Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2096 Yellow Crane Tower ([-])

On March 1690, 3, Chen Ming arrived in Wuchang from Madang by boat.

He was on board the "Yaksa"-class armed transport ship "Chukochi" that Li Nanxian had been thinking about day and night.The ship departed from Ningbo Dinghai Port and loaded a large amount of spices from India and Persia, as well as some whale products, hardware tools, swords and folding fans (from Japan), medicinal fur (from Korea) and a little dyed calico.Its destination was Shatou City, a famous commercial port in the Qing Dynasty, an inland port city opened to merchants from all over the world, and its business was very prosperous.

Due to the current dangerous political climate between the two countries, it is unlikely that the goods on this ship will be unloaded at the ports in their territory, such as Jiujiang, Wuchang, Yuezhou and other places frequented by people from the east coast.The place they went to was Shatou City, which is still under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, a port city with a wide range of radiation.

Since the opening of Shatou City, businessmen from all over the world have gathered here, including those from Huguang and Sichuan, and of course there are also businessmen from the east coast from overseas. The trade is very prosperous, which has effectively promoted the economic development of nearby areas.People from the east coast have a ship coming over almost every month, usually a 250-ton "Yaksa"-class armed transport ship, which can not only pull goods, but also fight. area.

And the goods brought over by the "Yaksa" class armed transport ship will cause a sensation in the market without exception.In this inland port city, generally speaking, it is really difficult to see merchants or commodities from overseas. Not so bad, it seriously affected people's desire to buy.But people from the east coast directly use large boats to bring them here. Not only are they of good quality, but the price is relatively cheap, and they are very trustworthy in doing business, so they are very popular in Shatou City. They were sold out, and then replaced with tea, daily necessities, silk, medicinal materials, cotton, grain and other commodities to return to the voyage.

Originally, people from the East Coast would also drive a "Yacsa" class to Wuchang City every month, but now this route has been completely cancelled, and it is unknown when it will resume.If Shunguo merchants want to buy goods from the East Coast, they can only go to Shatou City and look for them in the market.Especially those metal farm tools and hardware tools that are very in short supply, they have to spend more money than before to buy them back, so they don't mention how depressed they are.

The Chinese at the end of the 17th century tasted the trade embargo for the first time!

Chen Ming disembarked from the boat far away in the middle of the river, and then hired a small fishing boat with his followers, and slowly went ashore.Behind them, the "Chukotka" armed transport ship whistled loudly, then puffed out black smoke, drew a beautiful arc, and sailed upstream.

Because the northwest wind was blowing and it was going upstream, the sails of the "Chukchi" were tightly folded, and it was propelled by steam power alone, heading for Shatou City at a speed of two knots.There were quite a few boatmen and fishermen from Shunguo on the river. They stood on the boat, staring blankly at this huge ship breaking through the waves, wondering what they were thinking.And beside them, there are two sentinel boats of the Shunguo Navy. They usually run very fast, but this meeting can only make the sailors struggle to shake the oars and sail on the river at a turtle speed. Compared with the swift and flying "Chu Keqi", it is really a difference between clouds and mud.

"Mr. Li, I haven't seen you for a long time. I miss you very much." As soon as the fishing boat docked, Chen Ming leaped onto the trestle bridge, looked at the big comprador Li Nanxian who came to greet him, and said with a laugh.

Li Nan also laughed when he heard the words, stepped forward and shook hands according to the etiquette of people from the east coast, then looked at Chen Ming, and said teasingly: "It's a little darker than when he just came back from the middle of Sichuan. From this point of view, the water and soil in the middle of Sichuan really nourish people." Well, Station Master Chen is like a fish in water there."

Li Nanxian was quite familiar with Chen Ming. He had called traffic many times, and basically every time it was related to intelligence espionage.Of course, what he spies is not confidential information, but political, social or economic information that is in a public or semi-public state. It's just a little more efficient. After all, Li Nanxian is also a prominent figure in Shunguo, and he has a lot of friends.

But Li Nanxian really didn't like too much contact with Chen Ming.The reason is actually easy to understand. He is now doing more and more businesses. Not only does he have a roasted tea factory in Yangloudong, which processes tea and then exports it, but also invests a lot of money in establishing the Dafa Yonghang Shipping Company, which has established Wuchang and Shatou. The shipping trade between the cities is so big that there is almost no one in Shunguo who can surpass it except for a few officials and businessmen with their own hands.In such a situation, he wanted to avoid suspicion and reduce contact with people from the east coast, so as not to arouse the suspicion of Shunguo's high-level officials and affect his future development.

