Lord of the House: Chapter 23 Southeast Asia expansion

Upon hearing that Zhen Feng and others had arrived in Haizhou, Lin Fu did not delay in Shouzhou any longer. He and Gao Zongting, Wang Chengfu, Sun Shangwang, Song Jia, Liu Miaozhen and others took a boat from Shouzhou to Haizhou to meet him. From Haidong.

From Shouzhou down the Huai River, the speed is very fast, but it still takes three or four days to reach Haizhou. During these three or four days, Lin Fu and Gao Zongting, Wang Chengfu, Sun Shangwang and others further detailed The discussion on the policies and policies of overseas colonists.

Lin Bie sat in the cabin with the window wall open, and sat around the table with the others, talking eloquently: "Huaidong's trade infiltration to Haidong began to be admired for eleven years. , Dongzhou Governor's Office as a foothold, in the form of a free trade port, in just a few years, the regional trade scale of Haidong has reached more than 20 million silver dollars. In comparison, Nanyang covers a larger area, only Including the Nanyang Islands and the Annan Kingdom, the area is six to eight times that of Haidong, and the population is also two to three times that of Haidong; further west, it is said that the Jinduo Dynasty (now South Asia, India, etc.) is full of gold. Land), its area and population are comparable to those of the Yuan Yue before the war, and there will be hundreds of millions - which means that the near-term development potential of the Nanyang region is more than ten times that of the Haidong region: Shangwang, Chengfu, you The pressure on your shoulders is not light..."

Sun Shangwang nodded, the trade volume should be ten times that of the Haidong region, that is 20,000,000 silver dollars. But now relying on free trade, in the past five or six years, the annual trade volume with the countries in the Nanyang region has reached 10 million silver dollars, almost reaching the bottleneck position, and it is not difficult to increase it by 20 times. .

Sun Shangwang said: "If you want to continue to expand the scale of trade in Nanyang, one is to continue to extend the route to the west, and the other is to learn the example of Haidong..."

Learning from Haidong is the combination of military and trade expansion. When necessary, military deterrence and occupation can be carried out, directly or in cooperation with local nobles, to exploit the resources urgently needed in Huaidong, and gold, silver and copper mines, etc., or forcibly in the local area. The large-scale planting of cotton cane for Huaidong is not enough, rather than only limited to traditional trade goods.

Just like the traditional trade goods of Haiyang County, when the large-scale trade with other forces in Haidong was not enough, Huaidong Bank borrowed a large amount of money from the Haiyang clan so that they could organize cheaper locally. labor, mining high-quality Shannan coal to supply Jianghuai.

It has not only penetrated into trade, but will be developed into a new financial colonization strategy - Huaidong Bank lends money to overseas forces, relying on the powerful naval forces behind it, and is not afraid that Haiyang County will not return the money. money, you can also sit and eat money and earn great interest. However, if this strategy is implemented, Huaidong Bank and the forces behind it need to maintain the naval force that is threatening overseas, and it is even more necessary for the center to maintain a strategy of continuous overseas expansion.

All factors are complementary to each other. Without a strategy of external expansion and a strong naval armament, many forces gathered under Huaidong Bank and Heishuiyang Shipping Society will have no way to obtain excess profits from overseas; There are many forces under Huaidong Bank and Heishuiyang Shipping Society. If you want to continuously obtain excess profits from overseas, you must ensure that the center maintains the strategy of overseas expansion and maintains a strong naval armament.

After the administration of the public government, the core of the support center is actually mainly composed of the forces that support the expansion and expansion of the merchants. The establishment of Zhuangshang Yinzhuang completely tied the center to the road of outward expansion and expansion.

"Well," Lin Fu nodded and said, "This time, I will convene Haidong Zhuxiongs in Haizhou to discuss this time, so that you and Chengfu will also participate, that is, to colonize Shangyinzhuang and Nanyang Shipping Society to seriously think about Haidong. model."

The establishment of Huaidong Bank originated from the "Dian Qian Discussion Strategy" presented by Wang Chengfu in the eleventh year of Chongguan.

It's just that the Huaidong Bank established at that time mainly absorbed the principal from the Haishang Group and the Dongyang Township Party in the initial stage, and Wang Chengfu at that time also lacked the qualifications, so Lin Fu used Zhou Guangnan and Lin Mengde to preside over the matter.

