Zhao Yu was shocked to hear the news, the abundant timber in the South Seas and the low price, which provided an opportunity for him to build a new type of warship, he knew very well that to build a good performance warship, not only need to be reasonably designed, but also the cost is also a problem that cannot be ignored. At present, due to thousands of years of logging in China, there are fewer and fewer timber suitable for shipbuilding, and a good material that can be used as a mast is hard to find.

In the past days, Zhao Hao has not been well-off, and now he can obtain a lot of money through sea trade, and there is cheap timber available, so he ushered in a new opportunity, he can use imported timber to build ships, and even establish a shipyard in the Nanyang region, local production, and can also greatly reduce costs. Of course, this idea was not created by him, and someone set a precedent in the Ming and Qing dynasties in the previous life.

Profit-driven innovation can be said to be an eternal truth. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, shipowners who trafficked goods from the South Seas found that the timber there was low and abundant, and they were already ready to move. However, the attitude of the Ming government, which implemented the policy of banning the sea, was unpredictable, but driven by profits, they had plans to build ships on the spot in Siam.

As a result, merchants began to build ships in Siam and other places, and then continued to sell rice and other goods. The food-starved government was also in desperate need of importing rice, so the government tacitly allowed merchants to build ships overseas. Coupled with the shortage of domestic timber, it has led to the relocation of large sailing manufacturers. On the other hand, the domestic private shipbuilding industry, which is constrained by cost, has also changed due to the situation, and has shifted its development trajectory to the direction of miniaturization and fast, convenient and refined.

However, Zhao Hao first pressed the ecstasy in his heart and listened to Shangguan Xi's summary of business activities. Over the past year, they have been mainly operating three traditional routes: the East, the South and the West. The main trade objects of the East are Japan, and the trade with Southeast Asia is at least Batavia, Siam, Quang Nam, Manila, Cambodia, Johor, Pattani and other places, which is equivalent to the distribution in today's Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries.

In any case, it is well known that the caravan had a royal background, so the sea caravan had a prominent power, a large number of merchant ships and a strong capital. Their advantage at this time was the size of the fleet, and the number of merchant ships going to the East reached more than 300, which was unattainable in previous years. The main goods sold were tea, silk and porcelain, lacquerware, medicinal herbs, and printed materials for export, while gold, silver, copper, Korean ginseng, sulfur, horses, horse harness, paper fans, and brushes were trafficked back to China.

In previous years, only a few dozen merchant ships went to the East, but this year, the volume of trade has increased dramatically. In order to alleviate its financial difficulties, Goryeo, which was a vassal state of the Mongol Yuan, was already out of breath, and in order to alleviate its financial difficulties, it did not care whether it was suspected of being a 'capital enemy', so it carried out a tearful sale and sold everything that could be sold. And the situation of Japan is not much better, it offends the current world hegemon, although there is no such thing as an economic blockade in this era, but other countries are afraid of retaliation, no one dares to do business with them, but some merchants who do triangular trade from the Great Song Dynasty to sell some goods, from which to earn the difference.

However, the price of the 'second-hand goods' sold by these merchants must be higher, and they don't know that the Great Song Dynasty has recovered Jiangnan, and after they go, not only will they lose their money, but they may not be able to come back, and even if they know, they are worried that they will be hunted down and killed when they cross the border, so they can only pinch their noses and accept it. But when the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty appeared, all the problems were solved, and they not only got what they needed, but also sold their own specialties. More importantly, the Great Song Dynasty was resurrected with full blood, defeated the Mengyuan naval army, and re-became the overlord of the sea.

A trip to the East, the caravan made a lot of money, gold and silver were put into the warehouse, and the funds were returned one after another after the goods were sold, and the profits were more than five million. The trip to the West was also very fruitful, and you must know that the market in the West was much larger than that in the East at this time, and the goods of six or seven hundred merchant ships were sold out.

Because the current form of trade is mainly barter trade, and what the Great Song Dynasty currently needs is gold and silver, which are precious metals, Shangguan Xi adopted the method of settling with gold and silver to attract merchants, and of course, bartering should appropriately raise prices. Their strong involvement in the Western market, and the influx of large quantities of goods at lower prices will naturally affect the business of some traditional merchants who take this route, but they can only watch the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty make money.

