Chapter 828, no matter how small mosquitoes are, they are still meat
One day later, King Ning's fleet arrived at Ceylon Island.
In the port of Ceylon, Li Shishi came to greet King Ning together with the people who had been waiting for him in Ceylon Island for a long time.
"Your Majesty!"
Li Shishi looked at King Ning walking off the ship like a dragon and a tiger. The current King Ning was completely different from the previous King Ning. The previous King Ning was like a phoenix in distress, or like a giant dragon stranded on the shoal.
Extremely frustrating.
But now King Ning is like a tiger roaring in the mountains and a dragon king swimming in the sea. He has shown the domineering spirit of a generation of emperors.
"No need to be polite~"
"Thank you all for your hard work."
Prince Ning looked at Li Shishi and others and said in a very easy-going manner.
"These are all things we should do. I dare not say it is hard."
Li Shishi smiled and shook his head.
"This is the Port of Ceylon?"
"It's already built in a decent way. Although it's not as good as Songhu Port or Crescent Bay, it's still pretty good."
Prince Ning nodded, and then looked at the prosperous port in front of him. Along the way, he also saw several big ports. Going down the Yangtze River, he saw Songhu Port, and then arrived at Ryukyu and Nanyang Province.
, I went to many places when I was in Nanyang, and I saw many large and small ports.
"The Western United Commercial Bank has strong strength and abundant funds. In addition, it has made huge profits here in Ceylon Island. It has enough financial resources to build the Ceylon Port and Western City. Although it only takes half a year, it is already quite rich.
It’s huge.”
Li Shishi nodded, then pointed to the entire port and began to introduce it to Prince Ning in detail.
The investment in port construction is huge, but it is indispensable. In the future, when they establish their own territory in Africa, they will definitely build their own ports, develop maritime trade, and facilitate travel between the Ming Dynasty and other parts of the West.
"The investment scale of the entire port is huge. At present, the Ceylon Governor's Palace has invested millions of taels of silver in it, and all the cement required is shipped from Daming."
"But the revenue from the port is very good. Ships traveling from east to west need to pay a berthing fee of ten taels of silver for a day in the port. In addition, because of the geographical location, after the port and city are built, people come here to do business and trade.
There are so many people.”
"There are merchants from the Middle East and Persia, as well as merchants from Tianzhu from the north, our Ming merchants from the east, merchants from Myanmar and Siam, and even Portuguese from Europe."
"Everyone gathers here on the island of Ceylon to do business and trade. The Government House of Ceylon has already earned millions of taels of silver just from doing transit trade and charging some tariffs. After all, this investment has already paid back."
Li Shishi came to Ceylon Island in advance not just for sightseeing. He had found out many things about Ceylon Island, and he was also very clear about the investment and income of the port.
"Isn't the investment too big?"
When King Ning heard this, he immediately frowned. He also knew that he didn't have much money, so he invested so much in the construction of this port. This was a great pressure for him.
"It is indeed very big, because the cement needs to be transported from our country, Daming. As for manpower, it is very cheap. They are just slaves. They only need to give them some food to eat and they will not starve to death."
"But we can take our time. There is no need to build it so big at the beginning. We can just use wood, stone and the like to build a small port that can accommodate ships."
Li Shishi also nodded and said.
The Western United Trading Company is now very wealthy. It has gained tens of millions of taels of silver from the Ceylon Island. Now it is sitting on a treasure land, mining gems, building a port, and engaging in agriculture. It is prosperous and is preparing to open up Tianzhu to the north.
Gate, colonial Tianzhu.
"Hmm~"
"Have you made an appointment with Hu Xian, the Governor of Ceylon, for me?"
Prince Ning nodded. He knew his own situation. He had no money. What's more, if he went to Africa, it would be too far away from the Ming Dynasty. No matter how much money he had, it wouldn't be enough.
Cement here in the Ming Dynasty costs a few cents per catty, but when shipped to Ceylon Island, the cement costs more than ten cents per catty. If it is shipped to Africa, it will cost several times more. Not to mention anything else, just
The shipping costs are all high.
When sea trade has huge profits, it is not easy to get someone to help you transport cement. The price must be sufficient, and you must also owe favors.
The United Western Trading Company and the African Trading Company have a large number of ships of their own, and the cost of transporting them here is already so high.
After thinking about this clearly, Prince Ning could only put aside the matter of building such a large-scale port.
"Your Majesty, we have already made an appointment."
"It's just that the prince is tired from traveling, why don't we take a rest first."
Li Shishi nodded and thought for a while before suggesting.
"No, taking a boat is not walking, so it's not tiring at all."
"Let's go and visit the Governor of Ceylon." :(/
Prince Ning shook his head, his great cause was more important, and other things were trivial.
Soon, Prince Ning got on the four-wheeled carriage and arrived at Xiyang City.
