Chapter 244 Thousands of Sails Cover the Sea (Part 2)
Gao Jing is not very unfamiliar with the Spaniards in Luzon, but he is obviously not familiar with "Mexico". In fact, the Mexico he just mentioned refers to Mexico City.
In terms of current administrative divisions, Mexico City is the seat of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in the Kingdom of Castile.
The jurisdiction of the Governor of New Spain was very large, including later Mexico, Central America (except Panama), California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and the Philippine Islands in Asia—
- Luzon, as people in the Ming Dynasty called it, was the most important overseas territory of the Spanish colonial empire.
As for the transportation of silver from the Americas to the Philippine Islands, this is a phenomenon that existed in ancient history, and under the influence of high pragmatism, the scale of the Spanish transportation of silver exceeded history.
The Ming Dynasty’s foreign trade has two most notable features. First, merchants in the Ming Dynasty almost only accepted precious metals, mainly silver and gold as a supplement. Second, the Shunchao was huge, that is, the value of the goods sold far exceeded those bought.
The value of goods has become a global black hole for precious metals, especially silver.
As we all know, after the discovery of the Iwami Silver Mine in Japan, historians estimated that in the century from 1540 to 1644, an average of 75 tons of silver flowed from Japan to the Ming Dynasty every year, totaling about 7,500 tons, or 150 million taels of silver (
According to the previous instructions in this book, the Ming Dynasty weight was converted into the current market jin and market liang, so this data is approximately equal to).
In other words, in Japan alone, an average of about 1.5 million taels of silver flowed unilaterally into the Ming Dynasty every year.
However, although Japan had a geographical advantage, it was only one of the sources of silver entering the Ming Dynasty, and another bigger source was the Americas.
In the twenty-fourth year (1545) and the twenty-seventh year (1548) of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Spanish discovered extremely large silver mines in Potosi (later Bolivia) and Zacatecas, Mexico. After that, a large number of low-cost silver mines were
American silver was continuously poured into Spain and other major European countries through various channels such as international trade, financial operations, smuggling, piracy, and war reparations.
But what’s more funny is that most of the American silver that initially flowed into Europe was eventually shipped to Ming Dynasty, where it was used to purchase Ming Dynasty’s world-exclusive and irreplaceable products.
At the very beginning, its silver circulation route was: Spain's famous "Invincible Fleet" loaded with silver, departed from Mexico, Panama and Peru and other places, passed through the port of Lisbon in Portugal and the southern port of Seville in Spain, and bypassed Africa.
Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the port of Goa, India.
Along this line, there was buying and selling, loading and unloading. After arriving at the port of Goa, a large amount of silver flowed into India from the Mediterranean and Middle East markets was added, and then transported to Macau via Malacca. Finally, the Portuguese used these
Silver purchased the huge quantities of Ming goods needed for markets in Japan, India, the Middle East, the Near East, Central Europe, and Western Europe—the Ming Dynasty actually served as the "world's factory."
At that time, only Portuguese merchant ships transported around 120,000 taels of silver from Goa Port to Macau every year at the beginning, and later gradually increased to around 600,000 taels.
In the fifth year of Longqing (1571), the Spanish established a colonial capital in Manila, Philippines. After that, the waterway changed. American silver began to directly cross the Pacific, be transported to Manila, and then transferred to the Ming Dynasty through trade. This is a famous example in world history.
The famous "Manila Galleon" trade. This route also became the main channel for American silver to be imported into the Ming Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty.
In the original 50 years of the late Ming Dynasty, the total amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty through the Americas-Philippines-Da Ming route reached at least 4,620 tons, or 92.4 million taels.
In fact, during the period after the mid-Wanli period, the world's silver production, including Japan and the Americas, accounted for one-third or even one-half of the total, and eventually flowed into the Ming Dynasty. The idea of a silver black hole in the Ming Dynasty is not a joke.
The root cause is that the competitiveness of "Made in China" in the late Ming Dynasty was so strong that it was invincible. At that time, the entire world benefited from the high-quality and low-priced goods exported by the Ming Dynasty, such as tea, porcelain, silk, cotton, and medicinal materials.
etc.
Looking at the world from the Ming Dynasty, the goods that other places could sell to the Ming Dynasty were very limited, which forced them to use silver as currency to do business with the Ming Dynasty.
According to historical records, the foreign merchant ships that came to the Ming Dynasty for trade at that time "carried very little cargo, and most of them were foreign silver." The reason why the later Qing emperors of the Qing Dynasty habitually claimed that their country lacked everything was probably due to the fact that China in 1800
It may be due to the inertia of thinking that we have maintained a large trade surplus for three to four hundred years before 2008.
To tell a somewhat funny story, in the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), the merchant ship of the British East India Company arrived in the Ming Dynasty for the first time. The British were very excited, thinking that they could finally make a lot of money from the Ming Dynasty. Who knew that a slap in the face would come too soon?
