The specific location of the Shanghai Commercial Port now is different from the location when the Shanghai Commercial Port was opened in the Zhu Cixi era. The latter was closer to Wusongkou and was built almost close to the Wusong Fort.

The Shanghai Commercial Port built by Zheng Zhilong is closer to Shanghai County, on the north bank of the Wusong River to the north of Shanghai County. Moreover, the planning of the commercial port is not as grand as Zhu Cixiang's plan for the Shanghai Commercial Port. It is a series of buildings built along the north and west banks of the Wusong River.

Jianghai Wharf.

The so-called Wusong River is actually the Suzhou River in later generations plus the lower reaches of the Huangpu River. In the Ming Dynasty, they were both called Wusong River. The Wusong River leads directly to Suzhou in the west and connects to the Grand Canal, and merges into the mouth of the mighty Yangtze River in the east.

Directly leading to the vast East China Sea.

Moreover, the Wusong River, like most inland rivers in the Jiangnan area, has extremely strong navigation capabilities! The ships that could be built in this era, whether river ships or sea-going ships, can freely go up and down the Wusong River.

In addition, the so-called Jiangnan Water Town can actually be called the Jiangnan Water Network. Rivers large and small are like a net covering the land of Jiangnan. And the Wusong River, Huangpu River and other medium-sized rivers in Jiangnan are also

It connects the water network in the south of the Yangtze River with the sea and rivers.

In the era before railways appeared, the water network in the south of the Yangtze River was probably the cheapest transportation channel in this era. At the same time, the land covered by the water network was extremely fertile. It was not only a land of fish and rice, but also a land of silk.

It is the home of cotton cloth, the home of tea, and also produces a variety of handicrafts... The so-called sprouts of capitalism have actually appeared in this hot land long ago.

Zhu Youjian didn't care whether the sprouts could thrive, and Zheng Zhilong didn't know about it either. One of them was a beggar feudal lord, and the other was an honest businessman who collected protection fees. There was still a gap between them and Zhu Cihong.

Now Zhu Youjian is considering going abroad to beg for food - he must let Ming's begging career go abroad!

Because the only begging markets that have not been developed in China are Guangdong and Fujian. These two provinces are not major grain-producing provinces, so the potential of the begging market is not great.

Next, if we want to carry forward the ancestral begging business, we have no choice but to go abroad to beg.

When going abroad to beg, of course, the Netherlands is a begging partner. Zhu Youjian knew that the Dutch also started out as beggars. Before they became sea coachmen, they were known as sea beggars and forest beggars - the European branch of the Beggar Gang was probably there.

Amsterdam, right?

Since everyone is a beggar, cooperation will be smoother.

Daming begged for food, Holland begged for money, each got what he needed!

And Zheng Zhilong, who had just returned from Japan and was in charge of the Shanghai Shipping Department, also wanted to cooperate with the Dutch. He wanted to learn from the Dutch shipbuilding skills, build bigger warships, and install more artillery, so that he could

The family’s maritime protection fee business will become bigger and stronger.

Different from what Zhu Youjian knew, Zheng Zhilong's perception of himself was that he was never a pirate who stole money, but an honest businessman who collected protection fees.

The reason why he was able to collect so much protection fee was that there was a maritime trade network in East Asia and Southeast Asia, with Fujian and Guangdong maritime merchants (including overseas Chinese) as the main body.

And these Fujian and Guangdong maritime merchants and overseas Chinese are the mainstream in East Asia and Southeast Asia!

Although their ships were small, they had many people and accumulated a huge amount of wealth through trade between the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang, Japan, and Korea.

However, due to the Ming Dynasty's long-term national policy of maritime ban and the decline of naval power, these Chinese maritime merchants were unable to receive protection from their motherland, the Ming Dynasty - the extremely poor Ming Dynasty did not accept this protection fee!

Therefore, the protection fee market in East Asia and Southeast Asia has been vacated.

Characters such as Wang Zhi, Yan Siqi, Li Dan, and Zheng Zhilong, by chance, filled and occupied the protection fee market in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

However, Zheng Zhilong has clearly felt that his career has encountered a bottleneck in recent years - his protection fees can only be collected at sea, mainly from Chinese maritime merchants, and the scope is only along the coast of China and the South China Sea.

