At the foot of Yuexiu Mountain, the enclosure building of the Guangdong Provincial Council is very lively today, almost as noisy as a duck pond.
The Supreme Council of the Ming Dynasty is still in Nanjing, so there is only one Provincial Council in Guangzhou. But this Guangdong Province is, after all, the land of Longxing in the New Ming Dynasty. The Provincial Council here is much more active than other Provincial Councils!
And the councilors who can get a seat in the Guangdong Provincial Council are almost all Zhu Heji's old brothers, and most of them are lords! Of course there are no dukes or marquises at this level, but there are a lot of earls, viscounts, and barons!
Most of these nobles came from wealthy families in the Chaoshan and Guangfu areas, with Chaozhou being the most numerous among them. Chaozhou people don't like working part-time. If they have the chance, they want to start a business and become a boss. Therefore, a considerable number of old brothers chose to quit the job and go into business after their meritorious service. Zhu Heji, the eldest brother, was of course a great help to these old brothers who wanted to start a business.
The national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty have been on the rise in recent years. Zhu Heji encouraged industry and commerce, and even personally launched an industrial golden finger. So these old brothers have caught up with the good times again, and many of them have become rich and wealthy, and it is natural for them to be elected as council members.
And this group of wealthy consultants who were accustomed to following Zhu Heji's smooth sailing, unexpectedly learned a piece of news in the past two days that made them particularly angry - the foreign devils actually wanted to start a trade war with the Ming Dynasty!
They are still thinking about writing a letter to Emperor Zhu Da and sending troops to Southeast Asia to seize the Dutch Spice Island and Malacca! These foreign devils are not waiting for the tomorrow's soldiers to rob them, but they actually dare to start a trade war... This is really hateful!
In addition, how is this trade war fought?
"The trade war... of course involves attacking merchant ships, commercial ports, and commercial ports! These foreign devils are the best at burning, killing, and looting. All the countries in Southeast Asia have been robbed by them!"
Rice Ball Exploration
"What? They still dare to rob my Ming Dynasty's commercial ports and commercial ports? Can our Ming Dynasty soldiers let them go?"
"It is impossible for the heavenly soldiers to wait at the seaside every day, and it is impossible to fortify everywhere in the sea area thousands of miles away... The foreign devils can be like the Japanese pirates, relying on the speed of their boats and their artillery to catch us off guard!"
"What should we do? Nowadays, there are many wealthy commercial ports and commercial ports on the coasts of Guangdong and Fujian. Although they are fortified, they can't stop the foreign fleets!"
"If you want me to see it, you have to strike first...send a hundred thousand troops to attack the Westerners and seize all their territory in Nanyang!"
"What are you talking about? Can we call it a robbery when the Ming Dynasty takes over the territory in Nanyang? It's called a recovery, it's called a liberation... The Westerners are the bandits who steal the territory!"
"Yes! Our Ming Dynasty's acquisition of territory cannot be regarded as robbing..."
After all, they were Zhu Heji's old brothers. Although most of them had quit the military and joined business, they were still very angry. Now that they heard that the Westerners were going to start a trade war, they were all gearing up and preparing to convince others with virtue.
But there are still some among them who can figure out how to fight this trade war.
"Wrong, wrong! What you are talking about is not a trade war, but a real fight. This is not how a trade war is fought... A trade war is fought without smoke or blood, only with business. The means on the field are fighting each other. This shopping mall...is also like a battlefield!"
"How to fight this? Shouldn't doing business be about making money by being friendly?"
"They just don't want to do business with us...I heard that they will gradually reduce their purchases of silk, porcelain, cotton, sugar, sugar cane wine, and ironware, and at the same time support the Tianzhu people to engage in these things. It is said that they will also guard the Strait of Malacca, Don’t let our goods go to the West!”
"This, this is going to destroy our jobs!"
"Smashing people's jobs is like killing their parents... We can't let these foreign devils go!"
"Yes, we can't let them go! But how should we counterattack?"
Yes, how to counterattack? If people don’t buy Daming’s things, what else can Daming do? You can't buy and sell by force, right? If he really had this ability... couldn't he just grab it?
When a group of lord councilors were worried, they heard someone shouting: "The Holy One is here!"
The Emperor of Heaven actually visited the Guangdong Provincial Council today... This is the first time he has visited a provincial council!
However, the councilors in the Guangdong Provincial Council are very calm. Most of them know Zhu Heji, and they also know that Zhu Heji will come to the Guangdong Provincial Council... Today's Guangdong But it is the best province in the world!
