To all old book friends, this chapter is not an update, and today's update is in chapter 11. Because some book friends pointed out that the previous article piled up too much information in some inappropriate places. The author said that he was sorry that there were too many things for a few days last week, and he was in a hurry to move the plot forward. Originally, this chapter was supposed to appear on its own, but it has been reworked here.

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Chen Shouxu convened an enlarged meeting of the Cabinet, which was attended by the six members and senior military officers. The entire conference room was filled with smoke, and Chen Shouxu asked the soldiers to open all the windows so that the sea breeze could blow away some second-hand smoke.

The conference discussed the foundations of the Golden Castle, trade and shipping routes. The keynote speaker was Minister of Trade and Shipping, Lim Dong Boon. The seats in the conference room were arranged in the manner that Chen Shou was used to. The oval-shaped long table has a podium arranged opposite Chen Shouxu. The difference with later generations is the difference between projectors and PPT.

In front of each person was a copy of the meeting materials handwritten in Chinese and pirate script. Pirate is a strange mixture of English, French, Dutch, and a few Spanish words, and is currently the lingua franca of the Kaneshiro military.

Lin Tongwen also had a simultaneous translator standing next to him, who was responsible for translating his explanations into a language that most people could understand.

Chen Shouxu patted the thick stack of materials on the table, and started first, "Gentlemen, there is a lot of content in the meeting, and every time Minister Lin introduces a paragraph, he will leave time for everyone to discuss and ask questions. Don't be inhibited, take it easy. ”

"Minister Lin, let's get started."

Lin Tongwen first introduced the overall situation.

In East and Southeast Asia, the five giants of trade are China, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. Under the five powers are the two countries of Vietnam, the North and the South, Siam and the Nanyang Heavenly Sect.

Spain and Japan are the main suppliers of silver in the market and are among the more obvious consumers. China, on the other hand, is a relatively obvious producer, supplying a variety of finished products to the market. The rest of Asia, with the exception of city-states like Jincheng, are mostly in a state of interconnectedness, with some advantages in products, but they rely on imports in other aspects.

The Dutch and Portuguese traders were more obvious in nature, they had some silver, but not too much, and were mainly engaged in providing trade services between ports.

Lin Tongwen: "In Southeast Asia, Indians call this land the land of the wind. Every year, they arrive in Southeast Asia on the northeast monsoon, and return home on the southwest monsoon after completing the deal. In the past, they would complete the handover with us, the Chinese maritime merchants, in Malacca, and we would arrive in Malacca by the northeast monsoon and return to China by the southwest monsoon. We and the Indian merchants were each responsible for half of the voyage. ”

Chen Shouxu's fingers tapped on the table, "The arrival of Europeans has changed all this. ”

Lin Tongwen: "Yes, my lord. Europeans have less influence on us Chinese. The impact on the Indian side is very dramatic. We have done some rough calculations that between 1621 and 1630 the Portuguese shipped about 4.4 tons of silver to the East Asian market, the Dutch to 13 tons, the British to 8 tons, the Spanish to 23 tons, and the Japanese to 130 tons. ”

Hearing this figure, everyone was stunned, the Japanese are too rich. The Japanese sent less than one-tenth the number of merchant ships to Southeast Asia, but they were able to carry more goods.

Lin continued: "In the last decade, the Dutch have blockaded Malacca, and the Portuguese can't get through. The Dutch, British, and Spanish also saw a decrease in silver, while Japanese exports remained at 130 tons. However, we still need to observe the situation of Japan's silver export after the lockdown order. At the moment, there is a general preference for a sharp decline in silver supplied by Japan. ”

Although Portugal is now suppressed enough by the Dutch, Macau can still provide Manila's Spaniards with shipping services in the East Asian trade circle and live, although Portugal is now independent, but the two countries are still peaceful, business can still be done. The Portuguese in the East Indies were able to pick up some Dutch leftovers to eat. On the Goan side, they were also able to control some of the intra-Indian Ocean trade and Asia-Europe trade.

