Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 265: The whole world belongs to the Ming Dynasty

Seeing that Zhang Yanling was so determined to believe that the earth was a sphere, Zhu Houzhao smiled with relief.

In Zhu Houzhao's view, it is very meaningful to make the people of the Ming Dynasty believe in and acknowledge the concept of "Earth". This will enable them to begin to learn to question some of the ancients' ideas and even the different hypotheses of the ancients, and let them know that they need to verify them through practice. This is very helpful for the development of the Han people's thinking.

In addition, making the people of the Ming Dynasty believe in the concept of "Earth" can truly broaden their horizons and make them believe that their empire is not the center of the world, that the world outside is still very large, and that there are even many wealth and resources that can be tapped.

The treasures brought back from ocean voyages proved this point, and the concept of "Earth" that was deeply rooted in people's minds made the people of the Ming Dynasty know in theory and consciousness that the Ming Empire was not the central country, and there were many resources outside that needed to be seized by the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Xia Yan and Zhang Yanling were undoubtedly the first people to recognize the concept of "Earth", especially Xia Yan. As a politician, he thought further than Zhang Yanling about how the Ming Dynasty should respond to this great geographical discovery.

Therefore, Xia Yan immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, may I borrow the globe on your desk?"

Xia Yan smoothly called the wooden globe on Zhu Houzhao's desk a globe, and Zhu Houzhao did not feel embarrassed and just nodded.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Xia Yan walked to the globe and pointed at it, saying, "Your Majesty, please look. It is beyond doubt that the earth is a sphere. If so, the land on it may really exist. If the continent south of the Spice Islands (Indonesia) really exists, and if the South Pole, the North Pole, and the continent that the Marquis Jianchang passed by (South America) also exist, then we cannot take it lightly!

Furthermore, according to the sailing records of me and Marquis Jianchang over the years, there are still not many people and towns on many lands, such as Africa. Even the sailing records of Eunuch Sanbao mentioned that their fleet had been to a continent south of the Spice Islands (Australia), which was almost uninhabited. This shows that there are still many places in the world that people have not set foot on.

And now, Western countries like Portugal are erecting monuments everywhere claiming that these are their territories. Our Great Ming cannot follow suit. Haven't you heard that all under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are the king's subjects? Our Great Ming must occupy these uninhabited or wild lands as soon as possible, otherwise I am afraid that in the future, the Western countries will get the upper hand, just like Mongolia in the Song Dynasty, and eventually become a great threat to our Central Plains!

Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to immediately train a strong army, develop maritime affairs, and expand the territory of our Great Ming before the Western Barbarians carve up the entire earth, so that we can benefit from the four seas!"

After Xia Yan finished speaking, he cupped his hands and looked at Zhu Houzhao with excitement.

Zhang Yanling also bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Minister Xia is right. Those Western barbarians dared to expand their territory with only three or four ships (Da Gama had only three ships when he opened up a new route) and returned with a full load of gold. Even when Eunuch Sanbao sailed to the West, our Ming Dynasty had more than 200 ships and more than 20,000 officers and soldiers. How could we lose to them! I also ask Your Majesty to assign all the New Worlds to the Ming Dynasty!"

"Prelude!"

Zhu Houzhao had long wanted to turn the Ming Dynasty into an empire on which the sun never sets, but he had trouble finding many people who had taken the initiative to propose it. As a result, he could only rely on his power as an emperor and use administrative orders to open up the sea for colonization. Now, it was rare that a civil servant and a noble in the court had taken the initiative to petition him, the emperor, to seize territory around the world, so naturally he would not refuse.

After Zhu Houzhao agreed, Xia Yan and Zhang Yanling said in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"

However, Xia Yan and Zhang Yanling were secretly laughing in their hearts, wondering what His Majesty would do next.

Zhu Houzhao only looked at Liu Jin: "Prepare ink and draft an order!"

Zhu Houzhao then said, "Announce to the world that all the land and oceans on the earth belong to the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty. Only the people of the Ming Dynasty have the right to cultivate and settle these lands and oceans after obtaining the emperor's permission. The sky above these lands and oceans is also the airspace of our Ming Dynasty!"

Xia Yan couldn't help but be shocked. He took a look at the globe and found that His Majesty's words were equivalent to turning the entire earth into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao thought that Portugal and Spain had already signed a treaty to divide the world, stating that the land west of the Atlantic belonged to Spain and the land east of the Atlantic belonged to Portugal. Spain even directly declared that all territories adjacent to the Atlantic belonged to the Spanish royal family. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, how could he let their ambitions succeed? The world could only belong to the Ming Dynasty!
As for that treaty, can it be considered a treaty if it is not recognized by the Ming Empire? Even if it is presided over by the Pope, so what? The Ming Dynasty does not have to give face to the Pope of Rome.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao directly issued such an order and directly instructed Xia Yan: "Now, I appoint you, Xia Yan, as the Minister of Nanyang and the Admiral of the Guards Navy, the Governor of Marine Military and Political Affairs, the Minister of War, responsible for managing all the routes of the Ming Dynasty and the construction of new territories (colonial construction)!"

