My Daming New Empire

The appearance of the steam engine completely disrupted the development rhythm of European ships. They imitated Ming Dynasty and moved the steam engine to the ship, but because of the backward linkage structure, their ships still could not solve the problem of too slow speed.

When Ming's ships had developed steam turbines and propellers, they still couldn't solve the draft problem of the rollers.

Europe's backwardness relative to Ming Dynasty is a comprehensive dating, so in order to maintain this leading position, advanced Ming ships are basically not allowed to enter the hinterland of Europe.

Monte received countless invitations in Milan, and many businessmen from the Hanseatic League were even willing to increase the price by [-]%, as long as Monte was willing to send the goods directly to Cologne.

After "hesitating" for ten days, Monte finally couldn't resist the temptation of huge profits and was willing to take the risk to Cologne.

In Gibraltar, he had a long talk with Yang Zhihe, the commander of Gibraltar's fleet, and personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and determined all the steps after entering the hinterland of Europe. into the Rhine.

The number of sailors on board has not only increased a lot, except for some coolies, most of the ordinary sailors have also been replaced by Gibraltar naval soldiers.

Yang Zhihe is the eldest son of Dongzhou Navy Governor Yang Dao, 43 years old this year.

Yang Dao is one of the most powerful generals in the entire Ming Dynasty. As the vice-governor of the navy, he is in charge of over 20 imperial navy and the defense of the entire Eastern Continent.

Because Dongzhou is the fiefdom of the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Dao has been authorized by His Majesty to be in charge of the Golden Whip bestowed by His Majesty, to beat the prince from above, and all officials from below, so in terms of power, almost no one in the entire empire can compare with him .

Yang Zhihe came from a prominent background, but he was not pampered. During his studies in Daming, he won the first place in his studies many times.After graduation, he directly entered the First Fleet of the Navy and became the Commander of His Majesty's Navy Guard.

From the 25th year of Zhengtong to the 33rd year of Zhengtong, Zhu Zhanji went to Nanyang many times to Nanzhou, Xizhou, and Dongzhou. During the process of accompanying him, Yang Zhihe behaved in a standardized manner and never made any mistakes, which won Zhu Zhanji's love.

In the 34th year of Zhengtong, his mother Xie Zhenfang died of illness in Dongzhou Governor's Mansion. Zhu Zhanji specially bestowed on Yang Zhi and Ding You to accompany his father Yang Dao in Dongzhou for a year.

In the 35th year of Zhengtong, the 38-year-old Yang Zhihe was promoted by Zhu Zhanji to be the commander-in-chief of Gibraltar. Together with his father Yang Dao, who supervised Dongzhou, he blocked the Atlantic Ocean.

The father and son led the army separately at the same time and helped each other, which is the only one in the entire Ming Dynasty. This shows Zhu Zhanji's favor for their father and son.

Coupled with the fact that the current chairman of the Ming Dynasty is Yang Zhihe's uncle Xie Zhenqi, the power of the Yang family is not comparable to that of many noble families.

As the commander-in-chief of Gibraltar, Yang Zhihe is very clear about his responsibilities.

The commander-in-chief of Crete is responsible for expanding commercial trade for Ming Dynasty and using business to influence the development of European countries.

The commander-in-chief of Gibraltar, on the other hand, used force to curb the development of the navies of European countries.

Over the years, the development of Europe has been directly influenced by Ming, and everything seems to be going smoothly.

But Yang Zhihe had already discovered the danger signs.

The development of Europe is uneven. The economy of Southern Europe has benefited from the trade in the Mediterranean Sea and has developed rapidly over the years, but the economy of Northern Europe has struggled.

Northern Europe is rich in mineral resources, but their mineral resources were exploited by Ming Dynasty through trade, and the economic driving effect that they can play has not been revealed.

The life of the people in Northern Europe is difficult, and they have never been satisfied with this kind of exploitation. Therefore, in recent years, the development of the Hansa Alliance has been very rapid.

Moreover, the population in the north of Europe is large, and their barbaric character has resulted in a stronger force than the south.

Especially when muskets appeared in Europe, the Nordics became more and more powerful, but economically, they were subject to the south.

