"Your Majesty, good news, the war on Nanzhao's side is basically over, and Xue Yang is asking when the class teacher will be." Early in the morning, Li Xuanqing had just started to prepare for breakfast, and Xu Tianxiang strode into the gate of the Qianqiu Hall and said with a smile.

"Second brother hasn't had breakfast yet, has he? Let's sit down and eat together. Li Xuanqing looked at this guy and sighed helplessly, this expression made Qiaoxi, who was teaching Xiao Tianqi to eat, couldn't help but smile, stood up and beckoned Xu Tianxiang to sit down, and asked the maid behind him to add a pair of dishes and chopsticks.

"You, I'm going to collect food money another day, you have half of the time to eat this month, this is not called food expenses, Qiaoxi and I are all poor by you guys." Li Xuanqing picked up a spring roll casually and scolded with a smile while eating.

Xu Tianxiang didn't see it at all, sat down and picked up a bun directly and said with a smile: "There is no food fee, but the meal still has to be eaten, who makes Qiaoxi skillful, this food is different from the outside, this trick is one after another, what are you eating, give me one too." After speaking, he directly took the last spring roll on the plate, took a bite and praised it, and shouted to let Fu Yao come over to study another day.

Li Xuanqing ignored this two-skinned face, and while eating, he watched Xiao Tianqi next to him grab a small wooden spoon and drink the soup slowly, accidentally stuffed it into his nose, and suddenly choked on his small dining table, and his mouth was babbling. This child seems to be born not afraid of life, he just learned to call grandpa two days ago, and was taken out by Zhang Tianhu for two days before he was sent back, during which he didn't cry or make trouble, and he was happy to follow a group of adults.

Before a few people finished eating, Cen Tianshi hurriedly walked in outside the door, and said with a smile before he arrived: "Your Majesty, a happy event, a great happy event." This sentence focused everyone's eyes on him.

"Your Majesty, the voyage fleet is coming back soon, and the return clipper has arrived at Tianjin Port, this is the latest report from the expedition fleet that Murong just sent." Cen Tianshi sat down and handed the report in his hand to Li Xuanqing and said with a smile: "The harvest is quite rich, the clipper asked us to send a logistics fleet to find them, saying that most of the logistics transport ships were full of property, and the charcoal was thrown away." ”

"Then what are you waiting for, the transport fleet belonging to the logistics department should set off quickly, don't delay time, there is no stone coal to count on the sails, when will it go?" Li Xuanqing casually instructed while looking at the report and nodded: "Xingxia goes to the sea for a trip to this ideological change is very high, wealth comes from the ocean, hope also comes from the ocean, it seems that I have grown a lot of knowledge in Japan." ”

"Big brother, is there any other news? Is there a description of the current situation in Japan? Qiaoxi leaned over and asked. Because Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi no longer remember what era Japan was really in at this time, and this period of history was still before the shogunate era, this knowledge is very important.

"Here, see for yourself. Today, Japan is still in turmoil, and there are wars everywhere, so it is impossible to tell who is in charge. However, I met their emperor, Matsuhito. Li Xuanqing shook his head while handing the report in his hand to Qiaoxi: "Xingxia's trip has gained a foothold in Japan, and some of them have also bought a few minerals over there and hired people to mine them, and the goods produced are also very popular, especially our iron products and copper coins." ”

"Big brother, I think it's better for us to leave for Tianjin to have a look in the near future, just in time to welcome the voyage fleet back to China." Qiaoxi put down the newspaper in his hand and said with a smile: "If the copper coin has an effect, then sell it to them more." Anyway, I know that there is a place where there are a lot of copper mines, and I will take people to mine them when the navy is free. We don't need a lot of copper now, we need a lot of gold and silver. ”

At the end of July of the second year of the Apocalypse, at the same time that the General Staff gave Xue Yang the main division, Li Xuanqing and his wife began to set off for Tianjin to prepare for Xu Xingxia's expeditionary fleet. The free-powered steamers of the refueled flotilla began to speed up to catch up with the wooden sailing ships, and the mighty fleet sped away towards Bohai Bay. It's summer, the southeast monsoon is at its peak, and all the boats are sailing at full sail, more than twice as fast as before. Ten days later, on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15 of the second year of the Apocalypse, the two Izumo-class warships of the expedition fleet were the first to arrive at the dock of Tianjin Port.

