Dominate the Country

The Japanese have not made a quick decision now. Chen Ming feels that Tokugawa Ieharu may be intimidated by him.

——Ezo people can also build a country.

If the Ezo people really established a country with the support of Chen Han, Japan would be in big trouble. That is not a "little thing" like the emperor changing his title or Kyushu's name, but Japan has really suffered a huge loss in substance, and it is no longer a humiliation in dignity.

But Chen Ming felt so happy to be able to cause so much trouble to Japan. He immediately ordered Tang Feipeng to prepare manpower in Japan and start recruiting a large number of poor Japanese warriors. These Japanese warriors will undergo a period of adaptation training in tropical climate and rainforest combat in Taiwan, and then be sent to Nanyang to deal with those in Malay and Borneo. The ignorant natives.

Chen Ming will equip them with very good weapons, such as flintlock guns, samurai swords, and grenades. He will give them material treatment that is much more generous than in Japan, and he will raise the Japanese as thugs. And they will dangle better treatment in front of their mouths like carrots, eventually turning these Japanese into loyal wolf dogs!

Because with Chen Han's current strength in Japan, he can spread rumors on a large scale in Japan after gaining some benefits from these security soldiers. This will attract more poor lower-level samurai to defect to the security teams and become willing thugs; It will also make many Japanese who claim to be true samurai regard them as an alternative and hate them deeply, thus intensifying bilateral conflicts. When this contradiction accumulates little by little and is finally detonated, even Chen Ming cannot tell what Japan will become in the end.

Anyway, he was quite happy.

In May of this year, merchant ships arriving one after another from Europe brought Chen Han many good things. What Chen Ming valued most was the gun barrel boring machine invented by Englishman John Wilkinson. When this thing was purchased by the British East India Company, Wilkinson had not yet obtained a patent.

The emergence of this boring machine really solved the trouble of processing the gun bore, and also solved the problem of processing the cylinder block of the steam engine! It plays an extremely important role in the Fuhan Army. If this invention were in the hands of Chen Ming alone, no matter how much money outsiders spent, they would not let him loose a finger.

But the British are different. Although they understand the importance of this invention, they pursue profits more. Robert and the senior team he linked up with never looked back and sent the machine to the far east. They priced the two barrel boring machines at a high price of three thousand silver dollars. But Chen Ming was so happy that he even laughed out loud when he went to bed that night.

With this barrel boring machine, the Fuhan Army could leave the iron mold casting method as the main artillery casting method. The emergence of boring machines means the emergence of a new and more glorious road.

For a cannon of the same specifications, the barrel cut out with a boring machine is one-sixth to one-fifth lighter than the barrel cast from iron molds. The barrel wall is more resilient, while iron-moulded guns are a bit brittle in comparison. Hard. After adding iron hoops, artillery of the same specifications and boring machine guns can withstand at least 1,000 full-charge test firings. The iron mold cannon only has 700 or 800 shots. [Can’t find specific information, edited]

It can be said that this barrel boring machine has immediately become the darling of the military since the performance of the cannons processed by the military was noticed by everyone in the military. The Metropolitan Governor's Office has approved the military industry system's application to build hundreds of gun barrel boring machines as soon as possible!

This thing is the biggest and most important discovery in Western science and technology this year!

This is like last winter, when the French brought a second-hand drilling machine from Manila. Combined with the Fuhan Army's own research, it immediately made the production and manufacturing of flintlock barrels, which had just accelerated, take another step forward. to a new level. Chen Han's manufacturing speed of flintlock muskets has already been on a high road in the past two years. The hydraulic drilling machine he developed helped the Fuhan Army's flintlock musket manufacturing to exceed 80,000 units from less than 50,000 in the first year. This threshold is 10,000, and this year has only passed a little more than halfway, and the number of finished products of flintlock guns, handguns, and rifled guns has exceeded 100,000!

The real results crushed the initial internal opposition. Those who were proud and looked down on all foreign technologies had to lower their arrogant heads in the face of the real results. As for a few stubborn people, all they have waiting for is to go home and eat old rice.

Although a large part of the achievements of today's hydraulic drilling machines are attributed to China, the drilling machines from Europe also played a huge role in the advent of new machinery. No one can deny this.

"Guangnan Kingdom's arms can be sold to them as soon as possible. The same goes for Lord Zheng's. The Xishan Army should delay!"

With the emergence of a large number of new guns and guns, we can handle as many firearms as we can handle. A batch of Portuguese cannons and flintlock guns captured from the Qing army have been presented to Ryukyu by Chen Ming. Then the King of Ryukyu will come to Nanjing in person to pay tribute. With Chen Ming's permission, the time is set at the end of the year, which happens to be in Nanjing. While attending Chen Ming's coronation ceremony, Ryukyu's Naha Port was also fully open to Chen Han Navy.

