What does it mean to send a daughter to the palace to be the companion of the emperor's nephew?

Zheng Zhilong couldn't believe his ears. He quickly turned to look at Shen Tingyang and found that Shen Tingyang was just like him, completely petrified.

"What? You don't want to?" Zhu Youjian's tone was already a little serious, "Are you worried that Tea Girl won't become the great niece?

Let me tell you clearly, this matter depends on what my nephew wants... I also chose Wu Xiang's daughter Wu Sanmei, who is also a four-year-old girl. Together with your tea girl, there are two children in total. The girl is accompanying her great-nephew, her childhood sweetheart, and her two children...oh, it should be the three little ones, and the future great-nephew will be chosen from the two of them!"

What? Zheng Zhilong opened his mouth. Tea girl has half a chance of becoming the empress of the Ming Dynasty?

Zheng Zhilong's good friend Shen Tingyang was not petrified this time, but was filled with envy and jealousy... He also has a little girl of several years old who is very pink and tender. She must be prettier than Zheng Zhilong's daughter. ——Just look at Zheng Zhilong’s dark face and you’ll know that his daughter must be ugly! But why can’t my own daughter enter the palace?

Thinking of this, Shen Tingyang turned his attention to Widow Xu - he sent money to Widow Xu a lot! Why didn't you help at the critical moment?

Widow Xu had a look of helplessness, because she frequently blew the hair on Zhu Youjian's pillow, and also mobilized the three accompanying Mongolian noble concubines and the Ma family and the Qin family's tall girls to take turns to go to bed to blow the hair... But it was no use ah!

Zhu Youjian said that the emperor's nephew's marriage is his own decision!

You have to like the rebellious brat Zhu Cixi!

Widow Xu was speechless when she said this. The nephew of the emperor was only five years old, he knew nothing!

Besides, Zhu Cihong had never met Wu Sanmei and Zheng Chagu before, so why did he make the decision on his own?

"Zheng Youqi," Pang Tianshou reacted quickly and started to remind the dumb Zheng Zhilong, "Why don't you thank me quickly!"

"Your Majesty, Zheng Zhilong, thanks the Lord for your kindness!" Zheng Zhilong reacted and quickly paid homage!

Zhu Youjian smiled and waved his hand, "Pingshen, Pingshen... Yiguan, don't be too busy thanking me, I have better things to tell you!"

besides?

Zheng Zhilong murmured in his heart, I didn't give many gifts to Long Live Lord... They were just 500 turtledove guns made in Xiamen, 6 12-pound Hongyi cannons made in England, and 10 horses from Tianzhu A large buck-eared ocean horse with a handle bought from China, and 50,000 taels of silver were added to it at the end.

Except for the 10 ocean horses, which cost a lot, the rest of the turtledove guns and red barbarian cannons are not expensive. They cost several thousand taels of silver together. Including the horses and silver, the cost of these gifts is only fifty or sixty thousand. Two... With this little expense, I actually bought "half a princess" - and the other half depends on Zheng Chagu's ability to coax her little brother!

But even if you can't win the crown princess, this "deal" has already made a lot of money. Did you think there are other benefits?

"First officer," Zhu Youjian looked at Zheng Zhilong's dark face and smiled, "Shen Tingyang told me that you want to be the naval admiral of the Ming Dynasty... and you also want me to send an imperial envoy to fight with the Red Army. Shall we meet to discuss business?"

"Long live Lord, I have 20,000 navy officers and men under my command, and they are all willing to serve the imperial court... But I am just a guerrilla, and I cannot arrange for my brothers." Zheng Zhilong said, "But Long live Lord, I don't have to send out military pay. I can raise my own military pay. , I don’t want a penny from the imperial court.”

What a beautiful thought! Shen Tingyang, who was standing next to him, gritted his teeth gently and thought to himself: To have 20,000 troops and to support himself is like a feudal lord who is in a separate state, and the emperor will not agree to it!

Zhu Youjian smiled at this time and said: "An admiral is nothing... but I can't give it to you in vain."

Not for free? Zheng Zhilong said in his heart: Is this selling his official position? The emperor himself sold his official position?

Zhu Youjian said: "Official, I know that you have made huge profits from maritime trade and roadblock collection. At a young age, you are the richest man in the Ming Dynasty."

What does it mean to block roads and collect money? Zheng Zhilongxin said: It sounds like being a pirate... I have never been a pirate, I am just an honest businessman who collects protection fees.

