My Daming New Empire

Page 432

Daming sucked up the gold, silver and materials in their hands, and they couldn't continue to trade with Daming.

It is a good way to exchange population now.Zhu Zhanji deliberately offered them a "high price" to make them profitable in the process of hunting slaves.

Although it is nominally ten taels of silver per person, of course they don't want silver, but goods from Daming.

And when the goods from Daming are shipped here, the price has increased several times, dozens of times. The so-called ten taels of silver may not necessarily cost even one tael of silver.

And with these castrated blacks, Ming built naval bases and supply points all over the world.Arrange an army of 5000 people, and at least 5000 black people can be accepted as servants.

Soldiers in the Ming Dynasty were officials and lords, and those auxiliary tasks such as farming and road construction were done by others.

Moreover, if the population doubles, no matter who wants to attack these bases, the number of troops to be dispatched will also increase a lot, making it more difficult.

Take Gibraltar as an example. In the nineteenth century, Gibraltar became the most important naval base in the world.

At that time, the British built a three-dimensional defense system in Gibraltar. This defense system consisted of multi-level walls, internally connected fortresses, forts, ammunition depots, underground tunnels and many warehouses. The defense facilities were mainly concentrated in the northern part of the peninsula bordering Spain. The narrow isthmus, the surrounding city and port on the west side of the peninsula, and the coast at the south end of the peninsula, while the towering rocks on the east side of the peninsula are the natural barrier of the fortress.

The 426-meter-high limestone mountain of Gibraltar is the core of the Gibraltar Fortress. It provides defenders with a 360-degree view, whether it is military activities in Spain or ships in the strait.

Inside the giant rock is a grand labyrinth composed of continuous tunnels, warehouses, and troop caves.According to the information Zhu Zhanji learned, during World War II, the length of the underground tunnel in Mount Gibraltar had reached 55 kilometers.

On this isolated mountain stretching out into the sea, there is a reservoir, and the cave can store food enough for tens of thousands of soldiers to feed for several years. It cannot be attacked from the land, and almost no one is as strong as the Ming Dynasty's navy from the sea. It can be said that it is as stable as Mount Tai.

Such a large engineering facility cannot be completed by a few people, it requires countless labor forces.Moreover, electrification equipment was already in place at that time, but now it relies entirely on stone picks to chisel, and explosives cannot be used. It is not a project of the same level at all.

The same is true for Ceuta, Gibraltar is an isolated mountain, and Ceuta is a plain between two isolated peaks.

In order for these two bases to play their due role, at least tens of thousands of people and decades of work are needed.

Therefore, slaves are very important.

If the other party can continuously send castrated slaves, the cost of Daming is pitifully low, but it can play a huge role, so why not do it!

Negotiations went smoothly. It took only five days for the two parties to form a framework agreement on comprehensive cooperation.

After the negotiation with the other party, Zheng He did not directly participate in the trade. Instead, accompanied by the Marin people, he went non-stop to Tangier, the northernmost city in Marin.

He is also accompanied by an expedition team of two hundred Habayashi guards, who will reach Tangier by land.

Although nominally, they were promoting the news of the arrival of the Ming trade group and inspecting the specific local terrain of Ceuta by the way, but in fact they were to draw a more detailed map.

At this time, some nobles who got the news came from various places to trade with gold.

The eunuchs were busy starting deals with each other, while Daming's army began to formulate a plan to attack Ceuta.

Of course, this plan is only a plan for the time being.Even if you want to fight, you must first make money.If you want to implement this plan, you have to wait until Daming trades with European countries.

At the same time, the Ming Fleet also carried out its first self-cleaning and prevention, to put an end to these later Dashi passers-by, and bribed soldiers to get charts.

It cannot be concealed that Ming came from the East, but how to go to the East must be strictly kept secret.

Later, almost everyone in the world knew the map of the world. Even if they couldn't draw a precise map, they had a general understanding of the layout of the seven continents.

