If trade routes are blood vessels that transport wealth, then the East is the heart that pumps blood.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, border management was quite tolerant, and most goods could enter and exit freely. However, the Ming Dynasty seriously lacked the spirit of free trade. To buy something from him, you had to find ways to make him happy first, which was very laborious.
However, the most profitable products are all produced by his family. Therefore, in order to make money to live, you have to bow to others. These diplomatic means are one of the measures. Everyone is well aware of the importance of this matter.
However, the off-husband team is indeed lacking in strength.
Although he has grown taller, Tuohuan is actually younger than Guo Kang, only 15 years old this year. That's not to say that this grade can't engage in diplomacy, but looking at him like that, he's not a good candidate.
As for the people around him, not to mention. Guo Kang even suspected that the most educated person in the room might be the little boy Constantine...
It is probably for this reason that Guo Kang came.
Although his adoptive father Guo Daxia has always been relatively... pure, his adoptive mother Huang is more famous.
The Huang family had a prosperous cultural background, and when they migrated to Persia, they were already quite famous in the Ilkhanate. Later, the Khanate collapsed. Mr. Huang led his people to escape the war and migrated to a small island in the Mediterranean.
The Huang family is known as the "Peach Blossom Stone Huang Family", and they still use this name to commemorate their homeland. This island is also called "Peach Blossom Island". The surrounding Persians and Greeks respected them very much, and scholars were impressed by the mention of this name.
It is a pity that although Guo Kang has been working hard for several years, the gap in cultural level is still significant. His adoptive mother repeatedly tried to impose strict discipline on him and asked him to concentrate on his studies, but he was persuaded by his adoptive father. It is said that when a book is used, it will be less regretful. At this critical moment, he began to wonder whether his adoptive father was too doting on him.
"Who else did you ask for help?" He turned around and asked Tuohuan.
"I also invited Sun Wenyuan, Sun Daguan." Tuohuan replied.
"You invited Sun Shiwan?" Guo Kang was surprised: "It's the other way around, can he help us deal with the Ming Dynasty?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Guo." Lama Wang said from the side: "Java Yuan is not monolithic. There are many people in their group. This old man, Sun Daguan, can persuade him to help."
"...Okay." Guo Kang couldn't say anything.
Sun Daguan, whose name is Yi and whose courtesy name is Wenyuan, claims to be from the Yuan Dynasty in Java Island. He is a famous maritime merchant today. Last year, he came to Constantinople, negotiated several big deals with the Purple Horde, and went to inspect various places along the Black Sea coast. During this time, he happened to rest in the city.
Guo Kang had also chatted with him several times before. According to his own introduction, his ancestor was a famous big businessman in Suzhou during the Yuan Dynasty. Later he went to Yangzhou to do business, and was involved in both silk and porcelain on the surface and illicit salt secretly. Soon, he accumulated a fortune of tens of millions. People at that time gave his family the nickname "Sun Shiwan" based on the ancient poem "With a hundred thousand guan in his waist, riding a crane to Yangzhou", which was extremely affluent.
As the head of the family of this generation, business partners from the Nanyang Islands to Egypt are accustomed to calling him this nickname. This is the origin.
Guo Kang also learned that in this world, during the Yuan army's expedition to Java, they successfully defeated the native leaders who planned to attack them, forcing the local princes to surrender and gain a firm foothold.
By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Jiangnan was also plunged into war. People from all walks of life were fighting endlessly, and most of the court was powerless. Many people chose to go to sea to escape and fled to the Nanyang area where the Yuan Dynasty government still existed.
Later, Zhang Shicheng was defeated by Zhu Yuanzhang, his supporters fled one after another, and there was another climax of going to sea. As one of Zhang Shicheng's major benefactors, it was at this time that the Sun family was able to escape in time by taking advantage of its year-round shipping business. After many twists and turns, he finally settled in Nanyang.
Sun and other big businessmen were extremely wealthy and had their own thugs, servants and fleets. In these days, merchants, pirates and even the navy are often interchangeable identities. With these strengths, they gathered together and claimed that they still served Emperor Shun as the main one and used the title of Dayuan. Because its important stronghold is on Java Island, it is also called "Java Yuan".
The relationship between the Javanese Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was quite bad.
Regardless of those like Sun who have directly fought in the war, many other wealthy businessmen also feel the same way. The management of the Yuan Dynasty was loose. As long as you paid money and didn't openly rebel, the court often didn't bother to take care of it, making them quite powerful. Like Sun himself, even if his hometown is lost, he can still dominate with the ships in his hands and the business stores and shipyards that his family has operated for a long time in Nanyang.
But the management in the Ming Dynasty was much stricter. Sun Shiwan pointed out that the government restricted the freedom of merchants and deprived them of their legal rights over servants. The imperial court was demanding excessively, competing with the people all day long, and taking away the wealth that the merchants had worked hard to accumulate. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it also restricted navigation and suppressed free trade, hoping to monopolize the huge profits from ocean trade.
Therefore, all the big businessmen in Jiangnan miss Dayuan. This is also why we insist on using the name of the Yuan Dynasty.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, people continued to escape from the country and pursue freedom. There are many people who have not escaped, but there are also many people who are in secret contact with them. They usually help smuggle goods, and in times of war they inform them, hoping that the Great Yuan Heavenly Soldiers can fight back.
Sun Shiwan believes that this is what people want, and it is also one of the sources of confidence that makes them dare to confront the Ming Dynasty despite being at a disadvantage.
At this time, King Liang, who had been granted a title in Yunnan during the Yuan Dynasty, was attacked by the Ming army and was defeated and fled into Myanmar. The Tu king of Myanmar did not welcome King Liang, and the two sides fought all the way. Seeing an opportunity, the maritime merchants sent an invitation to the exiled Liang King's forces, so the Yuan army marched southeast, passed through Siam and entered Champa, where they met up with the Javanese merchants and received supplies and support.
The Vietnamese Chen Dynasty was also afraid of the Ming army that had pursued Myanmar, so they decided to join forces with them. With the mediation of everyone, the Siamese and Vietnamese armies joined forces with the Yuan army and maritime merchants to repel the pursuing Ming army.
However, Ming Dynasty seemed to be on top and refused to admit defeat. Two years later, another Ming army invaded Vietnam from the north and fought until near the capital, Thang Long, before being repulsed and driven away. More than four years later, several Ming troops came from Yunnan, Guangxi and the sea. The coalition forces finally could not resist this time.
Thang Long was captured by the Ming army, and King Liang was defeated and committed suicide. The Chen Dynasty of Vietnam was soon banned by the Ming Dynasty, and the remaining defeated generals of other princes continued to flee south. Sun and others gathered a lot of people and fled by boating again.
Fortunately, the Ming army really couldn't catch up this time, giving them some time to breathe.
