Wan Ming 315_Read the full text of Wan Ming for free_Chapter 315 Black Heart and Cruel Hands (Part 2) from b1 3kan.com/b(b/ no pop-up window/b.)
"Report, Commander Liu is here. [Baidu search b1 3kanwang/bb/ no pop-up window/b. Member login b1 3kanwang/b]" The voice of Jing Zhongwei came from outside the door. Wan Lei looked up and saw Liu Wenxiu, wearing a sky blue uniform, appeared outside the door. As the commander of the navy, he had been stationed at sea for many years and rarely came back. This time, Wan Lei specially invited him back.
The so-called generals are outside, and the emperor's orders are not accepted. However, Wan Lei is not a king. He has absolute trust in foreign generals. It is not that he is short-sighted, but that the Peking Army is different from ordinary armies. It has political commissars and a party headquarters. Officers and soldiers are loyal to the party and the country and only obey orders from the commander on the premise of not harming the interests of the party and the country. If the commander has other ideas, the subordinates will definitely not follow suit. With this major premise, Wan Lei dares to delegate power.
"Brother Liu, here we come, please sit down quickly." Wan Lei quickly got up from his seat and invited Liu Wenxiu to sit on the sofa in front of the study.
Wan Lei also has absolute trust in Liu Wenxiu. In the past two years since he has been the commander of the navy, the navy has developed rapidly. There are currently 25 Zhenyuan warships and 75 Dingyuan warships. With so many warships roaming the sea, it is enough Guarantee the interests of the North Parallel Province overseas.
Of course, the Navy does not have no spare capacity to build more warships, because the steam engine has been invented and is being tested to equip the ship. Once the experiment is successful, a new generation of ships can replace the sail warships and become the main warship of the Navy. In order to avoid duplication of construction It's a waste, and the construction of those old-fashioned warships will naturally stop.
"Brother Wan is so anxious to summon me back, there must be something important." Liu Wenxiu didn't notice and sat directly next to Wan Lei.
"There's no hurry. You're here just in time. Let's try the Mingqian Longjing, which is new this year." Wan Lei personally poured Liu Wenxiu a cup of tea. A strong fragrance wafted out of the light green tea, and Wan Lei was furious. He took a breath and said with a smile: "It is indeed a treasure. This thing is specially provided to the palace. I didn't expect that we brothers would also be lucky enough to taste it."
"Oh, this is a tea that only an emperor can drink. I really have to try it." Liu Wenxiu also sniffed, took a sip, and praised it profusely: "Not bad, refreshing emblica, and a fragrance of tofu. It should be from the product." The best Mingqian Longjing from West Lake in Hangzhou, the emperor’s son would really enjoy it.”
Longjing tea began in the Song Dynasty and became increasingly popular during the Ming Dynasty. It is even said to be "the best quality before the rain and the treasure before the Ming Dynasty". The so-called Mingqian tea is picked before the Qingming Dynasty, while the tea picked before the Grain Rain is called "Yuqian tea". The Mingqian tea produced by the West Lake is specially supplied to the royal palace and relatives of the emperor, and ordinary people cannot buy it if they have money.
Of course, Wan Lei is no longer an ordinary person. What he drank was a "gift" sent by the Ming court, weighing dozens of kilograms. Wan Lei sent someone to check it and found that it was genuine and non-toxic, so he accepted it and gave some back. The elders gave a lot of them as gifts, which can be considered a blessing to share.
"As long as you like it, bring two kilograms back with you so that the brothers can try it too."
"Then I'll accept it shamelessly, but Brother Wan, you didn't call me back this time just for tea."
"No, it's about the Japanese country. Come, let's drink while we're at it." Wan Lei poured another glass for Liu Wenxiu, and after he finished drinking, he said: "It's like this, the general of the Japanese country sent an envoy to request our side He handed over Tsushima Island and said he was willing to exchange it for two million taels of silver."
"Tsushima Island? That is one of the most important strongholds for our navy to control the Tsushima Strait. The Japanese country is so shameless, they dare to say this." Liu Wenxiu suddenly became angry.
Tsushima Island is located between the Korean Strait and strangles the sea routes between Japan and Korea. It has a very important position and was originally controlled by Tsushima Zong clan. Last year, Liu Wenxiu led the navy to sweep away the Japanese entrenched on the island. The island was occupied and used as a naval base for the navy to monitor the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese state.
"Well, Japanese people are really thick-skinned. Although Tsushima Island's geographical location is important, it doesn't matter if it is temporarily handed over to Japan, so I will come back to you and discuss this matter carefully." Wan Lei still looked calm.
"Brother Wan, do you mean to agree to Japan's request and give up Tsushima Island?" Liu Wenxiu was a little shocked, and said anxiously: "Japan has always been arrogant and has long had ambitions towards North Korea. If they want to attack Tsushima Island, I'm afraid It is used as a springboard. The purpose is to attack North Korea and then attack Liaodong, so we must guard against it."
"Brother Liu, don't worry, please allow me to finish." Wan Lei smiled calmly, "I know that Japan has always been ambitious, and I also know that they want to use Tsushima Island as a springboard. However, I am really not afraid of them sending troops to North Korea, I am afraid of them. Don’t dare to use troops.”
"Brother Wan, what do you mean..." Liu Wenxiu glanced at Wan Lei, understood immediately, and asked with a smile: "Are you going to attack half of the crossing? Wait until the Japanese country sends troops to North Korea, then cut off its sea lanes, and inflict heavy damage on the Japanese country. strength?"
