His Royal Highness King Lu was very apprehensive.

In his opinion, these nobles are actually similar to him, they are all masters who do nothing in name, why can they join the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, and eat a mouthful of oil one by one, and this king can only rely on the legacy of King Jing, who is extremely unprofitable?

What's more, this King Jing's legacy is very watery, and it is difficult to say whether he can get the real number, although the queen mother has promised herself in private, but after all, at the moment, this Daming, the real master is already the royal brother.

If the royal brother is good at talking, if he is not good at talking, or if he doesn't want to put pressure on the foreign court for himself, then won't he be able to get fifty or sixty thousand taels a year?

I'm also calling it the view of the vassals? Looking at how poor the princes are now?

Seeing that His Royal Highness King Lu's face was getting worse and worse, Gao Pragmatic knew that the heat was almost over, but it was best not to speak by himself first, and it was appropriate to wait for King Lu to take the initiative to mention it.

So he pretended to be thirsty and coughed lightly, picked up the tea cup on the table, and elegantly took the lid of the cup and gently wiped the non-existent tea foam twice, and Shi Shiran took a sip.

This move did not wake up His Royal Highness King Lu, who was in a trance, but it alarmed the chief of King Lu's mansion. This Changshi was afraid that he would snub Gao Pragmatic, and when he saw this action, he immediately asked in a low voice: "Gao Gongbao, is the tea soup cold?" ”

Gao Pragmatic was a little speechless, you are also the head of the royal palace's subordinate officials, and you were once on the gold list, why did you ask this as if you wanted to pour me tea in person? Even if you're too embarrassed to pour, I'll have to be embarrassed to take it.

Gao Pragmatic just smiled and waved his hand, but before he could be polite, His Royal Highness King Lu was awakened by his long history, and suddenly asked: "Gao Gongbao, although what you said just now is very reasonable, this king suddenly thought of a trouble." ”

Hey? This highness's level seems to be a little higher than I imagined, and he didn't ask me about it right away?

"Your Highness has any trouble, you might as well talk about it."

King Lu sighed and said: "Although Gao Gongbao turned stones into gold, not to mention that Xiao Wang does not have the ability of Gao Gongbao, even if Gao Gongbao is willing to guide Xiao Wang, but that has to be done only if Xiao Wang has the capital." At present, this Jingwang legacy, the household department can't even take out a piece of Chen, if you want to get it all in place, I don't know what year and month it is, even if Xiao Wang is excited, but there is nothing he can do! ”

When Gao Pragmatic heard this, he couldn't help but snort coldly in his heart, and said secretly: This kid is already so greedy before he has a country, no wonder his mausoleum specifications were seriously exceeded later. Hey, since I came to see you in person and said such a thing, of course I don't want you to get these King Jing relics, cause harm to the local people, and cause trouble to the local officials, you still want to get King Jing's legacy in your hands?

Don't you still want to take King Jing's legacy to the bottom first, and then slowly invest money to come in and take my Jinghua hitchhiker? It's a beautiful idea.

Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Willing, willing, the things of the world must be given up first, and then gained." King Jing's legacy is famous all over the world, and everyone in the world knows that it is huge, but few people know that his income is not outstanding. Now His Royal Highness wants to take the king's legacy first, and the minister thinks that this is because of a small loss, which is not done by a wise man. ”

Gao Shishi didn't wait for Zhu Yihua to ask, and continued: ""Your Highness may not think so, but it's okay, please listen to the minister's details. ”

Zhu Yihua really didn't think much of Gao Pragmatic's words just now, but he didn't dare to disagree with Gao Pragmatic, so he still nodded and said, "I want to hear the palace to protect Gao's theory." ”

Gao Pragmatic was not polite, and said with his head bowed: "Since everyone in the world knows that King Jing's legacy is very huge, once His Royal Highness seeks it and asks for a real number, then the people of the world will regard His Royal Highness as rich." In this way, if His Highness wants to do something more in the future, he will have to endure endless peeping, and everyone will pay attention to His Highness's every move. But if there is the slightest carelessness in it, His Highness is afraid that he will be reprimanded by the court and discussed by the people......"

King Lu's face didn't change much, and it seemed that he wasn't afraid of this.

Gao Pragmatic was not surprised, but said softly: "Maybe His Highness thinks that with the protection of the Queen Mother and the Emperor, these reprimands and discussions are nothing to His Highness." But His Royal Highness should know that the number of days is endless, and the life is endless, how long can the Queen Mother protect His Highness? 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years, 40 years? ”

Zhu Yihua looked at Gao Pragmatic with a shocked expression, and was a little speechless.