This time, using Wang Chengfu to preside over the establishment of the merchant bank is a balance, and with Wang Chengfu's talent, his familiarity with the operation of the bank will not be lower than that of Zhou Guangnan and others; and Sun Shangwang was also the first to help Lin Shou's operation The core figures of Jinhai Grain Road are skilled in ship administration, transportation and military administration.

Therefore, Lin Fu designated Wang and Sun as the core figures in the next trade expansion in the Nanyang region.

Sun Shangwang said, "At the moment, there is an urgent need for islands in the South China Sea that can be used to build military ports. One of them is Luga Island in the southwest of Luzon. Its area is comparable to that of Xisha Island, and the sea can lead to Luzon, Sulu, Ma Mann and other island countries. The Luga natives had been conquered by the Luzon Kingdom 16 years ago, and only thousands of people remained on the island to farm as slaves. Wei Chen bought the entire Luga Island and thousands of slaves with a boat of silk. If you want to build a military port and garrison, Luga Island is the most convenient..."

Lin Fu recalled that the United States bought Arras from Tsarist Russia for millions of dollars in later generations. He also intended to use money to open the way for the expansion of the South China Sea in order to reduce the local resistance.

Lake silk is gorgeous, thin and light, and it is sold in Southeast Asia. It is especially expensive. A boat of lake silk is worth hundreds of thousands of silver or even millions of taels in Southeast Asia. Compared to the borders of the border and the desert island where the slaves were parasitic, the nobles of Luzon did not feel that there was any disadvantage in this deal.

At present, the trade in Nanyang is mainly based on luxury goods such as silk and tea porcelain. Although the Nanyang region does not have the luxury of these luxury goods, the trade volume is limited and will soon reach a bottleneck. In the future, Lin Fu will mainly focus on primary industrial products such as new cloth and ironware, which will affect the traditional interests of local forces and will be strongly attacked. At the same time, the vigorous maritime trade will breed the large-scale investigation of pirate forces.

Whether it is forcibly opening the trade gates of the countries in the South China Sea, suppressing the pirate forces around the shipping routes, or maintaining the smooth flow of trade routes, it is necessary to maintain a deterrent naval armament in the South China Sea.

An island of almost 700 to 800 square kilometers, easy to build a military port, and close to Luzon, Sulu and other countries, and located on the South China Sea route, Lin Fu is willing to exchange ten boats of lake silk or even more goods; Hu silk for a big island, it is very cheap.

Looking at Sun Shangwang's detailed map of Nanyang Island, Lin Fu said, "The Governor's Office of Luga can be set up to govern island affairs and business affairs with Luzon, Sulu and other countries; for candidates, you need to be familiar with Nanyang affairs...then Just go to Sizong," Lin Fu looked at Sun Sizong, the young man standing beside Sun Shangwang, and asked, "Why, don't you think that Lujia is a hot wasteland?"

Sun Sizong was Sun Shangwang's eldest brother. He survived the war in Yannan when he was only seventeen years old. Later, he was with Sun Shangwang as an official, and he was only twenty-six years old at this time.

Sun Shangwang ruled Yizhou, and once sent Sun Sizong to go to Nanyang twice with the ship to investigate the customs and customs of the countries in Nanyang.

At this time, Lujia Island was only a semi-developed island where thousands of Fannu lived, while Huaidong had only built a supply base in Lujia, stationed more than 100 soldiers and several offshore warships. Speaking of prosperity The degree is not even as good as that of the townships in the Jiangnan area.

However, the newly established Luga Governor's Mansion is even half a rank higher than ordinary state capitals. Although the island is barren, it is on the golden route from Quanyi to Luzon, Sulu and other countries. It has protected routes, The task of fighting pirates.

In addition to a certain number of island guards under the direct jurisdiction of the Governor's Office, the elite combat power of the navy will be stationed for a long time to threaten the surrounding pirate forces and Luzon, Sulu and other countries.

Even if nothing else, just mastering hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile soil and thousands of slaves is a great power - such a beautiful messenger falls on the head of Sun Sizong. In addition to Sun Sizong's familiarity with Nanyang affairs, Lin Fu also considered Sun Shangwang's uncle and nephew's hard work in governing Yizhou over the years.

"Sizong will definitely live up to the heavy responsibility of the lord!" Sun Sizong stood upright and swore an oath to show his loyalty.

