Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 240 Zhu Han's Plans for Europe

And if these economic crops are transferred to Nanyang Tianzhu and other places for planting, not only can more profits be reaped, but it will not affect the food security of the Central Plains in the future.

As for whether there will be a food crisis in Tianzhu, Nanyang and other places in the future, Zhu Han naturally doesn't bother to care.

Anyway, no matter how many people will starve to death, they will all be Nanyang natives and Tianzhu Asan.

As long as Daming guarantees its strong military power, it doesn't have to worry about rebellion in these places.

Even more famines occurred and more local people starved to death, which would be more conducive to the assimilation of these areas after Ming Dynasty.

The ruthless colonists of the Ming Dynasty, starting with cotton planting, will completely turn the fertile Tianzhu continent into a plantation of the Ming Dynasty in less than 100 years.

. . . . . .

Zhu Han's long-term plans for these futures, except for his elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang and a few important cronies.

Others don't understand very well.

But everyone knows that any national policy of His Royal Highness the King of England will almost increase the national power of Ming Dynasty rapidly.

Not only the citizens of Ming Dynasty know this truth, even the vast majority of foreigners who come to Ming Dynasty believe this statement.

For example, Luo Liedan, the Venetian who followed Zhu Han back to Daming, felt that the current prosperity of Daming was half of the credit for King Zhu Han.

Yingtian City.

Luo Liedan was wearing a blue round neck suit, which was no different from that worn by the common people of Ming Dynasty on the street.

His black curly hair is now tied up, and he also wears a four-flat cap.

If you don't look at Luo Lidan's face, you can't tell that he is a foreigner.

The people in Yingtian City are not surprised by Luo Lidan, everyone is either in a hurry or leisurely, walking their own way.

It is obvious that the people of Yingtian City have already seen too much foreign barbarians like Luo Liedan.

Luo Liedan's current status is a member of the Daming Ying Palace, and he has no specific official position for the time being.

Except for being summoned by Zhu Han every now and then to ask about the situation in Europe, the rest of the time only appeared when receiving a monthly salary of three taels of silver.

Besides, Luo Lidan spends most of his time in and out of Yingtian City.

This majestic and huge city shocked Roledan, as if he had seen a paradise on earth.

As Roledan, who was born in a wealthy family in Venice, he has been to many big cities in Europe.

Such as Paris in France, Milan and Rome in the Apennines, Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire, Sarai in the Golden Horde, and Jerusalem, Antioch and Damascus.

But compared with Yingtian in Daming, all these cities are like dilapidated courtyards in the countryside.

Even the most magnificent Constantinople among them is quite a bit smaller than Yingtian City.

Moreover, the population size of Daming Yingtianfu is far from being comparable to the cities above.

The current population of Daming Yingtianfu is close to one million, and it is increasing by tens of thousands every year.

Among all the western cities that Roledan has been to, the most populous city has only about 10 people.

In addition to the scale of these statistics, the wealth inside Daming Yingtian Mansion shocked Luo Liedan even more.

Oriental porcelain, which would be regarded as a treasure in any city in Europe, piled up like a mountain among the shops in Yingtianfu.

Other commodities such as silk, tea, paper, medicine, etc., are all the most in short supply in Europe.

Luo Liedan wandered around Yingtian Mansion all morning, and almost digested the bowl of duck noodle soup in the morning, so he walked into a restaurant that he often visited.

This restaurant is called Kaifeng Cuisine, and almost everyone in Yingtian Mansion knows it.

Any dish in Kaifeng Restaurant is Luo Lidan's favorite.

After eating and drinking in the Kaifeng restaurant, Luo Liedan returned to his residence.

He planned to take a nap at noon, and then go to the teahouse in Yingtianfu to listen to music and watch a play.

Such a pleasant life made Roledan almost forget his hometown Venice that he once dreamed of.

Roledan's residence is a three-entry house.

Of course, such a large house does not only live in Roledan.

Now the housing price in Yingtianfu is increasing every month, and the rent is also rising steadily.

For such a big three-year-old mansion, with Luo Liedan's salary of three taels of silver, he has to eat and drink, and it takes 30 years to save enough.

However, Luo Liedan is a barbarian official, that is, a foreign Ming official, and is not qualified to buy real estate.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about becoming a house slave, and you only need to spend a little money to pay the rent every month.

