After lunch, Gao Pragmatic went to the Ministry of Finance again, but because Huang Zhiting returned to Beijing, he took the time to return to the mansion in the afternoon.
As soon as I returned home, I was told that Duke Cheng had sent someone over. Gao Pingshi was stunned when he heard this, and then he remembered that it was not that Zhu Yingzhen refused to come in person, he was just captured by the emperor and had just set off to Tianshou Mountain to offer sacrifices on his behalf this morning.
In fact, sacrifices on behalf of others are the most important errands of the princes, and since they are carried out on behalf of the emperor, the etiquette is very important and must not be careless. It was impossible to skip work, so we had to send someone to see him.
But the visitor didn't have anything special to say to Gao Yingshi. He just brought Zhu Yingzhen's handwritten letter. The letter was written to his family's fleet in Japan. It did not explain any situation, but only asked them to obey Jinghua's orders at any time.
This is enough, because Zhu Yingzhen's family's fleet is second only to Jinghua in size, and he is the default "big brother" of the other noble families. His family's fleet fully obeys orders, and other families' orders will definitely be followed.
So, even if more than half of the fleet's cruise on Kyushu Island is completed, and the specific implementation is very pragmatic and I don't bother to ask, nothing will go wrong anyway.
Although there are at least dozens of Japanese "navy armies", they are actually just pirates of varying sizes. They are also called "pirates" in Japan. The more famous ones in later generations are basically all pirates. In the game, there are Kumano Navy, Murakami Navy, Saltwater Navy, Goto Navy, Andong Navy, Tango Navy, Awaji Navy, Bungo Navy, Bozu Navy and so on.
Even though they all have "Navy Forces" in their names, which seem to be very formal, in fact many of them only have the ability to sail offshore and don't have any big ships. A few Anzhai ships are considered a powerful force, and they are basically incompetent in front of the Sea Trade Alliance. Don't dare to speak loudly.
Of course, this is certain. After all, Captain Wufeng was just the pirate leader of the Ming Dynasty, and even in Japan he dared to be called the King of Pure Sea.
Having said this, I would like to mention by the way: Wang Zhi left Japan after the Ligang Incident in the 32nd year of Jiajing (1553), and it was on the territory of Kyushu Island that he "proclaimed king".
According to Tian Rucheng's "The Biography of Wang Zhi": Wang Zhi "accorded to Songjinpu on Satsuma Island. He arrogated the name Song Dynasty and claimed to be King Hui. He deployed officials and subordinates and had a name. He controlled the key points, and the barbarians on the thirty-six islands were all under his command. .”
However, the so-called "Matsujinura of Satsuma Island" here is wrong and confusing. In fact, Wang Zhi's base on Kyushu Island in Japan is Hirado Island in Hizen Province.
When Wang Zhi passed by, it was almost around the time when Japan's "Kosho Shun Alliance" (Takeda, Hojo, and Imagawa Alliance) was formed. However, on Kyushu Island in the West, there was no dominance trend by any one company, and it was probably very chaotic.
Hirado Island, where Wang Zhi is located, may not be well-known as "Hirado", but if you say "Nagasaki", everyone should be very familiar with it. At that time, it was controlled by a daimyo who was not very powerful, named Matsuura Takanobu.
This man is the 25th generation family governor of the Matsuura family, the son of Matsuura Xingxin, with a Buddhist name. The Matsuura clan is a wealthy family active mainly in the southern and northern Matsuura counties of Hizen Province. It has strong economic strength because it has the strategically located trading port of Hirado. Because of this, the Matsuura family has been coveted by neighboring Arima, Omura, Ryuzoji and other families.
After Takanobu succeeded the family governor, he surrendered to the rising Ryuzoji family. Then vigorously developed trade in Hirado Port, which enabled the Matsuura family to achieve unprecedented development. He was very active in dealing with internal missionary work (Catholicism) and foreign trade, and he also had a good personal relationship with Wang Zhi - of course, it was a friendship brought about by ties of interest.
Almost ten years before Wang Zhi went to proclaim himself king, the Portuguese went to Japan in search of the golden country written by Marco Polo and were shipwrecked on Tanegashima. It was Wang Zhi who brought them to Hirado, and under the enthusiasm of Matsuura Takanobu With the reception, maritime trade between Japan and Europe started.