Lin Fu waved his hand and asked Sun Sizong not to be too serious, and said, "Lujia Island is half hills and half fertile soil. The Fan people also have a tradition of planting sugarcane. If the farmer's silver farm can't eat all of it, they can sell part of the fertile soil. Planting sugarcane orchards for the Zhejiang and Fujian businessmen will not be restricted by the new tax policy in the Mainland - this will also be able to raise funds for the operation of Lujia Island. As for the island guards, I will give you the establishment of a battalion of water infantry. It will be transferred to you by the military. Ordinary soldiers can be recruited from the coasts of Zhejiang and Fujian; for the officials of the governor's office, you can choose a list to report to the Privy Council's selection department; for the navy, I want Zhao Qingshan to rotate a brigade from the southeast coast. The warship is stationed on Luga Island; if it is produced locally on Luga Island, I will give you a five-year tax holiday, and then it will be the same as Jeju..." In addition to the appointment of officers of the island guard force and the rotation of the navy, Lin Fu also tried his best to More to Sun Sizong's autonomy in governing Luga.

The center can't allocate too much money to operate Lujia Island at the moment, so the main business will be the farmer's bank, but it can't completely enslave the slave labor. In order to achieve the goal of occupying Luga Island forever.

Luga Island has 20,000 to 300,000 mu of fertile soil suitable for planting sugarcane orchards, and thousands of slaves can be used as extremely cheap labor. The merchants in Zhejiang and Fujian are not very unfamiliar with Nanyang, especially those who traveled through Nanyang with boats. As long as the land is cheap enough to operate sugarcane plantations in Nanyang, it is still very attractive - even if no one applies, Sun Shangwang and Sun Sizong govern the government. With the prestige accumulated by Yizhou over the years, it is not impossible to raise hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from Yizhou, Quanzhou and other places together with the colonial merchant Yinzhuang to raise thousands of farmers to operate Lujia Island.

Lin Fu and Sun Shangwang said again: "It is not enough to set up the Luga Governor's Mansion. Between Bala and Johor, it is necessary to set up a naval base and the Governor's Mansion. Which place do you think is suitable..."

The Strait of Johor, the later Strait of Malacca, is the only place for the Southeast Asia route to lead to the Jidu Dynasty. Only by building a naval base near the Johor Strait can the Southeast Asian trade route extend smoothly to the Jidu Dynasty.

In addition, Borneo, the later Indonesia, was also known as the Golden State in the former Chen Dynasty. It was famous for its rich gold production. Lin Fu wanted to implement the new policy and needed a large amount of precious metals as currency, whether it was trade penetration or forced acquisition. Regardless of whether it is a robbery, the Privy Council needs to be able to directly use the gold and silver resources of Borneo at this time.

In fact, in addition to the gold and silver mines in Borneo, the merchant ships going out of the South Ocean brought Lin Fu two more important products of Borneo, and Lin Fu attached great importance to the trade penetration of Borneo.

One is Borneo kerosene and the other is Borneo Ash.

The so-called Brahma oil is oil. On the other hand, the oil reservoirs in Borneo are very shallow, easy to exploit, and the oil quality is so good that it can be used directly as lamp oil without refining. Borneo has been accustomed to exploiting oil for burning lamps, and it is known as Borneo fire oil in Southeast Asia.

Lin Fu couldn't think of other uses for oil at this time. Perhaps before the invention of the internal combustion engine, the use of oil was not too wide, but it was only used as lamp oil, and the benefits were great, and the cost of transporting it to the Jianghuai area for sale was very low.

If large-scale mines are set up for mining, the cost will drop significantly.

In order to have a stronger lighting source for the navigation lighthouse, Huaidong even extracted light oil from the residual oil residue of smoldering coal, and the cost was 20 to 30 times that of Bharat oil. Regardless of the rest, the dozens of large lighthouses set up by Huaidong in Hecheng, Changshan Island, Haizhou and other places cost tens of thousands of silver dollars each year for kerosene alone.

After switching to Salo kerosene, the cost of burning oil in the lighthouse plummeted to one-tenth.

Lin Fu remembered that there are oil reserves in the northeast, but the oil reservoirs are very deep, and the oil reservoirs with a depth of one thousand meters are obviously not exploitable by the current technical level.

At present, the technology of mining salt brine by drilling wells in Shu is extremely deep.

There should be shallow oil in the Western Regions. History books and miscellaneous histories also record that the Western Regions have black fire oil production, which should be oil, but the high cost of land transportation. If you want to use the oil mined in the Western Regions in the Jianghuai, you will be called to think about it. collapse.

