"Houjin's rear?" Huang Li asked in surprise. Zhu Youzhen casually dipped it in the tea soup on the side, and then drew a schematic map of Northeast Asia on the table.

Then he pointed to the drawings and said, "From the strait between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago to the north, there is the Whale Sea area. In the middle of the Whale Sea is Sakhalin Island, and the coast of the Whale Sea to the north of North Korea is what Houjin called the East China Sea.

The Nester Forest is also a reckless forest that is to say that from the Tumen River to the north, east of the Changbai Mountain is an impassable reckless forest. Of course, there are still large plains in the north and south of Xingkai Lake and the confluence of the Heilongjiang, Ussuri and Songhua rivers, but there are large areas of swamps on these plains, and the local aborigines live on fishing and hunting, so there is basically no development.

At the beginning of our dynasty, we set up a slave gandu division here, but then we gave it up. Although the ancestors of the Jianzhou Jurchens lived here for a while, they soon moved to the vicinity of the border wall of Liaodong, so this place is still a primitive and reckless scene. Although the Jianzhou Jurchens claimed that this was their birthplace, they did not actually pay much attention to it, and only regarded it as a source of plundering population to supplement the Jianzhou Jurchen population.

That's why I call it the rear of Houjin. After spending two years, the East China Sea Patrol not only established a port and a town guard in Vladivostok, but also recovered Temple Street and Twin Cities, and built a new Wallenberg. The upper reaches of the Ussuri River and the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River have already fallen into the hands of our army.

At present, although Vladivostok and Miaojie are only connected by sea, as long as the Ussuri River basin can be completely explored, and then occupy the Boli area where the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers meet, then this large coastal land will become the new territory of our dynasty. With this territory as a foundation, our Ming army not only cut off the source of Houjin's replenishment of population, but also established a base for attacking in its rear. Compared to Dongjiang Town, which is small and lacks depth, the importance of this place is obviously far greater. ”

Huang Liji looked at the map drawn by Chongzhen for a long time, and he didn't figure out how big the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River and the Ussuri River basin were, he finally gave up his guess, raised his head and asked directly to Chongzhen tentatively: "How big is this area that Your Majesty is talking about?" ”

Zhu Youzhen tilted his neck and thought for a while and said, "It's about half a place equivalent to Liaodong." ”

Huang Liji was silent for a long time before he spoke: "With such a large area, how many manpower and resources does Your Majesty plan to invest to control this place?" Transporting grain from Beijing to western Liaoning has made it difficult for the state to bear it. Can the country now survive bypassing the Korean Peninsula and transporting food to the garrisons in these areas? The minister thinks that it is already an excellent result for our dynasty to be able to hold the Ningjin defense line and divide the grassland equally with Houjin, so why don't your majesty back down? ”

Zhu Youzhen hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Sir, I probably misunderstood, this coastal area is an extremely resource-rich place, even if it is not to contain Houjin, Daming can't give up here."

In the lower tributaries of the Heilongjiang River and in some rivers of Sakhalin, we find gold. The Heilongjiang River, the Whale Sea and Xingkai Lake are all areas with extremely rich fish resources; In particular, the coastal areas near the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, Sakhalin Island and Vladivostok are rich in forest resources. In addition, these areas are rich in fur and ginseng resources.

With the trade in furs and ginseng alone, we have been able to recoup our capital investment in the region. As for the food issue, I actually want to discuss it with my husband, but let's eat first..."

Huang Liji, who had something in his heart, just pulled a small half bowl of rice and stopped his chopsticks. And Zhu Youzhen ate two large bowls of rice very sweetly, and then invited Huang Liji to the living room on the second floor to talk.

After Zhu Youzhen walked into the living room, he asked Lu Qi to take out a map, he pointed to the map spread out and said: "Sir, you can take a look, this is the map between Vladivostok-Xingkai Lake, Suifen River-Ussuri River."

Since last year, the Mapping Bureau has sent 11 small expeditions in the area in the name of caravans to investigate the local tribal population, geography, plants, geology, and rivers. The expenses used for the expedition were more than offset by the trade profits of the caravan, and it can be said that it was a very effective expedition organization.

Although this area is separated from Houjin by only one Changbai Mountain, the population in this area is extremely small. According to the expedition's surveys, the population was extremely dense twenty or thirty years ago. However, since the rise of the Jurchens in Jianzhou, they have continued to capture the tribes in Ningguta and the Changbai Mountain area as a supplement to their own population. As a result, the original Changbai Mountain area became the current Savage Mountain, and most people, except for a few tribes, fled to the Ussuri River basin.

Although there are still eight or nine hundred families living in the Dongning Plain and Shuangchengzi in the lower reaches of the Suifen River, they have surrendered to the Later Jin Dynasty, and after our army opened up the Vladivostok stronghold, these two places have now surrendered to our Ming Dynasty. Having lost these two strongholds, Houjin wanted to cross the Changbai Mountain and enter the plains, but he lost the connection. If they wanted to send troops to attack Shuangchengzi now, they would need to send troops from Hunchun in the southwest and Ningguta in the northwest, crossing hundreds of miles of no-man's land, which were obviously two extremely difficult routes to march.

