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

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen's expression immediately became extremely awkward. To be fair, if other court officials dared to say so bluntly that the Ming Dynasty was inferior to those barbarians, he would definitely be angry.

But the person who said this was Zhang Shikang.

So the only thing left in Emperor Chongzhen's mind was depression.

"Your Majesty, if you still don't believe me, take the artillery of our Ming Dynasty as an example.

With the same caliber of artillery, ours is not as powerful as others, nor can it reach as far as others.

The artillery has the same power but is not as light as others. It can only be used as city defense artillery or coastal defense artillery, and cannot be used in field battles or warships.

Moreover, most of the cannons in our Ming Dynasty are iron cannons, which have a much shorter service life than copper cannons. If the manufacturing process is not up to standard, they may even explode. "

Zhang Shikang even gave examples.

It is said that the Qing Dynasty claimed to be the Celestial Empire and regarded other countries as barbarians, but in fact the Ming Dynasty was not much different.

Before this, Zhang Shikang was busy putting out fires everywhere and rarely talked about these things with Brother Chongzhen. At that time, Brother Chongzhen was in a desperate situation, and Zhang Shikang didn't have the heart to attack him again.

But now this old man is too free to go fishing and making pills, so we can’t let him have too much fun.

He had to understand the gap and break his inherent ideas. Undoubtedly, Zhang Shikang used the most direct method.

"Don't exaggerate. Although the Ming Dynasty has never directly fought with the Europeans on land, we have fought naval battles.

You said before that the Netherlands is so powerful, but I know that the Dutch navy has been defeated by the Ming Dynasty twice in a row. "Emperor Chongzhen retorted.

He certainly does not want to wake up from his own Celestial Empire mentality.

But Zhang Shikang poured a basin of cold water without hesitation:

“If Your Majesty truly regards the Zheng family as loyal subjects, then the Ming Dynasty has won.

But does Your Majesty know how he won?

Take the most recent naval battle as an example. The enemy only had a few main battleships and less than two thousand people at most.

The Zheng family sent out nearly two hundred warships and more than ten thousand soldiers.

What was the result? They only used nine ships to sink dozens of Zheng's warships.

In the end, if the Zheng family had not relied on the desperate fighting style of the fire ships and the absolute numerical advantage, it would be hard to say whether they could have won.

But Your Majesty, that is just a small fleet of the Dutch!

The Netherlands' base in the South Seas is far away from the Ming Dynasty's waters. I heard that their flagship can already be equipped with eighty cannons!

There are eighty guns, and the caliber is not small. Our Ming Dynasty's Fujian ships are already far behind.

Facts speak louder than words, Your Majesty."

After Zhang Shikang poured a basin of cold water on him, Emperor Chongzhen finally lost his temper.

The examples he cited about artillery and warships were actually somewhat inappropriate, because at that time, the Netherlands was the leader in the world's shipbuilding industry.

The French Empire was the leader in the world's cannon-casting industry. Not only the Ming Dynasty, but even France and Britain could not compare with it.

Once the Ming Dynasty's navy, which was based on Fujian ships, was established, it could be said to be invincible, at least in East Asia and even Southeast Asia, except for the two countries mentioned above.

But Zhang Shikang had high plans for the Ming Dynasty, so of course he had to compare with the first one.

When a strong man gets angry, he draws his sword and attacks the stronger one. When a weak man gets angry, he draws his sword and attacks the weaker one.

"Ah, you bastard, your words are always so hurtful.

Just that one copper cannon consumes so much copper that Hai Zhongqi has been complaining to me for the past month.

It is said that Bi Maokang and the Westerner had to withdraw large amounts of raw copper from the Ministry of Revenue every few days.

Wuji, you should know that in my Ming Dynasty, copper is in short supply and it is also used to mint coins. "Emperor Chongzhen said with some embarrassment.

Bi Maokang and Johann Adam Schall Johann Adam Schall von Bell have been busy copying the Portuguese 24-pound cannon for the past two months.

The entire cannon is made of molten copper. Whether it is made of bronze or brass, the consumption of copper is extremely high. After all, a large copper cannon can produce tens of thousands of copper coins.

"Your Majesty, I know that our Ming Dynasty is short of copper. I also know that our Ming Dynasty is short of not only copper, but also silver, gold, and everything else.

Therefore, we should work harder to make more powerful firearms!

We in the Ming Dynasty do not have those resources, but we do have them outside. However, these resources are now in the hands of Europeans.

If we don't take it back, we will never be able to change the current situation where we lack everything.

Your Majesty, do you know how big the gap in artillery is now?

Our warships can't get close at all, but their artillery can already start firing." Zhang Shikang said a little depressed.

He took great pains and spent so much money to purchase a small fleet from the Zheng family. He protected this small fleet like a treasure. However, this small fleet can now only show off to the tributary states of the Ming Dynasty.

Without even a decent naval port, they couldn’t defeat Zheng, let alone the Netherlands and France.

"So what you mean is... even if we don't mint copper coins, we still have to get the copper cannon?" Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have listened to Zhang Shikang's words, but still felt a little uneasy.

"I wonder if Your Majesty knows the fundamentals of currency." Zhang Shikang said.

But he did not wait for Brother Chongzhen to shake his head, but continued on his own:

“I think you probably don’t understand, but Your Majesty only needs to know that, looking at the entire world, gold and silver are used as legal tender, but apart from our East Asian circle, there are very few other countries that use copper as currency.

But our Ming Dynasty is short of gold, silver and copper. If we can't get these resources from outside.

Those Europeans occupied those gold, silver and copper mines. They only needed to mine one shipload of gold and copper to exchange for ten or even hundreds of shipsloads of exquisite porcelain and high-quality silk from the Ming Dynasty.

Your Majesty, gold, silver and copper are just minerals, but porcelain and silk are truly practical things.

Your Majesty, don't you feel that you have suffered a loss?"

In other words, Emperor Chongzhen had long been accustomed to Zhang Shikang. Otherwise, if someone else dared to say to his face that the emperor didn't understand this or that, Emperor Chongzhen would have been furious long ago.

But this time, Emperor Chongzhen listened.

"Of course it's a loss." Emperor Chongzhen muttered.

"It's a shame, Your Majesty." Zhang Shikang raised his voice.

“Therefore, we must vigorously develop artillery and warships, even if it means giving up minting copper coins and using all the copper in the country to mint cannons.

When our artillery technology catches up with or even surpasses that of the Europeans, we will seize all those gold, silver and copper mines.

Then they would take the gold and silver and go to their countries to exchange for supplies.

If your majesty is reluctant to part with the gold and silver, that's easy, we can just take it back, hehe." Zhang Shikang said with a wicked smile.

If you fall behind, you will be beaten. This principle is still applicable today.

Fists are the hard truth, artillery is everything, and truth only exists within the range of artillery.

"This... isn't good. Our Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette." Emperor Chongzhen frowned.

"Your Majesty, you can't be so pedantic anymore. Times have changed, Your Majesty.

We are polite, but others are not.

If one day, they come to our Ming Dynasty with powerful ships and cannons and ask Your Majesty to cede territory and pay war reparations, Your Majesty, will you still be polite? "