Chapter 514: That was all done by the Japanese of the past, and has nothing to do with the Japanese of today!

Yin Zhengmao's performance in the "Luzonization" of the Great Ming was very active—military, economic, cultural, and political, all-encompassing. He wished the imperial court would immediately turn the Luzon Viceroyalty into a real county, similar to the three commissions of Yunnan in the past. Yin Zhengmao walked at the forefront of the four major overseas viceroyalties of the Great Ming.

And the Nagasaki Viceroyalty's preparation to transport silver back to the capital was also to reflect its loyalty to the monarch and patriotism.

The Great Ming's tossing in the Japanese state was for the sake of the Japanese state's silver. Raising children to provide for old age—wasn't the enfeoffment of the Ashikaga Shogunate during the Yongle era for this day!

The Great Ming is over two hundred years old. The Great Ming is old, its legs and feet are inconvenient and inflexible, and it is very poor. Treating the illness requires a large amount of silver, and the Japanese state happens to have it. If we don't take it and use it, would we be worthy of the enfeoffment edict of the Chengzu Wen Emperor?

Back then, the Ashikaga Shogunate was struggling in the Japanese state. It was the Wen Emperor's edict that allowed the Ashikaga Shogunate to stand firm and allowed the Japanese state to be stable for over a hundred years.

Even if the Japanese state is a rebellious son, it can still raise children to provide for old age!

Japanese silver is the second largest source of the Great Ming's silver. The first largest source is the Great Manila Galleon trade that arrives at the port around June every year.

Oda Nobunaga's struggle seemed somewhat futile, because the Great Ming had reformed and its navy was strong, leaving Oda Nobunaga, this "Man of the World," with no very good way.

When Sun Keyi and Xu Wei were preparing to transport silver back to the capital, Oda Nobunaga's envoy arrived in Nagasaki again. A very small boat docked at the berth, forming a sharp contrast with the Great Ming's three-masted and five-masted ships, just like the Great Ming and the Japanese state at this time.

But the policy toward the Japanese state was completely inconsistent with the basic rule of mutual benefit. Because the total goal of the policy toward the Japanese state had always been to destroy the Japanese state, and it had never changed.

The Great Ming navy's pacification of the Japanese pirates in Nagasaki was mainly to prevent input-type sea pirates.

"If you don't act as a house dog, do you want to act as a wild dog?" Xu Wei immediately asked back, "Hungry and unable to survive from morning to night, is it good to be a wild dog?" The Nagasaki Viceroyalty acts as the Great Ming's house dog—so what?

Xu Wei nodded and said, "It's all the same."

The West Hall of the entire Viceroyalty was filled with laughter. The Japanese didn't even have a bit of apology for the Japanese pirates, let alone remorse and sacrifice.

According to the Great Ming's diplomatic proposition of "being gentle to distant people," what the Great Ming should do at this time is to accept Oda Nobunaga's surrender and mobilize some resources to find ways to transport grain to the Japanese state, exchange for silver, and at the same time, help the Oda Shogunate settle the Japanese people who have nowhere to go, restore production, reduce the source of Japanese pirates, and finally stabilize the sea borders.

"They are all disfigured corpses!"

"Oda Nobuo, think about it. Is there any difference between putting silver in Nagasaki and putting it in the Great Ming? As long as there is a need, the sailing ship only needs three or five days to pull it back. Ships are so fast now." Sun Keyi also echoed. He played a flawless card. Since you chose to be unreasonable, Sun Keyi didn't need to hide anything. He showed his cards—Grandpa is a scholar of the Great Ming!

"You beg me, and I have to agree to you?" Xu Wei smiled, looked in the direction of the Great Ming, laughed miserably twice, and asked, "My Great Ming's southeast coast has been poisoned by Japanese pirates for over thirty years. How many coastal people knelt on the ground, begging those Japanese pirates to spare their lives? Did the Japanese pirates agree? The Japanese pirates laughed and compared who killed more people, who killed with more ruthless means!"

This was the condition Oda Nobuo came to negotiate on behalf of Oda Nobunaga. What good would cooperation between the Nagasaki Viceroyalty and Oda Nobunaga, and seeking greater private interests, do for Xu Wei and Sun Keyi? If loyalty to the monarch and patriotism could really be exchanged for rewards, would there still be so many people raising pirates to respect themselves?

