Forbidden City, Fengtian Hall, Dongnuan Pavilion.
Zhu Cixiang was convening the last imperial meeting between the two governments in the second year of Hongxing.
The auditorium of Dongnuang Pavilion has just been renovated. It is no longer the "Juyi Hall" style auditorium, but a Western-style conference hall with a long table in the middle and a circle of chairs around it.
Emperor Zhu was sitting on a high-backed chair above him, with three wooden sailing models placed in front of him, which were the so-called Wanshi Big Bird Ship models.
This "Wanshi Big Bird Ship Design Order" issued by the Shipbuilding Department of the Ministry of War will also be a milestone in the shipbuilding and industrial history of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Because this is a "design order", although Ming's handicrafts and shipbuilding industries are not bad, there is no concept of industrial design. In recent years, as Dutch and Portuguese merchants opened more and more handicraft workshops in the Ming Dynasty, Gezhijing Academy also trained some craftsmen who were proficient in geometric drawing (it was Zhu Cixiang who ordered the Royal Chamber of Commerce, the Zheng family, and the Shen family to select craftsmen who were proficient in writing and A young and smart craftsman who went to Beijing Academy to further his studies) was finally able to draw a design that Zhu Cixiang could understand.
Of course, the design of the Wanshi Big Bird Boat cannot just look at the drawings, but also has to have models of various sizes. With the models, it can be put into Xuanwu Lake to conduct tests on sinking resistance, wind resistance and load-carrying performance.
The three sailboat models now in front of Zhu Cixiang are the three thousand-stone bird ship models that have passed the Xuanwu Lake test. They are provided by Nanjing Shipyard (owned by the Royal Chamber of Commerce), Shanghai Shenjia Shipyard, and Anping Zhengshi Shipyard.
The Shipbuilding Department of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty will later place another order for a Wanshi Big Bird ship to three shipyards - the three Wanshi Big Bird ships built by the three shipyards will be used for sea trials. After the one-year trial period, Then evaluate the pros and cons and choose the final winner.
After that, the three major shipyards will carry out standardized production according to the final winning design plan - this is also Zhu Cixiang's attempt to introduce the concept of standardization into handicraft production.
According to Emperor Zhu's vision, the cost, seaworthiness, maneuverability, safety and other indicators of the standardized production of the Wanshi Big Bird Ship should be ideal, and it should be convenient for mass production.
With the large-scale production of thousands of stone big bird ships, the Ming Dynasty could transport enough immigrants overseas and transport food back at the same time.
"Mr. Quan Guo, if you use this kind of big bird ship to transport grain, can your shipping company make a profit?" Zhu Cixiang looked at the three bird ship models in front of him and asked Zheng Zhilong about the profits of overseas grain transportation. question.
If Zhu Cixiang wanted to use overseas colonial development to solve the problem of more people and less food at home, he would have to make careful calculations and calculate costs and profits. It’s not necessarily that you can’t lose money. The colonial enterprise is also a risky investment (at least Zhu Cihong treats it as a venture capital investment), and it’s impossible to make a profit on every investment. Moreover, big business generally involves a process of losing money first and then making money. It is normal to burn some money at the beginning of the project.
But this does not mean that you can let go of losses at will - Zhu Cixiang's colonial business was not about digging for gold, but about farming. There was no huge profit in farming, so he had to be careful with his calculations.
The big profiteer Zheng Zhilong has already made the calculation, so now he has a look of pain on his face, shaking his head and saying: "It's not easy to do, it's not easy to do... It's one thing to cut off grain and rice, but it's to build ships to transport rice. It’s another thing. Just don’t compensate for the cut in grain and rice. Anyway, the imported merchant ships are all light-loaded, so loading more will not increase the cost.
But it's different to build a large boat of ten thousand stones to transport rice! If such a big boat is to be built, it must be made of Siamese rouge wood (teak). The cost of building a big bird boat will not be less than fifteen thousand taels. How much will it cost to lend fifteen thousand taels for one year? Two thousand taels is not too much, right?
To control this big bird boat well, at least forty or fifty sailors must be hired. The personnel expenses are four to five thousand taels a year, right?
There is also the Nanyang tax (the fee charged by the Zheng family navy) and the port ship tax to be paid. Adding the two together, it is another two to three thousand taels.
