On the table was still the debriefing report of Sanyu, a former commercial assistant at the Seville consulate, and Yan Xiaosong praised the courage and meticulousness of this young junior who exceeded his peers.

"The young man has a lot of ideas, the Chang family has finally come up with a thousand-mile horse, and Chang Kun doesn't have to find a way out for his family all day long, and it is estimated that the cabinet will agree to his report of 'returning to his hometown'."

Su Zining was holding the teacup and chuckling on the side. Just yesterday, the Cabinet received a letter of resignation from Jersey Mayor Chang Kun. Probably because of his recent years, and because he did not continue to be reused in the cabinet of the current government, Chang Kun, who has always liked to express himself, finally showed fatigue and began to "beg for bones", and then spent a lot of money to buy land in the suburbs of the eastern district of Long Island, intending to build a pure oriental style mansion.

"Yes, many of the first batch of naturalized Chinese immigrants are over half a hundred years old. There are many ideas of returning to the roots and seeking to bury the ancestral land. It's not good to live too comfortably, this kind of thinking is not something that can be pacified by law, and even I sometimes even think about this kind of problem...... It seems that we also need to use the media to guide us and come up with some exciting policies, or to let them know the real situation in the outside world, otherwise it will lead to more negative attitudes and inappropriate public opinion, especially for children. ”

Looking at the bustling urban area in the distance, Yan Xiaosong seemed to remember the scene when the old citizens set foot on the land of North America. Rubbing his sour eyes again, there were many lively children on the street outside the window who were preparing to cross the street under the leadership of the teacher.

"Having said that, how does Guan Ruzhong view the mention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce?" After some emotion, Su Zining picked up the report of the Chang family on the table and shook it in front of Yan Xiaosong's slightly distracted eyes.

"Although Portugal was forced to accept our negotiations on the Indian route, Spain was also the superpower of our time, and it was difficult to divide their interests in Mediterranean trade. Even if we pretended not to know anything, we signed trade agreements directly with the merchants of Genoa or Venice, and there were no direct supply and trade stops to Italy. We need to get Spain to allow us to establish a trade transit point in the Mediterranean. I'm afraid it will come at a great price. ”

"But at present, there is a lot of pressure on domestic economic development, and Guan Ruzhong has made many adjustments since taking office. If he is unable to make up for the trade recession gap in Western Europe and the Far East through new overseas interest growth points this time, I am afraid that his term will come to an end. ”

Yan Xiaosong thought about the contents of the cabinet meeting in the morning, and laid out the analysis of the current situation and difficult problems in the cabinet one by one. Because of the huge psychological pressure of Far Eastern affairs, a few strands of gray hair also appeared on Yan Xiaosong's head, Su Zining sighed, and took down an atlas from the bookshelf behind him.

"Mediterranean trade, beginning with the classical history of maritime trade in Europe. There are four clear lines of interest. Su Zining pointed to the large bathtub sandwiched between Europe and Africa and whispered, "To the west and north, connecting Western Europe and Central and Southern Europe, there is a mature market; To the south, it is an important supplier of raw materials and grains for the textile industry in North Africa and Southern Europe, and is also one of the sources of gold in Europe; To the east, Eastern Europe and the famous Levantine Oriental Trade Route began 2,000 years ago. Asian silk, porcelain, and spices continued to flow into Europe from here, and then brought a huge amount of gold and silver to the East, creating a legend of Arab merchants who had become rich for thousands of years, but it was also a bloody trade route. ”

"To this day. Religious conflicts on both sides of the Mediterranean have long since given way to the demands of Europe's international geodiplomatic and economic interests. The Ottoman Empire had become a major regional power in European politics and the hegemon of the eastern source of Mediterranean trade interests. To put it bluntly, Mediterranean trade would never have been as prosperous as it is today without the religious tolerance and secular openness that the Ottoman Empire gradually began in the late 16th century. Nor will the commercial ties between Western Europe and Eastern Europe and the Middle and Near East be as strong as they are today. ”

In other words, the core focus of Mediterranean trade should not be limited to the western Mediterranean. It's the Ottoman Empire further east! This Empire of the Middle East, with a population of nearly 20 million and a European and Northern Africa, was the real engine of Mediterranean trade! Further to the periphery, there was the Persian Empire, which connected the Middle East and South Asia and had a population of more than 10 million. These two empires, however, have fattened half of Europe in history. ”

Watching his friend's fingers slowly move on the map, Yan Xiaosong stood up abruptly and walked around the study, as if something suddenly came to mind.

"Well, it makes sense, even without access to Guò Genoa and Venice, as long as we have access to the trade routes to the Ottoman and Persian empires, our goods will continue to flow directly into the Mediterranean and the Levant trade circle...... Let me think about it again......"

