Chapter 224 Silver is moving

For the situation in Nanyang, Kangxi is only concerned, and has not studied deeply, but the general geography and power are still clear, as soon as he heard Yinzhen finish speaking, he keenly asked: "Why is Borneo not occupied by foreign forces?" ”

Yinzhen didn't think about this question, and after a little hesitation, he replied: "Back to Emperor Ama, Borneo is located between Luzon Island and Java Island, which has neither strategic value nor commercial value, and it is normal that it has not attracted the attention of Western countries, but Erchen thinks that the main reason is that the population of the Netherlands and Spain is too small, and they occupy too many places overseas, so they will not be interested in such places of little value." ”

This remark aroused Kangxi's great interest, and he asked with great interest: "How many people are in these two countries?" And how much space does it occupy? ”

At first sight, Kangxi's interest was aroused, and Yinzhen also came to the spirit, and decided to stimulate Kangxi, and by the way, instilled in him the idea of sea power hegemony, "Huang Ama, the population of these two countries is only about fifteen million, but they both occupy countless rich places overseas. ”

The domestic production of silver is very small, so as soon as he heard about silver produced in the Americas, Kangxi became interested and immediately asked: "Silver from the Americas?" ”

Seeing that Kangxi asked so urgently, Yinzhen couldn't help but smile secretly, it seems that everyone loves money, from the Son of Heaven to the poor, hearing the silver, they all had the same reaction, he groaned before saying: "Back to the emperor Ama, there are huge silver mines in the Americas, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, in two hundred years, the West has robbed four billion taels of silver from the Americas." ”

"Four billion taels?" Kangxi couldn't help but ask, even if he cultivated his qi no matter how deep he was, when he heard this terrifying number, he couldn't help but lose his temper, he stared at Yinzhen tightly, his heart was already turbulent, how much was the annual income of the Qing Dynasty? It is only more than 30 million taels, and after deducting various expenses, there are only more than 3 million taels left.

Seeing Kangxi's gaffe, Yinzhen added another fire, "This is only silver, not including gold." ”

And gold? Kangxi was already completely numb, and asked mechanically after a while: "How much gold?" ”

"The specific data for gold in other countries is not very clear." Yinzhen really couldn't remember the amount of gold produced in the Americas, so he paused slightly before saying: "Spain was the first country to start robbing the Americas, and some people have counted that the total amount of gold is about 70 million taels. The number of other countries, such as Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, etc., is not available. ”

Seventy million taels of gold, that's hundreds of millions of silver, Kangxi lost his mind for a long time before he came back to his senses and asked suspiciously: "Where did you get these data?" There are many Western missionaries in Beijing, how come it is that they have never heard of them? ”

"How could those missionaries know that they were middle and lower class people? And they came to my Qing Dynasty with ulterior motives. Yinzhen said in a deep voice: "All Western countries are religious countries, and those missionaries came to my Daqing just to make Daqing their religious country."

In Shanghai, because he wanted to train the navy to drive sail warships, he recruited a large number of Western sailors, many of whom had run the American routes, and the Western countries returned from the Americas, and all the ships were silver and gold, which can be known by a little statistics.

Besides, whether it is Guangzhou or Shanghai, the ships that come to trade in the West and the South Seas are all loaded with silver, but in fact, the merchant ships in the South Seas are just changing hands, and in the end the goods are resold to the Western countries.

The West does not produce silver or gold, and the silver and gold of their ships come from the Americas, and all the silver that has flowed into our Qing Dynasty over the years has come from the Americas. ”

America, America, Kangxi muttered to himself, the astronomical number of four billion made him infinitely fascinated, Yinzhen seized the opportunity, and then said: "Now is the Age of Discovery, the reason why the Western countries can be so rich, is because they have a large number of warships, they can crisscross the ocean, we are now catching up, it is not too late, the ocean-going fleet, in another three or five years, can form a huge fleet."

Once the South Seas are taken, the Americas will not be far away, as the so-called remedy, it is not too late, how can we sit back and watch the West dominate the gold and silver mines of the Americas? We also want to grab territory in the Americas. ”

Going to the Americas to grab territory? Kangxi's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he asked eagerly: "Are there still unmined gold and silver mines in the Americas?" ”

"Definitely." Yinzhen said confidently: "America is divided into South America and North America, and the territory is several times that of my Great Qing Dynasty, and all the Western countries are small and few people, how can we occupy them all, not to mention, we can still grab it"

Kangxi was excited by these words, got up and walked around the hall, turned around a few times, and he calmed down, the old fourteen went around for half a day and painted such a big baked cake, just to conquer Nanyang, but Nanyang is vast and densely populated, and there are Western forces mixed in it, how can it be so easy to recruit?

One is not good, if it is a stalemate, the whole country will be dragged across, he has been personally recruited several times, and he knows that the soldiers are fierce and dangerous, besides, the world has only been peaceful for decades, and it is unwise to see that the prosperous situation has opened, and it is really unwise to use swords and soldiers at this time. Besides, war, to put it bluntly, is money and food for fighting, and Western countries are so rich, this outcome is really unpredictable.

However, when I thought of Spain, the Netherlands and other countries, there were only 15 million people in the whole country, Kangxi was a little moved, no matter how rich he was, he had to have soldiers, the population base of 15 million people, how many troops could he have? Besides, if you take Nanyang, it will also have a lot of benefits.

After weighing for a long time, Kangxi sat back and asked in a deep voice: "How many troops do you want to conquer Nanyang?" How much food and grass do you need? ”

Seeing that Kangxi thought about it for a long time and asked such a question, Yinzhen suddenly realized that Kangxi was worried about the domestic economy of the South Seas, and he couldn't help but secretly think that he had to give Kangxi a reassurance, and he groaned before he replied: "Back to the emperor Ama, the navy is not as good as the land battle, the fight is the strength of the ship and the artillery, the initial expedition to the South Seas, 10,000 people is more than enough, but after the occupation, more than 10,000 flag soldiers are needed. As for grain and grass, it is simpler, one month's ration is sufficient, and what is insufficient can be replenished on the spot. ”

Hearing that the scale was so small, Kangxi couldn't help but be very wrong, glanced at Yinzhen, and said: "How many Spanish troops are there in Luzon?" ”

"At present, the intelligence is not accurate, and it is estimated that the garrison of Manila City is more than 5,000." Yinzhen groaned, "The situation of the garrisons in other places is unknown, and the specific military situation will not be reported back until the summer." ”

"Knowing yourself and knowing your opponent, you didn't do it, you dare to say that 10,000 troops are more than enough?" Kangxi stared at Yinzhen dissatisfiedly and asked.

Chapter 224 Silver is moving

Chapter 224 Silver Touching, to the URL