"Could it be that what the Lord of the Palace said was about the glass business?" A merchant from the East, with a strange look in his eyes, stood up and shouted.
"The Shen family's glass business is making a lot of money every month. They have been coveting it for a long time!"
"They and others are all Suzhou merchants, and the Shen family has flourished in the Ming Dynasty. Since Dian Dong Mingyue also seeks cooperation with them, he will definitely not treat them badly!"
"Everyone, how could they be so grateful to the King of Wu?"
As the man started making noises, the others also thanked Zhu Su loudly. The group of people was in a mess, as if they had used nice words to hold Zhu Su up.
As for Shen Wang, who had just been suppressed by Zhu Su last night, there were a few mature and prudent people who vaguely felt that something was wrong and couldn't move upright in their seats.
"Oh……"
Zhu Su didn't answer. He still had a smile on his face, but his eyes no longer had the lazy and casual look he had just shown.
He did not stop shouting, but continued to look at the chaotic crowd in Didong with a smile. It was not until the thanks from the Didong people gradually stopped that Zhu Su turned to Shen Wang and said, "Second Uncle Shen. That first A member of staff who speaks his mind."
"What's your background?"
"Go back to the east of the hall." Shen Wang did not dare to neglect, left the table directly in front, knelt on his knees and respectfully replied to Zhu Su: "That person is Ma Yuanwai, a big salt merchant in my house."
"Ma Yuanwai." Zhu Su nodded, with an inexplicable smile on his face: "Ma Yuanwai is indeed a shrewd man. As soon as he met me, he guessed what I meant."
"Mingyue invites you all to come and see if there is indeed a big business. I would like to ask you to share your share of the pie."
"Everyone, are you interested in doing overseas business with me?"
"Overseas?" All the merchants in Didong frowned, and many people started whispering to each other after hearing those two words.
"Dian...dongdong..." Zhao Yunyan, the rice merchant, opened his mouth timidly:
"Dian Dong wants to do overseas business, does he want to reopen the Silk Road?"
"I wonder what kind of goods business you want to do?"
"The Silk Road, the Silk Road, is naturally silk." Zhu Su was walking on the first road. "The silk weaved in Suzhou has been famous in the north and south since the Song Dynasty, and is known all over the world."
"This is a valuable thing from China, and many foreign races from foreign countries all yearn for it. If it can be sold to foreign countries by sea, I don't need to tell you how much profit there will be from it, right?"
"I must be aware of how wealthy Suzhou was during the Song Dynasty."
"He has something to reveal to you. In the eyes of those red-haired ghosts, his Chinese silks and porcelain are extremely valuable and rare."
"If it can be transported there, one pound of silk can be used to obtain dozens of pounds of red silver!"
“Probably even higher!”
"This matter can be found in the classics of the Tang and Song dynasties. Do we not know about the huge profits from the Haihai Silk Road?"
"It's worth more than a hundred times! Suzhou is the hometown of silk. If the people in Suzhou don't take such huge profits, why do they want to help others?"
Some businessmen walking in the corner in Didong had their eyes lit up. But Zhao Yunyan was still frowning. But the salt merchant named Ma continued to ask: "Master, do you know about overseas profits?" .”
"No, Dian Dong is young and doesn't know. The sea transportation is no longer what it was in the Song Dynasty."
As he spoke, he put on a preaching look: "Leaving aside the fact that the Japanese invasion has become rampant, going to sea is no longer as easy as it used to be."
"It is said that the Ming Dynasty is in ruins and waiting to be revitalized, but there are only a few big ships. Although they also covet the huge profits overseas, are they really powerless?"
"My Lord, you won't. Please ask him to wait until he builds a ship and goes to sea. Even if he waits to build a big ship, they will still fight Japanese pirates at sea!" Ma Yanshang spread his legs.
