At the mouth of the Yongjiang River in Ningbo, Zhejiang, batches of sea ships are slowly coming. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoThis is the return of the official fleet of ships to Japan, the Ryukyus, and Korea for maritime trade, and Chen Wen sent them to sail not only to make a deal to increase their income, but more importantly, to open up the way and discover the shipping lane, with which it is possible to unleash influence overseas.

However, this does not mean that the income of Haimao is not important, on the contrary, with this income, many of Chen Wen's plans can be implemented step by step.

After receiving the news, Chen Wen returned to Hangzhou by boat, and when he arrived in Hangzhou, Zheng Qi and others, who had been ordered to go to sea, were already waiting there to return to their lives.

"The report has already been read, and you have done a good job."

"Xie Dashuai."

Sideburns and Zheng Qi were courteous, and along the way, one of them was responsible for the security of the fleet, and the other was responsible for trading with Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyus, and they cooperated very well. However, during their voyage, Chen Wen became famous and recovered Nanjing, but regret was inevitable.

"What you are doing now can be said to be very important to our Jiangsu and Zhejiang royal divisions, and you will see this soon."

Relieving the inevitable regrets of his subordinates, Chen Wen turned to ask them about the details of this maiden voyage. These are all shown in the report, but Chen Wen's concerns are slightly different from theirs, so they must be questioned in person.

"The commander has seen what you saw and heard in Nagasaki Port, and the Nagasaki governor of the Tokugawa shogunate actually had to explain on his behalf that the shogunate did not borrow troops, what did you do in Nagasaki to scare him like this."

Went to Japan to beg for teachers, the Lu Jianguo system did it, and the Zheng group also did it, in the final analysis, they were under too much military pressure at that time, so they had to desperately grab any life-saving straw. However, not only did he not succeed in going to Japan to beg for teachers, but he unintentionally improved Japan's self-confidence, and compared with the goods that Japan supported several times before and after, the gains outweighed the losses.

"Returning to the marshal, the last general put the artillery on the ship when he entered the port according to the order of the marshal, so the commissioner explained without a few words, and the last general really didn't do anything."

The officers and judges who accompanied the ship all reported that even the sideburns were very probable, and the merchant ships were equipped with artillery, but they were not one or two, but they were a fleet, and they could not be frightened. After all, if there is a real fight, it is the Tokugawa shogunate that suffers, both politically and militarily, as well as in terms of commerce and trade.

Chen Wen nodded, and then said, "That pursues the intention of helping some money, food, and ordnance? ”

"Exactly, the last general has already refused according to the order of the marshal." Speaking of this, Zheng Qi seemed a little puzzled, and then asked Chen Wen: "Forgive the last general for being stupid, Nagasaki pursues intentional assistance, and it seems that the last general should have been instructed by the shogunate." In that case, why refuse? ”

In Zheng Qi's view, Japan's aid came in vain, and it was easier than hard work to do maritime trade. Zheng Qi is not the only one who has such ideas, even the bearded sideburns, the prison officers, the military judges, and the captains of the ships have also discussed them in their spare time, some support, some are puzzled, but there is none, after all, military orders are like mountains, they are soldiers and not businessmen.

Hearing Zheng Qi's question, Chen Wen shook his head with a smile: "What Qingyun saw is correct, this matter is instructed by the shogunate, otherwise he will not be able to be the master as a magistrate in Nagasaki." As for Ben Shuai's refusal, it is actually very simple, when Feng Shilang went to Japan to beg for a teacher, he cried in Nagasaki and cried in the Qin Court, but the shogunate did not give assistance. However, the Satsuma clan gave hundreds of thousands of Hongwu money, and Feng Shilang did not cry in vain. ”

The Tokugawa shogunate on the Japanese side resolutely opposed it for the sake of domestic stability, but the Satsuma and other feudal clans actively promoted it, but in the end it did not happen.

The reason for this phenomenon is very simple, that is, when sending troops to China, there will be variables whether the victory or defeat will occur.

In military matters alone, even if the war is defeated, even if it can be won, the benefits of each feudal clan will explode rapidly, leading to the weakening or even reversal of the power gap between the shogunate and the daimyos; However, if the shogunate sends troops and the local troops are insufficient, how should the various feudal clans deal with the provocation; Even if the shogunate and the daimyo sent troops together, there would always be damage in the battle, and whoever had more and who had less would affect the balance of strength between them. As for the political, economic and other aspects, it is even more difficult to count.

