In fact, the glass industry itself has little to do with Zhu Yingzhen. His business in Satsuma Domain is concentrated on the camphor industry. In layman's terms, it means purchasing camphor from Satsuma and transporting it back to China for sale. In fact, the main transfer is to Jinghua, more specifically. In other words, it was transferred to Jinghua Pharmaceutical.
Camphor has many uses in later generations, but in this era it is generally only used for medicinal purposes. Jinghua Pharmaceutical was established on the basis of the original Jinghua Pharmaceutical Company. Essentially, this action was to expand the industrial chain. For example, the original Jinghua Pharmacy was mainly engaged in selling medicines and practicing medicine. It was not involved in pharmaceuticals. Its main product was Liu's Baibao Pills (Yunnan Baiyao).
Later, because Li Shizhen joined the Department of Medicine of Jinghua Artisan Academy, he transferred the prescriptions in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" to Jinghua for free without any copyright awareness. Jinghua then began to produce some... well, they can be regarded as "Chinese patent medicines."
However, after receiving the news, Gao Pragmatic later ordered that "1% (1%) of the net profit" of the "Materia Medica" series of proprietary Chinese medicines be used as exclusive royalties (there was no patent right at this time), and agreed to provide it to Li Shizhen and his descendants for 50 years in a row. year, and will be regarded as unique to Beijing fifty years later.
This incident caused a sensation in the "medical community" at the time, so that later on, famous folk doctors or others kept sending various prescriptions to Jinghua, hoping to imitate Li Shizhen's example in exchange for profits.
The most amazing thing is that not only the private sector, but also the imperial hospital has imperial doctors to "sell" prescriptions - anyway, the Ming Dynasty had no restrictions on this, and the imperial hospital in the Ming Dynasty itself did not only serve the palace.
Not only did the emperor ask the imperial hospital to send people for treatment when officials in the capital were in need, but also when there was an epidemic in the capital, or there were mass casualties in the army, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty always directly dispatched the imperial hospital to help for free. of.
Because of this, the Ming court or royal family had very few personal restrictions on the imperial doctors of the imperial hospital. The rules of the imperial hospital are mainly concentrated in the palace. For example, as mentioned earlier in this book, "There can never be only one imperial doctor to treat the emperor. At least two or three people need to go together." and so on.
As more and more prescriptions are obtained, many of which require unique methods to prepare, and the diseases they target are becoming more and more specific, Jinghua Pharmacy has to increasingly invest in the pharmaceutical industry. In the end, Gao pragmatically decided to upgrade Jinghua Pharmaceutical, and thus the "one-stop medicine" Jinghua Pharmaceutical was established.
Here we need to explain why Zhu Yingzhen cares so much about the task assigned to him by Gao Pragmatic against the Satsuma Domain.
Camphor is not the fruit of the camphor tree. It is actually a granular substance made by distillation and refinement of the roots, trunk, branches and leaves of the camphor tree. Camphor trees are widely distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, South Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan and other places in the Ming Dynasty, and Taiwan has the most and densest trees.
Before the emergence of the pharmaceutical giant Jinghua Pharmaceutical in the Ming Dynasty, there were not many pharmaceutical factories and drugstores producing camphor in various places. The occasional production was in small batches and scattered widely. It was difficult to see it as a big industry. Almost all camphor was refined when there was demand. Make some.
Since the establishment of Jinghua Pharmaceutical, the situation has changed. There is no need to elaborate on the advantages of large-scale production. High quality, large output, reduced costs, etc. are all part of the question.
As a result, large and small private pharmacies in various places have discovered a reality: "it is better to buy than to make", so they have given up on making camphor themselves, and almost all choose to purchase it directly from Jinghua Pharmaceutical. As a result, Jinghua Pharmaceutical quickly and unconsciously monopolized the camphor industry.
Since Jinghua Pharmaceutical has a monopoly on the camphor industry, Zhu Yingzhen, the "honorable merchant" who monopolized the purchase of camphor in Satsuma Domain (in fact, he purchased camphor on the entire Kyushu Island), has to have a sense of urgency.
What sense of urgency? Two points: First, there are camphor trees everywhere in the south of the Ming Dynasty. Although they are scattered a bit, Gao Xiang theoretically does not necessarily have to use his Japanese goods; secondly, Taiwan is now the focus of Jinghua’s development, even in Vigorously immigrate, once Gao Pragmatic decides to develop a large amount of camphor in Taiwan in the future, Zhu Yingzhen's monopoly on Japanese camphor will be almost meaningless.
