The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 702 Reverse Colonization
Around 7 PM, night had completely fallen.

The vast Ming army camp at Pernambuco remained brightly lit.

Especially inside the huge central canopy, it was as bright as day.

Prince Maurice of Nassau and his companions quickly filled their stomachs and left.

Wanli, Deshera, and a group of generals were still clinking glasses and eating with great relish.

At this moment, they seem to have achieved final victory, and it seems that no force in the world can threaten the Ming Dynasty anymore.

The soldiers were truly at ease and drank heartily.

Deschelana was also extremely excited and went around toasting everyone.

He was genuinely happy.

Originally, he was just the leader of a colonial outpost with only a few dozen men under his command.

Who would have thought that in less than two years, he would become the most powerful person in all of Portugal, controlling more than 90% of Portugal's overseas colonies.

His power even surpassed that of any king in Europe; how could he not be happy?

Emperor Wanli appeared to be celebrating with everyone, but his mind was still preoccupied with how to deal with those colonial bandits.

They won this time, but those guys will definitely not give up, much less stop.

Those guys are just like bandits. If they had any strength and could rob others, they would definitely do it.

No need to think about this.

If you want those guys to be completely obedient, you have to crush them under your feet and leave them no chance to turn the tables.

As for how to conquer Europe, directly taking over by force is truly unacceptable.

Because there would be no benefit to be gained from that, and it would also waste a lot of manpower to guard it, which would be a losing proposition.

It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature. Even if you force a robber to stay, he will still be a robber. Those robbers will never change their nature and become honest people.

It's impossible to make those guys completely obedient; right now, it seems the only solution is to prevent them from having the power to rob others.

This can actually be solved through reverse colonization.

Many of the countries that were colonized in later generations were extremely poor and unable to develop, and they had no power to bully others.

The reason for this is that it was trampled by colonial invaders.

Even after those colonial thugs left, they still managed to trample on the countries they colonized, preventing them from ever recovering.

This method, to put it bluntly, is economic colonization, ensuring that the countries they have colonized will never develop.

Using this method now seems to be the most appropriate.

Because this tactic is profitable and doesn't require much manpower.

However, this tactic still needs to be implemented by Portugal as an agent.

Economic colonization is different from direct colonization.

Direct colonization means occupying someone else's territory and forcibly seizing their resources and even their labor.

Economic colonialism, on the other hand, uses economic means to secretly exploit others, squeezing out all their resources and labor, making it impossible for them to develop.

This tactic cannot be used directly by the Ming Dynasty, because if the Ming Dynasty does so directly, the other side will definitely be on guard.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was not a native European power, and it had seized most of the overseas colonies of various European countries. If the Ming Dynasty went directly to Europe to engage in economic colonization, it would be strange if the European countries were not wary.

The situation is different with proxies. Portugal is a continental European country, and it has already declined to the point that its homeland has been occupied.

They went up, and the colonial powers in Europe wouldn't even be alerted.

However, if Portugal is to act entirely according to the Ming Dynasty's rules, then De Shera must take control of the business in Europe.

If it is controlled by others, it will be difficult to carry out true economic colonization.

After thinking carefully for a while, Wanli solemnly said, "De Shera, aren't you the one who calls the shots in the business between the Ming Dynasty and Europe now?"

Upon hearing this, Desila nodded somewhat helplessly and said, "Yes, now the business between the Ming Dynasty and Europe is controlled by the Governor of Goa. He has money, people, and ships, and he takes 90% of the profits from this business."

"Is this guy really that corrupt?" Wanli asked with some surprise. "Where is your king? Doesn't he share any with your king?"

Uh, how do I put this?

De Shera said with some helplessness, "Our current king is the King of Spain, and it's impossible for us to give him the money we earn from doing business."

Oh, you are as good as having no king.

This is better.

Wanli nodded slightly, then solemnly said, "From now on, you will be in charge of the business between the Ming Dynasty and various European countries. We will no longer let that Goa Governor act as our agent. He only controls the Western trade routes now, so let him be the agent for Western business."

what?
Is there such a good thing?