Regarding the protection fee market for Chinese businessmen on land, Zheng Zhilong is powerless... His maritime force seems to be very strong, but it does not have much deterrence ability against land-based countries or even city-states.

This time he was frustrated in Japan. He went to Japan with Zhu Youjian's autographed letter and the credentials of the Ming Dynasty. I thought that Japan, a small country, should admire the Ming Dynasty and treat him, an important minister of the Ming Dynasty, as a great uncle.

.However, Tokugawa Iemitsu had a very cold attitude towards him, and it took a long time to summon Zheng Zhilong in Edo Castle.

Tokugawa Iemitsu did not comment on the Ming Dynasty's intention to form an alliance. Regarding Zheng Zhilong's request to bring his wife and children back to the Ming Dynasty for reunion, Tokugawa Iemitsu did not fully agree. He only agreed that Zheng Zhilong would bring his eldest son Zheng Sen back to China.

In addition, Zheng Zhilong also received news from several Japanese profiteers who had close relations with him that made him vomit blood - the Tokugawa shogunate exported 2,000 iron cannons and 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder to Jianzhou!

What do you want to do?

After learning the news, Zheng Zhilong did not dare to stay in Japan anymore and quickly took Zheng Sen away to avoid being detained in Japan.

On the way back to China, while Zheng Zhilong was angry, he also discovered the weak link in his protection fee business - the boat was still too small and the cannon was still disadvantageous!

Therefore, he can only deal with small and medium-sized pirates, or sneak attacks on large Western ships. When encountering strong enemies on land, he is completely powerless.

Moreover, his ship was too small and could not cross Malacca, the Pacific Ocean, or go to Europe and Tianzhu.

...

"Long live my Lord, why do you live in Xipu? Isn't this the garden of Duke Wei's mansion?"

"It belongs to me now. Duke Wei gave this garden to me...Admiral Zheng, Uncle Pu, what do you think of this garden?"

Zheng Zhilong and Hans Putsmann, who accompanied Van Diemen to Beijing, met Zhu Youjian in Xipu who had just returned to the army after a triumphant victory - Gao Yingxiang finally stopped pretending to be alive and had long since become a pickled product.

His head was placed in a wooden cage and hung on the Yifengmen Gate Tower in Nanjing. It was displayed for a few days and then buried.

Zhu Youjian did not leave Nanjing immediately and return north. Instead, he moved into Xipu, which originally belonged to Wei Guofu. This was his first residence after arriving in Nanjing in his previous life, and it was also a garden he loved very much. It was a quiet place amidst the chaos.

, you can not only enjoy the elegant tranquility of Jiangnan gardens, but also enjoy the prosperity and powdery atmosphere of Qinhuai River when needed.

"Long live Lord, Xipu is a famous garden in Jinling, so of course it is good." Of course Zheng Zhilong knew the name of Xipu.

"Your Majesty, you should live in the castle." Hans Putsmann said in blunt Chinese, "I don't think it is very safe here."

"Live in a castle?" Zhu Youjian smiled, "That's right...many people here in Nanjing hate me, right?" He paused, "But I don't have a suitable castle to live near Nanjing City.

ah!"

"Your Majesty," Hans Putsmann said, "on our way west from Shanghai with Governor Anthony Van Diemen, we saw a few very nice castles...it seemed that they were outside Nanjing.

There is one, a brand-new bastion, tall, solid, and impressive." In fact, the bastions that Anthony Van Diemen and Hans Putsmann saw were cheap goods, with a thin outer layer.

Inside the thin brick wall is an earth wall built with sandbags. It looks good and is very strong, but not very durable.

Zhu Youjian laughed: "So do I need to negotiate with Van Diemen in a bastion? Is it possible for us to reach a formal agreement? Has he received full authorization from The Hague and Amsterdam?"

"There is no need to negotiate in the bastion..." Hans Putsmann said, "Anthony Van Diemen has fully understood the power of the Ming Empire. He is just worried that your expeditionary force cannot be very powerful."

Quickly capture Fort Santiago in Manila."

Zhu Youjian nodded: "His concerns are reasonable, but I can give him a very convincing evidence. After that, we can discuss the specific time for sending troops, action plan and distribution of benefits after the war."
Chapter completed!