Everyone looked at where Liu Jin was pointing and said in unison.
At this time, Treasure Island was not called Treasure Island. Historically, Treasure Island was called "Daoyi" during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, the world was divided into Kyushu, and this Treasure Island was included in the scope of Yangzhou. However, at that time, it seemed that here
It is still a land of barbarians, and the word "barbarian" is enough to explain it.
In the pre-Qin period, it was also called Yingzhou. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed the Han Dynasty, it was also called Dongying. In the Three Kingdoms, it was also called "Yizhou". From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, it was changed to Liuqiu. From the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, it was also called Yingzhou.
In the mid-term, it was changed to Ryukyu.
So at this time, Zhang Mao, Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Fu, Xu Guangzuo and other people could speak Ryukyu.
In fact, Baodao has many names, such as 'Dongfan', 'Chicken Coop', 'Dawan', 'Da Yuan', 'Tai Yuan', etc. Only during the Wanli period, Baodao's terrain was like a curved bow.
, the floating sea is like a platform, hence the name "Taiwan Bay".
"Yes, it's Ryukyu."
Liu Jin smiled and nodded, then pointed to the map and said: "Look, everyone, the location of Ryukyu is very critical. It goes to North Korea and Japan, and can go to Luzon in Nanyang, and can also go to Australia. At the same time, it can
It is the throat of the southeastern coast, and its geographical location is very important."
There is no doubt about the location of Treasure Island. In this era, it is still mainly land, so it is not prominent. However, once we enter the age of navigation, the location of Treasure Island will suddenly become prominent.
Everyone listened to Liu Jin's words, looked at it carefully, analyzed it again, and nodded immediately.
"I didn't realize that Ryukyu was so important before, but now it seems that Ryukyu is indeed crucial."
Zhang Mao touched his beard and said.
In this era, the Ming Dynasty did not pay much attention to Ryukyu. There were many reasons for this.
One is that Ryukyu in this era has not yet been developed. The real developers of Treasure Island were Zheng Chenggong and his descendants. When they moved to Treasure Island, they brought tens of thousands of people with them. It was these tens of thousands of people who started the development of Treasure Island.
development.
Because it was not developed, the treasure island in this era was actually a barbarian land. The description in the book was that it was full of miasma and the barbarians were not educated.
There were very, very few Han people on Treasure Island. Even in the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court organized people to move the Han people on Ryukyu to Zhangzhou and Putian, which was regarded as abandoning this place.
The other is that Baodao and Shenzhou face each other across the sea. It is extremely inconvenient to travel there. In addition, Japanese pirates and pirates started to appear in the late Yuan Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty also felt that developing this place was a thankless task.
Furthermore, the weather here is hot, miasmatic, and there are many mosquitoes, which can easily breed various diseases. It is difficult for the Han people who migrated to adapt to the environment here. Moreover, the conditions here are difficult, and no one is willing to migrate there.
The most feared thing among them is mosquitoes. Mosquitoes not only bite people, they can also bring malaria. Before the cinchona tree was discovered, there was no cure for malaria.
Malaria was conquered by humans only after Europeans discovered the cinchona tree from South America and ground its bark into powder to treat malaria.
"In the future, if we want to go south to Southeast Asia, Australia will definitely not avoid Ryukyu. In addition, it is indispensable to use Ryukyu as a base to eliminate Japanese pirates and pirates on the southeast coast."
“It is imperative to develop Ryukyu!”
Liu Jin said categorically.
"Liu Jin, as far as I know, there are very few Han people in Ryukyu. It is full of miasma and the barbarians are very barbaric. It is not easy to develop this place."
"And we are here to make money, not to lose money. If we really want to have bases, there are many bases in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, and they have their own foundations, especially Quanzhou, which used to be one of Zheng He's voyages to the West.
The key point is that there is no need to go to great lengths to develop Ryukyu."
Zhu Fu, Duke of Chengguo, thought for a while and said.
In his opinion, there is no need to develop Ryukyu, because Fujian is very close to Ryukyu, just separated by a river, and Fujian itself has a very good foundation.
"Of course there is money to be made from developing Ryukyu. How could I, Liu Jin, be in a losing business?"
Liu Jin smiled and said.
Hearing Liu Jin's words, everyone's eyes lit up slightly. After thinking about it carefully, it seemed that this was really the case. Liu Jin had never lost money in his business.
"Although Ryukyu is a barbaric land, full of miasma and ferocious barbarians, Ryukyu's geographical location is very important. It is the only place we must pass when we go south to Southeast Asia and Australia in the future. Developing here, building ports, building ships, etc. are all
It can lay the foundation for the future.”