Another batch of guns captured from the Qing army was half-sold and half-gifted by him to the "Three Heroes" in Lang Son. Their current task was to weaken Beizheng as much as possible. As for the Guangnan Kingdom, that is, the territory of South Vietnam, although Chen Ming also has ambitions, South Vietnam is not as attractive to him as North Vietnam, and it is not as urgent and necessary. Because North Vietnam has been China's land since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and it was only given up in the middle and early Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Lord Zheng was out of luck. Even though Zheng Sen has always been respectful to Chen Han.

In Chen Ming's future "territory" design, Vietnam is to be swallowed up, and Myanmar does not exist. Laos, which is not big and weak, is in a state of division and has no resistance at all. It is easy to take it down. As for Siam, the only remaining one among the three small bullies in Indochina, Zheng Xin's ship is likely to capsize!

The Fu Han Army has only dug a coal field in Halong Bay so far, and there is no sign of looking at other lands in Indochina. Although the Fu Han Army has secretly contacted the Sultan of Kedah in Malaysia and discussed with the latter the ownership of Penang and a series of conditions for annexation. But Chen Ming really didn't show any interest in the inland of Indochina. Zheng Xin of Siam is likely to continue to fight with Myanmar on the one hand, and on the other hand, he will continue to swallow up Nanzhang, Luang Prabang, Vientiane and other countries after the division of Laos, as well as the Kingdom of Phnom Penh, that is, Cambodia. In the end, he clashed with the Tây Sơn Army!

Chen Ming couldn't figure out what these natives in Indochina were thinking? The country is not stable yet, but they are looking outwards. Or they think that the countries around them are too weak and the opportunity is too good. If they don't take advantage of it, they will lose out. After the Burmese developed towards Manipur and Bangladesh, they beat Siam hard. Siam also started to point its spearhead at Laos and Cambodia as soon as its national strength improved. The same is true for the South Vietnamese monkeys. In history, the Tây Sơn Army just stabilized the situation and could not wait to develop to the west, pointing its troops directly at Cambodia and Laos. It's also intoxicating!

Chen Ming's current approach is to support Guangnan and Zheng Zhu while secretly reaching a deal with the Tây Sơn Army and Lang Son, especially the latter. If there is no secret support from the Fu Han Army behind them, their life will not be as comfortable as it is now.

Although Chen Jie and the other three knew that they were working for Chen Han, and they had to leave their hometown because they opposed Chen Han, they had to take ruthless actions against a very orthodox "Confucian" country in order to expand their living space and survive.

Compared with the current Chen Han, the Northern Zheng under Zheng Sen's rule is a pure Confucian world.

As for the three brothers of the Nguyen family of the Tây Sơn Army, they are now in a period of cheating. Even if the arms arrive later, it will at most slow down their pace of conquering Guangnan, and it is impossible to give the Guangnan Nguyen family a chance to reverse.

"The arms trade with Siam will still be settled with rice." Chen Ming considered it for a while and decided to maintain the trade with Siam unchanged. That place is not poor, but it is not very rich. Moreover, the mining industry in Siam is sluggish at this time, and Chen Ming can't find any place to go in Siam.

This is just like he knows that there are many copper mines in Luzon, and the reserves are among the best in the world, but he just can't name a copper mine. Unlike the Hongji Coal Mine in Vietnam, which is well-known, the specific location and type of coal can be remembered.

Chen Ming has a general impression of the entire Indochina Peninsula - there are still many minerals. But he can't say it specifically. Even the jadeite old pit mine in Myanmar, he only knows the name.

Because the world of jadeite is too far away from him in his previous life.

After a simple instruction, Chen Ming picked up a report sent by Wang Huizu. This is from the bank. Commercial Bank!

Since its establishment, this bank has been limited to the eastern coastal area and has not developed on a large scale inland. Among several state-owned banks, this bank's capital and income are also the best and healthiest.

It makes a lot of money just from the handling fee of exchanging foreign gold and silver currencies. This bank is based on foreign trade ports and provides short-term and medium-term freight forwarding to Chinese and foreign merchants. As long as the other party can take out something to mortgage or has sufficient qualified guarantees, they can take away the currency they need from the Commercial Bank. The interest rate in the middle is not a small 1%, but starts at 5%!

After several years of rapid development, the name of China Merchants Bank has spread throughout Europe, and even to America. However, this year, the development speed of China Merchants Bank has suffered a serious decline.

Because the other three state-owned banks, such as the Bank of China, have begun to get involved in foreign trade ports after taking a breath, not to mention the establishment of two private banks. The situation of the Merchants Bank eating alone has been completely broken!

Although several years of first-hand operation have allowed the Merchants Bank to still occupy more than 70% of the entire port banking business in the first half of this year, many Chinese and foreign businessmen still habitually store their money in the Merchants Bank, and then all transaction fees in China are settled through the Merchants Bank, but the profits of the entire Merchants Bank have plummeted.