Do you dare to say such a thing?

That Changshi was so eager to hear that he couldn't cut off his ears himself—why am I here? Is this what I should be listening to?

But Gao pragmatic's expression seemed to be more and more sincere, and he sighed: "This statement is not a human minister, but in the past, when the emperor ordered the minister to read it for the prince, he once advised, 'Xiao Gaoqing's family can know everything in the future, and everything is said'...... Now the words of the first emperor are still in his ears, and the ministers dare not speak out directly, and they are loyal to the trust of the first emperor, and look at His Royal Highness Haihan. ”

What the first emperor said is something that can be checked, since Gao is pragmatic and dares to say it, of course Zhu Yihua will not doubt it. And when the word "first emperor" came out, of course he had nothing to say, so he could only nod his head to show his understanding.

However, Gao pragmatic's words did shock him a lot.

At Zhu Yihua's age, he would not consider that his mother would also die one day, which is no different from people hundreds of years later, not to mention that his mother is in good health, and he can't see any major problems at all, so he hasn't thought about it from this angle.

But now Gao Pragmatic said this straightforwardly, and the meaning is extremely simple: You rely on the protection of your mother to have your current "fearlessness", but after all, your mother is more than 20 years older than you, she will die after all, who will you rely on at that time?

Do you rely on your royal brother? Theoretically, of course, this is the case, but in terms of true love, is the royal brother really comparable to the queen mother?

There is no need to verify this at all, of course Zhu Yihua knows that it is impossible.

Thinking about it a little, if the royal brother has no children for life, his attitude towards himself may be better, but that is not really comparable to the love of the queen mother, it is just that there is no way. What's more, the royal brother has a son, so in his eyes, what is his younger brother?

If you are honest, then you will be looking at the vassals, if you are not honest...... Hey.

Zhu Yihua took a deep breath, his face began to look tangled, and he said after a long time: "Xiao Wang now believes that Gao Gongbao did come with sincerity today, but Gao Gongbao just said that there is a gift to gain...... If Xiao Wang understands well, Gao Gongbao wants to persuade Xiao Wang to give up King Jing's legacy, right? But if this King Jing's legacy is given up, what can Xiao Wang get? ”

"Endure the calm for a while, take a step back and open the sky." Gao said calmly: "If His Royal Highness can give up King Jing's legacy, it is certain that the world will be called a virtuous, but this is not all. In addition to this article, since everyone in the world knows that His Highness has given up King Jing's legacy, wouldn't it be reasonable for His Highness to earn some silver through other means? ”

King Lu frowned and said, "The truth is naturally this truth, but isn't this going around again?" Without King Jing's legacy, what will Xiao Wang use to make money? ”

Gao pragmatic chuckled: "Take the vision, rely on the opportunity." ”

King Lu was puzzled: "I don't know what Gao Gongbao is referring to?" Xiao Wang has not been out of the pavilion to study for a long time, and his knowledge is shallow, so he asked Gao Gongbao to explain in detail. ”

Gao Shishi had already prepared, took out an unsealed envelope from his arms, took out a few pieces of paper from the envelope, selected one of them and handed it to Zhu Yihua, and said: "Your Highness can tell the emperor that in order not to save the people from nuisance, although His Highness's fief remains unchanged, King Jing's legacy is gone, and he only uses it in exchange for the island marked on this map." ”

Who knew that Zhu Yihua couldn't see what was drawn on the map after watching it for a long time, so he had to ask his long history.

Na Changshi looked at it for a while, and was also a little surprised, but still replied: "Judging from this map, this island seems to be in Guangdong, and it is not far from the mouth of the Pearl River. ”

Gao Shishi laughed and nodded: "Yes, this island is under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangdong. ”

"Less than a county?" King Lu stared at Gao Shishi with wide eyes, and asked in disbelief: "Gao Gongbao persuaded Xiao Wang to exchange King Jing's legacy for this small island for food?" Gong Bao, even if this place is a fishing ground, Xiao Wang will be far away in Weihui, Henan in the future, and I am afraid that he will not be able to eat the fresh sea fish here. ”

These words have obviously brought anger, and they are almost unable to hold back.

But Gao Pragmatic was not in a hurry at all, but said with a serious face: "Yes, as long as His Royal Highness can persuade the emperor to exchange this island for King Jing's legacy, at the latest three years, His Royal Highness's annual income should be at least more than 100,000 taels." ”

"What?" Zhu Yihua was shocked: "Gao Gongbao is not joking, right?" What is this island for? ”

Of course it is useful, but it is very useful, and this small island will be very powerful in the future generations.

