The fifth day of January in the twelfth year of Chongzhen
The news of the return of the fleet that went to Oubalu immediately caused a strong sensation in Qingzhou and even the entire Shandong, as well as the provinces south of the Yangtze River. Although Pang Gang had announced that the three provinces of Shandong, Henan, and Hubei were under his command, he did not stop the population.
With normal flow, merchants from all over the Ming Dynasty can still travel freely within the three provinces. Even though merchants from all over the country hate Pang Gang's 20% tax rate, they can't stand it. The economy here is prosperous. Many things are only available in Shandong.
, and the three provinces of Shandong and the Ming Dynasty originally had the same origin, so how could they stop the exchanges between them? So, the news quickly flew to all places as if it had wings.
Walking on the wide and clean streets, looking at the bustling crowds on the street, Lillian, James and a group of sailors from the Netherlands were like Grandma Liu who had just entered the Grand View Garden. Everything was so surprising to them.
Like a curious baby, Lillian pointed to the lively crowd in front and asked her boyfriend: "Oh, dear, there are so many people here. Look, how come they are so enthusiastic to come to the street to play in such a cold weather?"
?”
"Oh, this could be them...them...James hesitated for a long time but couldn't come up with a reason. In the end, he had to use his eyes to ask for help from Kong Lin, who was walking behind them.
Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Kong Lin, who had just set foot in the Ming Dynasty, was still quite excited. He didn't notice the couple's problem just now. But now he saw the curious eyes of James and Lillian. His mind changed and he knew
their thoughts.
Kong Lin smiled hoarsely and said: "Actually, it's nothing. These days are our biggest festival of the year, called the Spring Festival, just like Christmas over there."
"Oh...when Kong Lin said this, James and Lillian understood it immediately.
Zamus rolled his eyes and then said: "Boss, since these days are the biggest festivals of the year in your country, shouldn't you treat us to a few drinks? Brothers, don't you think so?"
"Yes...the dozen or so Dutch sailors who followed Kong Lin to the Ming Dynasty have been wandering on the sea for more than half a year. They had long lost their voices, and now they all started to boo after hearing James' words.
Hearing the commotion of the crowd, Kong Lin, who wanted to report the situation to his brother-in-law at the General's Mansion after settling the Dutch people, couldn't help but smile helplessly, "Okay. You greedy guys, I will be your boss today."
Dong, please have a few drinks."
"Yeah...long live the boss!"
The sailors who had received Kong Lin's promise of a treat let out a burst of cheers and walked quickly towards a restaurant in front of them... Just as Kong Lin led a group of employees towards the restaurant, Pang Gang was also there.
The Prince of Zhou received Lin Feng and Mo Hui who had returned from their mission.
In the living room, Pang Gang looked at the two people sitting in front of him and said with a smile: "Lin Feng, Commander Mo, your mission was very successful and you did a good job, and we have separated from the Ming Dynasty and established ourselves as kings.
You already know that, right?"
As soon as they set foot on land, someone told Mo Hui and Lin Feng about Pang Gang's self-proclaimed king. When Pang Gang asked, the two people immediately stood up and wanted to salute Pang Gang again, but were stopped by Pang Gang.
After being stopped, Pang Gang said with a smile: "Well, although I have become independent, our rule is still to put up lanterns for my nephew - as usual, now you should report the results of this trip to me!"
"Yes!" Lin Feng gave a respectful salute and then reported excitedly: "Your Majesty, our mission to the Netherlands was indeed very successful. The tea, silk and porcelain we brought to the Netherlands were sold very successfully, not only
It was merchants from the Netherlands who came to buy it, and merchants from England, France and Portugal went crazy. The money we made this time was lost in the ocean."
Pang Gang couldn't help but twitch his fingers and asked: "Oh? How much did we earn in total this time?"
Lin Feng and Mo Hui looked at each other. Lin Feng then smiled and said: "Sir, you won't believe it. The things we bought in Oparo this time were sold for a total of more than 8.6 million taels of silver!"
