Where to get it?

When Li Zhongshan heard Zheng Jing's question, he was also a little crying and laughing.

Zheng Jing has forgotten his roots!

Three generations of pirates in your family, and it's only been a few years since you went ashore? Forgot all about the old business? I have no choice but to make up for you.

Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan said to Zheng Jing: "Yiwang, do you know where the specific location of the Spice Island in the Netherlands is?" ”

"Yes!" Zheng Jing nodded, "Of course I know this, it's in the area of the Malugu Sea and the Banda Sea. Before the Westerners who killed a thousand knives monopolized there, our Fujian merchant ships could also go there to do spice business. ”

The main spices that Europeans like are pepper, nutmeg and cloves, of which pepper is widely grown, and nutmeg and cloves are currently only produced in the East Indies on the islands of Tidore, Ternate and Banda.

In 1621, the Banda Islands were conquered by white-skinned mercenaries and Japanese mercenaries sent by Cohen, then governor of the Dutch East India Company, and a massacre ensued, killing 14,000 of the island's 15,000 inhabitants and forcibly relocating the rest to Batavia. The entire island was under the control of the Dutch, who established clove plantations on the island that used slaves for labor, completely monopolizing the supply of cloves throughout the world.

The inhabitants of the islands of Tidore and Ternate were more "lucky", and their leaders signed a very unequal treaty with the Dutch in 1652, and the Dutch owned all the nutmeg plantations on both islands. All nutmeg trees that did not belong to the East India Company had to be cut down once a year, and the mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company would regularly conduct "expeditions" to the two islands, and when they found privately planted nutmeg trees, they would not only cut down the trees, but also cut down people!

After more than twenty years of chopping people and trees, the supply of nutmeg was also completely controlled by the Dutch East India Company!

Li Zhongshan asked again: "Wing King, do you know how our people can get there?" ”

"You know, from the side of Guangdong and Fujian, go south, sail from the west of Luzon to the country of Sulu, and then from the country of Sulu to the south. By the way, Sulu was the northward trading hub of spices in the South Seas, and it was not difficult to find a guide who could go to the spice islands in the South Seas when you arrived at Sulu Island. ”

"Can you still find it?" Li Zhongshan hurriedly asked again.

"Now? Yes, it should be okay, the cloves in the South Seas have been monopolized by the Dutch for more than 50 years, but nutmeg has only been monopolized by them for more than 20 years, and the island where nutmeg is produced is large, and we need our iron tools and groceries, and our Fujian people's boats can still pass. ”

"Hahaha, that's good!" Li Zhongshan laughed.

Zheng Jing didn't feel right until he got here, and looked at Li Zhongshan in a daze, "General, what do you want to do?" ”

Li Zhongshan hasn't answered yet, his father Li Fuchen has already answered: "Hey, what good thing can he think of?" I must have wanted to rob the Dutch of Spice Island! ”

"Looting Spice Island?" Zheng Jing took a cool breath, "General, now we can't defeat the Dutch East India Company and the Spanish Armada, isn't it too urgent to attack Spice Island now?" ”

"Father," Li Yat-sen did not answer Zheng Jing's question immediately, but said to Li Fuchen, "How can you talk about this?" I just want to go to Spice Island to get some cloves and nutmeg...... How is this a robbery? ”

"What is this not a robbery?" Li Fuchen is not used to his son, "Rob it, grab it, what's there?" ”

"Father," Li Yat-sen still refused to admit that he was a robber, "you still don't understand, I didn't think about robbing the spices on Spice Island, I will give money!" In fact, I wanted to break the Dutch monopoly on the spice trade! ”

"Breaking the monopoly?" Zheng Jing's business sensitivity immediately came up, and he immediately asked, "General, how do you want to break it?" ”

"It's simple," Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "I'll buy a batch of cardamom and lilac seedlings from Spice Island, and then transport them back to Qiongzhou Island to plant them." In the future, we will also have cloves and nutmeg, so don't we ask for help? Yiwang, in the future, this transaction will be done for Nanyang Trading Company and Guangdong Trading Company together! One specializes in cardamom, and the other only makes cloves! ”

Zheng Jing already understood Li Zhongshan's thoughts, "General, you want to cut off the roots of the Dutch East India Company!" ”

"Broken roots?" Li Fuchen didn't understand again, "Isn't it just a little condiment, why is it broken?" ”

"Of course it's broken!" Li Zhongshan sneered, "The Dutch East India Company earns monopoly spice profits, but it still loses money every year when it plays the general ledger, if there is no spice profit, can they still support it?" ”

Cloves and nutmeg, over the past few decades, have provided the Dutch with massive profits. Of course, most of them were divided among the top brass of the Dutch East India Company.

However, the profits from the clove and nutmeg trade were very important for the continued operation of the Dutch East India Company.

Because the Dutch East India Company had a large fleet, mercenaries, and a large number of corporate bureaucrats. If the monopoly profits of the spice trade had been lost, the East India Company would have fallen into great losses. After all, the East India Company was a joint-stock commercial company, and if it suffered huge losses year after year, how could it be maintained?

