It’s like in 2020, when the epidemic was at its worst, it was the consumer industry that supported the economic foundation of the entire country.

Then the same was true in ancient times.

Without strong domestic demand, just relying on foreign trade to do business, without good circulation, and releasing various inflationary pressures, no matter how good the country's trade is, it will be done.

What I am not talking about the Southern Song Dynasty.

It's my Ming Dynasty.

In the late Ming Dynasty, more than 80% of the world's silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty.

But the local rich people only knew how to bury silver and did not circulate at all, so the people of the Ming Dynasty still couldn't make money, and the goods were still couldn't be sold in China.

In addition to the constant natural disasters, the court, which should have withdrawn a large amount of commercial taxes, did not collect any money. In the end, not only did they have no money to deal with the natural disasters, but they could not even handle the internal peasant uprisings and external Jurchen invasions. If you are not in a state of disgrace, is there any reason for it?

This is the best thing in the Southern Song Dynasty. Any maritime trade business started to collect taxes as soon as it arrived, and as soon as it left the port.

In this way, they can obtain a large amount of tangible income to subsidize finances and reduce various burdens for farmers.

Of course, the people of the Southern Song Dynasty also had a hard time, but they were always better than my Ming Dynasty!

OK, let's talk less.

This year, due to various wars, the consumption of ordinary people has been greatly suppressed.

In particular, the largest commodity dumping place, Jiangnan and overseas trade, suffered the hardest hit.

The important reason why the maritime trade tax can be received half this year is that Guangdong and Guangxi have not been attacked at all, and the Southern Fleet still has two-thirds of its strength, which is enough to protect the normal progress of commerce.

This is also why when the battle situation in Jiangnan was so urgent, the Southern Navy did not send more ships to support it.

After all, all overseas trade in the north was destroyed, including Shiwei, Baekje, Japan and other places.

If the South does not carry out the maritime trade business well, I really don’t know how to end it.

It’s not just that the court cannot receive taxes.

If so many workshops cannot be sold, they will have to go bankrupt, a large number of workers will lose their jobs, and without a place, their families will suffer.

This will lead to large-scale famine escape, which will also cause a large number of unstable factors.

Therefore, no matter how hard the wars in Jiangnan and the north were, the Southern Navy could only not participate much, and sent a large number of fleets to patrol and escort the South China Sea area to attack rampant pirates and protect the legitimate maritime trade.

Thanks to the power of the Southern Navy, the merchants from Nanyang and Dakang were able to ensure normal trade and everyone gained the benefits they deserved.

The focus of the business of Prince Yu’s Mansion in the past two years is definitely Dakang.

A little further away are the countries and tribes on the land.

There are very few products that are really sold overseas, whether it is soap or sugar.

There is not enough supply in Dakang, let alone abroad.

But this year is a good opportunity.

It cannot be said that it is very good, but because Jiangnan is fighting, the northwest, northeast are fighting, and even Nanzhao has made a fuss.

So the rest of the place did not consume so much product. Princess Yu, instigated by her brother, simply took the water route, from the two lakes to the south, and sold goods to the merchants at the Zhuhai port in Guangdong, asking them to sell to the Nanyang Belt.

Merchants are very aware of goods.

They are already very familiar with luxury goods such as soap, sugar, and big white rabbit milk candy. Many people use it themselves on weekdays, but because the supply is too small, they have no chance to sell it outside.

In fact, although the indigenous people in those island countries are not civilized enough, they are rich!

Isn’t it all money for gold, silver, jade, various precious trees, various spices, etc.

If you do business with them, just take out what they want, you will make a fortune!

Such as soap, sugar, white rabbit milk candy, including flower essential oil, etc., they are all amazing treasures!

There are also those red-haired ghosts from the West who also like these treasures very much. They often pay large pieces of silver and gold, which is the most refreshing.

Except for the fact that they did not allow Dakang's businessmen to go out of the Strait of Malacca, everything else was good.

Liu Mingqi's uncle and others really wanted to go outside the Strait of Malacca. However, the red-haired merchants were too strong. Unless they pulled the Dakang Navy over, they would not be enough for others to fight with some merchants.

Fortunately, my uncle has these ways, and the things from Prince Yu’s Mansion are sold at good prices in Zhuhai Port in Guangdong, which of course has added a lot of money to Dakang’s commercial tax.

From this point of view, because the sea trade was not interrupted, all the products produced by the Prince Yu Mansion were properly sold.

