Zhuang Shilin was also silent when he heard it, this year His Majesty has invested in several major projects to form an inland water army and build a new type of warship; expansion of the Armory Workshop to increase the capacity for the production of firearms; repairing various post stations in the south of the Yangtze River, buying horses and increasing personnel; investment in the construction of insurance firms, which occupies part of the funds; The second is to expand the caravan at sea, and the ship money is still collateralized by the salt tax of the Inner Treasury Warehouse.

At present, in the inner treasury, Zhuang Shilin only has less than 200,000 yuan of cash to mobilize, which is still the queen mother stopped repairing the tomb for Emperor Jingyan, otherwise he would have to borrow money to live. And the little emperor's wedding is on the agenda again, and this conservative estimate is also a queen and five concubines to marry at the same time, not to mention the money required for the ceremony and purchase, even the bride price is not a small amount.

Zhuang Shilin knew that the emperor was married, and the imperial court would take out part of the money to subsidize it, but even so, with the current financial resources of the inner treasury, it was impossible to support the needs of the marriage. And at this moment, the little emperor was half complaining, half joking crying poor, which made him very frustrated, after all, he was in charge of the inner treasury and managed the audit of various expenses of the imperial court, which can be said to be half of the official family of the Great Song Dynasty. And he also knew that if there was no little emperor, he would be a small maritime merchant at most now, and he was helpless when His Majesty used the money, which also made him feel remorseful.

"What are you doing here? I'm not looking for you to cry poor, but I have a lot of money to make, and as long as I succeed, I can reverse our financial difficulties! Zhao Yu looked at Zhuang Shilin and Shangguan Hong, who were crying and mourning, and then at Zheng Yongyan, who was still ignorant and didn't know what was going on.

"Your Majesty, please speak, but there is a drive, and the subordinates are not reluctant!" Zhuang Shilin's eyes lit up when he heard this. He knew that the little emperor was a boy who gathered wealth, and when Kaifu was almost out of food, he hit Guangzhou by the way to solve a temporary need, and also laid the foundation for a foothold in Qiongzhou; After the Xing Dynasty moved to Qiong, it was also a poor jingling, and His Majesty obtained a huge amount of wealth through salt, which not only solved the financial crisis in one fell swoop, but also accumulated the needs for the counterattack on Jiangnan.

"Your Majesty, just command!" Shangguan Hong also saluted.

"Both of you have worked as maritime merchants, do you know what is the most profitable thing to sell?" Zhao Yu asked.

"Incense, of course!" The two spoke almost in unison.

"Yes, let's think of a piece, the most profitable is the incense!" Zhao Yu nodded and said, this thing has caught up with the profits of modern drugs, and it seems that everyone has a consensus.

"Your Majesty, although the incense medicine makes money, it is all for those merchants, we can only buy it from them and then transport it back to China, but sometimes we can't buy it even if we have money!" Zhuang Shilin said, and Shangguan Hong on the side also nodded yes.

"That's right, the incense medicine business is monopolized by the big food merchants, and they only rely on knowing the source of the incense, so that they can control the supply, control the price, and make huge profits from it, right?" Zhao Hao asked the two again.

"Well, what Your Majesty said is that the source of those incense medicines is regarded by them as a cardinal, whether it is bribed with heavy money or forced confessions by words and deeds, they will not divulge half a point. Even if you tell you, it's those ethereal places, either you can't find a place, or you can't afford to set foot in it at all. Zhuang Shilin agreed with the little emperor's statement, but it is not easy to find the source of goods.

"This is their cornucopia, of course, it won't leak out easily, otherwise it's their turn to earn the money." Zhao Hao pouted and smiled.

"Does Your Majesty know where the incense grows?" Shangguan Hong heard the doorway and asked in surprise.

"You guessed it!" Zhao Yu nodded, asked Zheng Yong to bring the chart over, and asked the three of them to gather over, and he nodded on the map.

"Your Majesty, could it be that the incense medicine is produced in the country of the Three Buddhas." Zhuang Shilin looked at the position pointed out by the little emperor, and he couldn't believe it. The Three Buddhas are the only places to go to the Great Food, which is relatively close to the Great Food.

"There are so many islands here, I can't be sure which one it is, but I can't get the general direction wrong. Those cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, agarwood, and cloves are produced in this area, and two of them are very abundant and unknown to outsiders, and the prices are extremely low. Zhao Yu said.

