Chapter 1473: The Great Ming Has a Loving Father!

Great — if we invest 8 million taels for 10 years, we get back 15.04 million taels. And if we don't sell back, we can convert it into 15.04 million mu of land.

This deal is simply too good — and it's with his own son! What a truly loving father!

After hearing Zhu Cilang's words, Wu Ahuan was deeply moved! This Hongxing Emperor was not only a filial son and the foremost good elder brother in the Great Ming, but now he had gone a step further and become the Great Ming's number-one loving father.

He truly embodied filial piety as a son, fraternal love as a brother, and paternal kindness as a father — a paragon of virtue for all ages, a model for eternity!

Wu Ahuan knew the Zhu Emperor's calculations were far too shrewd, but she could hardly refuse to his face — not because she, as a daughter-in-law, was especially filial, but because she knew that if she and the Tycoon King wanted to carve out a great future in North New Continent, they had to obtain the two nomadic chiliarchies provided by the Great Ming court.

Moreover, although this loving father Zhu Cilang was very good at keeping accounts, he was still reliable and would not casually swindle the Tycoon King. An investment of 8 million taels returning 15.04 million taels or 15.04 million mu of land in 10 years was certainly not swindling — it was a perfectly reasonable demand.

The United States of New Continent was a tycoon nation, rich in gold and sable furs, with the world's highest per capita GDP!

And although the Great Ming Empire's total output was very high, its per capita figure was far below that of the United States of New Continent — it was just a poor developing country. How could the Great Ming be expected to subsidize the United States of New Continent?

Why did the Great Ming Empire maintain so many tributary states? Wasn't it so those tributary states could help with domestic poverty relief? How could it ever work the other way around, with the Ming losing money?

And Zhu Cilang himself could not possibly subsidize the United States of New Continent — he was the Tycoon King's own father, not the father of the New Continent's less than a million commoners. Why would he take his own money and give it to the people of a tycoon nation? Where in the world was there an emperor who acted like that?

Besides, even the Tycoon King could no longer keep "living off his parents" — he was a king holding full power over the United States, so how could he have the nerve to ask his loving father Zhu Cilang for subsidies?

He had to become a filial son too!

"Imperial Father," Wu Ahuan said after a moment's thought, "may I ask whom Imperial Father intends to appoint as chiliarchs of these two nomadic chiliarchies?"

"Of course the second and fifth boys will go!" Zhu Cilang said with a laugh. "Brothers fight together in war. Both of them graduated from the Military Academy and have been through the grind in the army for a while — it's time for them to go out and gain experience. We have already made the arrangements: they will take up the posts of chiliarch and go to North New Continent to help the Tycoon boy. Ahuan, you and the Tycoon boy must not mistreat these two good brothers in the future."

Wu Ahuan quickly answered with a smile: "Imperial Father, rest assured — your daughter-in-law and the King of the United States will certainly not mistreat Second Brother and Fifth Brother."

How could they be mistreated? There wouldn't even be time to treat them well enough — unless those two nomadic chiliarchies turned out to be fake!

"Then We are reassured!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Ahuan, your father Wu Guogui will be arriving in the capital within the next couple of days. You father and daughter should have a brief reunion, and then you may set off. While you're at it, speak with your father about the matter of the two nomadic chiliarchies."

With that, Zhu Cilang raised his hand slightly, signaling that Wu Ahuan could take her leave.

"Your daughter-in-law understands," Wu Ahuan said, rising and performing a formal curtsy. "Your daughter-in-law takes her leave."

Watching Wu Ahuan depart, Zheng Chagu sighed and said to Zhu Cilang in a reproachful tone: "Your Majesty, you keep such precise accounts with the Tycoon boy — is that any way for a father to behave?"

"It's fine enough," Zhu Cilang said with a laugh. "Who told Us to have so many children? If We don't keep careful accounts, sooner or later We'll end up like the Retired Emperor — poor in old age and having to 'sell off Our sons'!"

"You still have the nerve to say that?" Zheng Chagu shook her head. "The Retired Emperor is your own father! And you swindle him like this..."

"Let's not talk about that," Zhu Cilang said, waving his hand with a smile. "Later, Our Royal Trading Company is going to issue bonds — 8 million taels, 10-year term, principal and interest repaid in one lump sum at maturity, annual interest rate 6.5%. Would you like to buy some?"

