Tonghai Yuguo!

Based on the information of later generations, the reason why Zheng Chenggong chose it was not only the influence of his family, but more importantly, after losing the mainland's grain tax, it can be said that overseas trade was the only source of tax he could rely on.

For more than a decade, he has been able to persevere because of the millions of taels of silver he has earned every year from overseas trade with Japan.

For Zheng Chenggong, Tonghai Yuguo was not only a matter of trade, but also a question of whether his army could be maintained, even if he captured Jiangnan Province, he could not give up overseas trade, and even because of the increase in the number of troops, he had to further expand foreign trade.

Money!

It is the foundation of all undertakings!

Overseas trade can be said to be extremely important for Zheng Chenggong, but this is not the case for Jiangbei, in which case the only thing Jiangbei can do to avoid a conflict with Nanjing is to squeeze the Dutch out, as for the Portuguese, they have long been driven out of Japan by the Dutch.

And how did the Dutch drive the Portuguese out of Japan? By military means, of course.

"What do you mean?"

Jing Liu's words made Ryazan look at him in some surprise, and there was a taste of uncertainty in his tone.

"Privateers!"

Facing Ryazan's gaze, Zhu Mingzhong said three words bluntly.

"Privateering means that the government issues a privateer license, and any ship that has obtained a license can plunder Dutch ships north of Keelung, as long as they do not plunder Jiangbei and the Zheng family's ships, and hand over a certain percentage of the booty to the government according to the regulations, they can obtain Jiangbei's protection!"

"Isn't this in the company of pirates?"

When the words of surprise came out of Ryazan's mouth, Zhu Mingzhong saw the doubts and doubts on his face, everyone knew that this so-called "privateer license" was actually the legal identity of pirates. Ryazan, as a businessman, never imagined that such a license would exist.

"It's not piracy, but with the help of the power of the people, to weaken the power of the other party, so as to achieve the goal of monopolizing trade, in this way, our share of trade with Japan will increase, and because of the privateer's license, there will be a lot of armed merchant ships in the privateer's training, and then grow into the help of the navy, in the future naval war, the government can recruit them at any time, and as long as they do not plunder their own merchant ships, the materials they loot can be sold in various ports in Jiangbei after paying taxes, The port has merchants who specialize in purchasing, and these concessionaires can also buy goods at relatively cheap prices, so that the government's income will also increase......"

In fact, it is to sit on the ground and share the spoils.

Of course, for any Confucian believer, this is a bit difficult to accept, but Zhu Mingzhong is not a believer in Confucianism, although on the surface he advocates a new school with "practical learning" as the core to transform Confucianism and abandon Cheng Zhu Lixue, but it is still the practical science of the 21st century that influences his decisions and behaviors, and has always only valued the results and not the means, and it can even be said that the means are unscrupulous.

"But, what if we clash with the Dutch because of this?"

"Conflict?"

Zhu Mingzhong's eyes narrowed slightly, and then said with a smile.

"Conflict with the Dutch is inevitable, trade with Japan, and Taiwan, peace between us and the Dutch will not last long!"

Although he knew that it was not suitable to set up an enemy now, Zhu Mingzhong also knew very well that the balance with the Dutch could not be sustained, and some things had to be prepared in advance.

"Now that we have gained a foothold in Taiwan, if all goes well, now our navy should have opened a new foothold in the South Seas, it is safe to say that the conflict with the Dutch will only become more and more intense, well, if everything goes well, when the Nantianmen is mature, we will pass the "Navigation Regulations"!"

"Navigation regulations?"

"Yes, I am ready to follow the example of England and enact the Navigation Ordinance to encourage our seafaring industry! Not only should we be like the British, stipulating in the "Navigation Regulations" that all goods imported into our country must be carried by our ships or transported to China by ships of actual origin, and no other countries with shipping capabilities should be allowed to interfere, but we must also be stricter, only in this way can we promote the prosperity of our maritime industry! This means that no other country with shipping capacity should be allowed to interfere. The Netherlands have always been an intermediary country in trade because of their large merchant ships, large size, high efficiency, and perfect organization, and they have been the same in Europe, and the same is true here, so that when the time comes, conflict must not be avoided! ”

The Navigation Regulations were enacted because they had a significant effect on overseas trade: the national government provided legal and administrative support for trade, and the colonies were no longer considered privileged or concessionary reserves, but were open to the State. As a result, the state's monopoly on overseas trade flourished, monopolies were established in colonial shipping and commerce, and global maritime power, trade, shipping, and shipbuilding emerged.