"That horseman's statement was wrong." Zhu Su smiled slightly. "The sea is filled with gold and silver. He and others will not take it. After a month, there will naturally be Japanese, Koreans, and even those red-haired ghosts in the West who will take it."
.”
"We also know that the DPRK-Chinese Bidong has opened a shipyard in Poyang Lake, and it is no longer clear whether it intends to reopen the maritime ban."
"Since the imperial court wants to lift the sea ban, it will naturally send navy to inspect the Japanese pirates. The danger of Japanese pirates will naturally be no problem."
"As for the lack of a ship, I wonder if this king is here for this matter."
"In a few months, the imperial court will have a grain transport ship to carry military grain by sea from the south to Liaodong."
"The business that I ask you to do with us is that business. If we are not willing, I can make room on the grain ship to carry the goods for us."
"I know that none of us have ever done the shipping business. Can you please give us the opportunity to become familiar with the shipping business? Selling goods to Goryeo will not be as profitable as selling to the red-haired ghosts in the West."
"But no, there is no profit. With the imperial fleet escorting us, we naturally don't need to worry about Japanese pirates roaming the sea."
"When we become familiar with the shipping process and the imperial court begins to increase its efforts to clean up the sea area, we, the experienced Suzhou businessmen, can be the first to ride on the east wind of that policy and sail away to the sea to make money..."
"Is this business of my king very feasible?"
Zhu Su's words are not necessarily true. After the defeat in the Battle of Lingbei in the fifth year of Hongwu, the Ming court promptly changed the combat strategy of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, from "asking for his life while he was sick, to eliminate them all at once" to "saving money at once"
Strength, eroding step by step."
Regarding whether to guard against the Northern Yuan separatist forces in Liaodong: When Naha, the Taiwei of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, came out, Lao Zhu assembled nearly 70,000 troops on the border of Liaodong. While building Beiping Prefecture (Beijing in the Ming Dynasty), he "assessed the situation and waited for opportunities to move."
The food and fodder for that large army can be supplied by opening a sea and water transport route.
In order to commend the maintenance of that maritime route, Lao Zhu even recently named him a "Marquis of the Sea".
Some unofficial historians and pheasant scholars falsely accused the Ming Dynasty of completely abandoning the coastline, saying that the old Zhu Dongling "no access to the East China Sea". This is pure nonsense. In the 14th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly declared the sea ban policy, but did he say that "the Japanese pirates still have not made a small footprint"
, and the Eastern Order prohibits people living near the sea from communicating with overseas countries."
After all, at that time, the real and fake Japanese had long been mixed up. Who knows if I built a ship in the East China Sea privately, whether I was doing business, or whether I was going to be a Japanese pirate?
It can be said that although it was a bad policy of passive defense, judging from the time, it was actually very excusable.
What’s interesting is that the words “Nothing is allowed in the East China Sea” actually came from Zhu Wan’s Biography edited by the Qing Dynasty. It was not what Lao Zhu said at all. I think the editor of the book took the maritime ban policy implemented by the Qing Dynasty at that time and
It was taken for granted that Zhang Guanli Dai was put on the head of the Ming Dynasty.
Without further ado, let’s just say that after Zhu Su finished talking about the imperial court’s request to open a new shipping route, the Didong merchants suddenly couldn’t leave. As merchants, they naturally knew how beneficial the sea was.
For example, the Ming Dynasty's borders are in ruins, and in some places there is no cockcrow for thousands of miles. How much silk produced in Suzhou can be sold?
But if it can be sold to foreign countries... those foreign countries have always admired Chinese clothes and clothes, and most of them are "stupid people with a lot of money". Shipping Chinese silk and porcelain to other countries is almost the same as picking up money in the golden mountains!
If there really is an army to escort us, we can do any business!
A group of people suddenly started whispering among themselves.
"Your Majesty." However, the mature and prudent Zhao Yunyan spoke again.
"The master is willing to take them into that business."
"If you don't know, what should you ask the Suzhou merchant to pay?"