"8 million taels, 10-year term..." Zheng Chagu's face darkened as soon as she heard it. "Your Majesty, the 8 million you gave the Tycoon boy carries 8.8% interest — you're making 2.3 points off it yourself!"

Zhu Cilang glared at Chagu. "How do you do your arithmetic? Does issuing bonds cost nothing? If We were to sell the shares back to the United States, the most We'd get is 2 points — 1.6 million taels over 10 years. Can that be considered much?" He paused. "But We do hope to take land instead. 15.04 million mu of land on the great plains of North New Continent ought to be worth at least 20 million taels!"

Zhu Cilang's Royal Trading Company of course had more than 8 million taels of silver on deposit, but he still chose to raise the funds by issuing bonds.

Because he knew that the war between the Great Ming and the Westerners would be a very long one — this was the 17th century, not the 20th, and a 17th-century global war could not be finished in four or five years.

Wars in the 17th century routinely lasted twenty or thirty years, so Zhu Cilang had to prepare a bit more funding for this war!

And his desire to squeeze some profit out of the United States of New Continent was likewise for the sake of sustaining this long-term struggle.

Palace of Versailles, the Bull's Eye Salon.

Louis, the Sun King of France, who had already resolved to go to war with the Great Ming Empire, did not rush to issue marching orders to his armies in the period after Christmas of 1672. Instead, he continued settling accounts with his ministers of state and military strategists at Versailles!

The Sun King had to settle accounts too!

The enemy France was about to face this time was too powerful. If he did not calculate carefully, the war could not be sustained.

"Your Majesty, considering the Great Ming Empire's capacity to endure a long war, we should preserve France's strength as much as possible, so as to cope with the various expenditures that a protracted war will bring..."

The man reporting the state of war preparations to the Sun King was the newly appointed young Minister of War, the Marquis de Louvois.

To facilitate command of this massive war, Louis XIV had, after Christmas of 1672, adjusted France's military command structure and, imitating his enemy the Great Ming, established a general staff headed by the Prince de Condé.

At the same time, the Ministry of War was given responsibility for managing the logistics and supply of the French army, troop recruitment, and military expenditure. And the shrewd "office general," the Marquis de Louvois, had been selected by Louis XIV to serve as the great steward of the French army — Minister of War.

"To preserve France's strength," said the marquis, who was not yet forty and looked slightly plump, "I recommend that in the first phase of the war, we commit elite French army troops only to the most critical theater — the west coast of the Americas! Naturally, the number should not exceed 8,000 men. In Central Asia and India, the army forces we commit should be kept within 2,000 men. In Central Asia, we should rely on the armies of the Russian Empire to do the fighting. In India, we should make use of the forces of the Shun, the Portuguese, and the Dutch. If possible, we should also make use of the local princely states of India."

"Only 8,000 men..." Louis XIV thought for a moment. "Marquis de Marignane, what is your view?"

The battle-hardened Marquis de Marignane was now Governor-General of New France and would also be Regional Commander of the combined New France and New Spain forces.

"Your Majesty," said the Marquis de Marignane, "8,000 French soldiers will be sufficient, because there will also be twenty to thirty thousand elite New Spain troops fighting alongside us... They will be enough to achieve a decisive victory before the United States of New Continent can complete its war mobilization!"

He paused and turned his gaze to the Minister of the Navy, Colbert. "But operations along the Pacific coast cannot proceed without a powerful naval fleet! Without command of the sea, our army can go nowhere!"

Louis XIV also asked: "Minister of the Navy, is our fleet ready?"

The French Minister of the Navy took up the question and gave an affirmative reply.

"Your Majesty, the navy is ready... However, because the latest-model warships all suffer from the problem of powerful firepower but insufficient defense, it will be very difficult for the fleet to avoid sustaining heavy losses in battle! Therefore, to maintain command of the sea over the long term, we must possess a strong capacity for shipbuilding and for replenishing naval personnel.

Therefore, the navies of France and New Spain can at most guarantee command of the sea off the eastern Pacific coast for twelve months. Once the main force of the Chinese navy's Eastern Ocean Fleet reaches the eastern Pacific, we may well lose command of the sea."

(End of Chapter)