In Daming, a load of raw silk is worth 100 catties, worth 100 taels of silver. And in Japan, a quintal of silk can now be sold for five hundred and fifty taels of silver. The profit of its silk sales was the most advantageous trade between the Ming merchant ships and Japan. The price of a load of silk to Luzon, Manila, Batavia and other islands in the South Seas does not exceed 300 taels.

This huge profit even caused the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and British to buy raw silk from Chinese merchants, and then transfer it to Japan to sell, earning the difference in trade between the regions, and even in order to monopolize this huge profit, several countries even fought hard.

At this time, the output of silver mines in the Americas decreased, and Japan's silver output became the world's largest.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, before Japan closed the country, the Portuguese in Macao alone trafficked more than 5,000 quintals of raw silk to Japan, obtained more than 3 million taels of silver, and earned more than 2 million.

The Spaniards in Manila, Luzon, even took the Chinese raw silk they bought in Manila, Nanyang, and shipped it all the way north to Japan for sale.

At the beginning, the Dutch and Zheng Zhilong reached an agreement, and the Dutch ordered 140,000 catties of raw silk, 500,000 catties of sugar, 100,000 catties of syrup, and 500,000 catties of silk from Zheng Zhilong every year, and paid for 300,000 catties of pepper and some cash.

At the same time, there will still be nearly 100 large merchant ships to sell raw silk to Japan. Japan's demand for raw silk from China is staggering.

And now, Japan is closed to the rest of the world, most countries are unable to trade with them, the supply of goods is reduced, and the demand will only be higher. Trade will also be more profitable.

The Ming naval fleet recovered Taiwan and the entrenchment, and now there is a large gap in the market for trade with Japan, and the establishment of the Ming East India Company quickly fills this gap. And further showed a stronger position, taking trade with Japan as its own taboo, and domineering not allowing others to get involved.

On the one hand, Japan began to close itself off from the rest of the country. On the one hand, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries were driven out of this market, and then the powerful Ming East India Company appeared. Many people, even if they are unwilling, have no choice.

Japan has a hostile relationship with China, and in the past, it could still be secretly trafficked without retreat, but now that Japan is closed, except for Chinese businessmen like Zheng Zhilong, who have connections in Japan, no one else can enter at all. In the past, Portugal and the Netherlands and other countries competed vigorously to buy raw silk from Chinese merchants, but now these people have been driven away. Only the newly opened East India Company remained.

In particular, there are several shareholders in this company, which is the largest raw silk producer in Daming, and a large share of Daming's famous lake silk is occupied by these shareholders. Now the East India Company orders raw silk directly from those big silk merchants and then forwards it to Japan, and other people want to sell silk, and the channels and quantities are reduced.

Even if they had silk, they could only sell it to the Daming East India Company in the coastal ports, or ship it to Taiwan. You can sell more at a price. As for smuggling into Japan, Japan's anti-smuggling soldiers are not afraid. But he can't get around the great sailors on the sea, who doesn't know that the two major shareholders of the East India Company are the top bosses of the sailors.

Many maritime merchants had no choice but to give up the idea of selling smuggling to Japan, and turned to the South Seas to sell silk, tea, porcelain, sugar, and other goods, but the voyage was longer, and their profits declined. However, after the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries withdrew from Taiwan's trenches, these Xiyi lost the main source of Chinese goods. It can only rely on the Daming maritime merchants to transport goods in the past, and the price of goods has risen a lot for a while, which can be regarded as a small make up for the mood of Chinese maritime merchants.

At this time, the Four Seas Bank began to provide large loans to the maritime merchants, so that they could increase the number of sea vessels. Increase the volume of goods and make more profits. Although the interest rate of these commercial loans is not low, relatively speaking, maritime trade is also a high-profit industry, as long as there is capital, the return of capital is not a problem.