Chen Ming is a smart person, so of course he can smell a little bit of smell from the clues that Li Nanxian shows in his daily life.He scoffed at Li Nanxian's idea, thinking that this person was really blinded by the big business and big scenes he was currently running, and he didn't even know that he was already a villain in the eyes of many people and a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.The reason why he hasn't come to such a tragic end now is not because he has a fairly close relationship with the people on the east bank. Many people are afraid of the relationship inside and dare not make a sudden move.

Li Nanxian is also a smart person, and sooner or later he will be able to figure this out, but at present he is confused by the trust and development space given by the monarch and ministers of the Shun Kingdom, and he does not know how to protect himself.Apart from other things, if Dafa Yong really buys some advanced ships, can Li Nan guarantee that no one will come to fight for the control of the ship company?This kind of thing is not uncommon in history!

"It's not as big as the scene created by Mr. Li. Mr. Chen ran around all day without accomplishing anything, and he felt ashamed." Chen Ming smiled and said a few idle words, then pulled Li Nanxian's sleeve, and asked in a low voice: "But Have a place to talk?"

Li Nan was taken aback when he heard the words, then nodded silently, and led Chen Ming and his party to the top floor of the Yellow Crane Tower.After asking Xiao Er to make a pot of tea, he waved his hand to let everyone back out, then looked at Chen Ming without saying a word.

Chen Ming rubbed his head, and then asked in a low voice: "Your country's southern expedition, how to deal with the newly acquired Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi?"

Li Nan's scalp felt a little numb when he heard it first.Why did you come to me to ask about this kind of military affairs?Don't you have a good relationship with Yuan Bao, He Daoning and Liu Zhonggui?Why not ask them?They only bully honest people like me.However, he had no choice but to answer Chen Ming's question. He could only think about it before he said in a deep voice: "Guangxi was brought down by the imperial soldiers and horses. Naturally, there will be no objections. Although there are still some soldiers and horses in the Sichuan Shogunate Fighting in the west of Guangxi, but it will be a matter of time to withdraw. In Guangxi, the imperial court cannot let go!"

"Most areas of Guizhou were recruited to surrender. The imperial army controlled Guiyang City, but there are still many chieftains in the local area who are obedient and violating, and refuse to surrender. Or there are some hypocritical and remnant soldiers in a certain place, who do many evils. All these require the mobilization of large troops to attack , It seems that the imperial court will not transfer the Sichuan army in." Li Nanxian continued: "The power of the Sichuan army has expanded too fast this time, and it has reached the limit of the imperial court's tolerance."

"I heard that He Daoning from Yunyang Mansion took the initiative to invite Ying to go to Guizhou to suppress the bandits. Is there anything more to this matter?" Chen Ming asked again.

"I didn't write anything, it's probably rejected. Don't ask me too much, I really don't know." Li Nanxian said with a wry smile: "I'm just a businessman. Tell me everything, tell me everything, and what I know is limited.”

Chen Ming smiled when he heard the words, then frowned and thought.He Daoning took the initiative to invite Ying to go to Guizhou to suppress the bandits, he knew about it.As for He Dao Ning'an's intentions, he is also very clear, it is nothing more than wanting to imitate Zuoying's old practice and get a piece of land.Although Guizhou looks a little poor, but no matter how poor it is, it is better than the Yunyang mansion where I was impoverished.Not only was Yunyang Mansion poor, but it was also on the front line against the enemy. It could be said that if one was not careful, he might become cannon fodder and be wiped out by the Qing army.

Similar to it is the Youying in Wuchang Prefecture. Both of them are on the front line, and neither has a strategic rear, so they both have a strong urge to find new sites.It's just that the Changsha court is not stupid. It is a last resort to ask the Zuoying in Sichuan to assist in sending troops. Could it be that Li Laiheng wants to create another warlord to disgust himself?Impossible!

Therefore, Chen Ming can imagine that it is basically impossible for more than [-] people from He Daoning's department to go to Guizhou to suppress bandits.Judging from the current situation, Li Laiheng is bound to bring Guizhou and Guangxi into the direct jurisdiction. Then he will hold more than half of Huguang, all of Jiangxi, most of Guangxi and Guizhou province in his hands, and his strength will be greatly enhanced. The other ministries continue to maintain a coercive posture-the strength is superior, and at the same time they have a righteous reputation. Small hills and small warlords are still pushed to the front line, and it can be said that it will be easy to clean up in the future.