"Hahaha!" Xu Wei and Sun Keyi looked at each other and laughed out loud. The two of them held onto the armrests of the grand master's chairs, leaned forward, and laughed loudly, laughing wantonly, laughing until they couldn't breathe.

This was acceptable to everyone in the Japanese state, because the silver was placed in the Nagasaki Viceroyalty. The precious banknotes popular in the Japanese state were silver-standard paper banknotes. Although they had to pay the price of population, there was also a harvest. Paying the population solved part of the money shortage problem.

At the end of the tenth year of Wanli, the Japanese state had 8.5 million people. It was truly a case of many people and little land. Coupled with the chaotic wars between the *daimyo* of the Warring States, production was destroyed, and grain production was further reduced, which forced many Japanese people to take risks, go to sea, and become Japanese pirates, living by robbing others in the wind and waves.

The main point is to be shameless.

Oda Nobuo's forehead was covered in sweat. He had a flash of inspiration and said loudly, "That was all done by the Japanese of the past, and has nothing to do with the Japanese of today!"

"It is not needed." Oda Nobuo bowed again, prostrating himself and saying loudly, "I am just begging the angel! Please leave the silver in the Japanese state!"

"I have received the angel's instruction!" Oda Nobuo bowed again. He knew why the Nagasaki Viceroyalty was transporting silver now—it was because the navy was strong and nearby, and no one dared to act rashly.

Xu Wei's words could be said to be turning his face faster than turning a book. It was clear that the previous scolding of Oda Nobuo was Xu Wei's real thought, while the latter was a set of cliches. The general meaning was: Japanese silver must be done this way, and it must be transported back. This is all for the good of the Japanese state!

It was Oda Nobuo who was shameless first, talking nonsense. Who couldn't do the same?

Oda Nobuo's face flushed red, and he said loudly, "Isn't this being controlled by others? We need to listen to the imperial court."

"There are always people who doubt whether the Nagasaki Viceroyalty has excessively interfered in every aspect of the Japanese state, but what I want to say is that faced with the various challenges of the sea, we should work together instead of parting ways. The various decisions of the Nagasaki Viceroyalty are also based on the consideration of sea border stability."

"Under this major premise of sea border stability, we hope that Oda Nobunaga and the various *daimyo* of the Japanese state can look at the Nagasaki Viceroyalty's transport of silver back to the Great Ming positively."

"This is to stabilize the sea borders and for safer sea trade."

The Great Ming brought precious banknotes. The Nagasaki Viceroyalty and the various *daimyo* exchanged silver for banknotes and divided the seigniorage. The Nagasaki Viceroyalty had not transported silver back to the Great Ming before, but stored it locally, and even invested it in the local Kyushu Island.

Oda Nobuo raised his head slightly, looked at Xu Wei, and said in a low voice, "Is Viceroy Xu willing to be a vassal of the Great Ming for the rest of his life?"

"I, Xu Wei, a staff member of Hu Zongxian, saw those corpses with my own eyes! I saw the dying struggles of the Great Ming people! I saw a village after another full of devastation, broken walls and ruins! Men, old people, women, children, died in front of the stove, died under the tree, died in the cellar, died under the tree!"

Nagasaki's winter is not very cold, maintaining between 4 and 8 degrees above zero all year round. Although there was heavy snow a few days ago, because of the influence of the ocean current, the thin ice in the port of Nagasaki only lasted for two days before it melted.

"Respected Great Ming Heavenly Dynasty Envoy, transporting silver away and sending it back to the Great Ming is something the Japanese state cannot accept. I hope the Nagasaki Viceroyalty can stop this behavior." Oda Nobuo said earnestly in a tone of almost begging.

Oda Nobunaga still sent his third son, Oda Nobuo. Oda Nobuo was extremely proud of his father. Even if he became someone else's adopted son, Oda Nobuo had no dissatisfaction. He just wanted to do something so that his father could see him.

This kind of thinking is the traditional thought of mutual benefit, and the Great Ming Emperor also used it a lot in practice, such as the Great Manila Galleon trade, such as the Mughal envoy Shah Mahomet, such as the foreign envoys at the naval review all having their own seats, etc.