"As Your Majesty said, as long as we find these two islands, we will find two treasure islands full of gold and silver." Shangguan Hong was overjoyed.

"Those big food merchants are really cunning, they buy incense here, and then they travel thousands of miles to transport it back, and then sell it to us and sell it back to China, making it difficult for people to know the origin. If it weren't for His Majesty's peeping into the mystery, the world wouldn't know how long they would have been deceived. Zheng Shilin sighed. The two sides have been trading for hundreds of years, and they have been deceived until now, which is sad enough to think about.

"Don't be too optimistic, everything will be said after we find it, but this matter is only known to a few of us, and we must not leak half a sentence to outsiders, otherwise we will lose the opportunity, and we will lose all our money." Zhao Yu asked them to lower their voices.

"Yes, yes, if it is known to outsiders, then we can't monopolize the benefits of incense!" Zhuang Shilin hurriedly nodded.

"Well, listen to Your Majesty's arrangement, there is no other word!" Shangguan Hong replied. They have all realized that if they can find a place, they will find a gold mine, and as long as they keep it a secret, they will continue to gain wealth.

"Your Majesty, the meal is ready." At this time, Wang De came in and said.

"Send it up, let's talk while eating, but there is no wine to cheer up." Zhao Yu said.

When the food was delivered, the three of them didn't know if they had a good appetite for such good news, or the taste of vegetarian food in the temple, anyway, they ate a lot. And Zhao Yu also introduced his plan first, he asked Zheng Yong to lead fifty warships and carry 2,000 infantry troops to go to sea with the caravan in the name of escort. After arriving in Sriwijaya, in the name of setting up a supply base, they first discussed with the local government, whether they bought it directly with money or rented it out at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca.

At the same time, warships and merchant ships were sent to search for the origin of the incense according to the directions shown on the chart. Once discovered, they will barter with the local people to obtain what they need, and establish long-term cooperative relationships, and keep them secret to prevent them from being known to the outside world. The established base can be used as a turnover place for spices, some of which are sent back to China for sale, and most of which are sold along the route to the West.

Zhao Yu actually wanted to try to open a direct route around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa to Europe, but he knew that this route was the most dangerous route in the world, where the strong westerly jet stream set off stormy waves all year round, and in addition to the storm, there were often "killing waves". These waves resemble a cliff in the front and a gentle slope in the back, and the waves are generally 15 to 20 meters high, and they occur frequently in winter, and are sometimes combined with swirling waves caused by polar winds, and when the two waves are superimposed, the sea conditions are even worse.

And there is also a strong coastal current, when the waves and the current meet, the whole sea rolls like a boiling pot, and the ships sailing here are often killed, so it is also called the Storm Point. Therefore, this has become the most dangerous navigation section in the world, and Zhao Yu felt that with the seaworthiness of the current ship and the imperfect nautical charts are extremely dangerous, and if it is not done, it will be empty of both people and money, so he temporarily pressed this idea. They could only continue to trade at Alexandria, on the border between Asia and Africa, in exchange for the real money and silver needed back home, but they still had to endure the continued wool gathering of Arab merchants.

"Your Majesty, what if we find Xiangyao Island and they refuse to sell it to us, or if the state interferes?" Zheng Yong ate all the dishes on the plate, and kept letting him add rice, and he didn't put down his chopsticks until he was half full.

"Zheng Dutong doesn't have to worry, there are countless islands of all sizes, many of which are uninhabited at all, and the local government can't figure out how much ground they have under their jurisdiction, so the remote islands are all in their own way, and the government is left to fend for itself, and no one interferes at all!" After all, Zhuang Shilin was a former maritime merchant and a person who had walked this line, he waved his hand and smiled.

"In this way, it is similar to the original slang in Qiongzhou, where generations have lived in seclusion in the mountains, not paying food and not paying taxes, but it is also extremely xenophobic and difficult to deal with." Zheng Yong listened to it and drank the soup again.

"Lure them with wealth and threaten them with guns, is it rare for me to let you take the warship to play?" Zhao Yu was angry and pointed at him with a chopstick.

"Does Your Majesty mean that your subordinates want to conquer those islands?" Zheng Yong was a little confused, he was originally going to do business, but how did it become an invasion.

"Why not? Those are all borderless lands, you have to plant my Great Song Emperor Banner all over the newly discovered land, which is the land of my Great Song Dynasty! Zhao Yu said.

"Subordinates obey!" Zheng Yong hurriedly got up and saluted.

