I want to be emperor

Chapter 593 Buying Jinlan Bay

In the summer and May of the 12th year of Chengshun, Jinling City.

The emperor of the Great Chu Empire received envoys from the south of Annan who actually controlled the Ruan family. This was the first time that the envoys of the Ruan family in Annan were able to meet the supreme ruler of the Great Chu Empire.

The meeting this time also means that the diplomatic relations between the two sides have achieved a major breakthrough.

In order to gain the support of the Great Chu Empire against the Zheng family in the northern part of Annan, the Annan Ruan family has always sent envoys to Jinling City to contact and lobby high-ranking officials in the Great Chu Empire.

It's just that in the early years, the Great Chu Empire was busy fighting captives, and later it was busy suppressing the Qingkang area. More importantly, the Great Chu Empire at that time wanted to vigorously develop the domestic livelihood, engage in various infrastructure constructions such as water conservancy, and engage in agriculture. Construction, support for the development of industry and commerce, etc., so the military's military spending has continued to decline.

The military expenditure has dropped, and the military is reluctant to maintain its current scale and change its equipment. How can there be a lot of funds to launch a foreign war.

Therefore, in the past few years, the Great Chu Empire has rarely ushered in a period of peace!

And this kind of general strategic direction will naturally not change for some indigenous internal turmoil in Southeast Asia.

But this situation has gradually changed after 12 years in Chengshun!
At the first court meeting in the first month of the 12th year of Chengshun, Emperor Luo Zhixue emphasized at the meeting that we must continue to strengthen agricultural construction, strengthen industrial and commercial construction, and uphold and expand free trade.

The first two points are normal, but they are just repeating the old saying, and the expansion of free trade is very interesting.

The so-called free trade of the Great Chu Empire, the domestic high-level people know that it is the market and raw materials.

Adhere to and expand free trade, to put it bluntly is to expand overseas markets!

And how to expand the market?

It's useless to just shout a few words, you have to take practical actions!

For example, many countries in Southeast Asia seem to do business with the Great Chu Empire, but in fact not everything can enter their market.

For example, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which seems to have a relatively large amount of trade with the Great Chu Empire, does not look like they purchased a large amount of goods from the Great Chu Empire, but in fact many merchants in the Ayutthaya Kingdom are second-hand dealers. They bought silk and silk from the Great Chu Empire. Porcelain and other sought-after materials in the international trade market will be sold to European merchants or merchants in West Asia, North Africa and other regions.

However, not many silks and porcelains actually entered the Ayutthaya market.

Another example is the direction of India. The Great Chu Empire quickly seized a part of the Indian market in the early stage by virtue of cheap and high-quality machine-made cloth, but the market scale reached a certain level and could not go up.

why?
Because of the local princes and businessmen in India, they began to resist the mechanism of the Great Chu Empire.

It is worth noting that India was originally the main area for exporting cotton cloth. The Dutch and Portuguese used to import cotton cloth from India, and then bought it in the Southeast Asian market, and then bought spices and other goods to sell to China, and then bought them from China. Purchased silk, porcelain and other materials were shipped back to India and even Europe.

Very typical triangular trade.

However, after the rise of the Great Chu Empire, a large number of cheap machine-made cloths directly impacted the cotton cloth market in the Indian Peninsula, not only seizing the cotton cloth market share in Southeast Asia, but even penetrating into the Indian region in turn.

The Dutch, the Portuguese, the English, and some indigenous merchants in India bought a large amount of cotton cloth from Southeast Asia or simply went to the Great Chu Empire, and then shipped it back to India for sale, and then shipped the cotton from India to the Great Chu Empire. Chu Empire for sale.

As a result, a large number of spinning and weaving practitioners in India, whether they are weavers or businessmen, are in bad luck.

When their own interests were damaged, local businessmen and officials naturally would not sit idly by and began to use various methods to prohibit the cheap machine-made cloth of the Great Chu Empire from entering the local market.

This also restricted the growth rate of the sales growth rate of the mechanism cloth of the Great Chu Empire in India.

And these examples are all serious violations of the free trade policy of the Great Chu Empire!

Luo Zhixue came to a conclusion from a series of import and export trade data and the situation reported by the Nanyang Trading Company, that is, the export of various goods of the Great Chu Empire, in addition to its unique advantages, is second only to the popularity of the world trade system In addition to gold, silver, silk and porcelain, which are comparable to spices, the export of various other export commodities, especially industrial commodities, has been gradually restricted, especially cotton cloth!

