After Cao Bin captured Shaozhou, an army of 100,000 troops marched by land and water to threaten Xingwangfu. The Southern Han Kingdom was sitting on a vast territory and could not organize another decent war.

Liu Jixing, the lord of the Southern Han Dynasty, had no available people in the capital, and all the power was in the hands of palace maids and eunuchs, and there were as many as 20,000 eunuchs in the country.

Xingwangfu fell into a panic. In addition to the fears of its kings and ministers, there is also a special group of people who are frightened and ready to get on the ship and run away; They are the merchants of the Great Food.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Silk Road in the Western Regions was blocked, and the big food merchants came to the southern coast by sea, opening up the trade route for a time. However, Zhu Wen destroyed the Tang Dynasty and led his troops to fight in Guangdong, and at the end of the road and lack of military funds, he found a large number of big food merchants, and he couldn't help but say that he killed all the big food merchants! robbed them of their goods and belongings.

As a result, sea trade was blocked for a time, and communication was resumed after twenty or thirty years, but the scale was not as large as that of the Tang Dynasty. The big cannibal established trade relations with the Southern Han Kingdom because of common interests, and also gave a big food girl named "Mei Pig", which was deeply favored by Liu Jixing.

Decades have passed since the bloodshed, which has long been washed away by the waves. But the shadow remains, and the Great Food Merchant is very worried that after the capture of Xingwangfu, the soldiers of Middle-earth will repeat their old tricks and do such barbaric acts again.

However, they were unwilling to completely give up their property and commercial profits in the Xingwang Mansion, and they also heard rumors that the Middle-earth Dynasty at this time was not the Zhu Wen Department who was desperate and jumped over the wall at the end of the road, so they still had a glimmer of hope.

The leader of the Great Food Merchants decided to send envoys north to meet with the commander of the Zhou army to test the attitude of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Because the southern cannibals were only merchants and did not participate in the unification war, Cao Bin treated them politely. Cao Bin immediately brought the matter to the court, and asserted some of his own views in the note.

Cao Bin was generally positive about the dealings of the big food merchants. On the one hand, it can increase the tax revenue of the imperial court from trade, and the big cannibals buy mostly luxury goods such as silk and porcelain, which will not have much impact on people's livelihood; Second, "long-distance friendship and close attack" is the essence of diplomatic relations between ancient sages, and the establishment of a tributary trade system can expand the prestige of the dynasty...... Countries thousands of miles away have come to pay tribute, and their face has doubled!

…… When Guo Shao received the note from Tokyo, he had already left Lingzhou and was staying in the palace of Pizhou.

Wei Renpu and others all seconded Cao Bin's proposal this time, and the article of "increasing taxes" was enough for the ministers to support it. At this time, the treasury expenditure was very huge, and there was a solid foundation accumulated by Shu and Southern Tang, although there was no emptiness of the treasury, but the annual expenditure in the past two years was more than twice the normal fiscal revenue, all relying on the internal treasury subsidies.

Cao Bin's township army camp will be effective in the short term, and Guo Shao is already brewing a second batch of 100,000 troops...... The ministers' requirements for implementing the strategy are simple, just three words: take the money.

In such a situation, even if the Privy Council does not care about the finances, it is also anxious. Once the internal treasury looted through the early war is emptied, it is no wonder that the income and expenditure of the entire dynasty will not collapse! Conventional means, open source and reduce expenditure. The profit of the sea trade with the big food is open source, and mosquito meat is also meat.

However, Guo Shao said something that everyone didn't pay attention to: "How did the big cannibal come to Xingwangfu?" ”

Wei Renpu pondered for a moment and said, "It should be by boat." ”

Guo Shao said: "Coming from the sea is naturally a boat, the key is that it is thousands of miles away, and it is not easy for the ship to sail to us." I remember that the Southern Tang Kingdom sent people to go north by sea to ask for help from the Liao State by sea, and the coastal voyage turned several times; This great cannibal route is farther than the East China Sea, and there must be a reason why it can reach Xingwangfu. ”

The ministers nodded yes, but they didn't seem to care too much. Because seafaring technology is really not particularly critical to the imperial court.

Guo Shao paid special attention to this matter...... His perspective and insight are different. Seafaring technology may not be very important now, but it will be able to make a lasting impact for many years to come. In Guo Shao's memory, it was not until the Ming Dynasty that the Chinese fleet reached the African side, and it was quickly interrupted.

Being able to sail from Arabia to Southeast Asia must have its own unique skills in shipbuilding and sailing.

Guo Shao's concept has never been arrogant to ancient China, nor is there the blind arrogance of the heavenly empire. Compared with the world's civilizations in the same period, everyone is backward and rotten, and he feels that China is still relatively advanced and enlightened in all aspects, and can be regarded as a rich and stable civilization; But not everything is state-of-the-art, and many aspects still have their own strengths and weaknesses. Learning from each other's strengths helps to make progress; For example, the Ming Dynasty was generally strong and advanced, and it still had to learn from foreign countries in terms of firearms in order to keep up with the general trend.

"Zuo You is also the Ministry of Rites, he is in Lingnan, and he ordered Zuo You to be responsible for consulting with the big cannibals." Guo Shaodao.

The ministers thought it was good, the big cannibal was a foreigner, and when it came to diplomatic relations, Cao Bin could not be allowed to preside over it, and he had to use the Beijing official to represent the central government.