What's more, since the Ming sailor fleet was born out of thin air, after defeating several Xiyi fleets one after another, it is much safer to go to the sea in the South Seas, as long as the flag issued by the Daming Navy is hung, no pirates dare to move. In the sea close to China, there is the escort of the Daming naval division, and in the sea near the Nanyang Islands, there is the fleet of the Xiyi countries that are in urgent need of Chinese goods.

Several large shipyards in Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang have started work at the same time, and the new ships they have launched are all European-style galleons, which are larger than traditional Chinese merchant ships, change hard sails to soft sails, and are faster, load more cargo, and even equipped with not weak firepower, and have the ability to defend themselves.

As soon as the new ship models were launched, these shipyards immediately attracted the attention of many maritime merchants who had received loans. Many businessmen began to pay down payments and began to order this new type of sea vessel.

At the same time, Taiwan is also recruiting a large number of immigrants, and the Taiwanese government has come to the mainland to recruit immigrants to Tuntian. There are also Taiwanese development companies that have come to recruit workers and miners.

After a period of fermentation, the coastal provinces finally set off a wave of immigration to Taiwan. Countless poor people have finally come to believe that Taiwan is an unexplored treasure island, full of fertile land, and they beat roe deer and scoop fish. If you go, you can get a fertile land, a land of your own, and the climate there is suitable, just like Fujian, neither cold nor desolate, and there is not even any frightening fierce Tatar barbarians.

And you can also pay tax exemption for three years, and even as long as you sign up, you don't even have to pay the boat fare.

When some of the people who had already passed in advance and then came back soon to move their families to the past continued to happen, and finally there were even many new rumors that Taiwan was called the Golden Island, saying that there was gold everywhere, and everyone went there to pan for gold.

Every day, countless ships go to sea along the coast, both organized by the Taiwanese government, the government of the coastal provinces, and many by the East India Taiwan Development Corporation.

Later, in addition to the official big ships, more boats appeared, and even many fishermen did not fish, but switched to transporting immigrants to Taiwan, and hundreds of ships sailed to and from the strait every day.

Before the Chinese New Year, only more than 1,000 people from the mainland had emigrated to the island, but in less than two months after the New Year, more than 100,000 people had already emigrated to the island. Most of them are employees of the company who are hired by the development company and receive a salary, working on land reclamation or mining.

Many others are family immigrants who have come to the fields to reclaim the wasteland. Rushing to the government, the government will give them a large piece of land, and the reclamation is their own, and they will be tax-exempt for three years.

A small number of others listened to the rumors of the Golden Isle and came to venture out to pan for gold. Among the earliest people who came to pan for gold with the dream of making a fortune, a few people were really lucky to find gold mines or gold sand rivers on the island, attracting more people to come.

The Taiwan Strait is extremely popular. The transfer station in Penghu has quickly become a very prosperous transit port, with countless new shops and warehouses, and all kinds of commercial goods are constantly being transported from the mainland. Even the place in Chichi, because he had more room for expansion on land, quickly surpassed Taiwan City and Dayuan Town on Dayuan Island. Every day people come, every day there is news of the discovery of gold mines, and every day there are also honest people who come with their families just to get a piece of their own land from the government.

This change in Taiwan. Liu Jun sees it all in his eyes, this is the power of capital. If it weren't for the demand for entrepot trade with Japan, I am afraid that Taiwan would not be ignored at all, and it would still be a desert island.

But now, this is a prosperous entrepot port, and with Liu Jun's intervention, a large amount of capital has been invested in development, attracting countless immigrants.

It's March. The Daming East India Company's trade with Japan was in full swing, and the goods shipped from Daming to Taiwan were mainly raw silk. In addition, there were Chinese goods such as tea, porcelain, linen, sugar, and deerskin, as well as pepper and spices purchased from the South Seas, and the silver traded was exchanged for gold, brass, sulfur, and lacquerware after being transported to the ports of Hirado and other ports in Japan.

