Chapter 8 The beginning of Western exploration

However, local consumption in Nanyang was not the main thing for the Ming Dynasty.

Yes, Nanyang has always been the place for Chinese goods to sell, but the reason why Nanyang is important is not that they consume a lot, but that a large amount of goods are being transported west through Nanyang.

India, the Persian Gulf, and even further away Venice, etc. These places are the ultimate ownership of so many commodities in the Ming Dynasty.

A few years ago, the court used troops to Nanyang, and then hundreds of thousands of people followed the vassal kings to Nanyang.

This all occupies a lot of transportation capacity.

The transportation volume of goods of merchants in the Ming Dynasty was compressed.

But in recent years, not only the government has been building ships, but many merchants in the Ming Dynasty have also built ships. They want to fill the space for merchants in the Nanyang Hui.

But I never expected it.

The Ming Dynasty exported fewer goods to Nanyang than before the conquest of Nanyang.

What would this expectation be like when feedback to the Ming Dynasty?

Although Xian Jing didn't know the term economic crisis, he understood the consequences.

Indeed, the Ming Dynasty is not the later China. For the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing is not the overseas market, but the domestic market.

Although the overseas market is profitable, it has high risks. Although it is a very important component, it is not the most important.

But the internal situation of the Ming Dynasty was not very good.

It’s not because of anything else, but because of the implementation of commercial tax.

In the past few years, Qiu Jun has basically completed the commercial tax reform.

Generally speaking, more than a dozen commodities such as salt, cloth, silk, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, coal, sugar, horses, tea, etc. increased the taxes of more than 40 million taels to the court every year. After re-clearing and re-allocation of land for the vassal kings, the area of ​​arable land in the Ming Dynasty increased a lot.

The Mingtian tax also tends to move towards 30 million taels. In addition to Shanghai tariffs, there are other miscellaneous incomes. The Ming Dynasty court almost earns around 80 million taels per year.

In this way, the increase in the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty gave the Ming Dynasty many things to do, such as increasing the salaries of officials, starting the governance of the Huaihe River Basin, moving the vassal kings south, building railways, building roads, etc.

But such a large amount of money actually puts a lot of burden on the Ming merchants.

Although the Ming Dynasty changed clerks to officials, the degree of embezzlement of the Ming government was greatly reduced. However, it does not mean that merchants had no other expenses besides taxes.

Going to the first place to worship the wharf is a expense in the underworld. As for giving officials some benefits, there are also some.

So the burden on businessmen is very heavy.

Of course, these businessmen have a heavy burden. Zhu Qizhen may know something, but he doesn't care too much.

Nothing else, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty were burdened by heavy burdens, but were there heavy burdens from the farmers of the Ming Dynasty?

Although Zhu Qizhen vigorously developed industry and commerce, it could not be shaken at all, that is, it is based on agriculture. This based on agriculture is not based on agriculture, but on farmers.

After all, 95% of the people in the Ming Dynasty were farmers. This is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Qizhen's series of policies obviously reduced the burden on farmers and put pressure on merchants. However, Zhu Qizhen did not want merchants to go bankrupt on a large scale.

It's just that many situations are lagging behind.

Zhu Qizhen is not in business and is not very sensitive to front-line business information.

But Xian Jing was different. He had a premonition that if this was the case in Nanyang, the gentry who had made a heavy bet in Nanyang might not be able to bear the loss.

It's just some situations, just guesses.

Xian Jing did not dare to say these words to the prince, just telling the prince about the situation of the business road being blocked and the accumulation of goods.

After hearing this, the prince said, "What do you think you should do? How can you take action if you want to be alone?"

Xian Jing said: "I think we should conquer the West. At least the Ming Dynasty has one or two destinations in the Tianzhu area."

Although the Ming Dynasty had not yet gained commercial benefits in Nanyang for the time being, Xian Jing knew very well that in less than five years, as the vassal kings of various places gained a foothold, the southern immigrants poured in on a large scale, and the Nanyang area would sooner or later be much more prosperous than before.

This is also very beneficial to business.

So Xian Jing agrees with this model very much.

However, the prince did not think so.

After hearing this, the prince immediately remembered several secret decrees written by Zhu Qizhen to him, which made him feel extremely overwhelmed.

There is no other way, there are nearly thirty vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty. Even if they are not already enthroned, there are more than twenty vassal kings that need to be resettled.

The Ming Dynasty occupied only the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and perhaps Luzon. As for the islands east of Java, including the Spice Islands, there are very few people today, and there is not even a basis for immigration.

You should know that the Ming Dynasty immigrated to Nanyang. It was better to have a little bit of living security when there were indigenous people living together.

Even so, there are many cases of infection with the disease.

If you let them settle down in those tropical islands that have not yet been renovated, it is not an immigration, it is a life-threatening person.

It is not enough to divide more than 20 vassal kings into these places, even if they only give them one city and one county.

In fact, Zhu Qizhen had already suggested that the prince had made progress westward.

But the prince only thought of one thing, that is, to return to Beijing, to Beijing, and to Beijing. He did not want to start another war.

A few days later, there was a plate of loose sand in India, but it was easy to start a war, but it was difficult to finish it.

The prince is unwilling to do this.

He remembered what Liu Daxia said to him just now, and he said, "Don't move the army easily, let me do this. I'll ask Wang Zhi to pick some people from the army, join the caravan, accompany your people to the West to see what the situation is. Even if you are moving troops, you must be targeted."

Xian Jing was overjoyed. He never expected that such an ending would occur.

He could also figure out how much he thought about the prince. He knew that the request he made was very likely to be denied.

However, Xian Jing had no other way.

I can only treat dead horses as living horses.

Unexpectedly, the prince actually let out a hole.

Wang Zhi is the prince's favorite general. His reputation for being good at fighting has long been spread throughout Nanyang. He is also the younger brother of Concubine Wang and a relative of the royal family.

If Wang Zhi goes to the West, how can he not be worthy of elite soldiers and powerful generals?

Xian Jing was not unaware of the situation in the West. In fact, there were merchants in China who had already arrived in India and even Arabia.

But the Ming caravan wants to trade on a large scale here, which is another matter.

As long as the army can escort the caravan to Tianzhu, Xian Jing will have a way to open up the situation.

After all, business problems can be solved with money. Most people in this world will not dislike money, but the premise of using money is to be able to stand equally in front of the other side.

In this era, there is no law on the sea, and swords, guns, artillery, are all laws.

Every newcomer entering a certain sea area must prove his or her strength and only then have a ticket to enter. When locals find it easier to rob you than to do business with you, they will make a decision without hesitation.

You know, even though Zheng He's fleet was so large, it took several small battles to let the Westerners know that the Ming Dynasty's ship was not just big.

With Wang Zhi joining, all problems may not be solved, but they can open up a gap.

But Xian Jing didn't know the prince's idea.

The prince sent Wang Zhi to go because Wang Zhi was his confidant. The one he asked Wang Zhi to take over was definitely not the Ming Dynasty's military command. To the outside world, it can be said that where was the Ming Dynasty's military command escorted the merchants?

But in private, what the prince needs is a private army that can completely obey his orders.

If you train in Nanyang, Beijing has too many eyeliners. Even if the prince can control the Jinyiwei Nanyang Thousand Households, the prince will not believe it. He can know all the secrets of the Ming Jinyiwei in Nanyang.

But it's different in the West. He doesn't believe it anymore.

Beijing can clearly understand the situation of the West. This army does not need too many people, just one or two thousand. Because at critical moments, only one or two thousand is enough.

After all, this army will not be used for war.
Chapter completed!