Seeing the anxious expressions of the big guys, Liu Jin smiled inwardly.
Sure enough, it has been the same since ancient times. No one can remain calm in the face of interests.
This is true even for the emperor, let alone the palace ministers.
They all became uneasy when they heard that just the shares of Changlu Salt Farm in Liu Jin's hands were worth hundreds of millions of taels.
In the past, everyone knew that the Changlu Salt Farm made money, but everyone did not know how much the Changlu Salt Farm was worth. Now, as soon as it is listed on the market, you can roughly know its value through the market value.
To be honest, the current total market value of Changlu Salt Field is more than 300 million taels of silver. This market value is quite reasonable, because Changlu Salt Field is the largest salt trading house in Ming Dynasty. It has multiple large-scale salt fields at home and abroad in Ming Dynasty.
The salt produced not only meets the needs of the entire Ming Dynasty, but is even now continuously exported to all over the world.
It can be said that they basically monopolized the salt trade in the Ming Dynasty. That is to say, Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao did not want to make money from the people's mouths.
If it were run by those unscrupulous salt dealers in the past, it would be very easy for the Changlu Salt Farm to double its revenue and profits several times a year.
It is no joke that the salt merchants in the past were the richest in the world. Common people could not afford to eat salt. A pound of salt cost dozens of pennies, which was almost equivalent to the previous day's income. How expensive is this salt?
One can only imagine how rich those salt merchants were.
When a commercial bank is listed, the value of the commercial bank is estimated through the stock price, which allows people to see the value of the commercial bank at once.
The Changlu Saltworks is estimated to be worth more than 300 million yuan, and even the emperor's eyes turned slightly red.
"It's OK, it's OK~"
"The Tianjin Stock Exchange is in need of a large number of high-quality commercial banks to come forward for listing."
"The funds that need to be raised for this Egyptian canal are very huge. Of course, everyone is welcome to invest more."
Liu Jin smiled and replied to Liu Jian and Li Dongyang.
Then when the Egyptian canal was mentioned, Liu Jin remembered something. His student Tong Yuan traveled westward and successfully arrived in Egypt. He also wrote back some information about the situation in Egypt.
"Your Majesty, gentlemen, regarding the Egyptian Canal, this is a major matter related to the global interests of our Ming Dynasty."
"Right now, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt has signed a relevant treaty with our Ming Dynasty. However, there are also objections within Egypt, and the opponents are huge. I am afraid that they may block or destroy the construction of the Egyptian canal in the future.
I think our Ming Dynasty should make preparations in advance."
Thinking of this, Liu Jin also discussed with Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Zhang Mao. Although there were only a few people, as long as they discussed it well, it could basically be decided.
"Um!"
"I have also read Tong Yuan's memorial."
"Not only is it an internal matter in Egypt, but also on the Arabian Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire is also eyeing it and has always wanted to annex Egypt. If the canal is built, the benefits involved will be huge, and the Ottoman Empire will inevitably want to take it away.
This Egyptian canal.”
"There is also the Red Sea area, where thieves are rampant and there are many thieves who often rob and blackmail the merchants and ships of our Ming Dynasty King. Once the canal is built, there will be more ships and merchants passing by. The existence of these bandits will seriously affect our Ming Dynasty.
Business travel safety.”
Emperor Hongzhi nodded solemnly. He had read Tong Yuan's memorial and had a clear understanding of the situation in Egypt, as well as some information about Africa and the Arab world far away from the Ming Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, I think that our Ming Dynasty should station a large army in the Red Sea and Arabia region to destroy bandits and protect the interests of my name. At the same time, it can also deter Egypt and make them act in accordance with the content of the agreement. If they want
If you dare to betray your trust, we don't mind using force to protect our Ming Dynasty's interests."
"At the same time, it can also deter the Ottoman Empire. If they send troops to attack Egypt, we can also support one or two at the critical moment to prevent Egypt from falling into the hands of the Ottoman Empire."
Zhang Mao was the first to stand up. As the representative of the Military General Xungui Group, of course he had to take the lead.
The Ming Empire's army has not fought for nearly two years since the end of the war with the Ottoman Empire. This is not good. They must find something to do, even if it is to wipe out bandits.
"Your Majesty, I think what Mr. Zhang said is true~"
"The Egyptian Canal is of great importance. It involves our Ming Dynasty's global interests, and it requires an investment of 20 million taels of silver. The investment is huge and there is absolutely no room for failure. We must be fully prepared."
Liu Jian also stood up and expressed his support.
Well, the civil servants are quite warlike now, and they all know that external expansion can bring many benefits to the Ming Dynasty and themselves.
"Your Majesty, in the Indian Ocean region, our Ming Dynasty has many vassal states and colonies. According to statistics, nearly 10 million people have immigrated to these vassal states and colonies."
