Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 445 Indian Ocean System
The office of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore is located in a small two-story office building in the center of Singapore.The entire city center of Singapore is not very big. It radiates around a central street. There are five or six main roads in the east-west direction, and there are only three main roads in the north-south direction. Most of the commercial facilities are in this area.The most numerous are various shops, banks, and offices, and then some organs of the government office, and the most numerous are all kinds of shops.

Unlike some big cities in the Ming Dynasty, they are very accustomed to building high-rise buildings with more than 5 floors. For example, there are already 10 or 20 buildings with more than [-] floors in Shanghai, and the tallest building is even more than [-] floors.In Singapore, the buildings on both sides of the street are basically two-story buildings, some of which are made of cement, and more of which are made of wood. However, the exterior surface does not look old at all.

The European Chamber of Commerce welcomes European diplomats today, such as Harvey, the British Minister to China. I have heard of the European Chamber of Commerce before, and this is the first time I see it today.The current president of the European Chamber of Commerce is Brody White, a head of the British East India Company.

"Mr. Minister, welcome to the European Chamber of Commerce."

Harvey shook hands with White, and said with some emotion: "I didn't expect that in Singapore, there is already an organization united by our European businessmen. What can't be done in Europe, but can be done in the East."

White said: "There is no way. We are not dealing with India or other uncivilized countries. China is a powerful country that is more advanced than Europe. Most of the profitable goods we ship to Europe come from Daming. To be honest, it is much easier to do business in Singapore than in Europe. There is a complete business service system here, and the administrative staff in Daming really promote business. Knowing about business saves us a lot of extra costs. Moreover, Singapore is a relatively free place. Ming people even allow us to buy and rent houses here, start businesses, and make investments that meet their regulations. For business, Singapore is simply a businessman’s dream paradise.”

Harvey nodded and said: "You are the manager of the East India Company and serve the crown of England. I believe that you must have recorded all your experiences in Singapore and your suggestions that are beneficial to the development of England's future government."

"Yes, Mr. Minister, this is a must. If England can imitate Ming Dynasty to reform our government and create such an efficient civil service system, then we will definitely gain an unparalleled dominant position in Europe. However, for the time being, I still Very pessimistic. It is too difficult to train a large number of officials who have sufficient knowledge, know what they should do, and are not corrupt. I can’t guarantee that there will be no corrupt officials in Singapore, but their conduct is commendable, and most of them are Do what you should do, and you know the situation in Europe, none of the tax collectors on the docks wants to earn a little extra money for themselves."

Harvey looked a little helpless, and said, "Everyone I've seen recently is almost saying good things about Daming, as if our England is worthless."

White said: "That is certainly not the case. England is a noble and dignified country, but as we learn more about the world, the British must humbly realize that there are countries in the world that are much more powerful than us, and learn cautiously. Sustained progress is necessary to make Britain great."

Harvey decided not to discuss these issues anymore, and he actually didn't need others to tell him how advanced and powerful Ming was.Harvey himself knew that Daming was actually progressing from an ancient feudal country to a modern industrial country.In fact, the change began with the young monarch. Da Ming became so powerful in a short period of time. Harvey couldn't help but feel eager. If Britain can learn all kinds of secrets from Da Ming, maybe it can also become stronger quickly.

However, Britain is doomed to be unable to fully absorb all kinds of knowledge and ideas of Ming Dynasty, and the philosophical concepts guiding the reform of the new school of Ming Dynasty are very different from Europeans.What Ming advocated was materialism, advocating that matter exists objectively, consciousness responds to matter, gods are created by humans, not gods created humans.As far as this is concerned, it is basically impossible to widely promote it in Europe now.Although many scientists have begun to explore various principles, it is impossible to reach the level of enlightenment in terms of understanding.

Harvey asked a more specific question, saying: "The British East India Company has applied to the Singapore authorities to open its own bank? Do you think it is possible for the Ming Dynasty to approve it for you?"

"To be honest, I think the hope is slim, but we have learned a lot from the operation of the Daming Commercial Bank, which is very helpful for the development of England's finance. Therefore, our East India Company is going to follow the example of Singapore. Colonies such as Deras set up banks with our East India Company as the main shareholder, and opened up services to all countries, and required that settlements can only be made through our banks."

Harvey asked worriedly, "Can it work?"

"Daming is doing the same thing, there is no reason why we can't do it. And our bank in Madras is planning to use Mingliang as the main currency. After all, Mingliang is more popular as a currency in the East, and Mingliang's credit is very strong. We can directly exchange Ming Liang’s banknotes for gold and silver. We will also try to cooperate with Daming’s bank in Singapore, which will benefit our business expansion.”

Harvey said seriously: "I hope you won't make yourself self-defeating, Mr. White. In the trade with the East, we clearly found that Ming Dynasty does not care if they have one more or one less customer. They will sell their goods through other channels." Go, and their goods are very popular. England cannot afford losses like the Netherlands or Spain, and now the core of Eastern trade has shifted from India to China. If your move only caused Ming's dissatisfaction, it would be okay, but if it triggers an armed conflict , then your crimes will be tried in London."

White was more confident. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, Minister Harvey, I know what I'm doing. All of this is for the benefit of England. We will definitely make England richer."

(End of this chapter)