Wan Shihe always said that the Japanese didn't understand etiquette at all, and Xu Wei indicated that Wan Shihe was right.

Oda Nobuo elaborated on Oda Nobunaga's conditions in detail. In short, join forces to resist the Great Ming! All gains belong to the Nagasaki Viceroyalty!

Oda Nobuo wanted to use interests to move Xu Wei and incite Xu Wei to rebel against the Great Ming. As long as Xu Wei led the Nagasaki Viceroyalty to rebel against the Great Ming, everything could be discussed.

Oda Nobuo had just arrived at the row of houses in Nagasaki Port when he heard information that made him shudder: the Nagasaki Viceroyalty was actively preparing to transport silver back to the Great Ming!

After hearing the news, cold sweat broke out behind Oda Nobuo's back.

"Hahaha!" Xu Wei and Sun Keyi began to laugh again.

Xu Wei sat up straight, looked at Oda Nobuo, sneered and said, "The Grand Minister always says that the Japanese have small etiquette but no great righteousness. In my opinion, it is no different from a beast. Where is there any human nature? It is deeply rooted in animal nature!"

"The Great Ming has already pacified the Japanese pirates, and the era of Warring States *daimyo* is also passing. My father is spreading martial arts throughout the world. Once the Japanese state is stable, there will be no more Japanese pirates."

Sun Keyi thought for a moment and added, "I advise you not to act rashly. The Songjiang Town navy is pacifying the Japanese pirates in Nagasaki."

Oda Nobuo's meaning was that it was all in the past, so don't keep biting and not letting go. Holding onto the sins of the past and living in hatred would only blind one's eyes and lead to wrong decisions.

But once the Great Ming transported all the silver back to the Great Ming, the precious banknotes circulating in the Japanese state would lose this important anchor of silver. This meant that the precious banknotes circulating in the Japanese state could never be redeemed, which was unacceptable to everyone in the Japanese state!

Xu Wei looked at Oda Nobuo, his brows furrowed, and said, "You tried every possible way to see me, just to say these things? Does my Nagasaki Viceroyalty have to get Oda Nobunaga's consent to do anything?"

"You beg me? And I have to agree?"

What is called having small etiquette but no great righteousness? This is the most typical case. Oda Nobuo could not understand Xu Wei and Sun Keyi's loyalty to His Majesty and the Great Ming as a whole, nor could he understand why Xu Wei and Sun Keyi always lived in hatred. Clearly, most of those people, those poor and toiling masses who died, had little to do with Xu Wei and Sun Keyi.

What kind of hatred is worth Xu Wei, Sun Keyi, and others giving up such huge interests in the Japanese state?

"Sigh, in the eyes of the Japanese state, Japanese ships going to the Great Ming take months, but the water distance from Nagasaki to Songjiang Prefecture is only 1,600 *li*. It used to take the Great Ming navy a month to reach Nagasaki from Songjiang, but now it only takes twelve days. With a favorable wind, the time will be even shorter." Xu Wei shook his head and said. He was too lazy to talk about those big principles. Even if he talked, the Japanese wouldn't understand. He used facts to tell Oda Nobuo not to think about it; there was no such foundation.

From the North Yamen to the South Yamen by land, fast cavalry riding day and night would take fifteen days, and the elite troops of the Capital Battalion would take a month and a half to move from the North Yamen to the South Yamen. But the navy only needed twelve days to move from departure to arrival in Nagasaki. If they rebelled against the Great Ming in Nagasaki, the Great Ming could really crush them with the momentum of thunder and then rebuild a Nagasaki Viceroyalty on the spot.

"Look on the bright side." Xu Wei stood up, ignored Oda Nobuo who was kneeling on the ground, and walked away straight.

After leaving, Xu Wei immediately stopped and said, "The 2.98 million taels of silver in the Nagasaki Viceroyalty, get on the ship immediately, transport it back to Songjiang Prefecture, immediately, right now. Ask the Marquis of Shouli, Chen Lin, to send troops to escort it to prevent accidents."

"What's wrong? Didn't you say transport 1.5 million silver?" Sun Keyi said with a solemn expression.

