When the Ming Dynasty ushered in a good harvest, the city of Anning in Ningguo, far away in Tianzhu.
The predecessor of Anning City was Guli, which was occupied by the Portuguese. Later, King Ning expelled the Portuguese and renamed Guli Anning City, and established the first overseas vassal state of the Ming Dynasty - Ning State in Anning City.
King Ning was a powerful man of his generation, he was talented himself, and he was assisted by talented people like Liu Yangzheng, Li Shishi, and Dong Lin. In addition, the geographical location of Ning State was very advantageous.
The Ning State was established based on the original Guli State. The location of the Guli State is very good. It is located on the west coast of Tianzhu. It has an excellent port and is the only place to go to and from the Middle East, Persia, Africa, and the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, it relies on the entire huge
Compared with the island of Ceylon, the geographical location of the mainland of Tianzhu is no different.
After a lot of painstaking management, the entire Anning City has become extremely prosperous.
The port is filled with merchant ships from all over the world, including merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty, merchant ships from the Middle East, Persia, and merchant ships from major overseas colonies.
Not only did it bring goods from all over the world to Ningguo, but it also brought huge financial resources to Ningguo. Just doing transit trade made King Ning earn a lot of money. In a short period of time, he not only paid off
He has paid off the huge debts he once owed, and is accumulating wealth. On the one hand, he is expanding his territory in Tianzhu, and on the other hand, he is preparing to go to Africa to seize territory.
In the city, business travelers from various countries in India, Arabs in white clothes, Persians with big beards, and arrogant Ming people gathered together, constantly bargaining with each other and trading goods.
Very prosperous and very lively.
Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao was wearing casual clothes and holding a paper fan. He was followed by Liu Yangzheng and Li Shishi. The three of them were strolling around Anning City very leisurely.
This was one of Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao's major hobbies. He liked to travel in plain clothes and wander around randomly.
Well, it is said that this was also learned from Emperor Hongzhi, the great emperor of today. Emperor Hongzhi liked to visit privately incognito, and he also learned it in style.
"It's getting more and more lively, not bad, not bad!"
Prince Ning looked at people from different countries and regions wearing various costumes and speaking various accents on the street, and he was very satisfied with the current results.
If Ningguo wants to develop rapidly, it is definitely not possible to rely on traditional agriculture. It must rely on commerce and trade. Only commerce and trade can make Ningguo prosper and become wealthy quickly in a short period of time.
Taking full advantage of Ningguo's geographical location, King Ning also formulated a series of policies to encourage commerce and trade, attracting a large number of merchants and firms to come to Ningguo.
"Your Majesty, last month our Ningguo tax revenue just exceeded one million taels of silver."
Liu Yangzheng next to him smiled and said the same.
"Yes, the growth is rapid, but the total is still very small. Didn't the Ming Dynasty Morning Post report that the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue alone exceeded 90 million taels of silver last year?"
"We only have one million taels of silver this month, which is far behind Ming Dynasty."
Prince Ning nodded slightly, thought about it and then said with some dissatisfaction.
"Your Majesty, our Ningguo is still far behind the Ming Dynasty. It is actually quite good to have one million taels of silver as tax."
Li Shishi said helplessly.
"I know, I just said this."
"The Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty after all, and our Ning State is the Ning State after all."
Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao also nodded. For the small Ning State, the monthly tax bill exceeds one million taels. This is actually a very scary number. This is mainly because the business and trade atmosphere in Ning State is very strong. Come here.
There are simply too many businessmen doing business, which is why there are such huge numbers.
"Your Majesty, the Portuguese recently sent a fleet to Ningguo, hoping to resume normal trade with us. At the same time, they also want to occupy a piece of territory in Tianzhu, hoping to get our help and permission."
Liu Yangzheng thought of something and reported it to Prince Ning.
"The Portuguese still dare to come to Tianzhu?"
When Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao heard this, he couldn't help but asked.
When he established Ning State, he did so by stepping on the corpses of the Portuguese. The Guli City and Guli State were previously conquered by the Portuguese, which ultimately gave him an advantage.
"It's impossible not to come. On the Golden Continent, the Ming Dynasty granted trade rights to Spain in exchange for Spain's recognition of Ming's ownership of the Golden Continent."
"The Portuguese want to get Ming Dynasty's goods and Tianzhu's spices. They can only go east and come to Tianzhu, either to beg us or to beg the King of Shu."
Liu Yangzheng smiled and said: "It is said that the Portuguese are preparing to attack the South Africa occupied by the British Dukes, Ding Guogong, and Cheng Guogong, but I guess the Portuguese will definitely kick it to the iron plate, without even knowing the strength of their opponents.