Luo Lidan lived in the two rooms at the back, and the other neighbors were either mid-level or lower-level officials or small businessmen.

Roledan returned to his room, just about to lie down and sleep for a while.

Suddenly, a voice of inquiry was heard from outside.

"Guan Luo, are you at home?"

Luo Lidan quickly got up and looked.

It turned out to be a soldier of the British Palace.

"At home! Yes!"

Luo Lidan hurried out while packing his clothes.

"Guan Luo, Your Highness wants to see you later!"

Upon hearing this, Luo Liedan immediately followed the soldiers to the Palace of the King of England.

"Your Majesty Luo Liedan, see Your Highness!"

As soon as he saw Zhu Han, Luo Liedan immediately saluted respectfully.

Every time he saw this Venetian wearing a Ming official uniform and saluting himself, Zhu Han felt like laughing.

In just a few months, Luo Lidan was completely assimilated by Daming.

Now this Venetian's behavior is almost the same as that of ordinary Ming officials.

If such a talent is not well utilized, let him hang around in Yingtian Mansion for a long time, I am afraid that he will not even be able to speak his original mother tongue.

"Luo Liedan, I have summoned you here because I have a temporary important task for you!" Zhu Han said.

"If you can serve His Highness, your subordinates will die!" Luo Liedan said in fluent Mandarin.

This curly-haired, green-eyed Venetian is not only able to converse proficiently, but also learned a lot of the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.

"Da Ming set up a Protectorate in Persia, you should know about this, right?" Zhu Han said slowly.

"Your Highness, I have some understanding of this matter." Luo Lidan had already vaguely guessed what kind of mission he would receive.

"That's good. The Tianfang Sect countries around Persia are full of hostility towards the Daming Persia Protectorate. They not only refuse our merchants to pass through their territories, but also want to impose more business taxes." Zhu Han said .

Since the demise of the Ilkhanate, the Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau have been in chaos.

These days, the Fangjiao country has been fighting continuously, which has caused a great loss of people's livelihood and national strength.

Their only stable source of income is the trade routes across the territory.

Daming acquired an enclave in Persia and set up a Protectorate, in order to better carry out colonization and trade there.

But these days Fangjiao country is full of hostility towards Daming, not only making things difficult for business, but also seems to be threatening to attack in groups.

Just not long ago, several merchants from the Eastern Roman Empire came to Daming Persia Protectorate.

Zhu Han immediately had a new plan.

Today's Byzantine Empire is in a very difficult situation.

Although it has always claimed to be the 'Roman Empire', European countries have long called it the 'Greek Empire' or the 'Byzantine Empire', ignoring the reactions of the Eastern Roman Emperor and the people.

That's exactly what happened.

After thousands of years of rain and wind, the Eastern Roman Empire, which has experienced more than a dozen dynasties, has almost lost its last glory.

The current Eastern Roman Emperor is John V.

He succeeded to the throne at the age of nine, became the emperor of the Romans, and has been working to make Rome 'great' again.

With the efforts of John V and the help of the general environment.

Today's Eastern Roman Empire has only the Thrace region around Constantinople and the southern part of Greece.

The land area is less than half of what it was 50 years ago.

Moreover, the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor is rising strongly.

The Ottoman Empire has captured Adrian in the Thrace region and gained a bridgehead to march towards the Balkans.

The last reserve of the Byzantine Empire may be completely annexed by the Ottoman Empire at any time.

Emperor John V of the Eastern Roman Empire, facing an increasingly difficult situation, was already in a state of emergency.

Whether it is the Kingdom of Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, or France, Savoy, Venice, and the Papal States, they were all sought by John V.

but.

The Eastern Roman Empire still did not receive any effective assistance.

The forces of these countries will only take advantage of the fire to loot, or they are weak and useless at all.

The Eastern Roman Empire desperately needed to find a powerful ally to help itself.

It just so happened that at this time, John V, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, heard that a major change of dynasty had taken place in the far east.

The Mongol Empire that once ruled the world was overthrown by another new dynasty. I heard it was called the Ming Empire.

Moreover, the Ming Empire also expanded its power to Persia.

Many businessmen from the Eastern Roman Empire brought back this news, which made John V seem to see a life-saving straw.