As he spoke, Yan Xiaosong moved his gaze to the atlas again, his eyes carefully examined the ends of the Mediterranean Sea, and then his gaze fell on the direction of the Indian Ocean.

"Infiltrate in the west, break through in the east, let's outflank at both ends! Su Zining, this time Ren Changle and they will no longer think that the cabinet is biased against them. Stroking the stiff surface of the floor, Yan Xiaosong finally laughed.

"In addition, there is another direction that should be paid attention to, and I think in Fan Li's plan, it will be the most important thing to make up for the loss of commercial interests in the Far East, and it will be at your fingertips after putting aside your concerns. In the past, we didn't have the energy to take care of it, but now that the fruit is almost ripe, in order to complete the country's Far East strategy and give Zheng Zhilong a perfect farewell, we must consider it. ”

Su Zining flipped through a few more pages of the map and pointed to an island in Northeast Asia.

"Japanese ......"

In a small atlas, the Japanese archipelago lies quietly across the East China Sea. Looking at it, Yan Xiaosong's brows gradually relaxed, and the smile in his eyes became more and more obvious.

……

On Friday, the day after Children's Day, Guan Ruzhong convened an extraordinary cabinet meeting again, and Minister of Homeland Security Fan Li and Minister Yan Xiaosong submitted a plan for overseas trade expansion at the same time. Although the plans of the two are not in the same direction, some key ideas coincide.

The Japanese switch negotiations initiated by the Dutch East India Company a few years ago are now back on the radar of cabinet ministers. The Congresses and Cabinets of the United States in China, which had been unable to be distracted by European and North American affairs, had no choice but to reattach importance to the major readjustment of the pattern of interests in the Far East.

In the mid-to-early 17th century, Japan was one of the world's largest exporters of silver, and at one time accounted for one-third of the world's silver production. Both Portugal and the Netherlands are eating a lot of fat in the process, but the end result. It was to fatten up the Ming Dynasty's maritime armed merchant group represented by Li Dan and Zheng Zhilong.

It can be extrapolated from the simple historical data of later generations that in just 20 years from the 20s to the 40s of the 17th century, the Zheng Zhilong Group obtained more than one million taels of silver from the Japanese route every year, not including the sales profits of the goods shipped back from Japan in the Ming Dynasty.

In this time and space, although Huamei cut into the trade territory of the Far East and initially established the trade-dominant order in Southeast Asia, it still did not touch Zheng Zhilong's traditional power territory.

The trade activities of the Netherlands and Portugal in Japan have fallen into a historical low with Japan's lockdown order, and the Yan family can only eat some scraps on the above routes, while the Zheng family monopolizes most of the trading profits of Huamei and Ming goods on the Japanese trade routes, so the Zheng family's income in Japan will only be more than in history. And no less.

According to Fan Li's rough estimate, the Zheng family earns nearly 2 million US dollars from the Guò Ryukyu and Japan trade routes every year, accounting for nearly half of the Zheng family's annual income!

In the next stage of Huamei's Far East strategy, Zheng Zhilong Group is already an ironclad object of collapse, so at this time, it has become a necessary means to carry out a trade switch strategy against Japan and break the biggest iron rice bowl in the hands of the Zheng family.

The direct inclusion of Japan in the trade market of the East and the United States in the United States and the United States can deal a blow to the overseas earnings on which the Zheng family depends. Japan has a population of about 20 million people. The lack of social and biological resources can be the best substitute for the phased contraction of the market in the Ming Dynasty, so as to maximize the sales profit of Huamei goods in the Far East as much as possible. As soon as this trick comes out, it can be said that killing people without seeing blood, killing multiple birds with one stone!

Furthermore. Once Japan-centered Northeast Asia has taken the lead in trade, the Korean Peninsula's market of nearly 10 million people will naturally be taken into its arms. North Korea has always been the most important trading partner for the Dayuan under the influence of the United States and China, and over the past two decades, the Dayuan Yan family has received an average of more than 5,000 Ming Dynasty Liao migrants from the Korean Peninsula each year. About half of them went to Huamei, which is undoubtedly an extremely cheap way to get the population.

Fan Li's concern for Japan can be one of the compensatory returns for OUCC Group's active cooperation with the country to complete the strategic affairs of the Far East. I believe that Ren Changle and others, who already hate Zheng Zhilong. After hearing this news, I will definitely raise my feet in favor.

Fan Li's plan was immediately approved by the vast majority of cabinet ministers, but in terms of Zheng Zhilong's income, once the Japanese and North Korean markets are fully opened, the Oriental Union Group can recover its operating losses, not to mention, it can also obtain greater and more long-term benefits.

More importantly, although the overseas territory of Pearl Island has a relatively complete industry, it only solves the problem of whether there is a problem, and the scale of the industry cannot be compared with the local one, and the production and manufacturing capacity of goods is actually very limited. The direct benefit of the substantial expansion of the Far East market is that the local production enterprises in Huamei can also get a lot of benefits from it, add more jobs, and easily increase the central government's revenue by tens of millions of dollars a year in the future.

