Ten warehouses plus the transfer of trade licenses finally resulted in 46,500 taels of gold, which was converted into more than 230,000 taels of silver. In addition to the 550,000 taels obtained by confiscating Jin Wu's house and Zhang Tao's 200,000 taels,
Zhang Zixing had 350,000 taels, and Zhang Yushu had 110,000 taels.
In a short period of time, the treasury of Guangzhou Prefecture received 1.21 million taels of silver.
Not to mention that ancient emperors liked to raid homes, and the money came so quickly. At this time, the treasury of Guangzhou Prefecture was extremely full.
When there was too much money, something had to happen. Zhu Zhanzhen gathered together all the firms that had taken the trade licenses.
The winner of Ceramic Warehouse is Song Chengren from Jiangxi Shang Gang.
The tea warehouse winner is Cai Zehui, a Fujian businessman.
Timber warehouse winner, Guangdong businessman Zhou You
Winner of Jade and Jade Warehouse, Guangdong businessman Huang Shi
Food warehouse winner, Guo Qinjian from Chaozhou merchant gang in Guangdong
Spice warehouse winner, Shaanxi businessman Zhu En
Silk and raw silk, Huzhou Shangbang Ma Yingming, Zhejiang Province
Finished clothing, Jiangsu businessman Liu Baojiu
Coal, Zhejiang businessman Cao Xinyue
Iron ore, Guangdong businessman Nan Zhi
Among the ten people, except for Nan Zhizhi and Cao Xinyue, they all look like wealthy businessmen with mature faces. Of course, the strength behind the two of them may be even stronger.
Zhu Zhanzhen invited everyone to sit around on the warship and eat the fresh seafood that had just been caught. He brought the best chefs from Guangzhou. The seafood from the fishing boat that had just arrived was extremely delicious.
"My father, His Highness the Crown Prince, likes to eat fish very much, but it will take a while for seafood to arrive at Yingtian Mansion. Even if you work hard, you can't eat such fresh food. As expected, you still have to rely on the mountains to eat, and the sea to eat. Everyone, try it.
.”
Zhu Zhanchen invited everyone to eat seafood, the warship was sailing slowly, and the sea breeze was gentle.
"My fellow shopkeepers, Your Majesty's order to impose a sea ban has been issued. I will make a trip to Nanyang in a few days to inform the Southeast Asian countries about this matter. You have obtained the trade license and can leave the port at any time. As long as you comply with the laws of the Ming Dynasty,
We can talk about legal transactions, but I’ll be the first to say something ugly. If someone gets a trade license and is doing smuggling and escaping, then don’t blame me for being rude."
These people dared to buy the trade license at a high price. Zhu Zhanchang felt that they should have had business dealings with Nanyang during the original smuggling trade. On the premise of certain profits, they would be more confident to buy the trade license.
Now that there are legal channels, if you still engage in petty theft, don't blame me for flipping the table.
Zhu Zhanzhen's words were straightforward, and these shopkeepers were quite reasonable, and they all expressed their agreement.
Zhu Zhanzhen introduced his steam warship again: "You have also seen the performance of this kind of warship. Now the shipyard in Guangzhou will manufacture steam ships. Of course, they cannot be equipped with so many artillery pieces like the military ones. Only
It will carry a small amount of defensive weapons. Such a steam merchant ship will have its own number and can be leased to you for use."
"Really? Your Highness, I don't know how much it will cost to rent."
"Don't worry about the cost. The price is definitely reasonable. I will take the steam warship to Nanyang first as a warning. If the pirates at sea dare to rob merchant ships flying the flag of our Ming Dynasty in the future, the Guangdong Navy will go there
Annihilate them and the Guangdong Navy will protect all merchant ships, of course they must be merchant ships for legal trade."
"Also, if I see any of you having any connection with pirates, I will kill them all."
"No, no, Your Highness, we are all good businessmen who abide by the law."
Because of smuggling in the past, many wealthy families or trading houses had to deal with pirates. Some of the pirates were even used by them for smuggling to hide their identity. These were all dug out after the Nan family was controlled by them.
