"General, how are you going to get the capital of one million taels? Where should the headquarters of the Mongolian East India Company be located? Who has the final say in this company?"
The person who raised this series of questions was Wu Guogui, who was now well-established in the Ming, Zhou and Qing kingdoms. In the Ming Dynasty, he was the King of the West and the father-in-law of the general. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, he was the third uncle of Emperor Wu Shifan and Wu Adou, and the third brother of Prime Minister Wu, "Sai Zhuge". In the Qing Dynasty, he was also the uncle of Emperor Kangxi Wu Xuanye! It seemed that he was the only choice to preside over the Mongol East India Company.
Li Zhongshan had already made up his mind. He smiled and said: "Our Mongolian East India Company is modeled after the Dutch East India Company. All methods and regulations can be directly copied from those of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch East India Company At first, the shares were subscribed by powerful and wealthy businessmen in the Netherlands. Now, the shareholders are all over Europe, and it has become a company that crosses national borders. Therefore, the million-dollar share capital of our Mongolian East India Company is led by powerful people from our three countries. Take it out, isn’t it difficult?”
Of course it's not difficult!
Although the Ming Dynasty is now heavily in debt, the Zhou Dynasty cannot make ends meet, and the Qing Dynasty is extremely poor. But the dignitaries of the Three Kingdoms are all rich! One million taels is divided into three points, so each family only has thirty-three thousand taels.
That’s not a lot of money!
And the dignitaries of the three countries are willing to invest money. In the eyes of people from the Wu, Zhou and Qing dynasties, whether they follow the example of the Han and Tang dynasties in opening trade routes to the Western Regions, or follow the Mongols in plundering the West, they are sure to make money!
In Li Zhongshan's view, the Western Regions and Central Asia are just passages. As long as he can extend his tentacles into India, it will be impossible to lose! Even if he really lost money, he would admit it.
Because the strategic benefits that can be obtained by entering India are not comparable to the expenditure of hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver.
After all, the Ming Dynasty's navy will not be able to compare with the navies of Western countries in the foreseeable future. If you want Ming Dynasty's maritime power to enter the Indian Ocean, you can only make a breakthrough on land first. Then, in the name of the "old friends" of the Mughal Empire, they entered from the sea at the invitation of Emperor Aurangzeb - the Western colonists who now dominate the Indian Ocean should not have paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, the Great Mongolia and the Indian Mughals at the same time. The courage of the powerful powers on the mainland to challenge.
Since ancient times, the only land access to India seems to have been through Afghanistan and over the Khyber Pass. But in the foreseeable future, the Ming Dynasty's army seems to have no possibility of taking control of Central Asia, advancing into Afghanistan, and then moving south to India. It's not that the Ming army's combat effectiveness is not good, but that the Ming army cannot solve the logistics and transportation and the governance of the Mughal area. It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to use the banner of the Great Mongolia or the Chagatai Khanate anyway, right? Even if Li Zhongshan ignored the facts and declared himself Yuan, it would be difficult for him to control the Mongolian nomadic tribes to participate in the Western Expedition.
Taking the route of the Western Regions, Central Asia, and Afghanistan would not be so difficult for the Qing Dynasty and Wu Zhou who had certain nomadic attributes and could borrow money from the Great Mongolia and the Chagatai Khanate.
Therefore, investing in the Western Expeditions of Wu Zhou and Qing Dynasty is a method worth trying. Even if the investment ends up being a total loss, it is worth it as long as you can get a ticket to the Indian Ocean.
Seeing that Wu Guogui, Chang Ning, Mingzhu, Wang Shirong, and Fang Ying did not express any objection, Li Zhongshan continued: "The share capital of one million taels can be divided into one thousand shares, one thousand taels per share. Daming subscribed here Three hundred and thirty-four shares, Dazhou subscribed for 333 shares, and Daqing also subscribed for 333 shares, which together add up to exactly one thousand shares."
"That's not bad. For this split, everyone just has to put it together."
"It's only a thousand taels per share, so it's quite easy to get it together."
"I think this is good, so let's do it!"