"You must know that business is related to the economic lifeline of my Great Song Dynasty, which is the same as our capture of Jiangnan and the desire to destroy the Central Plains. This is like the Great Food Countries cutting off the trade routes to the west, but one day, we will let them make way for the Great Song Dynasty to open the trade routes, so that the Great Song merchants can travel the world. Zhao Hao was full of pride.

Zhao Yu naturally knew that with the awakening of the consciousness of sea power in the West, wars between countries would no longer be limited to land, but would turn to the sea. By forcibly opening ports and establishing colonial rule in order to usurp wealth and population, whoever controls the key points of the sea will have the upper hand. At present, he took the first step to occupy those seemingly useless places, which was not only conducive to controlling the maritime trade routes, but also providing a pretext for future generations to compete for these islands.

"Your Majesty's intentions, your subordinates understand." Zheng Yong was also excited when he heard it, and Shi Li said.

"You really understand? What would you do if those merchants discovered the source of our incense and tried to intervene or even forcibly seize it? Zhao Hao asked.

"If he dares to break ground on my Great Song head, his subordinates will definitely drive him away, and if he comes by force, he will let him taste the power of our army." Zheng Yongyan said.

"Well, that's good. However, doing business is about harmony and wealth, and doing things must be done first and then soldiers, so as not to lose the number of courtesies, which will damage the reputation of my country of etiquette in the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Yu nodded with satisfaction.

"Yes, my subordinates understand!" Zheng Yong hesitated and said. At this moment, he couldn't help but slander in his heart, the little emperor was a bitch and set up a memorial arch, and he wanted to save face, but he was suffering from his own work.

"Your Majesty, the merchants are profit-seeking, if those merchants learn that we have also obtained the secret of the incense medicine, as Zheng Dutong said, they will not be willing to give up such a lucrative profit, after losing the battle in the South China Sea, they will make trouble after entering the Western Ocean, or prohibit us from trading on the shore, or lower the price and force buying, what will happen?" Shangguan Hong thought for a while and asked. In the past, in order to obtain the things that the little emperor urgently needed, he often looked for them outside the island, and when he went out, he had to bow his head under the eaves, knowing that he would suffer losses, but he dared not speak out and endured their exploitation.

"Your fears are not unreasonable, and this is why I want to set up a base in the Strait of Malacca, and if they dare to do so, we will block the strait so that they will not be able to transport it back. And they can only come north to our Great Song Dynasty to trade, so who has the final say? Zhao Hao smiled.

"Although what Your Majesty said is reasonable, our blockade of the strait will inevitably damage the interests of the countries along the way, and they will definitely be deeply dissatisfied, and it will be extremely unfavorable to our business!" Zhuang Shilin frowned when he heard this.

"Hehe, it seems that you have been in the court for a long time, and it is not suitable for business." Zhao Yu pointed at Zhuang Shilin and said with a smile, "You must know that the most important thing on the trade route is the robbers, their ships were robbed by pirates, and people were killed by pirates, so what do we have to do, if you want to complain, you can only rely on those countries to clean up the unfavorable!" ”

"Yes, what Your Majesty said is very true, but Zheng Dutong has been wronged, but the dignified officials and soldiers are going to pretend to be thieves!" Zhuang Shilin reacted immediately, pirates can be said to be enemies with caravans, accompanied by each other, and some caravans are even merchants and thieves, it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, with the current strength of the Great Song Dynasty naval army, none of the small countries around it is an opponent, and it is impossible to dominate or not.

"Piracy is rampant, and those countries that suffer from it can only turn to the strong for help. But where there will be nothing to help, they will always have to pay some price. Zhao Hao sneered and said, "But I think that even if there is a dispute, it will be resolved quickly, after all, everyone is here to make money, and losing both sides is not what they want to see, the two sides will reach a compromise quickly, and they will not fight to the death!" ”

"What Your Majesty said is reasonable, when we blocked the Qiongzhou Strait, those merchants of the Tartars could not bear it, and they reached an agreement with our dynasty one after another, and did not hesitate to sell the interests of this dynasty." Zhuang Shilin nodded yes.

"You have to remember that you can't do business without a strong country and a strong armed force. At the same time, it is also necessary to tell the accompanying maritime merchants not to forget their righteousness for the sake of profit, and not to learn from those merchants who sell the interests of the country and the nation in order to make money! Zhao Yu said solemnly......