"Even, we can completely exclude Western merchant ships from the waters north of Nantianmen, and completely monopolize the trade in this area through trade bans, even the Dutch ......"

Looking at Ryazan, Zhu Mingzhong sneered.

"Don't forget, they have also tried more than once to exclude the trading ships of other countries from the area north of Guangzhou, they drove out the Portuguese, and even now, after the opening of Ningbo and Haizhou, they are also blocking the entry of ships from other countries to achieve the purpose of trade monopoly, this kind of behavior that harms our interests must be stopped, and privateering is to stop them!"

When Ryazan had not yet recovered from this shock, Zhu Mingzhong continued.

"As for foreign trade, the official's plan is to become two companies, one is the Beiyang Company, which is specifically responsible for trade north of Keelung, and as for the Nanyang side, the Nanyang Company is in charge, and as for the West, two companies can invest in the establishment of a special company......"

What the!

Ryazan, who originally intended to monopolize the Nanyang trade with rice, was immediately dumbfounded, he didn't expect that not only did he have to come to Nanyang, but even the Chamber of Commerce would hand over the route to the company, so he immediately said with some horror.

"Jinglu, why bother to set up any new company, if Jingluo intends to open up Nanyang trade, the Chamber of Commerce has already opened up some channels there, there is no need to set up another company......

Ryazan's reaction was expected by Zhu Mingzhong, looking at him who seemed to be a little anxious, and said with a smile.

"Well, when the "Qinghe Chamber of Commerce" was established, many people thought that this was just an ordinary chamber of commerce, but through trade monopoly, this was just a few voyages, and it was rewarded with huge profits, so to speak, now, the huge profits of overseas trade have been eye-catching, in this case, if the chamber of commerce continues to monopolize the trade between the two oceans, it will inevitably arouse the opposition of others, and when the time comes, the chamber of commerce will become the target of the public, even if it is the official, it will not be able to stop all this! ”

Interests need to be shared, not to mention that this kind of sharing of interests is for a more ambitious goal, in order to bring officials, businessmen and even ordinary people into an overseas interest link, so that they can take the initiative to seek overseas interests, rather than affecting long-term overseas trade because of conflicts of interest.

"Jinglu, this, why is this?"

Jinglu's words made Ryazan almost instinctively think of how to "communicate with those officials" in the old days. Let the chamber of commerce and officials "communicate with each other"?

That's not right!

This is not the character of Jing Liu, hasn't Jing Lu always been vicious?

"In order to balance the interests of all parties, the company will issue shares to the public, both official and private, can subscribe for shares, well, the Military Salary Bureau will prepare to establish a stock exchange, for the issuance of stocks including the two companies in the North and South Oceans, of course, the interests of the Chamber of Commerce, will naturally be considered, after all, Japan's trade routes are opened up by the Chamber of Commerce, so the future Beiyang Company will be founded on the basis of the Chamber of Commerce, and the capital of the Chamber of Commerce will be incorporated into the new company as share capital......"

Through the implementation of the joint-stock system to the entire Jiangbei various groups are included in the same interest link, is Zhu Mingzhong's initial idea, although he is not a financial professional, but the understanding of people's hearts, so that he knows how to create an interest group, and this interest group should not be isolated, but should involve all aspects, including businessmen, people, of course, officials, soldiers should be included, not the traditional Chinese It is only through the public issuance of shares that as many people as possible can profit from it and eventually become supporters of this new cause because of their interests.

It's a transformative force!

As the de facto ruler of Jiangbei, all Zhu Mingzhong needs is to release this power, and let this power be transferred for his own use, driven by him.

As the president of the Qinghe Chamber of Commerce, after thinking for a moment in his heart, Ryazan immediately understood in his heart that this was a strategy of Jinglu, not just to release the benefits, so as to make foreign trade more people's support, but also to avoid the dominance of the Qinghe Chamber of Commerce. But it fundamentally changed the Chamber of Commerce and changed the rules of the game.

After figuring out the link, Ryazan smiled bitterly.

"Everything is commanded by the scriptures......"