From Borneo to the mouth of the Yangtze River, although there are thousands of miles of sea routes, sea ships go back and forth between Jianghuai and Borneo, and it takes four or five months to travel.

But a Lin Zhengjun-class sea vessel can transport more than ten thousand barrels of kerosene.

When the price of kerosene and pork was the same in the world, a pound of meat in Jiangning was worth 60 yuan, and a barrel of 120 jin of kerosene was worth more than seven silver dollars. Sea-going ships can transport kerosene worth nearly 100,000 silver dollars to Jianghuai for sale within two or three months.

And these kerosene are purchased from Borneo Island and transported by sea to Jianghuai, and the cost is not 10,000 silver dollars. Even if the oil sold in Jianghuai and other places is reduced by half, one boat trip can earn nearly 40,000 silver dollars.

Today, a Lin Zhengjun-class maritime merchant ship that can go far seas costs only 40,000 silver dollars. That is to say, if you take a trip to sell kerosene, you can earn a Lin Zhengjun-class maritime merchant ship, and the profit is very high. amazing.

Lin Fu wants to promote the glazed lanterns on a large scale. One reason is the high cost of glazed lanterns. What's more important is that the farmers of the current generation cannot burn lamp oil at night. Even now, the shallow oil resources in Borneo are not enough. It's also called Lin Bie coveting.

Even if it is used as traditional lamp oil, as long as the price is low enough, the potential annual demand of 50 million people in Jianghuai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei and other places will be millions of barrels. Regional dumping.

Another one is Borneo ash, which is actually volcanic ash deposited by an eruption of unknown year. In Borneo, the locals used this volcanic ash to fertilize fields and plaster to build houses.

Borneo ash was transported to Jianghuai by commercial ships. In the past two or three years, small-scale trial production has been carried out to improve the quality of coastal sand. The cotton grain production in the sandy fields can directly catch up with the Shangshu fields in the south of the Yangtze River. When Poloshan ash is mixed into the slurry, the adhesion is comparable to that of the three-in-one slurry.

Borneo Ash is actually a kind of natural mineral fertilizer and natural concrete. Although the value is not as good as that of Borneo kerosene, it is also a profitable cargo to be transported to JAC.

The frequent occurrence of volcanoes in Borneo makes its land extremely fertile, and it is also the first choice for the development of various plantations. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

Therefore, Lin Fu needs to have a stronger military presence near Borneo. If possible and necessary, when there is spare capacity, he will even be willing to military annexation of Borneo. Due to the memory of later generations, Lin Fu also did not have a good impression of Indonesia.

"There is a peninsula named Putan in the southeast of Johor, which seems to be connected or broken with Johor. When the tide rises, the water is cut off, and the tide ebbs and silts the land." Sun Shangwang pointed to the chart of the South China Sea and said to Lin Fu that it is suitable to occupy the area between Borneo and Johor. The location of the military station in the port, "Thus, although it is connected to the land, there is no passage to connect it, and it is regarded as abandoned land for the Johor country. Only three or five thousand Fan people make a living by fishing. In the early years, Nanyang merchant ships often exchanged fresh water with the Fan people. , food, then bought a village and built a small fort..."

In fact, before today, the foreign trade penetration of Nanyang Merchant Ships had learned from the Haidong model everywhere, and built several supply grounds on the route.

From the end of the previous dynasty to the founding of Yuan and Yue, a large number of remnants fled to the sea to settle in Nanyang. Before the East China Sea pirates flourished, many bankrupt and landless peasants in Zhejiang, Fujian and other places went to the South China Sea to seek livelihoods, making the South China Sea countries such as Luzon, Sulu, Borneo, Johor, Annam and other countries in many coastal or island areas, with a large number of Central Plains The seamen who moved south were begging for a living, and their status was extremely low.

This is the basis for the large-scale expansion of the Nanyang Commercial Line in just five or six years.

"Johor is farther away from the mainland, and the previous dynasty's penetration into Brahma and Johor was limited and its influence was not deep, so a stronger military presence was needed," Lin Fu said to Gao Zongting and others, "You should discuss and see if there are suitable candidates. About how many water infantry troops should be sent to the past. Occupy Putang, don't think about saving money. Buy it for hundreds of thousands of taels. In the future, if the people of Johor want to get it back, they can openly say: This piece of land is our money. Bought it; not to mention the money..." My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter