The specific location of the Shanghai Commercial Port now is different from the location when the Shanghai Commercial Port opened in Zhu Cixi's era. The latter was closer to Wusongkou and was built almost close to the Wusong Fort.
Zheng Zhilong made this Shanghai commercial port closer to Shanghai County, on the north bank of Wusong River to the north of Shanghai County. Moreover, the planning of the commercial port is not as grand as Zhu Cixang's plan for the Shanghai commercial port, which is a series of river and sea piers built along the north and west banks of the Wusong River.
The so-called Wusong River is actually the Suzhou River and the lower reaches of the Huangpu River in later generations. It was called Wusong River in the Ming Dynasty. The Wusong River leads directly to Suzhou in the west and is connected to the Grand Canal. In the east, it merges into the mouth of the Yangtze River and leads directly to the vast East China Sea.
Moreover, the Wusong River, like most inland rivers in the Jiangnan region, has extremely strong navigation capabilities! The ships that could be built in this era, whether river ships or sea ships, could travel freely on the Wusong River.
In addition, the so-called Jiangnan Water Town can actually also be called Jiangnan Water Network. Rivers large and small are like a net covering the land south of the Yangtze River. The Wusong River and Huangpu River, these medium-sized rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, connect the water network of the south of the Yangtze River with the sea and rivers.
In the era before railways appeared, the water network in Jiangnan was probably the cheapest transportation channel in this era. At the same time, this land covered by water nets is extremely fertile. It is not only the land of fish and rice, but also the land of silk, cotton, and tea, and it also produces a variety of handicrafts... The so-called germination of capitalism has actually appeared in this hot land long ago.
Zhu Youjian didn't care whether the sprouts could thrive, and Zheng Zhilong didn't know about it either. One of them is a beggar feudal lord, and the other is an honest businessman who collects protection fees. There is still a gap between the two of them compared to Zhu Cixiang.
Now Zhu Youjian is considering going abroad to beg for food - he must let Ming's begging career go abroad!
Because the only begging markets that have not been developed in China are Guangdong and Fujian. These two provinces are not major grain-producing provinces, so the potential of the begging market is not great.
Next, if we want to carry forward the ancestral begging business, we have no choice but to go abroad to beg.
When going abroad to beg for food, of course the Netherlands is a begging partner. Zhu Youjian knew that the Dutch also started their careers as beggars. Before they became sea coachmen, they were known as sea beggars and forest beggars - the European branch of the Beggar Gang is probably in Amsterdam, right?
Since everyone is a beggar, cooperation will be smoother.
Ming Dynasty begged for food, Holland begged for money, each got what he needed!
And Zheng Zhilong, who had just returned from Japan and was in charge of the Shanghai Shipping Department, also wanted to cooperate with the Dutch. He wanted to learn from the Dutch shipbuilding skills, build bigger warships, and install more cannons, so that his family's maritime protection business could become bigger and stronger.
Different from what Zhu Youjian knew, Zheng Zhilong's understanding of himself was never that of a pirate who stole money, but an honest businessman who collected protection fees.
The reason why he was able to collect so much protection fee was that there was a maritime trade network in East Asia and Southeast Asia dominated by Fujian and Guangdong maritime merchants (including overseas Chinese).
And these Fujian and Guangdong maritime merchants and overseas Chinese are the mainstream in East Asia and Southeast Asia!
Although their ships were small, they had many people, and they accumulated a huge amount of wealth through trade between the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang, Japan, and Korea.
However, due to the Ming Dynasty's long-term national policy of maritime ban and the decline of naval power, these Chinese maritime merchants were unable to receive protection from their motherland, the Ming Dynasty - the extremely poor Ming Dynasty did not accept this protection fee!
Therefore, the protection fee market in East Asia and Southeast Asia has been vacated.
Characters such as Wang Zhi, Yan Siqi, Li Dan, and Zheng Zhilong, by chance, filled and occupied the protection fee market in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
However, Zheng Zhilong has clearly felt that his career has encountered a bottleneck in recent years - his protection fees can only be collected at sea, mainly from Chinese maritime merchants, and the scope is only along the coast of China and the South China Sea.