Seeing that no one had any objections, Li Zhongshan added: "As for the headquarters of the Mongolian East India Company, it can be placed in Xuzhou. Xuzhou is located at the junction of the Ming, Qing and Zhou Dynasties. The terrain is flat and the transportation is convenient, but It’s not a battleground for military strategists. It’s just a piece of land that can be used to build a commercial city that connects the three countries, and it can be handed over to the Mongolian East India Company as the company’s headquarters.”
Xuzhou is currently under the control of the Qing Dynasty, but to the east of Xuzhou is Chenzhou and Yanling County of Kaifeng Prefecture controlled by the Ming Dynasty. To the west and south of Xuzhou are Ruzhou, Nanyang and Runing controlled by the Zhou Dynasty. Moreover, there is no danger to defend in Xuzhou, and the warlord Zu Liangbi stationed in Xuzhou does not have many strong soldiers, so he cannot afford to offend anyone from the surrounding forces. It is quite appropriate to place the headquarters of the Mongolian East India Company there.
Moreover, with such a commercial market there, trade between the Ming, Zhou and Qing kingdoms became much more convenient.
"Okay!" Chang Ning nodded immediately, "I can agree to this matter, Wang Shilang and Chief Secretary Fang. If you have no objections, then it's settled."
Wang Shirong and Fang Ying both looked back at Wu Guogui, and when they saw Wu Guogui nodded slightly, they both agreed.
Li Zhongshan added: "The governance of the Dutch East India Company is held by a seventeen-member council located in the Netherlands. The councils at various levels below each take charge of their own affairs and provide feedback to the seventeen-member council." We will be responsible. Our Mongolian East India Company can also do this. The shareholders will elect an eighteen-member council. The Ming, Zhou and Qing dynasties each elect six people to be permanent residents at the headquarters to discuss major policies. Then, according to needs, the Western Region will be established The Council, the Kipchak Council, the Transoxian Council and the Indian Council. Each council is composed of eighteen people, and the members are also recommended by the three parties."
"This is a good idea!"
"Three families contribute money, so if something happens, the three families should discuss it together."
"But how should we pay for the military expenses for this Western Expedition?"
"Yes, even a million principal is not enough!"
People from Wu Zhou and the Qing Dynasty were not interested in how the Mongolian East India Company was run and managed. What they cared about was raising funds for the Western Expedition.
Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "This is easy to handle. As long as the Great Mongolia and the Chagatai Khanate grant the Mongolian East India Company the trade management rights and taxation contracting rights to open up trade routes between the Western Regions and India, the Mongolian East India Company will be able to ask the Ming Dynasty , Qing Dynasty, and Zhou Dynasty merchants borrowed money. Not to mention more, a few million taels is not a piece of cake? And these millions of taels do not need to be repaid by the Mongolia and the Chagatai Khanate. They only need to let Mongolia The East India Company can simply recover the principal and interest through trade management and taxation."
Chang Ning was overjoyed when he heard this, slapped his thigh and said, "Isn't this just asking the Mongolian East India Company to become a businessman?"
Li Zhongshan nodded and said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, when the Mongols ruled the Han land, they used Semu merchants to scrape Han land's money. Now that the Mongols rule Semu people's territory, they should use Han merchants to scrape Semu money." "
"But where can we find so many profiteers who can go to the west to impress people?" Mingzhu asked with a frown, "Shikai, can your Hui merchants, maritime merchants, and Guangdong merchants from the Ming Dynasty do it?"
"They can't do it," Li Zhongshan waved his hand and said with a smile, "Isn't this the old west of Shanxi? The Mongolian East India Company can then outsource the following trade routes and tax rights to Shaanxi merchants and Shanxi merchants. My Ming Dynasty Huizhou merchants, maritime merchants, and Guangdong merchants only need to invest and pay dividends, and lend money to collect interest."
Merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi were once neck and neck, but later Shanxi merchants followed the path of the Qing Dynasty and completely overwhelmed Shaanxi merchants. If Li Zicheng was the victor in history, Shanxi merchants would probably be trampled under the feet of Shaanxi merchants.
