Emperor Su He was very curious about what the people thought of the exploratory fleet and the trading fleet when they returned.
He simply asked Zhao Wenfeng to understand the public opinion in the market, and asked Zhao Wenfeng to read out the imperial edict.
Emperor Su He decided to use his own method to understand the people's views on this matter.
The method he chose before was to disguise himself as an ordinary person and go to the restaurant to find out the news.
There are three religions and nine schools in the restaurant, and they can get information from all walks of life.
Emperor Su He used this method many times, but he found that it had many disadvantages.
The Qilin Guards and other imperial guards need to prepare for a long time and set up controls at the restaurant they are going to.
Every time Emperor Su He paid a private visit incognito, the imperial guards would get into a fight.
Strict security measures were in place to ensure his safety when he went to the restaurant.
The imperial guard has made a big move, and the news cannot be concealed.
Emperor Su He gradually discovered that there were no simple people in the restaurant he went to, only actors.
The efficiency of his incognito private visits has become extremely low, and it is basically impossible to obtain effective information.
He was aware of this situation and never went to the restaurant to get the news again.
The imperial guard did not take safety measures, and all he needed was a crudely made blunderbuss to kill him.
Su He would never put himself in danger.
How long he can live is closely related to the fate of the Great China Dynasty.
The imperial guards were prepared in all aspects, and the news could not be concealed at all. He could only watch the actors acting.
After being screened, Emperor Su He chose to read letters from readers of major newspapers.
Someone who can write and is willing to pay for the postage of the letter.
They are people with knowledge and are at the middle and upper levels of society.
The thoughts of this class can influence the direction of the Great China Dynasty.
This channel was the most important channel for Emperor Su He to understand folk news.
The people at the lowest level spend most of their time struggling for food and clothing.
As long as the court ensures that food prices do not rise and no excessive taxes are imposed, it is the greatest protection for this group.
Emperor Su He sent people directly to the post office to intercept some of the letters addressed to major newspapers.
These randomly selected unopened letters will be presented to Emperor Su He's desk.
…………………………
Dingsheng Restaurant is a very ordinary restaurant in the industrial zone of Beijing.
It mainly receives some small businessmen and senior craftsmen from factories.
It was time to get off work in the evening, and many people came to the restaurant to drink and eat.
The aroma of the food wafts out from the kitchen, making people almost salivate.
Many people drank wine, ate food, and chatted with friends.
When they hear people next to them discussing current affairs, they can't help but say a few words.
Dahua's laws are relatively loose when it comes to speech.
If you don't insult the emperor, officials and nobles, you just discuss current affairs, you won't be jailed.
The potbellied restaurant owner walked out of the back kitchen, followed by the waiter carrying a big wooden bucket.
"Dear guests, today the Japanese restaurant provides a free drink called beer for everyone to taste.
The beer is free, just tell me how you feel after drinking it."
Regular customers who came often couldn't help but laugh at the restaurant owner when they saw him being so generous.
"Shopkeeper Ge, you usually don't even pay a penny for drinks. Why are you willing to provide drinks for free today?"
"Brother, shopkeeper Ge is so generous after all. It's such a good opportunity to harvest wool. Why do we need to know the reason?
Everyone drinks with open stomachs, and Shopkeeper Ge will definitely drink it.”
Shopkeeper Ge didn't get angry when he heard the ridicule. He led his waiters to pour the beer in the barrel into the bowls of the guests.
"Everyone, drink to your heart's content. I'll fill it up for you when it's gone."
The drinkers picked up their bowls one after another and began to taste this fresh alcohol called beer.
"Shopkeeper Ge, the color of the beer is light yellow, it is very similar to the color of the previous wine.
Today's wine is all distilled wine, which looks clear and transparent and tastes great, but I really don't dare to drink too much.
The alcohol content of this wine is not high, so you won't get drunk if you drink it.
The owner of our factory has strict regulations. Anyone who dares to drink and operate machinery will be fired immediately. No mercy will be tolerated.
I never dare to drink at work, only after get off work."
After the drinker finished speaking, he started drinking heavily and even skipped a few bites of the food and drinks.
"Pfft." A drinker vomited next to him as soon as he drank the wine.
"Why does this wine taste so weird?
I'm not used to drinking this kind of wine. What's the difference between it and Liangbaikai?
Liquor is wine, and this kind of wine is suitable for women to drink."
"Good wine, Shopkeeper Ge, give me another bowl.
In today's hot weather, I really enjoy drinking this wine.
Shopkeeper Ge, don’t be reluctant to use ice cubes. Personally, I think putting a few ice cubes in the wine is the best experience.”
Shopkeeper Ge observed the behavior of the drinkers and found that most people who like wine do not hate beer.
Seeing this situation, Shopkeeper Ge can conclude that the beer will definitely not be unsaleable after it is launched.
The Yang family is mainly engaged in the textile industry, and they have brought back so many novel products from Europe.
Most of the goods are sold to merchants from the same chamber of commerce.
Businessmen all know that there is no need to worry about selling goods from Europe.
With this gimmick, many people are willing to try it.
Shopkeeper Ge chose beer among the alcoholic drinks.
There is no beer in China. This kind of alcohol has never appeared on the market, and there will definitely be drinkers who want to try it.
Wine generally has a long shelf life, so even if it becomes unsalable, time can still be used to digest it.
As the drinkers drank, they fell into a slightly tipsy state, and the topics of discussion gradually started to change.
A drinker took out a newspaper from his bag and showed it to the people around him.
"Newspapers from Nanyang have now reached the capital.
Have you ever seen a ship full of gold and silver?
These merchants who went to Europe only brought some silk, porcelain, tea and other commodities.
But he can bring back boatloads of gold and silver.
The grandson of my second uncle's sister's cousin went to Europe on a ship.
He told me that commodity prices in Europe are generally ten times higher than here.
Now that the route has been opened, if we have the opportunity to go to Europe, we can make more profits in one year than we did in ten years."
The drunkard who spoke had a sour and jealous tone that anyone could hear.
There are photos of gold cargo ships in Nanyang newspapers.
A few days ago, newspapers in Beijing that reprinted this old article sold more hotly than newspapers that published new news.
It can be seen that people are more concerned about making big money.
“Things are rare and expensive, so we only rely on tea, silk and porcelain.
A large number of merchants going to Europe will definitely drive down the prices of these goods, making it impossible to maintain such high profits.
I think that in addition to traditional products, we should also prepare some unique products.
Silk, tea and porcelain can be popular in Europe. I believe that our domestic products that have been popular in recent years will also have sales in Europe.
It’s just that it’s too difficult to go to Europe. The cost of a large sea ship is tens of thousands of taels of silver coins.
Not to mention the cargo on the ship and the money to hire the crew.
None of the big businessmen with millions of dollars had the capital to go to Europe.
We can count all the businessmen in our country who can take European routes."
After the businessman finished speaking, he picked up the bowl of wine and immediately drank a glass to relieve his sorrow.
He thinks he is a smart person and sees things clearly than others.
It is precisely because of this that he can see that going to Europe will make a lot of money.
However, traveling to Europe requires a very high threshold, and this cost can deter most people.
"We small businessmen should not be too pessimistic.
Someone does the business of beheading, but no one does the business of losing money.
This hugely profitable business cannot be monopolized by big businessmen.
I learned that the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce has a special way of traveling to Europe.
Several or even dozens of businessmen team up to purchase a cargo ship.
The goods are not sold, and the risk of failure is shared.
When the goods are sold, the profits are distributed according to the proportion of investment.
This model is suitable for small businessmen like us.
Most merchants could not afford to go to sea.
But it’s not difficult for dozens or even hundreds of merchants to join together and put together a ship.”
He explained the methods he had learned over the past few days.
This method is very simple, but it also requires a certain threshold.
Businessmen who join forces must have a talker who can calm the situation.
Otherwise, with dozens of businessmen and dozens of ideas, this team would be in chaos and would never be able to succeed.
There was a bearded drunkard who was very drunk.
I heard these businessmen all talking about ways to make money.
He slapped the table and said loudly: "How can your copper stench cover up the most important news now.
The fleet sent by the imperial court to search for the American continent returned.
To the east of us, there is still an undeveloped fertile land.
News came from Luzon Island that King Cao Li Dazhuang has led his team to South America to build his own country."
This big man's speech directly brought up this topic.
"Your news has fallen behind. Now Prince Cao's Mansion in the capital is recruiting a large number of craftsmen.
As long as you have a skill, you will be given at least thirty taels of silver coins every month, and you will also be given two foreign concubines.
If you join King Cao to found the country now, you will be an important founding official, and you will most likely be an official in the future."
As soon as the craftsman finished speaking, someone immediately retorted loudly.
“Many people have seen this very clearly.
If King Cao succeeds, how much benefit can a small craftsman gain?
If King Cao fails, he will probably be buried in a foreign land.
