For the two princes who have reached the peak of their nobility and cannot stretch their power randomly, nothing is more interesting than making money. If they don't make money, they can't even find the meaning of life.
Originally, making money was just a necessary means for them to maintain the dignity of their family. After all, there were examples in the past of losing their family fortune despite having a hereditary title, making people laugh at the world. And when Gao Pragmatic dragged them into the sea trade business, which was like robbing money, they really became interested in making money in a subjective sense, and this interest grew day by day, almost becoming the meaning of life in their minds.
As mentioned before, the overseas trade of the Ming Dynasty began in the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and the scale became larger and larger. The so-called maritime ban in the Ming Dynasty was mostly just a piece of paper.
The main purpose of the maritime ban at that time was to fight against Japanese pirates. Later foreign literature said: "Once the pirate activities decreased, the government lost the motivation to ban maritime transport. In fact, most officials turned a blind eye to private trade. Fujian University Merchant ships entering the ports of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were rarely refused. Therefore, maritime trade between Fujian and Zhejiang was very prosperous in the Ming Dynasty."
Not only foreign documents say this, but various domestic historical books and documents also state this. For example, Wang Shu, a man of the Ming Dynasty, said, "In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was enacted that no sails or planks were allowed to go into the sea. Over the past 180 years... every time there is a croaker fishing month, thousands of giant ships are prohibited, and those who discuss it are desperate, and The situation is difficult to carry out, and the emotions cannot be tolerated. Rather than trying to stop it, how can we use it to its advantage?"
At the time of the Hongzhi in Chenghua, there were already "rich families and wealthy families, and some were traveling on huge ships to trade overseas." During the Zhengde period, there were more "rich people privately building huge ships and sailing foreign transactions to make profits". During the Jiajing period, the number of "Yuegang families in Zhangzhou built large ships to cross the ocean, and transported goods to and from other countries in Folangji" continued to increase. It can be said that by the late Ming Dynasty, the development of overseas trade had become majestic and prosperous.
At this time, the Japanese islands were one of the main trading areas for private maritime merchants and the main market for raw silk and various textiles and daily necessities of the Ming Dynasty.
"Most of the things Japan needs, such as mats for rooms, are made in Chang'an of Hangzhou; women must have powdered makeup, and all kinds of lacquer work must be made of gold and silver foil, all made in Wulin; they are like porcelain from Rao, silk and cotton from Lake, and yarn from Zhang. Silk and pine cotton are especially valued in that country."
At this time, the price of raw silk in the Ming Dynasty was about 60 taels of silver per load, but in Japan it could be sold for 500 to 600 taels of silver, with a gross profit of ten times. Among the goods imported to the Ming Dynasty from Japan were: "The goods traded by the Chinese include gold and silver, amber, crystal, sulfur, mercury, copper and iron, white beads, sapphire, hematoxylin, pepper" as well as local products and marine goods.
According to the "History of the Late Ming Dynasty": "Chinese specialties such as raw silk, silk, and porcelain were sold throughout Spain and its colonies; cotton and linen were widely consumed by the indigenous residents of the Spanish colonies."
“In 1592, the governor reported to the King of Spain that Chinese merchants purchased cotton from the Philippines, and soon cotton cloth was shipped from China. Cotton cloth has become the most popular commodity from China in the Philippines.”
During this era, the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade exceeded its borders by a large amount, resulting in silver from America and Japan being imported into China on an unprecedented scale. "Chinese textiles were also sold to Spanish American colonies through Manila. As early as the end of the 16th century, Chinese cotton had already crowded out Spanish goods in the Mexican market."
"As late as the early 1580s, Chinese silk had threatened the sales of Spanish products in the Americas. At the beginning of the 17th century, Mexicans wore more silk than cotton. The so-called silk wear mostly meant Chinese silk."
"In fact, China's trade relationship with the Spanish colonial empire was the relationship between Chinese silk flowing to the Philippines and America, and silver flowing to China."
"So much so that the Governor of Mexico called for a ban on the import of Chinese raw silk in 1611. But by 1637, the situation became increasingly serious. Mexico's silk industry all used Chinese silk as raw materials, and Mexico's native silk industry was actually wiped out.
Peru, which is adjacent to Mexico, is also a huge market for Chinese silk. The price of Chinese silk in Peru is only 1/3 of that of Spanish products. Chinese satin was sold and worn everywhere from Chile to Panama. "
"Chinese silk not only flooded the American market and usurped the sales of Spanish silk in the Americas, but even traveled halfway around the world and was sold as far away as Spain, where it directly destroyed Spain's silk production."