In addition to handling fees, real estate, shares, and financial investments, the Merchants Bank's annual profit sources before, such as the two private banks, both have shares of the Merchants Bank, mainly foreign loans, and the service fees for bank settlement business are not much money, mainly relying on loans. Whether it is short-term loans or medium- and long-term loans, they are all profitable. Although bad debts and dead debts are discovered from time to time, the borrowers all have collateral or guarantors, so the commercial banks are making a lot of money. But now that various banks have flocked in, they have naturally encroached on a large part of the commercial banks' interests. Although commercial banks still occupy a large share in savings, checks, settlement and other businesses, they have inevitably lost a large share in loans.

Commercial Bank is a state-owned bank, so naturally it has encountered many official rules. The sudden plunge in profits, without a proper excuse, would give the president of Commercial Bank a bit of a pain in the butt. The person currently sitting as the president of Commercial Bank is named Bao Zhidao, who was born in Huizhou.

Before he became famous, he was the chief shopkeeper of Wu Zunde, a big salt merchant who also came from She County, Huizhou. When the Fuhan Army entered Yangzhou, the big man Wu Zunde ran away, but Bao Zhidao did not. And it was just a single thought that allowed him, the big shopkeeper, to complete his fateful transformation.

In the early days of the establishment of the Commercial Bank, he first served as the general manager, and then took the top position after the 'mud tire wood carving' above was taken away. And from raw to cooked, the cooking is always good.

Logically speaking, this sudden sharp drop in profits cannot shake Bao Zhidao's position. But his luck was too bad. He arrived just in time for the replacement of the old and new bosses. The Commercial Bank is an absolute place of huge profits. Who dares to say that the person who is currently acting as the government official in Nanjing City has no idea to replace him with someone familiar to him. Woolen cloth?

Bao Zhidao sent this first half financial report to the Prince's Mansion with great fear. Since June, in order to reverse the decline, he has launched a large-scale loan advertising campaign, which has been launched in major newspapers and advertising spaces on the streets. He has followed them all. But the results were ridiculous. The loan business was still very sluggish, but the number of deposits in June increased steadily.

Bao Zhidao also analyzed the reasons for this phenomenon in this report. It is not all due to the participation of other banks, but also the social trend of declining total loan amounts.

The coverage area of ​​commercial banks is only that large. In major opening port cities, Huala La loans for several consecutive years have met the current market demand to a certain extent. The previous wave of thousands of merchants, large and small, that poured in from the opening of the port is gone forever, and the demand for loans will naturally decrease accordingly.

In particular, the overall value of high-profit large-amount loans has continued to decline since last winter, while the amount of small and medium-sized loans has increased to a certain extent.

This is the general trend, and it is really difficult to reverse it with the help of banks. If the country introduces some preferential policies, it will promote the second wave of development of port cities. Otherwise, if trading companies want to keep their profits, they will have no choice but to expand inland.

In addition, Bao Zhidao also proposed to uniformly lower interest rates to stimulate loans, stimulate consumption, promote market development, etc.

Chen Ming scratched his head a little. He was not familiar with this thing, not at all. In his previous life, he was also a small-time citizen, and he was completely blind to this kind of national financial plan. Although from an understanding point of view, Bao Zhidao's opinion makes sense. When the bank lowers the interest rate and the interest rate on deposits decreases, there will always be some people who are unwilling to deposit their money in the bank, so they will naturally use it to consume and buy things. In this way, businesses can sell more products, and it can also promote the expansion of industrial and commercial scale and create more jobs. Another is that when loan interest rates are low, many businessmen can borrow money at lower interest costs. And with money, businessmen can further expand their industries...

Of course Chen Ming also wants to see this scene happen, but is such a method necessary for Chen Han [are taxes increasing] when the overall economy is in a period of rapid growth? Just because the bank's profits have dropped, is it necessary to adopt such adjustment measures? Isn't it a bit of a fuss?

Economics and finance are all things that affect the whole body. To stimulate economic development, should productivity and residents' consumption levels also be taken into consideration? Chen Ming had long given back the little financial knowledge he learned in school to his physical education teacher, but he still remembered "inflation" and "deflation."

If we stimulate consumption and promote production, will there be enough gold and silver coins currently circulating in the market? At least the metal currency in the hands of the Fuhan military government has never been enough. So now his mind is in a state of confusion.

Let's do this, "Report this to the cabinet and let them come up with a definite opinion."

"The Commercial Bank is allowed to enter the inland. Tell Bao Zhidao, can the Commercial Bank also go out? To India, to Europe." There is still a large amount of real gold and silver hidden among the people in China. If necessary, Chen Ming can go out. An order was issued prohibiting the circulation of all non-monetary forms of gold and silver.

He was really confused. Inflation and deflation did not mess up the world, but first messed up his brain.