"Martial virtue black card, onboard!"
Ichibei Nara and Sukeo Owari raised their hands in the air and shouted in unison, holding Japan's unique Tsukiyo head.
There was also a Frenchman standing next to them. Although he was in a state of despair and had no intact clothes on his body, he still maintained the unique reserve of the French.
This strange combination was incompatible with the surrounding Han people, and soon attracted the attention of Zhu Zaiming's group of people who were peeping from a distance.
Why are there so many things in the fleet?
Zhu Zaiming sent someone to call the three of them over.
After the three Nara Ichibei came over, they saw a group of gorgeously dressed officials, including a young man wearing a dragon robe.
Deeply influenced by the Chinese civilization circle, they immediately realized who they were in front of.
The three of them knelt down immediately. The two Japanese were in standard earth seats, while the other Frenchman was kneeling upright.
"His Majesty the Ming Emperor!"×3
Zhu Zaiming thought for a while and realized that the clothes of his group were so recognizable that it was normal for their identities to be guessed, but there was another question.
"The people I transported here are Han people. How did you get in?"
Nara Ichibei did not raise his head, but maintained his posture as he told them what they had experienced.
It all started 6 years ago.
At this time, Japan was in the Tokugawa shogunate period, which was also the last era of samurai rule. It had been almost 200 years.
For a feudal dynasty, 200 years is the beginning of its decline.
In order to maintain the rule of the shogunate, the shogunate Tokugawa Ieki began to take action against some daimyo.
Nara and Owari are common surnames in Japan, and their ancestors both had great names, one in Osaka and the other in Tokaido.
When Tokugawa Ieki's butcher knife fell, the two families unfortunately became the targets of sacrifice, and the clan members fled to death.
In order to survive, they entered the Manchu and Qing Dynasties from North Korea, worked at the docks of Tianjin, and had meals in the capital. In the end, they traveled all the way and were sent by the Manchu and Qing officials on a piggy boat bound for Xinxiang.
What happened to Jean Bart is another story.
His parents were serfs on a farm in France, which is not quite right, because before his mother became pregnant, the local lord Count exercised the right of first night.
Strictly speaking, he should be the count's illegitimate son.
Therefore, he thought his name was Jean Bart, not Barr.
The old count developed feelings for his mother. Jean Bart's childhood could be considered very wealthy and he was happy every day.
Every time the old count came, he would bring him a lot of things, and also take him to ride horses, shoot guns, and play knight games.
Later, the Bastille in France was captured, and peasant uprisings broke out in various places. The old count died in the battle.
Without the care of the old earl, his half-brothers who were real nobles began to create difficulties in every possible way. His father was humiliated to death, and his mother was nowhere to be found.
One night, Jean Bart took away all the gold coins in his family and boarded a ship heading to the East.
He bought a large amount of coffee at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and then opened a cafe in Quanzhou, Manchuria.
As we all know, due to the cultural differences and eating habits between the East and the West, the business of his cafe is not good, and the customers who come are more businessmen from Europe.
But life can still go on.
Until Thirteen Lines made up his mind.
After Qianlong came to power, he closed the treaty ports in other regions and set up the Thirteenth Bank in Quanzhou to be responsible for foreign trade.
As a result, the Thirteenth Bank began to monopolize trade between the East and the West.
Eastern people have no consumption habits of various Western industrial products and cannot sell them at all.
But Eastern porcelain, silk and tea earned a lot of silver.
Westerners took advantage of their huge industrial production capacity and began to imitate the three major items from the East, but they could only produce porcelain and silk. Japan also seized the opportunity to mass-produce raw silk to provide raw materials for Westerners.
But what about tea?
China has a vast land and rich resources, and the climate is very different between the north and the south. The vast territory and diverse climate provide geographical conditions for large-scale tea cultivation.
This is not something that small European countries with few people can match. Even if the British stole 20,000 tea trees and planted them in India, they could not meet the huge trade gap.
As a result, a huge trade deficit occurred in the West, and a large amount of silver began to pour into the Manchus.
In this process, the monopoly organization Thirteen Banks became more and more rampant. They were no longer satisfied with traditional commodity trade.