In addition to the official propaganda organized by the Tianjin Assassin Mansion and the Youzhou Buzheng Embassy, the people of Tianjin also spontaneously took to the streets and ports to celebrate the return of the voyage fleet. Since Tianjin Port was the first comprehensive port in the empire, many sailors and seafarers who came to train at the beginning basically settled in Tianjin and became one of the thousands of immigrants in Tianjin.

"Big brother, it's so lively today, let's go dance too." Qiaoxi and Li Xuanqing saw the bustle of Tianjin Port from afar and walked forward excitedly.

However, it is obvious that Qiaoxi's wish is impossible to come true, almost as soon as he arrived at the scene, he was recognized, and immediately everyone began to salute the two, although the Tang Empire is no longer popular to kneel and worship, but these people still spontaneously knelt down to Li Xuanqing and his wife, and the tsunami-like cheers rose into the air, and everyone surrounded the two, wanting to see the supreme rulers of the empire, it was the rich and peaceful life they brought to themselves, so that everyone could get out of the sea of suffering.

"Folks, don't kneel to me. We are here today to welcome our fleet home. Everyone will go to the port with me, and welcome the return of those heroic voyage warriors. It was they who opened up hope in the sea, opened up the sea routes and brought back wealth. I hope that in the future, more and more people will be able to follow their steps and go out to forge ahead, to bring wealth and hope to the empire and the people. Li Xuanqing's words ignited the passion in everyone's hearts, and many years later, he himself did not expect that countless people of the empire would follow the footsteps of the navy and go to the ends of the world because of these simple words, spreading the footsteps of the empire all over the world.

While describing the situation at that time, the reporter of the media group wrote the headline of this issue of the newspaper with his own passionate emotion: "The Wealth of the Sea".

A long whistle began to reach the shore, and countless white sail points began to appear on the sea in the distance, and two of them began to stand out and quickly drive towards the front.

"Big brother, look, that's our Izumo-class warship. We have begun to slow down the drain and prepare to land. Qiaoxi pointed to the two warships and smiled, and following her fingertips, she saw that several tugboats had gradually approached, and the warships had begun to slow down. The ships behind are gradually becoming clear, and rows of white sails decorate the entire ocean as white as the clouds in the sky, connecting the sky with the sea.

Li Xuanqing and the others watched as the remaining ships docked one after another, and the huge wharf of Tianjin Port was almost all occupied by them, so many ships were directly diverted to Dengzhou and Yantai in Shandong Province halfway, and more than a dozen warships went directly to the newly built Dalian Port to dock, otherwise Tianjin Port would have to be paralyzed by them.

"The Beiyang Fleet is out of the Qing Dynasty, and Zhang Yu is out of the land to report to the emperor that this trip to sea has been successfully completed, please ask the emperor for instructions." Since Guo Chongtao guided the Nanyang Fleet to establish a naval base in Danzhou on the Southern Front, no one else from the Navy Department came except for a few staff officers, and Canglang and Zhang Yu reported directly to Li Xuanqing.

"Welcome back, and order the return of the Izuku and Izuku." Li Xuanqing returned the salute and said solemnly: "You are the heroes of the navy and the heroes of my Datang." I tell all the soldiers who went to sea this time, on behalf of all the people of the empire, thank you for your hard work along the way. Li Xuanqing's words made all the hard work they had been in the past few months come to naught, and their dark faces were extremely excited.

After Li Xuanqing saw them, he smiled at a man in a white robe behind them: "Brother Xingxia, it's been a long time, this trip is not easy." ”

"Thank you to the emperor and the queen for your concern, everything is fine in Xingxia. It is a blessing for me to return home from this voyage. Xu Xingxia stepped forward and saluted with a smile.

"Soldiers who sailed to the sea this time, your feat is a blessing for my Datang, and I, Li Xuanqing, thank you. Now I order all of us to disembark and go home to rest and reunite with our families, and we will go to sea again in the coming day. Li Xuanqing's words brought tears to the eyes of the sailors and seamen on all the ships around him, and they responded to the young emperor's voice one after another.

