Iron Dynasty

From the windows on the top floor of Mikila Castle, you can see the full view of Geranja city opposite.

At this time, Xiao Ming and Claire looked at the merchant ships passing through the port of Geranja City at the same time. These merchant ships came from Manila and went to the Dutch colony of Manila again after they were filled with goods.

In Manila, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce transfers the goods back home.

Since the relationship with the King of Chu broke down, and now the Japanese country is trying to invade Ryukyu, now Claire has no choice but to do business with Xiao Ming. After all, the Dutch merchants who have arrived at the port during this time are complaining about the shortage of goods.

His Royal Highness, we have been looking forward to it for a long time. Now our merchant ship is waiting for goods at the port. I hope Your Highness can provide us with goods. Claire looked solemn.

During this period, the chaos in East Asia seriously affected commerce and trade.

In this case, you can now hand over the required goods to this king, and this king will let the merchant ship transport the goods you need back from Dengzhou. Of course, you have to pay for the goods.

Looking at the sea, Claire said calmly, Of course, we have always followed business rules, and now Europe has a huge demand for porcelain, raw silk, silk, and tea from Dayu, and the prices of these commodities are relatively high in Europe. It is our main trade commodity, and I hope His Royal Highness can provide us with it as soon as possible.

No problem, this king will return to Dengzhou in the next two days, and then the goods will arrive. Xiao Ming smiled brightly. In the past, maritime trade was almost monopolized by the king of Chu, and now this piece of fat has finally landed in his mouth. But remembering one thing, he asked curiously: Excuse this king's presumption, can Earl Claire tell this king how much silver has flowed into the hands of King Chu.

Hearing this, Claire frowned, but thinking that she might have nothing to do with the King of Chu in the future, she said to Rhode, Rhode, you should know better than me.

In the past 40 years, we have handed over 3,000 tons of silver to the King of Chu. According to the calculation of the Great Yu Kingdom, it is 60 million taels of silver. Rhode said, recalling the accounts of these years.

Sixty million taels of silver!

Xiao Ming almost jumped up from his chair. He finally understood why the Cao family was so wealthy and why the King of Chu was so reckless. It was all about money.

Closing his eyes, Xiao Ming let out a soft sigh of relief. He rummaged through the technology library for contemporary economic data, and his heart suddenly fluctuated.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, China had a long-term surplus in overseas trade, and most of the time, the exchange rate of gold and silver was lower than that of foreign countries, which made foreigners think that they were taking advantage of it. unwilling?

Thinking so, this led Europeans to use silver as currency to buy goods. At first, the silver mainly flowed in from Spain and Portugal. Later, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom established the absolute status of silver export.

This large net inflow of silver lasted roughly from the 1570s to the 1830s. Scholars at home and abroad have made various estimates of the inflow of silver into China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and concluded that in the 250 years before 1800, China received nearly 48,000 tons of silver, maybe 10,000 tons or more from Manila, plus others, a total of about 60,000 tons of silver, a total of 1.6 billion silver taels inflow.

. a lot of.

Claire noticed Xiao Ming's expression, he smiled and said, This is indeed a big number, but as long as your highness can do business with us sincerely, I guarantee that your highness will get more than the king of Chu, and there is no shortage of silver in Europe now. In addition to having a large open-pit silver mine in Mexico, the country of silver, now Europeans have discovered that the Peruvian silver mine in South America is more abundant than Mexico, and now European countries are mining aggressively, oh, sorry, Your Highness may not know about Mexico and Peru. place.

Speaking of North and South America dominated by Europe, Claire's face once again showed the arrogance that was unique to Europeans in this period.

After pouting, Xiao Ming didn't bother to refute Claire, because it seemed as boring as a primary school student showing off one plus one in front of college students.

One day this king's battleship will tell me where Mexico and Peru are. Xiao Ming smiled lightly.

Claire and Rhodes looked at each other and held back their laughter. Although they admitted that Xiao Ming was very powerful in this sea area, it was only in this sea area. If it was in Europe, any country's fleet could easily defeat him.

So in their opinion, Xiao Ming was just telling a cold joke.

Humph.

Xiao Ming could see from their expressions that they didn't believe that such a day would come. He didn't bother to explain. For him, he likes to prove himself with his actions rather than his tongue. What he needs now is to make the fief rich and improve own comprehensive strength.

Seemingly feeling that their behavior was a bit inappropriate, the two regained their composure. Claire said, Your Highness, I hope the goods can arrive as soon as possible.

Xiao Ming nodded, and then he and Claire discussed the specific trade details and the establishment of the Dutch Foreign Office in Dengzhou.

At the same time, in order to prevent Dutch businessmen from espionage in Dengzhou, Xiao Ming decided to build a business hall. Dutch businessmen could only live in the business hall during their stay at the port.

After negotiating these things, Xiao Ming officially held a ceremony with Claire in Relanza City about Mickeyla Fortress, Ryukyu Island and the garrison in Relanza City.

According to the agreement, Xiao Ming will garrison 2,000 troops in Michila Fortress, 2,000 troops in Geranja City, and six warships in the Qingzhou fleet, including Tier 2 and Tier 3 warships, will be berthed at Geranja all year round. The city port is also responsible for escort and patrol tasks within a thousand miles of the Ryukyu Sea, and this number will continue to increase.

After completing these things one by one, Xiao Ming basically completed the control of Ryukyu Island and the maritime trade route. After two days of rest, he was ready to return to Dengzhou.

The sea route is only part of his trade strategy. He has more important things to accomplish, that is, to eliminate the threat from the north. Whether it is for the control of Goryeo or his own safety, he must deal with the barbarians.

Because in his opinion, as long as the barbarians are not destroyed, he can't devote all his energy to solving the domestic problems in Da Yu.

A strong enemy is staring at him outside, and he cannot act rashly, which is why he is working hard to maintain the status quo of the Great Yu Kingdom.

His Royal Highness, I will visit Qingzhou City in person in a few days.

Under the number of King Qi, Claire took the officials from Relan Zhacheng to see Xiao Ming off. Now that Qingzhou Holland has officially cooperated, he is looking forward to getting huge profits.