"What?" Pang Gang felt dizzy and said tremblingly: "How much did you sell?"
Lin Feng: "Sir, our batch of goods sold for a total of more than 8.6 million taels of silver!"
"More than 8.6 million taels of silver?"
Pang Gang shook his head vigorously, trying to keep himself calm, but his slightly trembling hands could not calm down. He clearly remembered that during this trip to Oubaluo, in addition to the goods loaded by Shandong merchants, the ship
In addition, Pang Gang himself also had nearly 800,000 taels of silver loaded. According to what Lin Feng said, the money earned on this trip was ten times the profit. It would be difficult not to make a fortune now.
Now the annual tax of the Ming Dynasty is only four million. The profit made by Lin Feng from a casual trip to Oubalu is twice the entire Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue.
This result made Pang Gang happy but also felt sad for the Ming Dynasty. He casually sent people to go around Obalo and made seven or eight million taels of silver. But a country with a population of nearly 200 million actually
How sad and helpless it must be to be unable to even raise the annual military expenditure of four to five million taels.
Sitting in the Forbidden City, Chongzhen was racking his brains for military expenses every day. He even saved money on palace expenses and food, but he still couldn't make up the required military expenses. But the bureaucrats and gentry outside
But he is still living and drinking, but he is reluctant to spend even one tael of silver to pay taxes.
Seeing that Pang Gan looked wrong, Lin Feng quickly asked: "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"
"Uh, I'm fine." Pang Gang waved his hand. He sat on the soft couch and thought for a while before asking, "So, have all the merchants who went to Oparo come back?"
Lin Feng nodded: "We are all back, and those merchants have made a lot of money now. Some of them transferred hundreds of thousands of taels, and some made millions of taels. But we still made money from the biggest one.
"Having said this, Lin Feng couldn't help but feel a little proud.
"Well, okay!" Pang Gang nodded, then turned to Mo Hui and asked, "Vice Commander Mo, what did you gain from this voyage to Oparo?"
Mo Hui nodded cautiously: "Prince Qi, this trip to sea is indeed a great harvest. Not only did I see the cruelty of the sea, but also anything can happen at sea... But what frightens me even more is that
Those Obarro pirates are so courageous that they even dared to rob the imperial warship. If we hadn’t relied on the strength of the ship and the power of the guns, we might have really suffered a loss."
"Yes!" Pang Gang nodded heavily. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the era of the rise of maritime trade in the Western world. Maritime powers of various countries sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. The Netherlands is now. A few decades later, Spain, Portugal and
Later, England all relied on maritime trade to make its fortune. If we, the Chinese nation, continue to sit on our own one-third of an acre of land and watch the sky, it will be too late to catch up in another hundred or two hundred years.
Thinking of this, Pang Gang's heart moved and asked: "Experience Lin, Deputy Commander Mo, when you go back, write down your experience of this trip to Opal, and how we should build our navy and how to cooperate with Opal in the future.
Luo starts trading. Write me a note later, and I will read it carefully. Do you understand?"
"yes!"
Lin Feng and Lin Feng both stood up and answered loudly.
"Okay, you two have been at sea for more than half a year, and you are very tired. Go back and rest quickly. I have specially granted you a ten-day holiday. Deputy Commander Mo, you will not return to Jianjian until the fifteenth day, Lin Feng. The same goes for you.
, come back to this king again after fifteen."
"As you command!"
They both bowed to Pang Gang before walking out of the living room.
After Lin Feng and Mo Hui left the living room, Pang Gang excitedly waved his hand to the sky, made a V-shaped gesture representing victory with his two fingers, and hurried towards the backyard in a hurry.
He trotted all the way to the backyard. When he saw many maids and servants looking at him in surprise, Pang Gang remembered that his current identity was no longer a nobody. He was a prince. Then he coughed a few times and slowed down.
Walk towards the inner courtyard.
When Pang Gang walked into the big room in the inner courtyard, he heard bursts of laughter coming from inside. When Pang Gang entered, he saw that it was Kong Ruolan who was learning to walk with his eldest son Su Peng, who had just learned to walk.
