Zhu Su's attempt to persuade Li Jinglong to go on an expedition soon alarmed the Duke of Cao. Li Wenzhong, who had already despaired of his legitimate son, was eager for his son to become a dragon again. He almost escorted Li Jinglong to Zhu Su's Prince Zhou's Mansion to express his gratitude. Even Li Zhen came with him in a sedan to express his gratitude to Zhu Su. He also went to the palace to find Lao Zhu and Queen Ma to thank them for supporting Li Jinglong, his incompetent grandson.
Who is Li Zhen? Among the current relatives of the emperor, he and Lao Zhu are the only ones who are the same generation, and Li Zhen is simple and virtuous. Even Lao Zhu respects this brother-in-law who he finally found with great difficulty. With his intervention, it was basically a certainty that Li Jinglong would go with Zhu Su.
Li Jinglong himself was actually interested in trying to see if he could make a difference in maritime affairs. Therefore, since he had boarded Zhu Su's pirate ship, he worked hard and was sent by Zhu Su without any complaints. He had worked in Daming Bank for a long time and was good at sociability. He was already familiar with most wealthy businessmen and landowners everywhere. Zhu Su arranged for him to be responsible for attracting investment and stock ownership and restoring the Maritime Silk Road, while he took care of other affairs.
When he was trying to convince Li Jinglong, Zhu Su himself also remembered a major event: Although the Ming Dynasty is now vigorously building shipyards to develop guns, although the weapons have improved, they have forgotten to train suitable naval generals. Nowadays, when it comes to maritime affairs, Zhu Su can still only think of Zhang He and a few others. The martial arts department in the Imperial College only has courses related to the army, and the navy is the only one missing.
Although the sea is still just a virgin land for Ming Dynasty to roam, in a hundred years, the vigorous Age of Discovery will begin. It doesn't even take a hundred years for the West to build fast ships that cross the ocean and come to China. When it comes to maritime power and naval generals, it is still unclear who will have the upper hand between China and the West.
However, even if you want to train naval generals, there is currently a lack of relevant theory and foundation accumulation. Zhu Su could only keep this thought secretly in his heart and wait for Ming Dynasty to accumulate enough maritime experience before launching relevant education. But now, there is a way to quickly accumulate experience in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that only through practice can true knowledge come true. In the past, when Lao Zhu led the Huaixi nobles to conquer the world, few of them really knew how to lead troops in war. They didn't just bite the bullet and go to the battlefield, and they became good at fighting.
Since there is not much accumulation of naval theory at present, if we invite a few more people to go to the sea for a tour, maybe someone can sum up some useful lessons and experiences.
So Zhu Su began to lobby many nobles in Beijing, persuading them to take shares and participate in this sea voyage, and also persuading them to send their children on board the ship to work together for a great cause. In order to deceive more people, Zhu Su went around talking about the future situation of the world, predicting that future achievements must come from the sea, and if there is no maritime access, he will definitely fall behind others. Moreover, even the young master of Cao Guogong’s Mansion has followed us on the boat. Cao Guogong’s Mansion and the Tian Family are real relatives of ours. If this king’s ship is really a pirate ship, can he bring his own family members to harm it?
At first, the nobles felt that places like Central Asia and the West were too far away, and the honors should be obtained immediately. The disciples should be urged to learn the martial arts of bow and horse, in preparation for the imperial court's westward expedition to Annan, Tianzhu and so on in the future. But after being fooled by Zhu Su, quite a few people were deceived and became lame. In particular, Zhu Su is still somewhat "miraculous" in the court. It is very likely that he has inherited from some master, and the picture of Kun Yu and Ten Thousand Kingdoms is even more wonderful. For thousands of years, no one could be sure that there was a "New World" called Fengming Continent in the east, but this prince was so sure of it that he even drew that place on the map in great detail.
Even the gold mine in Jinshanbao in Fengmingzhou, and even the name of the crops, the yield per acre, and the utility can be predicted exactly as if they were determined earlier.
Such a "foreseeing person" said that his future fame would be at sea, and those noble people really didn't dare to believe it. Some nobles not only used their family wealth to support the fleet's westward expedition, but also sent their own children to follow Zhu Su on the sea voyage to see the world first, as Zhu Su wished.
Regardless of whether they were armies on paper or not, most of them were proficient in martial arts and could barely be used. In addition to the supervisors who came out of Liubuyun and had been in charge, Zhu Su's civil and military team this time went to sea can be considered quite luxurious.
Although Li Jinglong was good at military matters, he really had some abilities in business communication that ordinary people could not match. With the help of his former bank errands, many merchants were quickly gathered who were willing to send troops and finance the army, and who were interested in doing business in Southeast Asia and the West. With the help of Li Jinglong, Zhu Su also took the time to meet with these merchants who were willing to take a chance on the sea, and promised that the Ming Dynasty would allow them to set up concessions on the Nanyang Islands in the name of the Ming Dynasty for them to establish ports, and the completed ports would be owned by them. The profits can be collected by the merchants themselves within thirty years.
Thirty years later, the imperial court took back the ownership and taxation rights of the port concession. However, merchants involved in the construction of the port can still enjoy permanent tax concessions in the port.
This was a method used by later governments to solicit investment, but at this time, it was the first time it was announced. A group of merchants couldn't help but marvel that His Royal Highness the King of Zhou really knew how to do business. This was tantamount to empty talk and directly gained the court many built ports on the Silk Road.
Although they complained, they could not refuse. How much does it cost to build a port? Everyone knows that once the Maritime Silk Road is opened, the many ports on the Southeast Asian islands will become inexhaustible cornucopias. Even if you can only control this cornucopia for thirty years, it will be enough to earn more money than you can spend in ten lifetimes.
Moreover, they had to cooperate with the imperial court. If there is no imperial court to come forward to establish concessions, and there is no imperial court to intimidate you with its prestigious reputation, and the merchants take their money and go overseas to build ports, then how can the chiefs of the Southeast Asian countries pay attention to you? It would be considered benevolent to eat it without giving it to you!
With the name of the imperial court, the chiefs no longer dared to act rashly. Even if there are one or two crazy people who dare to mess around, it will play into the hands of the imperial court: isn't this putting the hilt of the knife into the hands of our Ming Dynasty, begging us to directly take their entire territory into the bag?
With interests in front of them, businessmen will accept everything. What's more, this time the imperial fleet went to Persia for rescue, and it could also take everyone on the sea for a while... If the Ming Dynasty's merchant cargo went to the west, it would be ten times a hundred times more profitable. Even if it only went to Persia, it would be Earn a lot of money.
This is almost a business where you can make money by squatting down. Even if a part of the profits needs to be allocated to support the army, the merchants are still flocking to it. Soon the military supplies for the expedition were all saved, and there was even a surplus. The imperial court also ordered to summon 15,000 military households from the Jiangnan Guards Station to accompany the expedition. Everything was ready and they could set sail as soon as the weather came.
(End of chapter)
