Chapter 126: North Port Strategy

Before Zhu Houhuang entered the door, Yang Shen had already greeted him and said, "King Changshi of Chenyong has come to see His Royal Highness." As he spoke, Zhu Houhuang hurriedly stepped forward, helped Yang Shen up and said, "Why should Master Yang be polite." ”

Yang Shen said: "Etiquette cannot be abolished. ”

Yang Shen himself is not a person who sticks to etiquette, but Yang Shen controls the affairs of the entire Yongguo, which makes him truly understand the strength of the Yongguo.

Although the current Yongguo is still a bud, Zhu Houhuang's firm strategy has not made a single mistake, especially the Nanyang route alone has brought Zhu Houhuang tens of thousands of taels of silver per month. In a year, the annual harvest of the entire Dongyong can reach the level of nearly one million.

You must know that the annual cash collection in the German treasury is only three or four million taels, although in addition to the silver taels, there are many physical goods. Coupled with the silver taels intercepted by the local governments, the entire Ming Dynasty has received a lot of money, but the silver that Zhengde can really use is probably not as much as Zhu Houhuang.

With such strong financial support, Zhu Houhuang wanted to completely open up Dongyong. It's not impossible.

With Dongyong alone, Zhu Houhuang can become the head of a small country with a population of one million, not to mention Zhu Houhuang's ambition for Nanyang.

As soon as Yang Shen thought of Zhu Houhuang's future, he consciously restrained the arrogance in his heart. Strictly abide by the courtesy of the monarch and the minister. Don't dare to despise Zhu Houhuang.

Zhu Houhuang could also feel the deep meaning behind Yang Shen's actions. Didn't pay much attention to it. Side by side with Yang Shen entered the hall of the Prime Minister's Mansion and said, "Master Yang, Lone came this time to talk to Master Yang about artillery. ”

"His Highness has also found out," Yang Shen said, "The iron price in the Jiangnan area is abnormal. ”

Zhu Houhuang didn't care much about this matter, but he didn't want Yang Shen to bypass the matter to the iron price, he also felt that the iron price was a little abnormal, but the businessman's method of hoarding goods was just a strange way, and he didn't think deeply. I couldn't help asking: "Why is the price of iron abnormal?" It's just some profiteers hoarding goods? ”

Yang Shen wanted to explain to Zhu Houhuang, but when he saw Xu Dong's face, he said, "Please ask Lord Xu to explain it to His Highness." ”

Zhu Houhuang turned his head, looked at Xu Dong and asked, "Xu Qing?" ”

Xu Dong said: "Your Highness, iron is no better than other objects, first, this is a bulk material, if you want to control the price, you need to hoard a lot, there are few merchants in the world can do it, and second, food, and iron are very sensitive things, no one behind them to support them dare not do this." ”

"That is to say, behind the sharp rise in iron prices this time, there must be a force to support it, and this force can still speak in the court." Zhu Houhuang suddenly remembered something. He remembered that there seemed to be a case of rebellion by the prince who was sensational after all during the Zhengde years. He thought about it carefully and said secretly: "Yes, it was King Ning who rebelled." ”

Zhu Houhuang had also thought about King Ning's rebellion before, but it was said that it was not an easy thing for a prince to rebel, and the consequences were also very serious, after all, Zhu Houhuang was also a prince. Deal with King Ning. It is not good for Zhu Houhuang, but there are many disadvantages. Moreover, when Zhu Houhuang was in Beijing, King Ning's rebellion was still a distant thing, and there were too many variables. Zhu Houhuang did not dare to act rashly.

At this moment, Zhu Houhuang has to face this problem, how to deal with King Ning's rebellion, whether to expose it, or turn a blind eye.

When Zhu Houhuang was thinking carefully, Yang Shen said: "This matter, whether it is big or small, may be just a coincidence, but maybe someone is really plotting against it." ”

Zhu Houhuang took a deep breath and said, "We can't control the affairs on the mainland, Master Yang, you can write a letter to Scholar Yang to remind a Scholar Yang." ”

Zhu Houhuang has already decided, this rebellion of King Ning, he decided to watch from the wall. Just be a spectator and don't express any opinions, at most remind Zhengde of the iron price problem.

It was not that Zhu Houhuang was unwilling to quell King Ning's rebellion in advance, so that King Ning would be ambushed before he could get into trouble. But Zhu Houhuang just thought about it carefully, no.

