Chapter 341 Middleman

"This is the first time I've heard of this method, but it's not a bad idea."

Zhu Di thought Mason's method was okay, but he was more curious about the chamber of commerce he mentioned. What is this?

Mason explained to Zhu Di the role of the "chamber of commerce", which is to continuously expand trade and make money for the country.

In addition, Mason also explained to Zhu Di various situations in the Roman Empire. From noon to night, Zhu Di still hadn't heard enough, so the two agreed to come again tomorrow. Mason left the palace, and he was going to start tutoring.

Zhu Di already had a strong curiosity about the world that Mason explained. From the Roman Empire to Ceylon, Temasek and here, there are endless opportunities for exploration in this vast ocean.

In order to see if Mason's suggestion was feasible, he began to look through the information about tomorrow's trade in the Maritime Customs. Since the second year of Yongle, Japanese ships have been traveling three times a year. According to the data from Ningbo Maritime Customs, the value of Japanese goods is small, but in order to show the spirit of the Celestial Empire, they are usually overestimated. The large amount of property and imported goods that are rewarded are sold to Japan, which may be dozens of times the profit.

This makes Zhu Di's heart bleed. This is all my money. It's gone just like that. It seems that he is still too kind to Japan.

"Your Majesty"

Someone spoke, and Zhu Di asked him to discuss today's events as soon as he heard it.

"Zheng He, you went to Japan as an envoy last year. What was the situation of the Japanese king at that time?"

Zheng He thought about it carefully and said: "The Japanese king did not have any abnormalities, but his surroundings were disgusted with the Ming Dynasty. If the current Japanese king is gone, then the trade between the two countries will be cancelled."

This made Zhu Di feel that the Kanhe trade was short-lived. If it was outsourced to other institutions, in addition to not having to worry about the Japanese, there would be money to be made. There are only a hundred benefits and no harm, which made him decide in his heart.

"Today I summoned this special envoy. The world he described really makes me curious. For the future of the Ming Dynasty, I will go to the West even if no one supports me."

Regarding Zhu Di's ambition, Zheng He quickly said that the emperor was wise. The previous experience of going to the East Ocean has improved Zheng He's diplomatic level. He is ready to accept the appointment of Emperor Yongle to go to the West at any time, even if his family is confiscated and his clan is exterminated. More importantly, he is the only one left in the nine clans. There is no worry at all.

The next day, Zhu Di was a little absent-minded in the court, and all he thought about was continuing to communicate with Mason. After what happened yesterday, the voices of the ministers asking for a maritime ban were reduced, but there were still some literati who kept asking the emperor to abide by the ancestral precepts, including Xie Jin, one of the compilers of the Yongle Encyclopedia.

The literati headed by Xie Jin believed that the emperor's violation of the ancestral precepts was a great treason and an act of unfilial piety. They kept asking Zhu Di to withdraw his order, otherwise they would die.

"You want to die for your remonstrance and use my bad name to fulfill your fame. I tell you, it's impossible. Don't you have the strength? Then go to the Imperial College to grow vegetables."

Xie Jin couldn't do it. Going to the Imperial College to grow vegetables was a disgrace to the emperor, but the emperor announced his retirement, so he had to go to grow vegetables. Otherwise, he would be charged with disobeying the emperor's order.

Mason came again, and this time Zhu Di met him in the study. In order to get the emperor to agree to the matter, Mason specially presented a world map, which he specially directed people to make in half a night. There is not only Rome on it, but also the Arabian Peninsula, India, and Southeast Asia. Such a large overseas map attracted Zhu Di, which can be compared with the Ming Dynasty's unified map.

"This is a map drawn by our country for exploration, specially presented to the emperor of the Celestial Empire."

Zhu Di looked at the map and sighed in his heart that those ministers were short-sighted. Expansion on the ocean is also very important. Why didn't anyone notice it?

The harassment by nomadic peoples on land was one reason, but the expansion on the sea could not be stopped. This envoy from the West was very useful to the Ming Dynasty.

"Well, envoy, tell me about your emperor. What kind of person is he?"

"His Majesty the Emperor has defeated the enemy many times and was crowned later."

In Mason's narration, Mircea's height suddenly rose. The more Zhu Di listened, the more he felt that he was like Li Yuan, the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He had a certain social status, defeated nomadic peoples many times, and finally seized the capital and ascended the throne. All of this was so similar.

"His Majesty the Emperor has funded a lot of my career, but Caesar still supports me the most."

"Caesar?"

"Oh, according to the Celestial Empire, it should be the crown prince."

Upon hearing about the Roman crown prince, Zhu Di asked Mason to tell him in detail. So, from a teenager, he followed his father to defeat nomadic tribes, then went all the way west to complete victory, and finally destroyed a country and defeated many enemy armies. This directly resonated with Zhu Di. Although he was still more like Emperor Taizong of Tang, there was one difference between him and him: this Caesar was the eldest son, not the second son.

China has been a legitimate eldest son inheritance system since ancient times, but it is common to abolish the eldest son and establish the youngest son, such as Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. Not to mention the Tang Dynasty, it was 150 years after the founding of the country that there was an emperor who inherited as the eldest son. Even Zhu Di himself was the fourth child. For this heir who was both civil and military, he reminded him of his eldest brother Zhu Biao. If the eldest brother was still alive, he would not have launched the Jingnan Campaign.

This time they talked until late again. Zhu Di not only knew Rome, but also India, Ceylon, Egypt and other places. He still refused Mason's request to open port trade. The reason was the same as last time, that is, the harassment of the Japanese. This made Mason pessimistic.

But Zhu Di would soon take action, not only for himself, but also to give the other party some comfort.

The next day, Zhu Di issued an order directly, ordering Zheng He as an envoy to lead a 100,000-man navy to Japan to announce the cessation of direct trade between the two countries. This made the ministers happy, thinking that the emperor had finally figured it out, but the next sentence came immediately: the trade between the two countries was entirely represented by Mason and his subordinates, the so-called Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce had to pay one-tenth of the trade volume as tax every year.

This surprised Mason, after all, he brought such a huge business opportunity to the East India Company, and he would also go to Japan to meet the Japanese king. He also roughly calculated the profits between the trade between the Ming and the Ming.

Ming imported sulfur, copper and other minerals, fans, swords, lacquerware and screens from Japan.

The products Japan imported from Ming include: Ming coins (Yongle Tongbao), books, silk, Tang umbrellas, porcelain, sugar, Chinese medicine, bronze, pottery, silk, silk cotton, cloth, cotton, brocade, red thread, mercury, needles, iron chains, iron pots, ancient coins, ancient paintings, ancient names, ancient books, medicinal materials, felt carpets, horseback felt, powder, snack cages, lacquerware, vinegar and other textiles, etc. After this trip, he could get nearly several times the profit, provided that he could hold it firmly.