"What has Li Buqi been doing lately?" Zhao Zhen asked seemingly casually after encouraging Di Qing, who was from Guangnan's class.

Di Qing said: "Oh, before the minister left Guangxi, I heard that Li Yun's envoy got the microscope from the capital, and he has been obsessed with medicine recently. ”

"Oh, don't abandon the original holy hand of medicine." Zhao Zhen nodded.

Di Qing said excitedly: "When the army returned to Beijing, Li Yun's envoy came to reward the army, saying that he might have found a way to prevent acne. ”

Pox was smallpox, and it was almost an incurable disease in those days, and even the royal family had many children who died of smallpox. As soon as Zhao Zhen heard that Li Buqi had found a way to prevent smallpox, he immediately became excited: "You talk about it carefully." ”

Di Qing hurriedly said: "Li Yun's envoy said that he had a dream from a god one night, and he learned from the doctor's research that the pox was originally called the sores and the miasma plague in the south as the same thing, and it was introduced to the Central Plains with the army when General Han Fubo was conscripting Jiaozhi, so if you want to find a way to prevent and treat acne, you must also find it from the south." Li Yun sent a group of doctors to search and learn that there were many cattle breeders in Quang Nam who never had acne, so he studied these families and made some discoveries. He said that in a year at most, he would be able to find a cure for the acne. ”

"Oh? It only takes a year, huh? I can afford to wait! With this cure for acne, my prince will be safe. Zhao Zhen's heart immediately turned around, and he originally wanted to ask if he could transfer Li Buqi back to the capital, and he swallowed it back immediately. But he asked Di Qing again: "I heard that the militia in Quang Nam is very strong in combat and is good at gunpowder, I don't know how it is better than the forbidden army under your command?" ”

Di Qing replied truthfully: "Li Yun's method of training soldiers is indeed superior, and the minister thinks that there are militias in Guangnan that are enough to deter the barbarians. It's just that if you compare it with the forbidden army, it's not a road. The Quang Nam militia is good at fighting in the mountains and water networks, and duels against strong formations, while the cavalry gallops but has little knowledge. In this way, the minister thought that the Guangnan militia was fighting in the south and Dali, but if the opponent was a battle-hardened forbidden army, it was still a little hot. As for the experience of using gunpowder, Quang Nam did have a lot of experience because of the use of gunpowder to blow up mountains and build roads. It's just that Li Yun's envoy specially sent people to his subordinates to teach him how to use gunpowder, and now the forbidden army under his command also uses gunpowder freely. ”

Zhao Zhen nodded: "Oh, so that's the case." Li Buqi has never hidden his selfishness. This is unparalleled. ”

Recently, more and more people have complained to the emperor that Li Buqi was building a defense in Guangnan, expanding the militia, wantonly manufacturing gunpowder, and even disrespecting the law of etiquette.

From the emperor's point of view, Li Buqi now has money and food, guns, and great prestige, and has a huge granary behind Jiaozhi, so he has all the necessary conditions for secession or rebellion. This was originally the kind of local official that the Great Song Emperor was most worried about, if it weren't for the fact that Li Buqi had resigned from his official position several times before to show that he was not interested in power, and the one who commanded the Guangnan militia was a eunuch, Li Buqi also asked the court officials for three days and two times to explain that he had no objection, and Zhao Zhen would have been unable to help but transfer Li Buqi back. Now that he heard that the Guangnan militia also had weaknesses, and Li Buqi did not conceal the method of using gunpowder as the legend said, Zhao Zhen's heart was a lot more settled, even in order to let Li Buqi find a way to prevent smallpox, he would let Li Buqi stay in Guangnan for another year.

Li Buqi racked his brains in order to stay in Guangnan, and even used the method of studying vaccinia, but it was really because the situation was very critical.

Now it is the second year of Zhihe, Li Buqi used the Jiaozhi captives in Guangnan to reclaim millions of acres of fertile land with complete water conservancy facilities, built a perfect transportation system with gunpowder and Jiaozhi captives, built a huge wharf facilities and lighthouse group in Guangzhou Port, and in the past two years, the noble and noble families have purchased land and property in Guangnan, helped to move in 200,000 immigrants, and various workshops have sprung up around Guangzhou. Li Buqi even had enough financial resources to set up normal schools in every prefecture and primary schools in villages and towns.

At the same time, King Jiaozhi surnamed Li, who was supported by the Great Song Dynasty, ascended the throne in the Annan Army and formed a small imperial court. The king of Annam declared that as long as the Jiaozhi people who swore allegiance to him could be saved from being taken captive by the Song people, so those Jiaozhi people who were frightened by the repeated harvesting of the Song army pledged their allegiance to the Annam court and were assigned to the tuntian for production, and the children studied the Great Song and Mengshu in the schools in the settlements. The number of Han Chinese who settled in Jiaozhi has reached 17,000 in addition to the soldiers, ensuring that the rice and brown sugar exported from Jiaozhi to the Great Song Dynasty increased year by year.

