Chapter 161: The Beginning of Overseas Trade

Overseas trade has sprouted since the Qin and Han dynasties, to the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the "Silk Road" blockage and the inconvenience of land transportation, overseas trade began to prosper, to the Song Dynasty reached a peak, Chinese sea ships traveled all over the Indian Ocean, as far as the Persian Gulf, and nearly 100 countries and regions developed maritime trade relations with nearly 100 countries and regions at that time.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, shipping began to decline, to the middle of the Ming Dynasty Zheng He went to the West after the last glory, China's shipping completely fell into a trough, especially in the early years of the Qing Dynasty to move the border, the policy of banning the sea is to basically strangle overseas trade, in addition to some small-scale smuggling, overseas trade has ceased to exist, Kangxi 26 August, Kangxi ordered to cancel the "sea ban", but only set up Macau, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, Yuntai Mountain four ports, respectively set up four customs, and the restrictions are extremely strict, No one was allowed to trade privately without the imperial court, and the entire overseas trade volume was less than one percent of that of the Song Dynasty. The reason for the decline of overseas trade is complex, and it is not something that can be explained in a few words, but it is fundamentally inseparable from the Confucian way of governing the country without thinking of making progress and only taking the mean.

The importance of the ocean Yinzuo is clear, the cruelty of its competition Yinzuo is also in his heart, in order to let the already somewhat backward Chinese nation return to the top of the world, overseas trade is the indispensable door, for this Yinzuo has made all kinds of arrangements, during which the huge amount of effort consumed is unimaginable, and what is more sad is: Yinzuo can not find an object to talk about in this era, even his two major advisers are not very in favor of engaging in overseas trade, but Yinzuo has always insisted, The two of them had to plan this with all their hearts.

Once the country is opened, it is not only money, technology, and ideas that will follow, but also the polemics of the court and the conquest at sea.

In the hall of Xiaoskewer Hutong, Yinzuo sat on the top in casual clothes, looked at the five or six dark-faced strong men kneeling in front of him, and was silent for a while before he spoke: "Get up, this king has heard for a long time that you are all heroes on the sea, men who travel the world, everyone is casual, this king just wants to chat with everyone today." ”

Although Yinzuo's words were polite, how dare those men be rude, they each kowtowed, and they didn't even dare to say it, and they always knelt with their heads down. Yinzuo was not reluctant, and smiled and said, "Which one is Qiao Shan, Boss Qiao?" ”

A strong man in his early forties, wearing a purple shirt and black sinus pants, raised his head and said, "Back to the prince, the little one is Qiao Shan." ”

"Well, well, this king heard that Boss Qiao has been sailing on the sea since he was a child, crossing the ocean like walking on the ground, and knows the nature of the sea, but is there such a thing?" Yinzuo asked with a smile.

"Yes, since the age of five, the younger one has followed his father to the East and the South Seas, and has indeed been to many places, even in Europa." Qiao Shan replied quickly.

Well? This kid actually ran to Europe, it's rare, haha, he found a treasure. Yinzuo was overjoyed in his heart, although he had seen a few missionaries from Europe since he came to this era, but those people were at most scholars in addition to being full of God, and he had been away from Europe for a long time, and he was not clear about the situation in Europe, and Yinzuo had no way to know how far Europe had developed in this era. What kind of ships and artillery were used? ”

Qiao Shan didn't expect Yinzuo to ask these questions, and was stunned for a moment before saying: "Back to the prince, the little one has only been to Europa once, and he only stopped at a port called "Eat for You", and he doesn't know much about the situation in Europa, but I heard that the countries in Europa are all raw, and they always call back and forth when they have nothing to do, and now it is a country called "Inglisi" with the strongest fleet, and most of the South Seas are occupied by them at this time. The sailing ships were also used, and they varied in size, with the large ones having three turrets with twelve guns on each floor, and the small two-story turrets with eight guns on each floor. As for how small the artillery was, it is not very clear. ”

