The air in the room was as silent as death, and Zheng Zhilong's eyes flickered, vaguely showing a bit of haze. Zhu Cixiang looked at his richest father-in-law with a smile as always.
Of course he knew that Zheng Zhilong spent more than ten years building Anping City and Shijing Town on land that should have belonged to the Ming Dynasty. Turning the original two fishing ports into the center of southeastern maritime trade!
Asking Zheng Zhilong to hand over Anping City and Shijing Town is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger! Maybe this big pirate will be forced back to Taiwan Island...
This is of course not Zhu Cixiang’s purpose. Zheng Zhilong is a very important force for the current Ming Dynasty!
In the breathless silence, Zhu Cixiang laughed out loud.
"Haha, Lao Taishan can't bear to part with you?"
"Master Chitose, millions of acres of land are not cheap. I am a businessman, so I naturally love money."
Zheng Zhilong's words were quite candid. But the little calculation in his heart has been going back and forth.
It is impossible for Zhu Cixi to dig out his own roots! He spent so much effort to win over Zheng Sen, and even promised himself to be a marquis of Da Yuan. He also agreed to interact with Japan in the name of the Ming Dynasty. He was also willing to help get the Dutch away from Da Yuan Island - no Do you know what he can do?
But one thing is certain, Master Qiantose wants to win over and take advantage of the Zheng family!
"Businessmen love money, and I love money too!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Old Taishan, it seems that we are really destined, we are both people who love money!
Since we both love money, let’s talk about business... The marriage of our two families is actually a big deal! "
Zheng Zhilong was a little surprised. The prince spoke too casually, right?
He pondered and asked, "I wonder what kind of business Qiantose Master wants to do?"
"Zhu and Zheng share Fujian." Zhu Cihong asked, "I wonder what Lao Taishan thinks?"
It is impossible to share Jiangnan!
The Zheng family can fight at sea but not on land, and they have no navy capable of fighting in the Yangtze River. How can they share the south of the Yangtze River?
But Fujian can still come up with "together", because Zhu Cixiang's court has very weak control over Fujian Province. They can only appoint governors, prefects, county magistrates and other officials, but they cannot control the Fujian army. Now the Fujian army is eating from the Zheng family, and it can no longer be regarded as the military force of the imperial court.
However, the Zheng family did not fully control Fujian, because the Zheng family was ultimately a business group, not a feudal military group like the Eight Banners Group. Therefore, the focus of the Zheng family's control of Fujian is not land and population, but industrial and commercial towns. For example, Anping City and Shijing Town... If Fujian, like the Netherlands and England, has entered the primary stage of capitalism and the urban population is large enough, then the Zheng family may really be the king of Fujian.
But the current situation is not like this. There are about 50,000 residents in Jinjiang County, the capital of Quancheng, and even more in Fuzhou. The number of households in Anping City and Shijing Town, the hometown of the Zheng family, is less than 20,000, and most of them are sailors.
Therefore, the Zheng family's strength on land in Fujian is quite limited, and they will definitely not be able to defeat the 6,400 musketry soldiers and 3,200 cavalry displayed by Zhu Cixiang.
"Where are the words from Master Chitose?" Zheng Zhilong, who knew that his land force was limited and insufficient to fight against the Ming Dynasty, dared to accept the condition of "sharing Fujian". He quickly smiled and said, "How dare I share Fujian with the imperial court?"
Zhu Cixi said with a smile: "Then Lao Taishan will be the Duke of Quan, and he will have Quanzhou. Zheng Sen will be granted the title of Da Yuan Bo, and will have Da Yuan Island and the islands of Penghu. From now on, the land of Quanzhou, Penghu, and Da Yuan will be Zheng Sen." The vassal state of the family.
In addition, the palace appointed Lao Taishan as the Minister of Nanyang, in charge of trade, anti-theft, navy and other affairs in the Nanyang sea. And he is allowed to collect protection fees from merchant ships from passing countries in the name of the Minister of Nanyang... I wonder what Lao Taishan wants? "
Zheng Zhilong looked at Zhu Cixiang and seemed a little unsure. After a while, he stood up and saluted, and said: "I am very grateful to you for your great kindness, but I dare not receive the title without merit!"
"You can make meritorious deeds without merit!" Zhu Cihong waved his hand and motioned for Zheng Zhilong to take a seat, "I hope that the Zheng family can donate 1 million acres of military farmland under the jurisdiction of Zhenhaiwei, Pinghaiwei, and Zhendongwei. If there is insufficient, the Zheng family will It must be made up with the private land of Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fuzhou Prefecture, and Xinghua Prefecture. This 1 million acres is considered the tea aunt's dowry.
