For these words conveyed by Lu Qi, Liu Xiang, who benefited the most, naturally praised the emperor's wisdom with joy, whether it was to force everyone present to attack Annam for him, or to build a grain export port after retaking Saigon, in his opinion, it was a suggestion to serve him.

Zheng Zhilong, Yang Tiansheng and other maritime representatives present were still lacking in interest, and among these propositions put forward by Lü Qi, the imperial court harvested a grain port, and Liu Xiang took back Saigon, and these people did not see any benefit at all except for subsidizing people and money.

Lu Qi glanced at everyone present, and found that except for Liu Xiang, everyone else was silent, either looking down at the wine in the cup, or staring at the dishes in front of them, as if they were all interested in food.

Lu Qi laughed in his heart, sure enough, as the emperor said, if there is no benefit, even if it is an order from the imperial court, these maritime merchants or pirates may not do their best.

He coughed lightly a few times, and couldn't help but ask everyone, "Why, except for Liu Zhen's envoy, you don't dare to be interested in this task?" ”

Under Lu Qi's forced gaze, everyone shirked that this was not the case, and Lu Qi couldn't help but turn his gaze to Zheng Zhilong and said: "Do the men in Chiayi County also say the same as them?" The miscellaneous family thought that it was better to say anything wrong in advance, and not wait until after the matter began, and then everyone would find an excuse to prevaricate the court, and then it would be more ugly. ”

Zheng Zhilong glanced at his companions around him, and finally clasped his fists at Lu Qi and said, "Gonggong Lu, although we are willing to do something for Your Majesty and the imperial court, Guangnan is still a country even though it is small. If we want to invade the coast of this country, we must be prepared to be resisted, so the cost of war must not be small.

Quang Nam has no rich place except Hoi An, and there is nothing else in the country except rice, and we will certainly not care about these things in the service of the imperial court, but our subordinates will not gain anything by going ashore with their heads on their heads, and we will naturally need to pay for them at that time, lest they lose the courage to fight.

It must be a long-term process to bring the country to its knees by harassing the coast of Quang Nam and forcing the lord of Quang Nam to surrender Saigon. My father-in-law also knows that with the rapid development of foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty, the maritime capacity has been in a state of insufficiency. If we send ships to invade Quang Nam for a long time, I am afraid it will affect the overseas trade of our Ming Dynasty..."

Zheng Zhilong complained to Lu Qi slowly, which caused the representatives of the maritime merchants present to echo him, Lu Qi still listened with a smile, but Liu Xiang jumped up anxiously and accused Zheng Zhilong: "Zheng Yiguan, what do you mean, you want to disobey Your Majesty's orders." Is it difficult, do you want to rebel? ”

Yang Tiansheng hurriedly distinguished Zheng Zhilong and said: "The first official is also telling the truth, since the father-in-law asked, do we still have to hide the problem?" If you hadn't lost Saigon, how would we have to face these troubles, if you don't reflect on your mistakes, and you have taken the opportunity to slander others..."

Listening to the two of them calling themselves an official and an official, Zheng Zhilong subconsciously frowned. Ever since he was given the title of Chiayi County Baron by Chongzhen, he was very disgusted that the brothers in the past called him by his nickname, as if others were still treating him as a bandit, and the two of them shouted so happily in front of Lu Qi that Zheng Zhilong was very ashamed.

However, because Lu Qi was here, he could only pretend not to hear it and continue to smile. Lu Qi listened to the two arguing for a few words, and then said with a smile: "The matter has not been discussed, why should you be in a hurry to quarrel, be quiet, and continue to listen to the man in Chiayi County?" Chiayi County Male, you go on, if you want to complete the invasion of Quang Nam and recapture Saigon, what kind of requirements do you think you need? ”

Looking at Lu Qi's smiling face, Zheng Zhilong was suddenly a little unsure, what this father-in-law thought about the difficulties he had just raised.

He thought about it in his heart for a while, and then he said stubbornly: "Back to my father-in-law, the lower officials think that if you want to invade Guangnan Kingdom, you should take half a year as an operational period, and the number of combat ships is between 100 and 200. A conservative estimate would cost at least 600,000 silver or 850,000 Ming Yuan, not including the loss of ships and the compensation of the casualties during the war. ”

Lu Qi looked at Liu Xiang, who was quiet, and knew that the amount proposed by Zheng Zhilong was basically not too outrageous, and he couldn't help but smile and said: "Okay, you should just study like the men in Chiayi County, if there are any problems, say them in advance, and then go to work after everyone has discussed them, isn't this all happy?" ”

Everyone hurriedly echoed Lu Qi's words, but everyone looked at Lu Qi closely, wanting to know what this Father-in-law Lu thought of Zheng Zhilong's request.

Under the gaze of everyone, Lu Qi picked up the tea in his hand and moistened his throat, and then said unhurriedly: "As the saying goes, before the soldiers and horses move, the grain and grass go first." The man from Chiayi County is right, even if it is an invasion of Annan, this combat fund must be prepared first, after all, the emperor is not bad soldiers?

