It is true that most of the gemstones of the Ming Dynasty came from the two major Tusi of Mengyang and Mengmi in northern Burma.

The former controls the Emerald Mine.

However, jadeite in this era is not a precious gem, its myth is the end of the Qing Dynasty, and it is Yi Guifei who likes this thing to complete the counterattack. But this is not a problem, Yang Qing can completely let Zhang Yan and Princess Kunxing like it and then guide the trend, hyping up this thing is completely easy for him.

And the most precious thing at this time is ruby.

The ruby of the Ming Dynasty is a top-level gemstone, and all others are not as good as this thing, probably red is more in line with the Ming Dynasty! After all, Ming Shang Huode, the national color is red, and even the highest level in the color of the dragon robe is red.

The source of this gemstone is also controlled by Mon Mi Toast, which is also known as Mogok in Myanmar, and is now officially known as Baojing. The war between Mang Yinglong and the Ming Dynasty lasted for many years, and the main battle was actually the control of Baojing, and at the peak of the Xuande period, only the eunuchs in charge of gems in Tengchong of the Ming Dynasty handed over 1,500 taels of gems in a year. This is only official, and private smuggling is the main head, Yue Feng, a key figure in the Ming-Burma War, should be a gem smuggler. But at this time, Mengmi Tusi had been controlled by Burma, so Mogu Baojing actually fell into the hands of Burma, and silver from the Ming Dynasty continued to flow out of Burma.

During the Ming-Burma War, the price of rubies skyrocketed a hundredfold in a short period of time.

It was better before.

After all, Chongzhen is not good at this, and secondly, the north is in chaos, and the rich people in the north have all been raided by Li Zicheng, who can care about playing this luxury. However, in recent years, as the situation has improved, the economy of Daming has become increasingly prosperous, the luxury market has recovered, and the price of gemstones has risen again.

Yang Qing must control this market.

Even if this flows, it has to flow back to the Ming Dynasty, and it will definitely not flow to the Burmese people.

Since Zhang Xianzhong wants to exchange interests, then give him an exchange of interests, if he has the courage to send troops to Burma, the two families will regain Mogu Baojing together, plus Mu Tianbo and other local forces in Yunnan, then the three will partner to control the gemstone market. From Mogu and Menggong, the locals were used as coolies, large-scale gem mining was carried out and then processed in Tengchong, and then sold to Jiangnan to earn the money of those wealthy merchants, and even the money of Europeans.

Mogok rubies were also sold to Europe.

In Europe, this thing is also a top luxury.

And this gemstone monopoly group can be as big as De Beers, following the footsteps of the Ming army's expansion to expand around the world, not to mention India's gems are worth controlling.

And even further away in South Africa.

The result is a hegemon in the gemstone industry.

Of course, this belongs to looking to the future, and now Yang Qing is a prize for Zhang Xianzhong, as long as he helps him sell treasury bonds, then he can join the gem feast of Myanmar. In fact, it is difficult for Yang Qing to bypass him on this issue, because at this time, the most convenient way to transport military supplies to Yunnan is to go south from Xuzhou, that is, Yibin, and only this line can maximize the use of waterways.

However, the transportation from Xuzhou to Kunming requires a large number of people, and it is necessary to purchase a large amount of grain for these people from Sichuan.

Of course, these have to rely on Zhang Xianzhong's cooperation.

It also needs Mu Tianbo's cooperation, after all, the transportation line from Kunming to Bamo must be responsible for the locals in Yunnan, and Yang Qing cannot let tens of thousands of Sichuan people travel two thousand miles to transport materials, so it will cause chaos, and this kind of thing can only rely on Mu Tianbo's local forces. In this way, Yang Qing can tie up the two local forces of Zhang Xianzhong and Mu Tianbo with himself, although this binding is still very fragile at present, but as long as the gem group can bring a steady stream of huge wealth in the future, this binding will become stronger and stronger.

This is the real bundle of interests.

Yang Qing needs Mu Tianbo's cooperation, Zhang Xianzhong needs to maintain the transportation line, Mu Tianbo needs backing, without backing, the Burmese will take away Baojing, he also needs Zhang Xianzhong as a helper to avoid Yang Qing from monopolizing, Zhang Xianzhong needs Yang Qing to take him to play, and he needs the overseas trade wealth brought by this trade line to Sichuan.

What's more, Yang Qing also controls the market, and the gemstone thing is really a stone without a group of high-rollers who spend a lot of money.

In this way, the high roller is in the area controlled by Yang Qing.

A tael of rubies was fried to 10,000 taels in Nanjing, but when it was taken to Li Zicheng, if you don't consider reselling, it is estimated that no one will want one hundred taels, digging gems is not the key, the key is that someone has to buy gems.

In short, the road has been drawn, and it depends on whether Zhang Xianzhong will leave.

But even if he leaves, it will be winter.