"These areas are of great importance and involve all aspects of our Ming Dynasty. However, our Ming Dynasty has a strong military force in the Indian Ocean region to ensure the security here and safeguard the interests of our Ming Dynasty."
"I heard that in East Africa, some vassal states are not having a very good life. The local indigenous people often attack these vassal states due to their large numbers of people."
"So I think what Mr. Zhang said is reasonable. It is necessary for our Ming Dynasty to station an army in the Red Sea area to protect our Ming Dynasty's interests in this area."
Li Dongyang also stood up to express his support, and also mentioned that life in the feudal country was not very easy.
In fact, will life be difficult for overseas vassal states?
It's pure bullshit.
This vassal king became a local emperor overseas, and his life was much more comfortable than when he was in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, Li Dongyang is not talking nonsense. Although the vassal states and colonies in Africa and Tianzhu are blooming and expanding rapidly, the local indigenous people in these areas are basically war scum.
But there are still a few vassal states that are really having a hard time.
When these vassal states arrived, the vassal king himself had little economic strength and insufficient funds, so it would naturally be difficult for the vassal state to develop.
The second is that there are not enough people to follow. The largest vassal state, Ningguo, only has a few hundred thousand Ming people. Some small vassal states may only have a few thousand Ming people, occupying a small area. There are too few people. The local indigenous people
From time to time, I would also think about driving out the Ming people. War is something that happens all the time.
"Hmm~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly.
Of course he knew these things.
When the vassal princes had a difficult time overseas, the first person who came to mind must be Emperor Hongzhi.
Emperor Hongzhi no longer knows how many memorials he has received from vassal kings. Each of these vassal kings cried to Emperor Hongzhi and complained that he was so poor. The land occupied overseas was useless, and there were no gold or silver mines.
, I hope Emperor Hongzhi can give them some money.
Others said that they were bullied by the local natives overseas and were almost attacked by the natives several times, so they hoped that Emperor Hongzhi could send troops to help them.
Some also said that the population of their vassal states was too small, and they hoped that Emperor Hongzhi could help forcibly relocate some people from the Ming Dynasty to their vassal states.
In short, in one sentence, after these vassal kings went to sea to establish vassal states, they made Emperor Hongzhi even more worried. In the past, when he was in the Ming Dynasty, he just cried out for poverty and asked for silver, salt, and local taxes.
It's different now. Everyone is a local emperor of a vassal state, and they want more.
However, Emperor Hongzhi was a good parent and always treated the royal family very favorably, so he often used his own money to support his brothers from the Zhu family.
Now that this matter was mentioned again, Emperor Hongzhi also began to think deeply.
To send these vassal kings overseas to establish vassal states and to live a hard life in the wilderness, I felt a little sorry for these clan members.
However, overseas, the lives of these vassal kings were not very easy.
This made Emperor Hongzhi feel even more sorry for his brothers from the Zhu family.
How could the descendants of the dignified old Zhu family and the princes of the Ming Dynasty be subjected to the anger of those uncivilized barbaric natives overseas?
As an emperor, he has to vent his anger for them no matter what, and help them at critical moments. After all, they are all members of the royal family and descendants of the old Zhu family.
"It is necessary to send a large army to station here permanently to protect the interests of our Ming Dynasty!"
After Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a while, he also said very solemnly.
Whether it was for the interests of Ming Dynasty, for the interests of Ming Dynasty vassal states, or for its own interests on the Egyptian canal, it was indeed necessary for Ming Dynasty to show off its muscles in this area.
"Your Majesty's Holy Might~"
When Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Zhang Mao and Liu Jin heard this, they quickly flattered him.
"How many people do you think is appropriate to send to stay here permanently?"
Emperor Hongzhi smiled and then asked again.
"Your Majesty, this area is an uncivilized barbarian land. The local indigenous people are extremely backward and have low combat effectiveness. Only the Arabs on the Arabian Peninsula have good combat effectiveness."
"So I think there is no need to send too many troops. It is enough to send 20,000 land troops and 3,000 navy troops to garrison these areas."
"Garrisoning the army at the mouth of the Red Sea to the north of Mugudusu can deter the bandits in the Red Sea area, and can go to East Africa to support the vassal states and colonies at the bottom."
"You can also go to Tianzhu to the east to support the vassal states in the Tianzhu area, and you can also deter the Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire in the Persian Gulf area to the north."
Liu Jin thought about it and suggested.
Although the Ming Dynasty's army now numbers millions, it is really spread out over a wide area. The main reason is that the Ming Dynasty's territory is too large. There is no other way but this is the only way.
However, if more than 20,000 people are stationed here, there will be no problem at all.