"Brother Xingxia, let's go, you still need to talk about things along the way." Li Xuanqing handed over the scene to the two Canglang and Tianjin Thorn Shi to deal with, and he and Qiaoxi took Xu Xingxia and his party to a manor in the north of Tianjin and said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, what the minister saw and heard along the way to sea this time are all recorded in this logbook. The current situation in Japan, which the emperor is concerned about, has also been recorded in detail on my side. In short, today's Japan is like our previous era of feudal divisions, where powerful people from all over the country rose up one after another, fighting each other, and their emperor's power was on the sidelines, which could not play an effective deterrent role at all. Moreover, the so-called Shogun Seiyi is gradually replacing the authority of the emperor. Xu Xingxia explained: "However, the emperor's prediction is right, there are indeed many gold and silver mines in Japan, and I have arranged for people to buy a few pits near Nara City in Japan on this voyage and are mining." Moreover, the Chinese items carried this time are very popular over there, and those powerful clan have never seen so many exquisite goods, and the silver money is like flowing water and is collected by us. In addition to buying some local products, most of the ships carried silver and a small amount of gold. In order to repay the Emperor for his guidance, I intend to donate all the proceeds of this trade to the Imperial Government. ”

"Then Brother Xu has lost a lot this time. The Xu family has spent a lot of energy this time, and you, the head of the Xu family, have been traveling across the ocean to Japan for several months. Qiaoxi shook her head and smiled.

"Xingxia doesn't need to be like this, but you have gained so much from this voyage, I'm afraid that the major merchants in the empire will definitely try their best to sail, this wave can't be interrupted, but you can't let them all run to sail, otherwise the economic order within our empire will be chaotic." Li Xuanqing groaned slightly, nodded and said: "Prime Minister Mr. Cen is coming soon, we will discuss a complete overseas trade agreement with Minister Murong at that time, and promulgate the whole country, not only to allow the people of the empire to participate in this wave, but also to curb other drawbacks caused by navigation." Li Xuanqing glanced at Xu Xingxia and said with a smile: "Patronizing and talking about business, you arrange the affairs of the ship, and then take a rest, and in three days, we will hold a meeting in Tianjin Thorn Mansion." ”

After Xu Xingxia left, Qiaoxi walked over and said, "Big brother, are you afraid that we will also follow the old path that Spain took in our previous life?" Qiaoxi naturally knew what Li Xuanqing was thinking, took his hand and said, "I don't know if the big brother has any way to stop it?" If we can't solve this problem, I'm afraid that it will really become a reality. ”

"Yes, in the previous life, when the Age of Discovery came, Spain and Portugal were at the forefront of the world, relying on the dividends brought by navigation, collecting wealth from all over the world, and becoming veritable global empires. But instead of turning this looted wealth into a driving force for social development, they spent it on how to squander and cultivate a high-consumption luxury life, and instead gave the huge wealth to the Netherlands and France, which financed the rapid rise of these two countries in the Industrial Revolution. Li Xuanqing sighed: "We Chinese have been fond of luxury goods since ancient times, but I am afraid that once the new industrial and commercial class has huge wealth, it will also become corrupt, and even lead the political class that we have worked so hard to build to become corrupt." ”

"Only by resolutely transforming foreign wealth into a social and economic foundation and into a driving force and a driving force for the development of industry and commerce can we fundamentally reverse this situation." Qiaoxi smiled: "It's not impossible, at least we have two thousand years of experience to learn from, and it's also a global experience and lesson." ”

Qiaoxi's words made Li Xuanqing smile slightly: "Don't worry, I have thought of a way, at least in a short period of time, it can achieve the effect, and with the improvement of the customs, I am afraid that this kind of scene will gradually disappear after the means of combating smuggling increase." ”

"Big brother has a way?" Qiaoxi bent his willow eyebrows and smiled: "Big brother, is it planning to take the Dutch method?" ”

"Well, not really, a little bit smarter than theirs. At least not in the later stages. Li Xuanqing smiled slightly, hung a map on the wall, and began to formulate his own method as he looked at it. Qiaoxi watched Li Xuanqing write while thinking, not nodding, pointing and pointing with him, and jointly formulating this overseas trade agreement.