Guo Shao quickly made a decision and wrote two letters, one to Cao Bin and one to Zuo You, putting forward some of his own attitudes and asking them to take charge of the affairs of the south.

…… At this time, in Lingnan, Cao Bin's department strictly controlled the Zhenshui water and land roads, and advanced cautiously and steadily. However, in fact, the army of the Southern Han State was unable to defend the battle, and there were no conventional tactical efforts such as raiding and harassing and cutting off grain routes, and the Zhou army made very smooth progress.

Soon after, Liu Jixing sent people to the Zhou army camp to negotiate peace.

The envoy actually threatened the Zhou army: if the Zhou army continued to attack, it would burn down the palace of the Southern Han Kingdom, so that the Zhou army would not get any property!

The proposed conditions were to cede all the territories occupied by the Zhou army north of Shaozhou and to renounce the title of emperor; The Zhou army stopped the attack.

Cao Bin felt that this condition was very ridiculous, the performance of the army of the Southern Han Kingdom was so poor, and now it was very certain that the country would be destroyed, why should the existence of the Southern Han State be tolerated?

After discussing with Zuo You, he rejected the peace conditions of the envoys of the Southern Han Kingdom, and put forward new conditions: the lord of the Southern Han Dynasty led hundreds of civil and military officials to surrender on their own initiative, and the imperial court was benevolent to give you the title of official and knight to keep your wealth; If the treasury of the palace is burned, the crime will be increased by one degree, and the death penalty will not be escaped.

Zuo Yu discussed trade matters with the Great Food Envoy.

Previously, the big cannibals came over and were courteous, and then they sent more important people and a few hired Han translators to accompany him.

Zuo Yu met him inside the tent. The translator waited for the big cannibal to finish speaking, and then said: "Zuo Shilang, his name is XXOO......"

"What?" Zuo You frowned, he didn't understand, and the name said by the translator seemed to be stuffed in a muffled voice. The translator thought for a moment and said, "The approximate pronunciation of the name is 'Shuaiman'." He is the number two person in the Great Cannibal fleet, and speaking in the Great Cannibal still counts. ”

Zuo You nodded, and then he returned the salute with his fists to the big cannibal.

Shuai Man looked at Zuo You and said again. After hearing this, Zuo You turned his head to look at the Han translator, and the man said: "Mr. Shuai Man roughly means that they came to Middle-earth to do business, they are very kind, and there is no hostility. I hope to get the protection of His Majesty the Emperor. ”

Zuo You said: "The Great Zhou court attaches great importance to etiquette and virtue, which is completely different from when the bandits were in charge of the country in troubled times. ”

Shuai Man said through the translator: "How can we ensure our own safety? ”

Zuo You groaned: "Your Majesty will issue an edict to clarify this matter, and the imperial court is willing to exchange business with Da Shi." The emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is Chrysostom, and the holy decree must be counted, which is related to the prestige of the imperial court. ”

He thought for a while, and then said: "However, the commission of the tax on the city can't be counted as the agreement with the Southern Han Kingdom, so we have to renegotiate." ”

Shuai Man was more relieved when he heard this, perhaps in their opinion, what can really guarantee safety is interests. Since the Zhou court talks about the commission, it just wants to share the benefits, so it has to have a good relationship.

Zuo Youzhi observed it, and only then did he mention Guo Shao's request in the letter, and said: "However, your envoys and other businessmen have to agree to the two conditions of our court. First, the laws of the imperial court must be observed, and offenders will be punished according to the laws of the Great Zhou, and you must not obstruct the official office.

Second, the imperial court respects the gods and does not interfere with the worship of the Bodhisattvas, but it is not allowed to confuse the people in the territory of the Great Zhou, otherwise they will be severely punished and will no longer protect the safety of the people. ”

Zuo You also proposed that Shuai Man send people to Tokyo to pay tribute, as long as he gave the emperor some rare gifts, he would definitely get a rich reward.

Foreign tributary is also a kind of trade, which is a loss-making transaction for the imperial court, and a business that does not lose money for the tributaries, so it is generally only allowed to pay tribute once a year. Not only because the imperial court wants to show generosity and wealth, the key is not to make money, and others have no incentive to pay tribute; And if the world is not peaceful, there is no guarantee of the safety of the tributary route...... This kind of etiquette is not mainly for economic interests, but to expand prestige and influence, and to look forward to the prosperous situation of "all nations coming to court".

…… After Shuai Man returned, he discussed and accepted the request to pay tribute to the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty in order to further investigate the attitude of the Zhou court.

The Great Cannibal prepared some strange goods brought from his hometown to trade, and when Shuai Man inspected the goods, he found a wooden model of a sailing ship, and immediately became furious, and found the leader of the merchant who cooperated with him, and severely punished the person who prepared the goods to make an example.

Shuai's reason was that the model of the sailing ship sent by the wrong person might leak the shipbuilding design of the Great Food to Middle-earth.

All the partners agreed with his reasoning, and the man who made the mistake was unlucky and had one of his hands cut off. He argued that the Zhou people never paid attention to this thing, and that the model would definitely be placed in the room as a rare ornament by the nobles; The reason was that the nobles of Middle-earth despised merchants and artisans and would not associate with them.

But Shuai Man did not forgive him for this and insisted on punishing him.

A group of people discussed the rules, they couldn't tell outsiders about shipbuilding technology, sailing experience, mathematical arithmetic, etc., otherwise they would be executed next time!

They removed some of the models from the gift list and replaced them with gold ornaments and exotic gemstones, spices, and more.