When Liaodong was still snowy, Yongping Port was unusually hot.

After a few years of construction, it has been transformed from a deserted area into a small port town.

Due to the nearby gold mines, the port of Yongping is developing very fast.

In a plain area around Yongping Port, there are rivers and fertile land, and soon some people tried to grow wheat here, and found that the yield was even higher than that of Datang.

Some people even tried to bring a group of sheep from Puluo to Yongping Port and graze them around.

In just a few years, it has been able to meet the basic needs of more than 10,000 people.

In addition to ironware, which had to be transported from outside, wood, bricks and cement could all be found here.

In particular, cement and green bricks, although the scale is a little smaller, the quality is a little worse, but there is no problem that has been solved.

"Brother Li, I think Yongping Port is still the most suitable place to raise sheep and cattle, and there is a large area of grassland, which basically does not need to live by water and grass to meet the food needs of cattle and sheep. If the conditions are sufficient, there is no problem for a family to raise hundreds of cattle and sheep. However, if you grow wheat, although the yield is higher than that in Guanzhong, it is too manpower-intensive, as long as it is enough for everyone to eat. ”

Li Yixie and Li Geng rode horses and inspected the pastures near Yongping Port.

According to the rules set by Li Kuan for everyone, as long as you can plant the land found overseas, all belongs to you.

As for the use of sheep and cattle, it is basically a rule.

To put it bluntly, it means that as much land as you can enclose, it's all yours.

The premise is that you can't let these lands go to waste, otherwise these lands will belong to the imperial court.

Of course, the imperial court does not have the energy to manage the enclave of Yongping Port now.

"Indeed, although no high-yielding crops have been found here, the area of the whole of Australia is very large in the same two years of survey. One of the best pastures is more extensive than we can imagine. Now the purchase price of wool in Liangzhou is said to have risen several times compared with when His Royal Highness the King of Chu first invented the wool thread. If we can make Australia a ranch for our Datang, which is specially used to raise cattle and sheep, the income from wool thread and beef jerky alone will attract many families to come and enclose the land. ”

Li Geng is very clear about the virtue of the Tang Dynasty.

When Li Broadhead went to sea, few people were optimistic.

But when the fleet brought back a large amount of gold and silver from the Wa Kingdom, the situation immediately changed.

Especially when the fleet that went to sea found the legendary spice island in the South Seas, the enthusiasm of the Tang Xungui to go to sea was not to mention how high.

Li Geng has reason to believe that as long as the breeding industry in Australia is profitable enough, it will be able to attract the nobles of various families to arrange their children to come over and open up new horizons.

"Well, this time we have developed a few new supply points, which can not only facilitate everyone's entry into Australia, but also get closer to the Americas mentioned by His Royal Highness the King of Chu. But is the Pacific Ocean too big? I think our supply point is far from Australia? But according to the charts, there is still at least half a year to go from the Americas. ”

Li Yixie has just completed the construction of a new supply point and returned to Yongping Port to recuperate.

See all the best here? Are they going to take a trip to Chang'an and change to a sea ship tailored for them by the East China Sea Fishery Shipbuilding Workshop? Get ready for an epoch-making "journey of discovery".

By then, there will be three new sea-going ships? Carrying more than 300 people and all kinds of food, they set out from Dengzhou, passed through Yangzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Asia, and Puluozhong, and then rested in Puluo for a month before crossing the Pacific Ocean.

"How many supply points? At least to keep the fresh water and greens on board constantly renewed? Minimize risk. Although we already have a lot of experienced crew members in Datang, we can't make too much preparation in the face of a completely unfamiliar route. ”

Li Geng has been planning for next year's "discovery trip" for many years.

Seeing that most of the preparations are already in place? Instead, his mood became calmer.

"To make our routes more mature, the best way is to attract more Tang nobles and people to the sea? Attract more people to Australia and these islands in the South Seas, so that each supply point can become a small town like Yongping Port, or even a big city like Puluozhong.

In this way, the surrounding sea will become familiar with little risk, and at the same time, it will also allow us to expand our supply points further to the east. Ideally, there would be a new supply point every ten days and a half and a month, at most a month, from Pulo to the Americas, so that the risk of sailing would be minimized. ”

Li Yixie is in the Guanshishan Academy, which is a typical nautical school.

Even when he entered the Guanshishan Academy, it was for the sake of going to sea, for the legendary high-yield grain, and finally leaving a name in history.

To a certain extent, the sons of noble people like Li Yixie and Li Geng are more able to adhere to a unique goal.

In other words, ordinary people, not to mention that he does not dare to set such a grand goal, even if he sets a goal, he often can't persist because of such and such problems.