This inequality caused Northern Europe to have a natural hostility towards the Ming people.

Today's coalition forces formed by Europe are mainly composed of northern Europeans.They joined forces to fight against Daming, the purpose was not to compete with Daming, but to plunder more resources.

Europe is really too poor, and they have nothing to interest Da Ming in the course of Da Ming's economic plundering trade.

If their people don't work hard, they can work hard in exchange for some rewards, and most ordinary people don't have enough food and clothing.

Therefore, they are not afraid of death and are brave and good at fighting. After having muskets, they have become pawns in the hands of many conspirators.

Yang Zhihe has been vigorously cultivating agents over the years. Except for the Medici family, he has spared no effort to win over the powerful and powerful from all over the world.

In Britain, France, including Portugal, and the Papal States, many people have become Daming's spies, but in the north, because the distance is too far, it is difficult for real nobles to be wooed. They have a natural defense against the Ming people.

Even if there are some fine works, their status is very low, and it is difficult to directly influence the upper echelons of the member states.

Now that Monte is willing to play for Daming, Yang Zhihe is very happy. He realizes that he has entered into a misunderstanding in the past.

He has always wanted to use the locals as secret agents, but these people were not loyal to the Ming Dynasty, so the results were not great.

But those Europeans like Monte who have already naturalized in Ming Dynasty, because of their loyalty to Ming Dynasty, they can play a greater role.

Just like Monte, he is a well-known big businessman, and his social status in Europe is not low.Even because of the goods in his hands, he was valued more by some European lords.

Let him come forward, can play a greater role.

Monte took out a large amount of "bribery" and worked hard to get his permission to drive merchant ships directly into the European continent.

At such a time, it is only natural that he should arrange a group of soldiers on board to protect the merchant ship.

Of course, this is just what those Europeans have heard. In fact, 80.00% of the sailors on merchant ships are now naval soldiers.

If someone wanted to seize the merchant ship and obtain the secrets of Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding, the army stationed in Gibraltar would definitely not mind causing massacres in Europe.

When Monte arrived in Cologne, the most prosperous city in the Hanseatic League, to Ming soldiers, the largest city in Europe was not as big as an ordinary Ming state capital.

A city with less than 5 people is not even as large as some counties in Daming.

In the era when Ming Dynasty has gradually industrialized, European cities that still rely on handwork cannot compare with Ming Dynasty.

In Daming, almost most counties already had cement factories, carriage factories, steam engine factories, and various agricultural machinery factories.

However, there are only a few cities in Europe, relying on resources, to build small steel factories and steam airports.

In the city of Cologne, the only thing that makes people feel its prosperity is the trade market outside the city.

In the twelfth century, the scale of the inner city of Cologne had already been established.The semicircular city wall is six kilometers long and has twelve gates.

With a population of 5000, Cologne was the largest city in the Holy Roman Kingdom, with a population already surpassing that of Paris and London at that time.

The prosperity of Cologne is due to its superior geographical location. It is located at the hub of the North-South Waterway and the East-West Avenue, and it is also an important pilgrimage route.

All boats, vehicles and horses pass by here, and goods from all directions are also collected and distributed here.

Because of the rise of the Hanseatic League, Cologne also has a privilege, that is, all goods passing through Cologne must first be exhibited in the city for three days before they can continue to be transshipped.

This is undoubtedly a great boost to Cologne's business.With the increase of economic power, Cologne's rich merchants and handicraft guilds regained the management of the city in the early fourteenth century, and the archbishop fled to Bonn, no longer the ruler of Cologne.

Cologne became a free city and an important city-state of the Hanseatic League.

However, over the years, because the economic center of Europe is in the south, the development of Milan and Rome has gradually surpassed Cologne, and even the population of Genoa has surpassed Cologne.

However, for the Holy Roman Kingdom, which occupies most of Europe, the importance of Cologne is still not comparable to that of other cities.

The Monte father and son took the earl car, and after receiving the warm welcome from the council emblem, they came to the council building in the east of the city.

Here they met with councilors from Cologne and representatives from the Lufthansa Union.