At present, Huamei has deployed two reinforced army brigades in the Far East, with a total strength of more than 5,500 troops, and the strength of the Asian fleet has nearly doubled compared with a few years ago. Not a penny of military spending should be spent, and now that I am idle, I can just take it out for a walk. In this process, Luzon, Lanfang, the Dutch East India Company, and the Portuguese, throwing a few bones to "equalize interests", can complete the plan at the lowest cost, and truly form a Far East trade pattern under the complete control of Huamei.

It's just that you need to take care of the time, and you must make a move when Zheng Zhilong is too busy to take care of himself, otherwise it will easily cause unnecessary conflict costs, at least Huamei is not going to dirty her hands to bully a big feudal warlord of the Ming Dynasty. The approximate timing may be set at the time of the Manchu invasion of Fujian.

As for Yan Xiaosong's proposal to open up new strategic trade routes in the Middle East from the Indian Ocean Viceroyalty to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, cabinet ministers were much more cautious.

The revised and polished Indo-Red Sea/Persian Gulf-Eastern Mediterranean route is a bold route that cuts into the backyard of the Mediterranean-Levant trade circle. With a vast market of tens of millions of people, and the ability to bypass Europe's main competitive regions, it's refreshing to think about. On the other end of the Mediterranean West Road, Huamei only needs to symbolically strengthen cooperation with Mediterranean trading partners.

As for Portugal, which once dominated the Indian Ocean-Red Sea/Persian Gulf, it is now old and yellow, and its sense of existence in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf has been reduced to a minimum. The Portuguese trading stronghold of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf had been uprooted decades earlier by the Persian Empire, which was secretly supported by England; Muscat on the Arabian Peninsula, where Portuguese power is also crumbling, is only a matter of time before both the Ottoman Empire is in full swing and the ambitious Otamanian Empire is driving it out to sea.

But Guan Ruzhong is worried mainly because the rear strategic support in the direction of the Indian Ocean is not stable enough. Such a strategic plan would require far more financial, diplomatic, and military resources than the Japanese direction, as well as the risk of extremist religiousness and war, given the two influential Islamic empires in the region.

In order to open up a new eastern route from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea/Persian Gulf, the only rear support points for Huamei can be selected in the Viceroyalty of South Africa, the Overseas Territory of Moonhill Island, and the Viceroyalty of the Indian Ocean, which are not enough to support this strategic expansion at present.

Huamei's colonial policy in the Viceroyalty of South Africa was very strong, so it has been plagued by the surrounding Nguni people, and there are several conflicts and riots almost every year. Although it was ruthlessly suppressed by the Chinese and American forces every time, when it also led the military deployment to the Far East, Huamei could only withdraw the Brown Bear Brigade from the Atlantic, and the Gray Wolf Brigade could not get out at all.

The colony of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean Viceroyalty has also developed rapidly in recent years, with the combined population of Cangjiao Port and Songhai Town exceeding 10,000, but like the original Viceroyalty of South Africa, the contradictions between the Huamei colonial authorities and the local Merina Kingdom are deepening day by day. In particular, the hardliners of the Kingdom of Merina were unhappy with the conflict between the rulers of the Kingdom of Merina and the many small indigenous states in the surrounding countries that were unwilling to accept the rule of the country. If the colonial rule of Madagascar cannot be stabilized, it may be difficult to put the eastern trade route on the agenda.

In other words, the region's gorgeous butt is far from being wiped clean, and it is hardly feasible to get out of the way north to the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf.

Moreover, this also involves the interest game between the Oriental Union Group and the Guoxing Group, and if such a large piece of cake is only distributed to the Oriental Union Group in the old way of dividing monopoly management rights, I am afraid that some internal contradictions will be further intensified.

Many European affairs are facing the final critical juncture, and the entanglement in the Far East has only just begun, and Huamei simply does not have the time and energy to take care of it. Although Yan Xiaosong's proposal has triggered many wonderful reveries of no responsibility and has been recognized by many people, it is considered to be in depth and in detail, in order to really implement it, I am afraid that it will have to be seriously communicated internally or postponed for a few years.

The only thing that can be done in advance is probably to start the western Mediterranean trade first, reach negotiations with Portugal on the opening of the port of Tangier on the south coast of the Strait of Gibraltar, and then establish preliminary trade agreements with several major Italian chambers of commerce, guide domestic small and medium-sized trading companies to test the waters, and pave the way for large-scale entry into the western Mediterranean in the future. (To be continued......)

PS: There is very little time, and the manuscript is very slow. In order to maintain the sense of zài, three chapters will be released today. 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, and 12 o'clock each chapter.