Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Relying on the court to make profits through maritime trade, the children in the family can also join the army and make achievements, truly living and dying with the country.

Zhang Shikang's words made the eyes of the nobles and relatives present light up, and they looked at Zhang Shikang with strange eyes.

Was he really a dandy? He was not even twenty years old!

How did he know so many things? Not only did he know how to lead troops in battle, but he also knew how to reform domestic affairs and make money and trade.

Oh my God, no wonder the emperor valued him so much and gave him such a high official position and power.

Even if they own this kid, they will definitely use him to the utmost. Anyone who doesn't use him is a fool!

Seeing that everyone was finally moved, Zhang Shikang understood that the plan had run out and it was time to show his dagger.

“The future of ocean trade is destined to change the world. It is a huge ship heading for mountains of gold and silver. There may be blood and rain along the way, but what it brings back are piles of gold and silver.

But... uncles and uncles, you don't think you can just board this huge ship, do you?"

If the Ming Dynasty really decides to fully enter the maritime trade at that time, there will be no shortage of people who want to board this giant ship and reap the profits together.

In Zhang Shikang's vision, this would be a behemoth that would compete with the East India Company, and not just anyone would be able to get a piece of the pie.

Although noble relatives have natural advantages, they are just advantages, not necessary requirements.

To board this huge ship, you have to buy a ticket.

"But Shikang, during the last fundraising, we donated all the cash in our home. Even if we want to take money now, we don't have that much unless we sell our property." Li Hongji said with difficulty.

"Yes, Shikang, now when we go back we have to pay the labor tax and business tax, which is another expense. I'm afraid our income will also be reduced in the future.

Although we have good intentions, but…" Gong Yonggu also frowned.

They probably understood that Zhang Shikang wanted them to take the silver, but no one was worried that the silver would be embezzled by Zhang Shikang.

If Zhang Shikang wanted to be greedy, he would have had many opportunities to take advantage of the last fundraising and the large amount of gold and silver from the Shanxi merchants this time.

Compared with such a huge amount, the little money they had at home was not even worth Zhang Shikang's attention.

After all, they are all doing business and they know that only the original molecules are the most valuable and bring the greatest profits.

So no one was unwilling to contribute, but as Li Hongji and Gong Yonggu said, if they really wanted to come up with such a large sum of money again, they would have to sell their property.

Zhang Shikang smiled and shook his head after hearing this.

"Who told you that boat tickets can only be purchased with silver?

The current plan is just a concept at best, and we need more than just huge funds.

What is more needed are ships, sailors, and nautical charts, as well as knowledge of the best-selling trade items on each route.

There are many things you can do. In addition to running your own business, you might as well start preparing in advance.

Including but not limited to finding blueprints of ocean-going merchant ships, shipwrights, nautical charts, learning ocean knowledge in advance, and training sailors.

In these aspects, perhaps you can take your family's direct descendants to take a trip to the southeast coast.

There are many maritime merchants there, and these merchants have already made a lot of profits through smuggling.

We can let these direct descendants of the family go undercover and learn everything we need.

When the great ship of the Ming Dynasty is about to start, the resources you have will be your ticket to board this ship."

Zhang Shikang said to everyone very calmly.

The imperial court always focuses on the poorest people and allows merchants and smuggling to do what they want. If you are not poor, who will be poor?

"I know something about the Southeast Sea Merchants. I think the reason why those civil servants are so resistant to tax reform is also because of this consideration."

They had never thought that maritime trade could be so profitable.

Before this, the commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was in name only. All the big merchants in the world were backed by a strong backer, so they either engaged in smuggling or simply did not pay taxes.

But once the tax system is fully implemented, all princes and nobles must comply with national policy and pay taxes. Failure to pay taxes will be severely punished, and tax evasion will be prosecuted. This is no joke.

Now that I think about it, this group of people may not necessarily want more people to know the details of maritime trade.

After all, once the commercial taxes are paid, the imperial court will certainly check the accounts. By then, it will be possible to roughly calculate how much money these people have earned per trip and how much wealth they have.

Not only did they have to pay a hefty amount of taxes, but they would also have to expose their underwear to the imperial court. Naturally, they strongly opposed it.

Thinking of this, many nobles showed indignation on their faces. This group of people occupied such a gold mountain, and not only did they not want the court to know, they also did not want others to have a share of it.

I originally thought that as nobles, their family assets of more than two hundred years were already rich enough.

Now it seems that not only are the Shanxi merchants far ahead of them, but even the civil servants and the gentry and big sea merchants behind the civil servants are probably far ahead of them.

This is really outrageous.

“Speaking of the great sea merchants in the southeast, I do know a few. The greatest of them is the former Nanyang pirate Zheng Zhilong.

Although Zheng Zhilong has now surrendered to the imperial court, he has a huge fleet, and it is said that the entire Nanyang trade is under his control. "Xinle Hou Liu Wenbing said.

Zhang Shikang certainly knew Zheng Zhilong, and knew him better than Liu Wenbing.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong was exactly as Liu Wenbing said. More than that, it would not be an exaggeration to call him the world shipping king of the 17th century.

Not only did it have 200,000 troops including Han, Japanese, Koreans, Austronesians, blacks and other races, it also had more than 3,000 ships of various sizes.

Calculating the time, Zheng Zhilong has now defeated the Dutch navy twice, and his combat power is at its peak. You have to know that this is a case of one family fighting against an entire country's navy.

Zhang Shikang did not doubt this man's ability, but he was very skeptical of his vision.

From a historical perspective, Zheng Zhilong started out as the protagonist, but ended up like a clown.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty despite the opposition of his relatives and generals.

This was definitely the most wrong choice in his life. At this time, the Qing Dynasty had already torn off its hypocrisy towards the surrendering Han army.

The Manchus were wary of even the Three Shun Princes, who were the first to surrender. Even Hong Chengchou, who made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty, was written into the Biography of Traitors. How could they tolerate the existence of the Zheng family, a behemoth with a huge military force and a huge fleet?

Even if he didn't want to get involved in the war between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, as the Pirate King, he could have set up shop overseas and continued to write about his glory as a shipping tycoon. But in the end he ended up with such a tragic ending, which is really sad.

But he had an awesome son. This man knew shame and then became brave. He ruined his family to help others in times of difficulty and supported the Southern Ming Dynasty.

This man's name is Zheng Chenggong.

……