Jinan Fucheng, chief military officer of Shandong Town.

Tang Yu, Minister of Commerce, and Guo Yongzhong, Minister of Civil Affairs, were sitting opposite each other drinking tea in the living room, but their attention was focused on Liu Juntao in front of them.

At this time, Liu Juntao frowned and was looking at two reports.

Since the end of the incident between Shandong Town and Xu Youzhen, Liu Juntao has focused on restoring his strength, after all, this flood has caused huge losses to the strength of Shandong Town.

The two reports in Liu Juntao's hand, one of which was sent by Tang Yu, counted the losses and expenses of Shandong Town during this period.

Another report was sent by Guo Yongzhong to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which reported on the losses in various Tunzhuang, as well as the casualties of all parties in Shandong Town, as well as the post-disaster relief situation.

Although Liu Juntao had expected the huge loss of Shandong Town this time, it was not until he saw these two reports that he understood that Shandong Town was no longer a matter of much loss, but that it had been greatly damaged!

"According to the statistics of the Treasury Department, eighty percent of the industries in Yanzhou and Qingzhou have been forced to close down, and if they want to reopen, they will need to wait at least three months to reopen; At the same time, the industries of the rest of the prefectures and counties in Shandong have also suffered a huge impact, and seventy percent of the caravans under the Ministry of Commerce have been suspended due to floods; So far, the Ministry of Commerce's income has plummeted by 40%, and it will take at least eight to ten months to return to the pre-flood income level! ”

"In this flood, the Ministry of Commerce has spent 17 sums of relief money and grain, totaling 6.98 million taels of silver, 1.44 million stones of grain, in addition to 311 carts of medicines and 120,000 sets of cotton clothes; Among them, two-thirds of the money and grain expenditure was used for the repair of industries, tunzhuang, villages and towns, and cities, and the remaining one-third of the money and grain, as well as medicine and cotton clothing, were used to help the people. ”

"At present, the treasury department's money and grain stocks have been seriously insufficient, leaving the salaries, money and grain of the various armies in Shandong Town in the next three months, as well as the necessary expenses of the shogunate's various departments, the only money and grain that can be mobilized is more than 200,000 taels of silver and 80,000 stone of grain!"

"Due to the raging floods, the phenomenon of centralized cash withdrawal has occurred in the Yushan ticket number in various places, and within three months, the deposit of the Yushan ticket number has decreased by 40%, and the silver borrowed in the past, due to the escape of the borrower or died in the flood, there have been 129 dead loans; At present, the Yushan ticket number is being rectified, but the amount of silver that can be mobilized is only 30% of the past! ”

This is just the report of the Ministry of Commerce, Liu Juntao is already surging in his heart, this is the most serious economic crisis in Shandong Town, if you are not careful, the various industries in Shandong Town will be like dominoes, there will be a series of reactions, and even an avalanche-like collapse!

After reading the report of the Ministry of Commerce, Liu Juntao took a deep breath and opened the report sent by the Ministry of Civil Affairs again.

"The Tunzhuang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Yanzhou and Qingzhou Prefecture were basically washed away by floods, with 3,899 casualties and 976 missing people, the loss of livestock is no longer countable, and all the grain and grass stored in the Tunzhuang have been washed away!"

"At present, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has collected more than 40,000 displaced people, all of whom have been settled properly, and are working in Yanzhou and Qingzhou Prefectures to rebuild various tunzhuang, but this move is very costly, and at present it can only ensure that the displaced people everywhere have two meals a day."

After Liu Juntao read the two reports, he sighed and said: "Our Shandong town has been operating for several years, and it will be ruined in one fell swoop!" ”

Tang Yu and Guo Yongzhong also shook their heads and sighed, and they didn't know what to say for a while.

Liu Juntao sighed: "In the past, our Shandong town had a lot of money and food, and there has always been no sense of crisis. Well, now, a flood has made us destitute! ”

Tang Yu and Guo Yongzhong were also dumbfounded when they heard this.

Then, Tang Yu and Guo Yongzhong added some things to do in the future, and both said that the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will do their best to restore development and will do their best to maintain local stability.

Liu Juntao also affirmed the two.

At this time, Liu Juntao suddenly remembered something and said: "Although we now have a Yushan ticket number in Shandong Town, and there are many caravans, workshops, and industries, our ability to deal with disasters and major events is still too poor!" ”

Tang Yu said: "That's the meaning of the head town......"