At that time, one of the Portuguese ships was carrying Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuits who came to the Far East to preach. He took this opportunity to introduce Catholicism to Japan for the first time. In just one month, Hirado had 200 people. People converted to Catholicism because of him.
From this perspective, Wang Zhi had a huge impact on Japan, both economically and culturally. This is why there was later a bronze statue of Wang Zhi outside the Matsuura Historical Materials Museum in Japan.
However, whether it was the so-called "Bozu Navy" controlled by the Shimazu family or the "Mishima Navy" controlled by the Matsuura family, they directly chose to avoid the battle when they faced the Keihua fleet.
This is easy to understand, because naval operations are very different from army operations. Throughout the history of wars at home and abroad, there have often been classic battles in which fewer troops defeated more troops in the army, but there are very few such examples in the navy.
There is no obstruction above the sea, and there is no way to hide. Both sides have the same field of vision. It is difficult to lay an ambush. You can see clearly from a distance. If you have a big ship and there are many ships, you are the dominant side and will almost certainly win; if you have a small ship and there are few ships, you are the disadvantaged side and will almost certainly lose.
This is why in the original history, the Portuguese and Dutch navies were defeated by the Ming Dynasty on the coast of South China. They actually had the advantage of larger ships at that time, and their armaments were more advanced. Unfortunately, even though the Ming Dynasty's navy had declined terribly, at least it still had a huge numerical advantage when fighting close to home. They took full advantage of the single-ship advantages of Portugal and the Netherlands. The staggering numerical advantage was crushed.
When Shimadzu and Matsuura faced the Keihua fleet, they were the ones being crushed regardless of the quality of their single ships or the size of their fleets. At that time, the Japanese had small ships with two to three hundred materials, such as sekifunes and small morning ships (which were the most owned by the pirates, and Anzha ships were basically their main battleships). Dozens of single ships in Beijing cost 1,600 materials. The armed transport ship is nothing more than a children's toy.
That situation is like the opponent holding an AK47, and you only have a broken wooden sword in your hand, so why fight? Therefore, both families reacted very rationally at that time. They took the initiative to send a small boat over and politely asked where the guests were coming from.
Needless to say what happened next, these guests from Jinghua were not here to fight, so the two sides started doing business. Moreover, in view of the fact that the maritime strength displayed by Jinghua was so amazing, much more exaggerated than that of the original Wufeng captain, the Japanese also showed great sincerity in business and did not dare to do anything famous.
The situation in other places in Japan is similar. Although it is an island country, during the Warring States Period, the level of each company was almost the same, so the fleet of Jinghua - and later the Sea Trade Alliance - could do business with peace of mind wherever it went. , it is rare for trouble to happen like the previous one, and it can only occur in special situations when two families are fighting on land.
Although the main force of the Beiyang Fleet has gone on an expedition to Luzon, basic trade has not been interrupted. The Maritime Trade Alliance should still have twenty or thirty armed transport ships around Japan.
This strength is indeed nothing in the eyes of Gao Pragmatic, but in Japan it is still a giant. Unless Toyotomi Hideyoshi unexpectedly gathers the "naval forces" across the country and launches a sneak attack in the harbor, otherwise these twenty or thirty armed transport ships will only If they gather together to form a temporary combined fleet, they can still move sideways in Japan.
If there was anything that could pose a danger to them, it would probably be the twelve gunless transport ships also produced in Jinghua that were sent to Japan - if Toyotomi Hideyoshi had not installed "iron armor" on them, but If you add artillery to them.
Of course, theoretically, if fighting in the Seto Inland Sea, there would be another danger. Because the sea conditions in the Seto Inland Sea are quite special, specifically the wind conditions are quite special, which the Japanese call "nagi".
"Nagi" usually appears in the morning or evening, which means that the sea breeze and the land breeze are preparing to switch. At this time, the Seto Inland Sea often becomes calm suddenly. Calm is generally a good word, but it is very bad for naval battles in the age of sail. It means that the ship's maneuverability is significantly reduced and it can only rely on ocean currents to drift.
In this situation, ocean-going sailing giants are at a disadvantage against those offshore ships that can temporarily use oar power. Considering that the "baked jade" often used by Japan's "Navy Army" during the civil war was an incendiary bomb, when the armed transport ships almost lost power, the danger increased significantly - after all, they were not equipped with "iron armor".
