PFC Chapter 953 Laying the Groundwork
Chapter 953 Laying the Groundwork
Chapter 953 Laying the Groundwork
Lake Balkhash was not far away, and the Ming army soldiers brought their military flags to the lakeside.
This should be the western part of the lake. The lake is wide and the water is shallow. It is a strange lake that is half salty and half fresh. The western part benefits from the nourishment of many rivers such as the Ili River. The lake water is clear and sweet, full of vitality. In the distance, the snow-capped Tianshan Mountains serve as the background, vast and beautiful.
Zhu Houzhao had never been here in his previous life.
It’s probably just as unlikely in this life.
He could only use the crude writings of the generals and his own imagination to sketch out its unparalleled splendor in his mind.
A few days ago, when I was accompanying the fifth prince Zaijian to study, the child asked a topic related to this.
Yi Bohai is far away in the Western Regions, where the Great Wall cannot be built. How can we defend ourselves if the enemy attacks again in the future?
Zhu Houzhao replied: Keep fighting.
Yes, in fact, this problem existed when we fought out of Jiayuguan.
Because the northwest has a vast terrain, if we attack it, we will face new defense pressures, which is equivalent to breaking the old strategic dilemma and facing a new strategic dilemma. Therefore, there is no political balance or military balance in the northwest. It has always been dynamic and can only be fought every three to five years.
If they remain strong, like the Tang Dynasty, they can continue to fight westward to the west of Lake Balkhash. If they decline, they will retreat.
It's that simple.
In fact, the war between the Kazakh Khanate and the Russians lasted for hundreds of years. It was a struggle, and they finally surrendered to Tsarist Russia.
Therefore, people in the Central Plains often do not understand that general peace in a region for one or two hundred years is a luxury on the Eurasian continent.
"…But in war, the emperor is often unable to do anything. There is an old saying that when a general is away from home, he may not obey the orders of the emperor. War changes rapidly, and the battlefield is thousands of miles away. How can the emperor command and control it?"
Zaijun was walking outside holding the emperor's hand, admiring the proud beauty of the plum blossoms.
"Isn't that just leaving it to fate?"
"That's not the case. An emperor has an important duty, which is to order all officials to work together to deliver food and military pay to the front line. More importantly, it is to select the right generals. In the past, Song Renzong was commented on, saying that he was incompetent and could only be an official. But have you ever thought about what it means to be able to do something and what it means not to do something? When the country is facing a war, those who can choose generals are the ones who can do it, and those who can't do it are not."
"This is what Father said. Employing people is the most important thing. If you employ the right people, everything will be fine."
"That's right. But it's not easy to continue to deliver food and military pay to the front. This is the emperor's second priority." Zhu Houzhao rubbed his head, "It's to govern the country and make all industries prosperous. Otherwise, where will the national strength come from?"
This time his incognito trip to Jiangnan was suddenly interrupted, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was unlikely to happen again because he had a second important thing to do.
It's an industry conference.
Before this, Gu Zuo, who was in charge of the operation of the Nanyang Company, and Wang Xian, the governor of Zhejiang, both came to Nanjing.
Zhu Houzhao brought Zaigang into the warm room and met them together.
These are all old acquaintances. Wang Xian was one of the first batch of attendants and has now also reached a high position.
"Your Highness, I, Gu Zuo (Wang Xian), respectfully ask you how your Majesty is doing."
"I'm safe."
"Your Majesty, this is the shipping list of Ningbo Maritime Customs in the past three years." Gu Zu directly took out a book.
He also has a strong memory and can recite many statistics. "In the past, the main commodities shipped out of the Nanyang Company's cargo ships were silk, porcelain, and tea. Every year, there were about 11 million pieces of silk, more than 300,000 pieces of various porcelains, and more than 60,000 tons of tea. However, the significant change in the past five years is the sudden rise of cotton textiles, and the speed is extremely fast, almost doubling year after year. This year, the total value of shipments has reached 84 million yuan, completely surpassing the original main commodities. According to the current trend, its value should exceed the sum of silk, porcelain, and tea."
"Jiangnan is rich. I have seen it before."
In fact, he was not surprised. Although porcelain and tea were of high value, they were expensive after all, and most ordinary people could only afford cotton clothes.
Therefore, in the end, not only will the price exceed the sum of these three items, but more normally, it should be several times that.
Then the cotton textile industry would become the only industry that stood out, followed by the continuous expansion of plantations and the continuous importation of slaves, until one day human labor could no longer meet the demand, and thus a breakthrough was made in steam power.
