In Asia, the Dutch East Indies colony of what would become Indonesia, Ceylon, Dutch India, etc., and a few years later the Dutch occupied Taiwan, and a few decades later occupied Malacca, controlling the waters of the South China Sea, when the country known as the coachman of the sea was at its peak.

It also has many colonies in the Dutch West Indies and Dutch New Guinea.

The decline of the Netherlands was due to a series of defeats in the Anglo-Dutch naval war, but this large-scale naval war that spread across the globe would not be settled for decades and would not have much impact on Dutch power in Asia.

The Spaniards owned the Philippines, the Portuguese had small colonies such as Malacca and Macau, and Spain also had a strong maritime power in Asia, and had a considerable army and colonizers in the Philippines.

The British were just entering Asia, at a time when the British were more interested in India, and decades later they tried to seize Macau several times, but failed.

In the South Seas, the Spaniards kept transporting Chinese goods to Europe, South American goods to Asia, Spanish ships loaded with gold, and many cargo ships went deep into the sea during the war with Britain.

Japan was also an extremely important trading market, with the Dutch and Portuguese and Chinese maritime merchants occupying half of the world.

The Chinese maritime merchants are dominated by Li Dan, a sea merchant on the same level as Yan Si, and of course a powerful pirate.

Later, the "Eighteen Zhis" dominated by Zheng Zhilong, who later controlled the South China Sea, were mostly from Li Dan's disciples.

Zhang Han of course does not know the specific details, he may have seen some related things, but the interest is not very great, at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there have been a lot of evil guests outside the country of China, such as the Portuguese borrowed Macao to live temporarily, a few hundred years of residence, the Spaniards slaughtered the Chinese in Luzon many times, the main reason is the fear of the Ming Dynasty, they are afraid that the Chinese in Luzon will become the internal response of the Ming Dynasty, but also to ask the Chinese to pay for their colonial rule in Luzon, to pass on the contradictions, the Dutch once occupied Taiwan and Penghu...... All kinds of forces are coming, plus Li Dan and Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang and other Chinese maritime merchants and pirates, if you want to master this period of history, you have to put a lot of effort, and it is still unpopular, and it is not easy to find a selling point if you want to "blow water" with people, Zhang Han is also concerned about the same as ordinary people, and has some understanding of the development and decline of the Zheng family, and is interested in Zheng Chenggong, in addition, thanks to a certain novel god, Zhang Han is also very familiar with Zheng Keshuang...... Of course, the impression is certainly not good.

Zhang Han also knew that Zheng Zhilong was recruited during the Chongzhen period, and made a fortune at sea, becoming the strongest force on the Chinese sea at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Zhilong has defeated the Dutch many times, the Zheng family and the Dutch actually fought with the Dutch many times before Zheng Chenggong, the Zheng family used gang jumping tactics and arson boats, and the Dutch had no way to fight, those Chinese pirates along the coast of Fujian and Liangguang were not inferior to those Europeans in terms of fierceness and bravery, after defeating the Dutch many times, the Zheng family seized a lot of territory in Taiwan, took over Yan Siqi's Tuntian, and controlled the trade with Japan, and Zheng Zhilong also used violence to expropriate merchant ships at sea, The passing ships, whether Chinese or Europeans, were all forcibly taxed, and the sea taxes that had not been levied by the Ming court were collected by Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch also made peace, and the East India Company once signed a large order with Zheng Zhilong, and the silk alone ordered hundreds of thousands of stones, which was a huge wealth and a huge profit.

Zhang Han realized that the Li Guobin in front of him was a key person...... He is almost blind to the situation in Nanyang and Japan, Zheng Chenggong he knows, but Zheng Chenggong should not be born now, and he almost doesn't know anything else.

"Mr. Li," Zhang Han said solemnly, "This matter must be consulted carefully." ”

Li Guobin was a little uneasy and a little proud, and he said with a straight face: "I must know everything and say everything." ”

"What's the biggest shipment to Japan?"

"The largest ones, of course, are raw silk and tea."

As the saying goes, there are three treasures of Chinese trade, and raw silk porcelain and tea are good. From the end of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, for hundreds of years, the Chinese used these three trade artifacts to make a lot of money, and those Europeans fought to the death, bumping thousands of miles on the sea, laying down large colonies, and plundering a large amount of wealth by means and methods, in addition to a large amount of gold pouring into Europe, at least about 300 million taels of silver poured into China, except for a small amount of silver because of arbitrage into China, a large amount of silver because of the trade surplus because of this trade three treasures.

The Japanese also needed a lot of raw silk, tea and porcelain, and of course they wanted other goods, but the demand was not as great as these three.

"If proprietor Zhang does this sea trade, he must first win people." Li Guobin is indeed an expert, he took a sip of tea, and continued: "The profits of sea trade are first-class, but the risks are also first-class. First of all, it is necessary to have a good sailor, who is accustomed to the route to the Japanese country, knows the time and direction of the ocean current, can get twice the result with half the effort, follow the ocean current, the ship is not easy to capsize, and the time is fast. Sea trade you go more than people, is more than double the profit, the risk is much smaller, a sea ship costs tens of thousands of taels, even the goods at least 100,000, once sunk is a tael of silver can not come back, is a good owner and sailor is very important. In addition, sailors should be tougher, preferably veterans who are used to it, the sea is not only treacherous, but also have to be careful of those pirates who are as many as cattle hairs, once encountered, the light goods are robbed a lot, and the heavy ships are robbed together, which is also very sinister. In the end, it is necessary to open up relations on the side of the Japanese state, and it is best to get the permission of the sea merchants, otherwise, it will be difficult to last long. ”

Zhang Han frowned and said, "Transporting a boatload of tens of thousands of taels of iron? This seems unlikely. ”

Li Guobin said with a smile: "Of course this is impossible, the proprietor should still buy some raw silk and satin goods, and then bring a large number of iron tools over, after all, the iron tools are produced by Lingqiu, and the benefits are much higher than the goods prepared for it." ”

"How?"