Wei Manting was holding her second child, Su Ming, breastfeeding, while Chen Yuanyuan, Li Xuezhu, and Ling'er Qiaoer were helping.
There were only two children in this house at this time, but there were six mothers. None of them had any experience in raising children. They were very busy. Seeing the happy faces of the girls, Pang Gang was very happy and smiled in his heart.
He walked down and looked at his two sons quietly.
Soon, Su Peng walked over to Pang Gang. Pang Gang smiled and hugged his son, lifted him up and kissed his pink little face. Unexpectedly, it was probably on his face.
The beard was so prickly that it made Su Peng burst into tears.
When Kong Ruolan heard her son's cry, she quickly hugged the child over. She rolled her eyes at her husband, as if blaming him for making her son cry. She coaxed her son and said, "Oh, my son is good, mother, come and give me a hug."
Don’t cry.”
Pang Gang touched his nose awkwardly before saying, "This Ruolan, your brother is back, you know, right?"
"What, eldest brother is back, is it true?" When Kong Ruolan, who was coaxing her son, heard this, she could no longer hide the surprise on her face. She walked quickly to Pang Gang's side, stared at Pang Gang with her big eyes and said: "Your Majesty, I am the concubine.
Is Big Brother really back?"
"Of course, I have never lied to you." Pang Gang said with a wry smile: "I just arrived this morning. I also went to Lingshan Guard to do something. When I came back, someone reported to me that your eldest brother should be in Qingzhou City now, right?
."
"Thank God." Kong Ruolan breathed a long sigh of relief, "Now I am finally relieved, my eldest brother is finally back."
Seeing Kong Ruolan's relieved look, Pang Gang was a little unhappy, and said depressedly: "Looking at you, it seems like your eldest brother is going to the Hongmen Banquet. It's just a long trip. What's the matter?"
"Your Majesty said it lightly." Kong Ruolan had a rare time to talk back to her husband, "Your Majesty, it's not like you don't know how far away Obalo is from us. It takes more than a year to go back and forth, and there are strong winds and waves on the road. I have been there before
But I heard people say that anyone who goes out to the ocean, if he can get back half of the time in ten ships, then he is lucky. If my eldest brother has two shortcomings, I... What do you want my parents to do?
What to do?"
As he spoke, Kong Ruolan's eyes turned red.
"Come on...I was wrong. I was wrong. Isn't that okay? I will never let your eldest brother travel far from now on." Pang Gang, who was most afraid of seeing his wife's tears, quickly raised his hands, shook his head and stood up.
, just when I wanted to sit in the study, a maid suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, my uncle from the Kong family wants to see you."
"Oh, please invite him in quickly."
Before Pang Gang could speak, Kong Ruolan, who was standing by the side, quickly asked the maid to invite him in when she heard her eldest brother coming.
After a while, Kong Lin, dressed in short clothes, strode in. When he saw Pang Gang, he quickly knelt down on one knee and said solemnly: "Kong Lin has met His Royal Highness King Zhou, and met all of your Royal Highnesses."
Seeing Kong Lin coming, Pang Gang was also very happy. He stepped forward to help him up and said with a smile: "They are all members of our family. Why are you so polite? Shilin, you must have gained a lot from your mission to Oubaluo this time."
"
Kong Lin also said with emotion: "Thanks to the prince, the grassroots people have gained a lot from this trip to Obaru. It can be said to be an eye-opener. I didn't expect that in addition to our Central Plains, there is such a continent overseas. This continent
It’s really amazing that there are so many countries and so many barbarians on the mainland.”
"Come on, tell us what you learned after going to Oparo."
Pang Gang took Kong Lin and sat back. Kong Ruolan quickly handed the child to Ling'er and made a cup of tea for her eldest brother.
Kong Lin took the teacup, thanked him with a smile, took out a gold chain from his pocket and handed it to Kong Ruolan, saying: "Sister, this is a little thought for my nephew, don't dislike it."