John V sent a secret mission to Persia disguised as a caravan, hoping to seek Ming's support.

As for the Eastern Roman Empire, which asked for help from Ming Dynasty, although Zhu Han also wanted to use the Eastern Roman Empire to contain the surrounding Tianfang sect countries, such as the Ottoman Empire.

But he also had to consider the strength of the Eastern Roman Empire, otherwise, after Da Ming's manpower and material resources were filled in, it would be very uneconomical in vain.

"If the Byzantine Empire becomes Ming's ally, will it guarantee Ming's future interests in Greece?" Zhu Han asked Luo Lidan directly.

Luo Lidan thought for a while, and immediately gave his own opinion.

"Your Highness, the current Greek Empire is no longer the original Roman Empire. They are not only weak, but also chaotic internally. Even with Ming's help, they may not be able to stabilize them!"

In the eyes of Europeans, the Roman Empire is not only a term, but also a symbol of glory and greatness.

Although the Eastern Roman Empire claimed to have inherited the mantle of the Roman Empire, its decline in the past few hundred years has already caused its last bit of glory and dignity to be lost.

So most of the time Europeans scornfully call it the Greek Empire.

"Then tell me, how is the current Eastern Roman Empire in chaos?" Zhu Han is very interested in the situation in Europe.

After some explanations from Lie Dan, Zhu Han finally understood that the Eastern Roman Empire at this time was not only small in size, but also severely lacking in military strength.

In such a huge area, there are actually less than [-] soldiers, and most of them are composed of foreign mercenaries.

The citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire were all obsessed with pleasure and entertainment. Apart from maintaining their religious fanaticism, they had only paid lip service to the glory and dignity of the Roman Empire.

Emperor John V of the Eastern Roman Empire was probably the most progressive Eastern Roman, but John V's talents and vision were very mediocre. In terms of the ability to select and maintain allies, he had no ability at all.

Although the surrounding kingdoms of Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary were very hostile to the pressing Ottoman Empire, they also tried their best to encroach on the territory and interests of the Eastern Roman Empire.

"Furthermore, the business of the Eastern Roman Empire has been fully controlled by the Genoese and our Venetians. Most of the profits of Ming Dynasty's trade with them will not fall into the hands of the Eastern Roman Emperor. The Eastern Roman Emperor only To collect a pitiful business tax and squeeze the farmers in the territory, this is the only source of finance for the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire!"

"And even half of these pitiful taxes have to be used for the citizens of Constantinople to carry out horse racing, opera, worship and other activities!"

Luo Liedan's description made Zhu Han immediately think of a scene of "a businesswoman who doesn't know the hatred of subjugation, but still sings flowers in the backyard across the river".

It's just that in the Eastern Roman Empire, it's not just merchant women, but all citizens.

"The Eastern Roman Empire seems to be a mud that cannot support the wall."

Zhu Han not only slightly shook his head and sighed.

The whole of West Asia and the Balkans are the key areas that Ming will inevitably set foot in in the future. If there is a conflict between the Orthodox Church and the Tianfang Church in the local area, it will be very beneficial to the layout of Ming in this area in the future.

So Zhu Han's original plan was to support the Eastern Roman Empire, but now after hearing these explanations from Luo Lidan, he immediately realized that the Eastern Roman Empire could not become stronger again by its own strength, even with the material and human assistance of Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that it will also be exhausted in the internal fighting.

"However, there are still many very valuable things in Constantinople, such as the books they have collected for hundreds of years, including a large number of subjects such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics, etc. If possible, can these books and talents be collected Recruited to Daming?"

Zhu Han expressed his thoughts on the humanities and technology of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Renaissance in European history happened just after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire. Ottoman Turkey broke through Constantinople, and a large number of Eastern Roman scholars fled to Western Europe, integrating a large number of scientific, technological and humanistic knowledge that originally belonged to the East into Europe.

With this knowledge, the European Renaissance ushered in a large-scale technological explosion.

What Zhu Han wants to do now is to transfer these Eastern Roman Empire scholars and knowledge to Ming Dynasty decades in advance.

"Your Highness's idea is not difficult to realize!" Luo Liedan immediately laughed when he heard that Zhu Han still had this idea.

(End of this chapter)