At the Yongjiangkou in Ningbo, Zhejiang, batches of sea ships slowly arrived. This was the return of the first voyage of the official fleet heading to Japan, Ryukyu and North Korea for sea trade. Chen Wen sent them to sail to not only make a deal to increase income, but more importantly, to open up the road and explore the waterway. With these, they can have the possibility of releasing influence overseas.

However, this does not mean that the income from the sea trade is not important. On the contrary, with this income, many of Chen Wen's subsequent plans can be implemented step by step.

After receiving the news, Chen Wen took a boat back to Hangzhou. When he arrived in Hangzhou, Zheng Qi and others who were ordered to go out to sea were already waiting for the reply there.

"I have read the report and you have done a good job."

"Xie Dashang."

The beard and Zheng Qi were polite. Along the way, one of them was responsible for the security of the fleet and the other was responsible for trade with Japan, North Korea and Ryukyu. They cooperated very well. However, during their voyage, Chen Wen fell from the king and restored Nanjing, but regrets were inevitable.

"What you are doing now can be said to be crucial to our Jiangsu and Zhejiang Kings Division, and you will see this soon."

After alleviating the regrets that subordinates will inevitably have, Chen Wen turned to them to ask about the specific situation of the first flight. These were shown in the report, but Chen Wen's focus was slightly different from theirs, so he had to ask in person.

"I have seen what you saw in Nagasaki Port. The Nagasaki practice of Tokugawa Shogunate actually explained on his behalf that the shogunate had no military affairs. What did you do in Nagasaki to scare him like this."

When they went to Japan to beg for the army, the Shandong Supervisory State system did it, and the Zheng Group also did it. After all, they were under too much military pressure at that time, so they had to desperately catch any life-saving straw. However, when they went to Japan to beg for the army, they did not succeed, but unintentionally enhanced Japan's self-confidence. Compared with the wealth that Japan supported several times, it was really not worth the loss.

"Report to the commander, Mo Jiang put the cannons on the ship when he entered the port according to the commander of the commander. So he explained it after a few words of conviction. Mo Jiang did nothing."

The officers and military judges who accompanied the ship all reported that the possibility of the beards was extremely high. The merchant ship was equipped with artillery, but the ones came from one ship, but they were a fleet, and they could not help but be frightened. After all, if they really fought, the Tokugawa shogunate was at a loss, both in politics and military aspects, and in commercial trade.

Chen Wen nodded and then said, "Who is interested in helping some money, grain and weapons?"

"That's right, Mai Jiang has already made a refusal according to the command of the commander." When Zheng Qi said this, he seemed a little puzzled and then asked Chen Wen: "Shuo Mo is stupid, Nagasaki pursues intentional assistance, and Mai Jiang seems to be instructed by the shogunate. Since that's the case, why should he refuse?"

In Zheng Qi's view, Japan's aid was in vain, and it was easier than working hard to do maritime trade. It was not only Zheng Qi who had such ideas. The soldiers, military judges, and captains of each ship had discussed in groups in their spare time. Some supported them, some were puzzled, but there was no opposition. After all, military orders were everywhere, and they were soldiers rather than merchants.

Hearing Zheng Qi's question, Chen Wen smiled and shook his head: "What Qingyun saw is nothing wrong. This matter was instructed by the shogunate. Otherwise, he, a local official from Nagasaki, would not be able to make the decision. As for the general, you will refuse, it is actually very simple. When Shilang Feng went to Japan to beg for his army and cried in the Qin Court in Nagasaki, the shogunate did not provide any assistance. However, Satsuma gave hundreds of thousands of Hongwu money, and Shilang Feng was not in vain to cry."

When they went to Japan to beg for military service, the southeast anti-Qing forces actively promoted it, and the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate firmly opposed it for domestic stability, but the Satsuma and other vassals actively promoted it, but in the end it did not happen.

The reason for this phenomenon is very simple, that is, whether the victory or defeat will be variable.

In terms of military, if you don’t mention defeat, even if you can win, the benefits of each vassal will quickly expand, resulting in the weakening of the strength difference between the shogunate and Daimyo, or even reversal; but if the shogunate sends troops and the local troops are insufficient, what should the vassals deal with the provocations? Even if the shogunate sends troops together and Daimyo, the war will always be damaged, and whoever is more or less will affect the strength comparison between each other. As for the political, economic and other aspects, it is even more difficult to count.