Kong Ruolan pursed her lips and smiled, and accepted it in front of Pang Gang without refusing.
After handing the gold chain to his sister, Kong Lin turned around and said to Pang Gang: "Your Majesty, this time... Pang Gang interrupted Kong Lin with a wave of his hand. "Hey... whatever you call your prince, it's all his own.
You are at home, so you should call me by my name."
"This... Kong Lin hesitated for a moment before nodding and said: "Okay, then I will call you by your name. Chaodong, this time I went to Oubaluo, I really learned a lot. Originally, I thought that our Chinese
The land is vast and abundant, and everything is available, but when we get to the other side of the country, we realize that our previous ideas were so absurd. Let’s not talk about anything else, let’s just say that there are now many heroes in Opalo, and all countries are swarming to expand their respective navies.
By the way, they are called the navy, and the trade exchanges between countries can be said to be endless. Compared with ours, it is much stronger. I estimate that if we don’t catch up, it won’t take a hundred years for us to
They will be left far behind."
"Yes!" Pang Gang nodded heavily, "I know all this, but now our main focus is still on land. As for establishing a sizable maritime force, we cannot rush it."
Kong Lin wanted to say something more, but held it back. He also knew Pang Gang's current difficulties. The development of everything always has a focus. If too much emphasis is placed on developing the navy, then the development on land will inevitably be affected. Although he
As a relative of Pang Gang, but he was a businessman after all, if he always pointed out military matters, not to mention others gossiping, even Pang Gang would feel disgusted.
Finally, Kong Lin asked: "Chaodong, I gained a lot from Oparo this time. I plan to form a fleet of my own to transport goods to Oparo for a long time. What do you think?"
"This is feasible. The purpose of letting you go to Obarro is to let you have more contact with the outside world. Don't always focus on our one-third-acre land. Can you think of building your own ship?"
It’s great that the team is heading to Oubaluo.” After hearing Kong Lin’s words, Pang Gang was very happy and nodded in approval.
"But there are pirates on the way to Obaro, and our navy can't always escort us all the way, so I just want to ask if the government can sell us some big ships and artillery so that we can protect ourselves.
Zili." Kong Lin looked at Pang Gang and expressed his request with great anxiety.
"You want to form your own armed merchant ship?" Pang Gang's face slowly became thoughtful.
Seeing Pang Gang's frown, Kong Lin felt very uneasy. He also knew how difficult this matter was. There has been a saying in China since ancient times that "a chivalrous man uses force to break the ban." The imperial court was wary of Jianghu sects with force, so
Not to mention selling warships and artillery, weapons with huge destructive power, to individuals. During the Western Han Dynasty, General Zhou Yafu privately purchased 500 pairs of armor, and Emperor Wen Jing killed him without saying a word. This shows that when he was in power
The author is so suspicious of people who have private possession of force.
That is Pang Gang. If it were any other official, he would have turned his back upon hearing this request made by Kong Lin. Why do you, a merchant, even want to buy battleships and artillery? What do you want to do? Do you want to rebel?
However, the thinking of our Zhou king from later generations is different from ordinary people. Pang Gang also felt that if today's merchants were to be unarmed and sail across the ocean to Oubaluo with their goods fully loaded, it would be like wasting their goods in vain.
After giving it to the pirates, after thinking about it, Pang Gang nodded and said, "I agree in principle to this matter, but the purchased artillery must be registered with the government, and what its purpose is. There must be regulations on how many cannons are equipped on each ship.
Otherwise, the government has the right to directly impose penalties, and in serious cases, it may even be punished with treason!"
At the end of the sentence, Pang Gang looked very serious, "You are my relative, so you should abide by the rules. I don't want you to be sued by others one day. By then, I will recognize you, but the national law will not recognize you!"
Seeing Pang Gang's stern expression, Kong Lin knew that his brother-in-law was no joke, so he quickly agreed and resigned from Nono... To be continued)
{Piaotian Literature www.ptwxz.com thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our biggest motivation}