Therefore, Zhu Yingzhen felt that it was necessary to increase his weight in Gao Pragmatic's mind. He could not rely solely on the reputation of Cheng Guogong and think that Gao Pragmatic would always give him face - the Xinzheng Gao family was a family of civil servants. In theory, He doesn't need much help from you at all. Instead, he can cause trouble for you at any time. It's obvious who needs whom.
Therefore, in Zhu Yingzhen's view, it is necessary to take advantage of this opportunity to help Gao Pragmatic deal with the Satsuma Domain, not to mention that he made other discoveries during this process.
After listening to Gao Pragmatic's words, Zhu Yingzhen immediately said that he had understood it, and then added: "Rishin, I think that during the time when the Shimadzu family was exploring crystal glass grinding technology, we can't just be idle. Some things are actually You can take care of it first.”
Gao Pingshi didn't expect that Zhu Yingzhen, who he thought could do nothing but collect money, would actually start to have his own ideas in his spare time. He couldn't help but asked with interest: "What did the Duke say?"
"That's right, I think it is necessary for us to open the market for glass sales in Japan in advance." Zhu Yingzhen said: "Now Jinghua has two major types of glass, one is ordinary glass and the other is crystal glass. I think the processing of ordinary glass adds value. Doesn't make much sense, but seems fine for daily use.
Just like after the completion of the Rixin Building, all the windows were made of glass, which now led to a window replacement craze among wealthy households in the capital. Everyone felt that this almost transparent window (technical limitations at this time meant that ordinary glass could not be completely transparent) symbolized status and wealth, and they all began to think of ways to replace the paper windows.
This is a big deal, Rixin! I think this can be done in Japan as well. I have already thought of the method, so I will build a building in Japan. This building must have many windows, all of which must be made of glass, so that daimyo, family elders and the like throughout Japan are proud to use glass. "
Gao Pingshi was really surprised now. He didn't expect that one of his usual tricks would be learned by Zhu Yingzhen.
But that doesn't matter, it's even a good thing. So Gao Pragmatic asked with great interest: "What the Duke said is very reasonable, but has the Duke ever thought about where this building should be built?"
Zhu Yingzhen said: "I think there are two options. One is to build it in Kyoto (where the emperor is), and the other is to build it in Fushimi (where Hideyoshi is). These two places are the places that the Japanese pay the most attention to, and they are conducive to attracting the whole of Japan. attention."
Gao pragmatic pondered and did not speak immediately. Liu Xin, who was next to him, smiled and said, "The Duke's idea is a good one, but I think there is another thing that can be considered."
Zhu Yingzhen already knew that she had a special status in front of Gao Pragmatic. He was not angry when he heard this. Instead, he said politely: "Miss Liu has high opinions, so please tell me quickly."
"Don't you dare to speak highly of me?" Liu Xin said: "Kyoto and Fushimi are the most eye-catching places in Japan, but they are also the core of Hideyoshi's rule. Although we have business dealings with Hideyoshi, these dealings are not direct. Most of them are Through some wealthy merchants, or at most through his generals and ministers, it is difficult for us to know how Hideyoshi would react to such a move of ours."
She paused for a moment, as if waiting for Zhu Yingzhen to think about the meaning, and then continued: "Secondly, our purpose of assisting the Shimazu clan's Satsuma clan is not only to obtain some benefits through the Shimadzu clan. More importantly, it is to support the island The Jin clan allowed them to become stronger quickly, and thus became the second best among Japanese daimyo.
In other words, Shimazu's rapid growth is just a means by us to make more daimyo lean toward us. In this case, we should strengthen this influence in all aspects. The slave family believed that it would be better to build this building in the Shimazu family's territory, such as Kagoshima Castle or surrounding areas. "
Zhu Yingzhen thought for a while and asked: "Miss Liu's statement is indeed reasonable, but there is a problem: Satsuma Domain is regarded as a countryside by Japan, and most Japanese people neither understand nor care about the situation here. If we This building is built in Kagoshima Castle, so it may be difficult to arouse the interest of other daimyo and make them pay attention to glass. I wonder if Miss Liu has a solution to this problem?"
Liu Xin glanced at Gao Pingshi and saw him slightly nodding at her, then smiled and said: "There is a way."
Zhu Yingzhen was a little surprised, but he immediately asked: "Oh? Please give me some advice from Miss Liu."
"I dare not." Liu Xin said: "First of all, we must first estimate the construction period of this building and ensure that there will be no shortage of construction period; secondly, we must vigorously publicize the preparation or construction of this building in the process of trade with various parts of Japan. It doesn't matter if the 'Crystal Building' under construction is so hyped; finally, we would like to announce that on the occasion of the completion of this 'Crystal Building', the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance will invite Japanese celebrities and wealthy businessmen to gather together at the 'Crystal Building' 'Hold a large-scale business meeting."