At that time, Japan had begun to close itself off from the rest of the country, and the Tokugawa shogunate was the most typical self-defence. This is no way, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was ambitious at the beginning, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of Warring States elites were hung up and fought by the Ming army, and the result of the war was not only that the shogunate did not take advantage of anything, but also shook its own ruling foundation, causing the Tokugawa shogunate to replace it. How dare the Tokugawa shogunate participate in the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

It's just that as soon as Chen Wen said this, he heard it in the ears of Sideburns and Zheng Qi, but they were really stunned.

"Hundreds of thousands of Hongwu money? Isn't it forbidden to use Chinese currency in Japan, and the Satsuma clan is begging for food! ”

Hongwu money is the copper money minted in the Hongwu Dynasty, according to today's calculations, the value of Hongwu money is higher than the value of Jiajing and Wanli copper coins, not to mention the thin and brittle of the Chongzhen Dynasty. But even so, one tael of silver can be exchanged for a thousand taels of Hongwu money, that is to say, Feng Jingdi cried in Nagasaki in the end in exchange for a few hundred taels of silver.

"I can't say that, after all, the Satsuma clan still gave it, and there are still those who don't pull out a dime. What's more, Japan had already issued a lockdown order at that time, and trade was to be carried out with the shogunate, merchant ships were not allowed to enter the feudal domains, and a few hundred taels of silver might be a treasure at the bottom of the box for the Shimazu family. ”

Historically, the Tokugawa shogunate's assistance to Zheng Chenggong was more than that of the Satsuma Domain, and there were weapons, armor, and raw materials such as lead and iron, but that was it, but compared to the annual transaction volume of millions of taels of silver between the Zheng family and the shogunate, this little aid shows the small family spirit of the Japanese. What's more, in the later Zheng family's silver deposit case, Japan also squinted away a lot of silver from the Zheng family, and the Zheng family spent money to buy the aid back and forth, and the Tokugawa shogunate took advantage of the favor in vain.

The shock of the sideburns and beard and Zheng Qi's sarcasm complemented each other, but it amused Chen Wen. In a trance, he even suspected that these two guys had discussed on the way to come and tell him this lip-synch.

"When the Shimazu family first captured the Ryukyus, they were considered a strong feudal clan in Japan, and they dared to fight against the shogunate, but that was it. Now, you can see why I turned it down. ”

"Handsome and wise."

For the sake of a few hundred taels of silver, Feng Jingdi had party strife at that time, and at the same time, for the finances of the Lu Jian Dynasty at that time, even a penny was good, let alone hundreds of thousands of Hongwu money. But for Chen Wen, a few hundred taels of silver, a shipload of goods sold to Japan has a profit of tens of thousands of taels of silver, there is really no need to lose this share.

"Speaking of the Shimazu Domain, how is the Ryukyu side now?"

"Returning to the marshal, the last general heard the courtiers of the Ryukyus mention that now the Ryukyus are a vassal of the Tartars on the one hand, and at the same time as a vassal of the Satsuma Domain, the "Fifteen Articles" are too harsh, and they claim that they are forced by the Satsuma Domain to declare themselves to the Tartars, and I hope that the king can say to Japan for them and abolish the "Fifteen Articles."

What the Ryukyu courtiers said was not true, and their change to obey the Manchu Qing was due to the collapse of the Longwu Dynasty, so that the envoys thought that the Manchus had the strength to replace the Ming, so they would go north to meet Shunzhi.

It is understandable that a small country would like to use the power of a large country to get out of its predicament, but Japan's conquest of the Ryukyus did begin with the occupation of the Ryukyus by the Shimazu Domain. When the Ryukyus came to the Ming Dynasty to conduct tributary trade too frequently, the Ming court suspected that it was the work of the Satsuma Domain, and this was restricted, and it was true that the prosperity of the Shimazu Domain had a great relationship with the Ryukyus.

"Now we can't control so much, let Ryukyu continue to go with one minister and two masters, anyway, they don't pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty now, and they will go again when they have the work in the future, there is no need to rush this time."

Chen Wen has figured out the situation in the Ryukyus, whether to use the hands of the Satsuma Domain to muddy the waters of Japan and let them continue to kill each other, or to play a black ship incident in the name of the Ryukyus, Chen Wen does not have a complete plan yet. And even if there is, it is powerless for the time being, after all, there is a priority in action.

The next North Korea is even simpler, the Manchu Qing Dynasty beat North Korea several times, Ming's father has retreated to the southwest, and there is nothing abnormal about changing his godfather as a godson. However, Zheng Qi and the others went to Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyus, and Zilharan was not dead at that time, so maybe the situation would develop in a better direction next time.

