Chapter 5                                                              

From this incident, the Folangjiren gave up on the peaceful sea trade, which led to the rise of Shuangyu and other things.

The thing I want to go to Southeast Asia this time is actually to inform the countries in Southeast Asia, so that they know that not only the government trade, but also private trade is also allowed. Foreigners are allowed to do business directly in Shanghai. Now it is only Shanghai.

On the one hand, the traditional trading partners of the Ming Dynasty, such as Vietnam, Chameng, Siam, Sulu, Luzon, etc., were notified to allow them to come over and allow Ming merchants to arrive and have the obligation to protect the personal power of Ming merchants in the territory, etc.

The most important thing is the latter. Because in Zhou Mengchen's view, official trade is actually the most suitable for these countries. The reason is very simple. In these countries, all ships that can shake the voyage are generally great nobles, or great nobles' vassal merchants.

They can generally let these caravans come with real envoys. Moreover, the official trade is strong and weak, and they can also allow these caravans to obtain wealth beyond ordinary commercial profits, and from then on, a group of pro-Ming factions were cultivated in various countries. Of course, if this country is the king's greatest, then these interests are swallowed by the king. But unfortunately, most Southeast Asian countries cannot achieve centralization. Except for Vietnam, Vietnam is more like the Central Plains dynasty, although they have now split.

While opening the sea, the official trade did not stop. Therefore, among the countries in the South China Sea, only a few merchants came to the Ming Dynasty. Most of them were overseas Chinese merchants.

On the other hand, it is actually to reach some tacit understanding with Western merchants, Flangjiren and even other Western merchants.

Reconciliation is impossible. After all, the problem of full-spike addition has never been solved. Moreover, the Folang Jiren was considered to have occupied Zhengde before. Now Jiajing is in power, although he has been in power for so many years, some issues about Zhengde are still taboos.

Zhou Mengchen didn't want to get involved in this matter unless it was absolutely necessary.

However, Zhou Mengchen also realized one thing: in the ocean, the Ming Dynasty was a late country compared to Western countries. Although it was not too late to join now, the most profitable route was the route from Europe to East Asia. Zhou Mengchen clearly knew that the Ming Dynasty's navigation power could cover at most the South Ocean. As for a further place, it was natural that a ship could go over and take a look. But if you think of other benefits, it would be difficult to deal with.

Therefore, the best way now is to cooperate with Western merchants, trade directly or indirectly, and take this route. After all, the rise of Wang Zhi and others relies on East-West trade.

The purpose of opening the sea is actually to open up the intermediate links of East-West trade, so that the Ming court and the people can get a piece of the pie in this trade, and thus expand the Ming Dynasty's maritime power.

To put it separately, East-West trade is actually Eastern and Western trade. There are different places between the two. Eastern and Western trade, that is, trade with Japan, has limited potential, and China may be exclusive. However, there are many internal affairs issues.

The battle for tribute to the end caused blood to splatter Ningbo. The Ming Dynasty's face was pressed on the ground and beaten him.

This hasn't been many years.

There were two types of sea bans in the Ming Dynasty. One was the sea ban in Taizu that year, which only prohibited private trade, and was allowed for government trade. The other was the sea ban during the Jiajing period, which specifically prohibited all trade with the Japanese.

This is why Wang Zhi went ashore on the grounds of opening the sea and was finally killed by the court. Hu Zongxian could not keep it. Because the two wanted to open the sea ban together. So where did Emperor Jiajing put his face?

Because of this, even if Zhou Mengchen opened the sea, he would first straighten out Western trade instead of doing things in a mess, and let go of Japan's affairs first. Only then did Tan Lun go on a mission to various countries in Southeast Asia.

In the winter of the 36th year of Jiajing, I rode the north and headed south. Now in the summer of the 37th year of Jiajing, I returned by the south wind. It took me seven or eight months to be considered back.

How could Zhou Mengchen be unhappy?

You should know that navigation is easy to cause problems.

The news of the vast sea was cut off. Zhou Mengchen knew almost nothing about the situation of the fleet. How could he not worry about it? Now he put his mind into his stomach.

