Zhao Yuanhong's letter finally arrived in the capital of the Ming Dynasty after more than a year.
The reason why we were able to arrive so quickly was because of maritime connections.
When it comes to letters from the capital of the Ming Dynasty, many maritime merchants are willing to help. Even if the pirates know about this matter, they will not stop it.
Although the navy of the Ming Dynasty is currently only in the Nanyang region and has not entered the Western region.
But the capital's newspaper has already been circulated around the world.
After reading the content in the Di newspaper, anyone will yearn for the prosperous Ming Dynasty. Perhaps in the eyes of many people, the Ming Dynasty is a utopia.
"I didn't expect that in the far west, the Byzantine Empire would have fallen into such a situation."
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed after seeing the content of the letter.
Rome was the Great Qin of the West, possessing the same civilization as the East. At this time, just like the Southern Song Dynasty, it was already on the verge of fragmentation.
If the Byzantine Empire fell, it would be equivalent to the desolation of the Roman era.
Compared with the Central Plains, it is like the Manchu Qing entering the customs.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was expelling the Tartars and restoring the Central Plains.
This makes Zhu Yuanzhang feel some empathy now.
"If possible, let's try our best to help the Paleoleg Dynasty."
Zhu Yuanzhang said first.
He didn't think Zhao Yuanhong could do anything in the West. The West was too far away from the Ming Dynasty.
Even if Zhao Yuanhong really developed a lot, it actually didn't mean much to Ming Dynasty.
Because in the far west, it is impossible to migrate a large number of Han people there. The existence of a Han person, no matter how great his achievements are, will not have much effect on the Ming Dynasty after his death.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw this very clearly.
However, it still played a role in spreading the reputation of Ming Dynasty.
Even if the Nanyang region is captured, as an affiliated territory of the Ming Dynasty, it will only have the greatest influence in the southern Indian region.
Crossing the entire Indian Ocean to the Arabian Sea is a very long time now.
These aspects are no longer something that the Ming court can influence.
But Zhu Ying had different ideas.
In fact, if you want to develop overseas power, it is impossible to do this through the Ming Dynasty.
The best way is to support the power of the private sector, because only private family power can carry out external expansion at a huge cost.
It's not that the Ming Dynasty officials don't have this strength, but it's not worth it to the court.
The territory of the Ming Dynasty itself is very large. It is a waste of energy to develop overseas, and official actions can easily arouse resistance from other countries. Once a dispute occurs, the level will easily escalate.
It's different for private organizations. They are responsible for their own profits and losses, as long as they think they are profitable.
The primitive accumulation of capital is often dirty and bloody, and the court does not need to bear such a bad reputation.
After leaving the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty, the law was actually no longer binding.
How to do it depends entirely on one's moral standards.
If it weren't for the etiquette and civilization that the Central Plains has attached to since ancient times, Zhu Ying would have had the idea of issuing privateering licenses.
Of course, as far as his current behavior is concerned, Zhu Ying is actually encouraging private families to communicate with the outside world.
Today's Ming Dynasty, especially in Fujian and the coastal areas of Guangdong, the most prosperous industry is shipbuilding.
Civil society's demand for sea-going ships is increasing, and this is indispensable for Zhu Ying's secret promotion and policy support.
And because of HNA, the matter of moving the capital has now been put on hold.
Today's Nanjing has an increasing population due to the gathering of businessmen from all over the world and the continuous influx of people from all over the Ming Dynasty.
According to the preliminary statistics of the current Hongwu 30 years, the floating population plus fixed residents
The population is already on the verge of approaching three million.
What is the concept of a city with a concentrated population of three million people at the end of the 14th century?
Let alone three million, even big cities with a population of over one million can be said to be only a handful in the entire world.
It is precisely because of the promotion of maritime trade that the population of Nanjing has been soaring in recent years.
In fact, the biggest factor in population growth is because Zhu Ying continued to open factories here in Nanjing.
As a factory in Nanjing, it is among the top places in terms of salary and all aspects. As long as you can enter a factory in Nanjing, let alone the salary, the first thing you are guaranteed is food and accommodation.
