From the final result of the voyage between the East and the West, the West is the winner, the West because of the dividends of geographical discoveries, achieved corner overtaking, successfully surpassed the East, and became the dominant of the whole world, the Eastern civilization, with 1000 years, 2000 years, the accumulated advantages, in one or two hundred years, was swept away, this root is in the choice of navigation.

In terms of subdivision, what is the behavior of the state in the East and the behavior of the individual in Europe is not about which good or which is bad, and the final two results are actually predestined, and the decision from the beginning is destined to be the only result.

The premise of state behavior is that it is in the right direction, and once it is in the wrong direction, it is a huge waste.

With a huge fleet of tens of thousands of people and hundreds of ships, the investment in the early stage is certain, and the benefits of leisure cannot exceed the consumption at all, which is destined to be an act of showing off, an act of demonstrating the power of the country, rather than a truly commercial act.

If Ming Chengzu had chosen to seize the colonies and open a large number of plantations at that time, perhaps the Ming Dynasty would have had a large number of overseas colonies and more wealth, which would have allowed the Ming Dynasty to continue its voyages.

It's just that Ming Chengzu didn't think so, and in the follow-up, the scholars and families who kept getting profits from the sea trade did not allow the emperor to think so, and the huge fleet, after the final voyage, turned into nothingness, and even the drawings were burned, it can be seen that the scholars were disgusted with such behavior.

The struggle between the court of the Ming Dynasty and the scholars, needless to say, a strong Ming Dynasty, in the end, perished because of financial bankruptcy, which can be seen in the struggle, but if at that time, the Ming Dynasty chose a similar way to the West, jumping out of the country from the side of the leader and operator, playing the role of a guide, promoting the development of commerce and trade, and the process of navigation, perhaps another result.

History has no ifs, but the traveler can change all this, navigation, itself is a gradual process, if in the early days of the Great Voyage, the West knew that across the Atlantic, it was a new continent, and there was no wealth, perhaps, they would not have passed.

The reason is simple, the vast Atlantic Ocean is too large, and there are countless hardships to cross, and the original explorers may suffer countless casualties. But it is the unknown that is full of hope, but what is this hope, a barren continent with little wealth?

At that time, it was the golden country of the East that promoted the process of navigation, and this golden country was nothing else, it was China in the East, China from the Han Dynasty, or even earlier, it became the hope of the West, a splendid civilization, which has always led the history of the world.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was the most powerful dynasty in the world, whether it was materials or wealth, there was no shortage of anything, maybe there would be a psychology of curiosity, importing some things from overseas, but these things were never the mainstream, at most a psychology of curiosity.

On the contrary, many Chinese products, such as porcelain, tea, and silk, have been popular throughout the Western world since the ancient Silk Road, and even the Silk Road at sea, and have become the most precious collections in the court and even in the family.

The exchange between the East and the West began as early as the Han Dynasty, on the back of camel gangs and nomadic people. Silk, tea, porcelain, these things seem to be easily damaged, but their prices are high, and the high-priced things will be relatively cherished, and under such a premise, the time will be extended.

These things, across thousands of miles, when they arrived in Europe, were caused by amazement, beautiful handicrafts, skills that could not be achieved by Europeans, in this case, silk porcelain, all more expensive than gold, and more tea behind.

These three things are difficult to cross the layers of restrictions between the East and the West to reach Europe, and from this point on, the consumption is more expensive than gold. Unlike some Western products, they not only have the value of expensive handicrafts, but also have a practical role.

Porcelain, which can be used to make daily necessities, is expensive, not many people use it, but the royal family at that time was all excited to have a porcelain from the East, and the same is true for silk, and the beauties like clothes made of silk, which are smooth, colorful, and even the feeling of wearing them, which is completely different.

As for tea, the drink is an aspect, and it is also an important role to remove the oil and fish, and this actual effect, and in the actual propaganda, it is called the Oriental Magic Water, which has a very magical effect at the beginning, and even a certain period of time, it is considered to cure all diseases.

At that time, there was really nothing in Europe, even if it was occasionally passed down through caravans, it was not a system, and even the Eastern royal family never thought that the things that came from Europe were no longer a fixed system.

This is the case with the Ming Dynasty, he has played a role all over the world, has a lot of wealth, can be called precious things, under the premise that there is no external demand, of course their desire to sail is not strong, overseas at most is some curiosity, not a real harvest, and no one goes.

Some people say that sea trade can also obtain huge wealth, at that time in the late Ming Dynasty, those huge riches in the south, one is salt, one is the sea, and even two hands to grasp, but if this is placed at the national level, it is not so suitable.

The strength of the state is bound to obtain strategic benefits, and this benefit is large enough, the annual income of sea trade, tens of millions of taels, even if the state can grasp all the things in its hands, from top to bottom huge maritime trade, the personnel it uses, must be huge.

With the characteristics of feudal bureaucracy, those who pluck their feathers must have their hands on it, and even the Northern Song Dynasty can receive tens of millions of salt taxes a year, which can get hundreds of thousands of taels, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty is larger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the population is more than that of the Northern Song Dynasty in the later period.

The salt tax is known as the population tax, not without reason, because as long as people have to eat salt, without salt, people's health will be greatly affected, white-haired women everyone knows, and it is precisely because they have been hiding in the mountains for a long time and have not eaten salt, and their hair has turned gray.

At the same time, the lack of salt, the inability to do manual work, and the weakness of the body, a series of effects, are very critical for the predominantly agricultural people. Because everyone must eat salt, the salt tax is called the population tax, and everyone has to pay.