Among them, the silver is directly transferred to the Four Seas Bank, and the bank directly issues the silver bills for the company to be exchanged in various places, and the company then uses these silver bills to be handed over to the branch business stations around the country to purchase various Daming goods. and the purchase of pepper, spices and other goods sold from the South Seas.

Liu Jun asked the bank to melt the silver received and add copper to mint silver dollars, which were used for the exchange of silver bills and silver dollar coupons. During this period, Liu Jun also lent out a large number of loans, all of which were deposited by banks using interest rates in various places to attract depositors.

Liu Jun set a deposit-loan ratio for Sihai Bank, and the total amount of borrowings should not exceed 40% of the deposits. Moreover, the bank's loans are basically commercial loans, which are given to those commercial banks and businessmen with relatively strong strength, and the interest rate is also higher and the rate of return is rich.

At the same time, Liu Jun also asked the bank to print silver dollar coupons, although Liu Jun asked the bank to claim that it was a silver dollar coupon per dollar, and it could be exchanged for one silver dollar at the bank at any time, but in fact, Liu Jun was over-issuing silver dollar coupons, and for every silver dollar reserve, Liu Jun printed two silver dollar coupons.

In this way, Liu Jun is quickly swallowing money. Liu Jun knew that as long as the silver dollar coupons could be exchanged at any time, the people would get used to using the silver dollar coupons over time, and would not often exchange them for silver dollars that were heavier and inconvenient to carry. Just like the silver bill with a larger denomination, the silver bill is originally equivalent to a bank deposit certificate, which can be exchanged for a deposit at any time, but most of the time, because of the credit and convenience of the Four Seas Bank, everyone is more accustomed to directly using the bank ticket as currency to pay and carry for storage.

Because of this situation, the more depositors and the more deposits, the more money Liu Jun can use to lend. In the same way, the more capital Liu Jun has, the more reserves he has, the more silver dollar coupons he can overissue, and it is impossible for the people to withdraw money at the same time, and it is impossible for them to exchange the silver dollar coupons in their hands at the same time.

As long as the scale is larger, then the risk of a run is small.

Using other people's money to make money, turning one dollar into two dollars or even more money, this is the real art of turning stones into gold. However, if you want to play this method, in addition to having enough financial acumen, you must also have enough strength, economically, and status, otherwise, such a cow will be snatched by anyone.

Liu Jun thinks that although he is more anxious, considering that the current era is the last generation of the Ming Dynasty, and he has the extraordinary trust and status of the emperor, it is okay to rush into some adventures.

In March, the Daming East India Company, the Four Seas Bank, Jiangnan Qianzhuang, the Taiwan Development Corporation and other aspects were developing well. The Beiyang Naval Division and artillery brigade have also been improved and improved.

Just when the emperor had begun to urge him to prepare for the expedition, the Nanyang side finally reacted.

As Liu Jun expected, whether it was Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, or Portugal, when they suffered a big loss in China, they did not rush to the north to take revenge.

Just as Liu Jun has learned from the European mercenaries and advisers under his command these days, in fact, Europe has long been in chaos. It was a time of great chaos in Europe, from the German Civil War, which had gradually turned into a religious war in Europe, led by the Holy Roman Emperor and the Catholic princes, united with Spain, with the support of the Pope and Poland. They fought with the German Protestant princes, united with Denmark, Sweden, and France, with the support of England, the Netherlands, and Russia, to form a Protestant alliance, and the two sides were inextricably linked.

After 20 years of fighting, this war has entered a period of melee in all of Europe, and it is really you who sing and I appear. Although the Holy Roman Emperor and the Spanish side have finally won several stages of the war in this battle, they have already consumed too much strength in this rotten battle. The old Holy Rome and Spain are destined to be unable to hold on, while France, the Netherlands, and Sweden are gradually emerging as hegemons in this great melee.

Many of Liu Jun's mercenaries, such as Nicholas, were Germans, and their homes were destroyed by the civil war, and these people eventually left their homes and ventured to the East.

