Seeing that the princes were very enlightened, Emperor Zhu nodded with satisfaction - this is the benefit of Mingjun's reign. Even a bunch of "pig princes" now know how to work hard!
But just knowing how to work hard is not enough, you also need to know how to use your strength, and you also need to know how to use your strength to gain strength.
Colonization and nation-building cost money and lives, and it lasted for many years. You couldn't just use your own notebooks and paste them in, otherwise you would have to die!
For example, except for the United States, which has underground mines (there are huge gold mines in that area!) and the Principality of Malacca, which is located at the center of trade and is convenient for road toll business, the other colonial countries seem to be some start-up companies of later generations. , you have to burn investors' money fiercely, and burn it for ten or twenty years before you can make a lot of profits... And the colonial establishment of the country will burn not only money, but also human lives!
This is also the reason why Zhu Cixiang has always been timid about the issue of colonization in Southeast Asia!
The Gulf of America looks far away, and you have to cross the Pacific. However, because there are ocean currents and wind belts that can be used, for Ming Dynasty captains who have been able to measure latitude more accurately, crossing the Pacific is not more dangerous and time-consuming than traveling to and from the South China Sea (both are It’s one round trip per year). Although the North Pacific westerly belt (the only way to the New World) sometimes blows strong winds and waves (big winds and waves mainly occur in winter), the trade wind belt you have to pass when returning from the New World is still very mild. Typhoons occur in late summer and early autumn.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's Pacific sailing ships usually avoided winter when traveling eastward, and they usually avoided late summer and early autumn when traveling westward. Therefore, the number of lives swallowed up on the route across the Pacific is no more than the number of lives swallowed up on the route to the South China Sea - it is inevitable that people will die when the ship capsizes! However, with the continuous improvement of the Ming Dynasty's maritime capabilities, the mortality rate at sea was still acceptable, even lower than that of sailing Westerners of the same era. After all, East Asians were "immune" to scurvy!
But after the immigrants arrived at their destination, the mortality rates in Nanyang and the New World immediately became dramatically different. The climate in the Gulf of America is comfortable, the land is fertile, and the products are abundant. It is also very "clean" and has almost no fatal infectious diseases.
But immigrating to Southeast Asia is different. The climate in that area is hot and humid, which is very different from most areas in the Ming Dynasty, so many immigrants will not be accustomed to the climate.
What's even more frightening is that it has always been a place of miasma and diseases. If there are ready-made land and cities to live in, the mortality rate can be lower. If we open up the jungle, more than half of them will die within a few years.
In the just-concluded Battle of Pattani, the Japanese samurai regiment commanded by General Xu Zhengjing (Hoko Zhengjing) suffered from multiple epidemic outbreaks, resulting in the loss of more than 10,000 people!
More than ten times more people died from illness than from fighting!
The Ming Dynasty immigrants who cultivated semi-cultivated lands such as Ca Mau, Jinghai (Jinghai Navy has now been merged into Ca Mau Army and is called Ca Mau Army Jinghai Mansion), Siam, and Xiyang (Xiyang Army) also suffered from tropical infections, mainly malaria. The disease has taken a heavy toll.
According to Jin Yiwei's secret investigation, the mortality rate of immigrants within three years exceeded 25% - this is the mortality rate when there is a large amount of cultivated land available in Jinghai, Siam, Xiyang and other places. .
As for the prisoners who have been exiled to Taiwan over the years, except for those "remnants of the eunuchs" who were cared for by the Zheng family, the mortality rate within three years was more than 50%!
Therefore, the business of going to Nanyang is, to put it bluntly, costing lives!
What? Got cinchona?
It has not been discovered by the Spanish yet, and the origin of the cinchona tree is in the Viceroyalty of Peru in the Kingdom of New Spain, and the Ming Dynasty's expedition team cannot enter at all. Even if you could get in, it would be of no use because no one knows what a cinchona tree looks like? If you want to get this treasure, you must occupy the territory for a long time, and then contact the local indigenous people before you can use various means to obtain the cinchona tree seeds.