The Nan family's smuggling business ranges from Cochin Java to Palembang. It is complicated and has a large doorway. They have their own sea guard, which is nominally a pirate, but it escorts their own merchant ships as soon as they go to sea. Zhu Zhan
I understand that other businesses may also have this situation.
If there are any pirates out there, stop it now.
Zhu Zhanzhen continued to talk about his third red line: "Another point is that state secrets must not be leaked, and foreign spies must not be brought in, otherwise they will be executed. I hope everyone will keep these three things in mind and always think about it.
.”
Everyone replied: "Your Highness, don't worry."
"Your Highness, I will understand."
After chatting with these people, Zhu Zhanyi got off the boat and went with Chen Youshan to prepare for the auction of other land parcels.
Chen Youshan smiled and said: "Your Highness, the house in Aomen is already under construction, and it will be built according to the previous plan."
"I may not have time to come over recently. You can adapt to the situation in Hong Kong Port by yourself. I have to rest assured and focus on the research and development of the second generation steam warship."
"Second generation?" Chen Youshan couldn't believe it. The steam warship was already powerful enough, but Zhu Zhanzhen was now preparing to develop the second generation non-stop.
"Why, do you think it's too fast?"
"I find it incredible."
In Chen Youshan's view, the steam warship was extremely powerful, but in Zhu Zhanchen's view, it was just a first-generation product.
With the improvement of steel smelting technology and the continuous improvement of steam engines during this period, Zhu Zhanyi believed that it was time to start research on the second generation of steam warships.
Now that the treasury is full, we can do things in a big way, regardless of the cost.
As for the trip to Nanyang to visit various countries entrusted to him by the emperor, Zhu Zhanzhen planned to wait for the second-generation steam warship to be completed before going there, and also to wait for Zheng He.
Zheng He is expected to arrive in about two months.
Zhu Zhanyang left the crown prince of the Duke of Guizhou on Xiangjiang Island and asked him to lead his navy to deploy to defend Xiangjiang Island.
He took the warship back to the National Pearl River Shipyard without stopping.
Zhang San was already waiting at the shipyard. Zhu Zhanzhen's warship docked. As soon as he entered the shipyard, he saw a warship being built.
The overall size of the warship is similar to the current one, but the armor coverage is larger, more streamlined, and this bold attempt minus the sails.
In the past, all steam warships had sails, because they did not trust the steam engine and feared that if there was a problem with the steam engine, the ship would be embarrassed at sea.
They dared to reduce it first because they knew that today's steam engines can be trusted, and the number and skills of maintenance technicians are improving.
Zhang San took Zhu Zhanyi into the warship. The layout of all rooms in the second-generation warship was more reasonable, reducing unnecessary parts, and because the steamship required fewer operators, more space was freed up.
To store weapons and ammunition, the naval accommodation space will be better.
"Your Highness, there will be a big difference between the warships and merchant ships in the shipyard. We have installed two sets of steam engine power systems on the warships. Once there is a problem with the main system, the backup system can be used first. After all the parts are manufactured separately,
With standardized parts, the difficulty of maintenance is reduced, and the second-generation steam engine is more durable than before."
Zhu Zhanzhen nodded: "The power of the steam engine is weaker for merchant ships. In theory, it is not equipped with artillery, but it has two muzzles and uses a tail paddle wheel, and a warship uses a side paddle wheel."
After the Battle of Zhoushan, the side paddle wheel showed some problems, but the material has been improved recently, and the side paddle wheel is still faster than the tail paddle wheel.
"Quickest, how long will it take for this warship to be launched into the water?"
"If we put down other things and build one ship, it should be enough in half a month."
"Then just follow the normal pace and launch the water within two months."
Zhu Zhanzhen continued: "I also need to paint its appearance to a certain extent."
"Your Highness, what do you want to achieve?"
"All black, jet black."
"Your Highness, if you say this, the target at sea will be too obvious?"
"I just want everyone to see it, otherwise no one would know that this is the ship of my Pearl River County Prince's Palace. I also used paint to paint the golden dragon head with paint to make it look more domineering. I have also thought of the name of the ship."
