Zhang Bin convened a meeting of representatives of the major merchant gangs in Batavia, naturally not to exaggerate the difficulty of ocean business and discourage them, but to make them understand that it is not so easy to do ocean business, and without the strong support of the imperial court, they basically cannot do it.

Immediately afterwards, he pointed to the map and introduced: "This time, my duke went to the European continent to sign an alliance treaty with Portugal, and in the future, Portugal's colonies, including Ceylon, Mughal, Amixil, etc., everyone can go to business freely, and there is naturally no problem in obtaining supplies." ”

When everyone heard this, they all showed excitement, now it's good, after the alliance between the Ming Dynasty and Portugal, everyone can get supplies in many places, and they can also do business freely in their colonies, this ocean-going business has to be done.

Zhang Bin then poured cold water and said: "However, this matter is not so simple, there are still many problems that must be solved, do any of you know what the problems are?" ”

When everyone heard this, they were all stunned, and there were still questions? Still have questions?

In their impression, as long as Zhang Bin is out of the horse, there is basically no problem, but now how can this grandfather say that there is a problem?

Everyone was stunned for a while, and Zheng Zhihu, the big shopkeeper of Dongshengtang Nanyang, suddenly said boldly: "Grandpa Guo, the villain heard from the familiar Portuguese merchants that Ceylon was robbed by the Dutch a few years ago, and now the Dutch are like fire and water with our Daming, and the villain thinks that it is difficult to reach the Mughal or even the Amiciel through Ceylon." ”

Zhang Bin nodded and said, "Yes, now Ceylon is in the hands of the Dutch." ”

When everyone heard this, their brows furrowed again, this Ceylon is stuck on the way to the Mughals, where it was occupied by the Dutch, how can they get there!

They all know that the Dutch and Daming are on the same footing, when they were in Dongfan and this Batavia, Daming fought a few battles with the Dutch, and the Dutch were beaten to heavy losses, can they let the merchant ships of Daming pass under their noses?

Zhang Bin looked at everyone's expressions, and continued: "However, you can rest assured that this duke will definitely help Portugal recapture Ceylon with the fleet of the Great Ming Naval Division this time." ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was confused, what did the grandfather of this country mean?

Isn't it a bit boring to say that Ceylon is in the hands of the Dutch, and then to say that the Ming will help Portugal recapture Ceylon?

Is this grandfather a boring person?

Of course not, everyone knows that Grandpa Guo must have a purpose when he said this, but no one can guess what Grandpa Guo meant by saying this.

Zhang Bin saw that everyone showed thoughtful expressions, then turned around, put the ash rod on the table, and then supported the table with both hands, and said solemnly: "The reason why my father said this in advance is to let everyone understand that it is not so simple for you to go to the West to do business, and the imperial court must spend huge manpower and material resources to help you clear the obstacles." For example, the Dutch entrenched in Ceylon, as well as the pirates trained by the Dutch between Malacca and Ceylon, the imperial court had to send sailors to clear them. For another example, this alliance with Portugal was conditional, and the imperial court had to send 100,000 troops to help Portugal tide over the difficulties. ”

Does this mean that everyone should donate food?

It seems that every time Wei Guogong convenes everyone, everyone will first ask everyone to donate food and salary, and then give everyone benefits, of course, the benefits that everyone will get will far exceed the food and salary they donate, so none of the business representatives present hesitated, and they got up and said:

"Grandpa Guo, of course we won't let the imperial court contribute in vain."

"Grandpa Guo, we can save it, and it costs money to send troops to fight."

"Grandpa Guo, how much food do you need, you say, we are out."

Seeing everyone scrambling, Zhang Bin nodded with satisfaction, and raised his hand to signal everyone to sit down, and then said solemnly: "This time, my father does not need everyone to donate any food, but there is one thing, you must do it, that is, you will pay as much tax as you do, and in the future, the imperial court will set up city offices all over the ocean, and everyone will honestly report and pay taxes, and it is not allowed to make false reports and conceal them, you know?" It's so costly for the court to raise such a huge army, and if you don't pay taxes, the court won't have the money to recruit so many troops to protect your interests, you know? ”

It turned out that as long as the tax was paid, everyone nodded hurriedly and said:

"Yes, yes."

"Grandpa Guo, don't worry, we will pay our taxes honestly."

Zhang Bin nodded, then picked up the ash pole on the table and pointed to the map and introduced: "Actually, it is not enough to have a Portuguese colony, from the Ming Dynasty or here to the European continent, according to the speed of the Zhenyuan cruiser, there must be a supply point every two thousand miles or so, not to mention the Daifuku ship, there must be a supply point within a thousand miles, otherwise the fleet will not be able to transport enough goods because of the too much fresh water and food it carries, so this time my father went to Europe and wanted to discuss the issue of alliance with Spain, Strive to make them open all their colonies to all our merchants in the Ming Dynasty as well. At the same time, we will also open up some colonies as needed, and strive to replenish all the supply points, so that the Ming fleet can sail unhindered in all seas! ”

When everyone heard this, they all showed excitement, and the business territory described by Zhang Bin was simply too big, covering almost all the places they had heard of.

There are so many seas, so many countries, what a big market it is, they don't know what the countries of the Western Ocean are like, but they can roughly see from the map that if Daming's fleet can travel unhindered in all seas, then the places where he can do business will be expanded by at least four or five times, what a huge benefit it will be!

Unexpectedly, Zhang Bin immediately poured cold water and said: "However, there is one thing that everyone should pay attention to, that is, the problem of distance, if the round-trip journey is more than a year, I suggest that you still don't do it, because the risk is too great, the time is too long, and ordinary people can't afford it at all." My father does not object to everyone making money, but I still advise everyone not to do things that cost money. ”

As soon as he said this, everyone couldn't help frowning again, because everyone could roughly estimate that with the speed of the Daifuku ship, plus the time spent on the road to replenish or load and unload goods, they would arrive at Amiciel at most in half a year, as for the Americana or even the European continent, with the speed of the Daifuku ship, it would be difficult to go back and forth in a year!

Zhang Bin really put the representatives of these big merchant gangs in order this time, depicted a huge market for everyone for a while, and raised the difficulty of ocean business to warn everyone, and then depicted a huge business map for everyone, and reminded everyone to pay attention to the problem of distance, which is equivalent to putting a tempting fruit in their mouths and taking it away, and putting it in their mouths and taking it away, making people flow all over the place, but they didn't eat anything, which is really a little uncomfortable!

So what does Zhang Bin mean by this, and why does he go back and forth to adjust people's appetites?