His eyes fell on the work reports recently sent to various foreign stations. He recalled the recent report sent by Zhao Yiggong on trying to open up a sea route from Shanghai to Tianjin. Zhao Yiggong pointed out in the report that the coastal shipping industry of the Ming Dynasty
The technical level is backward and the efficiency is low. Based on the current navigation technology of the Senate, even using local sand ships in Shanghai can transport a large amount of goods and speed up the two-way logistics trade between the north and the south. Especially in the field of grain transportation, not only is there a huge profit
, can further disrupt the social and economic foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
But he was interested not only in this matter, but in Shanghai mentioned by Zhao Yingong.
As a trade port, Shanghai is not only important in China's coastal trade, but also an important foreign trade port. Skade has always wondered why Shanghai was not as important as Fujian in the Ming Dynasty? The main foreign trade port in the Ming Dynasty, from
From the earliest Shuangyu, Yuegang to Anping and Xiamen in the late Ming Dynasty, all are on the coast of Fujian without exception.
From a trade perspective, Fujian is surrounded by mountains on three sides and has few plains. Apart from sugar and indigo, it is not a production base for bulk trade commodities. Many commodities are transported thousands of miles from other provinces to Fujian for re-export. Clark Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty
In the early days, it was fired in Jiangxi. Later, due to the difficult transportation from Jiangxi to Fujian, large losses and high freight, some people set up kilns and fired them locally in Fujian.
However, this situation was limited by China's maritime positioning and navigation technology, which had begun to lag behind at that time. China's traditional navigation technology mainly relied on "needle paths" and used compasses to coordinate navigation with maritime landmarks. Therefore, navigation was generally along islands.
The chain was carried out. At that time, sea-going ships to Japan all followed the route from Taiwan to Japan along the first island chain. Therefore, the shipping route to Japan has been mainly based on the ports of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces since ancient times.
Since the Ming Dynasty, the method of astronomical positioning began to lag behind. Navigation relied more and more on maritime landmark positioning, so that when sailing north and south along the coast of China, ships in the Yuan Dynasty could enter the black water ocean, but in the Ming Dynasty, they regressed and could only sail between coastal islands.
Already.
The biggest problem with this route is the detour. The route from Fujian Airlines to Japan mostly takes the summer route, taking the southeast monsoon, first to Taiwan, and then along the southeast monsoon along Ryukyu to Nagasaki. The whole journey is 1,000 nautical miles. And starting from Shanghai
You can choose to ride the northwest monsoon in winter, and the direct voyage to Nagasaki is only 400 nautical miles. If you sail from Shanghai, you can reach Nagasaki in ten days. Not only the distance is shortened by more than half, but also you avoid the common typhoons in summer.
No matter from any angle, Shanghai is a port that is a hundred times better than Anping. Shanghai is located at the estuary of the Yangtze River, backed by two golden waterways, the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal. Moreover, it is the Yangtze River with the richest products and the richest society.
Downstream areas. Whether it is porcelain from Jiangxi, raw silk from Zhejiang, or cotton from Songjiang, all can be transported to Shanghai via convenient and cheap inland waterways. Sugar and indigo from Guangdong and Fujian can also be transported along coastal routes.
If Zhao Yingong's Hangzhou Station can carry out trade with Japan on a large scale, not only will this piece of fat fall into the mouth of the Senate, but it will also fundamentally cut off the possibility of Zheng Zhilong, Li Zhilong and other Fujian large merchants from regrouping.
This plan has been proposed a long time ago, and Si Kaide has also been interested in it, but he feels that this project is too troublesome and requires a considerable amount of manpower and material resources. It is also likely to intensify the conflict with the Zheng Group - it is completely okay
On the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation, it is not too late to use Zheng Zhilong's power to gain profits, and then slowly plan his plans later.
Now it seems that the prospect of peaceful adaptation and utilization no longer exists. It is only a matter of time before Shanghai opens up trade with Japan. Instead of passively waiting for others to propose it, it is better to start it yourself. At any rate, this is also a move against the Zheng Group.
The plan of “throwing the fire under the cauldron”.
Although this is not a direct action, its overall strategic significance is much greater than a simple tactical attack.
What's more, now that they have mastered the relay base of Jeju Island, it is a favorable condition for ships to shelter from the wind for replenishment or to store goods - not to mention that they can also use Jeju as a base to export specialties from North Korea and Liaodong to Japan. Skade knew that at that time
Korean ginseng is a "miracle medicine" in Japan, and its price is even higher than gold. Many Japanese girls sell themselves into prostitution in order to treat their relatives.
Skade thought, no matter how you look at launching trade with Japan, it is an important matter. The question is who should be sent to do this?
After much thought, he decided to send Ping Qiu Sheng, who had returned from Southeast Asia, to Japan - Ping Qiu Sheng had been begging him for this matter for a long time. Now Ping Qiu Sheng is his general - ever since he went to Southeast Asia
, successfully opened up trade with Siam. This trade route brought a large amount of rice to the Senate, which was struggling with food problems, and Ping Qiusheng's popularity in the Senate soared. He became a popular figure recently.
