The reasoning has been clearly analyzed. Gao Pragmatic and Zhu Yingzhen both agreed with Liu Xin's view, but their attitudes towards it were different.
Zhu Yingzhen maintained his previous attitude and said with a smile: "That's good, that's good. Since we are buying ships to transport food, I think it should be feasible. Although Jinghua's ships will be much cheaper without carrying guns, but since he needs a mountain to hold him down, With the current situation, the pressure on supplying military rations must be considerable. It is estimated that this business will not be too small, and it is also an opportunity to make money."
But after saying this, he suddenly remembered that selling the ship itself had nothing to do with him, because Jinghua Shipyard was a "sole proprietorship" of Gao Pragmatic, and his words were a bit too broad.
So Zhu Yingzhen quickly added with a haha: "Of course it's up to you, Rixin, to make your own decision. I'm just conveying the news."
Gao Jingshi smiled and took care of his face and said: "As for the Duke, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is looking for a sea trade alliance to discuss buying a ship. This is not a matter for one person."
Zhu Yingzhen laughed again, as if he was taking it seriously, but also seemed to be just trying to avoid a cold apology. Liu Xin saw him on the side, but felt a little emotional in his heart.
When Gao Pragmatic first attracted this group of distinguished people, to be honest, she was not optimistic about it. She felt that recruiting such a group of losers might be a burden, and they might be "the Italians on our side."
Unexpectedly, Gao Pragmatic was really a talented person in waste utilization. Shengsheng trapped them with a Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, and now he actually became a part of Gao Pragmatic's forces in the DPRK - maybe a very important part.
After all, although civil servants are not afraid of nobles, that does not mean that they are not afraid of nobles who stick together. Even the emperor had to give face to the nobles who gathered together, and this group of nobles was brought together by a core figure of a powerful civil servant faction, Gao Pragmatic. Anyone who refused to give face had to think carefully.
Now it seems that although these nobles are useless in fighting, they at least have one advantage, that is, they know how to proceed and retreat. Well, it seems that the Xungui Group has really become a political group of some kind, and is no longer the military meritorious group that it was in the early Ming Dynasty, but they still have some capabilities that represent a military meritorious group - such as controlling civilians with military status in the five prefectures.
However, advantages are advantages. Liu Xin still feels that Zhu Yingzhen's sensitivity in certain matters-especially foreign-related military and political matters is too low. He had made the problem almost obvious, but he hadn't noticed it yet.
Fortunately, although Zhu Yingzhen didn't see it, Gao Pragmatic obviously did.
After Gao Yingshi and Zhu Yingzhen finished their polite greetings, they pretended to be thoughtful and said slowly: "Once the Hojo clan fails, no one in Kanto, Japan will dare to resist Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the unification of Japan will not be far away. This matter... Miss Liu , do you think it’s good or bad?”
Liu Xin said: "Obviously the harm outweighs the benefit."
Gao pragmatic smiled slightly: "Is there any profit? Where does the profit come from?"
Liu Xin spoke to him more easily and naturally than to Zhu Yingzhen. She spread her hands and said: "Throughout ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, a unified, peaceful and orderly market is obviously more conducive to trade - except for the arms trade." .”
Gao pragmatic smiled and turned to ask Zhu Yingzhen: "How much weapons and equipment do we sell to Japan every year?"
"Uh, what does Rixin mean?" Zhu Yingzhen looked a little embarrassed.
Gao Yingshi not only knew about the smuggling of artillery, but also pointed it out to Zhu Yingzhen before. Seeing Gao Yingzhen, Zhu Yingzhen just smiled faintly, but did not explain, so he had to cough lightly and said: "This... the situation with artillery is changing day by day. You know it, so I won’t say much more. In addition, the musket is the big one, there is also some gunpowder, and the rest are mainly iron ingots and bronze ingots.
The Japanese have good forging skills, but their smelting scale is not large, and they don’t seem to have much iron ore. After these years of trade, their metallurgical industry basically depends on us sending raw materials, which is iron. Ingots, bronze ingots, etc. "
When he said this, he was pragmatic and still didn't want to start a fight. He coughed lightly and said awkwardly: "The annual trade volume of the above is about... maybe three to four hundred thousand taels."
Gao pragmatic knew that his words were an ambush. Investigations by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Beijing showed that the above trade volume should be at least 500,000 taels, and since the products of the Sea Trade Alliance are not sold cheaply, the profit may reach more than 30% Even 40%.
However, Gao Pragmatism is not a perfectionist idealist. At this moment, he does not intend to settle old accounts from the standpoint of banning sales. Instead, he calculated the scale in his mind, and then frowned: "So, the Japanese now have at least 50,000 people on hand." A standard musket produced by Ganjinghua?"