However, the merchants found that the Great Song Dynasty, as a major producer of incense, only purchased some ambergris, sandalwood, agarwood and cumin this year, and most of the funds were used to buy precious stones, tortoiseshell, ivory, rhino horn, jade and coral, as well as cosmetics such as lavender and rose oil. did not realize that this was only the beginning of the Great Song Dynasty's competition for the Western market, and their monopoly on the global spice market was coming to an end.

However, Shangguan Xi also found that Arab merchants had a strong presence in the Western market, and their influence penetrated almost every market, and they controlled the sea routes to Europe, and they would collect heavy taxes every time they entered and exited, so that they occupied a dominant position in the Western trade. Now that we are joining strongly, it is very likely that it will lead to disputes in the future.

Zhao Hao listened to it and thought that many wars occurred because of the competition for the market, and it was even more common in later generations. Although it is not yet possible to predict when war will be launched, friction will become the norm, in other words, multiple people's money is tantamount to killing parents, and whoever grabs meat from the bowl to eat will be in a hurry with you. Therefore, he thought that the risk of the resulting war was high, and he should start preparing for a possible war now.

Shangguan Xi's worries were not without reason, as more than 600 ships went to sea this time, and the transaction volume reached 30 million guan, with an average of more than 40,000 guan per ship. In addition to the cost of goods and losses on the way, crew salaries and other losses, the profit is also about sixty percent, so it can bring Zhao Yu nearly 20 million yuan, and these have not yet added the income from the future spice business, but this is already equivalent to one-third of the current national tax revenue.

Zhao Yu believes that with the continuous development of maritime trade routes, the continuous expansion of the market, and the intervention in the aromatic medicine market, it will definitely bring more lucrative returns to himself. He went on to further regulate the operation of overseas trade, and on the basis of the current lack of funds, he proposed to divide the caravan into two parts: the road and the sea.

On the road, the part relies on the funds and reputation of the insurance office to establish a commercial bank, first collect public funds, purchase silk goods and local products, hand over the goods to the maritime commercial bank, and then settle the account with the insurance office, and withdraw the next shopping money. After receiving the goods, the maritime commercial banks do not need to wait for overseas trade, and after returning to the sea, they can settle the bill with the insurance office, and hand over the goods to the commercial banks on the road for sale, and at the same time enter the next cycle. At the end of each trading season, the insurance office sends the profits to the inner treasury.

This form of trade organization is actually the inheritance and development of the merchant and ship merchant organizations in the non-governmental overseas trade, and Zhao Yu only consolidated it in a new organizational form so as to facilitate control and control at all levels. The law of the jungle is also applicable in business warfare, and only strict organization and cooperation can gain a foothold overseas, defeat opponents, and gain the right to speak.

Shangguan Xi should be down, because the emperor had a word first, if he found spices, he only needed to transport some of them back to China, and most of them had to be sold to the West to earn gold and silver. So he turned to ask what to do with the incense medicine that was brought back? Because according to the past practice, the city shipping department had to extract 10% as a tariff in advance, and because of the huge profits of incense, the government classified spices as "forbidden" materials, and all ships carrying spices entered the port, "those who are not from the official treasury are not allowed to trade privately", that is, they must be purchased and sold by the state.

For Zhao Yu, this is just a matter of the left hand in and the right hand out, because this matter is under the control of the palace, and there is also a incense medicine warehouse in the inner court, which is responsible for cashiering foreign tributes, as well as luxury goods such as incense medicines and gems imported from the market, which are specially managed and sold by the incense medicine storehouse, and the money obtained is clearly attributed to the inner treasury as one of the royal income. However, the imperial court also received 10% of the tax revenue, which became an important source of state finance.

This time is different from the past, because the maritime merchants of the Mengyuan Dynasty were all expelled and their property was confiscated, and the merchants did not dare to venture because of the war between the Song and Yuan dynasties, so the main force of the sea this time can be said to be Zhao Yu's caravan as the main force, and the folk maritime merchants just followed the soy sauce, but their trafficking also sent a signal to the merchants that the Great Song Dynasty had won and began to resume maritime trade, and there will inevitably be some overseas merchants who will come to trade this year, and their main goods are incense and jewelry.