All kinds of legal and illegal methods were used, and the government and businessmen colluded to forcibly annex other small workshops.
Buying opium from the British and selling it...
They even began to plunder all foreign businessmen in the Qing Dynasty. Various taxes were thicker than dictionaries, and the profit margins of foreign businessmen were further compressed.
Jean Bart's cafe was confiscated because he could not pay the huge rent and fines.
Shisanxing soon transformed his cafe into a smokehouse.
Big smokehouse...
This term is familiar to anyone who has studied history.
Opium dens, opium, the East India Company, the Thirteenth Line, Qianlong...
Zhu Zaiming paced back and forth in front of everyone. He racked his brains to recall the history. He thought of the words of his history teacher in his previous life, which made him feel cold all over.
It was Qianlong himself who sold opium to the people of the Qing Dynasty!
In fact, Qianlong had issued a ban a long time ago after he saw some of the princes and ministers' children taking opium, and after seeing what the army had become like that.
However, these bans only targeted Manchu children and the army, because this was the foundation of Qianlong's rule.
As for ordinary people? Who cares whether they live or die?
Moreover, Qianlong, who was crazily amassing money, also noticed the huge profits from opium.
After Qianlong discovered that thirteen lines were secretly selling opium, he not only did not stop it, but began to acquiesce.
There is no doubt, because the Thirteenth Bank is nominally managed by the Ministry of Accounts, but actually manages the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the money is directly deposited into the internal funds.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is in charge of the life of the emperor and his family.
Thirteen Lines was said to be a treaty port, but in fact it was Qianlong's personal monopoly group.
How much tax revenue the Ministry of Revenue can get from the Thirteenth Bank depends on Qianlong's face!
Colonel Watson of Bengal keenly discovered this and wrote to the Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings, suggesting that opium from Bengal be transported to the Manchus for sale in order to reverse the trade deficit between the East and the West.
And this advice had been implemented for more than twenty years by 1800!
For this reason alone, if Qianlong can be called Old Man Shiquan, then wouldn’t I, Zhu Zaiming, be a saint?
Unlike Qianlong's crazily amassing money, Zhu Zaiming spent all his private money for the construction of the Ming Dynasty.
From technical materials, to industrial machine tools, to the first-year expenses of 300,000 newly arrived citizens, Zhu Zaiming's personal savings of more than 2 million silver coins were directly wiped out.
Comparing before and after, he, Zhu Zaiming, was actually the poorest emperor.
Even the legendary Chongzhen Emperor and the Dashun Army copied 30 million taels of silver from the internal funds. This figure is exaggerated, but it is at least 3 million taels.
(Multiple historical materials have been jointly authenticated. When looking at history, one person’s opinion is not advisable. I watched a video on station B. People are stupid. Up’s master drew a detailed list of historical sources from multiple forces and positions, from private to official sources. This leads to the conclusion that Chongzhen had at least 3 million taels of silver in cash at the time of the fall of the country.)
(This data may not be accurate, but as long as there is evidence from multiple angles, I am willing to believe it.)
(The king of a subjugated country is diligent and has no money... Various bUffs are added, and the traffic is password-protected.)
Zhu Zaiming slapped the table fiercely, startling everyone.
"Xinxiang City, does anyone smoke these things?"
Seeing Chen Xian, the Minister of Household Affairs, hesitating, Zhu Zaiming's veins popped out and he yelled: "Speak!"
Chen Xian immediately knelt down, his clothes wet with cold sweat, and tremblingly told the truth.
"There are more than 200 smokers in Xinxiang, and there are many medical clinics going in and out every day..."
Not only the people of Xinxiang, but also more than 400 of the 300,000 newly arrived people had the habit of smoking. After Zhu Zaiming asked around, he even found that there were two among the new army!
"Wow, wow!"
Zhu Zaiming pointed his finger at the noses of Chen Xian and Kong Er and cursed angrily.
No one knows the harm of this sinful poison better than he who comes after him.
Opium is a lingering shadow of China’s century-old humiliation in modern times.
Ban, must be banned, whoever touches it will die!