As far as our army is concerned, if it holds Shuangchengzi, it is equivalent to gaining control of the upper reaches of the Ussuri River and the plains south of Xingkai Lake. According to our botanists' reports, many plants similar to those found in the south of our country have been found in the forests between Twin Cities and Vladivostok.

In other words, the climate in this region is not as cold as we think. This year, the Vladivostok town guard has planted some wheat and potatoes near the station, and although the yield is low, it has already proved that the area can be developed for agriculture. The soil in the plains near Shuangchengzi is good, and there are a large number of rivers in this area, so as long as this area can be developed, we will no longer have to allocate food to Vladivostok and Temple Street. ”

Huang Liji looked at the map, and soon looked up at Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty wants to develop agriculture in this area?" Even if His Majesty says that this plain can be developed, it seems that the imperial court can't afford it at present. Even on the island of Taiwan, which is so close to Fujian, it took us four years to relocate only 150,000 people. However, the total cost reached 7.5 million yuan, and the 2.5 million yuan invested by the imperial court has not been recovered until now. ”

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help blushing a little at this, Taiwan's current bulk industries are three, the gold mining industry near Keelung, the hunting of deer in the sparse forest area of the western plains, and the sugar industry. With the exception of the last one, the first two are monopolized by the Taiwanese Reclamation Company, and compared to the return on investment in the sugar industry, gold mining and deer hunting are windfall profits.

The discovery of Jiufen and the large and small gold melon mining areas has made Taiwan's annual gold output reach nearly two tons, that is, more than 60,000 taels. Among them, the Taiwan Reclamation Company collected half of the tax, and sold high-priced tools, mercury and other daily necessities to the miners, and purchased gold sand and gold nuggets at low prices, and finally fell into the hands of the reclamation company more than 45,000 taels of gold, which has exceeded the amount of official mining since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the gold in the hands of the miners is less than eight or nine taels per person, the annual net income has exceeded more than 120 taels of silver, which is several times their income in the past year. As a result, more and more poor people from the mainland have been attracted to Taiwan by gold. As for the annual income of deer skin, deer antler, and venison jerky, there are more than 100,000 taels a year.

The combined benefits of these two not only fed such a huge private army as Sihaiying, but also brought huge benefits to the shareholders of the Taiwan Reclamation Company. But for some officials of the imperial court, such behavior is simply detrimental to the public and private interests.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but change the topic and said: "Sir, you can't just look at this side, if there is no Sihai Camp in Taiwan, how can those natives and Dutch be so honest and allow the imperial court to reclaim wasteland in a large number of immigrants to Taiwan?" This reclamation company and the imperial court's overseas colonization business still complement each other, so it's not a pity for them to get some benefits, isn't it? ”

Huang Li said unmoved: "That's right, but it's really difficult for the minister to convince those disgruntled officials in the court. If Your Majesty develops this northern wasteland, or uses the model of Taiwan, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the ministers to support it. ”

Zhu Youzhen was a little annoyed at first, but looking at Huang Liji's calm face, he slowly dissipated the anger in his heart and calmed down to think.

He soon remembered that when the Taiwanese colonization company was just opened, because it did not find a profit point, the nobles and gentry of the north who bought the company's shares complained, and in the end he personally came forward to appease their dissatisfaction.

After that, he stabilized the stock price with a bag of golden sand, and then doubled the company's shares, which had fallen to half of par value, so that the nobles and gentry who bought the shares stopped complaining. However, it is said that many people have taken advantage of the rise in stock prices to sell their shares, and many risk-taking merchants have taken over.

Taiwan Colonization Company has been established for three years, and the dividends have been divided five times, and this year's dividends have reached 35% of the par value, and the accumulated dividends in the past have returned 66% of the par value. The company's 30-year colonization rights to Taiwan have only been used for four years. If you maintain the current rate of return, you will be able to recover about 7-9 times the investment principal after 30 years.

Such a high return on investment has caused the company's stock price to soar to 4.3 times the par value, which naturally annoys the nobles and gentry who have sold their shares before.

The story of the plummeting stock of Taiwan's reclamation company has not only created a large number of risk-taking businessmen, but more importantly, it has made many people know what the so-called overseas reclamation company does. Nowadays, even beggars on the streets of Beijing know that the so-called reclamation company is to pull the army to occupy a piece of land overseas, and then find someone to extract the resources, and sit aside to collect the fee.

It's much easier than going to the trouble of grabbing your neighbor's land at home and then going to the hard work. Although the noble gentry did not know how to farm, they still did the work of setting up a card to collect money.

But if you know, you know, you can't get back the lost opportunity. This overseas is suitable for reclamation, and it is currently an ownerless Taiwan. As for the rest of the land, there is a lord's land, without the support of the imperial court, who dares to lead the army to the reclamation, if the king of the soil complains to the imperial court, won't they be finished?

Huang Liji, who relied on the gentry in the north to control the government, also felt helpless against the gentry who lobbied to him all day long to open a second overseas reclamation company. Besides, it was not only these gentry in the opposition who were red-eyed, but also the officials under him who were clamoring that the Internal Affairs Office could not use the emperor's prestige to compete with the people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen finally figured out the other party's scruples. If this benefit was still taken away by the businessmen and the internal affairs government, Huang Liji naturally refused to suffer the anger of the bureaucrats and gentry for himself.