A group of practical talents - his opinions and wishes must be seriously considered by Skade.
Furthermore, there is currently a force in the Senate that wants to "kick him down". Ping Qiusheng must be professional and meritorious in the Ministry of Colonization and Trade, and he is likely to become a suitable "new man" in the eyes of some people.
It would be bad to be dragged over and used as a cannonball. It would be better to take this opportunity to get him into his favorite Japanese business and realize his dream of "flat general" and "flat shogunate". He only needs to leave the Central Committee for a few years.
, naturally the wind dissipated.
Little did Ping Qiusheng know that the director of the department was worried. When he heard that he was asked to take charge of trade with Japan, he couldn't help but cheer up and said that he would be ready to leave immediately.
"I plan to go to Jeju first - this place is very important for developing trade with Japan." Ping Qiusheng had already studied the trilateral trade between China, Japan and North Korea at that time, and he already had a plan in mind and spoke clearly and clearly.
Japan is not a place where everyone can trade - according to the shogunate's lock-down order, only Ming, Dutch and Portuguese merchants are allowed to trade in Japan. The Dutch were temporarily stopped from trading because of the Hamada Yabei incident, and this year the Dutch East Indies
Only after the company's "calming trip" is effective will trade routes be reopened. As for merchants from the Ming Dynasty, only those who have received the seal of seal from the shogunate can go to Nagasaki for trade.
Even if Zhao Yingong sends a merchant ship to Japan immediately, he will not be able to start trade because he does not have the Zhuyin Certificate.
Of course, in the style of the colonialists, the Senate could have carried out a "black ship visit" in the 17th century. The problem is that the Senate's maritime strength is now limited after all, and it is not appropriate to use the skills of group ridicule. Compared with Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang
In the end, Japan is just a place where you can make money.
As a result, if you want to carry out trade with Japan, you must find a vest or special channels.
To find Majia is to find a maritime merchant with a seal, use various means to control him, and then use his seal to trade. As for the special channel, it is the channel of Tsushima.
Ping Qiu Sheng felt that instead of looking for a Zhuyinzhuang maritime merchant to go public on the backdoor, it would be quicker and faster to start with the special channel of Tsushima.
He expressed his views to Skade, and Skade said that he completely agreed with him.
"You are the plenipotentiary representative of the Ministry of Colonization and Trade for trade between China, Japan and North Korea - I have issued a document. Not only the import and export business of Ming Dynasty to Japan and North Korea, but also the trade of Jeju to Japan and Ming Dynasty will be managed and coordinated by you."
Ping Qiusheng nodded repeatedly, his excitement palpable.
"I will send you a few more naturalized assistants. There is a Japanese you can bring with you - a real Japanese samurai."
"Zichuan! Zichuan! Zichuan..."
Zichuan felt as if a big stone was pressing on his chest, and he couldn't breathe. Every time he took a breath, the stone became heavier, and it hurt like a burning fire. Gradually, he didn't know whether he could breathe anymore, and the pain disappeared.
Suddenly, my eyes turned into a tunnel of light. There seemed to be people singing and performing Noh drama in the tunnel. I was being pulled by a force to walk step by step towards the end of the tunnel...
I have been called by the Lord
A voice said to him: You still have things to do, go ahead...
"Zichuan! The chief is calling you!"
It turned out to be a dream.
Since being injured in Jeju City, Murasaki Hideji has often had this dream. In fact, when a person falls into a state of shock, neural activity does not completely stop, and part of the senses will receive some external information sporadicly.
At that time, Murasaki Hideji was hit by an arrow in his leg and right armpit. Unlike the bamboo bows in Southeast Asia, the Korean compound bow was very lethal. The arrow in his right armpit penetrated the chest, causing an open hemopneumothorax.
He was dead, but the Australian army was not elsewhere. The military doctor inserted a large bronze needle in his chest to deflate him and gave him antibiotics, so God decided to let him go back.
Later, due to his serious injury, neither Feng Zongze nor the naturalized civilian military doctors in Jeju were able to continue treatment. If he continued to stay in Jeju, he would die sooner or later. And his performance in the battle made the elders feel that it would be a pity to let him die like this.
. A dead horse was treated as a living doctor, so he was sent to Lingao on a naval ship and admitted to Ma Niao Army General Hospital.
More than ten days of sea voyage almost killed him, but Zichuan's vitality was very strong, and after a lot of trouble, he finally began to recover slowly.
The arrow in his leg pierced the knee. At least the leg was saved, but it was impossible to completely recover. Zichuan could neither run nor climb walls for the rest of his life. Therefore, he was very worried about himself now.
Can we survive the days when the Australians have rice all the time? In the end, I came up with the comfort of God.
The young Australian nurse had brought him clean and neat military uniforms and helped him get dressed. Then he put up his crutches and limped out of the ward of Ma Niao General Hospital with the help of the nurse.