However, everyone is also very clear that before you went to Beijing, we had just fought a battle with the Jianguo in Liaodong in the north, and in order to drive those Jianguo back, His Majesty personally recruited them, and spent tens of millions of yuan in war funds. These tens of millions of yuan are still borrowed from the people by the imperial court for the issuance of war bonds, and our Ming treasury is empty, as if it is washed.

This involves the safety of Gyeonggi, the treasury can't come up with money, you want the imperial court to allocate funds for you to fight, and the miscellaneous family thinks that it is better to break this idea as soon as possible. ”

Lu Qi's words suddenly made the hearts of Zheng Zhilong and other deputies feel cold, but they immediately heard Lu Qi say: "But even if the imperial court has no money, we still have to fight this battle."

Envoy Liu Zhen, after this Saigon is recaptured, it will still be returned to you, you can tell everyone, do you want to give out this money, can you give it, and how much can you pay? ”

Liu Xiang was suddenly dumbfounded by the question, looking at him with ill intentions, he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Father-in-law, it's not that the lower officials refuse to pay, it's really that the lower officials have no money to pay." Half of Xiaguan's life savings were stored in Saigon, and now they are all in the hands of the Annam bandits.

Let's put it this way, if you let the lower official take the lead in the invasion of Guangnan's father-in-law, if the lower official frowns, he will be raised by a concubine, but let the lower official raise such a large sum of money, the lower official really has no choice..."

Lu Qi looked at Liu Xiang, who was swearing by the gambling curse, for a long time, and then said with an unchanged face: "So Liu Zhenshou is sure that he can't pay?" ”

"Xiaguan really has no money to come out." Liu Xiangmian replied without changing color.

Lu Qi nodded, and then said: "Since Liu Zhenshou has no money to pay for the recovery of Saigon, then the miscellaneous family will show you the way, are you willing to go?" ”

Liu Xiang glanced at Lu Qi with some suspicion, hesitated for a moment before saying, "Please also ask your father-in-law for advice?" ”

Lu Qi glanced at everyone and said, "Envoy Liu Zhenshou will take the rights and interests after the recovery of Saigon as collateral, and the miscellaneous family can guarantee for you to pay for the cost of recovering Saigon, are you willing?" ”

Whether it was Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong and the others, they thought about it for a long time and didn't come up with what rights and interests the town guard envoy had that could be worth so much money. Liu Xiang thought about it for a long time before gritting her teeth and saying, "Please also ask your father-in-law to call the shots." ”

Lu Qi said unceremoniously: "Since Envoy Liu Zhenshou has no opinion, then the miscellaneous family will be the master, and you all listen to the opinions of the miscellaneous family..."

Although Lu Qi kept saying that he was in charge, everyone basically knew in their hearts that this should be the emperor's intention, so they naturally settled down and listened to Lu Qi's thoughts.

“… Since it is a loan, there must be a subject to it, so the miscellaneous family suggested that in order to invade Quang Nam and recover Saigon, we should first set up a company. The company's shares are tentatively set at 1 million yuan, and everyone here can invest, and the remaining part will be invested by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Central Bank, and the Four Seas Commercial Bank.

In return, the company will enjoy all the dividends of the war, and for the next 30 years it will have the right to collect taxes in the area under the jurisdiction of Saigon Town, and the right to benefit from the port of Saigon for 10 years, and the right of first refusal for the development of land near Saigon..."

Lu Qi's words finally aroused the interest of many deputies present, although from the current point of view, there may not be much gain, but in the long run, at least it will not lose money. As for the gains from the war, everyone knows that there are no gains to speak of. Although this realization aroused some of their interest, it did not make everyone really enthusiastic.

However, Lu Qi's words finally made the delegates fully concentrate, and Lu Qi said to everyone: "In the past year or so, the imperial court, you, and the Four Seas have begun to develop overseas desert islands, such as Taiwan Island, Hainan Island, Palawan Island, Kalimantan Island, Ambuna Island, Thailand, Malay Peninsula and other places.

Excluding the islands of Taiwan and Hainan, we exported thousands of people to these areas last year, but according to the association's data collection, the survival rate of these overseas migrants is less than 70 percent, and this is the result of the medical care we have provided to them.

According to the reports of the inspectors sent by the imperial court to the resettlement sites, we found that the industries with the highest mortality rate were mainly immigrants engaged in logging and swamp reclamation, and the mortality rate of immigrants in these industries basically reached the level of 50-60%.

In order to reduce the mortality rate of Ming immigrants abroad, we need someone who can replace them in these hardest jobs. However, as you should all know, most of the natives of the Nanyang Islands are very lazy, they simply cannot do such hard work, and as local natives, they can flee at any time.

Although the industriousness of the people of Annam is not as good as that of our Ming people, they are far higher than the natives of the Nanyang Islands, and they have nowhere to escape if they are relocated to overseas desert islands where they are not familiar with their lives. The immigrants who wanted to come to the area were still able to control the work of these scattered Annamite people.

Therefore, the company will buy the young men and women captured during the invasion of Annam, and these captives will be sold to the islands of the South Seas, and the profits will go to the company..."

The interested delegates were all overjoyed by Lü Qi's proposal, and it was obvious that everyone was greedy for the profits from the trafficking of the Annam population, and it was only in the cheers of the crowd that Zheng Zhilong understood why the emperor was desperately trying to dissociate himself from this matter.