"It's not impossible. Didn't you write a lot of logbooks when you came out this time? When the time comes, you sort out and publish a few related articles in newspapers such as "Datang Daily", telling everyone that it is not difficult to go to Australia at all, and then telling everyone that there are countless lands in Australia waiting for everyone to raise sheep and cattle.

We can even suggest to His Royal Highness the King of Chu that he arrange another group of Turks, Xue Yantuo, and even Tuyuhun and Wa people to come to Australia, so that the people of the Tang Dynasty will not have no servants to use after taking over the vast farms. ”

There are people who have everything.

Li Geng naturally knew that in order to make his American route prosperous and safe, there must be enough people to come to Nanyang and Australia to develop the land.

But Nanyang and even Australia are too big.

There are not 10,000 islands of all kinds, but 8,000.

Although most of them are unsuitable for human habitation, there are many islands that are suitable for human habitation, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and other regions.

Moreover, these places are actually rich in resources, but they have not yet been discovered.

Li Geng didn't expect Datang to be able to develop these islands now, after all, he had also landed on many islands, and most of them were primeval forests, which were very dangerous.

So as long as he can develop some areas near key supply points, and then focus on the development of Australia's aquaculture industry, he will be satisfied.

Li Geng nodded and said, "That's for sure." Not only that, but when the time comes, I will also go to various academies in Chang'an City to give lectures to encourage more students to participate in going to sea, and encourage more businessmen to go overseas. Many people have never left Chang'an, they don't know how big the outside world is, they don't know how many business opportunities there are outside, as long as the publicity is in place, there are always some people who are willing to take risks. ”

"That's right, it's a big deal that we boast that there are still a lot of gold mines in Australia waiting for everyone to develop, and let those adventurers find them." Li Yixie felt that as long as it was conducive to the development of Australia, even if it was a lie, he was willing.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu has said that Australia has a large gold and copper mine, and I believe what he said must be true. And there are big gold mines in Yongping Port, and the possibility of other places is actually very high. After we returned to Chang'an City, it was not too much to exaggerate. ”

Li Geng and Li Yixie inspected the ranch and discussed the arrangements after returning to Chang'an.

The setting sun shone on them, stretching the figures long, but it was a different scenery.

……

Polo.

Nowadays, there is no one of the most prosperous cities in Nanyang.

Not only more than 100,000 Tang people live here, but also hundreds of thousands of other people from all over the world, making it a proper international metropolis.

As the admiral of Puluozhong City, Yang Qiwa is also a prince, and her influence in this sea area of the South China Sea is amazing.

The maritime merchants here are proud to know Yang Qiwa.

"Admiral Yang, the army of the Great Eclipse, completely defeated the Sassanid Persian army at the Battle of Nehawangd, and Persia, leaving the region of Fars unfell. Moreover, they also successfully conquered Egypt this year, and the caliph of the Great Cannibal became the new master of Alexander, and the entire Egypt was included in the territory of the Great Food Empire, and the limelight was unsurpassed. ”

Hamedi invited Yang Qiwa to a banquet in the most luxurious wine shop in Puluo today, so he naturally had to reflect his value first, otherwise he would not be invited in the future.

As a Persian maritime merchant, after Hamedi settled in Chang'an, his life was stable all of a sudden.

However, he was accustomed to running around at sea, and after a year of stable life, he felt uncomfortable.

In addition, he is a Persian, and when he has no special source of sea trade, it is difficult to do business in Chang'an City better than other Tang people, so after thinking twice, he still re-embarked on the road to sea.

It's just that this time he went to sea, and he had Datang behind him to support him.

He, a Persian, has entered Wannian County, and his safety is protected by the Tang Army.

If you want to go to sea to do business, the easiest way must be to transport the materials of the Tang Dynasty to Persia for sale, and he is familiar with the way.

However, time has passed, and Persia is no longer the Persia it used to be.

Hamedi's trip to Persia almost didn't make it back alive.

"According to you, this army of the Great Food can be regarded as capable of conscription? And the area of domination is also very vast. ”

Yang Qiwa actually has a certain understanding of Da Shi, but she still hopes to hear some of the latest news from Hamedi.

After all, he had only returned from Persia a few days earlier, and with his former position in Persia, he was able to inquire about a lot of the latest news.

"How to say it, in terms of troop arrangement, they are definitely inferior to Datang, but the army of Dashi has one thing that all other countries do not have. Even a soldier who has just joined the Great Food Army is very brave in battle, and he simply puts his personal life and death aside, and does not retreat if he does not destroy his opponent. It was under this attack of the Great Food Army that Persia retreated step by step. ”

Hamedi was also a well-informed figure in this era, after all, the sources of maritime merchants were already abundant.