"I'm afraid the Japanese will jump over the wall in desperation." Xu Wei had a solemn expression, but he soon relaxed and said, "It's best if they jump over the wall in desperation."

Sometimes Xu Wei had to admire Oda Nobunaga's ability to maintain his composure, which was comparable to Sima Yi's. Back then, Zhuge Liang sent women's clothes to Sima Yi to humiliate him and make him leave the city to fight, but Sima Yi wouldn't leave the city even after putting on the women's clothes. The Nagasaki Viceroyalty used all kinds of means to force Oda Nobunaga to take action and destroy the Nagasaki Viceroyalty.

Oda Nobunaga was really able to hold his temper, fighting with the Great Ming back and forth several times, but always refused to take the final step and did not directly attack with force.

Xu Wei prepared a big gunpowder depot in Nagasaki, just waiting for Oda Nobunaga to come.

Originally, he planned to transport it directly to Tianjin Wei after the spring and enter the capital, but Xu Wei had been away from the Great Ming for a long time, and his impression of the hinterland was still stuck in the corrupt Great Ming imperial court of the past. He was afraid that this silver would be embezzled by local officials. After all, Xu Jie even dared to embezzle the property of Yan Song's family. What silver would the Great Ming officials not dare to embezzle?

But now it was too late, so they had to set off immediately to prevent the Japanese from jumping over the wall in desperation.

The reason why it wasn't transported to the Mizhou Shipping Commission was because in Xu Wei's impression, Songjiang Prefecture was more loyal. Who let Songjiang Prefecture have the navy sitting in town? Loyalty is strongly related to military affairs. With the army nearby, even if they were no longer loyal in their hearts, they had to be loyal on the surface.

At this time, in the Great Ming court, in the Imperial Study of the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun, was the President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, the great scientist, great musician, astronomer, physicist, great mathematician, and Prince De, Imperial Uncle Zhu Zaiyu.

"Your Majesty, matter is in motion!" Zhu Zaiyu said with great excitement, "Last time we talked about how because the heat of molecules is different, their states are different. We verified this conjecture. We used an inverted vacuum glass tube on the water surface and changed the surrounding temperature..."

"Alright, Imperial Uncle, you can stop. I know you are a genius." Zhu Yijun repeatedly reminded him that Zhu Zaiyu didn't need to show his genius side again and again. That heavy musical score was a high mountain that countless people couldn't reach in their lifetime. This was still Zhu Zaiyu's relatively shallow achievement that was easy to catch up with.

Recently, the Academy of Sciences did an experiment, verifying again that all matter is composed of smaller micro-molecules, and these micro-molecules are constantly in motion, further leading to a further conjecture: matter is in motion, and motion is the fundamental attribute and existence mode of matter.

Further on this basis, the concepts of relative motion and relative rest were born.

This experiment was somewhat complicated, and Zhu Yijun had already read it in detail. Of course, it was only to the extent that he could understand it.

For example, Japanese silver is somewhat black because Japanese silver contains partial sulfur impurities, and refining Japanese silver into gold-flower silver is removing impurities, while adding lead, copper, and tin is increasing impurities. Letting wrought iron become steel is the different proportion of carbon. According to the different carbon content, the Great Ming had already completed the scientific definition and subdivision of steel.

"Is it because you need more silver?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu and pondered for a moment before asking his purpose.

Only when he wanted silver would Zhu Zaiyu walk out of his Royal Academy of Sciences and use a slightly clumsy way to ask for silver. No matter whether Zhu Zaiyu was clumsy or not, Zhu Yijun would give him silver anyway.

Just a steam engine was worth Zhu Yijun's heavy investment, let alone other scientific achievements.

"At the beginning of the year, I asked Your Majesty for one million silver, and there are still 430,000 silver left. I don't need silver. I just discovered the essence of the world and specifically came to tell Your Majesty. This seems to have no use, but it seems to be the fundamental principle of all things." Zhu Zaiyu said with a smile.

This time it really wasn't asking for silver. Zhu Zaiyu just wanted to tell His Majesty the results he discovered. That was the scenery of breaking through the boundaries of cognition.