Zheng Zhilong is powerless against the protection fee market for Chinese businessmen on land... His maritime force seems to be very strong, but it does not have much deterrence ability against land-based countries or even city-states.
This time he was frustrated in Japan. He went to Japan with Zhu Youjian's autographed letter and Daming's credentials. I thought that Japan, a small country, should admire the great dynasty of tomorrow and treat him, an important minister of the dynasty, as an uncle. However, Tokugawa Iemitsu had a very cold attitude towards him, and it took a long time to summon Zheng Zhilong in Edo Castle.
Regarding Ming's intention to form an alliance, Tokugawa Iemitsu was noncommittal. Tokugawa Iemitsu did not fully agree to Zheng Zhilong's request to bring his wife and children back to the Ming Dynasty for reunion. He only agreed that Zheng Zhilong would bring his eldest son Zheng Sen back to China.
In addition, Zheng Zhilong also received news from several Japanese profiteers who had a close relationship with him that made him vomit blood - the Tokugawa shogunate exported 2,000 iron cannons and 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder to Jianzhou!
What do you want to do?
After learning the news, Zheng Zhilong did not dare to stay in Japan anymore and quickly took Zheng Sen away to avoid being detained in Japan.
On the way back to China, while Zheng Zhilong was angry, he also discovered the weak link in his protection fee business - the boat was still too small and the cannon was still disadvantageous!
Therefore, we can only deal with small and medium-sized pirates, or sneak attacks on large Western ships. Encountering a powerful enemy on land, he was completely helpless.
Moreover, his ship was too small and could not cross Malacca, the Pacific Ocean, or go to Europe and Tianzhu.
...
"Long live Lord, why do you live in Xipu? Isn't this the garden of Duke Wei's mansion?"
"It belongs to me now. Duke Wei gave this garden to me... Admiral Zheng and Uncle Pu, what do you think of this garden?"
Zheng Zhilong and Hans Putsmann, who accompanied Van Diemen to Beijing, met Zhu Youjian in Xipu who had just returned to the army after a triumphant victory - Gao Yingxiang finally stopped pretending to be alive and had long since become a pickled product. His head was placed in a wooden cage and hung on the Yifengmen Gate Tower in Nanjing. It was displayed for a few days and then buried.
Zhu Youjian did not leave Nanjing immediately and return north. Instead, he lived in Xiyuan, which originally belonged to Wei Guofu. This was his first residence after arriving in Nanjing in his previous life, and it was also a garden he loved very much. To find tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle, you can not only enjoy the elegant tranquility of the Jiangnan gardens, but also enjoy the prosperity and beauty of the Qinhuai River when needed.
"Long live my lord, Xipu is a famous garden in Jinling, so of course it is good." Of course Zheng Zhilong knew the name of Xipu.
"Your Majesty, you should live in the castle." Hans Putsmann said in blunt Chinese, "I don't think it is very safe here."
"Live in a castle?" Zhu Youjian smiled, "That's right...many people here in Nanjing hate me, right?" He paused, "But I don't have a suitable castle to live near Nanjing City. ah!"
"Your Majesty," Hans Putsmann said, "on our way west from Shanghai with Governor Anthony Van Diemen, we saw several very nice castles...it seemed that they were outside Nanjing. There is one, a brand-new bastion, tall, solid, and impressive." In fact, the bastions that Anthony van Diemen and Hans Putsmann saw were cheap goods, with a thin outer layer. Inside the thin brick wall is an earth wall built with sandbags. It looks good and is very sturdy, just not very durable.
Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "So do I need to negotiate with Van Diemen in a bastion? Is it possible for us to reach a formal agreement? Has he received full authorization from The Hague and Amsterdam?"
"There is no need to negotiate in the bastion..." Hans Putsmann said, "Anthony Van Diemen has fully understood the power of the Ming Empire. He is just worried that your expeditionary force cannot be very powerful." Quickly capture Fort Santiago in Manila.”
Zhu Youjian nodded: "His concerns are reasonable, but I can give him a very convincing evidence. After that, we can discuss the specific time of sending troops, action plan and distribution of benefits after the war." .”
