The faint sunlight emerged from the sky, but it was reflected in the blue sea but it showed a sparkling wave, and the morning glow on the sea surface was like a golden flame, with the surging of the sea, flashing and rolling forward.

As the glow faded, several boats swept across the sea, splashing in the fresh air, and on the bow of one of them stood a teenager who raised his arms and waved his arms, and his mouth seemed to be shouting.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, the ship is coming."

The boat came all the way through the waves, and the men on it shook their arms and rowed the boat vigorously, and soon sailed to the edge of the pier, only to see a huge sea ship on the pier lowering the canvas, and the men were carrying large wooden boxes from the boat, and shouting slogans quite rhythmically.

An old man stood on the dock, looking at the young man who was running towards him, he couldn't help laughing, he grabbed the young man's arm, put his head against the young man, and said loudly: "Dog baby, why did you come here, good boy, you have a bit of wildness when Grandpa was young!" ”

After everyone had already disembarked, a dark-skinned man approached, with a little trepidation in his expression, and whispered to the old man: "Shopkeeper Chen, how did you get to this Haiyun Island?" It's windy and rough here, if something goes wrong......"

The old man turned out to be a big man in the Great Chu Dongmin Chamber of Commerce, his original name was Chen Huanzhang, he was a big green skin that he ate mixed rice on the sea early on, and later when he was older, he knew that he could not continue to work the rivers and lakes, so he simply washed his hands, and when the Fu Han army entered Fujian, he also did things for the Fu Han army, and was appreciated by a big man, and brought him into the Dong Min Chamber of Commerce.

Today, although Chen Huanzhang is in his sixties, his whole spirit is very strong, and his hair is only slightly gray, and he can't see the old age he should have at this age.

Hearing the man's words, Chen Huanzhang took his grandson's hand and walked forward, snorting coldly as he walked: "Where hasn't Lao Tzu been?" Isn't it just to come to this Haiyun Island, and there are no man-eating monsters on it, I'm afraid of a fart! ”

The man had a little helplessness on his face, and hurriedly chased after him, and hurriedly explained: "Shopkeeper Chen, we don't dare to underestimate you, but this maritime island is not as familiar as the past, or the new land we have just explored, there seem to be some raw land on it, all like beasts, if they collide with your old man, I can't explain it to the company." ”

Chen Huanzhang suddenly stopped, stared coldly at the man in front of him, and said loudly: "Explain? You let him come and see if Lao Tzu's gun can give him an explanation! ”

As he spoke, Chen Huanzhang had two handcuffs exposed on his waist, and the dark barrel showed a bit of luster, and there was an inscription faintly engraved on it, which was obviously not an ordinary good product.

The man swallowed a mouthful of saliva suddenly, this eyesight is naturally different since he traveled south and north, and he quickly recognized the model of this handcuff - it is obviously the latest six-shot handcuff made by the Hanyang Arsenal, or the model that has been innovated for ten years, not to mention the strong firepower, the stability is still very high, but the craftsmanship is rare, the number is not much, and ordinary people can't afford this kind of gun.

Soon, everyone followed the path on the wharf and walked all the way into a house, which was very different from the houses in the mainland, but it looked like a stilted building, all made of bamboo, and there were several high watchtowers around the house, on which there seemed to be people holding guns on guard.

Chen Huanzhang led people into the largest house, he let go of his grandson's hand, with a little smile on his face, and threw his hand towards an old man who came out of it.

"Lao Huang, look at it, my eldest grandson has rushed over from his hometown, how strong he grows! Dog baby, hurry up and call Ah Gong! ”

"Ah Gong!" The young man hurriedly replied.

The old man who came out of the house, his figure was slightly thin, but his eyes were bright, he looked at the young man in front of him, and grinned at the corner of his mouth: "Lao Chen, look at your grandson's spiritual head, I am afraid that I will take your place in the future!" ”

Chen Huanzhang smiled slightly, but he didn't say anything, he didn't dare to boast about Haikou here, if he was used by someone with a heart, it would add a lot of trouble.

The old man surnamed Huang didn't care, he then made a gesture and invited Chen Huanzhang into the house and sat down separately, while the young man was taken out to play by the strong man.