The development of this small island in the Sui and Tang dynasties and before the Sui and Tang dynasties was relatively average, and it was not until the Song and Yuan dynasties that a large number of people from the interior moved there, which led to the great development of the local economy and culture. In the Yuan Dynasty, it belonged to Jiangxi Province, and during the Yuan Dynasty, the Tuen Mun in the southwest of the island and the Tuen Mun in the outer harbor of Guangzhou set up a patrol department, which was stationed for a long time to prevent pirate invasion and defend the Guangzhou area.

During the Wanli period, part of the place was carved out from Dongguan County to form Xin'an County, specifically, this island has been under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture since Wanli Yuan.

The name of the island is almost universally known in later generations: Hong Kong.

However, in the original history, before the British occupied Hong Kong, Hong Kong was basically a desert island, and only some fishermen lived in Stanley, Tai Tam Tuk and Shek Pai Wan in the south of the island, and Ah Kung Rock and Shui Jing Wan in the east. In other places such as Wong Nai Chung, Deng Di Chau, and Seven Sisters, there were some small village bays, and there were only about 3,000 inhabitants on the island at that time.

However, the British saw the potential of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour to become an excellent port in East Asia, so they focused on seizing it from the Tartars.

During the Ming Dynasty, the population of Hong Kong Island was not large, and it was also a desolate fishing village island. But as in the case of the British in the original history, Gao pragmatic also took a fancy to Hong Kong.

How did the British think about Hong Kong at that time? At that time, the world had entered the colonial era, and the British Empire had established colonies in many parts of the world. However, at this time, Britain was still a merchant country, and when formulating foreign policy, it would carry out careful cost accounting, and still consider costs and benefits as the starting point for making foreign strategic decisions.

whether to turn the place into a colony, or to keep it as it is; Whether the British will rule directly or foster local agents is still a key question of cost.

Therefore, when some places do not have a large population, lack a complete social organization or government institutions, the British may directly occupy the area as a colony. If there were local chiefs, even if they were just chieftains, the British would take advantage of those chiefs and colonize the place step by step.

The British understood that it was not in their interest to completely destroy the state apparatus and establish a neo-colonial government for a country as large as China.

The British, too, recognized themselves as merchant governments, and that they were at war with the Tartars only to force them to open their markets first. This was what later generations would say, the first step in Britain's drag of China into its world system.

The reason why Britain forced the Tatar Qing to cede Hong Kong was also for this purpose, and the Macartney mission to China was also to seek a place as its commercial base.

Macartney's reason is very simple, the Ming Dynasty gave the Portuguese a Macao as a stronghold, why can't we give the British one now? At that time, the British considered Ningbo, considered Zhoushan, and finally chose Hong Kong.

But Gao Pragmatic already has a private port in Guangzhou, why does he want to bring Hong Kong into the Jinghua private port chain?

This is related to the last time Wong was with President Alfaro of Spain. To put it simply, in fact, Gao Pragmatic promised the Spaniards to replace Portugal's position in the Ming Dynasty, but in fact, Gao Pragmatic did not intend to directly squeeze Portugal out, he hoped to balance the strength of the "two teeth" and let them maintain competition - even if the two teeth are now in the relationship of the common monarchy, but because each has its own government, Gao Pragmatic can still use it.

It can even quietly stir up their contradictions.

Therefore, Gao Shishi intended to use Hong Kong as a foothold for the Spaniards, but he could not use methods such as leasing to affect sovereignty, but had to limit it to commercial leasing - for example, leasing some port land to the Spaniards, so that they could unload their goods there to facilitate transactions with the port of Guangzhou.

It should be noted here that according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, whether it is the Portuguese or the future Spaniards, they are not allowed to take the initiative to go to the port of Guangzhou, and can only be contacted by the Ming merchants of the port of Guangzhou - in short, their ships and people can not enter the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, and they can only take the initiative to trade, so they need a foothold very close to the mainland.

It is here that Gao pragmatic takes a fancy to Hong Kong, and this is also the reason why Hong Kong Island was introduced to Zhu Yihua.

Zhu Yihua got Hong Kong Island, as long as the trade with the Spaniards was carried out smoothly, not to mention anything else, just collecting rent would definitely be more profitable than King Jing's legacy.

If you are willing to give up, this is what you get.

Even if the Spaniards may still decline in the future, Hong Kong's geographical location is here, and the location advantage is obvious enough, even if it does not do business with the Spaniards in the future, it will naturally be replaced by the Dutch and the British.

It's a trade that never loses money.

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