"Well, His Royal Highness the King of Chu also described the Great Cannibal Army in the first place, let's not take it lightly. The Great Eclipse is a powerful country comparable to the Tang Dynasty, and only by compressing their development space step by step and constantly encroaching on the sphere of influence of the Great Cannibals can they achieve the final victory in this confrontation. ”

Yang Qiwa, as the admiral of the water division in Puluozhong City, naturally had to consider how to deal with the big cannibals.

Before he took office, he was fortunate to be specially received by Li Kuan.

Li Kuan also shared his understanding of the Great Food Empire with Yang Qiwa.

In this era, it is still very difficult to colonize the whole world.

After all, communications are too underdeveloped, and with no planes, no trains, and no ships, it is simply unreliable to rule the world in a stable manner.

To put it mildly, where there was a riot, when the news reached Chang'an City, the daylilies were cold.

Therefore, Li Kuan slowly changed his way of thinking, by curbing the strong and supporting the weak, all other countries revolve around Datang, so that Datang can benefit from all over the world, and it can also make the life of the local people better.

This win-win situation can make the colonial attributes of the Tang Dynasty less obvious, and it is not even clear that the Tang Dynasty is plundering countries.

After all, some small countries like Nanyang didn't even have decent clothes when they didn't deal with Datang.

However, after the fleet of Datang came, various specialties such as local spices were sold, and the people could afford to eat the fine food salt produced by Datang, buy beautiful cloth, and use rough porcelain, and their lives were obviously better.

"Admiral Yang, now that the Great Cannibals are fighting everywhere and making enemies everywhere, I suggest that the Great Tang Dynasty take this opportunity to occupy the island where the Ancient Lion Kingdom is located, as a fulcrum to shield the Great Eclipse from entering the South Seas. At the same time, it is also a springboard for Datang to operate Tianzhu, which is of extraordinary significance. ”

Hamedi is now a Datang person, so he naturally wants to get closer to Datang.

In both public and private, he hoped that Datang could establish a port on the island where the ancient Lion Kingdom was located, stationed in the sailors, and protect the interests of the caravan.

"If I'm not mistaken, the location of the Lion Kingdom has now split into two countries, right?"

Yang Qiwa obviously put in some effort and made some understanding of the situation around Nanyang.

"That's right, there are now two kingdoms there, the Sinhalese Kingdom and the Tamil Kingdom, and these two kingdoms have been fighting each other for hundreds of years, and there is no victory."

"And you're telling me to build a dock here? It's not safe for caravans to dock in such a war-torn place, right? ”

"Admiral Yang, the strength of the Sinhalese Kingdom and the Tamil Kingdom is equal, so neither is subject to the other. However, no matter which kingdom it is, in front of the Tang Dynasty, it is all scum. As long as we Datang support whichever kingdom we support, which kingdom will win. If we don't want either side to win, then this war can go on until Datang feels that it can be ended. ”

Hamedi will persuade Yang Qiwa to send the sailor to the ancient lion country today, which is obviously planned in advance.

"I heard that Tianzhu is rich in gold?"

Since the introduction of gold and silver coins by the Datang Imperial Bank, beautifully crafted coins have become the hard currency of maritime trade.

Even the Nanyang countries, and even the great food merchants, accepted and recognized the value of gold and silver coins.

Even some maritime merchants like to hoard gold and silver coins of Datang, which has led to Datang's demand for gold, silver and copper, which has always been very strong.

Yang Qiwa naturally knows a little about this situation.

If Tianzhu is really rich in gold as the legend says, then it would be a good idea to occupy the island to the south.

Of course, the occupation in Yang Qiwa's mouth is only to build a few ports, and other places can still be left to the islanders to manage.

As for whether it is the Sinhalese or the Tamils who govern the island, it depends on who is more obedient.

After all, Datang is to lead everyone to develop together, and the word "belt" is obviously very important.

What I give you is yours.

What I didn't give you, you can't take.

"Yes, Tianzhu is rich in gold, and the monks, kings, and people there like gold, plus Tianzhu is also a country with a long history, accumulated for thousands of years, no one can figure out how much gold there is in the country. Anyway, it's a scary number that no one can imagine. ”

Hamedi didn't think about snatching Tianzhu's gold from Datang, but if Datang's forces could enter Tianzhu smoothly, it would be much easier for them to sell goods, which meant that it would be much easier to make money.