During dinner, Meng Guzhezhe had already gone back to see Xinzhai, saying that the homework assigned to her by Liu Xin, the teacher, had not yet been completed. Of course Gao Jingshi knew that this was not the main reason. In fact, since she knew the reason why she did not consummate the marriage with her today, she had no reason to stay. What's more, if Huang Zhiting came back, she would definitely not stay as a light bulb.
Oh, she doesn't know what a light bulb is, but she always gets the idea.
But what surprised Gao pragmatic even more was that Liu Xin was not there either.
Huang Zhiting said that after Liu Xin talked to her in the afternoon, she went to see Xinzhai with Meng Guzhezhe, saying that she wanted to explain to Meng Guzhezhe and then assign homework for the next month or so. She would leave for Kaiping early tomorrow morning ——Gao Jingshi knew this. She was going to visit Liu Xian and had told him in advance.
However... in such a rush for time, I'm afraid it's better to consciously give Huang Zhiting a chance to be alone with herself.
There were only the couple, so this meal could have been much quieter, but Gao pragmatically was a man with few family rules, so he ordered Gao Yuan to be brought over, wanting to feed his son a meal himself.
Who knew that Xiao Gaoyuan didn't really buy it. Although he didn't refuse his father's feeding, he always stretched out his hands and feet towards his mother to crawl over, which made Huang Zhiting couldn't help but laugh.
Gao Pragmatic's patience was as good as ever, and he kept bringing the kid back to continue feeding him. Huang Zhiting saw that he didn't seem to have any sense of the child's appetite. When it seemed that he had eaten too much, he couldn't help but said: "Okay, okay, this meal is enough. He will have another meal later in the evening." Don't feed her anymore, otherwise she will vomit later."
Only then did Gao Pragmatic remember that the stomachs of such a large child were not fully developed, so they usually had to eat small meals frequently, and they really couldn't eat too much in one meal. Then he stopped with some regret and handed the child over to Huang Zhiting.
However, Huang Zhiting only teased Gao Yuan a little, and then handed it over to the wet nurse - she was said to be a wet nurse, but because of Gao Pragmatic's previous instructions, she actually did not breastfeed, but acted as a nanny.
After the wet nurse took Gao Yuan away, the banquet was also removed. Gao pragmatically took Huang Zhiting to the side of the house near Shichahai for a walk. After walking not far, Huang Zhiting asked: "Do you remember what I mentioned in my last letter?"
Gao Pangshi didn't plan to say anything "business" tonight, but since Huang Zhiting asked, he had no choice but to answer: "What's the matter? That thing in Malacca?"
"That's right." Huang Zhiting responded: "It's the patronage that the Portuguese asked for. I always feel that that thing is of no use at all, but the Portuguese say it seriously. I suspect there is some conspiracy here that I don't understand. .”
When it came time to "talk about business", Huang Zhiting even forgot the word "concubine" and directly used the word "I".
Fortunately, Gao Pragmatic doesn't care, and even prefers it.
He laughed, shook his head and said: "You have really wronged the Portuguese. In fact, there is no conspiracy in their request for the patronage. At least for us, there is no conspiracy. If you have to say who they are targeting by requesting the patronage. , then they are actually targeting the Spaniards.”
"Oh?" Huang Zhiting said in confusion: "It seems that I still don't quite understand what you mean by 'union of kings'. Portugal and Spain obviously share the same king, but they still fight so fiercely, and even try their best to inflict pain on each other." Trip, it’s really inexplicable and hopeless.”
The matter of Malacca is of course important. This stronghold controlling the Strait of Malacca cannot be overemphasized. Huang Zhiting actually succeeded directly through coercion this time. Even Gao Pragmatic was a little incredible.
Of course, looking back, it's not that magical. The key to the problem is still the serious imbalance in the balance of power. After the avalanche defeat of the Spanish in the Philippine Islands, the Portuguese have realized that they cannot directly confront Jinghua in the Nanyang region. Therefore, it is not unusual to take the initiative to give in with the European mentality of "surrender and lose half". thing.
