, and Germany almost relied on the Spaniards to distribute wealth and gold and silver to complete the primitive accumulation of capitalism.

If the Ming Dynasty really seized the gold and silver mines of New Spain, he would be beaten by the great powers of all Europe!

Of course, when he came to fight in the circle of the Celestial Empire, Emperor Zhu was not afraid. But the battlefield has to be moved to Central America...... Europeans are so close!

And how many people can Daming send over?

Zhu Cihong smiled: "I know, I know...... How could I not know? I didn't want to take the gold or silver mines of New Spain, I just wanted the west coast of North America, north of San Diego. ”

It's about home to California's gold mines, North American ferrets, the world's largest open-pit copper mine and abundant oil resources.

However, none of these things have been found out now, let alone developed, and Zhu Cihong does not intend to play the prophet in front of Zheng Zhilong, so he will not mention these things.

"Old Taishan," Zhu Cihong said again, "since I have no intention of digging up the lifeblood of Spain, of course I am ready to negotiate peace with Spain...... The fight now is for the sake of the future. And in the future, of course, we must talk about a freedom of navigation in the Pacific! ”

"Freedom of navigation in the Pacific?" Zheng Zhilong frowned, he had never heard of freedom of navigation in his life......

Zhu Cihong said: "Yes, it is freedom of navigation!" With such a big Pacific Ocean, why should it be occupied and not let others go? The Spaniards are too domineering! Mary, don't you say? ”

"That's right! They are so overbearing! "Mary. Mancini nodded repeatedly.

Zhu Cihong smiled and said, "As long as there is freedom of navigation, then we can use silk, porcelain, lacquerware and other goods to transport gold and silver back from New Spain." In this way, the Pacific route can be turned around...... As long as the route can be turned around, our transoceanic passenger boats will not return empty, and the cost can be reduced. ”

Zheng Zhilong's brows were still slightly frowned, because he knew that it was impossible to balance the transportation of gold and silver back with ships carrying people, porcelain, silk, and lacquerware, and if he wanted to balance the shipping in the Pacific, he had to find more commodities.

Not to mention whether these commodities can be excavated or not, even if they can be found, to form a sufficient output, I am afraid that it will not happen overnight!

Zhu Cihong looked at Zheng Zhilong and was still a little hesitant, so he said to him: "Old Taishan, we have to fight the battle in the Americas...... Although the Spaniards were defeated in Japan, they were still a world empire, and the gold and silver mines in the Americas were the lifeblood of the Americas, so they would not give up easily.

Moreover, Spain has been colonizing the Americas for more than a hundred years, and there are now hundreds of thousands of white and mestizo people in New Spain, and there are many more indigenous Indians to take advantage of. So Spain could raise tens of thousands of troops in the Americas!

And we only have a few dozen people in the Americas, so it's not enough...... And they can't count on the navy, the Nanyang Fleet has to support the battle of Siam, and it has to send rice back. The Oriental Fleet did not have a few ships in total, and it had to take care of the sea around Japan, and if the war against Doni broke out, it would also divide its troops to blockade the sea outside the customs and Korea, and at most two or three 800-ton troops would be sent to the Americas. How many people can be pulled by them? If I think about it, I can only rely on commercial transportation.

Old Taishan, I asked the Royal Chamber of Commerce to pay 1 million taels, your official bank also contributed 1 million, and then let the sand boat company also contribute 1 million, and together set up a Pacific shipping company, purchased 1200 special 10,000 stone passenger boats, and transported troops and immigrants to the Americas, what do you think? ”

"How is the shipping fee calculated?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Count by the head......," Zhu Cihong said, "according to the head of the person who arrived in the New World!" Is fifty taels enough for one person? ”

The cost of colonizing the Americas certainly cannot be relied on by the imperial court, because the imperial court cannot afford it. Fifty taels is just a boat fare, and in order for immigrants to settle down on the other side of the ocean, at least another fifty taels of investment must be added. One hundred taels, one million people is a hundred million...... This money is not unaffordable, the historical Qing Dynasty spent 70 million on Jinchuan, and dozens or hundreds of years with Jungar, and the total cost was not less than 100 million.

Almost the cost of fighting Jinchuan to occupy more than a dozen states in the western part of the Heavenly Chosen Country in the future, plus one British Columbia, how can it be worth it?

These territories look bigger than Jinchuan!

But the problem is that the big and small Jinchuan are within the territory of the Celestial Empire, and it is correct to spend more money to reform the land and return to the stream. And the west coast of North America is the other side of the ocean, and it is difficult to keep it in the territory of the Celestial Empire forever!

There is a good chance that in the future it will become an independent country and the United States will be the next-door neighbor......

Therefore, Zhu Cihong could not use the money of the imperial court to smash the New World endlessly, and could only find a way to turn colonizing America into a profitable business.

Of course, a business as big as colonizing the Americas can't be without capital...... This is an "asset-heavy" business!

Therefore, the initial investment is indispensable!

But who will come up with this investment?

"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong thought for a while, "who pays for this boat?" ”

This must be asked!

Zheng Zhilong himself is the secretary of the household department, and the household department does not have a "North American colonial budget", and because of the war with the Spaniards in the past two years, there are still a lot of construction projects at the same time, and the provinces recovered in the north are still in the "free period", so the finances of the Ming Dynasty are tight, and they can't take out millions of tens of millions to invest in the Americas!

"This ......" Zhu Cihong thought for a while, "who benefits, who invests!" Ship fare for investors! ”

"Investors?" Zheng Zhilong's brows furrowed even tighter, he is a big capitalist, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty, rich and rivaling the country, and the business economy can definitely be ranked second in the Ming Dynasty! But he couldn't figure out how colonizing the Americas had become a business.

"Your Majesty, who will invest?"

Zhu Cihong patted his chest, "I want to invest!" I'm going to invest in one, a United States of America! ”

"The United States? What country is this? ”

"The United States is, it is a joint-stock country!" Zhu Cihong explained, "Do you know the shareholding system? ”

"I know, I know...... it says in the Commercial Law."

Zhu Cihong smiled and nodded: "It's about the same meaning, just turn the business house into a country...... If I have a little more, I will be the big proprietor of the United States, and if I have less capital, I will be a small proprietor, and the steward elected by the shareholders according to the number of shares will be called the big shopkeeper! ”

Is that okay?

Zheng Zhilong stayed there, not knowing what to say for a while. The little Yanma Mary who accompanied her. Mancini smiled and said, "My Majesty, will the head of this country you are talking about have to be called the Great Treasurer of the United States of America in the future?" ”