At that time, Japan had already begun to close its country, and the Tokugawa Shogunate was the most typical self-restrained person. There was no way. At that time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was ambitious, but hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers in the Warring States period were hung up by the Ming army. As a result of the war, the shogunate not only did not take any advantage, but also shook its own ruling foundation, leading to the Tokugawa Shogunate being replaced. Let me ask, how dare the Tokugawa Shogunate participate in the war between the Ming and the Qing Dynasty.

However, when Chen Wen said this, it really stunned them in the ears of his beard and Zheng Qi.

"Hundreds of thousands of Hongwu coins? Isn't Japan prohibiting the use of Chinese currency? The Satsuma family is serving beggars!"

Hongwu coins are copper coins minted by the Hongwu Dynasty. According to current calculations, the value of Hongwu coins is higher than that of the Jiajing and Wanli periods, not to mention the thin and crispy Chongzhen period. But even so, one tael of silver can be exchanged for one thousand coins of Hongwu coins. In other words, Feng Jingdi cried in Nagasaki Qinting in the end and received several hundred taels of silver assistance.

"You can't say that. After all, the Satsuma family gave it to them, and there were still those who were irreplaceable. What's more, Japan had issued a lockdown order at that time, and trade was to be carried out with the shogunate. Merchant ships were not allowed to enter the various vassals. A few hundred taels of silver might be a treasure that was under the box for the Shimazu family."

Historically, the Tokugawa Shogunate had more money to assist Zheng Chenggong than the Satsuma family, including weapons, armor, and raw materials such as lead and iron, but that was the case. However, compared to the transaction volume of millions of taels of silver between the Zheng family and the Shogunate every year, this little aid shows the Japanese's triviality. What's more, in the later Zheng family's bank deposit case, Japan also narrowed down a lot of the Zheng family's money. After a while, the Zheng family bought the aid by themselves, and the Tokugawa Shogunate took advantage of the favor.

The shock of his hair and Zheng Qi's sarcasm made Chen Wen laugh. In a trance, he even suspected that the two guys had agreed to tell him this counterpart crosstalk.

"The Shimazu family captured Ryukyu and was considered a powerful vassal in Japan. They dared to fight against the shogunate, but that's how they reached this point. Now, you understand why I have to refuse."

"The handsome man is wise."

For the sake of hundreds of taels of silver, Feng Jingdi had party disputes at that time. At the same time, for the finances of the Lujian Dynasty at that time, even a penny was good, let alone hundreds of thousands of Hongwu money. But for Chen Wen, the profit of selling a ship of goods to Japan was as high as tens of thousands of taels of silver. There was no need to lose this share.

"When it comes to Shimazu, how about Ryukyu now?"

"Reporting to the Grand Marshal, I will finally hear the court officials of Ryukyu. Now Ryukyu is a vassal of the Tartars, and at the same time, he must be a vassal of the Satsuma vassal. The "Fifteen-Things of the Sakura" are too strict. They claim that they were forced by the Satsuma vassal to submit to the Tartars. I hope the royal army can argue with them to Japan and abolish the "Fifteen-Things of the Sakura".

The Ryukyu court officials said were not completely untrue. The change to obeying the Qing Dynasty was due to the collapse of the Longwu Dynasty, which made the envoys believe that the Qing Dynasty had already had the strength to replace it, so they went north to pay homage to Shunzhi.

It is understandable that a small country wants to use the power of a big country to get rid of the predicament, but Japan's conquest of Ryukyu was indeed the starting point of the occupation of Ryukyu from the Shimazu vassal. When Ryukyu came to the Ming Dynasty to conduct tribute trade too frequently, the Ming court suspected that it was the work of the Satsuma vassal state, and it was restricted. This is indeed the case. The prosperity of the Shimazu vassal state has a great relationship with Ryukyu.

"We can't take care of so much now. Let Ryukyu continue to serve the two masters. Anyway, they no longer submit to the Ming Dynasty. When they have time to go there, there is no need to rush to this moment."

Chen Wen had already figured out the situation in Ryukyu. He was using the Satsuma vassal to disturb the water of Japan's pond and let them continue to kill each other, or to play a black ship incident in the name of Ryukyu. Chen Wen has no complete plan yet. And even if there is, he is powerless for the time being. After all, there is a primary and secondary action.

The next North Korea will be even simpler. The Qing Dynasty beat North Korea several times, and Ming’s father has retreated to the southwest. It’s not normal for a godson to change his godfather. However, Zheng Qi and others went to Japan, North Korea and Ryukyu, and Jirgalang was not dead at that time. I think the next time I go, the situation may develop in a better direction.