"A shovel made of fine iron is at least two pennies of silver, and a needle of fine iron for sewing, and eight cents of silver." Li Guobin said with a smile: "This is the price in recent years, there should not be much difference." ”

"I ......"

Zhang Han said foul language.

Li Dayong and Ma Huaxian don't have such a strong concentration, Ma Huaxian's eyes were round, Li Dayong slapped his thigh, and shouted: "I joined his ancestors, and the seafood is so profitable!" ”

Li Guobin said with a smile: "There are few merchants in our north who go to sea, only Tianjin has some maritime merchants, and there are some merchants in Liaodong who will sell leather goods to Dengzhou, and then from Dengzhou to Japan. In fact, the sea trade in the south of the Yangtze River is the most prosperous, after all, the cloth, silk, porcelain there produce the most, and then Fujian and Zhejiang, I have been to the south for a few years, to be honest, the wealth of the south, not only in the number of giant businessmen, but also in the people are much richer than the north. From Jiangnan to Jinbei, it is almost two worlds. ”

Li Dayong and Ma Huaxian are both wealthy businessmen, and they were a little unimpressed when they listened to Li Guobin's words, but Zhang Han nodded silently.

Zhang Han remembered that he had read a book, and the above point of view was that the Ming Dynasty died due to financial bankruptcy, and the reason for financial bankruptcy was that the wealth of the people was not effectively used, and the wealth of the people was mainly in the south, and more profoundly, the Ming Dynasty could also be said to be the imbalance in the development of the north and the south and the inflexibility of the imperial court.

The same endowment is bearable for the people of Jiangnan, and in the north, a large number of displaced people rebelled.

Zhang Han turned to Ma Huaxian and Li Dayong, and asked with a smile, "What do you two think about this?" ”

Li Dayong said: "The way of the imperial court can run first, the matter of sea trade is too risky, if Zhang Dongzhu wants to do it, he is willing to have a fun time." ”

Ma Huaxian said: "I have the same meaning as Li Dongzhu, once the ship is sunk in the sea trade, it will be useless, and it is important to go through the court." Li Zunlu, a noble friend of proprietor Zhang, seems to be suitable for such a thing. ”

Zhang Han shook his head secretly...... In fact, as soon as he heard Li Guobin talk about sea trade, his mind was like an enlightenment, and he suddenly felt that his eyes were clear.

In this era, it would be foolish not to join the trend of maritime trade.

In fact, the Jin merchants were already behind the times at this time, and the Jin merchants were also the first of the trend, and at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Jin merchants were satisfied with their locality, and the salt merchants in Yangzhou were not interested in going to sea trade.

Zhang Han also remembered his grandfather Zhang Yin, it seems that the old lady wanted to go to Nanjing to participate in the maritime trade, but failed to make the trip because of the family's opposition, and later settled in Xinpingbao, and it is estimated that he has no heart to break through.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Jin merchants were thrown far away by Jiangnan and Liangguang, and later in the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi ticket number line all over the world, with the identity and status of those imperial merchants to bring soft power, with these guarantees, the strength of the ticket number was recognized by the world, the Jin merchant ticket number can pass through the country, and achieve a career.

The emergence of imperial merchants is because at the time of the Ding Revolution, these Jin merchants stood on the side of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and were finally rewarded by the Qing Dynasty emperor with the status of imperial merchants.

Zhang Han remembered that he was competing for the position of smuggling, and the Qing Dynasty's ban on the sea was a fatal blow to the maritime trade, and now that he was intervening on both sides, the situation became more and more delicate.

"When I go to Beijing to find the way to the imperial court, I will ask Li Zunlu to go," Zhang Han finally decided: "Tianjin matter, if Mr. Li can spare time, you might as well help me see the way first." ”

Li Guobin was excited for a while, the relationship between the sea trade and the matter was at least more than 100,000 silver, and he was in the middle of this matter, and the profit was much more lucrative than now.

He endured his excitement and said to Zhang Han: "I don't know if the proprietor plans to buy a ship, hire a ship, or partner with someone?" ”

Zhang Han said with a smile: "Let's hire a boat first, we have to ask Mr. Li to find a reliable boat owner for us." ”

At that time, trade, you can buy a ship or build a ship by yourself, and then the whole ship of goods go to sea, this is the first class of maritime merchants, and then everyone buys ships together, and the goods are also prepared together, and a shipload of goods goes to sea, this is a second-class maritime businessman, and then it is an ordinary businessman, people's sea ships have not been filled, and they can negotiate to load some goods, and Zhang Han has to do this.

He Yusheng is indeed wealthy, but there is no need to put all his eggs in one basket all at once. Zhang Han didn't think that his luck would go against the sky, so he came up to buy a boat, went back and forth smoothly and smoothly, and brought back the silver of the whole ship.

In business, you always have to consider the unexpected, first invest in a small cost, and try the depth of the water.

In this process, Zhang Han can be familiar with the process of sea trade, and he can also discover the shipowners and sailors he trusts.

Li Guobin nodded and said: "This is the best, it is safer, and the responsibility under it is much smaller." ”

When they heard this, they all laughed.

In a few hours, the new year will begin, with a lot of emotion, this year is a very special year for me, I hope that next year will be smoother, and I hope that everyone can have a smooth career, family harmony, family health, this is my most sincere New Year's wishes, because I hope that the world will be safe and happy like me, and everyone will see you in the new year.