Zhu Yingzhen was stunned: "Business meeting? What are you talking about?"
"We can discuss what we want to talk about later." Liu Xin said seriously: "The important thing is to invite Japanese celebrities and wealthy businessmen. Of course, at the same time, the Sea Trade Alliance should spread the word and make the possible achievements of this business negotiation The huge scale of the event was promoted vigorously, and the conference was cleverly linked to the influence of the participants in Japan.”
Gao Jingshi added calmly at this time: "In short, only those who have enough influence in Japan's political and business circles will be invited."
"Oh...that's what it means." Zhu Yingzhen suddenly realized, and then his eyes lit up: "I can almost imagine that by then, many people in Japan will even try their best to get our invitation!"
Liu Xin smiled and added: "Yes, with the influence that the Maritime Trade Alliance has established in Japan's political and business circles over the years, there is almost no doubt about this."
Of course, since the establishment of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, it has so far controlled more than 70% of Japan's foreign trade share. In addition, the only ones that can talk about scale are the Ming Dynasty Jiangnan Merchant Gang, Portugal and North Korea, and even North Korea’s share continues to shrink.
The shrinkage of trade between North Korea and Japan is not that the absolute volume of trade between North Korea and Japan is shrinking, but that North Korea's local merchant ships are gradually being replaced by the Sea Trade Alliance - because the Sea Trade Alliance is larger in scale and can achieve lower transportation costs, this is a purely commercial replacement of sex.
However, North Korea did not dare to reject the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, which was backed by the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it could only watch its own private merchant shipowners lose money, lose business, and eventually change careers to survive.
This is the dilemma of small countries, especially those that are not on the rise. Think about the period when Goryeo became North Korea. Although North Korea was cheated by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time (not being canonized, and technology and raw materials were blocked), it still dared to take advantage of the Jingnan period, the Five Expeditions of Mobei and other periods to quietly steal and encroach on Liaodong. The territory was basically consolidated until Chengzu issued an order to define the boundaries.
Compared with then, North Korea really has no "enterprising spirit". Not only does it obediently pay tribute, but it is often blackmailed by some people in Liaodong when passing by Liaodong to pay tribute. The current situation is that a local general in Liaodong dares to blackmail North Korean envoys, not to mention the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, a super group composed of top civil servants and top nobles. The North Korean king has no courage to resist.
As for Japan, geographical factors have determined that its main trading partner during this period could only be the Ming Dynasty. Although the Portuguese opened up Japanese trade routes, since Taiwan was gradually controlled by Jinghua, the Portuguese now have to pay a fee to Jinghua when they go to Japan. Tolls and therefore trade volume are also on a downward trend.
This toll fee is called safety deposit. Jinghua's statement... is similar to Zheng Zhilong's. However, there is a difference, that is, Jinghua deliberately only charges Portuguese ships going to Japan, but not if they are trading with the Ming Dynasty.
Portugal has no reason to argue with this, because Jinghua not only blames pirates, but also says that this action is the same as Denmark's charging of Oresund tolls, which is completely reasonable. There are also many objections in Europe whether Denmark's charging of this money is reasonable. But the subtext is the same: if you are not satisfied, fight with my navy.
Well, the Hanseatic League did this back then, losing first and then winning, and achieved trade hegemony for a period of time. Unfortunately, times have changed, and now the Oresund Strait is once again controlled by Denmark. As for Portugal's desire to compete with Beijing for the waterway from Nanyang to Japan... just go to sleep.
The failure of the Spanish fleet in the Philippine waters has shown that Jinghua's position as the maritime hegemon in the South China Sea is unshakable. Instead of dreaming about competing for sea control in the South China Sea, the Portuguese might as well worry about when the ownership of Malacca will change hands.
The issue of the Satsuma Domain had basically been discussed at this point. The three of them discussed a few more details, and the topic quickly turned to the changes in Japanese government.
However, the topic of Zhu Yingzhen's report stunned Gao Pragmatic as soon as he opened it.
"What? Toyotomi Hideyoshi wants to buy a ship from us?" Gao Pragmatic looked surprised and confused in his heart. He said to himself: This is wrong. It was only 1588 in the 16th year of Wanli. It is impossible for Toyotomi Hideyoshi to prepare to attack so early. North Korea.
Zhu Yingzhen nodded with a smile and said: "That's right - well, there's no need to worry about Rixin. His envoy said that they didn't plan to buy an armed transport ship carrying guns. They only wanted a gunless version, saying it was only for transportation. .”
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