These technological revolutions will in turn drive the development of military weapons such as warships and artillery, thus forming a pattern from selling goods to fighting until you agree that I will sell goods.
"Why are there still 4 million yuan worth of spices shipped?" Zhu Houzhao saw something strange, "Can spices be grown here?"
"Your Majesty. We don't grow much spices, and they mainly come from the Nanyang countries. In recent years, many merchants have discovered that this is another way to make money, so they are exploring this trade. It is included in the statistics because these merchants ship their goods through the Nanyang Company's cargo ships."
“We bought quite a few.”
"Exactly."
Zhu Houzhao immediately thought of the spice trade and the Spice Islands.
Now that he has the "Ming Yue" in his hand, he can fully seize this super business opportunity.
“How did merchants from the Ming Dynasty get involved in the spice trade?”
Gu Zuo replied: "It's the same as the cotton spinning business. We need to find a source of goods and then harvest and ship them."
"What do you think?"
"I am considering conducting a trial planting in Ming Dynasty. If successful, the people will have another way to make money."
"No." Zhu Houzhao understood that they were too 'gentle'. The origin of spices is Southeast Asia. This is not only a problem of land, but also related to climate. Growing them yourself may not be as good as others. He instructed: "There is no need to introduce new varieties. Many of the origins of spice trade are countries in the Ming Treaty, and they are all vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. They can already grow large areas there. Why go far away?
We can directly buy land there, hire people to cultivate it, and after we master the origin and build scale, we can also obtain pricing power.”
Wang Xian, who had been silent the whole time, explained: "Merchants can do this, but the two of us are considering getting the people of the Ming Dynasty to participate more. If everything is done in Southeast Asia, it will be a problem for the people to make a profit."
"Doesn't the Nanyang Company have the concept of shares? When setting up a new company, we can also use the concept of shares. This way, we can quickly accumulate capital, and then buy land on a large scale, so that we can form a dominant position in a short period of time. When we make money, we can distribute dividends to shareholders. Wouldn't they make a profit?"
Now that the industry and currency have reached this level, Zhu Houzhao will directly use many economic concepts. In fact, the joint-stock system has been used before in the Nanyang Company, but their flexibility in use was not enough.
Gu Zuo was shocked. "If such a huge amount of capital is gathered, our people will buy too much land and one side will dominate. I am worried that there will be other problems."
Zhu Houzhao disagreed. "If we only indulge in luxury after having money and everyone in the court indulges in drunkenness, then there will be problems. But if we continue to build ships and cannons, there will be no problems."
Wang Xian could only smile. This was the emperor's style. "So the focus of domestic industrial development is the cotton textile industry, while the focus of foreign development is the spice industry."
This is generally correct.
Gu Zuo suggested, "Your Majesty, the Nanyang Company is already very large. I think since we are going to set up a new company to carry out the spice trade, it is better to be independent of the Nanyang Company."
Zhu Houzhao thought about it and said, "Yes."
"still have a question."
"explain."
Gu Zuo said worriedly, "After the currency reform of the imperial court, silver is not allowed to be used in the country, but sea trade still accepts silver. All the collected silver must be exchanged for new money. This will lead to more and more new money being minted in the Ming Dynasty. Ultimately, this is over-issuance!"
Yes, there is this problem.
"What suggestions do you have?"
Gu Zu was a little worried. "In the final analysis, the new money has to go somewhere, which is difficult. There is nothing to buy in foreign wild places. Fortunately, it can be circulated in Southeast Asian countries now, so it is not a problem. But ten or twenty years later, it is hard to say."
“In fact, the solution is very simple. If silver is worthless to us one day, we will not accept silver, but only gold.
The difficulty is how to be strong enough to make all those who do business with you dare not turn over the table and silently swallow the bitter fruit and accept these conditions. So... this is not a business issue, this is a political and military issue. "
Then there is no point in discussing it now.
Because there is a way, the key is whether you dare to use it, and that will happen ten years later.
Zhu Houzhao glanced at Zaizhen and said meaningfully: "According to the future situation, when countries get along with each other, strong countries and big countries will always have a way, because they are strong, if they really can't do anything, they can plunder;
Small and weak countries will always have problems. Even if they have a solution, they dare not use it, because their most fundamental problem is actually their weakness. Even if the situation eases a little and they accumulate a little wealth, they will be plundered. "
(End of this chapter)