It was because of this chaos that the Dutch were able to gain independence from Spain, and they later signed a twelve-year moratorium. They demanded a truce with each other and refrained from attacking their respective overseas colonies.

For the sudden power of the Ming Kingdom, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and other countries were silent for several months. Finally replied.

They all sent envoys to the entrenchment mirror to meet and negotiate with Liu Jun.

Europe has been beaten into a mess and will have to continue to fight until one side finally collapses and the new hegemon replaces the old one. Before the results were played in Europe, before the results were played I don't know how many years it would take. Neither the Dutch nor the British, nor the Spanish, nor the Portuguese, did not want another major war in the East Indies.

The war in Europe had led to huge military expenditures, and countries had to rely on the proceeds of overseas trade to sustain the war.

The Ming Empire was not those Arab sultanates in the South Seas, especially the attack of the Ming Empire this time. Fierce and ferocious, they suffered a great loss of strength. Not to mention the current war in Europe, that is, there is no big war in Europe, and after losing so many warships, they are unable to assemble a fleet in the East Indies that can fight a decisive battle with the Ming army for a while.

What's more, they were in the East Indies for wealth, not to conquer the world.

Therefore, when Liu Jun defeated their fleet and sent someone to tell them that they were willing to trade with other countries, they hesitated for a long time, and finally they were willing to return to the negotiating table.

After a month-long negotiation, the parties finally reached an agreement.

Finally, the Gengchen Peace Treaty was drafted. The treaty stipulates that, first, the countries will pay 10 million taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty, and the countries will compensate with the warships, merchant ships and goods captured by the Ming Dynasty, and the two sides will offset them.

Second, Portugal ceded Tambasi on the northern shore of the Strait of Malacca to the Ming as a trading port, and the Ming could garrison troops in Tambasi. Third, prisoners from various countries were released immediately, but those who voluntarily stayed in Daming to live or were hired in Daming were allowed to choose freely.

Fourth, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom apologized for plundering the territory of the Ming Dynasty and killing the Ming territory and overseas people, and set up memorial stones in Manila, Batavia, Malacca and other places in the South Seas.

Fifth, trade and mutual markets. The merchant ships of Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom can go to any port of Daming for mutual market transactions, and the merchant ships of Daming can also reach the ports of the four countries for mutual trading. The five countries shall formulate the same tariffs and shall not arbitrarily increase tariffs.

Sixth, merchant ships of various countries must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty when they come to the Ming Dynasty, and all countries are not allowed to build fortresses, houses, or garrison troops in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Seventh, Japan and Korea are the exclusive trade trade of the Ming East India Company, and the merchant ships of various countries are not allowed to trade with Japan and Korea, and can only trade within the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Eighth, none of the five powers shall plunder the merchant ships of the other four nations at sea, or attack the territory of the other four powers, and the other four nations shall jointly seek revenge against them.

Ninth, all five nations may open merchant houses on the territory of the other four countries, but they are not allowed to build their own houses and castles, nor can they garrison troops and artillery to hold weapons, but only for commercial purposes. However, the country where the merchant is located has the responsibility to protect the staff of the merchant hall of the other country.

The main content of the entire agreement is these nine articles, and the specific agreement is written in the five languages. Although many of these provisions were reluctant of the four countries, especially Liu Jun's request to cede the island of Tambassi from the Portuguese-occupied island of Malacca. Not only Portugal was dissatisfied, but several other countries were also dissatisfied.

The Portuguese weakened early, and all countries have coveted the treasure of Malacca he occupied for a long time, especially the Netherlands, which is now getting stronger and stronger, has always wanted to seize Malacca. But now Da Ming is intervening. Although I only went to a corner on the northern shore of the Strait of Malacca, it was also unpleasant.