I think we craftsmen are not in a hurry and will observe for a while before taking action.
If you have technology in your hands, you can live well wherever you are, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
A group of drunkards talked about the situation in America. The conversation started out as normal, until one drunkard raised his opinion.
"I read in the newspaper that South America has fertile land and abundant resources.
Why didn't the imperial court occupy that place and instead let the nobles establish a new country?"
As soon as this question came out, the restaurant fell into silence.
A young man blurted out.
"His Majesty the Emperor is young now, if His Majesty the Emperor has already entered old age.
Will he kill nobles like Emperor Taizu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty?
Or like the Song Dynasty, it was possible to release military power over a glass of wine.
These methods will leave some hidden dangers.
I think the method His Majesty the Emperor has chosen now is very subtle.
When the meritorious nobles go overseas to found a country, it will not hurt the friendship and minimize the influence of the meritorious nobles on the new dynasty."
Shopkeeper Ge saw these drinkers getting more and more excited as they talked. If they continued talking, they would probably touch on taboo topics.
He happened to see the latest Hualian Newspaper delivered.
Shopkeeper Ge immediately shouted:
"I have good news to tell you that another fleet of the exploration fleet has arrived at Qinhuangdao Port.
Members of the exploration fleet broke the news that there is a huge gold mine in North America.
The scale of this gold mine far exceeds the gold mines currently discovered in Southeast Asia."
Shopkeeper Ge successfully changed the topic, and the discussion direction of the drinkers has turned into a gold mine.
Nanyang gold mines made many people rich.
They learned that there were also large gold mines in North America, and they immediately couldn't sit still.
Many people are discussing the feasibility of going to North America to mine gold mines.
…………………………
Chief of Staff Zhou Qianxue commanded the exploration fleet and headed west through the waves.
Three steamships in the fleet lost power.
Two steamships with power, towing a steamship that had lost power, were moving slowly on the sea.
The craftsmen were new to steamships and could only repair some minor problems.
The power system is seriously damaged and the ship cannot be overhauled.
The accessories carried by the fleet are completely useless.
But Zhou Qianxue could not abandon the three steamships that had lost power.
A large amount of food and fresh water are stored on these three ships.
After leaving the archipelago, the fleet never encountered an island again and had no way to replenish food and fresh water.
Zhou Qianxue can calculate how long the fleet will drift on the sea.
He weighed the slowdown of the fleet against the consumption of food and fresh water, and decided not to abandon the ship that had lost power.
These damaged ships can point out the weak points of the steam system to craftsmen, and they are also of great value.
There was a thick layer of ash on Zhang Maizi's face, and his beard was stuck together.
He walked up to Zhou Qianxue and asked: "Master Zhou, how long until we can return to the country.
I haven’t washed my face for more than a month, and I really can’t continue like this.”
Zhou Qianxue comforted: "Mr. Zhang, I just finished reading the sextant. We are already very close to the Japanese country. In a few days, we will be able to see the Japanese coastline."
Zhang Maizi was overjoyed when he heard the news.
This difficult journey is coming to an end.
Once you arrive at the Japanese Kingdom, you will be very close to the country.
Even though Zhou Qianxue was about to return home, he still meticulously controlled the direction of the fleet.
They walk so slowly, they are always walking on the ocean current, and the ship needs to overcome the ocean current to move forward.
The speed provided by the steam engine, minus the speed of the ocean current, is the speed of the ship.
Zhou Qianxue did this to determine the path of the ocean current.
He uses the path of ocean currents as his main route.
When traveling from China to North America, you can go straight down the river and save a lot of time.
When we are about to reach Japan, the ocean current moves southwestward, just like the ocean current flowing along the island.
This is the same situation they encountered on the west coast of America.
As the fleet approached the Japanese state, it encountered a Royal Navy patrol ship.
Zhou Qianxue learned that the country had launched a war and had completely controlled the entire territory of Japan, and this became the Governor-General's Palace of Eastern Japan.
He was at the Dongwa Governor's Mansion, replenishing supplies.
Zhou Qianxue did not delay here and immediately led the fleet to Qinhuangdao Port.
Not long after they landed, reporters got the news and came over and interviewed Zhang Maizi.
Zhang Maizi strived for more immigrants for King Zhao Su Xiong and tried his best to promote the wealth of North America.
He directly announced the news about the giant gold mine.
This bombshell news immediately spread across the country via cable telegrams.
It is foreseeable that many people will choose to go to North America in order to prospect for gold.