"Imperial Uncle, I seem to have never heard you talk about what *gewu* (investigation of things) is." Zhu Yijun said with a smile.

The two words "Imperial Academy of Sciences" had never been precisely defined. Zhu Yijun planned to determine this matter this year.

Zhu Zaiyu said with a confused face, "When Your Majesty established the Academy of Sciences, didn't you clearly state it?"

"Did I say it?" Zhu Yijun also asked with some confusion.

" 'Practice is one, believe in truth only.' That is the eight characters on the shadow wall of the Academy of Sciences. Your Majesty personally wrote it, and signed it with Zhu Zhongxing's flower signature." Zhu Zaiyu said as a matter of course, "Investigation of things is generally divided into three steps: for unsolved conjectures, for mathematical demonstration of conjectures, and for verifying demonstration with experiments. No matter how perfect the conjecture is and how reasonable the demonstration is, if it does not conform to actual verification, then the conjecture is wrong and the demonstration is wrong."

"Isn't this the best portrayal of Your Majesty's 'Practice is one, believe in truth only'? This is investigation of things. We, the Five Classics Doctors, follow the sacred instruction and act accordingly. We have many feelings. Every time we are confused, when we see those eight characters, our hearts will slowly dissipate."

That shadow wall stone was known as the "Enlightenment Stone," but whenever there was doubt in the heart, standing in front of that inscription, the confusion in the heart would slowly dissipate.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu blankly. His meaning in writing those eight characters was just the literal meaning: the only criterion for doing things is truth, practical and reliable practice, don't do those flashy things to fool people.

Zhu Zaiyu's understanding of those eight characters was also very deep and concrete.

"Ah, so I had already defined investigation of things." Zhu Yijun nodded. I was so amazing!

Those eight characters were indeed amazing, but Zhu Zaiyu's understanding of them was also amazing.

Zhu Zaiyu continued, "Because we need to practice, for example, last time I talked to Jiao Hong about whether dragons really exist. Jiao Hong asked me, do dragons really exist? I told him, we just haven't observed them, but we can't say they don't exist; we can only say the possibility is very small. Investigation of things is like this. The possibility is between zero and one. Even if it is infinitely close to zero, I cannot say it absolutely does not exist."

"Conjecture is actually just possibility. We demonstrate and experiment, all to make the possibility infinitely approach one."

Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Alright, Imperial Uncle, that's enough. Why not take some silver? I only have this. Today, the Zheng Wang family is moving to the Ten-Prince City. Do you want to go together?"

"Is it today?" Zhu Zaiyu was stunned for a moment. He had been thinking about this matter, but when it came to the moment, he forgot.

After Zhu Zaiyu's father experienced the prison disaster of the Fengyang High Wall, he became exceptionally generous. In order not to affect Zhu Zaiyu, Prince Zheng Zhu Huawan didn't even tell Zhu Zaiyu about the moving matter.

Prince Zheng Zhu Huawan actually couldn't understand what his son was doing, but he also knew that the things he was doing had great use.

Prince De and Prince Lu were very special existences. They lived around the Tonghe Palace. The Prince De Mansion, Prince Lu Mansion, Royal Academy of Sciences, Lecture Hall, and Pagoda constituted the core of imperial power, a place that no one could touch, except for the administration of the Academy of Sciences, which the Emperor needed to use some external forces to supervise together.

"I will go there now." Zhu Zaiyu said hurriedly.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu's back and said with a smile, "Slow down, no rush."

Zhu Zaiyu was very busy, immersed in the world of geniuses, but he was also a living person with parents, wife, and children. Occasionally returning to reality, he would also show the emotions of ordinary people.

"Did you understand what the Imperial Uncle said?" Zhu Yijun looked at Feng Bao and Zhang Hong and asked.

Feng Bao and Zhang Hong looked at each other and shook their heads. They didn't understand the world of geniuses, but it didn't matter. As long as they were willing to understand, they would slowly understand.

Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial and began to read it. After reading the memorial sent by Xu Wei, he immediately asked, "Is Oda Nobunaga going to launch an attack? Chen Lin is in Nagasaki. Is he so crazy?"

Feng Bao thought for a moment and shook his head, "Not really. From all aspects of the news, Oda Nobunaga is still enduring."