It is simply unimaginable for ordinary people to have food and housing included. In addition, there is also a lot of wages every month.
As long as it is not spent indiscriminately, these wages can be saved.
In comparison, this life is even better than that of some landowners in remote areas.
The factory also distributes free dormitories and clothes.
Not having to worry about food and clothing, this was a life that the people who had suffered from the chaos of the late Yuan Dynasty could never dream of.
Coupled with the golden name of Taisun, it seems that my status will go up several levels after entering the factory.
In these concentrated factories, Zhu Ying also opened special schools so that the children of workers entering the factory could learn knowledge.
These schools, organized by the factory, are all free for the children of factory workers.
Not only were they not restrained, but they were also given food, which was a complete waste of time.
Each factory will be equipped with a clinic according to Zhu Ying's requirements.
Workers can go to the clinic for treatment if they have any ailment.
The factory clinics are very cheap, and some minor illnesses can often be treated for just a few pennies.
This even includes delivery services.
no way.
Now the Ming Dynasty is constantly encouraging childbirth, so delivery is a very important issue, which can better ensure the survival rate of newborns.
Midwifery is currently a direction that medical schools attach great importance to. The profession of midwife is being eliminated by history and replaced by more professional gynecologists.
Nowadays, there is no such thing as a woman's lack of talent, because the rapid economic development has led to the creation of many new jobs.
As for schools, there is no such thing as accepting only men and not women.
The compulsory education set by Zhu Ying included both men and women.
The current gynecology department is basically all for women.
Today's female doctors, not to mention the rise throughout the Ming Dynasty, have long been commonplace for people living in Nanjing.
With the development of economy, it is normal for women's status to rise.
Of course, after all, this historically belongs to the feudal era, and it is obviously still very difficult for women to achieve the same status as in later generations.
Moreover, as far as today's Ming Dynasty is concerned, although the overall development is constantly rising, in fact, the development of Nanjing is very different from that of other places.
Except for Nanjing, even the current Jiangnan area has not completely restored its former prosperity. Even because of Nanjing, a large number of families from Jiangnan have been attracted to migrate.
If we were to compile an economic ranking of the top ten cities in the Ming Dynasty, the prosperity of the next nine cities might not be half that of Nanjing.
This is also the key reason why the matter of moving the capital has been temporarily shelved. The city of Nanjing is now too prosperous. If the capital is to be moved, the impact will be even greater.
Nanjing has two cities: inner and outer. The inner city belongs to the area around the imperial palace.
In terms of prosperity, the outer city of Nanjing is even more prosperous.
The expansion of the outer city has been Nanjing's move in recent years, and it is also the most basic need.
With the overcrowding of the population, the only option is to continue to develop and expand the outer city of Nanjing. Otherwise, when you come to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, you will not even have a place to live.
Cement at this time
It comes in great use at this time. Newly built houses are not only fast, but also generally have three floors.
Zhu Ying has already planned to build a small Nanjing in the direction of the Yangtze River.
This is to make maritime transportation more convenient, mainly to initially solve the problem of population congestion.
You know, in today's Nanjing city, all the inns are full every day because of the living conditions.
If foreign businessmen arrived in Nanjing on the same day, it would be almost impossible to find a place to live in Nanjing without government arrangements.
Houses in Nanjing no longer have the concept of firewood sheds.
Many people who have houses in Nanjing now choose to rent out their spare houses.
The woodshed can be rented out with a little tidying up, which is a lot of money.
Even for people who once lived in Nanjing, as long as there are two or three houses available for rent, there is no need to worry about life, and even the whole family can live on the rent.
Compared with the changes in Nanjing, the changes in the palace were even more dramatic.
Especially when it comes to food, a large number of novel ingredients continue to appear on the palace list.
The most prominent ones are various fruits and snacks.
In terms of fruits, fruits from Nanyang are the most popular in the capital. Fruits from the tropics are always meaty and juicy, and their taste is much better than those from other regions.
No matter how much fruit is shipped from Nanyang to the capital, it is basically sold out on the same day.
The freshest batch among them was naturally supplied to the palace.
