Seeing this situation, Lu Zhen hurriedly stepped forward and hugged Yang Zhen, and said: "Brother Yang is serious, the wind and waves on the sea are far from being comparable to the land and rivers, and if something happens, it must be investigated, and the responsibility should be the official." You can not only successfully complete the major event of going to sea in such a complex and changeable situation, but also bring back most of the manpower safely, which is a great achievement, what a crime! ”

After hearing these words, the self-blame on Yang Zhen's face was slightly restrained, and he clenched his fists: "Thank you for your forbearance, I am ashamed." ”

"You can rest assured that these people who died for going to sea will definitely take care of their families, and will truthfully report their merits to the court, and their sacrifices will not be in vain."

After patting him on the shoulder vigorously as an encouragement, Lu Zhen changed the topic: "In the past few months, where have you gone to sea?" In addition to the wind and waves at sea, have you encountered the attack of the Japanese pirates? ”

Only then did Yang Zhen temporarily put aside his self-blame and sadness, and cheered up and said: "In the past few months, because I have to be familiar with maritime affairs and have to identify the shipping lanes, the fleet has not actually gone far, and has only docked along the coasts of the three kingdoms of Ryukyu, Wa and Manraka, and has traded with local people. However, although I only went to these three places, I gained a lot. As for the bandits of the sea, there are also them. ”

"Oh?" Lu Jin's brows furrowed when he heard this, and he asked casually before, but he didn't expect that there were really Japanese robbers running rampant on the sea. Because as far as he thinks, the power of the Japanese at this time is still weak, and it should be far less than a few decades later, according to the reason, these guys should be flowing in the sea areas of the southeast, and now there are Japanese robbers near Shandong, which is not a good phenomenon.

But Yang Zhen's subsequent words made him breathe a sigh of relief: "But these thieves on the sea are very vulnerable. Our ships are equipped with ballistas and other long-range weapons, and as soon as they come up, they are destroyed by the ship, and they can't even touch the side of our big ship. So these thieves didn't do us any damage. ”

At this time, the strength of the pirates rampant in the East Asian seas was indeed quite weak, especially the small streams that fled to Shandong, and even failed to compete with other pirates for territory. These people's ships are not even comparable to the official ships of the ordinary Ming Dynasty sailing in the rivers, so when they want to fight the idea of the fleet led by Yang Zhen, it is tantamount to moths to the fire.

But even so, Lu Zhen still took this to heart. Because he knows very well that in addition to fighting with heaven and earth, he must also be on guard against the threat of pirates at all times. It seems that when ships are sent to sea in the future, they will have to be equipped with better troops and weapons.

Then, he smiled again: "By the way, you said that you have gained a lot, how do you say it specifically?" ”

Seeing that he finally turned the question to the harvest after saying so many words, the spirits of everyone present were lifted. Especially those businessmen who had invested a lot of capital in before, they looked at Yang Zhen even more, waiting for him to give a satisfactory answer.

Yang Zhen frowned slightly: "My lord, forgive me, the officials actually don't have much control over this matter, and they all let a few merchants handle it on their behalf, so the specific number is not very clear." But one thing we know is that the shipwrights we brought with us have all been sold to the people of the Three Kingdoms at a price much higher than today. In fact, if we hadn't stayed too long in each place, I'm afraid that the Wa Kingdom alone would have allowed us to sell all the goods. ”

"Oh?" Lu Zhen was also overjoyed when he heard this: "In this way, the Three Kingdoms are quite interested in my Ming porcelain and other products?" ”

"That's true. Especially in the Wa Kingdom, when they knew that we were a Ming merchant ship and brought the specialties of the Shang Kingdom, the coastal people rushed to trade with us. Whether it is silk, tea, porcelain, or ordinary pen, ink, paper, inkstone, they all come. It was only because there were not too many local people who could come up with the money that they didn't buy all the goods we shipped. Yang Zhen hurriedly explained.

In fact, at that time, the interest of the people of the Wa Kingdom in this ship of Ming goods was far greater than he said. Many families took out all their wealth to grab some Ming properties. As for the fine porcelain marked as produced by the Ming Imperial Palace, it was regarded as a treasure by the local rich and directly exchanged for the same weight of gold.

This is also a matter of no choice, since the Tang Dynasty, the Wa Kingdom has always admired the Central Plains civilization from top to bottom, even after these hundreds of years, this has not changed.

It is only because of the Ming Dynasty's seclusion and confinement of the sea over the years that it is almost isolated from this maritime neighbor. Only a few groups of envoys were sent to the Ming Dynasty every year to pay tribute and get some of the rarest items of the locals back. But the more this is the case, the more important the status of the various items of the Ming Dynasty in the hearts of the Japanese people, in their opinion, no amount of gold and silver is comparable to the value of the silk porcelain and other things of the Ming Dynasty, so they will use such a crazy gesture in exchange for goods.