Even if Zhu Cixi had some cunning means to obtain the seeds of the cinchona tree, it would still take ten years for the tree to grow. It would probably be twenty years before he could really produce cinchona in large quantities.
As for forcing the indigenous people to open up, is this kind of thing something that honest Han farmers can do?
Not to mention the farmers who can’t do it, the landlords here in the Ming Dynasty can’t do it either! Landlords in the Ming Dynasty carried two knives with them when they went out, and would kill peasants who resisted rent and taxes. Where could there be peasant uprisings?
Therefore, the colonization of Nanyang will be a history of blood and tears for a long time to come.
Since it is a history of blood and tears, "leeks" are needed... and "leeks" cannot be forced to grow! They must be allowed to grow voluntarily!
Therefore, it is definitely not possible to forcefully colonize Southeast Asia to some extent. Don't wait until Southeast Asia doesn't have many colonists, but the country has already become one.
Moreover, "leeks" must have a certain amount of capital. How can you be a "leeks" if you don't have capital?
After all, going to Nanyang to open up is a business, so you can't just fool some poor people into going south. In that case, the mortality rate will not be 25%, but 60 to 70% - recruiting poor people, sending them south, and giving them land and tools all costs public money. , as a result, 70% of them died within a few years, and most of the remaining ones went bankrupt due to poor management. Isn’t that nonsense?
So we have to let "leeks" who have some capital, some ability, and a little bad conscience go to Nanyang with the dream of getting rich and honoring their ancestors.
This way the probability of survival will be higher and it will be easier to develop.
"Since everyone is willing to plant trees for future generations, then I will take you all to plant trees together!" Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "Besides, I have quite a lot of experience in planting trees!"
In fact, he doesn't know how to plant trees, but he can cut leeks when he has them... Now the princes in the Huangji Palace, who are stretching their necks and dreaming about generations of descendants, are also like giant leeks that are growing vigorously. !
Zhu Cihong paused and then said: "You have to listen to me on this matter! You have to do this... To do big business, you have to take a long-term view. You can't rush to make money. You have to develop your competitiveness first. , do you know what competitiveness is? Here in Nanyang, it is the manpower that can develop and operate!
The place to develop competitiveness is the Kingdom of Luzon! The 250 miles of land allocated to you is not for you to make money, but for you to develop your competitiveness first.
To develop competitiveness, you must first attract powerful talents! Don't hesitate to be eclectic... So of the 250 square miles allocated to you, it's enough for your family to take 10 square miles to build a village for your own use, and the rest will be divided into 24 barons and used to attract talent.
And this talent cannot be limited to just one type. There must be at least big farmers, craftsmen, warriors and veterans who are responsible for cutting people, doctors who know a little bit of medical skills, and scholars who can help with education and management. , and finally there will be monks and Taoist priests. They have to be introduced one by one, and they have to be encouraged to bring their customers or tribesmen to Luzon together..."
Emperor Zhu is teaching the big leek how to set the little leek!
Only when a big leek is paired with a small leek can the idea of exploring Nanyang be successful!
Because people with big leeks have few lives, so if you burn money you can burn them, but you can’t rely on them to burn lives... You have to give life to little leeks.
Moreover, these little leeks can't just live, they also need to have some capital and ability, so that they can do things for the big leeks.
"Your Majesty," Zhu Youlang (Yongli in history), the king of Yongming County, asked, twirling his beautiful beard, "Where can I recruit useful and reliable people?"
Zhu Cixiang glanced at him and said to himself: Isn't your Emperor Yongli quite good at winning people over in history? Why are you still asking me now?
"There are many ways to recruit talents," Zhu Cixiang thought for a while, "You can openly recruit in newspapers, you can send people to recruit from the barbarian army, you can go to Annan and Japan to recruit, in short, you have to be eclectic, regardless of your origin. It only depends on ability... My twelve principalities will be recruiting people soon, and then my uncle can learn from them."