Eat for you? Hey, it's Venice, well, it seems that his arrival didn't mess up history, this should be the time when Spain and Portugal are completely declining, and England is rising strongly, well, according to the time, England should be busy scraping the colonies at this time, interesting, it seems that I really have to be ready to have a big game with England one day. Well, it seems that the Yankees have a famous saying - America is the America of the Americans, let's also follow the same example: Asia is the Asia of Asians, hehe, let's see. Yinzuo thought a little distracted, and only remembered that there were still a bunch of people kneeling in front of him, and laughed self-deprecatingly: "Oh, this king intends to invest in shipping, and now the most lacking thing is a good man like you who knows how to navigate. ”

Yichengli is not much for this group of sailing people, generally speaking, they can get one percent or even more for others to run the boat, but the problem is that other people's are small and small, even if the whole ship of goods is not worth much, Yinzuo is different, the hand is very big, the boat alone is nearly a hundred times larger than others, and the sea is a fleet of more than a dozen ships, the value of the goods is really not much higher than others, and this Chengli is so high that it is scared to death. A group of strong men all looked at each other in disbelief, they couldn't believe that Yinzuo had given such a high reward, Qiao Shan was obviously the backbone of everyone, and the big guys all looked at him.

Qiao Shan was obviously frightened by such a heavy profit, his face changed for a while, he took a deep breath, calmed down his agitated mood, kowtowed and said: "The prince is generous, I really dare not accept such a heavy reward, if the prince agrees, we are only willing to take half of it, and the rest is asked to take it back." ”

"Huh? This king is just a regular practice, and it is not a heavy reward, the sea is ruthless, and you take your life as a bet, and you deserve this reward. Yinzuo said with a smile.

Seeing that Yinzuo was not difficult to speak, Qiao Shan couldn't help but feel a little lively in his heart, and asked tentatively: "Lord Wang, I have a reluctant request, but it's just ......."

Yin Zuo smiled, put away the folding fan in his hand and said, "Let's listen to it, if this king can do it, he will naturally not lose it." ”

"Lord Xie, we are all people who take the sea as their home, wandering without roots, they are also begging for food in the sea, our ancestors have relied on the sea for food, but we are just ......" Qiao Shan looked at Yinzuo, gritted his teeth and said: "I just want my children and grandchildren to have a future, I can do it even if I don't take a penny." ”

Uh-huh, isn't this the admiral who sent it to the door, hehe, the descendants of this gang of people are used to it in the sea, and if they are tempered a little, it is not difficult to become a big tool, and someone will send a pillow if they are really sleepy. Yinzuo was happy in his heart, but his face was very calm, with a deep groan, he saw that Qiao Shan was sweating, thinking that he had offended Yinzuo, so he quickly kowtowed like a brush, and he didn't dare to say a word.

Your Majesty, you have to give both grace and might, and blind compassion will not work. Yinzuo has been a superior for a long time, this truth is still understood, and he was silent for a while, and it is estimated that he scared these sea men a lot, so he said lightly: "This king said that he will reward you with a profit, this will not change, as for the future of your children and grandchildren, this king can give it, but you have to make achievements first, don't you?" In this way, wait for a few people at home who are proficient in navigation to come up, and go back and ask Wang Hao to find Liu Yao to do this, so how about hanging a thousand general titles first, and then rewarding them when they have merit in the future? ”

"The prince's great grace, we are hard to repay in case of broken bones, we are willing to serve the prince for the work of dogs and horses......" A group of sea men saw the hope of their children and grandchildren's fame, and wept bitterly and expressed their heartfelt hearts.

Yinzuo waved his hand to let these men retreat first, and then said to Wang Hao who was standing aside with a smile: "Wang Hao, you will be fully responsible for the shipping matter, but if there is a place where the fleet and the supply of goods are not in hand, go to Liu Mingchuan, if Liu Mingchuan can't solve it, you can come to this king, go." Wang Hao bowed down and answered, strode out of the door, and went to find Liu Mingchuan to handle the handover without mentioning it.