"Minister Lin, wait a minute," Chen Shouxu temporarily interrupted Lin Tongwen's explanation, "here everyone understands why the Dutch and Spain are mortal enemies in Europe, while in Asia, they focus on fighting the Portuguese, right?" ”

Collingwood: "Hey, the Dutch are homogenous competitors in Asia with the Portuguese. The Spaniards, on the other hand, brought some of the silver they brought into the great pools of East Asian trade, and some of it was also earned by the Dutch. Manila is in fact indispensable for all parties for the time being. ”

Chen Shouxu nodded and said, "Captain Collingwood said it very well. Minister Lim, please continue. ”

Lin Tongwen turned to the next chapter, Nanyang chapter.

The first is Myanmar. There is not much to introduce about the Donghu Dynasty, most of the time it was a powerful country. The Portuguese opened the gates of Myanmar with fine wine, weapons and mercenaries. Trained by the Portuguese, Burma had a very weak army.

Lin Tongwen raised his head and smiled slightly, "Everyone needs to pay attention to the fact that Myanmar once had one of our predecessors. Portuguese Felipe. Morality. Brito. This Brito was also a strongman, who started as a mercenary for the Arakanese, and assembled a multinational force of 400 men from all over the country. Britto took advantage of the contradictions between Arakan, Dongoo and Bago to borrow troops from the king of Arakan to capture the port of Salem in Lower Burma, and then relied on the local Mon people to break away from Arakan and establish a Catholic kingdom of Salean. ”

After ten years of existence, the kingdom was finally destroyed by Donggu, and Britto himself was captured alive by the Burmese, stabbed, and wailed on a stake for two days before dying. The Portuguese predecessors established the Salem Kingdom in Burma, and the people in the fleet basically didn't know about it before, and when they saw it at this time, they couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Shouxu looked around at his fleet commanders, "You can take a closer look at this history of the Shalian Kingdom. Brito's army was not as strong as ours, but it was not the key to defeat. He can also get the support of the Indian and Portuguese vice-kings of Goa, and he is not alone. ”

As a Portuguese, Coutinho was even more emotional at this time, "According to the information, Brito also built a strong castle and moat in Sallene, and his strength is not bad. But Salian is one of the most important ports on the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, and Brito forced passing ships to use Salen as the only port of call and to collect port taxes from these vessels. and whoever disobeys, he shall be detained and killed. This made it difficult for Donghu to accept. ”

"So we have to learn our lesson. The military is our dependence, but we must not be intoxicated with the use of force. We still want to make it possible for our friends to make money. Chen Shouxu accentuated his tone, "It's more profitable than before." We should be present in Asia as the guardians of free trade. ”

Marmont, as the second-in-command, knew a little more than the others, "so we had to build a good relationship with Siam from the beginning." You see, the Salian people forced Catholicism in Burma, and the relationship with the local Buddhists was very stiff, which caused public outrage. We should still maintain a tolerant attitude towards religion and leave no faith other than one religion alone. ”

Chen Shouxu added: "Yes. Fighting a war for religious reasons is not worth the loss, and we will only fight for free trade. Or, other wars that the Senate deems necessary. ”

The protector of free trade is a new term for people who have just escaped piracy, and they will have to digest it for a while while when everyone looks thoughtful. Nowadays, trade is undoubtedly the dominant item of the Chinese, and the people of the fleet can basically understand the benefits of combining the military power of the fleet with the trade power of the Chinese at sea.

Lin Tongwen saw that they had finished discussing and continued to introduce.

"The bulk of Southeast Asia's trade used to be mainly rice, spices, Indian cotton cloth and Chinese raw silk, but now sugar is added.