Chen Huanzhang smiled slightly, and said softly: "Lao Huang, when I was in Coconut City before, I heard people in the company say that there are some desert islands here, except for some natives, there is no other bullshit, and even the fields can't open a few acres, let's spend it here, what are we trying to do?" ”

The old man surnamed Huang, whose real name is Huang Kui, is the person in charge of the exploration sent by the Dongmin Chamber of Commerce to Nanyang, and this time Chen Huanzhang came to Haiyun Island, obviously he needed to make a report to the General Directorate.

Huang Kui sighed lightly and said with a wry smile: "Shopkeeper Chen, it's not that you don't know, since my Da Chu promulgated the "Overseas Colonial Exploration Law", the price of these Nanyang Islands has been getting higher and higher day by day, and those large and small chambers of commerce are crazy, to pay money to the Colonial Exploration Committee, we still spent a lot of money to grab the exploration right of Haiyun Island...... If I don't have anything, how can I explain it to the Director-General? ”

When Chen Huanzhang heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, of course he knew the reason for this.

Since the end of the seventh year of the reform, the emperor promulgated the "Overseas Colonial Exploration Law", some large and small chambers of commerce could not sit still, they began to build sea ships, and also through the purchase of armed merchant ships, at all costs to infiltrate Southeast Asia, it can be said to have set off a crazy wave.

The reason why these chambers of commerce did this was purely because there was a very clear provision in the Overseas Colonization Exploration Act at that time, that is, whoever discovers an unknown territory can have the right to discover it, that is, including the right to name the discovered territory, and the priority to explore and colonize the area.

The so-called priority exploration of the colonial right means that the discoverer can apply to the colonial exploration committee and pay a fee to explore the land, and have the right to develop all the land and mineral resources of the place, and the profits obtained through the development of the land only need to pay the taxes payable, and the rest of the profits are owned by the colonial company.

To put it simply, even if you can find a gold mine on the island, as long as you have the priority to explore the colony, you can keep the gold mine on it as your own, and all other profits except for the relevant taxes will not need to be handed over to the imperial court, which can be regarded as a windfall profit.

Therefore, when the "Overseas Colonial Exploration Law" was issued, dozens of chambers of commerce of all sizes in Dachu launched foreign exploration and colonization, hoping to make huge profits overseas.

However, because colonization is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it requires a large number of sea ships, not to mention, and it also requires a certain amount of development strength, so the general strength of the chamber of commerce is not able to eat, so like those small chambers of commerce are not very involved, they prefer to make quick money, that is, to take the lead in exploration, and then resell the priority to explore the colonial rights, relying on the difference in this price to make a profit.

The big chambers of commerce are reluctant to scatter their efforts and organize people to explore, so they prefer to spend money to smash down the priority exploration of colonies, and then calmly run the colonies through their huge size, swallowing this biggest piece of fat.

Among them, to everyone's attention, only one year after the enactment of the "Overseas Colonial Exploration Law", a small private chamber of commerce discovered an island in the South Seas, named it Tianquan Island, and explored and discovered a gold mine on it, but it was very difficult to mine.

Later, after thinking about it, this small chamber of commerce finally chose to sell the priority colonial rights of Tianquan Island to the Cheng Family Chamber of Commerce at a sky-high price, and in the following year, the Cheng Family Chamber of Commerce mined more than 60,000 taels of gold on this Tianquan Island, which instantly detonated the public opinion of the entire Great Chu, and everyone looked at the distant gold mines with an envious mentality.

However, after this incident, as a large chamber of commerce under the imperial court, the Donghua Chamber of Commerce also announced the discovery of a large gold mine in Nanyang when it was innovating for ten years, but this time it completely detonated the public opinion in Dachu, and all kinds of news about Nanyang were circulating everywhere in the crowd, and some people even thought that Nanyang was full of gold, and many people began to organize gold panning in Nanyang.......

It is also in this situation that when the time comes to the twelfth year of innovation, the cost of exploring and colonizing the South Seas has risen many times, and even a large chamber of commerce like the Dongmin Chamber of Commerce is a little unbearable, but they have also invested a lot of resources on it, so they have the priority to colonize and develop Haiyun Island.