It was this time that the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan believed and understood one thing, that is, opening the sea is inevitable. Otherwise, they would not have sent people to go south. This can be said that the Ming Dynasty sent official envoys to inspect the countries in Southeast Asia after Zheng He. There were not no envoys going south before, but most of them were diplomatic activities such as rewarding a certain country or granting a title to a certain country, etc. This was not the same as this time going south.

It can be said that it is not just Zhou Mengchen waiting for this fleet to return. Even many merchants in Jiangnan are waiting for this fleet to return.

Tengxiang was also very happy when he heard this and said, "I want to go and see the style of the Ming Dynasty warriors."

Zhou Mengchen said, "Since Eunuch Teng wants to see it, let's go together."

The group of people left the weaving bureau and saw the Wusong River before they went far. After all, as mentioned in the previous article, both sides of the Wusong River are port docks. The shipyard occupied a section of the river, turning the docks of the river into a dock dedicated to the shipyard, and the weaving bureau was naturally the same. The two sides were not far apart, and almost as soon as they came out, they saw the Wusong River.

However, Zhou Mengchen also knew that the fleet that had just returned had just entered the Wusong River. This was the news that the Wusong River garrison and the Pegasus Reported.

I guess I'll wait a while before I see it.

Zhou Mengchen and his group were waiting at the wharf outside Shanghai County. This wharf is the wharf for Shanghai County to welcome officials and is also one of the best wharfs. Tan Lun originally traveled from here.

Not long after, a fleet came slowly.

This fleet has a large ship, the largest blessed ship built by the Jiangnan Shipyard, with sixty gun positions on it. This one is the first ship of the Jiangnan Shipyard's large blessed ship. In addition, there are also ships that are much smaller than this ship, and may not all be produced by the Jiangnan Shipyard. But they are all excellent warships.

There are twelve ships in total, including more than 1,000 sailors and nearly 2,000 sailors.

They were all elite soldiers selected from the East China Sea Navy, and there were several generals who followed, such as Xie He and Hong Dizhen. They all went south together with one commander, and Deng Zhong, and others were Yu Dayou's direct generals.

The reason why Xie He and Hong Dizhen are there is a lot of experience in Oceanwide. Of course, Yu Dayou also has a little trick to transfer the two away for a while. If there are fewer key figures in Yuegang, it is naturally impossible to join forces.

Yu Dayou is also able to deal with it.

If the two of them walked south smoothly this time, they would be considered meritorious officials. The arrangements would be easier. However, it is unlikely to return to their old subordinates.

Although there are not many people in this thousand people, there are as many as 300 artillery pieces alone, plus other weapons. The quality of the soldiers is enough to make a stir in Nanyang. This is what Zhou Mengchen is worried about.

After many years of not going out to sea, the reputation of the Ming Dynasty was more in legend. The various countries in Southeast Asia obeyed and became subordinates of the Ming Dynasty. That may not be the case.

This article has also been decomposed in detail before, the political meaning of the so-called tribute trade, and the slightest return. Everyone will be very clear about one thing, that is, Nanyang’s loyalty to the Ming Dynasty is more loyal to the interests. Some countries are more respectful to the Ming Dynasty, but some countries may not be.

Therefore, the necessary military preparation must be provided. Looking at the traces on the ship, although there were some old and damaged places, it did not seem like they had experienced war. Zhou Mengchen was relieved. However, when he turned his eyes, he saw dozens of ships of all sizes behind the twelve ships.

Zhou Mengchen saw the shape of the ship and knew that most of them were not Chinese ships. He moved his heart and thought to himself: "Is it because Tan Lun went south this time and brought the seasons of all countries? This is a good thing." After all, it is a great thing for any emperor to come to pay tribute. Especially after Zheng He did not go to the West, the Ming Dynasty's vassal states in the South China Sea fell from dozens to six or seven who often came to pay tribute. That is, Annan, Cham, Siam, Sulu, Angkor, etc.

Now a lot of people have come. Jiajing's emperor with such a good face is more comfortable than any flattery.
Chapter completed!