Fighting in Burma in the summer is not much different from suicide, and the rainy season will minimize the Ming army's advantage in firearms, and it will have to wait until the dry season in winter. The Dajinsha River, which can be navigable even in the dry season, will send the Ming army to Ava, or Mandalay, in a short time, and then try to attract the Donghu people to counterattack and engage in Mandalay. Those toasts will happily watch Donghu unlucky, as long as they can hit Donghu hard in a battle, this small tyrant on the Indochina Peninsula created by Mang Yinglong will be over. This place in Myanmar was originally the original Ming Dynasty Burma Xuanwei Si Mang's family was divided by several other Tusi, Mang Ruiti fled to Donghu to raise troops to counterattack and recapture his hometown, and then Mang Yinglong took over and tied it up by force through the Eastern Expedition and Western Expedition.

But all the internal toasts have hatred, and Mangruiti's father was killed by Meng Yang Tusi.

Burmese, Mon, Shan......

They have a bunch of nationalities!

As long as the Burmese who are currently powerful are hit hard, then this bond will automatically disintegrate, and then those Tusi who were originally subordinate to the Ming Dynasty will definitely continue to submit to the Ming Dynasty, and when the time comes, they only need to follow the example of the British in India.

The Ming garrisoned troops along the Dajinsha River.

Then establish a series of fortresses, and carry out commercial colonization, divide those Tusi on the periphery, give them false titles, and send people to serve as their vice-kings, as long as they are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and ensure the special status of the Ming merchants, the rest of them can exploit their subjects as they like, and the Ming garrison can even help them suppress the rebellion if necessary. It is said that the British sealed nearly 600 soil kings in India, why Yang Qing did not seal one or two hundred in Burma, when Britain gave up India in history, those soil kings were crying and shouting not to let go, and there were even guns to shoot Nehru for the British hoe, when the slaves should be so loyal, which shows the superiority of this system.

Such a system can be used as a reference.

Just when Yang Qing blinked and discharged Zhang Xianzhong......

This analogy may not be appropriate, but in fact the Duke of Xinguo was indeed much friendlier to the old bandits than to the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, because on the same day an unexpected battle had begun......

Qinzhou Bay.

"They're crazy?"

Zheng Cai exclaimed from the cruiser Chang Yuchun.

On the small island on the left side of the narrow channel ahead, more than a dozen cannons are spraying flames, and the cannonballs are whistling down in the fleet, one of which hits the Xuda in the back, although the cannonball power is not strong, but it still splashes broken wood on the deck of the Xuda, and a sailor is hit by the broken wood and is stuck in the shoulder.

"Fire back!"

Zheng Cai then shouted.

The port side of the four cruisers that were the first to enter the firing line immediately erupted in flames, and a dense number of shells flew towards the island, but the latter's guns were behind the solid stone parapet, and the cruiser's twenty-four pounder guns, although they also hit or even pierced the stone wall, could not suppress the other side. The cannons on the island are still spewing flames, and their hit rate is much higher than that of the naval guns, and soon the Chang Yuchun and the Li Wenzhong behind were also shot one after another, but fortunately, they did not penetrate the planks, after all, the opponent's artillery was at most eighteen pounds.

Thus began a fierce battle between the two sides.

At the same time, the cruisers that were riding the tide behind immediately stepped forward, turned to the sea on the left side of the island, and went straight to Longmen Island behind it, but just as they reached the position and opened fire on the island, the cannonballs on the opposite Longmen Island also flew out and landed on these cruisers.

"How dare they fight?"

Zheng Cai looked at the smoke rising from Longmen Island with an expression of disbelief.

Indeed, this is an exaggeration.

The main force of King Jingjiang's army is not here, although they have been preparing in Qiongzhou for more than two months, it is impossible for King Jingjiang to transfer his 10,000 new troops here, after all, there is still a whole army of Ming troops on the opposite side of Yanguan. In fact, there were only 10,000 old troops stationed in Qinlian Prefecture, mainly composed of military households and gentry recruited by the Guangxi Guard, in Zheng Cai's opinion, these people were right to surrender to the wind, but it was a bit exaggerated to dare to face the battle.

However, this kind of resistance is only an obstructive nature for the Ming army, and it is completely a mantis arm as a car.

Even if no battleships entered the battle this time.

The water depth in Qinzhou Bay was not enough for battleships with a draft of nearly six meters to enter, so Zheng Cai could only use the cruiser, but this was enough, he just didn't expect the other party to dare to resist, so he habitually lined up the entire fleet, and as a result, only the first few ships participated in the battle at the beginning, and the vast majority of the cruisers in the back did not join. But soon these cruisers came forward one by one under the impetus of the high tide and the sea, and including the one that had been incorporated in Guangzhou, forty cruisers lined up in a huge arc at the mouth of Qinzhou Bay, and more than 500 cannons were suddenly focused, all aimed at the small island of Fort Point, which controlled the choke channel. Dense twenty-four-pounder and twelve-pounder shells whizzed out, and even thirty-two-pounder short guns were added to the deck, and in the smoke that filled the sea, hundreds of shells per minute kept hitting this small battery, and the poor defenders returned fire with fewer and fewer shells.

Only half an hour later, the small fort was completely silent.

"Keep going, it's time to do a big job!"

Zheng Cai looked at the scratches that looked extremely ugly on the originally clean and smooth oak plank, and said with a cruel smile in the indignant gaze around him.

All the cruisers started at once......