I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

In Suzhou, Wu Changqing said goodbye to Wenrou Township early in the morning, and started working after breakfast.

On this day, he received several Dutch and Portuguese merchants.

The Ming Dynasty has always banned overseas trade, but this kind of ban has some effect in the early stage. In the middle and late stages, in the face of huge profits, all kinds of smuggling are not uncommon.

The court thought that the total prohibition of spending was too high, and it was powerless.

Local officials have chosen to turn a blind eye or take advantage of it.

This led to the existence of maritime trade, but the imperial court could not collect any tax silver.

It can only be said that a single ancestral family law killed this country.

Because the family law enacted by Zhu Yuanzhang is sacred and inviolable, their descendants have great concerns about changing this situation.

Wu Changqing would not abide by the rules of this sand sculpture. If a country wants to be prosperous and strong, overseas trade is inevitable. Especially now that the world has started maritime trade, and the United Kingdom has begun to rise.

If he doesn't get in early, he might suffer at sea in the future.

Therefore, Wu Changqing sent people to look for overseas businessmen after he took power, and wanted to establish commercial relations with them and slowly develop the navy.

"Wu Guogong, three of them are Dutch merchants, and two of them are Portuguese merchants. They are all engaged in ocean trade, and they are on the route from India to Japan."

Lu Shanwei, who was in charge of the translation, introduced.

"Ask them how many ships they have and if they can bring me saltpeter, cotton, high-quality iron ore, and bird droppings."

Wu Changqing said that in his eyes, silver is really useless. It is a foolish act to exchange a pile of silver with his own cloth, china and tea, and it is far better than replacing it with useful materials.

Simply replacing it with silver will only cause a decrease in the purchasing power of domestic silver, without any benefit.

The saltpeter thing is different. Wu Changqing is in short supply, and he needs as much as he has. There are also raw materials such as cotton, silk, hemp and iron ore, the more the better. As for bird droppings, it is even more of a good thing.

Nowadays, there is no fertilizer for the common people to farm, only some feces and human urine at most. The fertility is limited, resulting in very low grain output.

Bird droppings are a very good natural fertilizer and have a great effect on improving crop yields. Before the chemical fertilizer was made, the more the better, the better it would be, no matter how much it was shipped.

To thrive, population matters.

But here in Huaxia, the per capita arable land is actually not much, and many people have a problem with eating.

Only by finding ways to feed these people can they free up their hands to develop industry.

And the more the population, the more technology points he has, so he will always be short of food, never too much.

Lu Shanwei translated Wu Changqing's words, and the few people hurried to answer. Under Lu Shanwei's scolding, Hurd from the Netherlands spoke first.

"Honorable general, we can transport saltpeter and cotton at any time. As for bird droppings, it is more troublesome. If the general is willing to pay a good price, we can also transport it here."

There is a lot of cotton in India, and saltpeter is also relatively common in Japan. These are the routes he often travels. As for guano, it is much more troublesome to go to places such as Peru, Chile, and California in North America.

However, in order to exchange for silk, tea and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, he was willing to do it no matter how much trouble he had.

Before relying on smuggling, there was always a lot of trouble and uncertainty.

Now that he learned that Wu Changqing, a general in power, wanted to do business, Hurd attached great importance to it.

As long as he can maintain a stable cooperative relationship, he can take the opportunity to make a fortune and gain a very high status in the Netherlands.

"We are the best at the round-the-world route. We can transport the bird droppings that the general wants from South America."

Portugal's Metro also responded. The goods of the Ming Dynasty were very popular in the West, and he also wanted to get a stable supply of goods from Wu Changqing.

"You don't have to worry, we have a lot of goods here to supply your entire country, not to mention that there are only two fleets of you now."

Wu Changqing motioned them to remain calm, and he would come up with all kinds of gizmos in the future, to ensure that these foreigners would be dazzled and wish to turn themselves into gold in exchange for these things.

With the intention of cooperation, the next step is to negotiate a price. Wu Changqing must promise them a price, otherwise they will not dare to risk a boatload of bird droppings.

These days, Wu Changqing is the only one who will treasure bird droppings, and no one else has discovered the value of this kind of thing.

After confirming the cooperation intention, Wu Changqing asked Gu Yanwu to discuss with him the development of Songjiang Mansion, which is Shanghai.

Although ships at sea can also reach Suzhou, Suzhou still has many inconveniences compared to Songjiang.

"Develop overseas trade zones?"

Gu Yanwu didn't particularly understand this new word, but he could guess the general meaning.

"It is a place specially used to do business with foreigners. We provide infrastructure and maintain order, and then allow overseas businessmen to trade from here, and encourage mainland businessmen to ship their goods here for trading. And we can collect taxes from it."

Wu Changqing explained in detail.

Gu Yanwu was stunned for a moment, this idea was too bold, it could even be said to be too disobedient.

You must know that the sea ban is still officially implemented. Although the court has turned a blind eye to the smuggling of businessmen, but to develop such a trade zone in such an open and upright manner, wouldn’t it violate the ancestral teaching of Zhu Yuanzhang?

Gu Yanwu also knows that there are many benefits to opening such a trade zone, and it can collect taxes in a centralized manner.

However, if the imperial court were to question him, it would be a little difficult to explain.

"Perhaps, we can contact those merchants secretly and ask them to ship the goods there, there is no need to issue an announcement."

Gu Yanwu suggested that the speed and effect of publicity may be worse, but at least it gave the court a step down. The court could think that those things were made by the merchants privately and ignore them.

If Wu Changqing personally promoted it, it would seem that he did not care about the court more or less.

"It's not necessary, I'll write an account. Either they allow me to open a business zone, or they provide me with military salaries. How can I afford the food, drink and Lazard of 50,000 troops without increasing taxes."

Wu Changqing's attitude was very firm. If King Lu didn't allow it, he would directly announce that he would join Emperor Longwu, and he might be able to kill Zhu Yihai alive.

He is a rare commodity now, very sought-after, and the two emperors will coax him.

"......"

Gu Yanwu could only continue to sigh in his heart, the fact that his lord really didn't care about the imperial court more and more made him very contradictory.

However, he also knew that only by relying on Wu Changqing and assisting Wu Changqing could he hope to defeat the Manchu Qing and regain the lost territory.

Relying on others is not because Gu Yanwu is too proud, he really looks down on other generals, and no one can fight.