"The sea!"

Guo Yongzhong and Tang Yu glanced at each other, both at a loss.

Liu Juntao said: "This town has decided that we should not only focus on Shandong, but also on the vast sea!" ”

"The sea?!"

"Yes, it's the sea!"

Liu Juntao said loudly: "Now all the goods in our Shandong town are sought-after goods, if we build one or several fleets to sell our Shandong town, and even Shandong and Jiangnan goods overseas, what will happen?" ”

Hearing this, Tang Yu's eyes instantly lit up, and he stood up and said loudly: "In that case, our Shandong Town will be rich and rival the country!" ”

However, Guo Yongzhong frowned slightly and said, "But, how much food does it take to build a fleet?" What's more, do we have so many sea-catching men in Shandong Town? ”

After listening to Guo Yongzhong's words, Tang Yu also calmed down and said, "Indeed! I heard that many of the big businessmen in Jiangnan have dealings with some overseas sea lords, and those people have almost monopolized the overseas trade routes along the coast. ”

Liu Juntao thought about it for a while, and couldn't help but think of Zheng Zhilong at the end of the Ming Dynasty in the later generations!

At that time, Zheng Zhilong made his fortune through sea trade routes and snatching merchant ships, not only had the most powerful fleet in East Asia, but also occupied Taiwan, Fujian and other places, established strongholds in Japan and other overseas regions, and defeated the attacks of Western powers such as the Netherlands and Spain.

Thinking of this, Liu Juntao made up his mind that no matter how difficult the process of establishing maritime trade routes and fleets was, he would complete it at any cost.

Liu Juntao's move is not only to develop trade and establish the maritime power of Shandong Town, but also to prepare for this as a base point to begin to vigorously develop navigation technology and prepare for the opening of the era of sea navigation belonging to the Ming Dynasty!

So, Liu Juntao said categorically: "No matter what difficulties there are, and no matter what kind of opponent we will face, we must establish a fleet that belongs to our Shandong Town and open up a maritime trade route that belongs to our Shandong Town!" This is not only related to increasing the income of our Shandong town, but also related to the future, or even dozens or hundreds of years later! ”

Tang Yu and Guo Yongzhong have never seen Liu Juntao so excited, at this time Liu Juntao is like incarnating as the dictator of a certain country in the future, facing Tang Yu and Guo Yongzhong impassionedly, loudly describing the greatness of the voyage, his hands are constantly waving, very infectious.

Tang Yu couldn't help but be startled when he saw this, and whispered to Guo Yongzhong: "Old Guo, is he okay in Zongzhen?" ”

"Should it be, will it be okay?"

On this day, Liu Juntao set the tone, and ordered Guo Yongzhong to immediately deploy manpower in the coastal prefectures and counties of Shandong, recruit sailors at any cost within half a year, and concentrate all the people in Yushan Town, and not let outsiders know the details!

At the same time, Liu Juntao also ordered Tang Yu to raise money and grain, although it is very difficult for Shandong Town now, but no matter what, it is necessary to eliminate all difficulties and prepare as much money and food as possible for the construction of the fleet!

Tang Yu thought for a moment and said: "General Town, now the Ministry of Commerce is really in difficulty, do you think you can ask Yan Shenggong for help and support some money and food, which can be regarded as letting Yan Shenggong become a shareholder?" ”

"No way!"

Liu Juntao immediately refused: "The matter of the fleet can only be done by our Shandong Town, and no one can interfere in it!" ”

Tang Yu was surprised when he heard this.

Joke!

Going to the ocean, this is a century-old plan, how can Liu Juntao let others be involved?

After Tang Yu and Guo Yongzhong left one after another, Liu Juntao also began to think about it.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty still implemented the policy of banning the sea, and the people were not allowed to go to sea by boat without authorization, let alone engage in maritime trade.

Therefore, it is inconvenient for Liu Juntao to come forward directly in this matter, and it must be carried out by people outside Shandong Town, and if there is nothing to do with all forces, only those who obey the orders of Shandong Town can do it!

After thinking about it, Liu Juntao opened the map of Shandong and thought about it for a long time.

After a long time, Liu Juntao's gaze finally fixed on a corner of the map, only to see a line of words written on it: Qingzhou Mansion, Anton Wei!

"My sea of stars, start here!"