First of all, in the eyes of the heavenly officials, Zhu Houhuang himself is in a place of suspicion. After all, only Zhu Houhuang is the only one who is not restricted by the prince now, although Zhu Houhuang is far overseas, but it cannot eliminate the jealousy of others.

Zhu Houhuang, who is in a place of suspicion, the best way is not to have any involvement with King Ning, a little implication can give Zhu Houhuang unknown consequences.

Sitting on the sidelines may not be the best decision. But for Zhu Houhuang, it was the safest decision.

"Lone came this time mainly because the supply of artillery was not available, and the second thing was to buy artillery from the military department, as well as weapons or something, it really consumed too much silver. Lone hopes that Dongyong can produce its own steel. Zhu Houhuang skipped this sensitive topic and moved on to the next topic.

"It's good to be able to produce your own steel. It's just--" Yang Shen said: "If you want to produce your own steel, you must have iron ore." If there is no iron ore, transporting iron from outside is not much different from transporting iron ore. ”

In terms of cost, it is not only not much different, but also very different. It's just that Yang Shen didn't say much in order to protect Zhu Houhuang's face.

Zhu Houhuang said: "Lone knows where there is an iron mine in Dongyong. ”

Yang Shen immediately understood and asked, "What does Your Highness mean?" ”

"Alas," Zhu Houhuang sighed and said: "Lonely's original intention was to destroy the Potbelly Country and then make plans, but now that it is like this, I can only put the matter of the Potbelly Country on the go, and solve the iron mine first, and the iron mine is in the extreme north of Dongyong." ”

"Northport?" Xu Dong blurted out.

"Northport." Yang Shen chewed two words and said, "Your Highness wants to use troops in Beigang." ”

"Exactly." Zhu Houhuang didn't know what Taipei was called in this era, and when he heard Xu Dong blurt out Beigang, he thought it was Beigang, and said: "Xu Qing, let me explain Beigang to you." ”

"Yes," Xu Dong bowed slightly to Zhu Houhuang, and then said: "Beigang is a good port in the northeast corner of Dongyong Island. Back then, I had sheltered from the wind and waves here, but Beigang was not as good as Dayuan, the nearby mountains were undulating, and it was not as good as the Pingchuan near Dayuan, and it was far away from Penghu, so when I chose a site for His Highness, I gave up this location. There are already Fujian immigrants in the local area, but most of them are doing business without capital, and Beigang also has a name called, Xiaogang. ”

Ghosts, just think about it, you know what kind of place it is.

"Hmph. Aren't you afraid that they are ghosts? As long as it is Han Chinese, is there a strong indigenous tribe in the local area? Zhu Houhuang is quite confident. There are Han people in Beigang, no matter what kind of Han people, they will become the basis of their own rule, and for Zhu Houhuang, the more Han people, the better. The trouble is the natives.

"It's a dog slave country." Xu Dong said.

"Dog slave country?" Yang Shen couldn't help but smile and said, "Is there still such a name?" ”

"This dog slave country still has a history, it is said that Zheng and Zheng Gonggong, according to the holy Yu went to the sea to Fuyi, all the departments on Dongyong Island have passed, but the dog slave department has not passed, Zheng Gonggong arrested the dog slave tribe and hung a bell around the neck of their tribal leader. As a result, the tribe actually took this bell as a token and passed it down from generation to generation. I don't know who started calling first. Anyway, they will be called dog slave countries in the future. Xu Dong said.

"The dog slave country, no matter what country it is, what is the relationship with the Han people? How many people are there in this dog slave country? Yang Shen continued to ask.

"Although the dog slave country is said to be a country, it is actually just a tribal alliance, but he has a good relationship with the local Han people, and many people can speak Chinese. They often do small deals with each other. Xu Dong said.

Zhu Houhuang secretly said in his heart: "Yes, no matter what kind of dog slave country he is or not, if he can communicate with the Han people, it means that there is a possibility of turning him into a Han country?" ”

"Where is the iron ore in Northport?" Yang Shen asked.

"This ---" Xu Dong hesitated for a moment, he thought carefully for a while, and said: "The last general, I don't remember what iron mines there are in Beigang. ”

Yang Shen turned his head and asked Zhu Houhuang and said, "Your Highness?" ”

Zhu Houhuang said: "The matter of iron ore is undoubted. There are not only iron mines, but also coal mines and even gold mines near North Port. ”