The reason why Yinzuo wanted to hand over the shipping matter to Wang Hao, instead of Liu Mingchuan, is actually a means of playing balance - over the years, Liu Mingchuan has made a lot of money with Yinzuo, and the disciples of the clan are officials, and the wealthy ones are all soaring, plus his brother Liu Shuangcheng's family of people, he has faintly become the most powerful force under Yinzuo. Although the Liu family is loyal to Yinzuo, but those who are in high positions can't help but guard against it, since ancient times, there are still fewer yellow robes or powerful ministers? Yinzuo's support for the Wang family is to play a balancing role, not to let the family dominate.

The fleet and the captain have been done, there is no shortage of foreign trade at hand, and there is no big problem with the mobilization of goods, and there will be no big problem with Wang Hao and Liu Mingchuan and other old rivers and lakes to handle such miscellaneous matters, but the next thing is a little tricky - to engage in overseas trade will inevitably conflict with the European gang of sea robbers, war is a matter of time, in terms of the sea power of the Qing Dynasty at this time, the first battle must be defeated is also a matter on the board, but a defeat can but can not be defeated again, otherwise the loss of some money and wealth is small, and the damage to the national prestige is big, Yinzuo must be prepared for this.

Ironclad? Hey, that's pure nonsense, not to mention the internal combustion engine, the steam engine, and even the steel production is very low, and those aircraft carriers and other things can only be thought about. Machinery manufacturing Yinzuo understands, at least those principles are very clear, but the question is where is the machine tool? What about electricity? Not to mention some other infrastructure, steel smelting Yinzuo is a layman at all, at most he only knows that coke steelmaking can produce good steel, but how to practice it is blind. There is no shortage of Yinzuo mines, and those barren mountains that were bought a few years ago have also been explored, and they have also used the time of managing the Ministry of Industry to concentrate a lot of skilled craftsmen to overcome the problem of steelmaking, but three or five years have passed, and there has not been much progress, which makes Yinzuo helpless, so he can only increase investment and reward for breakthroughs.

**, this thing Yinzuo is very clear, not to mention black gunpowder, even if it is yellow**, plastic** and the like Yinzuo is also very clear, at this time Yinzuo already has a voltaic battery, with the basis for large-scale production of nitroglycerin, but Yinzuo has never been launched on a large scale. Of course, there are factors that nitroglycerin is extremely dangerous, but the main thing is that the old man Kangxi does not like to engage in weapon innovation, and Yinzuo does not want to commit the old man's taboo, so he has never officially launched this project. Of course, Yinzuo did not let go of such a good thing in private, a few years ago he set up a small laboratory in the barren mountain, and found more than a dozen reliable students from the Mengxue technical training class he ran to specialize in this work.

With **, even if the problem of artillery is solved, the problem is that it is easy to do, and the artillery is difficult to organize, as long as this thing is not exposed in the public scene, it can be solved by making a cave in the barren mountains and wilderness, but the artillery is different - not to mention the test firing of artillery, even if it is not easy to cast a cannon, it is not a matter that dozens of people can do, once the cannon is cast in private, the crime can be big, even if Yinzuo is a brother, there is no good end, so Yinzuo never dared to do it, but now it is time to start this matter, Otherwise, as soon as the war starts, Yinzuo will have no trump card in his hand to persuade the old man Kangxi and the group of important ministers in the court.

According to the Qing system, the Ministry of Industry was in charge of manufacturing weapons, the Ministry of War was in charge of receiving and distributing weapons, the army was only responsible for the use of weapons, and private individuals were strictly prohibited from making weapons, especially firearms. Yinzuo wants to engage in artillery, it is inseparable from the cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, and there are many things to do, no, Yinzuo sent Wang Hao and others away, and immediately found Liu Siyuan, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and told him carefully, and told Liu Yao carefully, just waiting for Liu Yao to stage a big drama tomorrow when he saw the driver's debriefing.

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