Due to the trade protection policies in various markets, the export growth rate of a series of industrial commodities such as cotton cloth of the Great Chu Empire began to decline.

Even though the signs of a slowdown in the growth rate were not too great, it still aroused Luo Zhixue's attention and even vigilance.

At present, only a small number of regions have implemented trade protection, but if they continue to let it go regardless, I am afraid that more regions will implement a prohibition policy on the dumping of cotton cloth from the Great Chu Empire.

This point has occurred in many countries or regions in the original time and space. For example, in the [-]th century, the Huaxia region set up various thresholds on a large scale to prohibit British cotton cloth from entering the market, in order to protect the native cloth in its own region.

The British cotton cloth could not be sold, and they faced a trade deficit. In the end, they gradually increased the smuggling of opium, which triggered the Opium War.

The fact that the cotton cloth of the British could not be sold at that time was actually related to the domestic small-scale peasant economy, but it also had a great relationship with some local officials in China who implemented a certain degree of trade protection policy in the cotton spinning industry.

However, the Great Chu Empire is now encountering the same situation as the British in the original time and space... Local officials and businessmen in many areas have boycotted the cotton cloth or other competitive industrial commodities of the Great Chu Empire to protect Their vulnerable handicrafts.

Faced with this situation, Luo Zhixue felt that it was necessary to alert the top management of the empire and take corresponding measures to avoid this situation.

Therefore, on such a serious occasion as Chengshun's first court meeting in 12 years, we will talk about free trade, we must persist and expand it!

This is tantamount to revealing an obvious message to the middle and upper levels of the empire, that is, some actions aimed at overseas markets can be carried out.

After Luo Zhixue set the tone of the general direction, the main responsible departments of the Great Chu Empire, the Ministry of Ethics and Education, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Navy and the Army naturally began to influence actions.

After a small-scale discussion between people from these departments, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce stated that there are plenty of goods, transportation and so on are not a problem, and conventional business competition is not a problem. The problem is that local officials in overseas markets, etc. Blocking by groups whose interests have been harmed.

This is reflected in the trade protection policies of overseas countries.

The Ministry of Ethics and Ethics stated that barbarians are difficult to indoctrinate, and it is extremely difficult to let people let go of all kinds of restrictions just by opening their mouths, and the military needs to provide force protection.

The army of the military said... The guarantee of military force is not simple. As long as you pay extra war money, I will beat whoever you ask my army to fight...From the southeast Asian countries in the south to Zhungeer in the west, Tsarist Russia, whatever you want .

It doesn’t take much, just give me 5000 million taels of military expenses, and my army will give you a battle to destroy the country tomorrow!
The faces of several civil servants in the cabinet who heard it were dark, 5000 million taels of military expenditure, why not go to heaven, it is all a dream in broad daylight!

The army still wants to bargain, saying that there is no 5000 million taels, but 3000 million taels are fine... Oh, don't go, 2000 million taels are also fine... It's all negotiable!
The navy is not as open-minded as the army. The navy's opinions are very pragmatic. It is the navy's unshirkable responsibility to protect the empire's free trade. Can.

For example, get a few overseas military bases for our navy or something.

With overseas military bases, our navy's force projection can reach the predetermined area, otherwise we can only stare blankly...

After several rounds of consultations between the military and the cabinet, a series of policies were finalized. With the Ministry of Ethics and Education as the leader and the army and navy cooperating, first strive to acquire more overseas military bases and expand the scope and speed of overseas troop projection.

Only then can we respond to trade restrictions in a certain area in a targeted manner.

Overseas trade, including overseas bases, is in line with the navy's southward policy, and the navy naturally strongly supports it.

And the army did not express any objection!

If we really want to have overseas military bases, it is difficult to rely on the navy's warships to go ashore to garrison and attack other countries. It is not possible to have their army come.

As long as there are battles to be fought, there will be military expenditures and military exploits, and that is a good thing.

After the high-level empire made a preliminary decision, the Great Chu Empire increased its diplomatic ties with several countries.

The first to bear the brunt of course is Annan!
The merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire were going to trade in Nanyang, starting from Guangzhou and sailing all the way south, without a foothold along the way...

And the same goes for battleships!

For this reason, they want to build a port in the Annan area, mainly in the southern area, to conduct trade and park warships, and use it as the outpost and logistics base of the Great Chu Empire in the Nanyang area.

At the same time, the Annan area is now divided into north and south. The Zheng family in the north and the Ruan family in the south are actively seeking the support of the Great Chu Empire.

Because the Great Chu Empire is on the side of Annan, no matter which side the Great Chu Empire leans towards, it can lead to a great advantage for either side, and it is easy to unify Annan.

