The benefits brought by maritime trade have now become one of the important financial sources of the Song Dynasty, and naturally Zhao Bing's money cow. However, it was thanks to the large amount of wealth brought by maritime trade that the remnant Song regime was able to survive the most difficult times in Qiongzhou and accumulate the necessary economic foundation for restoration. Otherwise, they would have only supported 200,000 troops in Qiongzhou. Most of the military expenditure of this Northern Expedition also came from the benefits of maritime trade, which supported Zhao Bing until he fought until Yingtian Prefecture, but did not allow the country's economic collapse that had only returned to Jiangnan for two years.

Now even though the Song Dynasty has seized Jiangnan and Lianghuai and mastered the traditional wallet, it is necessary to make the wallet full. Not only do we need to manage the Yellow River, build water conservancy, reclaim wasteland, clear canals and expand ports, but we also need to migrate population and resettle immigrants. As the territory expands, we need to support the expanding bureaucratic corps and army, which requires the court to continuously invest funds, and it takes at least a few years to obtain profits, or even more than ten years later.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty also needed to obtain a large amount of funds through maritime trade to maintain development and accumulate for the future Northern Expedition. However, the way of tribute trade in the past could not satisfy the Song Dynasty's pursuit of wealth. This required opening up new waterways, expanding trading countries, and cracking down on rampant pirates, and being able to win in the increasingly fierce trade frictions.

Zhao Bing thought of a trade method pioneered by the modern West - the British East India Company. For Chinese people who understand the modern history of China, when we mention the British East India Company, we will think of opium trade, and then the shameful Opium War. In fact, opium trade is just one of the businesses of the East India Company. In addition, what other businesses does this company have?

From the mid-to-late 16th century, Britain was eager to take the path of foreign trade in Shanghai. Queen Elizabeth of England once swore to declare: "We also have the freedom to engage in overseas trade. In the face of the sea and the sky, all living beings in the world are equal." The same demands as her were the princes and nobles of the Tudor dynasty who actively supported the establishment of franchise companies and vigorously developed overseas trade. Elizabeth granted the East India Company a royal charter, giving it the privilege of trade in India. It was established in this case, with the purpose of establishing direct trade relations with India, South China and China.

Of course, there are not only East India companies in the UK. In fact, other European countries have also established East India companies specializing in Oriental trade, namely the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Sweden, etc. The Netherlands East India Company was the most powerful trading company in the world at that time. The Netherlands East India Company firmly controlled the trading markets in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and other places. In comparison, the British East India Company has a small scale and a small number of ships, and the strength of the two sides is very different.

In order to compete with the Netherlands, the UK started a challenge from the spice trade. When the UK had no strength to compete with the powerful Netherlands, they chose to temporarily cooperate with the Netherlands to fight against the Portuguese forces in order to get a share of the spice trade. When the spice market gradually gained a foothold, the British East India Company began to adjust its trade ideas and gradually shifted its main imported goods from spices to India's printed cotton. The British East India Company's printed cotton trade expanded rapidly. The Netherlands relied on its strong capital to suppress British merchants in Asia, which soon caused dissatisfaction among the UK.

Dissatisfaction with the loss of the market, the trade competition between the two countries quickly developed armed conflicts, and the British East India Company quickly established its own armed forces. After three British-Dutch wars, the Netherlands was defeated, and Britain eventually replaced the Netherlands as the new maritime overlord. From then on, the British East India Company began to gradually dominate India and involved in China. Its main business was based in the South Asian subcontinent and obtained major profits through taxation.

The Mughal Empire at that time never realized what the existence of the British East India Company meant to them. Instead, after considering the interests of obtaining financial and commercial interests and military aid in front of various immediate interests, it provided various conveniences. It successively granted the East India Company the right to free trade, set up permanent commercial ports at will, garrison troops in the commercial ports, and build forts. Later, the scope of these rights even derived the right to navigate in the inland rivers. The East India Company even controlled the financial management rights of the richest Bangladesh region, which was equivalent to directly obtaining the key to India's treasury.

If iron, copper, tin, ephedra, grain, wood are transported out of India, and silk, cloth, industrial products, sugar, salt, etc. are also colonial activities within the scope of trade, then robbing the treasury is a piracy that cannot be put into the table. But the British East India Company did this, not only robbing the Bangladeshi treasury, but also robbing royal treasures worth more than tens of millions of pounds when capturing the capital of Mysore.

After that, King Charles II of England granted the East India Company administrative power, coin minting, military power and diplomatic power in the form of law. From then on, this joint-stock company with the army and the people actually had the characteristics of a "state" and was a genuine colonial government, becoming the actual master of India. It also obtained assisted rule and military functions.

The actions of the East India Company and the Opium Trade triggered a century of humiliating Opium War, which made the Chinese people despise and hate their behavior. However, it cannot be denied that this business model made great contributions to Britain becoming the world hegemon, laid the foundation for the British colonization of the world, and also verified that "the big fist is the truth", thus affecting the world political pattern for a hundred years later...

Now the Royal Ocean Trade Fleet formed by Zhao Bing has the shadow of the East India Company in terms of trade methods. It also starts with the most profitable spices, and uses the method of controlling the origin to compete for the market, expelling the Persians who control the spice trade from South Asia; establishing a permanent commercial port at the route hub through aid and exporting interests, becoming a stronghold for controlling the waterway and a bridgehead for further opening up the market; and the establishment of an armed fleet was determined at the beginning of its implementation, which is not only used to deal with pirates, but also to deter countries that are "not blind".
Chapter completed!