In this trade, the goods loaded by the fleet were the main export commodities in previous years, including silk, porcelain, sugar, silk cocoons, and raw silk. At that time, Chen Wen owned porcelain from Zhejiang, Jiangxi provinces, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, and the source of sugar and silk produced in Zhejiang were in hand, which was much worse than before the Qing army headed south. After all, the population loss could not be recovered in a short period of time.

Calculate the profit, more than one million taels of silver, and there is still a long way to go before Chen Wen's bold statement that forced Japan to hollow out Ishimi Yinshan. For this reason, Chen Wen decided to do something to speed up the process appropriately.

In fact, Chen Wen could have done it in Nanjing because of the head of the cruising fleet and learning about the situation in Japan, Ryukyu and North Korea. However, because the cruising fleet returned, some things could be started immediately.

While Chen Wen returned to Zhejiang, the liberation pledges in various places were also using the profits of the maritime trade fleet to release good news, deepening people's confidence in the liberation pledges and thus obtaining more disposable funds.

He can make money by sitting at home, and he can make sure to make money without losing money, so he flocks to it. But at the same time, Chen Wen did not ban the sea. As long as he went to the Maritime Bureau to pay taxes, the sea trade could still be run away. A large number of gentry and wealthy families also began to devote themselves to the sea trade.

However, there are few experienced captains and sailors after all. Chen Wen, a guy who kills without blinking, dares not provoke him, so some people plan to go to Fujian to poach the navy of Fujian Qing army, Geng Jimao and even Zheng Chenggong. They even have more ambitions to dig up with the boat and people.

Chen Wen was not interested in paying attention to these things. He was concerned about two other points. One was the expansion of the scale of the sea ship manufacturing industry. Some people wanted to go to the sea, and some people built ships. It was really a matter of one, two, two, and one; the other was cargo.

Chen Wen has now recovered a large area of ​​lost land, including Zhejiang and Jiangxi, where there are many military merits and land. If the society is stable, people will have more energy to produce to improve their living standards. The fields of people are different, but the fields of military fields are under Chen Wen's control. With sufficient raw materials, fleets familiar with the waterways and access to various countries, Chen Wen only needs to improve production efficiency in the process of raw materials as products, and trade will soon show explosive growth.

Previously, the military industry workshop of the Ming army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang had begun to use hydraulic machinery to manufacture mechanical parts, and this technology accumulation has long been mature. Now the workshop has been divided into two parts, and some continue to produce weapons and equipment to cope with military expansion and weapon equipment updates, while the other part is converted to civilian use. For example, the machinery in the factory recently built by Wang Fu is all made in civilian work workshops.

Supporting industry is Chen Wen's established plan. Wang Fu's factory is used for sugar production. The uses of each factory in the factory are different. Chen Wen is inspecting the pressing process under Wang Fu's guidance, and the machinery used by the workers is the sugar truck recorded in "The Book of Things in Heaven".

"For sugar-making trucks, two horizontal plates are made of five feet long, five inches thick and two feet wide. The two ends are chiseled with eyes and pillars. A few bamboo shoots are produced on the upper plates, and two or three feet below are buried in the soil to make them safe and stable. Two eyes are chiseled in the upper plate, and two giant shafts are arranged side by side. The shaft wood is seven feet large and square. The two axles are one three feet long and four feet long. The elders are produced with bamboo shoots and plows. The load is made of bent wood, one five feet long, so that they can drive the cattle group to move away. The teeth on the shaft are chiseled to distribute male and female, and the joints must be straight and round and round. The sugarcane is wrapped in the middle and rolled past, which is synonymous with cotton trolleys. The cane flows through the slurry, pick up its dregs, throw it into the duckbill on the shaft, and roll it three times, and the juice is finished."

With the pull of livestock, the cell wall of sugarcane is destroyed and the juice flows out, which is significantly improved compared to the production efficiency of human-powered extraction. Once the sugar truck is completed, the workers put the residue into the feeding mouth called duckbill, and repeated three times, which is naturally higher than the sugar yield rate that is extracted in just one time in other sucrose producing areas in the world.

China's sugar sugar production technology is now the most advanced in the world. This kind of sugar truck was used in many rural sugar yards in the late Ming Dynasty, which was not a rare thing. However, since the Qing army headed south, it had damaged productivity too much, and raw material output was greatly reduced, so sugar yards naturally disappeared too much.
Chapter completed!