Moreover, the Grand Duke and the Emperor were stationed in Guangzhou during this period, wasn't it just to direct the development of Nanyang nearby? Now that the situation in the north is safe, the imperial court finally has the energy to move south.
And if the imperial court wants to successfully advance southward, the assistance of these old brothers in Guangdong is indispensable!
So everyone is waiting to meet Emperor Zhu!
"I respectfully wish you holy peace and wish you a long life without borders..."
A group of counselors reacted quite quickly. They saw Zhu Heji and a group of veteran ministers including Qiu Hui, Zheng Jing, Zhuge Sanhe, Yu Zhongxian, Chen Jinnan, Da Boling, Su Yong, Zhao Zhongyi, Chen Shangchuan, etc. Surrounded by his beloved concubine, he came smiling and immediately bowed to him together.
"Pingshen, Pingshen!" Zhu Heji's voice sounded particularly brisk today, and you knew you were about to encounter something happy.
The guys straightened up and looked up furtively. Then he saw Zhu Heji, dressed in summer clothes, waving a fan and sitting on the throne. Qiu Hui, Zheng Jing, Zhuge Sanhe, Yu Zhongxian, Chen Jinnan, Da Boling, Su Yong, Zhao Zhongyi, Chen Shangchuan and others took their seats on the chairs on both sides. These people are all old friends who followed Zhu He and Zhu Tianwang to conquer the world in Chaozhou. They can be regarded as the original shareholders of Xin Daming... and they are all major shareholders!
The councilors of the Guangdong Provincial Council below can be regarded as the old employees who started the business with Zhu Heji and took shares. Although they have retired now, New Daming still has a small share of them!
Seeing that everyone had straightened up, Zhu Heji smiled and said: "When I came here today, the first thing I wanted to do was take a look at everyone... I haven't seen you for many years. I think we were together in Chaozhou back then. Guangfu has defeated the demons and restored the Ming Dynasty. So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and we are finally done. Our journey in this world was not in vain!"
"Your Majesty, this is all a great blessing from you!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, if we can conquer the world with you, then this life will not be wasted!"
"That's right, we all became prosperous because we followed you, Your Majesty!"
I have to say that Zhu Heji was very kind to his heroes. Not only will he not kill the heroes, but he will also make a fortune with them... Of course, this is also related to his background as a Chaozhou hero, a Guangfu hero, and a Hu Jian hero. They were all a group of small and large profiteers who were forced to rebel by the Qing Dynasty's maritime ban and massacres. They were originally different from Zhu Yuanzhang's Huaixi heroes.
"Then, I have something to talk to you guys about!" When Zhu Heji said this, the smile on his face almost burst out. You could tell it was a good thing!
"Have you all heard about it?" Zhu Heji said with a smile, "The foreign devils want to start a trade war with us... They said that they will not buy our porcelain, silk, cotton, sugar, sugar cane wine and ironware in the future. We purchase goods from Tianzhu. They also say that our goods will not be allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca in the future! Tell me, what should I do?"
"beat!"
"Kick them to death!"
"Your Majesty, please decree. If you need money or people, we have them all!"
"Yes! To fight in Nanyang, it's enough for us Cantonese to provide money and help!"
This group of meritorious businessmen with noble titles are really capable of doing business... They are about to kill them!
Of course, they also have the confidence!
Zhu Heji nodded with a smile and said: "Okay, I like businessmen like you... But when doing business, you always have to be kind and make money. If business cannot be done with kindness and righteousness, we can't do it because of If people don’t buy our stuff, why don’t they shout and kill us?”
What? No more grabbing?
Holy lord, is this going to change?
Everyone below was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Emperor Zhu in a daze.
Zhu Heji was still laughing there, very happily. And his beloved concubine Ye Yuling, the grand concubine of the Zhinu Palace, smiled happier than Emperor Zhu... Of course Da Boling's happiness came from "Fuguiwan Gold"!
Good news has come from Shanghai. The Pacific Squadron of the Oriental Fleet, which returned from the New World, arrived in Shanghai ten days ago and brought back gold "picked up" from Fugui Bay in the New World!
There is already a place to "pick up" gold, but why are you still afraid of a trade war between Westerners? If that doesn't work, why don't we send more people to the Kingdom of the United States to pick up gold?
