"If the goods are transported from the Ming Dynasty to the Wa Kingdom or the South Seas, how much profit will there be?" After listening to Zheng Zhilong talk about the situation in Xiyi, Zhu Youzhen suddenly asked.

Zheng Zhilong was stunned for a moment, didn't think much about it, and said directly:

"Look at what kind of goods it is, if it is ordinary goods, such as cotton cloth and lacquerware, it can be transported to the country with twice the profit, if it is raw silk, there will be at least three to five times the profit, if the market is good, it is not impossible to get ten times the profit."

"Haimao has such a big profit!" Zhu Youzhen's eyes sparkled.

"It's very profitable, but it's also dangerous." Zheng Zhilong sighed, "The sea is high and the waves are strong, every year there are ships capsized by the wind and waves, going to sea to trade is really to exchange their lives for silver, if it is not forced to do so, no one wants to go to sea." ”

"The wind and waves are only one of them, the most terrible thing is to encounter the Xiyi sea ship, our Daming sea ship is not an opponent at all, and we can't escape if we can't beat it. The Xiyi people were all pirates, and their methods were extremely cruel, often killing all the Ming crew and taking all the goods. ”

"One day, I, Daming, will definitely expel Xiyi from the Daming coast!" Zhu Youzhen said angrily.

"Your Majesty Shengming!" Zheng Zhilong complimented. In his heart, he was quite disapproving, the Daming Sailor was extremely weak, and he only dared to sail in the near sea, and the small boats of the Sailor couldn't even go to the ocean, so how could he expel Xiyi?

"Why, don't you believe I can do it?" Zhu Youzhen squinted at Zheng Zhilong and asked.

"Weichen doesn't dare!" Zheng Zhilong was startled and hurriedly said.

"You don't believe it, and I'm afraid no one will." Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "Because all the princes of the Manchu Dynasty are short-sighted, they can't see the great benefits of the ocean, and they can't see how important the ocean is to our Ming Dynasty." ”

"No, it's not that no one sees it, those gentry in the southeast can see it, as far as I know, many gentry in the southeast crossed the city and secretly organized ships to go to sea to trade, and exchanged the goods of the Ming Dynasty for a shipload of silver, so the gentry in the southeast are rich and rival the country, and there are countless people with millions of family assets, and there are also a lot of people with tens of millions of family assets!

Zheng Zhilong, you are a maritime businessman, you should know more about this situation than me, right? ”

"This ......" Zheng Zhilong was a little dumbfounded.

Of course, he knew that in Zhejiang, Fujian, and even Guangdong, there were many gentry who organized ships to go to sea, and even many pirates along the coast were secretly controlled by these gentry.

The gentry controlled all kinds of sources of goods, or organized their own fleets to go to sea, or sold their goods to maritime merchants, and even he Zheng Zhilong did not dare to offend these gentry families in the southeast.

If you offend the gentry, you will be tantamount to offending the government, and you will have no source of goods, and the gentry will collude with the government and will send a navy to encircle and suppress it, who can bear it?

Zheng Zhilong was a little stunned that the emperor knew so much about the situation in the southeast!

This is obviously a lot of effort to the southeast and the sea!

So what is the purpose of calling yourself to Beijing this time?

"What? Don't you want to tell me the truth? Seeing that Zheng Zhilong didn't speak, Zhu Youzhen asked lightly.

Zheng Zhilong shivered, and hurriedly said: "Weichen doesn't dare, Weichen is just a little surprised, Your Majesty knows so much about the southeast." ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly: "I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the four seas of Kyushu are all my territory, shouldn't I know the situation in my land?" ”

"Your Majesty is right, it is true, the gentry in the southeast have a lot to do with the sea." Zheng Zhilong said softly, at this time, he no longer dared to hide anything.

