The alliance agreement between the Ming and Portugal was finalized, and Portugal didn't seem to suffer anything, because the Ming didn't want anything, as long as they opened all the colonies.

In his opinion, the biggest benefit of the colony is the plundering of gold and silver, and other things, whether it is ore or agricultural products, are not even cost-effective to transport them back to China from the colony.

Of course, it's not that he doesn't know how to do business, but the business he does is to sell tea, porcelain, silk and other valuable things from Daming, and a boat can earn him tens of thousands of taels of silver, like rice, noodles or something, he won't think about it at all, because these things are so worthless, and he won't have to wear the pants that he will lose when he ships them back!

Of course, Zhang Bin would not explain to him how to make money by economic colonization, and after the two sides finalized some details, Zhang Bin ordered someone to send him back to the Huitong Pavilion to wait for the news, while he himself got up and rushed to the imperial study to make a "report" to Zhu Cihong, the Yongxing Emperor.

It wasn't noon yet, Zhu Cihong saw him running over so quickly, and after the master and apprentice greeted him, he couldn't help but be curious: "Master, what's wrong, have you encountered any problems?" ”

Zhang Bin smiled and shook his head: "No, Weichen has already negotiated with the Portuguese envoy." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised: "Ah, it was negotiated so quickly, what benefits are they willing to give?" ”

Zhang Bin said originally: "They originally wanted to pay the American colonies about four million taels of gold and silver income every year as a reward, so that we could send troops to help them withstand the pressure from all sides, but Wechen did not agree, Wechen asked them to open all the colonies and let the Ming merchants do business freely." ”

Four million taels is already a lot of income, and the tax of Daming in the past was more than four million taels a year, Zhu Cihong couldn't help but regret and said: "Master, why don't you want those four million taels, what is the benefit of opening all the colonies to Daming, can this be worth four million taels?" ”

Zhang Bin didn't want to explain this to Shi Weila, but Zhu Cihong had to explain it here, although Zhu Cihong obeyed him, but after all, he was the emperor, and it was a bit unreasonable to send troops overseas if he didn't explain it clearly to the emperor of the current dynasty.

Zhang Bin first introduced: "Your Majesty, do you know that if we want to ensure that Portugal is not threatened by the European continental powers, we must at least send more than 100,000 sailors and elites of the Fuguang army to be able to live in the town." The consumption of 100,000 Fujian sailors and soldiers of the Fuguang Army is almost 1 million taels a month, 12 million taels a year, and we have to lose 8 million taels if we want the 4 million taels! ”

Zhu Cihong really hadn't thought about this question, and he couldn't help but be shocked: "Ah, if we want to send 100,000 elites, then we don't have to suffer a big loss!" ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and explained: "Your Majesty, do you know that the area of Portugal's overseas colonies is not smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty at all, and most of them are rich in resources and have a large population, and most of their colonies are very backward, such as cloth, porcelain, tools and other daily necessities are very marketable in those places. ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but move, but he quickly became curious: "Master, their colonies are quite backward, what kind of money can the people there have, and how much can we sell our Daming things." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he couldn't help but pat his forehead, and he continued to explain: "Your Majesty, what do you think, if we can develop that side into the Ming Dynasty as it is now, how much can our Daming merchants make in a year?" How much can Daming's taxes increase in a year? ”

This question is very simple, Daming's current annual business tax is more than 20 million taels, Zhu Cihong heard this, and couldn't help but say excitedly: "Master, are you saying that if you develop that side, you can collect more than 20 million taels of taxes a year?" ”

Unexpectedly, Zhang Bin shook his head and said, "No, it's more than this!" ”

"Ahh Zhu Cihong was pleasantly surprised: "More than this? Why? ”

Zhang Bin said wisely: "Because the tax is not a unilateral increase, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty have developed, and the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty itself will be doubled, and they cannot only sell things without buying things, after they bring back the specialties of the Portuguese colony, it will not only promote the development of the Ming Dynasty, but also increase the taxes of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he thought for a while, and couldn't help asking: "Isn't it too much waste of time to do this, our Ming Dynasty is the Heavenly Empire, and those remote barbarians are probably not able to do it in a few years if they want to develop into the current state of the Ming Dynasty, if it takes decades or even hundreds of years, can we afford it?" ”

Zhang Bin analyzed: "This development sometimes can only rely on themselves, we can also help them appropriately, such as planting food, they do not have good seeds and no mature methods, the yield is definitely not high, if you can pass on the Ming Dynasty's improved seeds and planting technology, as long as the good seeds can adapt to the environment over there, their grain output will be similar to the Ming Dynasty within a year or two." Another example is the smelting of ore, if they can only mine ore, then they will definitely not make any money, because the ore is not cost-effective just to transport it, we can teach them preliminary smelting, so that we have more sources of blister copper and crude iron, they can also make more money, they have money, our merchants can also make more money, so that the cycle develops, it will not take long for them to reach the current level of Daming, and Daming will be more rich and powerful. ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he nodded slowly and said, "I understand, then who is responsible for this matter, is it the household department?" ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and said: "These things involving business should not be directly managed by the imperial court, because there is too much money involved, if the imperial court directly manages it, it is inevitable that there will be officials who will be seriously corrupt, and the money will be corrupted by those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and the imperial court will not gain anything." Wei Chen suggested that this kind of thing should be done by the merchants themselves, and the imperial court only needs to establish corresponding yamen everywhere, and then pay taxes according to the income of the merchants, so that the imperial court taxes can almost be doubled, and Dongshengtang can also earn the military expenses of the Fuguang Army and the Fujian Navy, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds? ”

Zhu Cihong thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Okay, just do it, the temptation of tens of millions of taels of income is indeed too great, it can't guarantee that officials are not corrupt and do not exploit layer by layer, it is better for the merchants to do business by themselves, and the court only needs to collect taxes." ”

Fortunately, this Yongxing Emperor Zhu Cihong is not Chongzhen, if it is Chongzhen, he will definitely be suspicious and suspicious, and he will be smart, once this kind of thing is hesitant to be the emperor, it will not be easy to do.

After this general intention was determined, Zhang Bin began to discuss the specific details of the alliance agreement with Zhu Cihong.

They were eagerly discussing, but Schvera was in a hurry to become an ant on a hot pot in the guild hall, he was really afraid that the Duke of Wei Guo would not be able to convince their Emperor Majesty, because the agreement they finalized could not see any benefits at all, could not see any money, would His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire be willing to help Portugal?

Of course, he knows that as long as there are merchants doing business, there will always be profits, and the problem is that he is afraid that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire will not see it, or will not be able to look down on that little income!

He wandered back and forth in the room for a long time, and then tossed and turned in bed all night, and the next morning, around midnight, the officials of the Ministry of Rites finally came to inform him that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire had summoned him to the palace to draw up a formal alliance agreement!

I didn't expect it to be successful, he almost jumped up happily, without losing any benefits, he could be such a powerful helper of the Ming Empire, His Majesty the King would definitely praise him, and he was afraid that he could sit as long as he wanted!