But people in this era live in a very narrow circle, and to them, the whole world is at most a few surrounding countries.

Even Portugal, the pioneer of navigation, took 30 years to touch the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, and was blown to South Africa by a storm.

It took 80 years to reach East Africa, and finally met the Arabs in Somalia and arrived in India.

And Columbus believed that the American continent he arrived in was the east until his death, but he had not yet found the country rich in silk, porcelain and tea.

These are already the best talents in the world. The reason why they appear so stupid is not because they have low IQs, but because the world they understand has limitations.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a globe long ago, why it has been controlled and not publicized, and the official position is relatively small, so it is not qualified to see it at all. The main reason is to control the people.

Fleet sailing, except for those observers who are proficient in observing astronomical phenomena and using sextants, most soldiers only know to follow the fleet, and they do not have a clear understanding of their position.

Just like an ordinary person lost in a deep mountain or in a desert, when he loses contact with the outside world.Or you can know the direction through the sun and stars, but you can't have a clear understanding of your own location.

The key reason why Zhu Zhanji let your big cannibal go back when he was in Hulumos, and recruited a businessman who can speak European languages ​​as a generalist, is to prevent leaking the route.

These new communications are limited to one ship, and the people they can contact are limited, so the chance of leaking secrets is relatively small.

But they used to go to Europe by land, or first by land, and then by boat from Alexandria to Venice.This time, following the Deming Fleet and bypassing Africa, this route has actually been leaked.

For people of this era, a new route that can bypass the Byzantine Empire, the Mamluk Dynasty, and the Ottoman Empire means huge wealth.

If it weren't for the fact that there was no translation, Zhu Zhanji wanted to execute them all after the European transaction.

But there is a problem, that is, they may have leaked the secret now, so it may not be effective to execute them after the transaction.

Then, there is only one way to control the route and suppress their nautical power.

After some self-examination, the people who can communicate with these Dashi officials are still only the officials of the Honglu Temple and the Department of General Affairs in the fleet, and there is no private businessman.

They played a huge role in the transaction process between the two parties.

Although most of Ming's generals know a lot of languages, but let them learn new languages, the effect is still very slow.

This also seems to be their defense, but it doesn't matter. When they arrive in Venice, Ming officials will directly learn languages ​​from Westerners.

During the half a year here, there should be no problem with basic conversations, and when the Ming Fleet comes over next time, there is no need to find those big food merchants as advisors.

The internal supervisor divided Maringuo's trading partners into several different levels according to the distance from the sea.The closer you live to the sea, the more supplies you can borrow on credit.

Da Ming is not afraid that they will not repay their debts, if they do not repay, the Da Ming Fleet will let them know that the consequences are absolutely unbearable for them.

Zhu Zhanji has been traveling freely during this period of time, taking his brothers and concubines to nearby places with outstanding scenery every day.

His status was too high and his aura was too great, even Osman III dared not disturb him, let alone the tribal leaders below.

It is also very ridiculous to say that on the second day Zhu Zhanji came here, he invited Osman III and a group of officials to dinner.

In the hall built in one day, he entertained two hundred nobles and officials at one time.

When the dishes are served on exquisite plates that are priceless to them, and the wine glasses they drink are made of exquisite porcelain that they have never seen before, they all go crazy.

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, porcelain from the East has been sold to the West. However, most of the porcelain that can be exported is not from Jingdezhen, but mainly celadon from Fujian.

Even so, such porcelain is still the supreme boutique for the West.Because until now, Westerners' utensils are still mainly pottery.

The porcelain that Zhu Zhanji used to entertain guests was all used by the imperial palace, which was quite different from the porcelain used by mass-produced common people.

As a result, many people ate the dishes on the plate, licked the plate clean, and took the plate away.

Zhu Zhanji would not pay attention to international etiquette with them. He was here to pretend to be compared, and his purpose was to establish an international image of Ming as superior.

So when eating, he directly ordered that no one should steal dishes.