"Songjiang has cotton cloth, Suzhou and Hangzhou have silk tea, Fujian has raw silk tea, Guangdong has ironware, Jiangxi has porcelain, and most of these industries are run by the gentry. Whether it is silk, tea or porcelain, it can be sold for a lot of money overseas, and it is inevitable that the gentry will have something to do with the sea, and I understand this. ”

"However, not a single tael of silver went into the treasury for the benefit of sea trade. At present, Daming is worried about internal and external troubles, the treasury income is not as good as a year, Daming is short of money, and I am also short of money! Zhu Youzhen sighed.

"Does Your Majesty want to open a market?"

Zhu Youzhen shook his head: "It's not that Quanzhou doesn't have a city department, but it only brings tens of thousands of taels of silver to the treasury a year, what is the use of such a city department?" ”

"This time, I don't want to open a shipping company, I want to form a royal fleet and personally send ships to trade at sea!"

"This ......" Zheng Zhilong was really shocked, he never expected that the emperor would summon him for this, which was completely different from what he thought at first.

"Your Majesty, what do you want Wechen to do?" Zheng Zhilong asked cautiously.

"You have ships and people on the sea, let's join forces to form the Royal Maritime Trade Company!" Zhu Youzhen said indifferently.

Zheng Zhilong's heart thumped! He knew what that meant.

With the plaque of the Royal Commercial Bank, it means that from now on, the local government and the gentry of the provinces will no longer have to pay attention to it, and they will no longer have to worry about their extortion!

In a few years, he will become the first maritime merchant in the Ming Dynasty!

At this time, although Zheng Zhilong has a lot of power, he is far from being a monopoly at sea.

Xu Xinsu, Liu Xiang, Li Kuiqi, Yang Liu, Yang Qi, Zheng Zhilong have many opponents at sea.

And with a royal background, these opponents will be eliminated sooner or later!

"Of course, I don't take advantage of you, I will use the silk of Suzhou to weave the yamen, and then purchase goods from all over the country in the name of the imperial merchants. You have ships and manpower, I have cargo channels, and our monarchs and ministers will join forces to completely control the Daming sea trade, what do you think? Zhu Youzhen continued.

"Wechen is willing!" Zheng Zhilong said excitedly.

"What? Don't ask yourself how much you have? Zhu Youzhen said with a smile.

"It's an honor for Weichen to do things for His Majesty, how dare you ask for any shares, as long as you can feed the brothers under Weichen's command." Zheng Zhilong hurriedly said.

Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "I don't treat you badly, the Royal Commercial House, I account for seventy percent of the shares, you account for thirty percent, I can promise, as long as the Ming Dynasty is here, these thirty percent of the shares can be hereditary for your Zheng family!" ”

Zheng Zhilong was overjoyed: "Weichen thanks Your Majesty Longen!" ”

Although there are only 30% of the shares, Zheng Zhilong is already very satisfied. Although he made his own profits alone, he had to suffer from the exploitation of the gentry and the blackmail of the government. And pirates are not a serious business after all, how many can get a good death?

Shares with the emperor, although the majority of the income was handed over to the emperor, but the identity has been completely different since then, not to mention the thirty percent hereditary shares, but it means that the glory of the generations, the children and grandchildren can enjoy it inexhaustibly!

Zhu Youzhen also laughed happily.

With just a few words, he subdued this big pirate, which made Zhu Youzhen quite proud.

Zhu Youzhen knew that even if he didn't participate, it wouldn't be long before Zheng Zhilong would dominate the sea and become a sea tyrant with an annual income of tens of millions and a separating party.

Now while he hasn't gotten up yet, he only paid a royal name and easily accepted it, which is really a lucrative deal!

With his own support, Zheng Zhilong will inevitably level other forces on the sea faster, and the benefits of sea trade will roll in!

Zhu Youzhen can foresee that in a few years, the sea trade alone will bring him millions of taels of silver every year!

Hmph, gentry of the southeast, aren't you all rich and rivaling countries, I will first cut your foundation from the sea!