Quickly, they couldn't even sell a single piece of British goods. In the end, they just threw out 80,000 Spanish silver dollars and returned home loaded with goods from the Ming Dynasty. What's even more fun is that they sold the goods after they returned and made a huge profit.
A sum of money is actually much more cost-effective than selling British goods in Daming.
The Spaniards have not yet enjoyed the treatment of the British in this story. They still have no way to sail merchant ships directly into the Ming Dynasty. They can only resort to the second best option of doing transfer trade through the Portuguese connections in Haojing (Macau).
.
Otherwise, they can only wait in the Philippines, waiting for merchants from the Ming Dynasty to take the initiative to trade. Fortunately, the Spanish discovered that the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be growing rapidly in recent years, especially the fleet of the "Jinghua Sea Trade".
We often make appointments with them and come directly to the Philippines for transactions.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! However, as King Philip II of Spain took advantage of the succession crisis of the Kingdom of Portugal, he used Spain’s powerful force to forcibly “unify” Portugal (of course he did claim
(right), this situation may have a chance to change.
At least the Spaniards in Luzon feel they have this opportunity and are working hard to do so.
But they didn't know that the Portuguese had no interest in giving themselves another competitor for no reason at all.
The time when the Jinghua Expeditionary Fleet set off to Burma happened to be the first time that the Spanish tried to take over the "Ming Dynasty Trade Concession" currently held solely by the Portuguese.
What was particularly coincidental was that Gao Jing's Spanish fleet, which had just arrived in Luzon from the Americas, had just completed a large deal with the Jinghua Nanyang Fleet in Luzon and Quanzhou ports, and was heading to Malacca, preparing to return to Europe.
Forty Spanish galenic ships have already set off from Manila for two days, and are already approaching Changsha (which belongs to Guangdong, that is, the Nansha Islands). The Jinghua Expedition Fleet, which set off from Jinggang more than a day earlier, has also arrived at a place that history buffs may be familiar with.
Location: near the waters of Natuna Island - but Natuna Island at this time was not called by this name. The Ming Dynasty called the island Wansheng Shitang Island.
The origin of this name is related to Zheng He. The meaning of "Wansheng Shitangyu" means that the island is the island where Zheng He lived and gave birth to many soldiers.
According to Gao Jing's suggestion, the Jinghua fleet will temporarily dock at Wansheng Shitang Island today to replenish supplies such as fresh water and fruits on the island.
In fact, this is also considering that the army has only undergone a short period of maritime adaptability training, especially the wolf soldiers under Huang Zhiting. After all, in highly pragmatic terms, the Guangxi wolf soldiers are specialized in mountain warfare and jungle warfare.
, less than a month of maritime adaptability training may not guarantee that they can drift at sea for a long time, and then immediately engage in intense and fierce battles after disembarking from the ship, so necessary stops and rest are necessary.
Of course there were people from the Ming Dynasty on Wansheng Island, and it is even more accurate to say that it is now the territory of the Ming Dynasty. There is a local surname called Zeng. The ancestor of the Zeng family is called Zeng Yuanfang, who was the leader of a group of boatmen who stayed on the island under the emperor's order during the Xuanzong period.
, later the Zeng family gradually became the actual masters of the island.
The reason why the Zeng family was able to become the actual "island owner" was because although Xuanzong stopped his voyages to the West, he still ordered Zeng Yuanfang and others to guard the island.
Therefore, Wansheng Island is the official name of Wansheng Shitang Island, and the meaning of "Anbu Na" is said to mean "safely guarding the island and not paying taxes" - anyway, this is what they told the people in Jinghua
of.
This is not the first time that people from Jinghua Sea Trade have come to Wansheng Island, but the level of the person who came this time was too high. The head of the Zeng family was immediately frightened when he heard that he was the "Deputy Commander of the Annan Capital Division of the Ming Dynasty".
One jump.
After further questioning, I found out that the deputy commander-in-chief was not only a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty, but he also came with a large army. The people sent by Gao Jing took the small boat he sent to let him see it offshore.
What does it mean to say "there are huge armies from heaven and thousands of sails covering the sea".
Needless to say, the original head of the Zeng family, Zeng Yongcheng, was busy arranging reception arrangements.
However, although this island is large, the population on the island is not very large, probably less than 30,000, of which the main city of the Zeng family only has more than 10,000 people. The so-called port is even more cramped, and it is impossible to dock such a huge island.
fleet.
Therefore, after sending small boats to discuss, Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing decided to dock only four warships into the port, and the remaining ships anchored on the offshore coast outside the port. Fortunately, the water depth inside and outside the port here is sufficient, otherwise there would be other
trouble.
Seeing the majestic ship of the "Motherland" sailing into the harbor, the islanders on Wansheng Island were extremely excited and cheered. Some old people even bowed their heads and shouted something unknown.