I know it, and I dare to take action."
"The Portuguese want to attack South Africa. They are seeking death!"
When Prince Ning heard this, he couldn't help laughing.
To say who is the strongest among the many vassals, colonies and the like overseas, some might say it is the United Western Trading Company that occupies the island of Ceylon, and some might say it is Ta Ning.
But people who really understand must be very clear that the most powerful ones are definitely the British Dukes and Dingguo Dukes who occupy South Africa. Although they are very low-key and inconspicuous, there seems to be nothing too earth-shattering.
The results came out.
But they are the most powerful group overseas, because among them are not only the Ming Dynasty Military General Xungui Group represented by Ying Gong, Ding Guo Gong, Cheng Guo Gong, etc., but also Liu Jin's shares are among them.
They have money, they need people, they need weapons, and even the Ming court can send troops for them when necessary.
If this Portuguese dares to mess with them, he is really looking for death.
"Haha, the Portuguese may not understand the situation yet."
"And after we occupied this place, they lost their stronghold in the Indian Ocean, and all their forces returned to their homeland. They want to march into the Indian Ocean again and open up the Eastern Route. South Africa is a hurdle they can't get around."
"From a strategic point of view, if they can capture South Africa and use South Africa as a bridgehead, they can advance, attack, retreat or defend, and restore the Eastern trade route again."
"This Eastern trade route is very profitable. As for this spice, here in Tianzhu, this spice is very cheap. One silver dollar can be sold for several hundred kilograms. But if this spice reaches Europe, the price can go up.
Dozens of times, even hundreds of times.”
"And our Ming Dynasty's ceramics, silk, cane sugar, cloth, etc. are all very popular in Europe, and the price is high. The profit from one return can easily be dozens or hundreds of times higher."
"This is also the reason why Spain is clearly about to be besieged by Western European countries, but is still not sure about giving up this huge piece of fat. Whoever can trade with us Ming people will be able to obtain a steady stream of wealth."
Li Shishi laughed and explained.
"Ignore them. This area around the Indian Ocean is basically controlled by our Ming people. How can we let the Portuguese come in?"
Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao nodded, thought about it and said.
"yes!"
Liu Yangzheng nodded immediately.
"There is no problem in driving away the Portuguese, but the trade with the Europeans is so profitable, we cannot let go of this financial opportunity. Can we organize a fleet to go to Europe? We can also make a lot of money from this round trip."
Prince Ning thought for a while and said again.
"My lord, it is very unsafe to go to Europe now."
"There are a lot of pirates on this section of the route from South Africa to Europe, and these pirates are not ordinary pirates, but official pirates from various European countries."
"Like Britain in Europe, their king openly supports pirates and issues privateering licenses to pirates. Pirates can be regarded as their extremely important maritime force."
"These European pirates generally use the banner of merchants. As long as they can rob you, they will rob you openly. They will only do business with you if they can't beat you."
"Now the Golden Continent is controlled by my Ming Dynasty. All their strongholds in the Golden Continent have been cleared. On the one hand, these European pirates often harass and loot my Ming Dynasty's strongholds on the east coast of the Golden Continent. On the other hand, they are determined to
Guard the route along the west coast of Africa and loot passing merchant ships.”
"Last time, the Western United Trading Company organized ten ships to go to Europe. As a result, they were robbed by several waves of pirates before they even arrived in Europe. In the end, three ships were lost, and the remaining seven ships came back directly without even arriving in Europe.
It’s a heavy loss.”
When Li Shishi heard this, he immediately shook his head and said.
"Will the Tianjin Ocean Trading Guild tolerate these pirates?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Chenhao thought for a while and said: "Tianjin Ocean Trading Company has a large number of strongholds in Golden Continent. The Inca Empire and the Aztec Kingdom are their colonies. How can they tolerate European pirates running rampant.
"
"It will definitely not be tolerated. I heard that they are building a large fleet to clean up the pirate groups in various European countries. Not long ago, the Ming Dynasty asked us to send troops to Europe to support Spain."
"These are actually to clean up these pirates. After we clean up these pirates, it will be safe to travel to Europe in the future. At that time, we Ming people can earn the money."
"As for the life and death of Spain, it doesn't matter to our Ming Dynasty at all. Now our Ming Dynasty has established a firm foothold on the east coast of Golden Continent and established a large number of colonial strongholds. It will be difficult for Europeans to enter.
"
Li Shishi said with great certainty that European pirates are now the only ones on the sea that threaten the Ming Dynasty's maritime interests, and they must naturally be eliminated.