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

What words?

What do you mean they are just some useless broken canal boats?

As the son of one of the most powerful noble families in the dynasty, this was the first time that Zhang Shikang had been looked down upon like this since he traveled through time more than a year ago.

His mouth was all crooked.

“If the Marshal needs a ship, I have a shipyard at home, and I can make the decision on behalf of my brother to build a hundred new-style ships for the Marshal, with a transport capacity no less than the old-style ships at this dock.

It is considered as a gift from the Zheng family to the Marshal. "

Zheng Zhibiao's words were shocking, as if the cost of building one hundred canal boats was just a drop in the bucket for the Zheng family.

"No...you guys..." Zhang Shikang was a little confused.

More than three months ago, Zheng Zhilong not only promised to deliver 1.3 million shi of grain and fodder to the court at cost price through sea trade, but also gave the court 200,000 shi in advance in the name of fundraising.

Now, the 200,000 shi of grain and fodder have arrived in Yangzhou Prefecture.

Two hundred thousand shi of grain and fodder, based on the current average price of grain in Ming Dynasty, is nearly eight hundred thousand taels.

That’s eight hundred thousand taels!

Zhang Shikang had seen wealthy people before, but he had never seen anyone as wealthy as this.

At this moment, he was just like Brother Chongzhen who suddenly raised five million taels of silver more than a year ago.

"My brother admires the Marshal's character very much and wants to make friends with him." Zheng Zhibiao said very seriously.

"Just making friends?" Zhang Shikang muttered.

He absolutely did not trust Zheng Zhilong and just wanted to make friends with him, especially since he was a businessman.

Can businessmen make friends everywhere just for the sake of making friends? They just have ulterior motives.

As for liking him as a person, bah!

Do you like him going around killing whole families?

Or do you like him to rob houses everywhere?

But I have to say, from the perspective of making friends, Lao Zheng is a good guy to get along with.

He really does help when something happens and is willing to spend money.

One hundred canal ships, at a normal cost of 40,000 taels of silver per ship, would cost 4 million taels of silver, plus the grain we had previously...

The only problem is, if you think with your tailbone, Zheng Zhilong is definitely not just making friends with him.

Whether in later generations or now, whether businessmen or ordinary people, without exception, everyone likes to make friends with the powerful.

They want to achieve class advancement by making friends with the powerful.

And he, Zhang Shikang, is the damned powerful person.

No matter how rich Zheng Zhilong was, he was just a small general of the Five Tiger Guerrillas in the imperial court. In the eyes of the court officials, he was just a big pirate who made his fortune by looting.

Even Brother Chongzhen looked down on this man.

People are always like this. After gaining profit, they begin to pursue fame. After gaining fame and fortune, they pursue power and the right to speak in the court.

Zheng Zhilong was rich, extremely rich. It was no exaggeration to say that he was rich enough to rival a country.

He raised money and food and gave this great gift, but whether it was military rations or new-style grain ships, although it was under the banner of making friends with him, in the end they would all go to the court.

This way, not only will she gain fame, but she can also show goodwill to this damned powerful man, and her calculations will go smoothly.

After understanding the logic behind this, Zhang Shikang immediately calmed down.

"I love making friends, especially heroes like your brother.

Oh, I also like to make friends like Biaozi.

But they say that true friends are always concerned about other people's urgent needs. Well, to be honest, I am quite anxious right now.

Not only am I short of grain boats now, I am also short of big ships like the one we are on!

Can you also give me a few dozen ships?"

Although Zheng Zhibiao is six or seven years older than Zhang Shikang, this kid is capable. He doesn't speak in a roundabout way like those civil servants. This is very much to his liking and he can get along well.

But as Zhang Shikang was one of the top nobles in the Ming Dynasty and held great power in the court, not everyone was qualified to be his friend.

Need to pay more.

Zheng Zhibiao was stunned when he heard this.

Before leaving his hometown Quanzhou this time, his brother specifically instructed him to have a good relationship with this guy who seemed to be out of touch but actually held great power.

For this purpose, in addition to the promised military rations, he was also given the authority to use part of the family's funds.

As the absolute backbone of the family, Zheng Zhibiao is of course very sensitive to money.

Even though the Zheng family had their own shipyard with mature technology, the cost of one hundred grain ships was about 35,000 taels of silver. A hundred ships would cost more than 3 million taels of silver. This was definitely a huge investment for the Zheng family.

He looked at Zhang Shikang in surprise, as if he thought the other party was joking, and seemed to doubt whether Zhang Shikang had any concept of money.

"Marshal, this flagship is the largest warship that my Zheng family can build, and even my Zheng family doesn't have many of them."

You just asked for dozens of ships. Do you really think that the Zheng family's money came from the wind?

Zheng Zhibiao was very unhappy. He only knew that court officials were greedy, but he didn't expect them to be so greedy, with endless desires and insatiable appetite.

"It can be a smaller main battleship, what's its name?

Oh, it’s the silk boats, you told me, those are the big boats that are rumbling non-stop next to us!”

The two were obviously not on the same page.

From Zhang Shikang's perspective, since the other party needs his help, he must of course make good use of it.

He and his brother Chongzhen really need such a powerful fleet.

Whether it is for the needs of war or trade.

"The cost of building a silk-carrying ship alone is 100,000 taels of silver, and the construction period is not short.

The Marshal uses ships for coastal defense needs. With my Zheng family around, the Marshal does not have to worry about this.

Even if it is the Dutch navy, my Zheng family is not afraid of it."

Zheng Zhibiao said very proudly.

Of course he had the right to be proud. The Zheng family had defeated the Dutch navy twice in a row, completely establishing the Zheng family's position as the maritime overlord in the East and South Seas.

Zheng Zhibiao knew exactly what Zhang Shikang was thinking. He just wanted to form a navy so that the imperial court could handle simple operations like today's on its own.

Yes, this kind of naval battle was like playing house among the many difficult naval battles that the Zheng family had experienced.

But as he said, the Ming Dynasty has always been closed to the ocean, and the demand for a navy was not high.

As for the cost, no one knows better than the Zheng family the huge expenditure of maintaining a fleet.

In his opinion, there was no need for the Ming Dynasty, which was always short of money and on the verge of bankruptcy, to form a navy.

Having the Zheng family is more than enough.

Zhang Shikang shook his head slightly when he heard this. He certainly would not tell Zheng Zhibiao that the Ming Dynasty would also engage in maritime trade in the future.

I believe Zheng Zhilong would be furious if he knew about this kind of thing that took away other people's jobs.

Zhang Shikang had never met Zheng Zhilong and didn't know much about what kind of person he was, but judging from the historical process and Zheng Zhilong's current behavior.

It is absolutely bullshit to say that this guy is loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Zheng Zhilong sent military rations and grain ships, which seemed to be for the country, but he just wanted to take advantage of him, a top noble of the Ming Dynasty.

This can be seen from the fact that he first surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, but after finding that the Ming Dynasty could not defeat the Qing Dynasty, he resolutely surrendered to the Qing Dynasty despite the opposition of his son Zheng Sen.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong thought he made the right choice, but in the end he was defeated miserably.

Businessmen are businessmen, they are too weak to play politics.

On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to sleep soundly.

"Biaozi, it's better to have something yourself than to have a father, a mother, and friends."

……