Chapter 38 The problem of the ship
What does it mean to have someone in the DPRK do things easily?
Tang He said: "Well, you tell me the number, and I will allocate ships from the Coastal Guard Station to you. However, it must be sold for real money. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the court to explain. However, you can pay later. That's it. The money must be in place before the accounts are settled at the end of this year, and it’s an old ship. It won’t be too expensive.”
Mentioned above. If the wooden boat is well preserved. Ships can last for more than a hundred years.
The Ming Dynasty was only founded more than ten years ago. Of course some of these ships are old ships owned by Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen. But even if Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen rose to prominence, this batch of ships is the most numerous, and it is estimated that a considerable part of the ships that are twenty or thirty years old should have been built after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
Although it is a second hand boat. But I definitely can’t talk about the old days.
But He Xi was not too happy. It’s just that the following words are hard to say.
I've traveled a lot over the years. From the center to the local areas, I have seen it all.
He Xi is right about the Ming Dynasty, no, it should be said to be the society before the industrial revolution. Have a deep and clear understanding. That is poverty.
All problems can be covered with this word.
Even though Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, he was not very rich. During the Hongwu period, people spent money lavishly. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang learned from it, there was not much left over. The Hongxuan period can be regarded as a period when the Ming Dynasty's finances were good enough. There is no need for a Northern Expedition, just a Southern Expedition. But at that time, there was only a balance of more than one million taels.
It already makes everyone feel very satisfied.
The reason why I say this. This is He Xi's feeling about the scale of Ming Dynasty's maritime trade.
He Xi did some statistics. With the decline of civilian ships. Even many ships are walking in a gray area. Moreover, Ming Dynasty did not have a complete ship registration system. Therefore, how many private ships are there? He Xi can only estimate. But the official ships of the Ming Dynasty were registered. There are files available.
During this period, coastal vessels will be included, not including river vessels. Made a statistic. His final conclusion was that the total carrying capacity of Ming Dynasty's ocean-going ships was approximately 100,000 tons.
What concept is this.
It is not as heavy as an ocean-going cargo ship in later generations.
And these ships are generally on the small side. Most of them carry more than a thousand stones. There are almost no ships with a load of more than 10,000 stone. But in the Ming Dynasty, one stone weighed less than a hundred kilograms. Even if it is calculated as one hundred kilograms. Ten thousand stones is only one thousand tons.
And among these ships, there are a large number of small boats. Especially among the navy, there are a large number of boats with hundreds of stones and multiple oars.
Therefore, even this total carrying capacity is very high in He Xi's opinion.
If nothing else, you can see it just by looking at the maritime transport volume.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the maximum amount of sea transportation was more than 10 million shi of grain. Under normal circumstances, it was no less than 4 million shi of grain. This is a must for establishing the capital in Beijing. The water transportation quota of the later Ming Dynasty was also around four million dan.
But in the past few years, the total amount of shipping that He Xi checked was the twelfth year of Hongwu. A total of 750,000 shi of grain was transported by sea to Jingu, also known as Tianjin, but it was not called this at this time. and Liaodong.
Didn’t Ming Dynasty want to transport more grain?
not necessarily.
In He Xi's opinion, many things are related to the ship.
There is a big storm in Beiyang. Especially along the Shandong coast. Large ships have high seaworthiness. But the boat is not so good. The largest ocean-covering ships built by the Ming Dynasty were no more than a thousand stones. Usually a few hundred stones.
The huge Zheng He fleet does not represent the standard of sea shipping during the Hongwu period. At least in the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty, there were more than 20,000 large and small ships, with large ones ranging from eight to nine thousand dan, and small ones ranging from two to three thousand dan. There are ships with special purposes and ships worth tens of thousands of stones.
It is not something that the Ming Dynasty, which is currently waiting for a lot of waste, can have.
The sea was in the past and was not the focus of Ming Dynasty.
Even now, He Xi's support is very limited. At least it is impossible to get general support from Zheng He. He Xi remembered that Zheng He's fleet had sixty-three treasure ships, carrying more than 20,000 people. The largest ship is forty-four feet long. And now he was facing ships no larger than ten feet at most.
