"The maritime trade routes are all in the hands of the Wakos?" Zhu Yihai was shocked when he heard this.

His territory is in Fujian, not far from Guangdong, which is also a coastal provincial capital, and the maritime trade can be almost comparable to that of Guangdong. Three or four years ago, Zhu Yihai had heard that the Japanese were rampant in Guangdong, but he never expected that it would be far beyond his expectations.

Zhu Yihai came to Guangdong for the trade route on the sea, and he was a vassal king in Fujian, and he attached great importance to the trade on the sea. This is very different from other vassal kings in the interior who did not know the pros and cons of maritime trade.

"Lord Wang, it's not a secret, it can be said that the biggest force in Guangdong today is the Japanese Kou. Especially in the past two or three years, the power of the Japanese has continued to expand on a large scale in this area. If it weren't for the unity of our Ming merchants, maybe even our own merchants would have to act according to the faces of the widows. Huang Degong was quite emotional in his words, but the dignified Ming Dynasty has become what it is now, which can't help but make him feel cold.

"In this way, today, our merchants in the Ming Dynasty can only transport goods to the provincial capital to trade with the Japanese invaders. Then they were loaded and sent to sea by the Japanese invaders, that is, all the goods had to pass through the hands of the Japanese before they could go to sea. Zhu Yihai suddenly felt that things seemed to be far worse than he thought.

Huang Degong nodded and said: "That's true, the key is that in this way, it means that all the merchants in the Ming Dynasty are making money for the Japanese Kou." The Japanese controlled all the ports in Guangdong, and the ships of the Ming merchant gang were not allowed to go to sea from here, and once the goods were resold through their hands, they would inevitably take a large part of the profits in the middle. Now the Japanese Bandits don't dare to be too arrogant, but in the future, when the Wokos grow stronger and there is no time for them to scruple about, all the merchants will either have to follow their orders or have to go away. ”

Zhu Yihai was silent, and after thinking for a while, he asked, "Then do we still have a sailor in Guangdong?" ”

Huang Degong smiled bitterly: "Water Master? There have never been sailors, and our warships that have been left behind by some dynasty are now rotting at sea, and even the fishermen can't look at them. ”

"So, there is no strength in Guangdong to fight against the Japanese Invaders?" Zhu Yihai frowned and asked.

"Indeed, except for the major merchant gangs uniting together, they can suppress the Japanese on land a little, and as for the sea, there is nothing comparable to it." Huang Degong was quite helpless.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the sea has been banned, although there is a period of Zhu Di, a short-lived maritime pomp. But after many years of depression, it can be said that Da Ming can't take care of the war on the land, where is there still energy to take care of things at sea.

The sea has been forbidden for so long, and no one in the inland court from top to bottom will care about whether the sea is safe, and what is even worse is that the monarchs and ministers at this moment do not realize that the ocean of the Ming Dynasty is actually an inseparable land of the Ming Dynasty.

All kinds of reasons add up, and it is destined that the Ming Dynasty will lose the right to speak at sea, while the Japanese have been quietly developing at sea.

"In this way, if this king subdues all the merchants on the land, he still can't trade freely in Guangdong." Zhu Yihai suddenly had a headache.

"Unless the prince has a way to defeat or drive away these widows, we will all have to be controlled by others in the end." Huang Degong looked at Zhu Yihai, but he still had something in his heart but didn't say it.

Zhu Yihai smiled bitterly when he heard this: "This king still has some warships in Fujian, but unfortunately there are only less than ten, and they are all some dilapidated warships, so they can't fight the Japanese at all." ”

Huang Degong paused, gritted his teeth, and said with some hope: "Lord Wang, when it comes to sea power, except for Mao Wenlong, I am afraid that no one in the Ming Dynasty today can have the strength to fight against the Japanese Kou at sea. If the prince had a way to ask for the help of Mao Wenlong's army, he might be able to defeat the Japanese Kou. ”

"Mao Wenlong......"

Zhu Yihai was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and he laughed: "That's right!" How did this king forget him! ”

Looking at Zhu Yihai, who was laughing and overjoyed, Huang Degong suddenly felt a little confused. He didn't know that Zhu Yihai and Mao Wenlong were now allies, and he would definitely not delay asking Mao Wenlong to help destroy the pirates entrenched in Guangdong.

The most worrying problem finally had a solution, and Zhu Yihai was no longer sad, after he asked Huang Degong to step down, he immediately wrote a letter and sent someone to Xi'an to send 800 miles to Mao Wenlong.

Xi'an, which has been quiet for several days, is also calm in Nanjing, which allows Mao Wenlong to finally welcome the top priority of the founding ceremony with peace of mind. Especially when Mao Wenlong learned that Zhu Yihai had quietly led his troops to Guangdong and was ready to settle down there, Mao Wenlong was deeply gratified by this.

Guangdong is indeed a good place to make a fortune, if it weren't for the fact that Mao Wenlong couldn't go there before, and he didn't have the strength to camp there, he would definitely not choose to be in the north, a place where natural disasters are constant.

Now Zhu Yihai has taken a fancy to Guangdong, which is in line with what Mao Wenlong thinks, and he has more confidence in his strength to unify the south. However, when Mao Wenlong received a letter of help from Zhu Yihai, he immediately became distressed.

The founding ceremony was imminent, Hong Chengchou was so busy that his feet didn't touch the ground, but Mao Wenlong ignored it, directly called it to his study, and then threw Zhu Yihai's letter of help to him.

Hong Chengchou was originally very dissatisfied, he was so busy these days that he couldn't wait for one person to become two people. And Mao Wenlong is good, since he came back from Nanjing, he has nothing to do all day and knows to take his family around to play, and he doesn't help him, the old man.

Hong Chengchou, who was already complaining about this, would be disturbed by Mao Wenlong for no reason, and his heart was naturally unhappy. However, when he saw Zhu Yihai's letter, he was full of dissatisfaction.

After a moment of silence, Hong Chengchou muttered: "Does the general army send a navy to Guangdong?" ”

Mao Wenlong frowned and said distressedly: "Of course you have to go, the problem is that the current navy is only enough to hold the North Sea." If we divide our troops and go to Guangdong, once we are exploited by the Japanese invaders, then we will lose more than we gain. ”

Mao Wenlong's distress, Hong Chengchou also knows, from the past he did not very much agree with Mao Wenlong's development of the navy, but now he fully supports it. That's because he saw that the navy played a great role in the stability of the entire North.

Especially in the coastal areas, now with the protection of the navy, there are no more pirates to attack and harass them. Many of the areas that had been left vacant were gradually being returned. Not all areas in the north are suitable for arable land, especially in the coastal areas, where many people rely on fishing for their livelihoods.