Although the Dutch navy was very strong, and the Ming navy was no match for them at all, the Netherlands was a commercial country with a population of only 3 million and extremely dependent on overseas trade for sustainance. They are not going to trade at a loss, as France and Spain do, regardless of the cost. As far as their family background is concerned, even if they want to do it at a loss, they won't be able to do it for a few years.

Therefore, Li Yat-sen devised a way to strike at the commercial interests of the Dutch East India Company in order to force back the Dutch in Southeast Asia.

The main purpose of his return to Europe for the French fleet with enough silk, porcelain, sugar, tea, lacquerware, and spices was not to give Louis XIV a blood transfusion, but to let Louis XIV use those goods to steal business with the Dutch.

10 million taels of oriental goods shipped to Europe must not be sold for 30 million 40 million? It's been a long time since I digested it!

And he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Dutch and the Spaniards to "avoid" the conflict with France, and the purpose of raiding the spice islands was to fundamentally break the Dutch monopoly on spices!

Li Zhongshan said to Zheng Jing again: "Yiwang, let's go back and see Yang Qilong together and get the silver from him, you will start to stock up, and at least prepare the goods priced at 8 million within three months, can you do it?" ”

On the Chinese side, the price of 8 million taels of silk, porcelain, sugar, lacquerware, and tea can make at least 3 million taels of gross profit for Zheng Jing's Nanyang Trading Company.

The remaining 2 million taels were made up with spices looted from the Maluku Islands and Banda Islands.

In this way, the 10 million taels that Fuquan stored on Yang Qilong's side were all left in the East Asian market, and Louis XIV got the goods that could be sold for 30 or 40 million in Europe, which also belonged to winning hemp.

This is the legendary win-win, Daming wins once, France wins once. Of course, the Netherlands and England lost and cried!

"8 million." Zheng Jing thought about it and said with a smile, "No problem, I'll place an order tomorrow, and I will be able to get things together within three months!" ”

Li Zhongshan nodded, thinking: Now the handicraft production capacity of Daming is really amazing, 8 million goods can be made up in 3 months, although some of them must be inventory, but this kind of industrial and commercial production scale is probably only comparable to India in the world, right? This India is a big problem after all!

At this time, Zheng Jing suddenly frowned again: "General, the Dutch have a strict view of the Maluku Islands and the Banda Islands, and there are warships patrolling there regularly, and our fleet is not sure that it will meet the warfleet of the East India Company!" ”

"How can you not be sure?" Li Yat-sen smiled, "We have the Royal Sun!" And there was also the French Naval Advisory Corps led by Rear Admiral Codontin. They were all professional French naval officers, and they were certainly better at naval warfare than the merchants of the East India Company! ”

"That's right!" Zheng Jing slapped his face, "We have a first-class battleship!" Although there is only one . But the armed merchant ships of the Dutch also had to hide. This class of battleships fights their merchant ships, and it's not like playing? General, you don't lose your 500,000 taels of money! ”

Outside the Navy Wharf in Gaoqiao Town, Baoshan County, there was a lot of people coming and going at this time. Teachers and students at the Chongming Island Naval Academy moved their classes from the campus on Chongming Island to the docks in Gaoqiao Town, where there is the best navy and the strongest sail battleships in the world, and one of them has already been sold to the Daming Navy!

What does it mean that the first-class battleship, which could only be illustrated in textbooks before, has now become the property of the Ming Navy? This shows that the period of great development of the Ming Navy has come, maybe 10 or 20 years later, there will be hundreds of first, second and third level battleships flying the Ming Sun and Moon flags, cruising on the ocean.

And they, the Ming Navy cadets, will be the pillars of the Navy at that time!

Just as excited as these young Ming navymen were, there were officers and sailors from France.

Some of them have already received well-paid consultant contracts from Rear Admiral Cotentin, and in the years to come, they will become military advisers to the Ming Navy, with a minimum annual salary of 3,000 livres! This is a high salary that they could not have imagined in France!

And those French naval officers and sailors who did not receive high-paying contracts also received a gift from the Ming General's Mansion - a few fine silks, and a large bag of fresh green tea that is said to prevent scurvy.

A few horses of fine silk were not worth much in the Ming Dynasty, but they were expensive when they were brought back to Europe.

However, no matter how expensive silk is, it can't compare to the fresh green tea that can prevent the bad blood soldiers!

Scurvy was the number one cause of death for European seafarers, especially low-ranking seafarers, during the Age of Discovery! If drinking a few cups of green tea a day can prevent scurvy, those French seafarers will undoubtedly have one more life!

No matter how much money you make, you have to spend your life!

The Royal Sun, which has removed most of the bells and whistles from the carvings, now has a Chinese name - Liaodong! And it became the general flagship of the Ming Navy.

The Liaodong, which had just been renamed, seemed to be about to sail away.

A group of Ming sailors, pushing a wheelbarrow that can carry a lot of things, is transporting supplies to this first-class battleship docked on the dock.