Tambasek is the Singapore of the later generations, and the place is not big, that is, at this time, the Ming Dynasty is as big as Xiangshan County, including the moat mirror. But the location is unique, guarding the Strait of Malacca, Liu Jun has to make this request, mainly to insert the Daming East India Company into the South Seas, such a large place, separated by tens of thousands of miles of sea areas. Those monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty will not look at it. However, if it is used as a trading port, it is very valuable, and it is even very helpful for restraining countries such as the Netherlands and Spain.

Countries are dissatisfied with dissatisfaction, but now the Ming Dynasty is the victorious country, and in the spirit of cooperation and win-win attitude, in the end, it is still reluctant to reach an agreement. Portugal did not want to be unanimous, unfortunately four to one. He had to agree if he didn't agree.

Among the others, the most controversial was the Ming Dynasty's monopoly on trade rights between Japan and Korea. This is more dissatisfied than letting Daming run to Nanyang and occupy a corner of Malacca. But Liu Jun's attitude became more and more tough on this point, and he directly wanted to end the negotiations several times, and finally forced them to agree. Losing Japan and North Korea, but still gaining a broader market in China.

As for the other apologies, it's a trivial matter. They used the merchant ships and warships they had seized as collateral for indemnity, and they also admitted it. After all, everything that was taken away by the Ming army did not expect the Ming army to spit it back again. As for the soldiers who were originally their employees and went to the Ming Kingdom to be mercenaries, it didn't matter.

It took more than a month before and after, and finally an agreement was reached. In the future, the five countries will live together in peace, trade with each other, and win-win cooperation.

After the names of the representatives of the five countries were signed on the agreement written in the five languages, everyone shook hands and smiled with satisfaction. Liu Jun also smiled, with this agreement, it is always a good thing that several countries do not have to fight to the death on the surface in the future, and orderly competition. The maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty can go out and go further, and the merchants of various countries can also come in, the merchants make money, and the imperial court also sets up customs to collect taxes and profits, and the prosperity of commerce will inevitably benefit many people.

On the day the agreement was signed, Liu Jun asked Fu Shan to send an order to all the departments of the Nine-Headed Bird to prepare for the return of the whole army to Jingxiang.

For Liu Jun, everything that should be arranged has already been arranged, and then these coastal ones will slowly develop.

It's already April, the ice in the north is about to thaw, and the emperor is getting impatient.

At this time, he returned to Hubei to do the last rectification, and then he was about to officially send troops to Liaodong.

When he was coercing the power of the thieves, Liu Jun boasted to Chongzhen that he wanted to lead his troops to cross the sea to the east, open up a second battlefield, and break the attack with the Qing army. During this time, he stirred up wind and rain in the south, and the strength of the nine-headed bird was also greatly improved, and he also had a newly built Beiyang Naval Division and Artillery Brigade, with these two troops, Liu Jun felt that he would have more hope next time he went to sea to Liao.

Calculating the time, his child is about to be born, but he, the father, has been away all the time and has not been at home for many years. Thinking that tens of thousands of soldiers have not returned home since they were sent out in the autumn, he also feels a little guilty, but this is indeed the case with soldiers. This winter and spring in the south, they are doing well.

Liu Jun was about to leave suddenly, and Zhang Guowei, Zheng Zhilong, Xiong Wencan, Li Shuchu, He Tengjiao and other southern officials were still a little reluctant and unaccustomed to it. Everyone is even accustomed to having such a great god as Zhennanhou, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the south. I am accustomed to the flying of the nine-headed flag, to the bandits of these Chu troops in the south, to the visits of their fleets from port to port, and to the great changes that this marquis has brought to the south.

Suddenly, the Marquis of Zhennan was leaving, taking his nine-headed bird flag with him, taking his fleet, his soldiers and horses, and his cannons to leave.

"Send a few more warships to guard the Lion City, repair more forts, don't lose it, it's hard to get it." When Liu Jun left, he confessed to Zheng Zhilong.

"Please rest assured, Master Hou, I will let the Zhibao keep an eye on it, and I will never lose it."

"That's good." (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you Fan Xuanzi for the monthly pass, thank you!