Unfortunately, things like disinfectant alcohol and boric acid soap can only be left to the court to purchase, and can only be used by the people in the medical field. No one else is qualified to purchase them.

Otherwise, after this opening is opened, the business of Prince Yu’s Mansion will be better.

Of course, Liu Mingqi can understand it too.

If these things flow into the hands of Shiwei people, Japanese people, Uighur people, Xiqiang people... etc., the threat to Dakang will increase exponentially.

Especially this series of battles made Liu Mingqi see clearly.

The wounded men of the Japanese, including Shiwei coalition forces, really rely on themselves to endure it. They couldn't get through it and didn't even have a mat. They just threw a pit in the soil and buried it. Many of them were still pitted by a hundred people.

In fact, if disinfected alcohol and boric acid soap are used, at least one-third of the people can survive, and more than one-third of the injured will not need amputation or disability.

Conversely, although Dakang was injured a lot, it was because of disinfected alcohol and boric acid soap that at least tens of thousands of troops were retained.

Take Jinzhou City for example!

At the beginning, they used disinfected alcohol and boric acid soap, which allowed tens of thousands of soldiers to be well treated in the initial stage of their injuries. In this way, after recovering, they could re-enter the battle.

Don't underestimate ten thousand people.

When it comes time to fight for life and death, ten thousand people are quite critical.

The enemy has no effective treatment and has lost 10,000 people. I have increased 10,000 people because of active and effective treatment. This increase and decrease is very considerable.

If every battle is so big, Dakang will certainly benefit from it in the long run.

On the one hand, the increase in manpower is the other hand, and on the other hand, more veterans with combat experience can survive, which is of great benefit to the army's combat effectiveness.

A team composed of new recruits and team led by veterans is absolutely two levels of battle.

Not to mention boric acid soap.

Since the war started, even the Dakang court has strictly prohibited the export of soap and it is not allowed in any place.

Because soap actually has a good disinfection effect, at least it is much better than the native methods of foreigners.

They could buy some before, but they had been hoarded by the nobles in China. The army fighting was not getting much. In the country composed of these tribes, the nobles were the most important, and the warriors were just vulgar slaves.

And from now on, at least three to five years, seven or eight years, it will be impossible for Dakang to sell them any more strategic materials.

This decision had a great impact on the business of Prince Yu's Mansion.

After all, the Gentile towns and tribes on land are all big buyers.

Banning them would be a great blow to them, but it would be a relatively big blow to Liu Mingqi.

But it wouldn't be possible to not ban them. Promote commerce and sell them all the things they need to relieve themselves. After they get angry, isn't Dakang still the one who is hit?

This is not only the Liu Mingqi family who suffers losses, but also many people who do business with foreigners, all of whom will be affected.

How to solve the livelihoods of these merchants is also a problem that the big men and emperors of the court need to solve.

There are hundreds of thousands of people!

Enough for them to have a headache.

So you see, how can it be that good to be an emperor?

If you don’t want to be a fool, you will be exhausted to death.

Don't believe it.

Many wise monarchs in history were exhausted.

Only an emperor like Qianlong can live a clear life.

He worked hard for the past twenty years and laid a solid foundation.

Then, indulge in pleasure in the next forty years, he personally destroyed the prosperous times he had built.

If Emperor Jiaqing, who had not been called a wise king, had not tried his best to fill the holes with fear, the Qing Dynasty would have perished thirty or fifty years ahead of schedule.

Speaking of which, another business at Liu Mingqi's family is doing well this year.

That is bone porcelain.

The bone porcelain made according to Liu Mingqi's formula has been continuously tested and polished by the masters and has now become famous around the capital.

Liu Mingqi deeply understands the benefits of marketing.

He immediately contributed the bone porcelain to the emperor, and then gave some to the palaces of all the kings, the prime minister, the six ministers, etc.

After this, he began to place these bone porcelains in his own shop.

It just so happened that there was no product in the shops of Prince Yu’s Mansion. As soon as this bone porcelain was in, many people looked strange.

The biggest feature of bone porcelain is its crystal clearness. Although it is not as fine as our thin body porcelain in terms of thickness and fineness, it has a lot of things.

A thin-body porcelain may not be able to produce a set of them in a month, but bone porcelain is different, and it can be mass-produced.

The ones that are often placed in the store are bowls, plates, plates, spoons, basins, cups for eating... and so on. They look extremely harmonious and very beautiful.
To be continued...