If Gao Jingshi came here in person, he would definitely be very emotional. However, Huang Zhiting was not a time traveler after all. She was just silent for a while and said to Gao Jing: "Islands like Wansheng Island are all islands belonging to the Ming Dynasty survivors. In Nanyang
Is there any more?"
Compared with Huang Zhiting, Gao Jing was more familiar with it. He nodded and said: "Of course there are. In fact, there are quite a lot of survivors of the Celestial Dynasty in Nanyang. However, like Wansheng Island, there are not many who are mainly survivors of the Ming Dynasty. Most of them are mixed in.
Among the natives, I have told you before that we should contact them well. The reason why the Nanyang Fleet was able to get so much information in Malacca is because of this."
Huang Zhiting thought for a while and suddenly asked: "I remember Prime Minister Gao told me that the key to overseas development is to master sea routes and seaports, and use each seaport as a springboard to connect them together. Like a pearl necklace, each seaport is
Pearl after pearl, the line in the middle is the waterway, thus forming its own chain of maritime power - haven't you considered treating Wansheng Island as one of the 'pearls'?"
"How could I not have thought about it?" Gao Jing said with a wry smile: "I personally wrote a letter to the master to report this matter, but the master refused, saying that since the people of Wansheng Island considered themselves to be my Mingren, they still held in their hands
If there is an edict from the Xuan Temple, then don’t take it by force... The master means that we can only take over the islands that have nothing to do with our Ming Dynasty."
Huang Zhiting frowned slightly and asked, "Have you achieved anything now?"
"The Annan Squadron has not achieved anything worth mentioning yet." Gao Jing helplessly spread his hands: "Right now, Beijing is concentrating on migrating people to Annan. Annan can't handle it, so how can there be any extra people to move to Nanyang?
Dutong, if the island wants to become the "pearl" that the master said, it is useless to just erect a stone monument. It must be done after relocating the population and establishing towns and seaports. According to my understanding, at present, our Nanyang Fleet is here
There is only one such target, and that is the place in Jingang...oh, it is now called Taiwan."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Huang Zhiting smiled, nodded and said: "It seems that I am too ambitious. I guess your master must have his own plan in mind for these things."
."
This was not an easy thing to say. It could not be said that the master had no plans in mind, nor could he offend Deputy Dutong Huang in person by admitting that she was "too ambitious." Therefore, Gao Jing just smiled in apology, changed the subject, and said, "Dutong,
Although Wansheng Island is not under the control of our capital, the difference is actually not big, because the imperial court has actually not had much control over Wansheng Island - the Guangdong Navy may come to patrol the sea every three to five years.
, but because there is no need to pay taxes on Wansheng Island, when the Guangdong Navy comes, it will at most do the same as we did this time, come here to replenish fresh water and food, and will not interfere in the affairs of the island."
Huang Zhiting heard Gao Jing's subtext and raised her eyebrows slightly: "You mean, Island Master Zeng... um, will be happy to cooperate with us?"
"I don't know if he is 'happy' or not, but he will definitely cooperate if he 'cooperates'." Gao Jing said with a smile: "Don't say that with our current strength, we can easily take over the entire island, even if we only have your command."
The Great Seal of Guanfang was here, so they didn't dare not to cooperate. After all, the Zeng family was able to take charge of Wansheng Island because they relied on the edict from the Xuan Temple asking them to guard the island. Even if they were faced with the presence of a third-rank official from the imperial court, they would not dare to disobey it.
Order, what island is he guarding? Why should the people on the island take orders from his family anymore? You know, his family’s ancestors were only captains of boatmen, not chieftains.”
Huang Zhiting was very satisfied, nodded, and asked: "For such a big island, fresh water is enough to supplement it, but food and fruits..."
"Food doesn't matter, we have brought enough." Gao Jing said: "It's mainly fruits, but this is not a problem. There is no difference between spring, summer, autumn and winter in Nanyang, so it's hard to say anything else. Fruits are really all available, and almost
You don’t even need to plant them, they are everywhere in the mountains and plains, you just need to send people to pick them.”
At this time, the two of them were just about to get off the boat, when suddenly a small Centipede speedboat came from behind, and the Jinghua crew member on the speedboat waved the flag vigorously.
Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing turned to look at the warning from the sailors on the lookout, but Huang Zhiting didn't understand the semaphore and didn't know what the crew on the small boat meant, so they had to look towards Gao Jing.
Gao Jing watched for a while, immediately frowned, and his face became very serious, and said to Huang Zhiting: "The fleet rearguard formation sent a report, saying that a Spanish fleet was discovered in the waters of Changsha, and it was very large. They did not
They know whether they should be regarded as enemy troops, so they are moving closer to us... Well, they also said that they have sent two clippers to monitor the Spanish's movements, but please give us orders as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, Huang Zhiting's expression changed, and she asked in a deep voice: "The Spaniards? Are they the fleet with forty large Galenic ships that you mentioned before?"
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