Mazu Bay, the Bay of Guayaquil, is the largest bay on the west coast of South America.
The original exploration candidates chose this place as their base, firstly because of its role as a natural harbor, secondly because it was close to the northern Inca capital, and thirdly because the land in the river delta was extremely fertile.
Today, the two hundred miles surrounding Mazu Bay are all areas actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty, all due to the pioneering achievements of Tan Haihou.
Although the site is small, the quality is extremely high.
From an agricultural point of view, although rice, wheat, and corn cannot be grown here, the yield of quinoa and potatoes is impressive. At the same time, fishing and hunting resources are extremely rich, and cash crops such as sisal are also grown.
What's even more gratifying are the mineral resources, not to mention oil, which will only be mined in a few hundred years. There are rich reserves of copper and coal mines. Gold sands were discovered in a small river this year, and immigrants are being organized to pan for gold.
There were many gold mines in the Northern Incas, the largest of which was known to be located just south of the capital of the Northern Incas.
As for the gold sands, hundreds of years after Spanish colonization, until the 21st century in Ecuador, there were still more than 10,000 miners panning for gold in more than 200 rivers.
Note, there are not 2 rivers, nor 20 rivers, but more than 200 rivers for gold mining!
Many rivers are actually streams. If you grab a handful of sand, you can see gold particles.
There is currently only one Golden River around Mazu Bay, but with continued development and expansion, more and more will surely be discovered.
Mazu Bay Colony alone has a registered population of over 40,000.
Among them, there are about 10,000 direct Han immigrants, and another 10,000 are female prisoners of war traded with the Inca Empire. There are also three to four thousand who were collectively naturalized from nearby tribes. The remaining 20,000 are all children, and half of them are mixed race.
More than 90%!
Wang Ji went to visit the school and randomly summoned a seven or eight-year-old boy and asked, "What's your name?"
"My name is Lin Feng, from Feng Harvest." The child spoke with a southern Fujian accent.
Although Wang Ji has never been to Fujian, he has met sailors from Fujian. He smiled and said: "Your hometown is in Fujian?"
The boy nodded and said, "My father said that my ancestral home is Putian, and I came here after a disaster. My father also said that when I grow up and earn enough money, I will go back to my hometown in Putian to renovate my ancestral graves."
Wang Ji asked again: "Where is your mother?"
The boy replied: "My mother is a local. The tribe lost the war, so she was bought by the Marquis and promised to settle down for my father."
The Inca Empire has been expanding, and its expansion method is similar to that of the Western Zhou Dynasty, or it can be said to be an alternative type of colonization.
Grant an official title to a noble and promise a territory, but there are still foreigners in the territory.
The noble brought a group of tribesmen there, built a city, and started farming and development. If they encountered a powerful enemy, the empire would help fight once or twice, but after that the noble would have to deal with it on his own.
In addition, the Inca Empire also had a franchise model. If foreign tribes were willing to join, the Inca king would automatically grant officials and land. Just like when the Western Zhou Dynasty was founded, many tribes came to seek refuge, and King Wu readily accepted them.
The boy's mother was obviously a woman from a defeated tribe.
The Marquis of Tanhai didn't go on a conquest in person at all, he just spent money to buy female captives from the Inca King. It can't be said to be buying, but gave each other gifts. The Marquis of Tanhai gave him iron tools, and the Inca King gave women in return. There is no talk of buying and selling here.
.
Wang Ji chatted with the child again and found that he was no different from the children in the countryside of the Ming Dynasty.
He knew that there was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he considered himself a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. He even taught literacy in school. Even in his appearance, he could not tell that he was of mixed race. Is there any hint of a foreign race?
Wang Ji couldn't help but sigh: "The achievements of the Marquis of Exploration are no less than those of the three treasure eunuchs."
Back at his residence in the city, Fang Lingxi was writing something.
"Senior Brother Fang is making a fuss?" Wang Ji said with a smile.
Fang Lingxi said: "Before going to sea, I was lucky enough to read Tai Tu's "The Wealth of Nations". I studied hard all the way on the boat and understood many things that were incomprehensible in the world. After traveling in Yinzhou for a long time, some things seemed to be understood, so
Write down your insights."
Wang Ji picked up a few pages of the manuscript and saw that the title of the first page was "Economic Tips".
The title of the book is very modest, just some common sense in economics, but the content is a detailed discussion of "The Wealth of Nations".
Moreover, Fang Lingxi’s book has a different perspective.
Wang Yuan looked at the problem from the perspective of the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, while Fang Lingxi looked at the problem from the perspective of ordinary people.
In addition, because Fang Lingxi lived in Hangzhou since he was a child, he witnessed the opening of the sea and commercial development of Hangzhou with his own eyes. He also traveled to the north and south of Zhili, and then was exiled to Nanyang, then to Japan, and finally traveled east to Yinzhou.
Pay more attention to economic realities.
The biggest mistake of Ouchi Yoshitaka's life was letting his adopted brother run away.
If he can carry out reforms according to Fang Lingxi's suggestions, not to mention whether he can unify Japan, he will definitely become the strongest group in Western Japan in terms of economy, military, and internal affairs. It will be easy to turn around and annex the Shimadzu family!
The book "Economic Tips" discusses the situation in Japan in detail.
Fang Lingxi explains in the book that Japan has been controlled by the Ming Dynasty currency. The Ming Dynasty maritime merchants used cheap goods to wipe out Japanese workers, causing countless Japanese craftsmen to lose their jobs. The unemployment of Japanese craftsmen has also brought about serious social problems. Some craftsmen have sought refuge in Japan.
The maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty; some craftsmen became bandits and refugees; some craftsmen were recruited as soldiers by the lords.
These recruited craftsman soldiers have certain cultural qualities and are completely different from traditional peasant soldiers. They either directly leave their jobs and become professional soldiers, or they become technical arms in the army - half of the Ouchi clan's six thousand fire gun soldiers
Born as a craftsman.
Due to the rise of vassal states in western Japan, the intensity of wars continued to increase, and lords in various places increased their exploitation of the people. Countless peasants who were forced to make a living were sent by their lords to mine, and then used gold, silver, copper and iron ore in exchange for the currency of the Ming Dynasty.
, buy Daming products.
Even the Japanese lords let the people starve, but sold the food to Jiangnan and Shandong in the Ming Dynasty.
Japan's low-level samurai group, on the one hand, found a way out in the war, but on the other hand, they tended to live in poverty as a whole.
Craftsmen, farmers, low-level samurai... these three groups are fermenting, and Japan will brew a huge social change. However, this change is almost certain to fail, because Japan has been tightly tied to Ming Dynasty's currency and commodities. Japanese lords fight all day long
Beating people to death is just making money for the merchants of the Ming Dynasty and increasing tax revenue for the customs of the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, Fang Lingxi raised another question: If the squeeze continues, will the Japanese people still have money to buy Ming Dynasty cotton?
Ming Dynasty’s overseas income and the future of Ming Dynasty’s maritime business lay in exploring the commercial market.
The market is more important than anything else. You can do things that are conducive to expanding the market, but you can't do things that are not conducive to expanding the market. If you want to expand overseas markets, Ming products are spears, Ming force is the shield, and Ming coins are the spirit and soul.
After Wang Ji read a few pages of Fang Lingxi's manuscript, he seemed to understand it, but he seemed not to understand it. He still lacked a deep understanding, let alone life experience to verify it.