Western City was built on the basis of the original Lion City built by the Persians, and still retains a large number of Persian buildings. Among them, the Governor's Palace of Ceylon is located in the original main palace of the Lion City.
The news of Prince Ning's visit soon reached the Governor's Mansion, and Hu Xian, the Governor of Ceylon, also came to the door of the Governor's Mansion to greet him with a smile on his face.
In any case, Prince Ning is also a descendant of the old Zhu family, and he is also a prince. Given his status, he still has to give him face. What's more, he also knows that Prince Ning is not a simple person.
"His Royal Highness Prince Ning~"
Seeing Prince Ning walking towards him like a dragon or a tiger, Hu Xian stepped forward and saluted with a smile on his face.
He had been a royal censor before and knew a lot about these things.
"Governor Hu!"
Prince Ning was also smiling and returned Hu Xian's gift.
Soon, Hu Xian welcomed Prince Ning into the Governor's Mansion, where the guests and hosts sat down.
"Your Majesty has come a long way, please forgive me for missing the welcome. Now that I have arrived in Ceylon, please stay a few more days so that I can fulfill my friendship as a landlord."
"Governor Hu is so polite. I'm too sorry to bother you."
The two smiled and exchanged greetings.
"Governor Hu, to be honest, this visit is actually about traveling to Africa."
"I want to establish a colony in Africa, but this Africa is far away from my mainland, the Ming Dynasty. Calculated, the closest place here is your island of Ceylon, so I shamelessly came here to seek help from Governor Hu."
King Ning took a sip of tea and saw Hu Xian sitting steadily on the Diaoyutai. He cursed the old fox in his heart. It would definitely not be easy to get money and food from him.
To say that he has a noble status and is a descendant of the old Zhu family, in the past, he would not be willing to deal with businessmen at all, but for his own great cause, he has long been shameless.
"Easy to say, easy to say~"
"Your Majesty is a noble man from Tianhuang. He is going to Africa to build a great cause. Even if Your Majesty doesn't tell you, I will still help you."
"This island of Ceylon has fertile land, abundant rainfall, and sufficient light and heat, which is very suitable for growing rice. Since last year, we have been planting rice on a large scale on the island, and we have had a bumper harvest."
"I can't support much else, but I can still support several thousand dan for the prince with this food."
Hu Xian smiled and nodded, then thought about it and said.
Ceylon is really a treasure island, and it is very suitable for growing rice. They started planting it last year, and the harvested food was enough for them to eat. This year, they will open up a lot of land, and it is estimated that by then there will be enough food to support various newly opened colonies, large and small.
Well, you can also make a fortune selling food in the future.
Hu Xian couldn't help but think in his heart that his main job now was to build Ceylon Island and increase the income of the Western United Trading Company.
"A few thousand stones?"
Liu Yangzheng, who came with Prince Ning, and Li Shishi looked ugly. They were sent to beg for food. Prince Ning was also a prince after all. He asked you for help in person, and you gave him a few thousand shi of food?
The two of them were about to have a fight, but Prince Ning smiled and waved his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you Governor Hu for your generosity. Zhu Chenhao is grateful."
Prince Ning is already used to it. In the past few months, he has been traveling around Southeast Asia and has often interacted with businessmen, who are almost like beggars.
This place requires several hundred dan of grain, that place requires several thousand kilograms of sea fish, this businessman receives tens of thousands of taels of silver, and that place requires some sucrose.
In short, for Prince Ning, something is better than nothing. Being able to get these things can also leave some expenses. Of course, for this reason, he has to write some empty checks.
The status of the descendants of the Lao Zhu family is still very useful. Now everyone knows that the imperial court allowed these princes to go to sea, which actually gave them tacit approval for these princes to establish their country overseas.
Ordinary people establish colonies overseas, but these princes can establish vassal states. Although there does not seem to be much difference in essence, there are still some differences.
The descendants of the Lao Zhu family are the descendants of the Lao Zhu family. In the final analysis, the world belongs to their Lao Zhu family.
"Your Majesty, you're welcome."
Hu Xian smiled and returned the greeting. Seeing that Prince Ning could keep his composure, he felt more appreciative.
It is really rare for someone to be so forbearing and sober. Not long ago, Prince Shu came to visit him and heard that he only gave him a thousand stones of food. He was so angry that he walked away on the spot, leaving himself with nothing.
got this food.
But for King Ning, no matter how small the mosquitoes are, they are still meat. Thousands of stones of grain are still grain, and they can feed his people for a while.
"Governor Hu, I am going to Africa this time to establish a state on the east coast of Africa. After the vassal state is established, I will definitely want your Western United Trading Company to come and invest."
"I have already asked people to go to Africa for exploration in advance. There are a lot of gold and silver reserves. I wonder if I can use these minerals to mortgage you and lend me some silver."
"You also know that taking tens of thousands of people to Africa will cost too much in all aspects~"
Prince Ning smiled, and then started to cheat again. He would not dare to mortgage anything he didn't get.