Let's start with rice, Malacca was once the center of the rice trade before it was conquered by the Portuguese. Siam exports 10,000 tons of rice and Chenla 7,000 tons per year. We in Jincheng used to rely heavily on imported rice from Chenla. Bago was also able to export thousands of tons per year before it was conquered by Taungoo. But in the windswept land, the largest rice exporter is Mataram in East Java, which can export 20,000 to 3 tonnes of rice per year. Malacca alone used to receive 15,000 tonnes of rice every year. ”

The officers were surprised, "Just those ships in Southeast Asia?" ”

Lin Tongwen said: "Yes, don't underestimate the maritime merchants of the Heavenly Fang Sect. The Kingdom of Malacca has long promulgated the written Malay Maritime Law, and although the Kingdom of Malacca no longer exists, the legal code they left behind is still an important guarantee for our transactions. Here, I would also like to suggest to all of you that we introduce our Maritime Code as soon as possible. ”

Chen Shouxu vs. Aramby. Roberts said: "Maritime law is really important. You should go down and implement it quickly, and the Malay Maritime Law is also an important reference object for our legislation. ”

Roberts agreed, "Yes, Your Excellency." Since there is a generally accepted statutory code, it should not be too difficult for us to make some changes to it by reference to European law. ”

Next is cotton, which today is mainly supplied by the Dutch. We have counted that in the past five years, the Dutch have shipped 15 tons of Indian cotton cloth to Batavia, and cotton cloth is the main commodity for the Dutch to earn silver. ”

Cotton cloth was in fact the most critical commodity that the Celestial cults from India and the European powers were able to gain a foothold in Southeast Asia. Food and clothing are the biggest needs of human beings, and Southeast Asia's local cotton production capacity is insufficient, so it must rely on India for supply. Japan was also short of cotton at this time, and Japan's purchasing power was even stronger.

The Land of the Wind was located between India, which produced cotton cloth and China, which produced silk, between the world's two largest textile suppliers at this time. The importance of cotton cloth and silk does not need to be emphasized by Lin Tongwen, everyone here knows it. This is a hard currency that can be used as silver.

"In the local countries, Java, Sumatra, and Makassar all produce some inferior yellow silk products. Bangladesh and Viet Nam produce better quality silk. Of course, their silk is not as good as Chinese silk in any aspect. Moreover, after the Dutch came, the countries of the East Indies were forced to grow pepper, and the production of silk in Java and Sumatra was declining year by year. Although the price of Chinese silk is usually on the high side, there is no shortage of the market, and our opportunity lies in finding ways to reduce the cost of Chinese silk. Raw silk we mainly face the trouble caused by Zheng Zhilong in China, who monopolized the Fujian coastal route. ”

Chen Shouxu waved his hand, "Zheng Yiguan's question, we'll talk about it later." I won't mention it today. ”

Lin Tongwen: "Yes, my lord. After textiles, there are spices and peppers. ”

Lin Tongwen flipped to the table in the information, and this table composed of Arabic numerals made it look clear at a glance. After Chen Shouxu was implemented in the fleet, he was quickly learned by the Ministry of Trade and Shipping.

"We made a table of spice and pepper trading volumes. In addition to the channels in Makassar, the Dutch were able to physically control the spice trade. The Dutch exported half or more of the spices to Europe, with cloves, nutmeg, and nutmeg coatings combined, amounting to about 600 tons. On the Indian side, Surat and Coromante together consume about 60 tonnes of spices per year. The largest amount of pepper is shipped back to Europe in 3,500 tonnes per year. However, due to the wide distribution of pepper, the Dutch could not fully control it, and we Chinese businessmen were able to get a lot of pepper from Sumatra and ship it back to China. ”

Chen Shouxu looked at everyone, "The spice trade is to let everyone have an idea of the trade volume. The Dutch have a profit of 1.2 million guilders a year, 120,000 pounds, and spices account for the lion's share. Unless we fight the Dutch to the end, spices should not be thought about. At most, do a little pepper business. ”

Everyone understands that with Jincheng's current strength, the gap with the Dutch is too big, and it is not appropriate to directly contradict the Dutch at this time.