Huang Kui's face was more or less ugly, and he said softly: "Shopkeeper Chen, I have been surveying on Haiyun Island for a long time, but I really didn't find gold and silver mines, but I found a lot of life, and I lost several people!" ”

Chen Huanzhang's expression changed suddenly, he was not annoyed, but curious: "When I first came ashore, some people said that there were life and freedom on the island, could it be that there are really a lot of things?" ”

When he said this, Huang Kui was a little cautious, he couldn't figure out what Chen Huanzhang meant, so he could only say vaguely: "I don't dare to say too much, tens of thousands of people may have ........"

"Good! If there are so many people, your brother will do a great job! ”

Chen Huanzhang looked a little excited, and said: "Lao Huang, don't you know the current market in the inland, there is a shortage of people everywhere...... Especially the lack of this kind of life that can be used in death, tell you that no matter how many people there are, they can be coaxed and snatched away if they are put inland, and the price is at least this number! ”

As he spoke, Chen Huanzhang stretched out a hand and posed a number, but Huang Kui took a light breath of cold air, a trace of ecstasy appeared on his face, and then he said with annoyance: "Cough, shopkeeper Chen, you're late!" If I knew that these people were so valuable, I shouldn't have killed hundreds of people for nothing! ”

It turned out that since Huang Kui took people to occupy Haiyun Island, he was attacked by some Shengyi on the island, and several people died, and this naturally angered Huang Kui, he quickly organized an armed exploration team, hundreds of people marched towards the island, and fought a good battle with those Shengyi, directly killed more than 600 people, and then occupied Haiyun Island safely.

As soon as he heard that more than 600 people had been killed, and they were all sturdy men, Chen Huanzhang felt a little painful, he pulled his beard fiercely, and said in a low voice: "Without further ado, I will hurry back to the General Department to report, and arrange for people to come to support you when the time comes........

"Just catch it like that? Wouldn't that have any effect........" Huang Kui still had some doubts in his heart.

Chen Huanzhang smiled and said in a low voice: "Naturally, I won't get it back directly, these people will need to be dealt with at that time, at least they will have to be castrated, and then they will be sold in Coconut City, this is a real good deal!" ”

Huang Kui's face couldn't help but show a happy color, and he couldn't help but look up at the dense forest on the island, but he seemed to see patches of gold mines........

In July of the twelfth year of the reform, the original Batavia, now the coconut city has become more and more prosperous, since the original Dutch were expelled from Asia, the Chinese have completely taken over the local rule, and in the following years, continue to attack the original Javanese sphere of influence, so that the Chinese momentum is unparalleled for a while.

In particular, with the help of the Malacca Golden Waterway, China's trade with the West naturally became more and more prosperous, not only with Britain, France, Sweden and other countries to establish trade relations, together with some other European countries have also opened trade with the East, in the face of the huge trade surplus, a large amount of gold and silver gradually flowed into China.

After owning a large amount of overseas gold and silver, Dachu's own monetary policy also temporarily got rid of the shackles of gold and silver reserves, issued a huge amount of gold and silver coins, and further promoted the development of industry and commerce.

Among them, the most noteworthy is that in the government report released by the Great Chu Cabinet, the annual revenue for the seven years of reform was only 83 million silver dollars, but by the 11th year of the reform, the annual income had almost doubled, and the government revenue of 160 million yuan was almost beyond anyone's imagination.

Of course, in this era, the imperial court's revenue is still the top secret, so only a small number of people know this number, and for Ning Yu, this figure is not difficult to predict, the reason is very simple, since the five years of industrial and commercial construction, the current economic structure of Dachu has undergone important changes.

One of the most obvious signs is that the field tax, which was the main body of the original Chinese economic structure, is no longer the main income, and even after many tax cuts and tax reductions, the field tax of 40 million silver dollars only accounts for a quarter of it, while the industrial and commercial tax and the income of the imperial court's own industries account for the remaining three-quarters.

"Five years of gold, five years of greatness!"