Nowadays, the Great Qing Dynasty relied on Shanxi merchants for financial management, the Great Zhou Dynasty relied on Shaanxi merchants for financial management, and the Ming Dynasty's industry and commerce relied on Hui merchants, maritime merchants, and Guangdong merchants. When it comes to the strength of these major business gangs, the merchants from Shan and Shaanxi are definitely not enough, but they still have to rely on them to go to the west exit.
But what Li Zhongshan didn't expect was that Zheng Jing, the largest profiteer on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty, with a private fleet with a total tonnage comparable to that of the Dutch Navy and the British Navy, had recently found a wandering emperor who could do his dirty work for him, that is Geng Loyal!
What Geng Jingzhong did in Ryukyu could be hidden from the Spaniards and Li Zhongshan (Li Zhongshan's intelligence network did not cover Ryukyu, so Zheng Jing did not report it, so he would not know), but he could not hide it from the "sea overlord of East Asia" "Zheng Jing.
However, Zheng Jing did not tell Li Zhongshan that Geng Jingzhong occupied Ryukyu and was cheating and abducting people everywhere, and wanted to wander to the New World.
This is because Zheng Jing is the "eldest brother" of maritime merchants in southern Fujian and Chaozhou. The Hokkien and Chaozhou people were slaughtered again and again by the Spaniards in Luzon and were slaughtered as fat pigs! Therefore, Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Jing hated the Spaniards deeply. Zheng Chenggong was planning to invade Luzon before he died of illness, and Zheng Jing was also considering whether to invade Luzon before participating in the war against the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty. It was only because the opportunity to march north to Fujian suddenly came that he temporarily shelved the idea.
But now Zheng Jing has taken actual control of Fujian, and using the name of King Yi of the Ming Dynasty and his own powerful maritime power, he has completely controlled the network of Fujian and Guangdong merchants all over Southeast Asia.
With the actual control of Fujian, the Chinese business network in Nanyang, and the East Asian arsenal in Foshan, Guangdong, which can continuously provide him with advanced guns and artillery to arm his army, Zheng Jing naturally wants to drive the Spaniards away from Luzon gone.
However, he also knew that going to war with Spain was not the national policy of the Ming Dynasty - the Ming Dynasty now only has three-thirds of the world, and it has not been integrated internally, so it is impossible to go to war with Spain.
So after he discovered that the desperate Geng Jingzhong was preparing to venture to the New World, he was very interested in giving him a push from behind. No matter how Geng Jingzhong died in the New World, as long as he could attract the limited troops of New Spain, Zheng It has been possible to seize Luzon by opportunism.
After capturing Luzon, Zheng Jing could also betray Geng Jingzhong, reconcile with the Spanish, and share the Pacific trade line. How perfect!
As soon as his wishful thinking was settled, his envoy, Prince Wing's marching commander Feng Xifan, took Geng Jingzhong's wife and children to the small Ryukyu Island.
"Your Majesty, your wife and children, as well as the other captured Jingjun soldiers and their wives and children, were all exiled to Dajuan Island by the General's Office!"
In Geng Jingzhong's general mansion, which was the original Satsuma domain's Zaiban office, Feng Xifan returned Geng Jingzhong's wife (Yue Le's daughter) and son together, and then told Geng Jingzhong a piece of important news - Geng Jingzhong’s family members were actually taken hostage by Zheng Jing!
Geng Jingzhong asked: "Presumably King Yi spent a lot of money on them, right?"
"It's okay," Feng Xifan said with a smile. "The general's government is short of military pay for only a few million dollars. It costs a lot of food to raise those prisoners, and it damages moral character to kill them, so I gave them to King Yi in exchange for money. But you can rest assured." , King Yi's house was kind-hearted and did not let these captured people go to open up new land, but just let them work on the mature land that had been opened up long ago."
It is very dangerous to open up new land in the tropics. It is very easy to contract malaria!
Many people died of malaria when the Zhengming Group wanted to settle on Dayu Island. However, now that the Zheng Ming Group has returned to Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in glory, there are very few people left on Dajuan Island. After Geng Jingzhong, Yue Le and Jieshu's gang members were captured, they were "wholesaled" to Zheng Jing and asked them to fill in the gaps. The gap helped Zheng Jing run the sugar cane plantations and sugar mills on Taiyuan Island - in this era, the sugar manufacturing technology was monopolized by China, and the pillar industry of Taiyuan Island was sugar production.