"Then you are ready to prepare, in a few days I will personally bring a few sea ships to escort a group of merchant ships to the Sinhalese Kingdom, which port you like, you will directly lease it; Then we will go to the Tamil Kingdom to lease a port, whichever is more obedient, we will sell them a batch of swords, bows and crossbows first. ”

The Central Plains Dynasty has always been relatively strict in its control over all kinds of swords.

Especially for the flow of these swords into the grassland, it is more sensitive.

But Li Kuan's point of view is not quite the same as that of ordinary people, in his opinion, as long as the price is high enough, there is nothing to worry about selling some ordinary swords to the natives of Nanyang.

Anyway, these natives bought the sword of the Tang Dynasty, and their combat effectiveness may not be able to improve much.

In front of the crossbows of the Tang army, with just one shot, a large wave of native troops could be defeated.

"Thank you Admiral Yang for your success, I toast you!"

Hamedi listened to Yang Qiwa's words and was overjoyed.

……

Guangzhou Prefecture, Panyu County.

It's time of year again.

Driven by the palace of the king of Chu, many nobles in Chang'an City have their own sugarcane orchards in Lingnan Road, among which Panyu County is the most dense.

As far as the eye can see, a small hillside leans against a small hillside, one after another, with no end in sight in the east and no end in the west, and sugar cane everywhere.

This large area of sugarcane cultivation gives people the feeling of being boundless and deep in a verdant ocean.

"Brother Cheng, the sugarcane fields in your house are growing very well this year."

Fang Zhen rode a horse and took a group of subordinates to prepare to go to the sugarcane field to start this year's harvest mode.

"This is all thanks to the Guanshishan Academy and the blessing of His Royal Highness the King of Chu. The student, Yao Yuan, came up with the concept of chemical fertilizers and conducted several rounds of experiments to prove that the addition of chemical fertilizers can promote the growth of crops. Our host specially arranged for someone to transport a boatload of fertilizer from Xiangyang, all of which were used in these 100,000 acres of sugarcane fields, and the effect seems to be good. ”

Cheng Gang is the shopkeeper of the Cheng family who came to Guangzhou to plant sugarcane.

After several years of development, the Cheng family has become the largest sugarcane grower in Datang.

Of course, the Fang family is not weak, and firmly sits in the second place.

On the contrary, the Chu Wangfu has always been uncontested and grabbed, planting about 50,000 acres of sugarcane land every year, and then no longer expanding.

After all, for Li Kuan, making money through industry is much faster than agriculture, and there is no need to grab money with the Cheng family and the Fang family.

Besides, no matter how much sugar cane they planted, most of the frosting was eventually sold to the Chu Palace.

Otherwise, there is no way for these frostings to turn into snow-white granulated sugar.

"Does that fertilizer really work?"

Fang Zhen looked at Cheng Gang suspiciously.

The Cheng family transported a shipload of so-called fertilizer from Xiangyang, and Fang Zhen knew about it.

But after he learned about it, he found that the so-called fertilizer was actually a crushed stone, and he immediately lost interest.

Now hearing Cheng Gang say this, I can't help but feel a little confused.

"Brother Fang, you have to believe in science! This chemical fertilizer is conducive to the growth of crops, but as mentioned in the journal "Science", His Royal Highness the King of Chu also personally commented. Even that Yao Yuan won the Datang Royal Science and Technology Award for this. If you really have any doubts, when the time comes, we will know whether this fertilizer is useful or not. ”

Although both the Cheng family and the Fang family grow sugarcane in Guangzhou, it seems to be a bit competitive.

Actually, that's not the case at all.

Because the Chu Wangfu is still at the point where I will collect as much as you have for the frosting, there is no contradiction between these nobles who grow sugarcane.

On the contrary, because we have to deal with disobedient wingmen and helpers from time to time, we have a good relationship.

Otherwise, if Li Kuan wanted to stumble on nobles such as the Du family and the Wei family, their sugarcane plantations would not be able to open in Guangzhou at all.

Even if sugar cane is grown, as long as the Chu Wangfu does not buy their icing, these nobles will earn a lot less money.

"Okay, then I'll wait and see! If it really works, I'll go buy a boatload of fertilizer next year and come back, and that thing doesn't seem to be very expensive anyway. ”

Fang Xuanling doesn't take care of business affairs at home, as long as the matter is not very big, the shopkeeper of Fang Zhen can completely call the shots.

"Things are not expensive, but shipping is expensive. Tossing back and forth, the money spent can buy two boats. ”

Cheng Gang is not taboo at all, Fang Zhen knows his secrets.

After all, to use chemical fertilizer for sugarcane, he also learned from the Chu Wangfu.

It's just that the Chu Wangfu doesn't seem to take its own sugarcane field too seriously, but instead concentrates on expanding the scale of the crushing workshop.