All in all, the volume of foreign trade in the late Ming Dynasty was staggering. The book "Social Changes in the Late Ming Dynasty" states that "based on rough estimates, a total of approximately 12,620 tons of American silver flowed into China from 1570 to 1644." Based on the research of many scholars, Li Longsheng believes that "the silver inflow from overseas during the entire Ming Dynasty may be nearly 300 million taels." Based on various existing research results in "Silver Capital", Frank of the United States estimated that from the mid-16th century to the 17th century In the mid-1900s (i.e., from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Ming Dynasty), the amount of silver flowing into China from Eurasian trade was about 7,000 to 10,000 tons, accounting for about 1/3 of the world's total silver production at that time.
Anyway, although the results of various studies are different, no matter which one is said, it is enough to show that the Ming Dynasty occupied the center position of the world economy at that time.
Portuguese scholar Magalhães Godinho described China in the late Ming Dynasty as a "sucking pump", vividly and concretely explaining that China absorbed the world's silver. However, one thing is very important here, that is, so much silver was exchanged for commodities that were abundant in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the high degree of social and economic development in the late Ming Dynasty was by no means as bad as some people believed.
However, for the nobles, they do not produce many goods themselves. At the beginning, there was no production at all. Later, under the influence of Jinghua, it gradually became involved in the production industry - such as the new cement factory, new textile factory, etc. invested by Jinghua later.
However, their involvement was carried out by relying on Jinghua. To put it simply, they invested in various specific factories of Jinghua. They were mainly involved in auditing and dividend distribution, but regardless of the operation of the factory, it was a relatively superficial "production".
Although they participated in "production", they found that although the value of other commodities had doubled, arms were a large-scale transaction in comparison. It could almost be said that "it does not open for three years, but it lasts for three years after opening".
For example, for the Jinghua No. 2 heavy artillery model of the 14th year of Wanli, Zhang Yuangong, Zhu Yingzhen and others actually made a gross profit of 1,100 taels per gun. They only needed to sell ten cannons to earn tens of thousands of taels. Even the wealthy and powerful people have to be speechless and hope to sell more.
Unfortunately, this is difficult, because the two largest artillery sales in Jinghua are the imperial government and the various countries in southern Xinjiang. In fact, southern Xinjiang is an internal sales, but it is not a cost price, because Gao Pragmatic insists that internal sales should also rely on their own abilities. He only Specifies the maximum premium rate and the order of priority to ensure supply.
Therefore, although the nobles are happy to sell guns secretly, it is not easy to get the goods, and they are in a state of dissatisfaction with their desires for a long time.
This situation gave rise to another idea: Japan has so much money, and our current supply of goods is not sufficient, so why not just do a business without capital and go directly to rob the motherfucker!
In order to convince Gao Jingshi, the two princes, as representatives of the Xungui Group, actually put forward "political opinions". They explained to Gao Jingshi with a sad expression: The major exporters of Ming Dynasty to Japan, such as the "Rao Zhi" mentioned just now, Porcelain, silk and cotton from the lake, gauze and silk from Zhang, and cotton and cloth from pine." These are almost all controlled by southern merchants, or the production capacity controlled by southern merchants is much higher than that of the north.
At the beginning, the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance relied on its fleet advantages (including transportation capacity and security) to be able to dominate the southern merchants. However, as the two ocean fleets swept away the pirates until only a few sporadic small groups remained, the southern merchants soon Quickly rely on production capacity and ancestral capital foundation to catch up.
However, it is well known that these giant businessmen in the south have always stood behind the Heart School, so once the situation in the market is reversed, the opponents of the Real School in the government will inevitably become stronger and stronger.
Gao Pingshi was surprised when he heard these words. Could it be that you two have also joined the Wo Shi school of thought?
That's definitely not the case. These two are just devoted to gold and silver. But having said that, it was Gao Pragmatism who brought them gold and silver, so they really felt that they and the Practical School both prospered and suffered losses.
Although the starting point of the words of the two princes is definitely problematic, Gao Pragmatic feels that it is not completely unreasonable. As the saying goes, the economic base determines the superstructure, this sentence is not only true at the national level, but also at the factional level.
In the original history, why did the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty talk so loudly, but when they said they wanted to collect business taxes, it was as if they were digging up their ancestral graves? Isn’t it because the people behind the Donglin Party are Jiangnan’s wealthy business groups!
It can be seen that whether the economic strength behind the faction is strong will also have a very important impact on the outcome of the faction war. Jinghua's development has indeed been rapid in recent years, and even the "Xungui Capital Group", which was held in high pragmatism, is also gradually on the stage.
However, it is impossible for a small butterfly's wings to flap exactly where Gao pragmatically wants them to flap. The advantages of Jiangnan Haoshang Group are clearly there. Whether it is the mastery of Ming Dynasty's original advantageous industries or its own strong economic foundation, they cannot be taken lightly.
So they came to their senses and began to follow the road to wealth that Gao Pragmatic had taken. Gao Pragmatism, who was more busy with government affairs than business, had not begun to pay attention to it, but the "Xungui Capital Group", which was obsessed with making money, was keenly aware of the anomaly.