Of course, the contract has not been signed yet, and Malacca City has not yet switched defenses between the two armies, so theoretically speaking, it is not a safe bet. However, Gao Pragmatic believes that this matter should not be a big surprise. Even if God made a big joke and the Spanish Armada actually won the battle against England, it would not change the facts on Malacca.
After all, it is absolutely impossible for Spain to transfer the Invincible Fleet to the Far East and Beijing for a decisive naval battle.
So what if I were transferred here? Fighting at home, Gao Wuchen is really worthy of Philip II... not to mention, he still owes a huge debt.
So although this matter was important, since Gao Pragmatic believed that the issue of "protection rights" was not important, the two of them decided the matter easily.
Immediately afterwards, Huang Zhiting began to report to Gao Pragmatic on some development issues in southern Xinjiang. These questions are very complicated, but there is one piece of news that Gao pragmatically paid close attention to.
Huang Zhiting said that according to the previous mineral resources "enumeration" plan, Jinghua conducted a large-scale prospecting in southern Xinjiang. Since this operation was carried out under the banner of being highly pragmatic but actually based on the goals provided by Liu Xin, most of them did find the corresponding mining areas and mineral points.
However, just because you find it doesn’t mean you can use it. Since Liu Xin could only remember where there were mines, it was impossible for Liu Xin to figure out whether those specific mining areas and mining sites could be developed effectively and profitably under the current conditions, so in the end Jinghua Mining ruled them out. More than half of them.
Among the remaining small group, Gao Jingshi heard the news about the discovery of copper mines in the Huishan area and the Champasak area in the north of Xiangkhouang, Nanzhang Kingdom. According to Jinghua's current judgment, the scale of these two copper mines may be quite large.
There should be many large-scale mineral deposits in the Xiangkhouang Plateau. This was something that Gao Pragmatic had known for a long time. Liu Xin had analyzed the mineralization belts and other relatively professional knowledge for him.
However, the development of that area was very low. Even in later generations, because Laos was a very backward country, its development was still poor. Many mining areas were simply discovered and estimated, and no actual development was carried out at all.
But this time, Jinghua discovered that not only did there exist copper mines in the Champasak area, but the copper mines there were also of high grade. According to sample surveys, 1%-2% levels are everywhere, and many even reach 5%-6%. This data is quite amazing for copper mines.
The reason why Gao Pragmatic suddenly paid attention to copper mines is because he is now in charge of the national finance of the Ming Dynasty and has recently paid special attention to the trends in Japan.
How are these two things connected? Because he remembered that the reason why the Oda family first rose to prominence was actually because they could make money - what was embroidered on the Oda family's battle flag? Three Yongle Tongbao.
Even the armor and back flag of his Oda family warriors were actually printed with the huge seal of Yongle Tongbao. Every time Gao Pragmatic thought about this, he would wonder if Oda Nobunaga's army looked a bit like the Imperial Association of the Ming Dynasty. military.
Oda Nobunaga attached great importance to the role of commerce (his family actually relied on Tsushima's trade), which led Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was his groom, to also attach great importance to commerce. Not only did he build Osaka Castle near Ishiyama Honganji Temple, but also All the big merchants of Sakai Town were forcibly moved to the castle town of Osaka.
The Yongle Tongbao of the Ming Dynasty, which was originally the main currency in circulation in Japan, has almost lost its source (because of two points: the Kanhe trade was interrupted by the Ningbo incident, and the copper coins smuggled in Jiangnan were interrupted by Jinghua after the opening of the sea), resulting in the current commercial circulation of Japan. This is one of the important reasons why Toyotomi Hideyoshi was very dissatisfied with the construction of the Crystal Tower in Satsuma Domain.
However, the Yongle Tongbao of the Ming Dynasty was originally cast in large quantities during the Yongle period when the country was powerful as a gift. Later, because the Ming Dynasty itself was very short of copper and its own copper coins were not enough, this work was not done long ago.
Now that Huang Zhiting mentioned the copper mine, Gao Pragmatic remembered that his original plan to use currency to control Japan had not yet been fully implemented. Now that he has begun to step up his deployment in Japan, it is obviously time to upgrade the agenda.
However, Gao Pragmatic has not yet decided whether to exploit the copper mine in Champasak. The reason is... At this time, Japan's three major copper mountains are still there.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward support and monthly ticket support, thank you!