This scale is really not small. After Ming Dynasty has carried out reforms for so long, there are only more than 200,000 troops in the country who have changed their uniforms, and not all of them are the latest models. The more than 200,000 Jinghua muskets of the Ming Dynasty were equipped with three types of muskets, from Longqing Type 2 to Wanli Type 1, and from Wanli Type 1 to Wanli Type 2 - of course, the more elite troops must be equipped with newer musket styles.
But Zhu Yingzhen finally gave Gao Pragmatic a bit of "good news". He shook his head and said: "It should not have reached this number yet. As far as I know, they have at most 40,000 muskets on hand. Mainly because they bought more at the beginning. Later, they bought more muskets." Gradually there were fewer, and the goods purchased changed from muskets to gunpowder.”
Oh, so that’s it, Gao Pragmatic immediately understood.
Although Japan's Warring States period seems to be quite famous in later generations, in fact the village chief at that time... No, the daimyo had limited financial resources. Although after the arrival of the Portuguese, they began to understand the power of muskets and their role in war, but Limited by financial resources, metallurgy, and manufacturing capabilities, the number of troops that can be equipped is very limited.
In this life, due to the existence of the Kyoka BUG, the famous names in Japan also discovered a "truth": it is better to buy than to make!
As a result, various famous figures, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who gradually took control of the government, began to purchase large quantities of smuggled Kyoka-style muskets. But as I said just now, they have limited financial resources and cannot have too much equipment. Moreover, if they really have that much equipment, they can’t afford it. They also have to buy gunpowder from Jinghua.
There is another problem here. Sulfur, an important raw material for Jinghua gunpowder, is itself purchased from Japan. Therefore, to a certain extent, Japan actually uses its own money to buy its own products, while Jinghua mainly only consumes some nitrate.
But at this time, the Ming Dynasty did not lack saltpeter (mainly because the consumption was too small compared to later generations). There were saltpeter mines in many places in Sichuan, as well as in Huguang (Hunan and Hubei), Yunnan and even South Zhili (later Anhui). Property. Most of these producing areas are not wealthy areas, so Jinghua easily controls a large number of saltpeter producing areas.
Later, because Gao Pragmatic was reluctant to dig domestic saltpeter, he purchased it from Tumote - in later generations, saltpeter was produced in many places in Inner Mongolia. The Mongolians in Tumut are now a bit like the Middle East and Russia in later generations. Apart from selling resources, there are no other projects to get rich. Moreover, most of the mines bought by Jinghua only need to be loaded directly into the truck. Tumut only needs people to do the work. Just fine.
Therefore, the two parties hit it off immediately. Gao Jingjing was able to obtain raw materials at a low cost, and Tumote continued to get money without much effort - but they immediately bought other things - it was the most ideal win-win situation.
Tumut saltpeter was cheap, and Japanese sulfur was even dirt cheap. Jinghua only produced some charcoal, but when it was made into gunpowder and sold to Japan, the price increased more than ten times.
It seems that technological monopoly is indeed the only way to make money. After all, the Japanese learned their gunpowder technology from China. Although China invented gunpowder at that time, it went astray and always liked to add some weird things to it. These gadgets seriously affect the performance of gunpowder (for example, they like to add various poisons).
The Japanese were also affected, resulting in incorrect gunpowder ratios and greatly reduced effectiveness. So after they saw Jinghua's gunpowder, they no longer wanted to use their own rubbish.
This was the end of the Warring States Period, and wars were frequent. Since all parties had replaced many Jinghua muskets, they naturally had to consume a lot of gunpowder, and in turn they could not afford more muskets. This is what Zhu Yingzhen said.
"Forty thousand..." Gao Jingshi thought for a while and said: "It is estimated that Toyotomi Hideyoshi's direct descendants may have about 20,000 rods. As for the Hojo clan, I don't think he can surpass the sky with more than 5,000 rods."
Liu Xin heard what he meant, smiled, and asked: "It seems that Da Sinong is not very interested in a unified and orderly Japanese market, but he hopes that the Hojo family can persist for a while longer?"
Gao Pragmatic nodded and said: "A unified and orderly market is certainly good, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi...has always been ambitious. Once he really completely unifies Japan, I don't expect him to do business with us honestly. .”
Of course, Zhu Yingzhen didn't know that Toyotomi Hideyoshi would have Ming Dynasty's idea, so Gao Pragmatic deliberately said: "It is reported that this person even told his subordinates that in the future, Japan will be unified, and he plans to come to Ming Dynasty to try his sword."
"Ah?" Zhu Yingzhen was stunned: "Isn't it true? Is this guy so overestimating his own abilities?"