Zhu Heji then added: "Moreover, we have to eat one bite at a time, and the country has to fight one by one... The next one we want to fight is the Li Emperor Zheng in Annan, and Batavia and Malacca haven't had their turn yet. . It’s not that we don’t have the strength to fight two or three of them at the same time, but we can’t underestimate the enemy. Annan is a bit similar to Japan. They have defeated the country that unified the world in history, and they are very arrogant. And Annan also defeated The Song, Yuan and the former Ming dynasties! Their country is in a land of hot and humid climate. Once it persists for a long time, diseases may become prevalent in the army. Therefore, we must kill Annan’s chicken with a bull’s knife. Only in this way can we ensure that we must Victory is quick. Although our Ming Dynasty has many soldiers and horses, it is not too many that can be sent to the miasmatic land of Annan for three to five months. If tens of thousands more are allocated to fight against Batavia and Malacca , we can’t do our best in the direction of Annan.”
"Your Majesty!" A well-fed councilor who looked to be no more than thirty years old suddenly raised his right hand high.
"It's Lin Ruyue!" Zhu Heji smiled, "Your special white wine and Lin's old wine are selling well, right?"
This man is the younger brother of Lin Ruhai and Lin Rujiang. He is the current patriarch of the Lin family in Jieyang. He is also a hero of the restoration of the country and has been granted a baron title. His eldest brother Lin Ruhai died of gastric hemorrhage two years ago. His second brother Lin Rujiang was an official in the Ming Dynasty and is now the chief envoy of Sichuan. He had a loose temper. Although he was strong in war, he could not stand the constraints of officialdom. , so after getting a baron, he went back to his hometown to do business.
"Thanks to the Holy Spirit, my family's business has been booming in the past two years, and most of the sugar and sugar cane wine have been sold to foreign devils..." At this point, Lin Ruyue frowned slightly.
Although he loves Ming Dynasty very much, but this money... If his special white and sugar cane wine cannot be sold to Westerners, this money will be lost too much!
Of course Zhu Heji knew what Lin was thinking? Because he loves Daming more than Lin! Similarly, the business of his Perfume Palace and Weaver Girl Palace are also very dependent on overseas markets. If they are destroyed, his losses will be greater than that of Lin!
Therefore, Zhu Heji would not just watch the foreign devils cut off his own way of making money! Not only could he not let the foreign devils cut off his own way of making money, but he also had to cut off the foreign devils' ways of making money in turn!
The purpose of his coming to the Guangdong Provincial Council today is to explain to everyone what methods he will use to fight a trade war with the Westerners - because he had received a secret report last night and had come to Guangzhou in the name of "watching the ceremony" and wanted to touch it by the way. An English general named Qiu, one of the Ming's trump cards, and Campos, the governor-general of the Dutch East India Company, had secretly met with members of the Annan mission in Guangzhou several times before quietly leaving on an armed merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company. .
The Annan Zheng family's mission also left on a merchant ship on the same day!
In other words, even if Zhu Heji revealed all his trump cards, the English and Dutch would not be able to prepare before the Ming Dynasty launched an action!
Thinking of this, Zhu Heji raised his voice and announced loudly to the council members of Guangdong Province present: "You can rest assured... Although I will not send troops to attack Malacca and Batavia immediately, I will Take action to block the neck of the Dutch East India Company, so that the Dutch East India Company can continue to make money on its knees and be the comprador of Europe for our Ming Dynasty!"
"Your Majesty," Lin Ruyue inquired with a smile, "How do you plan to tie the Dutchman's neck?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone else spoke below.
"Okou Yue, is this something you should inquire about?"
"That's right, this is a military secret!"
"We just need to believe in the Holy One!"
"Yes! We believe in the Holy One!"
Zhu Heji laughed loudly and said: "I also believe in you...so I can tell you the truth. Unless the Dutch East India Company relents and accepts all the conditions of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise I will severely punish the Dutch East India Company." Indian company!
I will prohibit any Dutch East India Company merchant ships from passing through the Strait of Malacca!
I will prohibit any merchant ship from carrying pepper, cardamom, and cloves through the Straits of Malacca! "
Zhu Heji's sanctions are of course very powerful, he knows sanctions best!
The main sources of income of the Dutch East India Company were, first, the sale of Chinese goods to Europe, such as silk, porcelain, perfume, garlic medicine, etc.; second, the pepper, cardamom, and cloves produced in the Maluku Islands and Banda Islands west of Java. .
If these two major sources of income were cut off by the Ming Empire, then the Dutch East India Company would not be far from bankruptcy!
But how do Zhu Heji plan to achieve the purpose of sanctions?