The only thing that gave Li Laiheng a headache was probably Liu Zhonggui's troops in the Zuoying Army who had already led the army to occupy most of Yunnan.This guy originally had 7 soldiers and horses in Sichuan (including the incorporated Wu Sangui soldiers and horses). After being abolished by Changsha, there are still [-] soldiers, and the scale is still very large.

This time they went south to attack Ming, and the department directly attacked Yunnan, which actually defeated the main force of the Ming army.Hao Ping, the commander of the Silver Spear Army, has been busy in Guangxi for a long time. In fact, the opponents are all the local troops of the Ming army. It is far less magnificent than Liu Zhonggui leading the main force to fight Li Dingguo.And after Li Dingguo died of illness and Liu Zhonggui occupied most of Yunnan, he incorporated tens of thousands of Ming troops, and the total force once again expanded to over a hundred thousand. He also held two provinces at the same time, and his strength grew rapidly, which made many people worried. .

Chen Ming can even imagine how troublesome Changsha is now.Yunnan was brought down by Liu Zhonggui, and he paid a considerable price, so it seems to be a matter of course for him to manage it.But the problem is that Li Laiheng wanted to take Yunnan back under the direct control of the government, and he didn't want to hand it over to the Sichuan shogunate, because Liu Zhonggui's status and prestige in the two provinces was already a bit delicate, and Li Laiheng didn't like this feeling.

Although Liu Zhonggui is usually very submissive, he may not have the intention of rebelling—even if he wants to rebel, maybe other people may not agree, after all, the righteous name of the Li family is still there—but Li Laiheng just feels uncomfortable and wants to make Yunnan out of the country. Zuoying was stripped from his subordinates, and then he sent officials to appoint the ruler.

It's just - can Liu Zhonggui agree to operate like this?No one can answer this question.But judging from some revealed clues, Li Laiheng is still inclined to give it a try.It is said that he is going to order to praise Liu Zhonggui, and promote him to the title of Liang Guogong—the reason why he is not Shu Guogong may be because he can’t let his name be justified. Conquered Nanming and occupied Yunnan.But after receiving this reward, he, Liu Zhonggui, would of course lead his troops back to Sichuan, and the newly acquired land of Yunnan would naturally be managed by the imperial court sending officials and troops.

This matter is actually very interesting. How Liu Zhonggui will react in the end has a lot to ponder.However, Chen Ming predicts that no matter what the outcome is, the two monarchs and ministers, Li and Liu, should not turn their faces at this time. One is because the enemy is still there, and civil strife cannot be caused first. The other is because the two sides are interdependent, and Li Laiheng needs Liu Zhonggui. To contain the Shaanxi-Gansu-Qing army and reduce the pressure on the frontal battlefield, Liu Zhonggui also needed muskets, cannons, armor and other equipment produced in Changsha. The military production capacity of his Sichuan shogunate was still too weak.

But no matter what, the seeds of the monarch's suspicion had already been planted.As long as Liu Zhonggui refused to hand over Yunnan, Li Laiheng would never be able to trust him, and would always doubt his position of the Sichuan shogunate, and the outcome would not be very good.Now is the time to test the political wisdom of Liu Zhonggui and Li Laiheng. Chen Ming will wait and see what will happen to them in the end.

Next, Chen Ming asked Li Nanxian about Shunguo's economic situation, which made him feel a little relieved.As for the economy, Lao Li still understands it, and it is safer to talk about it than those military affairs.

Li Nan first mainly introduced the development of Huguang industry and commerce to Chen Ming, pointing out that the number of people starting businesses began to increase, several ports such as Baling and Wuchang were busy all day long, and the flow of personnel and goods was greatly accelerated.In addition, the Shunguo Household Department is planning to promote the campaign of abolishing the two coins and changing the yuan across the country, intending to replace the non-standard broken silver with self-made silver coins, although they seem to have encountered some technical problems at present.Finally, Li Nan first mentioned the suggestion of someone in the Changsha court to set up a government-run Dashun Bank following the old practices of the Eastern Dynasty, hire professionals to manage it, and formulate many laws and regulations to prosper the country's commerce.

Chen Ming listened to this with relish, and from time to time told his followers to write down the key points.This is all useful information. After we go back, we will hold a meeting to discuss it, and then confirm it with the information obtained from all parties. Then we can get a general outline of Shunguo's economic policy. It is very important for Ning Shao to formulate corresponding policies in the future. It has reference value.

After talking about this, Li Nanxian suddenly asked when the East and Shun countries would resume business and trade personnel exchanges, and when they could re-order ships.In this regard, Chen Ming could only spread his hands together, and said helplessly: "It's nowhere in sight!"

(End of this chapter)