Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Fang Zheng pondered for a moment and said, "The Prince of Wu cannot be killed. Only if he escapes will Great Jing have the opportunity to trade with the outside world."

"But doesn't Great Jing already have trade with overseas countries? What does this have to do with the Prince of Wu?" Xie Xian asked curiously.

Fang Zheng shook his head and smiled wryly, "Those so-called trades are just small-scale affairs, not substantial!"

"The world is vast, and there are still many unexplored lands. There are many amazing crops like sweet potatoes overseas. Not only that, gold and silver mountains and various treasures are simply inexhaustible!"

Although Great Jing has not explicitly implemented a sea ban, in reality, it is not much different from a sea ban.

If ordinary people want to go to sea, they must first submit an application to the government. As for how many procedures are involved, how much time it takes, and how much exploitation they will suffer, it is beyond imagination.

Regulations are always just regulations. Although they are stated explicitly, their implementation is often another matter.

On the other hand, the Great Jing court also has trade with overseas countries, but it is mainly concentrated in overseas vassal states and belongs to tributary trade.

There is even less to say about this aspect, because it is mainly based on reciprocal gifts and suffers losses year after year!

Ordinary people face the risk of encountering pirates when going to sea, and the court needs to increase expenditures on naval defense. Official fleets going to sea have no income.

As for within Great Jing, with its vast land and abundant resources, there is no reason to risk going to sea!

This is the curse of resources. People who can make money lying down and possess vast wealth often have no motivation to seek change.

Therefore, from the bottom up, the court has no reason to spend huge amounts of money to explore unknown lands.

And hatred is an excellent motivation. Now that the Prince of Wu has fled, whether he successfully escapes overseas or dies on the way is not important.

Fang Zheng thought to himself that as long as he went back and added fuel to the fire, he would be confident in persuading the court.

However, he had made efforts before. He still paid some attention to maritime trade, as it was related to the future trend.

He had occasionally mentioned it twice in memorials, but they were successfully ignored by Emperor Jing.

But this time is different. The Prince of Wu's unexpected escape brought him no small shock from the bottom of his heart.

Before, he just wanted to try his best to make life better for the people under him, but when the Prince of Wu's big ship began to appear.

Fang Zheng suddenly felt the wheels of history rolling over his face!

A transmigrator! Individual struggle is important, but you must also consider the progress of history!

Moreover, resources are not the most important thing. What is important is to broaden your horizons and seize opportunities!

Fang Zheng had no doubt that the land of Great Jing seriously lacked the soil for the birth of science. The tragedy in the history books of his previous life might be replayed in thousands of years without accident.

It's not that the people of Great Jing are not smart enough, but that the ruling class is too smart, and the political system is extremely precocious!

Under imperial rule, whether the people suffer is actually secondary. What is more important is long-term stability and consolidating imperial power.

This is a chronic disease that all emperors throughout history cannot avoid. New technologies will bring about drastic changes in the social structure. In order to prevent this fluctuation, they will even personally obliterate science and close the country to the outside world.

A typical example is the Qing Dynasty emperor.

In TV dramas, the Qing Dynasty emperor has always been portrayed as ignorant, scorning Western gadgets.

But in fact, it is not so! Emperor Kangxi himself studied astronomy and mathematics and could use a hand-cranked computer to calculate square roots. He personally participated in river management projects, teaching officials how to calculate river flow.

In addition, Kangxi also dabbled in modern medicine, dissected animals, and popularized vaccination, not only vaccinating himself but also having his subordinates follow suit.

In terms of culture, Manchu need not be said, Kangxi himself also knew some Tibetan, Chinese, Mongolian, Latin, English, and Spanish. He also had simple foreign language communication with missionaries.

When world history developed to the reign of Kangxi, other countries at the same time had already begun to use technology to reform society. Would Kangxi not know this? The fact is that he not only knew it but also studied it deeply!

Kangxi also specially ordered missionaries to translate Western books into Manchu for him to read and personally supervised the translation work in the palace to avoid being seen by outsiders.

The Qing Dynasty emperors clearly understood the development process of Western Europe and also knew the power of technology.

But even so, they still chose to close the country to the outside world. The only reason was to avoid unrest among the people! This unrest was constantly being staged in other countries, which was an evil consequence that an emperor who grew up under traditional cultural ideas could not bear!

Fortunately, everything is still in its infancy.

The world is still in a state of division. Overseas shipbuilding technology is not too strong, and judging from the Prince of Wu's attitude, there is definitely no gunpowder overseas.

Emperor Jing is also an ambitious emperor. Great Jing itself has huge advantages. Once it opens up the sea and seizes huge benefits from overseas, the entire court will embark on a completely different path!

Even if there is social unrest, that is the real future. Fang Zheng sees it more clearly than anyone else!

The magnificent scene of changing the wheels of history with one's own strength made Fang Zheng feel a little excited.

"Sir, how can you be sure that there are treasures overseas?" Xie Xian asked curiously.

"My father was a sailor when he was young. He went there and told me about it," Fang Zheng said lightly.

"......."

"Alright, it seems that some problems have arisen now. I didn't expect the Prince of Wu to burn the ship. However, according to the Prince of Wu, his ships were all manufactured by a family in Yuding City. You guys rest for a while, and then send someone out to investigate which family it is. After we find out, we will immediately take people back to the capital! By the way, the officials here may be in contact with the Prince of Wu, so act low-key and don't attract the attention of the government."

"Um... Sir, we are out of money. In order to reduce baggage, we only brought food when we were looking for you in the mountains. Now there is still some food left. Or, should I send someone back to Haiyuan City to get some silver?" Zhao Lie said somewhat embarrassedly.

Fang Zheng was stunned on the spot. He couldn't let his brothers sleep on the streets! It would take too much time to go back to get silver!

After thinking for a moment, Fang Zheng decided, "You guys should still have some money on you, right? First, find a cheap inn to make do for two days. I'll find a way to raise money for you. You don't have to worry about this."

Speaking of silver, Zhou Tie touched his chin and asked, "Sir, what have you been doing in the city these days? How did you get another maid?"

"I saw you setting off fireworks in the city the other day. Did you guess that we were outside the city? You didn't go to deceive a rich man's daughter, did you?"

The three people looked at Fang Zheng curiously at the same time, Fang Zheng's face turned red: "What are you talking about? Would I, your sir, do such a tasteless thing?"

......

Chapter 2 is here, the owed chapters will definitely be made up for everyone in the future, I remember it o (╥﹏╥) o