Now Zhu Yuanzhang can be regarded as truly living a good life, which is much more comfortable than before.
The pressure on government affairs is reduced, and delicacies from all over the world are even more enjoyable.
Every afternoon, Zhu Ying specially arranged fruit desserts.
Not only Zhu Yuanzhang, but everyone in the palace can enjoy it.
Even the palace guards on duty can get a small portion of dessert and fruit.
Even a young eunuch who has just entered the palace can still have two bites to eat.
In the Qianqing Palace.
Every day after lunch, there will be fruit as dessert.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying ate, of course, the freshest and most expensive fruits.
"Today's pineapples are much sweeter than usual. Where did they come from? They don't have the sour taste at all."
Pineapple is Zhu Yuanzhang's favorite fruit, which is actually a pineapple.
Pineapple is a name given by later generations, and now it is called pineapple.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, today's pineapples were shipped from the east. The palace found that these pineapples are sweeter than the previous ones, so they were specially presented to Your Majesty and Grandson."
Liu He replied respectfully.
Because there are so many types of fruits shipped to the capital now, the palace also has to screen the fruits.
For example, if something does not suit the taste, of course it cannot be presented to His Majesty.
When Zhu Ying heard the word Dongfan, her heart moved slightly.
This place, Dongfan, will be Taiwan in later generations.
In the early Ming Dynasty, it was called Dongfan, and in the middle Ming Dynasty, it was also called "Dawan".
It was not until the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty that the name Taiwan came into being.
As far as Taiwan is concerned now, there is almost no communication with the Ming Dynasty, especially the people in Fujian. With the development of Hainan, they are more familiar with Luzon in the distance.
Taiwan is only a hundred miles away from Fujian, but now Taiwan is more like a primitive society.
Qiongzhou can also be regarded as an island in a remote area. Now, due to the development of Hainan Airlines, the current economic level has risen rapidly. Similar to Dongpan, there is currently no official government.
Dongfan is nominally affiliated with the Ming Dynasty, but in fact no one goes there at all.
The reason for this is that the Taiwan Strait seems very narrow but not wide, but in fact it is much more difficult to cross the sea from Fujian to Taiwan than to Ryukyu or Luzon.
The bay and strait may not look wide, but in fact it is much more difficult to cross the sea from Fujian to Taiwan than to Ryukyu or Luzon.
In addition, the complex topography of the seabed in the Penghu waterway between Taiwan's main island and Penghu, ocean currents and strong winds caused frequent shipwrecks in ancient times, and it was called the Black Water Ditch. It’s not easy to get to Penghu, but it’s even harder to get to Taiwan.
Let alone the early Ming Dynasty now, even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the nearest Fujian Province knew nothing about Dongfan.
However, due to the continuous development of maritime navigation, there are always some ships arriving in Dongfan.
In fact, there is a relatively safe waterway, which is to start from the mouth of the Yangtze River and go south in a straight line. It is a calm route and is far less dangerous than going from Fujian to Dongfan.
"There seems to be no official government of our Ming Dynasty in Dongfan, right? It has always been a place without kings?"
Zhu Yuanzhang ate pineapple and recalled.
Pineapple and pineapple are actually the same fruit.
However, pineapples have a strong sour taste, so they need to be soaked in salt water for a period of time to eliminate the sour taste before eating.
Pineapples grown in Dongpan do not need to be eaten as they have no sour taste at all.
It was this piece of pineapple that made Zhu Yuanzhang notice Dongfan.
"Dongfan is not far from our Ming Dynasty, but it is more dangerous to sail. However, there should be a safe channel. We can go find it and let Dongfan accept the enlightenment of our Ming Dynasty."
Now that she knows about Dongfan, Zhu Ying certainly has no intention of letting it go. After all, Dongfan is more suitable for living and can develop a good farmland economy.
Although I have no memory of Taiwan’s safe waterways, I also know that starting from Fujian is definitely not possible.
Find some experienced people, issue an order, and give some rewards, and it shouldn't be difficult to find a safe channel.
Taiwan is a place that cannot be missed, as it is fully capable of large-scale migration and immigration.
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