Xia Yan had never expected that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would let him take direct charge of the maritime affairs, so he was naturally very excited: "I obey your order! Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

"Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang, listen to my order. I will confer the title of Duke of Changguo on you to commend your contribution to circumnavigating the world. I have also decided to name that strait in South America as the Jianchang Strait, establish the Jianchang Province, set up three departments, and appoint you, Zhang Yanling, as the governor of the military and political affairs of Jianchang to expand the territory for my Ming Dynasty! How large the jurisdiction of Jianchang Province is depends on how much territory you, the Duke of Changguo, can open up!" Zhu Houzhao instructed Zhang Yanling.

Although he had to risk his life again and leave his hometown, even to go to a wild land, but seeing that Zhu Houzhao was going to give him the title of Duke and let him, a relative of the emperor, serve as an official abroad, Zhang Yanling had no intention of refusing and hurriedly thanked him.

Xia Yan originally wanted to persuade Emperor Zhu Houzhao not to let a relative serve as an official, but then he thought that America was far away across the ocean, and there would be no need to worry about relatives interfering in politics if they were to serve as officials in such a place. Moreover, the only person who had real experience in sailing in South America was Zhang Yanling, so he said nothing.

"Now, Xia Qing, you need to build more shipyards and more warships as soon as possible, as well as reserve weapons and food. You also need to train more sailors and naval officers and soldiers for me. Your uncle will listen to Xia Qing's orders, conserve his energy, and be ready to open up new territories for me and the Ming Dynasty at any time!"

Zhu Houzhao called the two men to a map and said, "Look, there is a place called Macao in Guangdong and Guangxi. This is the port that I ordered Lin Tingxuan, Wang Hong and others to develop in Guangdong and Guangxi. This place has the potential to control four shipping routes in the future.

The first is the route to Siam-Malaga-Goa (Indian Goa)-Cape Verde;

The second is the route to Japan;

The third is to the Luzon-South America route;
The fourth route is to the Spice Islands.

In this way, Macau can undoubtedly become a shipping center to all countries in the world.

Now, what we have to do is to take Macau as the starting point and control these four shipping routes. As long as we control these four shipping routes, most of the commercial profits on the entire earth will be in our hands. At the same time, we can also use it to establish a stronghold and control the Atlantic in the future!

Therefore, Xia Qing, you need to go to Haojing now and make sure to build it into the shipping center of our Ming Dynasty!
Uncle, you are in South America. We already have bases in Ceuta and Cape Verde. I will then send ministers to the continent south of the Spice Islands. With Macau as the center and South America, Ceuta, Cape Verde and the continent to the south as bases, the Ming Dynasty will be able to turn the entire Pacific and Indian Oceans into its inland seas!"

Zhu Houzhao said this, Xia Yan could not help but get excited: "Your Majesty, in this case, we need to gradually open up these four routes and control them in our hands. The first one should be the route from Haojing to Goa and then to Cape Verde and Ceuta. Indian pepper, hematite, ivory, sandalwood and other products can be directly transported to Haojing by our Ming officials and merchants to be exchanged for Ming soap, glass, porcelain, and silk, and then transported to the Ottoman Empire and the Western Barbarians to be exchanged for silver!"

"The route from Haojing to South America is also very important. Currently, only our Ming Dynasty ships have been there. I can directly transport the silver from South America back. I can also directly transport their cloves and ebony back. When I was sailing there, I saw endless giant trees and countless silver mines!"

Zhang Yanling said.

"What you said makes sense. Xia Qing, you go to Macau and start to find a way to gradually take the route from Macau to Ceuta from the Portuguese. I want to go to the Mediterranean to take a look in ten years.

Uncle, you must now build this route from Ming to South America for me. It would be best if you could kill the Portuguese you see in the future, and then turn the land there into the territory of Ming. There is a narrow land there (the Isthmus of Panama), occupy it for me, and in the future I can open a navigable waterway from there!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Xia Yan and Zhang Yanling hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Highness, we obey your order!"

Zhu Houzhao said nothing more. Although he had issued a series of instructions, such a global undertaking could not be accomplished just by saying it. First of all, it would take at least half a year to train personnel, build warships and guns, and collect food.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao put the matter aside for the time being and continued to ask Zhang Yanling: "Did you bring back the sweet potatoes?"

"I brought back a shipload. I have already bought a piece of land in Taiwan and asked someone to cultivate it first. I also brought a batch to Beijing. Your Majesty can try it. It is indeed very sweet," said Zhang Yanling.

"No need for that. Give them all to the agricultural science department of the Ming Academy of Sciences for research and cultivation, and then promote them as soon as possible. What the Ming Dynasty needs most in the future is food."

Zhu Houzhao said.

(End of this chapter)