The caravan brought back more than 800,000 catties of incense medicine this time, and it was only 400,000 catties at the peak in the past. Zhao Yu knew that the large volume of goods would inevitably lead to a decrease in the sales price, and on the other hand, although the royal family monopolized the right to sell, it was also necessary to pay in full or offset the goods. If it weren't for his own business, just buying these incense pills would have bankrupted him.

However, this has created another problem, the incense medicine transported by the merchants cannot be purchased on credit, which is an act without integrity, and Zhao Yu, as a model for the people, must not throw people to foreign countries. And this creates another problem, self-acquisition will occupy funds, if it is allowed to sell freely, it will break the royal monopoly and impact the sales price.

Zhao Yu thought for a while, this incense medicine is not valuable in his opinion, but because it is 'rare', the price has been strong for hundreds of years, and it can be regarded as a hard currency, which can be used as a strategic material in the national reserve like gold. Therefore, he thought that he could save some of his own and put the rest into the market to avoid shocking the market, while buying the incense medicine of the merchants had to suppress their prices and pay in paper money for them to buy on the market.

In this way, it can promote the circulation of paper money, and solve the problem of financial difficulties, after all, part of the gold and silver earned by Zhao Yu overseas should also enter the imperial financial system as the standard gold reserve of paper money. And he also has a plan, some incense medicine can still be smuggled into the Jiangbei region to alleviate the suffering of Xia Mengyuan because of the loss of sea control and the shortage of incense medicine.

You must know that incense is not all used as spices in China, and most of them are used as additives to make incense and candles turned into green smoke, and sent to the gods in the heavens and the ancestors in the earth. Most of the people in Mengyuan believe in Buddhism, and the amount of incense and candles is also very large, and they think that the incense candles with incense have a purifying effect and can express their piety, so they are not worried about sales.

Zhao Hao secretly praised himself, in the past, he used to smuggle sea salt to plunder the gold and silver of the people of Mengyuan, and now he can use incense medicine to empty the pockets of those nobles. They plundered everywhere, robbed countless gold and silver treasures, and collected a large amount of taxes every year, and besides, there was no gold and silver and horses to cover the bill, so they were their potential high-end customers. As for who will sell, of course, it is those merchants who have taken off the businessmen, although everyone was not very happy before, but who has a grudge against money, as long as there are interests, they can laugh at the enmity!

Having made up his mind, Zhao Yu asked the incense medicine warehouse to receive half of the spices, and the rest was auctioned off to those spice merchants at the port of dock, so as to return the funds as soon as possible. He knows very well that as long as the money is turned up, it can only be generated, and if it is pressed on the goods, it will miss the next monsoon period, but the gains outweigh the losses, and he can't do the thing of picking sesame seeds and losing watermelons.

"Your Majesty, what my subordinates are worried about is that if something happens overseas, it will be difficult for us to rush to help even if we get the news, but by the time the next trade wind has passed a year, I am afraid it will be too late!" After saying something, Zheng Yong sighed and said. He was very worried that the Arab merchants would retaliate against their caravans after learning that the financial route had been cut off, but when they got the news here, they were afraid that the daylilies would be cold, and the figurines would not know where to flee.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Shangguan Xi also responded with courtesy, "Not only is it affected by the trade winds, which makes it difficult to rescue. And a lot of business has been delayed, if only we could have a ship that is not affected by the trade winds, whether it is a downwind or a headwind. ”

"This ...... This one really has! Zhao Yu was stunned for a moment and said thoughtfully.

"Is what Your Majesty said true?" Zheng Yong has been with the little emperor for more than ten years, and it can be said that he has witnessed many miracles he has created, but it is still difficult to believe that there are sailing ships in the world that can sail regardless of the headwind and tailwind conditions. It is important to know that although it is possible to adjust the angle of the sail and use the rudder to achieve sailing against the wind, it is necessary to constantly adjust the course and sail to achieve it, which is not only slow, but also limited by the sea area.

"I have lied to you that there really is such a ship, and it is more than twice as fast as the current sailboats!" Zhao Yu nodded and replied seriously.

"Your Majesty, don't make your subordinates happy, if such a ship can be built in the world, unless the gods descend to earth, Lu Ban will be reborn!" Zheng Yong shook his head in disbelief, only thinking that the little emperor was making fun of himself......