In this trade, the fleet was loaded with goods that were the main export commodities of previous years, and silk, porcelain, cane sugar, silkworm cocoons, raw silk and the like filled the warehouses. At that time, Chen Wen owned the two provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, the porcelain of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, the sugar and silk produced in Zhejiang, and the source of goods was in hand, but the output was much worse than before the Qing army went south, after all, the loss of population could not be recovered in a short time.

Calculating the profits, more than one million taels of silver, there is still a long way to go before Chen Wen's bold words that forced Japan to hollow out the stone and see the silver mountain. For this reason, Chen Wen decided to do something to speed up the process.

Summoning the person in charge of the inaugural fleet to learn about the situation in Japan, Ryukyu, Korea and other countries, in fact, Chen Wen can be carried out in Nanjing, but because of the return of the inaugural fleet, some things can be carried out immediately.

At the same time as Chen Wen returned to Zhejiang, the Guangfu ticket number in various places was also taking advantage of the profits of the sea trade fleet to release good news, deepen people's confidence in the Guangfu ticket number, and obtain more disposable funds.

You can make money sitting at home, and you can make sure you don't lose money, and you are eager to make money. But at the same time, Chen Wen did not ban the sea, as long as he went to the city to pay taxes, the sea trade could still run, and a large number of gentry and wealthy families also began to devote themselves to the sea trade.

However, experienced captains and sailors were few after all. Chen Wen, a guy who kills people without blinking, they don't dare to provoke, so some people plan to go to Fujian and dig the foot of the wall from the Fujian Qing army, Geng Jimao and even Zheng Chenggong's sailors, and even have more ambitious plans to dig it up with a boat and people.

Chen Wen was not interested in paying attention to these things, he was concerned about the other two points, one is the expansion of the scale of the sea-going ship manufacturing industry, some people want to go to sea, and some people will build ships, which is really a two-two-one thing; The second is the goods.

Chen Wen has now regained a large amount of lost territory, among which Zhejiang and Jiangxi have many fields of military exploits, and the society is stable, so people will have more energy to produce and improve their living standards. The civilian fields are different, but the military fields are all under Chen Wen's control. With an abundance of raw materials, a fleet of ships familiar with the waterways, and access to other countries, all Chen Wen needs is to improve production efficiency in the process of raw materials into products, and trade will soon explode.

Previously, the workshop of the Military Industry Department of the Ming Army of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang had begun to use hydraulic machinery to manufacture mechanical parts, and this technology accumulation had already matured. Now the workshop has been divided into two parts, one part continues to produce weapons and equipment to cope with the expansion of the army and the renewal of weapons and equipment, and the other part is turned to civilian use, such as the machinery in Wang Fu's newly built factory is made in civilian workshops.

Supporting industry is Chen Wen's established plan, Wang Fu's factory is for sugar production, the use of each plant in the factory is different, Chen Wen is inspecting the pressing link under the leadership of Wang Fu at the moment, and the machinery used by the workers is the sugar car recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu".

"Where a sugar cart is made, two horizontal plates are used, five feet long, five inches thick, and two feet wide, and the two ends are chiseled and the pillars are built. A little bamboo shoots out of the upper bamboo shoots, two or three feet out of the lower bamboo shoots, buried in the soil, so that it is stable and unshakable. Two eyes are chiseled in the upper plate, two giant shafts are juxtaposed, and the shaft wood is seven feet around. The two axes are three feet long and four feet and five inches long, and the elders are plowed. It is made of bent wood, one zhang and five feet long, so that the bull group can be turned away. The chisel teeth on the shaft are assigned to males and females, and their seams must be straight and round, round and sutured. Sandwiched cane in the middle, rolled through, synonymous with cotton rush. The cane flows through the slurry, and then picks up its trickle, throws it into the duck's beak on the shaft, and then rolls it three times, and its juice is exhausted. ”

As the livestock pulls, the cell walls of the sugarcane are destroyed and the juice flows out, which is significantly more efficient than manual extraction. Once the sugar truck is rolled, the workers put the residue into a feed called a duckbill, repeated three times, which naturally yields more sugar than the rest of the world's sugar producing regions can now extract sugar at a single time.

China's sugar production technology is now the most advanced in the world, and it is not uncommon for this kind of sugar cart to be used in many rural sugar houses in the south of the Ming Dynasty. However, since the Qing army went south, the damage to the productive forces was too huge, the output of raw materials was greatly reduced, and the sugar liao naturally disappeared too much.

Now, productivity has been restored, but Chen Wen has little interest in the handicraft workshop-style mode of production. From the reserve of raw materials to the final production of finished products, only in a factory can be completed, and in the production process a large number of machinery is used, reducing the use of manpower, but also improving the efficiency of production, which is incomparable to the family handicraft workshop, in today's population has declined significantly, the production efficiency can bring about a leap forward.