Following Zhu Yingzhen's example, Gao Pragmatic found that southern capital obviously had an absolute advantage in traditional raw silk, and the north could only rely on the tussah silk industry he had developed in the past two years to get some business from the middle class.
However, the tussah silk industry is not actually a standard “middle-class product.” The upper layer of silk products and the lower layer of cotton products have been squeezing it in both directions. Silk was controlled by southern merchants, and cotton was also controlled by southern merchants.
Therefore, although the market opening of the tussah silk industry has been relatively smooth, the market has been unable to expand further. If Gao Pragmatic had not started to promote cotton cultivation throughout the north, and started to get involved in the textile industry by taking advantage of advanced looms (Jenny Spinning Machine Jinghua Improved Model), I am afraid that the entire fabric industry would have been rounded up by the South.
The focus of the first industrial revolution was light industry, especially fabrics and clothing, because this industry was particularly suitable for forming scale advantages - everyone has to wear clothes, right? But in the current Ming Dynasty, the financial backers behind the Xin School have an absolute advantage in this industry, while Gao Pragmatic is obsessed with "heavy industries" such as steel, coal, firearms, and shipbuilding, but others have not been able to get involved. hand.
In this situation, do you think "Xungui Capital Group" is in a hurry?
Obviously, they are not highly pragmatic and do not understand the meaning of heavy industry. Even if they understand, they dare not follow Gao pragmatism's instructions - Gao pragmatism dares to raise so many armed servants to protect their own industry, how can they dare to vote for military officials and nobles? Are you afraid that you think the Emperor of the Zhu family doesn’t kill people?
People just don't dare to kill civil servants who hold the high ground of morality and public opinion. Kill a few military ministers who "privately keep soldiers" and see if the emperor will be soft-hearted. To a certain extent, the reason why Li Rusong died in history was because the Li family army was too powerful for a period of time.
The nobles' fighting skills are a bit advanced, but when it comes to how to survive in the world, almost all of them are at the level of artists, so at most they dare to prepare a few hundred armed servants on the ship, and then go one step further They absolutely refused.
In this way, heavy industry can't be done, and light industry can't be done. If you want to make more money, don't you have to find another way?
What are the advantages of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance compared to the Southern Rich Merchants Alliance? I’m really embarrassed to say it: it’s about force.
Yes, two groups of businessmen were competing in terms of their abilities, and one group of businessmen found that they only had the upper hand in terms of force. This is very embarrassing, because the emperor certainly cannot allow you to directly physically destroy another group of people.
What can be done? Of course, we can only use this military advantage to other places, such as robbing outsiders.
They had never thought of this idea before, but Gao Pragmatic's method of making Myanmar pay compensation during the Yunnan-Myanmar War reminded them. Now, Japan's Iwami Ginzan has become their second target.
Now it was Gao Pragmatic's turn to be entangled.
Although the honorable nobles have thoroughly investigated the history of the Mouri family and Iwami Ginzan, they obviously only know how to treat headaches and foot pains. They have not studied Japan's political situation, and it is impossible to know the historical direction.
Simply put, this problem is that with the basic unification of Japan during the Warring States Period, a large number of samurai began to become useless. It was not cost-effective to raise them, and big trouble would occur if they were not raised. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was determined to launch a war to solve this problem.
In addition to refugee rebellions, launching any war requires more than just people, it also requires money. So it is conceivable that Toyotomi Hideyoshi must be full of ideas about making money now. At this time, the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance went to attack Iwami Ginzan?
Toyotomi Hideyoshi will definitely risk his life with you! You actually came to ask me if Hideyoshi would intervene, and if so, would I be willing to help you withstand it? What the heck! Wouldn't it be better to wait until the Japanese are weak and then have a winner-take-all game?
But although the truth is this, the drama Zhang Yuangong and Zhu Yingzhen performed today shows that the "Xungui Capital Group" is already jealous, and it won't work if they don't see some ways to make money and gain some benefits.
Although ninety-nine percent of this group of nobles were bullshit in the original history, they are pragmatic and have a waste utilization plan, and they have used it well so far. It is impossible to give up just because they want to.
Gao Pragmatic thought for a while and suddenly said: "The Japanese country has more than 500,000 troops. Toyotomi Hideyoshi can at least mobilize more than 300,000 troops to defend Iwami Ginzan. I think this battle is not cost-effective."
Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong's expressions changed, and they said at the same time: "But he may not..."
"Listen to what I have to say." Gao Pragmatic stretched out his hand to stop them, and continued: "It's hard to fight those with two to three thousand yuan, but I think we can still fight those with two to three thousand."
"Two or three thousand?" Zhu Yingzhen was stunned. He obviously misunderstood Gao Pragmatic's words and asked, "Is there any way for Rixin to attack only the mountains and the cities?"
Zhang Yuangong also stared at Gao Pragmatic, nervously waiting for his next words.
Unexpectedly, Gao Pragmatic said: "I'm not talking about Shanchui City, or even the Japanese country - I'm talking about Luzon."
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