In this regard, not only did these businessmen and officials present not know the root cause, but even Lu Zhen also felt a little strange. But there is one thing he knows, that is, the current Wa State is a huge cash cow for the Ming Dynasty, as long as it is operated well, just maritime trade can scrape considerable benefits from this neighboring country.

As for the Ryukyus and Manraka, although their demand for Ming goods was not as good as that of the Wa Kingdom, they were also interested in these fresh items, and they also bought a large number of goods at prices that were many times higher than those within the Ming Dynasty. It was precisely because of their generous performance that they bought up the remaining goods on several ships at once, and Yang Zhen and the others returned to Shandong in less than half a year.

After explaining these things, Yang Zhen said again: "In addition, according to the previous points mentioned by the adults, the lower officials also deliberately asked the local people to exchange with us for products that I did not have in the Ming Dynasty, and therefore obtained some local spices and other things, which have now been put into the warehouse of the port, just waiting for the adults to go and check." ”

When he mentioned this, Lu Zhen immediately became interested: "Then go to the warehouse and see how much you have gained from your hard work in the past few months." ”

Everyone hurriedly applauded, and then followed Lu Zhen straight to the row of warehouses not far away, which was closely guarded by hundreds of officers and soldiers, to see how many good things they had brought back from overseas.

When he entered the warehouse, opened a few boxes with his own hands, and saw the contents inside, Lu Jin, whose eyes were a little sparkling, knew how huge the harvest of this trip to sea was, and at the same time understood why Yang Zhen didn't leave Weihai for three days after he came back. He did this not only to give everyone a recuperation, but also to keep the wealth in case it was not remembered.

And the officials and businessmen who entered the warehouse with Lu Jin, after seeing this box of things, were even more stunned, and then let out bursts of ecstatic laughter: "Hair ...... Developed ......"

Just because in the boxes that have just been opened, there are pieces of gold and silver, and the gold and silver in this box alone are enough to weigh hundreds of catties. And in this warehouse, there are hundreds of chests like this, and a rough calculation alone gives no more than one or two million silver harvested here.

In addition, on the other side of the warehouse, there are bags of overseas spices that you have never seen before. In this regard, others may not know its value, but Lu Zhen understands that these special products that will only appear in the land of the Ming Dynasty when the envoys of the Ryukyus and other countries pay tribute will inevitably be sold at a sky-high price in the Ming Dynasty, and it will naturally be a large amount of income at that time.

Many people, after confirming this, showed a greedy eye. Because of this trip, everyone has a share of the investment or shipment, and now that they are fully loaded, everyone can get a lot of benefits accordingly. The only thing they regret is why they didn't dare to take out more things before, if they can press all their net worth, this time they will really get rich overnight.

Some individuals have begun to anxiously ask Lu Jin how to share these gains, and some have a long-term vision, and they tentatively ask when Lu Jin's next trip to sea will be, and I don't know if they can participate in it again.

Regarding these problems, Governor Lu, who had regained his composure, just said haha: "Don't worry, the imperial court will definitely not treat you badly." However, this trip to sea can only be made by the joint contribution of many parties, and the distribution of benefits is naturally quite complicated, so the official needs to find someone to make a careful calculation before he can really distribute this wealth to you fairly and justly. I wonder if you can still trust this official? ”

"Trustworthy, trustworthy." Everyone immediately nodded and said, the money was originally only due to the pressure of the government, and of course it would not offend the governor at this time. What's more, they also hope to get another piece of the pie when they go to sea next time.

"As for the next time I go to sea, I have to prepare again. However, now that the sea ban has been opened, as long as the official reports this matter to the imperial court, His Majesty will definitely allow the people to go to sea for trade, and at that time, you can organize your own sea trips, and you will no longer have to share the money with the government. Lu Zhen saw everyone's greed, so he threw out such a bait again, which really attracted everyone's excitement.

It is obviously difficult to really succeed in the matter of opening the sea only by relying on the imperial court officials, and it is necessary to rely on the people to go to the sea spontaneously in order to completely open the door to overseas trade. As for the imperial court, in addition to sending merchant ships overseas, it can also set up relevant yamen at various ports to collect customs duties, so that it is a real profitable deal.

However, all this must be done step by step, at least until the private businessmen can taste enough sweetness, tariffs or something are not easy to set up. Fortunately, he still has time, and he also believes that with the profit-seeking character and intelligent mind of a businessman, he will not miss this far more lucrative business than ordinary business......