A red background of the sun and moon with a bright flag is flying on the mast of the Liaodong, and the white background gold iris flower flag symbolizing the Bourbon royal family!

The piercing sound of suona suddenly sounded. The officers and men of the Ming Navy, as well as the teachers and students of the military academy who were busy working or visiting, all stopped, and then lined up on the dock, looking very well-trained.

Then, a line of carriages and horses came from afar, and the hooves of three four-wheeled carriages could be heard. In front of and on the left and right sides of the convoy, there were also guards of the Shanzi battalion with flintlock pistols on their backs, cuirasses, sabers, and iron helmets.

If there is a cavalry of the Shanzi battalion, there will naturally be Li Zhongshan, the general!

Li Yat-sen is now sharing a bus with Zheng Jing, Leibniz, and Cotentin. Leibniz is now finally a senior official - deputy director of the military industry of the General's Palace, deputy hall master of Yingtian University Hall, and the rank of commander of the army from the first rank.

He is now Leibniz Le's military gate, and he really got what he wanted!

Like him, there is also Ketang Tanke Military Gate, Ke Tang Tan has also been awarded the rank of military rank by the General's Mansion, and now the deputy director of military science, the deputy master of the Chongming Island Naval Academy, and the admiral military gate from Yipin.

Zheng Jingzheng introduced the situation of Nagasaki, the destination of his trip, and said: "This Nagasaki was attacked by the troops led by the general Sabusu under Yang Qilong three months ago. The battle of Nagasaki was fierce, and it lasted for two months, and the Japanese Hizen feudal army guarding Nagasaki suffered heavy losses, with thousands of casualties! The armies of the various Kyushu domains that were sent by the Tokugawa shogunate to support Nagasaki also suffered a lot of casualties!

However, Yang Qilong's new Korean army also lost several thousand men, and it was unable to fight again in the short term after fighting Nagasaki, so the war in Kyushu remained there for two or three months. ”

He spoke Chinese, and Lai Junmen, who is now proficient in Chinese, was in charge of translating his words into French.

"If the war is like this, shouldn't the maritime trade in Nagasaki stop?" Codontan asked.

He, a Frenchman, had also heard the legends of the "El Dorado of Japan" and the "Nagasaki Trading Port"!

"It's been a few months off, but it's been back up recently!" Zheng Jing said with a smile, "Yang Qilong still has a way, he has turned Nagasaki Commercial Port into a clear concession!" The Dutch, English, Spanish, and Portuguese were also invited to participate in the administration.

Now merchants from all over the world can freely enter and exit Nagasaki, and the market in Nagasaki is controlled by the Qing soldiers, and there are a lot of rules in all aspects. Hearing Zheng Jing's words, Li Yat-sen couldn't help but smile - turning Nagasaki into a lease-lease operation was, of course, instructed by Li Yat-sen behind his back.

The current Japanese devils are really aggrieved, they were obviously invaded by the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty can be neutral - the Korean prison state of the Qing Dynasty attacks Japan, and then the Qing Dynasty can still be neutral! Not only can it be neutral, but it can also be loaned to the Japanese devil in Nagasaki as a father!

Do the Japanese devils dare to agree?

How can it be? The Qing Dynasty is now a good friend of the Western powers such as the Netherlands, England, Spain, and Portugal! Compared with the Qing Dynasty, Japan is a cannon fodder production area.

Moreover, the vassals of the Qing Dynasty are all pressing Japan, and if Japan is not convinced, those foreign fathers will abandon Japan. At that time, Japan will only have to recognize Dad!

And this Ming Dad. In fact, there have already been Japanese feudal lords who have recognized that Li Yat-sen set foot in Nagasaki this time in order to meet secretly with the three feudal lords of the Satsuma Domain, Choshu Domain, and Tosa Domain!

According to Li Yat-sen's plan, he had to hire 5,000 mercenaries from the Satsuma and Choshu domains to attack the Maluku and Banda Islands!

If it is used well, then these Japanese mercenaries will be responsible for doing dirty work, and the Dutch, Spaniards, and Portuguese will be all in trouble in Southeast Asia!

That Spanish Armada sounds very powerful, but as long as you avoid them a little, you can pull out these imperialist strongholds in the Nanyang Islands, and when those strongholds are all harmed, the Dutch, Spaniards, and Portuguese really plan to lose their blood in the South Seas and fight the Ming to the end?

Of course, the Netherlands, England, Spain, and Portugal made considerable progress on Japanese territory - they have now become Japanese foreign fathers, and have begun to recruit mercenaries in Japan, and at the same time have given the Tokugawa shogunate some assistance to help the Tokugawa shogunate train new troops.

In short, these four "foreign fathers" are now waving the banner of resisting Korea and aiding Japan, and they have the posture of fighting to the last Japanese.

And the Japanese devils themselves, according to the report of Zheng Jing's uncle Tagawa Nanaemon, seem to be quite happy, especially a group of bitter ronin. Now you can find a "decent samurai job"!

Anyway, no matter which "father" they fought for, they all had the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and even if they couldn't get a fief, they could still earn a lot of silver.

(End of chapter)