In addition, the annual tribute of the Duke of Quanguo is 500,000 taels of silver, and the annual tribute of the Nanyang Minister's Office is also 500,000 taels of silver. How about it? Not too demanding, right? "
The annual tribute of one million taels of silver is nothing. As long as Zhu Cihong really allows the Zheng family to fully control the Quanzhou Prefecture, how can it not generate one million taels of tax revenue in a year? The Mi family in Fujian is very expensive. One million taels is only four to five million shi of white rice.
If a prefecture in Quanzhou has more than 120,000 acres of farmland and can harvest two bushels of rice per mu, it will produce 250,000 shi and 500,000 to 600,000 taels of silver per year. Coupled with the commercial taxes in cities such as Jinjiang and Nan'an and the port taxes in Anping Port, one million taels of silver is almost enough... The protection fees collected by the Zheng family at sea in the name of the Nanyang Minister can all be loaded into It’s in my pocket!
However, the 1 million acres of land that Zhu Cixi wanted was a bit difficult to obtain... The Zheng family had 300,000 to 400,000 acres in Zhenhaiwei, Pinghaiwei, and Zhendongwei, and they could all be handed over. But the remaining six to seven hundred thousand acres will cost a lot of money and a lot of effort. However, the Zheng family has the strength, so it is not a problem.
Another thing that makes Zheng Zhilong a little unsure is Da Yuan Island - Zhu Cixiang said before that he would be granted the title of Da Yuan Bo, but now he has given it to Duke Quan, and he wants to confer the title of Da Yuan Bo to Zheng Sen.
This is of course a good thing. The Zheng family has one father and one uncle. Although it is not as good as the Wu family's two fathers, the father and the uncle are both "lords" and have fiefdoms!
But there are the Dutch cities of Relanja and Prominja on Taiyuan Island!
With the Zheng family's land division, it would not be easy to capture the city of Rejelan... Moreover, the fleet of the Dutch East India Company was not weak. If a naval battle were to begin, Zheng Zhilong would not be sure of victory.
Although Zheng Zhilong won the Liaoluo Bay battle eleven years ago, Zheng Zhilong's fleet was attacked by the Dutch fleet at Zhongzuo Suo (Xiamen Island) just before the Liaoluo Bay battle, and suffered heavy losses.
"Master Qian Sui, I can provide you with an annual tribute of one million taels and one million acres of land." Zheng Zhilong said, "But the title of this great uncle is given to Damu..."
"What?" Zhu Cixi smiled, "Don't you, the Zheng family, want Dayuan Island?"
"It's not that I don't want to," Zheng Zhilong said. "Since I inherited the command of Li Dan and Yan Siqi, I have sent Fujian poor people to Dayuan Island every year to open up wasteland. Now, Bengang, Pingye, and Xingangzai have been established in the north of Dayuan Island. , Zhuqian and many other strongholds, tens of thousands of immigrants were immigrated. However, the Western Red Yi people built the cities of Relanjia and Prominjia in the southern part of Taiyuan Island, and stationed 2,000 troops, making it extremely difficult to capture..."
"I have already told Zheng Sen," Zhu Cixiang said, "I will resolve the Hongyi people on Dayuan Island through negotiation without provocation."
Zheng Zhilong was puzzled: "How to negotiate?"
"Of course I would like to ask the Governor of the East India Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands to send an envoy to Nanjing to have an interview with me!"
Zhu Cixi smiled and said: "The Netherlands is far away on the continent of Europe, and is it more than ten thousand miles away from the Ming Dynasty? Moreover, its land is small and its people are surrounded by powerful enemies. It has no spare capacity to occupy large areas of land overseas. Those who come to the coast of the Ming Dynasty are just doing business. profit.
The Taiyuan Island they occupied was located in a remote location and was not accessible to merchant ships traveling to the East and Southeast Asia. It was also prone to malaria and the climate was extremely hot. Hongyi settled down as a high official, but he was just the next choice. If the palace opens a commercial port at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the southeast, merchants from the Netherlands, France, Portugal, England and other Western countries can be allowed to live and operate. Who would go to Taiyuan Island to do business? Damuan Island is unprofitable, so the Hongyi Chamber of Commerce will naturally give up... When the time comes, we will spend money to buy the cities of Relanjia and Prominjia, and then bring all the foreign soldiers, craftsmen, and officials there. Once hired, wouldn’t everyone be happy?
Old Taishan, you have worked as a bowman for the Dutch. Based on your understanding of the Dutch, is this method feasible? "
Is it possible? Zheng Zhilong was also a little unsure... A commercial port should be opened at the mouth of the Yangtze River! Is it really possible?
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