In fact, he and Gao Pragmatic had communicated about Japan's strength before, but at that time they mainly talked about Shi Gao. But no matter what, even though Zhu Yingzhen already knew that Japan's current mobilization ability far exceeded that of the Ming Dynasty, he still did not believe that Japan could pose much of a threat to the Ming Dynasty.
Gao pragmatically snorted: "It's just a frog in the well." After a pause, he added: "But Toyotomi Hideyoshi's plan is to capture North Korea first, and North Korea has been at peace for a long time, and the domestic situation is also turbulent. I expect that once If Japan invades, Korea will not be able to stop it. At that time, the Ming Dynasty will probably be forced to send troops to help, but the Jurchen situation is only slightly settled now, and the court will launch troops against Chahar in two or three years..."
Zhu Yingzhen finally understood this time and suddenly said: "So Nisshin is planning to help the Hojo clan and let them slow down the process of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification of Japan?"
Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "Exactly."
Zhu Yingzhen thought thoughtfully and said: "Although the Hojo clan is a great vassal in Kanto and the territory they govern is pretty good, as far as I know, they believe that Odawara City is indestructible and are not very active in matters such as military purchases."
Gao Jingshi shook his head slightly: "Perhaps what the Hojo clan lacks most is not armaments...or to be precise, it is not a lack of weapons and armor."
Zhu Yingzhen said in surprise: "Then what do they lack?"
"There are two things missing." Gao Pragmatic said calmly: "The first is food, and the second is the determination to unite and never give in."
"Oh..." Zhu Yingzhen looked astonished, but did not offer any advice.
Liu Xin saw it and said: "Food is easy to handle. Although Odawara Castle has a great reputation in Japan, it is nothing to the grain output of southern Xinjiang. It is just a matter of transporting a batch of grain from southern Xinjiang and selling it to them. It’s nothing to fill the entire Odawara Castle. It doesn’t matter if the price is cheaper, as long as you don’t lose money.”
After a pause, he added: "As for determination, if the Sea Trade Alliance gives them a message, it should make them feel more at ease."
Before Gao Pragmatic spoke, Zhu Yingzhen was surprised: "It would be okay to sell some grain to the Hojo clan at a cheaper price, but please tell me...if Toyotomi Hideyoshi finds out in the future, will it affect our business?"
Gao pragmatic snorted: "So what if it affects me? After Toyotomi Hideyoshi takes over the Hojo clan, I predict that he will send troops to North Korea in at most two or three years. Can we still continue to do business with Japan by then? What will the emperor do? think?"
"Ah..." Zhu Yingzhen had never thought about this aspect carefully before. Now when he heard Gao Pragmatic's words, he was simply shocked: "What should I do? If Toyotomi Hideyoshi really starts a fight with North Korea, I predict that the emperor will definitely send troops. Aiding North Korea and doing business with Japan will become collaborators. But the problem is that without Japan's business, the impact on our Beiyang will be too great!"
Gao pragmatism just said "hmm" obediently. Zhu Yingzhen said anxiously: "Hey, Rixin, please tell me something. If the business in Japan stops, what should I do with so many ships and sailors on hand?"
Gao Pingshi saw that cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He couldn't help laughing and said: "Why is the Duke so anxious?"
"No, can I not be in a hurry? Even if I can seal the ships for a year or two and wait until the war is over, there are ten to twenty thousand sailors in my fleet. These people are not military households. They are all recruited by me with great difficulty. Those who have been trained and raised must be supported with money! If there is no business to do, I support so many people, why can’t I give up the Chengguo Duke’s mansion? "
Seeing that Zhu Yingzhen was really anxious, Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but smile and comfort him: "My lord, I have the most ships, and I'm not in a hurry. Why are you panicking?"
Zhu Yingzhen looked at Gao Pragmatic carefully for a while, and then asked doubtfully: "So... Rixin, you have a plan in mind? Then tell me quickly to put my mind at ease!"
Gao pragmatic seemed to think about what to say, and finally coughed lightly and lowered his voice and said: "Duke, don't you think this is actually what this battle is about: When will it start? Maybe Toyotomi Hideyoshi has the final say, but when it ends, we in Beiyang actually have the final say.”
Zhu Yingzhen was stunned for a long time, but still didn't understand the meaning of Gao Pragmatic's words, and wondered: "Why?"
Gao Pragmatic sighed, and explained helplessly to the Duke and Governor who really had no talent for war: "If Japan wants to attack Korea, it will have to mobilize hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of troops. Even if these troops can destroy the earth, They captured most of North Korea in one fell swoop, but due to the war, they definitely couldn't get enough military rations in North Korea, so they had to transport food from Japan.
But there is no land connection from Japan to North Korea, and they cannot fly, so they can only rely on sea transportation. Our combined fleet of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance has hundreds of gunboats alone. How can we still not control this mere small strait? "
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