"Could it be that what His Highness is talking about is the glass business?" Below, a merchant had a strange look in his eyes and stood up to yell.
"The Shen family's glass business is making a lot of money every day. We have all been coveting it for a long time!"
"We are all merchants in Suzhou, but now only the Shen family is prosperous. Since His Highness has come to us for cooperation today, he will definitely not treat us badly!"
"Everyone, I haven't thanked His Highness King Wu for his great kindness?"
As the man started making noises, the others also thanked Zhu Su loudly. The group of people was in a mess, but it seemed as if Zhu Su was being held up by nice words.
Only Shen Wang, who had just been suppressed by Zhu Su last night, and a few mature and prudent people, vaguely felt that something was wrong, and sat upright in their seats without moving.
"Ah……"
Zhu Su didn't answer. He still had a smile on his face, but his eyes no longer had the lazy and casual look just now.
He didn't stop and just continued to look at the chaotic crowd below with a smile. It wasn't until the compliments from the people below gradually stopped that Zhu Su turned to Shen Wang and said, "Second Uncle Shen. This is the first member to speak."
"What's the origin?"
"Go back to your highness." Shen Wang did not dare to neglect. He left the table and came forward. He knelt on his knees and respectfully reported back to Zhu Su: "This is Ma Yuanwai, a big salt merchant in my house."
"Ma Yuanwai." Zhu Su nodded, with an inexplicable smile on his face: "Ma Yuanwai is indeed a shrewd man. As soon as he met me, he guessed what I meant."
"I invite you all to come today. There is indeed a big business, and I want to share this piece of the pie with you."
"Everyone, are you interested in doing this overseas business with me?"
"Overseas?" The merchants below all frowned, and many people started whispering to each other after hearing these two words.
"Your Majesty... Your Highness..." Zhao Yunyan, the rice merchant, opened his mouth timidly:
"Your Highness wants to do overseas business. Could it be that he wants to reopen the Silk Road?"
"I wonder what kind of goods business you want to do?"
"Silk Road, Silk Road, of course it's silk." Zhu Su said while sitting at the top. "The silk you weave in Suzhou has been famous all over the world since the Song Dynasty."
"This is a precious thing from our country, and many foreign races from foreign countries are all yearning for it. If it can be sold to foreign countries by sea, I don't need to tell you how much profit there will be, right?"
"You must also know how wealthy your Suzhou mansion was during the Song Dynasty."
"I have something to tell you. In the eyes of those red-haired ghosts, our Chinese silks and porcelain are extremely valuable and rare."
"If it can be transported there, one pound of silk can be used to get dozens of pounds of silver and more!"
"It can even be higher!"
"This matter can be found in the classics of the Tang and Song dynasties. Do you know about the huge profits from the Silk Road?"
"The value is more than a hundred times! Suzhou is the hometown of silk. If we, the people of Suzhou, don't take such huge profits, do we have to give them to others?"
There were some businessmen sitting in the corner below, their eyes already lit up. But Zhao Yunyan still frowned. But it was the salt merchant surnamed Ma who continued to ask: "Your Highness, of course we know about overseas profits."
"It's just that His Highness is young and doesn't know. This sea transport is no longer as good as it was in the Song Dynasty."
As he spoke, he put on a preaching look: "Leaving aside the fact that Japanese pirates are rampant now, going to sea is no longer as easy as it used to be."
"It is said that our Ming Dynasty is now in ruins, and there are only a few big ships. Although we also covet the huge profits from overseas, we are really powerless!"
"Your Highness, you don't want me to build a ship and go to sea, right? Even if we can build a big ship, we can't defeat the Japanese pirates at sea!" Ma Yanshang spread his hands.
"This horseman is wrong." Zhu Su smiled slightly. "We, the Ming Dynasty, will not take the gold, mountains, and silver on the sea. In the future, Japanese people, Koreans, and even those red-haired ghosts from the West will naturally take it."
"As you all know, His Majesty the DPRK has opened a shipyard in Poyang Lake, and his intention to re-open the maritime ban is very clear."
"Since the imperial court is going to impose a sea ban, it will naturally send naval troops to inspect the Japanese pirates. The danger of Japanese pirates will naturally be no problem."
"As for the lack of a boat, that's why I'm here."
"In a few days, the imperial court will have a grain transport ship to transport military grain by sea from the south to Liaodong."
"What I want to do with you is this business. If you are willing, I can make room on the grain ship to carry the goods for you."
"I know that none of you have ever done the shipping business. This time, I will give you and others the opportunity to become familiar with the shipping business. Selling goods to Goryeo will not be as profitable as selling to the red-haired ghosts in the West."
"However, there is still profit. With the imperial fleet escorting us, you don't need to worry about Japanese pirates roaming the sea."
"When you and others become familiar with the shipping process, the imperial court will also begin to increase its efforts to clean up the sea area. You and other experienced Suzhou merchants can be the first to ride on the east wind of this policy and set sail to make money in the sea..."
"Can I still do this business?"
Zhu Su's words were not just words. After the defeat in the Battle of Lingbei in the fifth year of Hongwu, the Ming court promptly changed its combat strategy against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, from "taking advantage of his illness to kill him and eliminate them all at once" to "accumulating strength and encroaching step by step".
In order to guard against the Northern Yuan separatist forces in Liaodong: Beiyuan Taiwei Naha came out, Lao Zhu assembled nearly 70,000 troops on the Liaodong border. While building Beiping Prefecture (today's Beijing), he "assessed the situation and waited for opportunities." The food and fodder for this large army was supplied by a maritime water transport route.
In order to commend the maintenance of this shipping route, Lao Zhu even named a new "Marquis of the Sea".
Some unofficial historians and pheasant scholars falsely accuse the Ming Dynasty of completely abandoning the coastline, saying that Lao Zhu ordered "no board is allowed to enter the sea." This is pure nonsense. In the 14th year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly declared the policy of maritime ban, saying only that "because the Japanese pirates still did not make any small footprints, they also ordered that people living near the sea be banned from illicit communication with overseas countries."
After all, at that time, the real Japanese and fake Japanese were already confused. Who knows if you built ships privately and went to sea to do business, or to become a Japanese pirate?
All we can say is that although it was a bad policy of passive defense, judging from the situation at the time, it was actually excusable.
What's interesting is that the words "No scraps of wood are allowed to enter the sea" actually came from the "Biography of Zhu Wan" compiled by the Qing Dynasty. It was not what Lao Zhu said at all. Thinking about it, it was the book compilers who took the maritime ban policy implemented by the Qing Dynasty at that time and took it for granted and put it on the head of the Ming Dynasty.
Stop gossiping. It's just that after Zhu Su said that the court was going to open a new shipping route, the merchants below suddenly couldn't sit still. As merchants, they naturally know how great the benefits are on this sea.
Today, the territory of the Ming Dynasty is in ruins, and in some places there is no cockcrow for thousands of miles. How much silk can be sold with so much silk produced in Suzhou?
But if it is sold to foreign countries... those foreign countries have always admired Chinese clothes and clothes, and most of them are "stupid people with a lot of money". Shipping Chinese silk and porcelain to other countries is almost the same as picking up money in the golden mountains!
If there really is an army to escort us, this business can be done no matter what!
A group of people suddenly started whispering among themselves.
"Your Highness." But it was the mature and prudent Zhao Yunyan who spoke again.
"His Highness is willing to take us into this business."
"I just don't know, what will I, the Suzhou businessman, have to pay?"
(End of chapter)
