My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 434 Key Countries on the Route

Ever since the Ming army began to fully equip itself with thermal weapons, Zhu Yuanzhang found himself becoming more and more restless, always wanting to find someone to fight with.

Although war is a matter of national importance and a matter of life and death, this does not prevent him from often looking at the world map and imagining the whole world.

Oh, I am too impetuous!

But then again, although the situation in Europe seems to be a mess, it is really difficult to allow the Ming Dynasty's power to infiltrate.

Of course, he still understands the most basic things: slowly contact them through trade and then gradually build influence.

However, in the past, the Ming Dynasty had always dealt with them indirectly through Arab merchants as middlemen and had never had direct contact with them. Now, if it wanted to put aside the Arabs and deal with them directly, it was somewhat clueless.

Hey, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered that Lao Li had said before that he could use Makaros as a comprador, and that monk Antonio could also serve as a middleman for communication between the Ming Dynasty and the Holy See.

As an emperor, he quickly made up his mind. Although the Holy See seemed difficult to deal with, he did not believe that all the people in the Holy See were saints. As human beings, they have desires, and desires are easy to control.

We, the Ming Dynasty, have plenty of money and are the country that likes to satisfy other people’s desires the most!

Thinking of this, he continued reading.

"According to my idea, we can treat Europe as an enlarged version of Japan, buying off, instigating, alienating, supporting the weak and attacking the strong. England likes to play the offshore balancing game on the European continent, and the Ming Dynasty can do the same. When it comes to forming alliances, China is the ancestor!
The goal of the Ming Dynasty is to make Europe a dumping ground for Ming Dynasty products!"

Tsk tsk, this familiar smell, this familiar feeling, this is the ruthless Old Li that our Old Zhu knows!
Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed. Old Li and he had the same idea, but Old Li's idea was more far-reaching.

"If you agree with this idea, then the Anglo-French War is the best point for Ming to intervene. The chaos in Europe is the ladder for Ming to advance!"

Yeah, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded repeatedly. After Li Han mentioned bribery and provocation, he thought of the war between England and France.

So, between England and France, who should we choose to attack and who should we support?

"My opinion on the two enemies, Britain and France, is that they bet on both sides, suppressing and supporting each other. There is a saying that goes, the best arms dealer is the one who can provide weapons to both sides of the war.

Of course, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to provide epoch-making weapons to both sides. Semi-automatic rifles can only be mastered by the Ming Dynasty. However, you should know better than me what is most needed in war, Lao Zhu. "

Lao Li, I figured it out!

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but snapped his fingers. He suddenly understood. The two countries had been fighting for thirty years. What they needed most was, of course, money!
What the Ming Dynasty lacks the least now is money!
Up to now, foreign trade has continued, with gold and silver from vassal states such as Ryukyu, Goryeo, Japan, Annan, Champa, etc., flowing continuously to the Ming Dynasty.

In particular, Ryukyu and Goryeo have now fully used Ming treasure notes. In other words, the right to mint coins in Ryukyu and Goryeo is now completely in the hands of Yang Siyi, the Ming accountant.

In the near future, Japan, Annan and other countries will also fully popularize treasure notes. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty only needs to start the machine for printing treasure notes to transport the gold, silver and raw materials of these countries to the Ming Dynasty in a steady stream.

Then the Ming Dynasty processed the gold, silver and raw materials and sold the output goods at a price higher than the raw materials.

This is the perfect practice of the scissors gap. It is so wonderful! I have never seen so much money in my life. I have never thought about it, and I dare not even dream about it!
And according to the news coming back from Japan, Japan’s three giant silver mines and several gold mines will be mined soon.

After deducting the money used to invest in factories and technology, there will be a lot of gold and silver left. It would be a pity to keep them in the national treasury. It would be wonderful to let them circulate in Europe and be continuously transformed into the blood of the Ming Dynasty!

“The Ming Dynasty can use the opportunity of providing economic assistance to intervene in the royal families of the two countries, foster agents, open up the trade gap between the two countries, and allow the Ming Dynasty’s goods to circulate fully in the two countries.

When the time is ripe, he will slowly use gold and silver to control the noble lords under him, instigate fights among the nobles, and make the nobles and their fiefdoms the production workshops of the Ming Dynasty!

As for England, there is a better entry point. The British royal family has always been dissatisfied with the Vatican's interference in the British secular government. So what the Ming Dynasty needs to do is to stir up the ambition of the British king and add fuel to the fire!

At the same time, there is another point that the Ming Dynasty can also take advantage of.

The present-day United Kingdom, to be more precise it should be called England, is at loggerheads with Scotland to the north. England conquered Scotland more than a hundred years ago, but Scotland regained its independence more than fifty years ago, and wars between the two countries are almost normal.

Then the Scottish Ming Dynasty can also be supported."

Looking at the words written by Li Han, Zhu Yuanzhang felt like he was playing a Warring States game. During the Warring States period, the Qin State used the strategy of "uniting the states" to gradually disintegrate the six states and finally annexed them one by one.

As for the division in Europe, although the Ming Dynasty was farther away than the Qin Dynasty, its strength was stronger.

"Of course, the above is just preliminary planning. It is still too early to reach the stage of specific implementation. If the Ming Dynasty cannot control the route to Europe, then everything will be in vain.

So at the end of the letter, I would like to discuss with you, Lao Zhu, the best route to Europe. Please see the map.

If you take the land route, you have to cross the Chagatai, Timurid, Arab, and Ottoman Empires. The mountains are high and the roads are long, the speed is too slow, the risks are high, and it is not cost-effective.

If you take the sea route, you have to cross the Indian Ocean, go around the entire Africa, and then reach Africa. The distance is longer, and the uncontrollable factors of navigation far exceed those of taking the land route, making it even less cost-effective.

Therefore, I have planned two routes. The first one can be realized in the near future, and the second one is the long-term plan for Ming Dynasty overseas. Let’s talk about the first one first.

The first route is neither land nor sea, but a combination of sea and land. Please look at the map. After the Ming fleet set off, it took the sea route to Arabia, crossed the Strait of Hormuz to Egypt, and then took the land route north from Egypt, changed ships at Alexandria, crossed the Mediterranean, and then reached the Apennine Peninsula in Europe.

If you take this route, one of the most critical areas is Egypt.

If the Ming Dynasty wants to continue to infiltrate Europe, it must have a springboard, and Egypt is the most suitable springboard!

Why? There are two reasons. First, Egypt is on the east coast of Africa and has a strong business atmosphere. Its largest port, Alexandria, is the most important port in Africa leading to Europe.

Second, Egypt is facing a huge threat at the moment and needs external help. This threat is the Ottoman Empire!"

(End of this chapter)