In the Ming Dynasty, the average price of salt, compared with the Northern Song Dynasty, is several times more expensive, if according to the standard of the Northern Song Dynasty, every year, the simple salt tax, there are tens of millions of taels, but the final result is only hundreds of thousands of taels, a population of hundreds of millions, the average salt price is quite expensive in the Ming Dynasty, but there are only so many, it can be seen that how much it says,.

The wealth of the salt merchants can also be seen, because they obtained wealth from the teeth of the state, and for a certain period of time, if it were not for the guarantee, the price of salt was fixed to a certain extent, and they were not even willing to pay hundreds of thousands of taels of salt tax.

Even the salt tax can be carried out in this way, which is obviously profitable, and if it is put on the sea trade, it will definitely damage the public and enrich the private sector, even if someone wants to do it, it will not be able to do it. On the contrary, Europe, lacking everything, needing everything, the result of the weak national power, let them continue to develop, a voyage, as long as the success of reaching the other side, can obtain almost unimaginable wealth, in many Western books, some losers eventually turned over, basically, are venturing out to sail, discover new places, and finally obtain endless wealth.

Even in the middle of the world, they all say so, and in real life, it is also advertised like this, so the enthusiasm of the entire people for sailing is very high, even if it is a number when they go out, or even die outside, they do not hesitate.

At the same time, Marco Polo's description of the country of gold is also a reason, they already know that Turkey and Arabia, bypassing from the sea, should be able to find the country of gold, which has also become their motivation.

The Spanish and Portuguese navigators, who shot in advance, occupied most of Africa step by step, and obtained the passage of the route, and came to India, and then knew where China was, which was the way they sailed in the early days.

Because of the strength of the two major maritime powers, blocking the passage of backward countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Britain, they had to find another way and chose another direction, originally wanted to find India, even if it was because of the blockade of Spain and Portugal, they did not know the route to the East, but they also knew that India in the East was controlled by them, and it was a rich land.

When the islands were first discovered, as well as the American continent, they were named after the new India, and they hoped that beyond here, they would find the golden country of the East.

These latecomers, unable to overcome the restrictions of the former, chose another path, successfully came to the Americas, obtained great geographical discoveries, and the Indians themselves belonged to the yellow race, but unfortunately, under the butcher's knife of the Western colonizers, they no longer existed.

It's a pity that history has no ifs, the Ming Dynasty failed, Europe succeeded, but now, there is more Zhao Xin, a traverser, who let the Northern Song Dynasty in advance, have the foundation of navigation and move towards the ocean.

At this time, even compared with the opening of the Age of Navigation in the 15th century, the navigation technology and shipbuilding technology of the Northern Song Dynasty were much higher than those of Europe, not to mention that there was such a traverser as Zhao Xin in the Dinghai Navy.

Compared with the navigation opened in Europe in the 15th century, the Dinghai Navy not only had the Spanish sailing ships at the peak of Spain, you know, the Spanish sailing ships first appeared, although they were in the 15th century, but they were already in the later period, and at the beginning, the overall effect of Spanish sailing ships was not very high, the tonnage was not large, and the combat effectiveness was not strong, and the real development to the peak was the strongest period of the Spanish Empire, the 16th and 17th centuries, when Spain almost controlled most of the Americas, most of Africa, The shipping route to the East was also under Spanish control.

Even Portugal, the same maritime power, had to depend on Spain for development.

At that time, the Spanish naval fleet was the most powerful force in the world, until the British succeeded in challenging him.

In this era, Europe is not a barren land, and the sea is not a windsurfing board, but in the face of Spanish galleons, it has gone through the science and technology of later generations, as well as China's unique ship technology, and the Spanish sailing ship that has been modified by magic, which is definitely not something that Europe can compete with.

Not to mention, the Dinghai Navy has popularized thermal weapons, not only with all kinds of metal firearms, but also with artillery.

Spanish sailing ships, is the most suitable for artillery arrangement, in the middle of the running warehouse, the terrible power of the three-layer artillery salvo, almost the destruction of the world, this is the most terrible thing, the navy has the invincible armada at sea, and the ocean of this era, or no one has set foot in the place, it is a smooth road, if in this era, there is still a limiting power, then there is only one, the vastness of the ocean, and the storm of nature.

If Zhao Xin is a person who is in a hurry to make progress, he will encourage the people to take risks on the premise that he does not have everything, and it is not difficult to achieve this at all for the control ability of the Dinghai Navy.

Zhao Xin from the establishment of the Dinghai Navy, has always paid more attention to propaganda, this is also Chinese tradition, sometimes, propaganda is better than money, but also more powerful, as long as you want, to achieve the same as the European Age of Discovery, countless people manipulate ships, go into the ocean, to pursue the ethereal wealth, there is not, just build one.

Dinghai has such a foundation, but this is not what Zhao Xin wants to see, the final result of this is that countless people will be buried at the bottom of the sea, and among thousands of people, a lucky person may be born, which will be remembered in history, and under this history, it is a lot of white bones.

The Age of Discovery in Europe, the great geographical discoveries, and finally engraved in the history of navigators, that is, so many, but there are a few of these navigators who died well, in the 200 years from the 15th century to the 17th century, the names were left behind, that is, less than 10 people, but in this time, how many, for wealth, for the illusory luck, resolutely set foot on the ocean, how many shipwrecks.

Even if Zhao Xin knew that with the simplest method and a small part of the resources, he could push these captains to go one after another, but he still did the most expensive thing, with the country's ability to promote, more efficient, except for the greater cost, there was no other problem.