And these prisoners who were placed on Dajuan Island have now become Zheng Jing's tools to manipulate Geng Jingzhong. This Zheng Jing is really winning!
Zheng Jing won, but Geng Jingzhong lost miserably. He looked at Feng Xifan with a livid face and asked: "What do you mean, King Yi? Do you want to use the family members of our army to force me to surrender to the Ming Dynasty?"
Feng Xifan shook his head and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, please don't get me wrong. My prince has no such intention. Moreover, the general has not offered any reward for your head. You have already made a mark on the ground of China."
It’s time to turn the page. This is even more sad than how much money it costs to arrest and bring him to justice!
Geng Jingzhong is no longer important, so much so that the General’s Office doesn’t even bother to arrest him!
Geng Jingzhong's face was ashen: "Feng Sima, since I have already turned the page, why are you still here?"
Feng Xifan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you have finished the story in China, but you have just started overseas! If the news my prince received is correct, are you now thinking about an expedition to the New World?"
Geng Jingzhong frowned and looked at Feng Xifan with burning eyes.
His desire to go to the New World is a secret! Not many people under him knew it, but Zheng Jing actually knew it!
Could it be that Zheng Jing's ears and eyes have already reached his side? Isn't this too scary?
Feng Xifan said: "Your Majesty, did you buy a batch of muskets and cannons from the Spaniards in Luzon last year in the name of conquering Japan? Do you still want to wrap up the Spanish ships? In the end, you think The Spanish ships were too few and too small to carry a few people, so they invited their fleet of galleons to come to Luzon for trade this year?"
Geng Jingzhong looked at Feng Xifan coldly: "Feng Sima, what are you talking about? Why don't I understand?"
Feng Xifan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't pretend to be confused because you understand. You have nothing to pretend to be with Xiaguan because Xiaguan came to Ryukyu to help you on the orders of King Yi!"
"Help?" Geng Jingzhong stared, "How do you want to help?"
Feng Xifan said: "Actually, you were right not to take action last year! It's not that easy to cross the ocean to the New World! If it were that easy, our king would have sent people there long ago! If you had snatched a medium-sized sailboat, it wouldn't be able to hold a few people at all. . And you will start a war with the Spaniards because of this! When their galleons come to Ryukyu this year, they will have to bring their troops with them!
So you made a good move this year, seizing all the Spanish galleons running the Luzon route in one fell swoop. This will allow you to equip more people, and the Governor-General of New Spain who has lost the galleons will not be able to attack Ryukyu for the time being.
Oh, you probably haven't figured it out yet. Even if you capture the entire Spanish galleon fleet, plus the big bird ship on Ryukyu Island, you still won't be able to transport all your troops across the ocean. "
"Why?" Geng Jingzhong didn't understand, "Didn't my thousands of people come here on those bird boats?"
"That's different," Feng Xifan shook his head and said, "It's only a one-day voyage from Ningbo to Ryukyu, and all the merchants from Ningbo have gone through Ryukyu, so nothing can go wrong. But to go to New Spain, you have to prepare three months of fresh water. And food! If there are more fresh water and food on the ship, there will naturally be fewer people.
In addition, do you know how to control the fleet when traveling on the ocean? "
"How to control it?" Geng Jingzhong really didn't know.
Feng Xifan said: "It is very easy for the crew to mutiny when traveling across the ocean. The Spaniards will seize a few sailboats by surprise and then run away. What should you do?"
"This." How did Geng Jingzhong know?
Feng Xifan said with a smile: "If you want to control the entire fleet, you must firmly control at least two large ships, and load most of the food on these two days of large ships. The other ships only have a small amount of food and a large amount of fresh water.
In this way, other ships in the fleet will have to follow closely, otherwise the crews on them will starve to death. So you must have a group of Han crews who can really travel across the ocean, and there must be two ships that they are familiar with and have firepower. A powerful ship! "
(End of chapter)