Upon hearing this, Desila was excited for a moment, but soon he said dejectedly, "Your Majesty, the hundreds of warships you lent me have all been destroyed. I have no ocean-going ships to transport goods."

Moreover, the trade route from the Ming Dynasty to Europe must pass through the Goa Governor-General's territory. If we do this, even if we have enough ocean-going ships, we will not be able to get supplies when passing through the Goa Governor-General's territory.

Furthermore, I don't have many men under my command, and the nobles in the Governor-General's jurisdiction are unreliable. They only obey me because of force; it's highly unlikely they'll do business for me.

None of these are problems.

Emperor Wanli pondered and said, "It doesn't matter that you don't have a ship. I can lend you the warships and merchant ships of the Dutch and Anglo-French allied forces that we captured this time."

Although most of these ships were damaged, dismantling and piecing them together could easily produce one hundred warships and four hundred merchant ships.

Lend me five hundred ocean-going warships!
Upon hearing this, Deshera exclaimed with delight, "Thank you, Your Majesty! Now we don't have to go to the Goa Governor's territory for supplies. At worst, we can just load more food and fresh water along that stretch."

You don't need to take that route.

Emperor Wanli shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "Actually, there is another sea route from Southeast Asia to Europe."

That is to follow the ocean currents to Dongfan, Dongyang Dusi, North America Xidusi, and then through the canals in central America, all the way to Europe.

You don't need to go through the Goa Governor's jurisdiction at all, and you don't even need to pick up the goods.

The reason I made them compensate me with a thousand ocean-going ships was actually to deliver goods to the various businesses under Wanshengtang.

At that time, I will also replace those nearly a thousand Fujian warships in the South Seas with them to escort and transport goods.

In this way, they can haul at least a thousand ships of cargo to the Americas twice a year, while your ship simply needs to wait at the port near the canal to pick up the cargo.

Did the Ming Dynasty also dig canals in Central America?

This means that he only needs to travel more than 10,000 miles by sea to do business in Europe!

Upon hearing this, De Shera exclaimed excitedly, "That's wonderful! I can handle this business without any problem!"

Have you forgotten that you have no one left?
Wanli shook his head slightly, then carefully instructed: "You need to recruit more people under your command. You can recruit troops from the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty here."

I can lend you 10% of the profits from next year's business in Europe, as well as 10% of the profits from the Governor-General's territory in Brazil, the Gold Coast, and the West Coast of Africa.

In short, you can recruit more soldiers from the vassal states here, and you should treat the Native Americans in the colonies here better.

It's much more profitable for you to cooperate with the Native Americans in the Indian states and colonies here than with other Portuguese nobles.

They just need some wages, and there are many of them—dozens of times more than the Portuguese population. Building a good relationship with them will help you expand your business in the future.

You even lent me money to hire someone?

This is simply great.

Upon hearing this, Deshera nodded repeatedly and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely hire more people from here."

Just listen to me.

Anyway, this guy's ships were all borrowed from them, and his men were mostly recruited from Ming Dynasty vassal states, so he wasn't afraid of this guy playing any tricks.

Wanli then instructed in detail: "Send a few of your trusted subordinates to various European countries to oversee their business and, at the same time, thoroughly investigate the prices of goods in each country."

If we want to keep expanding our business, we have to squeeze out all the other businesses doing the same thing as us, you know?
We'll take it one step at a time. Whatever goods Europe produces, we'll lower the price for them, making the prices even lower than theirs, while offering much better quality goods. That way, they won't have any business to do.

After we drive them out of business one by one, we raise our prices back up one by one. This way, we not only avoid any losses, but our business grows bigger and bigger, you know?

So this is how businesses grow!
Upon hearing this, Desila nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

"Yes, just do as I say. I guarantee those colonial bandits won't be able to produce any valuable goods. As for developing military power, building firearms, cannons, and warships, that's just a pipe dream!"
(End of this chapter)