In addition, how many round trips can a big bird boat make in total? What is the probability of being sunk by wind and waves? What is the probability of encountering pirates? The cost of a big bird boat is twelve thousand taels a year, which is not much at all! How much rice must be transported to make up the cost?
So this business is not easy to do! Unless the court can subsidize some shipbuilding costs. It might be easier to make up for six thousand taels per boat. "
Of course Zheng Zhilong is a traitor! It was simply wrong for him to settle the score for Emperor Zhu!
First of all, the cost mentioned by Zheng Zhilong includes the price of artillery. The Zheng family owns naval warships, so there is no need to install cannons on merchant ships transporting rice - merchant ships are merchant ships after all! No matter how strong it is, it cannot be compared with a warship.
And there are only forty or fifty crew members in total. They have to operate the ship and the cannon. How much combat effectiveness can they have? Therefore, the artillery of armed merchant ships is basically a thing to scare people.
The big bird boat used by the Zheng family does not need to be equipped with cannons, so it can carry more weight and cost less. Twelve thousand taels are enough to build a ten thousand stone big bird boat.
Secondly, the Nanyang tax was collected by the Zheng family themselves. There is no difference between handing over the Zheng family's boat to him and not handing it over to him. As for the customs (export) tax for ships, even if it is paid according to the standard, the tax is deducted with grain, and the actual payment is not that much.
Furthermore, these big bird boats that carry grain will not be empty when they go abroad. You can also transport people and goods. Even if there is no profit in transporting grain to the import, you can still make money by transporting people and goods out of the country.
Finally, with long-term and large orders for transporting grain back to China from Ca Mau and Jinghai, it was necessary for the Zheng family to rebuild their own fleet and replace all merchant ships with this mass-produced big bird boat - by then all The ships are all of the same model, and they are all large ships, so the operating costs can be greatly reduced.
If the imperial court can provide a subsidy of 6,000 taels of silver for each big bird boat, then Zheng Zhilong can make even more profits...
You old profiteer!
Zhu Cixiang also knew that Zheng Zhilong was cheating him!
But he still smiled and agreed: "Okay, just make up 6,000 taels...but the import duties and other taxes that should be paid cannot be discounted.
Also, is there any surplus in the household department that can be supplemented? If not... why not just supply the land of Jin'ou Army! How about one boat covering 3,000 acres? "
"3,000 acres? OK!" Zheng Zhilong nodded without thinking.
This old vixen is here!
He knew that Zhu Cihong would not ask for money! But the Jin'ou Army has plenty of land, and if it doesn't have it, it can still be grabbed immediately.
So what he wants is land!
Although these lands are all wasteland, as long as they are willing to invest in reclamation, the income is still guaranteed - Jin'ou Army has land, although it is not very fertile, but the climate is suitable and two crops a year are stable. One acre of paddy field can be cultivated just fine, and it is not too difficult to harvest two or three shi of white rice a year. From 3,000 acres of land, at least 6,000 shi can be harvested.
As long as there is transportation capacity and someone (the imperial court) is willing to buy it for one, two, two, three, or three yuan (the price of white rice) per stone, this transaction can definitely make a lot of money!
Of course, only merchants can do this business! Businessmen have funds, know how to operate, are not lacking in skills, and can bear certain risks. Relying on warriors or poor and lower-middle peasants is not possible...
...
"Your Excellency, how are you? The Emperor of the Ming Empire is not easy to deal with, isn't it?"
The Justice of Manila, who had wandered around Nanjing, had returned to the Wujia Garden in Shanghai and met the Dutch Ambassador Van Diemen again - the Dutch Embassy was not in Nanjing, but in Shanghai.
"This is an Eastern emperor who is ambitious, has a broad vision, and is not arrogant!"
Caballero gave a fair assessment.
He paused and said firmly: "I think we should limit their ability to obtain ocean warfare as much as possible... It is unthinkable to transport tens of thousands of landing troops to the Chinese coast, but we must also prevent it. They have the ability to throw large numbers of land forces onto the shores of Batavia and Manila.”
In fact, what he really wants to protect is America!
Van Diemen laughed: "If...I mean if, if we could attract the energy of the Ming Emperor back to the vast East Asian continent, wouldn't it be better?"
"Attract them back to the mainland?" Caballero was stunned. "Ambassador, what can you do?"
"Yes, there is a way..." Van Diemen nodded repeatedly, "I know several businessmen from the British East India Company, and they have close contacts with the Qing court in the north of the mainland!"