Just a little headache. What makes He Xi even more troublesome is that there are fewer private ships than government ships.
Even He Xi now has some speculations about Nanyang and Japanese pirates.
After all, during the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty, fifty or sixty years ago, there were still more than 20,000 seagoing ships. Even if there is a war, there are still other losses. It’s not like everything is gone. Where did these ships go?
However, this is far from the truth.
It doesn’t matter whether we open the sea or do other things. The boat is the basis of everything. No boat, nothing to say. And shipbuilding requires money. As the largest shipyard in Ming Dynasty, Longjiang Shipyard has six branches and its shipbuilding capabilities are first-class. Have enough money. Boats can also scare dumplings.
However, He Xi already knew what Ming Dynasty's financial situation was like.
No money.
He Xi's Taiping Iron Works cannot even support it. Not to mention dumpling-like shipbuilding.
Tanghe in front of you said it well. But He Xi estimates that he can get at most a dozen ships. He Xi can't guarantee whether all of these ships will be Thousand Stone Ships. And He Xi's own problem may be easy to solve. But what He Xi wants is not a fleet, but prosperity on the sea.
Therefore, the problem of the ship is still on He Xi's mind.
Must be available in large quantities and of good quality. And cheap boats.
At the same time, more importantly, we must also stimulate the private sector to pay for the ships. It is impossible to expect the imperial court to take care of everything and save money.
Finally, He Xi's worries swirled in his mouth several times and he swallowed it himself. It's no use asking Tang He to ask this question. After all, even if you tell Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang can't solve it.
He Xi said: "In terms of manpower, the Dai Jiahui will all invest in it, including Dai Mingshihui as one of the shopkeepers. Then select some good people from the guardhouse. That will be enough."
"Then how to run a business and how to make money?" Lu Zhongheng went straight to the main point. He said with bright eyes.
He Xi didn't say much and said: "The most profitable maritime business is ocean trade. When goods leave the port, the price doubles. When you go to Nanyang, it doubles again. When you go to Tianzhu, it doubles again. When you get to Tianfang, it's almost already. It’s ten times more beneficial.”
"After one round trip, if we can return safely, it will be enough for ordinary people to have food and drink for a lifetime."
Lu Zhongheng couldn't believe it and said, "So much money? So, my transaction will be worth 300,000 taels today?"
He Xi said: "That's impossible. Uncle Lu. Do you think no one is doing such a profitable business?"
Lawrence Lu said: "What do you mean? This business has been occupied by others?"
He Xi said: "I asked about it. Nowadays, most of our ships go to Nanyang. It is not necessarily safe. Many pirates can no longer survive in the southeast. They have all gone to Nanyang. The most famous among them are Chen Zuyi, Liang Daoming, etc. Dai We have some relationship with them, and at most we sell goods to them.”
"That's four times the profit?" Lu Zhongheng said.
He Xi coughed twice and said: "Not necessarily, Nanyang is their territory. Doing business in their territory has to pay a price. At most, double or triple the profit. This is still an ideal situation."
"Pa." With a sound, Lu Zhongheng slapped his hand heavily on the table and said, "I have never felt this kind of cowardly attitude in all these years. How dare you be so arrogant when you are just defeated. I can't swallow this breath."
He chose to forget that he had just been spanked hard.
However, what Lawrence Lu said was true.
Since he followed Zhu Yuanzhang to raise troops, he has won and lost battles. But I have never been convinced by anyone. There is also a sense of arrogance in his heart. It is the arrogance of a great minister. China never looks down on other places. Considered a frontier land.
Moreover, these pirates are inferior to the heroes on land back then. Even Zhang Shicheng was not afraid of fighting with Lu Zhongheng. Now, if a mere pirate dared to cut his head, Grandpa Lu, it would be intolerable and unbearable.
It’s just that no matter how angry Lawrence Lu is, he can’t change the facts.
The fact is that during the Hongwu period, Ming Dynasty had no ability to rule Nanyang at all. Lu Zhongheng's willingness or unwillingness cannot change this fact. At least they cannot extend their hands to the Indian Ocean. If you are not careful, let alone make money. There's a chance the entire ship won't make it back.