"In addition, we have always been unable to get involved in the Jiangnan area and the southeastern coastal areas, but Ryukyu is different. If we develop it ourselves, we will have a foothold in the southeastern coastal areas, and it will be much easier to intervene in the future.
."
"Also, although Ryukyu is a place with very harsh conditions, it also has many benefits of Ryukyu."
"There is enough sunshine and abundant rain here. If you grow rice here, you can get two crops a year. In the southern Ryukyu region, you can even get three crops a year."
"If the entire Ryukyu Islands are developed, we will have a large granary after the Ming Dynasty. If there is a famine in the north, we can directly transport food from here to the north to provide disaster relief."
Liu Jin began to slowly talk about the benefits of developing Ryukyu.
"Liu Jin is close to the tropics. Even in winter, there is rarely frost or snow here. Therefore, in winter, when we have no way to grow it in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, we can grow vegetables and fruits here.
When the time comes, you can make a lot of money just by transporting it to the capital by ship."
"Of course, these can only be done slowly after Ryukyu is developed. In the short term, if we want to make money by developing Ryukyu, we can do two things. One is to grow rice, and the other is cane sugar."
"sucrose?"
Everyone listened carefully. In Liu Jin's description, Ryukyu was not only a land of barbarians, but a treasure land. With a little cultivation, real money and silver could be harvested here, and it would lay the foundation for the future.
Everyone was not surprised to hear about planting rice, but about sucrose, everyone became confused again.
"Yes, sucrose~"
Liu Jin nodded, then poured out a bowl of sugar from a jar nearby.
"Everyone, please see, this is sucrose. I believe everyone eats it often and is no stranger to it."
Everyone took the bowl handed over by Liu Jin, looked at it carefully, and nodded. Zhu Houzhao, a glutton, even grabbed some candies and ate them happily.
"Old Liu, why do your sweets taste better than those in the palace?"
Soon, Zhu Houzhao discovered something. The candy he just ate had a purer taste than the candy in the palace. There was no trace of any foreign flavor. It was so sweet that he couldn't help but take a few more bites, and then took out a handful of candy.
Look carefully.
When the others heard this, they immediately grabbed a handful of candies and put them on the table to take a closer look, and then tasted them carefully. Their eyes suddenly lit up slightly.
The candy Liu Jin took out was snow-white in color, the particles were very fine, and the taste was very pure. It tasted without a trace of foreign taste. This was definitely the best quality candy.
"I process this sugar myself from brown sugar, and I turn it into white sugar."
Liu Jin smiled and explained.
There was no white sugar in this era. Only during the Jiajing period, people who cooked sugar accidentally made white sugar, so the sugar now is basically brown sugar.
Brown sugar has large particles, ugly color, and not pure taste, but even this kind of brown sugar is considered a luxury product in this era, and not everyone can afford it.
Of course, this is not only true during the Ming Dynasty, but also throughout the entire earth in this era. Things like sugar are luxury goods.
If you want to eat sweets, one is honey, but the production of honey is very limited and cannot satisfy everyone's appetite. The other is sugar.
However, the output of sugar is also very low, and sugar has always been classified as a luxury product.
Malt sugar made from malt since the pre-Qin period is a precious condiment, generally used in sacrifices and state banquets, and is even an expensive medicinal material for nourishing qi and blood.
In the Tang Dynasty, ancient Indian sucrose technology was introduced to China through the Silk Road. At this time, sugar was relatively easier to obtain. However, due to the regional climate, it could only be produced in the south, and the output was still very small. It was still classified as
Expensive luxury goods.
In the Song Dynasty, sugar frosting began to be produced. Due to the improvement of technology, the output and quality have also been improved. Sugar has gradually developed into an expensive commodity from a thing that was exclusive to the palace and dignitaries. For ordinary people, it is still
Something you can’t afford to eat.
Only in the 18th century, when Europeans began to use beets to make sugar, did sugar production begin to increase significantly, and sugar slowly entered the mouths of ordinary people, but the price was still very expensive.
The Ming Dynasty was pretty good here, because bees have been domesticated to produce honey for a long time, plus sucrose. Although this sugar is expensive, it is not too much. However, in Europe of this era, sugar is definitely only available to the truly top princes.
Only nobles can afford to eat, and the food they eat is worth as much as gold, which is definitely not a joke.
In the Ming Dynasty, even if the sugar production is okay, the price of a pound of sugar, even the worst sugar, is thousands of taels of silver. Good quality sugar, even a pound of sugar, costs several taels of silver.
The price can be said to be extremely expensive.
In an era when you could get a wife with only three taels of silver, ordinary people were not willing to eat such expensive candy. It was a luxury item that only those with money could afford.