"The plan is roughly like this. Now that North Korea has a king and has almost restored order from the war a year ago, if we rush to send troops to North Korea, we will fall into a whirlpool. Since the Japanese are determined to attack North Korea, I will fulfill their wish and wait. They have broken up North Korea, and the King of North Korea will definitely ask for help from the Ming Dynasty. We will use some means to get the Ming Dynasty to agree to our sending troops to North Korea. As for whether our troops will go or stay in North Korea after they enter North Korea, it is up to us."
"This idea of using a borrowed knife to kill people is indeed a good one, but we are afraid that after the Japanese occupy Tsushima Island, they will still be reluctant to send troops. If they don't use the knife, our plan will fail. This has to be done." Liu Wenxiu said.
"I have already considered this, so I did not agree to change the island directly. Instead, I planned to lease the island to the Japanese country. The annual rent is one hundred thousand taels of silver. If the Japanese country does not send troops to Korea, we can take the island back at any time, even if the Japanese country dies. If we hold on to Tsushima Island, we can take it back with our naval superiority."
"That's fine. You can get 100,000 silver from an island a year. This is a good deal. Anyway, Tsushima Island was occupied by our army from the Japanese, and it is not an inherent territory. There is no issue of treason on the island. There is only a preliminary construction of a seaport and some warehouses, and all we need to do is empty the warehouses."
"Since you have no objection, then the matter is settled. But this is just a trivial matter, and the more important thing is trade with Japan." Wan Lei poured another cup of tea for Liu Wenxiu and said, "We have decided on our strategy. Sooner or later, there will be a war with Japan, but once the war starts, it will inevitably affect the trade with Japan, and this is what I am most worried about."
You know, the Peiping Army is now at war with the Tatar tribe, and the northern market is gone. Most of the goods produced in Beiping City can only be sold overseas, and more than 60% of them are trafficked to North Korea and Japan. If these goods are lost, A market is bound to cause a backlog of goods, which is the last thing Wan Lei wants to see.
"That's true, but now our exports to Japan are close to saturation, and prices are also falling. Manager Liu also told me that he wants to reduce exports to Japan and go south to find other trade routes." Liu Wenxiu. Ye Dao said that his cousin Liu Wenzong was the manager of Huayuan Company, and the two had a close relationship, so they naturally knew everything about trade.
"That's what I plan to do. I hope that while the navy is actively preparing for war, it will also actively expand trade routes southward and try to sell as many goods as possible."
"It is indeed a good idea to expand trade routes southward, but the Southeast Asian countries are not rich in silver. How can we use it for settlement?" Liu Wenxiu said with some worry.
"Collect gold. If there is no gold, we will collect it in kind, diamonds, pearls, spices, medicinal materials, cotton, etc.," Wan Lei said with some helplessness. Since Beiping Province is now implementing a silver standard, silver is the most popular hard currency. Once Japan loses its silver origin, silver holdings will no longer be able to increase, which will inevitably lead to deflation and the silver standard system will also face reform.
For this reason, Wan Lei had to plan for a bistandard system, that is, gold and silver would be used as the standard currency at the same time, and a price ratio would be set. The government would purchase gold at a ratio of six to one between silver and gold, both as currency reserves. And in the future, the income from foreign trade would be Gold must also be handed over to the treasury, and the government will pay for it with silver based on the price comparison.
In this way, the gold stock in the national treasury will gradually be sufficient, and the silver standard can be slowly transferred to the gold standard.
The six-to-one exchange rate for silver and gold was higher than the official exchange rate in the Ming Dynasty. The official exchange rate in the Ming Dynasty was four-to-one, but regulations were regulations. In fact, gold and silver were prohibited in the Ming Dynasty. Circulation, but private gold and silver rarely circulate, so the price comparison is meaningless.
Wan Lei also secretly encouraged the Ming Dynasty to send gold in exchange for silver by raising the exchange rate of silver and gold. He even greatly increased the exchange rate of copper and gold to encourage profiteers in the Ming Dynasty to collect the little gold. They scraped it off and exchanged it for privately minted copper coins, thereby destroying the financial market of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, the ruthless Wan Lei, in the spirit of internationalism, instructed Zhou Henglu, who was negotiating technology transfer with the Ming Dynasty, to accept only gold, not physical objects, and also included several key items such as steel smelting and steam engine design. The technology is divided into several parts and sold. If the Ming Dynasty does not squeeze out 150,000 taels of gold, it will be impossible for the Ming Dynasty to obtain the complete technology.
One hundred and fifty thousand taels of gold was nothing to the Ming court. Although the Ming Dynasty's finances were tight, there were still a lot of gold items in the palace. As long as they were willing to sell iron, they could still get it. Of course, Wan Lei was evil-minded and ruthless. He always only recognized money and not people, so he didn't bother to care where the money from the court came from.
"Collecting gold is one way to do it, but those small countries in Southeast Asia have a narrow market. If you transport too many goods at once, you won't be able to sell them, and you won't be able to make much money."
"The market in Nanyang itself is small, but there are many Muslim merchants in Nanyang who are doing re-export trade. After they get the goods, they will resell them to India, Arabia and even Oropa. As long as we run the business well, we can let these people be middlemen. If we make a fortune, we can still receive a lot of real money."
Wan Lei paused and then said: "However, there are many pirates in that area, and security issues are also a top priority. Please pay more attention to this. My suggestion is that the navy first uses Zhoushan Island as a stronghold and moves south to occupy it. Xiaoliuqiu will be used as a springboard to go south to Luzon, Vietnam and other places. Take it step by step and don’t rush in."
Wan Ming 315_Read the full text of Wan Ming for free_Chapter 315: Black Heart and Cruel Hands (Part 2) has been updated!