Since both sides have something to ask for from the empire, then the empire will naturally open its bloody mouth and start asking for benefits!

The attitude of the Great Chu Empire also made Annan and the two sides more active, and both wanted to get the support of the Great Chu Empire one step ahead.

After a series of negotiations, the Ruan family took the lead in making concessions. They were willing to open up all the markets in the area under their control and allow the products of the Great Chu Empire, including industrial products such as cotton cloth, to enter the market at a fixed and low tariff. The Cam Ranh Bay and part of the surrounding area, which belonged to the puppet Champa Kingdom under the control of the Chu family, will be sold to the Great Chu Empire for mooring ships and setting up commercial halls.

The Great Chu Empire paid a one-time land purchase fee of 5 taels of silver to Champa for Jin Ranwan, and paid a service fee of 10 taels of silver to the Ruan family. The Nguyen regime was responsible for persuading Champa to agree and a series of other matters.

At the same time, the Great Chu Empire promised to increase the amount of imported food, timber and other local commodities from the Ruan family, at least double the existing basis, and relax the restrictions on immigration to the Ruan family to solve the Ruan family's control. The area is too underpopulated, and the land is too sparsely populated to be open to the predicament.

The Great Chu Empire will supply Ruan with [-] arquebus guns, [-] field cannons of various calibers, [-] sets of various armors, [-] knives, spears and other cold weapons at a fair price, and allow Ruan to use food, wood, etc. And other specialty goods to bargain.

This series of agreements between the two parties is actually the price of selling Cam Ranh Bay and fully opening the market, in exchange for the support of the Great Chu Empire in terms of funds and weapons.

Although the Ruan family was able to purchase all kinds of weapons and equipment from the merchants of the Great Chu Empire before, the price was expensive!
And the various weapons and equipment exported this time, although not brand new, are second-hand goods retired from various second-class divisions of the Great Chu Empire, but the price is very cheap... basically just buying scrap iron money.

In this way, the Ruan family obtained a large number of cheap weapons and equipment, a large amount of cash, human resources needed for future development, and increased trade with the Great Chu Empire, as well as what this treaty represents: The support of the Great Chu Empire!
The Great Chu Empire obtained a fully open market in an area and a port as an overseas military base.

In June of the 12th year of Chengshun, the Great Chu Empire and the Ruan family formally signed a treaty in Jinling City. The next day, Luo Zhixue approved the treaty, and the Chu-Ruan Jinlan Bay Treaty officially came into effect.

A few days after the treaty came into effect, a group of merchant ships carried arquebus armor and cold weapons to the Ruan's control area, and at the same time, a group of merchant ships carried various construction materials and a large number of craftsmen to Jinling Bay to build a base.

In addition to construction personnel and supplies, the Jinling Bay Squadron organized by the navy has more than a dozen warships and auxiliary warships of various types, and it also carries more than 1000 marines and more than 1000 army troops to garrison.

The Great Chu Empire officially set off to march into the hinterland of Nanyang, and the action was far bigger than the previous Burmese Dagon base.

Although there is also a base on Dagon's side, due to various restrictions, the scale of construction is limited, and the scale of garrison is also limited.

Unlike Cam Ranh Bay, in order to put the area into use as soon as possible, the Great Chu Empire organized a large number of ships and craftsmen to build it in one go.

The garrison strength is more than 2000 ground combat troops in the first batch of personnel, and according to the military plan, after the construction of local barracks and other facilities is completed, the number of troops will be further increased, and eventually the local army and navy troops stationed will reach In the end, 1 people became the forward military base of the Great Chu Empire facing the Nanyang region.

For the further expansion of the Great Chu Empire in the Nanyang region, provide military strength and various logistical guarantees!

In other words, after learning that the Ruan family and the Great Chu Empire reached an agreement, the Zheng family, the actual controller of the northern part of Annan, couldn't sit still...

While scolding the Ruan family for ceding the territory, losing power and humiliating the country, they hurriedly sent people to Jinling City.

When I found the officials of the Ministry of Rites and Education of the Great Chu Empire, they said, we can also fully open the market, and we welcome businessmen from the Shang Kingdom of Huaxia the most.

And we have a lot of ports and so on, you can choose whatever you want, and I will make room for you tomorrow.

In this regard, the officials of the Ministry of Ritual and Education of the Great Chu Empire naturally warmly welcomed the envoys of the Zheng family!
They all took the initiative to send them to the market and to the port, so it’s not welcome if you don’t welcome them...

(End of this chapter)