Lin Tongwen turned to the last part, "The commodity we have the opportunity to meddle in now is sugar. ”

Chen Shouxu said: "You may see the part of sugar, but we have introduced very little. It's just that sugar is too important. In addition to the Dutch, Japan imports 200 tons of sugar a year, and they are very rich, but it is difficult for us to interfere with the Japanese route for the time being. Sugar is a necessity of life, and for us, the problem is not trade, but industry. The Department of Industry already has a detailed plan for the production of white sugar, so I will not talk about it today. ”

Lin Tongwen said with a smile: "I hope the Industry Division can bring us good news in terms of output." ”

Chen Shouxu: "It also depends on you to recruit more skilled Chinese sugar workers." ”

Lin Tongwen: "In addition to the above-mentioned bulk trading commodities, we also have great opportunities in ceramic trade. ”

Many people laughed when they heard about ceramics, René. Allemand said: "Isn't ceramics your traditional strength as Chinese? ”

Lin Tongwen: "There is no problem with Captain Allemand's understanding, and we will continue to discuss the matter of Chinese ceramics in the chapter on Chinese trade." I'm talking about Southeast Asian ceramics now. Chinese porcelain is certainly the best in the world, but they are also expensive. No matter what country it is, Chinese porcelain is not a consumer product that ordinary people can buy casually. ”

Zachary. Marmont Chinese porcelain was impressed, "In Europe, Chinese porcelain was a symbol of aristocratic status. ”

Chen Shouxu said: "This is also the case in Southeast Asia. ”

Lin Tongwen: "Ladies and gentlemen, what you said is right. Since Chinese porcelain is more expensive, in the low-end market, other products are needed to fill it. Southeast Asia is largely dependent on our two neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam. It should be noted that the quality of porcelain produced in Ayutthaya and Thang Long is getting better and better, and some celadon products are comparable to the quality of domestic ones. ”

Chen Shouxu: "No matter how strong the technical barrier is, it can't withstand the invasion of time.

"I'm a soldier, and I don't know anything about commodity trading," Holren said. I see that you also have iron, lead, copper, and tin in your materials. These metal products are important military supplies. ”

Lin Tongwen: "The general is right. On the whole, Southeast Asia has a relatively backward level of armament manufacturing, but it is not absent at all. There are iron mines in Siam, Burma, Chenla, and Annam, and they are basically self-sufficient in iron tools. Our current ironware is also imported from Siam and Chenla. In the East Indies, there are also some iron ore mines in the Miganam Pau region of Sumatra and near the mouth of the Sarawak River in Borneo, but they are now declining due to the fact that they may have been cut down to timber. Borneo has recently developed some new iron ore mines, which are of decent quality. ”

Hearing this, Holren suggested to Chen Shouxu: "Your Excellency, we must master the iron tools, and we can't fake them. ”

Chen Shouxu tapped lightly on the table, "The general's suggestion is good." Steel production, we will definitely pay attention. ”

Lin Tongwen continued: "Finally, tin, lead, and copper. Tin is mainly produced in our vicinity, with Perak and Kedah both producing tin. Tin has also been found near Jincheng, but it has not been mined on a large scale and is currently outside our actual control. Tin ore is a very profitable business, and I recommend putting it into production as soon as possible. ”

Chen Shouxu said: "Things have to come step by step, and we have to do every step of the work solidly." When the fortifications of Jincheng are completed, we will advance outward. ”

Lin Tongwen nodded: "Lead and copper are both important currencies and armaments, and the profits are relatively high. Only Siam and Annam can produce lead on a large scale, and only Zheng Zhu owns large copper mines. There are some copper mines in the East Indies, but they are expensive to mine for the local country and have no ability to survive in the face of competition from Japanese, Chinese and European products. ”

Chen Shouxu took a sip of tea and announced the adjournment. The meeting was long, and people in need got up and went to the toilet. The rest of the people got together to discuss the content of the meeting, the impact of trade on Jincheng, and they had to continue to digest it. After listening to this meeting, Chen Shouxu's biggest feeling was that Vietnam would appear everywhere. Vietnam is really a strong country here, with a relatively complete range of mines, and the manufacturing industry is second only to China. The north is called the king, and the south is called the emperor, not blown out.