"Enduring?" Zhu Yijun approved Xu Wei's memorial, telling him to retreat immediately if he couldn't handle it. The Great Ming army would tell the Japanese state that what the Great Ming wanted, it must be given, and if it wasn't given, it had to be given.

Shen Shixing, the Viceroy of Songjiang, reported that the Royal Ship Design Institute had been basically established, divided into several departments: deck, hull, cargo, navigation, inspection design, planning, etc. The main work was the planning of flat decks, the improvement of hull strength, the coordination of cargo loading, the refinement of navigation skills, the verification of design with scale models, and the influence of astronomical hydrology.

The design institute was also a research institute, specifically researching how to improve the various performances of ships in an all-round way. For example, recently, the Royal Ship Design Institute planned to continue researching copper-clad hulls. Copper is very expensive, but copper-clad hulls brought shipowners rich economic benefits.

Specifically, copper-clad hulls could speed up navigation, make ships more sturdy, prevent accidents, increase navigation safety, and increase service life. With just one successful round trip, the shipowner could recover the cost of copper-clad hulls, and everything brought after that was net profit. Just like watertight compartments, the construction cost would be more expensive, but compared to ship safety, this cost was not worth mentioning.

In Shen Shixing's memorial, he also mentioned two things. The first was that at the end of last year, he mentioned the hope of some high-risk projects in maritime investment, spreading the risk downward through the trading house. At that time, Zhu Yijun rejected this proposal on the grounds that the time was not ripe. Shen Shixing was bringing up an old matter again.

Specifically, for example, the development of the Yuanxu Islands required a large amount of silver, but the risk was extremely high. The proportion of Great Ming official gardens was already very high, and the high-quality islands had been occupied. If the imperial court continued to invest in deep development, it might face the risk of costs not being recovered. It would be better to package a certain area and put it into the trading house to raise silver for development.

This idea of Shen Shixing was very good, and it wasn't the first time it had been proposed. Zhu Yijun agreed in principle, but he still approved: the time is not ripe. Wait until navigation technology is more mature before carrying out the matter of raising silver for development through the trading house, and reduce the risk of development further.

Risk and return are equal, but risk is risk. Sometimes, Zhu Yijun was indeed a benevolent ruler, willing to protect those who went to sea to take risks, as they were all supporters of the maritime opening policy.

The second thing Shen Shixing said was maritime insurance.

No matter how large and sturdy the Great Ming built its giant ships, maritime accidents were still happening repeatedly. Because the Great Ming's coastal trade did not involve ocean-going, the return rate of merchant ships exceeded 90%, but out of every one hundred ships that went to sea every year, ten would sink forever in the ocean.

The huge losses in maritime trade made shipowners bankrupt. Insurance was born in such an environment, but because there were no written regulations, the development of the entire insurance industry was extremely disorderly, and it even became a place for hiding dirt and filth. Insurance became a line of business for cheating money. Shen Shixing hated this chaos deeply.

For the healthy and orderly development of the insurance industry, Shen Shixing requested that the Songjiang Shipping Commission take the lead, and the five major shipping commissions and five major ocean-going merchant firms coordinate together to establish a compensation house, specifically setting up one compensation director, concurrently held by the Viceroy of Songjiang, responsible for determining damage, determining responsibility, compensation, etc.

"Send it to the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue." Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and did not approve it immediately, but asked the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue to come up with opinions. Shen Shixing's original intention was good, but for this thing, Zhu Yijun was relatively cautious.

Antwerp, a southern city in the Netherlands (Belgium) region, was the busiest port in the Netherlands region. In Antwerp, the mileage of ship insurance was *li*. These insurance merchants, when pricing, would comprehensively consider tonnage, number of ships, whether there were pirates on the route, and many other factors. The average rate of return of the entire insurance market was roughly 2-3%, not too high, but not too low.

The reason why Zhu Yijun was cautious was because insurance could very easily become an industry of collecting rent, that is to say, it could very easily become one of the Great Ming's means of accumulation.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 515 =====

The reason Zhu Yijun is cautious is that insurance can very easily turn into a rent-collecting industry; that is to say, it can very easily become one of the Great Ming's means of accumulation.

(End of this chapter)