Zhu Youjian added: "Nowadays, the benefits at sea are huge, and it is enough to make a country strong. I am greedy and want to get a share of the pie."

How do you want to get a piece of the pie? Zheng Zhilong thought to himself: Isn't it inappropriate for the royal family to come and do the business in person to collect money? People will think of it as a pirate emperor!

"I know that today's world has entered the so-called Age of Discovery," Zhu Youjian continued to talk. "The Galen merchant ships of the West can set up huge sails and travel tens of thousands of miles, either for trafficking or plundering. , not only made huge profits, but also expanded their territory overseas.

However, our country, the Ming Dynasty, closed its doors to itself, did not seek overseas profits, did not learn Western skills, and did not compete with the Western barbarian countries for unowned land. In order to prepare for the Japanese and foreign barbarians, the Ming Dynasty actually tied its own hands and feet, and missed the opportunity in vain... …It’s really a pity!”

This emperor knows a lot!

Zheng Zhilong and Shen Ting were both people who had opened their eyes to see the world. They were both secretly surprised after hearing Zhu Youjian's words.

Zhu Youjian continued: "Nowadays, there are many disasters in China and the people are short of food. We really can no longer guard the little land left by our ancestors.

Therefore, I want to spread my country's prestige to the four seas, expand my land in all directions, and colonize people in foreign lands... However, our country has been closed to the outside world for a long time. Most of the officials and people among the people do not know how big the world is, and few people have learned the art of navigation.

Therefore, if you want to go to sea and expand your territory, you must first learn the skills of the barbarians, so that you can develop a large navy. With a navy, our Ming Dynasty can sail to foreign lands. If you want to learn the skills of the barbarians and develop a navy, you must first open and close trade. Open and close the ports to develop commercial markets. Then you can know the world, attract talents, cultivate industry, and build a navy!"

It turns out that Zhu Youjian also wanted to be a great colonizer expanding overseas territories like Nizi!

However, Zhu Youjian's ideas were not exactly the same as Nizi's. Nizi's colonial expansion route was focused on commerce and profit, and the leaders were businessmen, with relatively little investment from the court. Therefore, when Nizi was in charge of the country, he could ignore the ongoing civil war. This started the overseas colonial movement - in fact, the colonization of many European countries at the same time was also carried out in this way. There is no saying that colonization must first be settled.

For example, the Dutch, who have now sneaked to the doorstep of the Ming Empire, are fighting an Eighty Years' War with the Spanish Empire - because the Netherlands previously belonged to the Spanish Empire, this Eighty Years' War was actually a civil war. .

However, the Dutch did not wait until the victory of the War of Independence before setting out to explore the world, and the Spanish Empire also did not give up its colonial undertakings when it was at war with the Netherlands.

This is because the current European colonial movement has a relatively high commercial component, and most of the enemies encountered overseas are weak, so there is no need to devote all the country's efforts to fighting overseas.

In addition, for commercial colonial groups, fierce conflicts within the country (sometimes not necessarily civil war) are also helpful for them to obtain low-cost mercenaries and pioneering people. If the country really wants peace and prosperity, where can they hire people to go to sea?

However, Chongzhen's economic calculations were not as accurate as those of the rebellious son. His colonial ideas were generally feudal - the purpose was not to make money, but to send his sons overseas to build a country, and by the way, he would organize some beggars who could not afford to eat to follow him.

Go together.

What he did was actually to use the national power of the Ming Dynasty to open up a feudal country for his son - the cost of colonization was borne by the country, and it was his son who benefited... Of course, spending the country's money does not have to be counted.

It was too sophisticated, and colonization for the purpose of establishing a feudal state would certainly not be done for profit. Therefore, Zhu Youjian had to make close contacts with distant enemies, and at the same time, he had to build a navy that could effectively support overseas colonial missions.

However, Zhu Youjian still borrowed some unruly methods, such as using commercial markets as the basis for running a navy. The navy is always inseparable from maritime activities. Especially in the 17th century, almost no country that did not go to sea could run a good navy.

. And if a country based on land and people wants to control maritime power, it must open up trade and at the same time support large port cities. Because large port cities will definitely develop advanced shipbuilding industries and become a hub for sailors and sailors from all over the world.

The gathering place of family.

Therefore, in Zhu Youjian's calculations, the prerequisite for overseas colonization was a large navy, and the prerequisite for a large navy was the opening and closing of commercial cities.

In his plan, his empire will focus on the development of the four major seaport cities of Tianjin, Shanghai, Fuzhou, and Xiangshan Island.
Chapter completed!