Quang Nam finally showed a thriving scene, but Quang Nam was still a barbaric place in the eyes of most people in the court, so no one jumped out to replace Li Buqi. However, since the situation in Guangnan is no longer critical, the necessity of Li Buqi, the great god, to guard Guangnan has also decreased, so some people in the court and China who claim to be righteous, and some people who have made up their minds to save face for Yu Jing or the civil officials, have begun to be unscrupulous, and have never stopped verbally and writing against Li Buqi, an outlier.

Li Buqi's continued pursuit of Li Dezheng set a bad example for officials on the border who hoped for border merit; Li Buqi's implementation of the "practical movement" was impeached as a deviant, in order to prevent and control parasites, he was impeached for his short hair and disrespectful etiquette, and Li Buqi's impeachment for organizing labor cooperation based on the armor protection system became a preparation for gathering people to rebel...... In short, everything Li Buqi did was wrong, and he would be impeached into a sieve.

Under this kind of impeachment, Zhao Zhen, who has always been soft-eared, gradually became unstable, which can be seen from Zhao Zhen's frequent dispatch of eunuchs and imperial historians to Guangnan, so Li Buqi had to use all reasons to try to stay in Guangnan for another year or two to finish everything.

Looking back, this persistence was really worth it. Just when Zhao Zhen met with Di Qing, who had returned to the dynasty alone, the maritime merchants who had returned from the West this year arrived at the port of Guangzhou. Immediately after these people came ashore, they asked to see Li Buqi, hoping that Li Buqi would make their decisions.

This is the first time this has happened. Li Buqi was the general backstage of the maritime merchants, so naturally he wanted to solve problems for the maritime merchants, so he personally met with the maritime merchants for inquiry. As a result, the maritime merchants brought back bad news, saying that when they passed through the body poison last year, the body poison people confiscated all the cotton cloth loaded on their ships, and the body poison king ordered that the ships of the Great Song Dynasty merchants would not be allowed to carry cotton cloth in the future. Now cotton cloth has been a large part of the trade between the Great Song Dynasty and the Arabs, if they can't engage in the cotton cloth trade, the maritime merchants will lose a lot, so please Li Buqi to help them come up with an idea.

Li Buqi was surprised: "Do you know why the Poison King does not allow the merchants of the Great Song Dynasty to sell cotton cloth?" ”

A short maritime merchant named Wu Qian, as the steward of the Royal Maritime Trade Company, was not allowed to be pushed to be the speaker of several maritime merchants. He said, "Fortune Messenger." A few of us inquired about this. Before the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty trafficked cotton cloth to Dashi and Tianfang, the people there bought poisonous cotton cloth. However, the cotton cloth of my Great Song Dynasty is machine-woven, which is not only stronger, but also cheaper, so the people of Dashi and Tianfang buy the cotton cloth of my Great Song Dynasty. In particular, cotton cloth that can be used as sails is in short supply. The poisonous cotton cloth is rough, and it is transported by land, and the quality and price are high, so there is no market. It is rumored that some body poison businessmen complained to the body poison king, so there was a matter of body poison not allowing my Great Song Dynasty cotton cloth to pass. ”

"Nani? This is trade protection! What did the Americans do when they encountered this? Naturally, it's war! I didn't think that one day I would also play a game of doing business with a sword? Li Buqi secretly said in his heart: "Fortunately, I insisted on staying in Guangnan." If you don't know what position you will be assigned when you return to Beijing, you may not be able to meddle in this matter. ”

However, if the people in the court who opened their mouths and wanted to "Huairou barbarians" and "rest with the people" heard that Li Buqi was going to attack a country thousands of miles away, they still had to be scared to death? Now Li Buqi has enough lice on his body, and he can't charge forward this time, lest he can't even sit still in the position of the Guangnan Metropolitan Transit Envoy.

Therefore, he said quietly: "Last year, the imperial court made more than one million guan of profits from the city, and according to my statistics, commercial activities related to maritime trade generated at least three million guan of tax revenue for the Great Song Dynasty. When the country is in difficulty, the benefits of sea trade are of great help to the imperial court, and when you encounter difficulties, the imperial court naturally cannot stay out of the matter. The poisonous and remote gang thought that their master had no insight to do such perverse things. Come to think of it, as long as the imperial court sends a fleet of the navy of the city and the city to show off his martial arts with the merchant ships, so that the poisonous people can see my great Song Tianwei, the poisonous king will definitely change his past. It's just that the matter involves diplomatic relations between the two countries, and it is not up to the official to decide. Therefore, this official can only wait for the Ming court on your behalf and ask the court to decide. ”

Some maritime merchants heard that Li Buqi only said that he was playing the imperial court, and thought that Li Buqi was shirking, and he was busy pleading again, but the steward of the connoisseur of the maritime trade company stopped everyone and said to Li Buqi: "In this case, it will be annoying to work and make it." I waited for the wind and waves to fight for my life to earn food, and I couldn't just let people lose their lives. Moreover, I can't let the little Fanbang look down on my Huaxia China. As the saying goes, if you are uneven, you will sing. When we go north this time, we will also write to the court and ask the court to call the shots. ”

Li Buqi knew that this person understood what he meant, so he nodded slightly and served tea to the guest.

When these ships went north, soon the maritime merchants from all over the country either wrote books or lobbied the important ministers of the imperial court to protect the interests of the maritime merchants. Now the income of the city has become an indispensable part of the finance of the Great Song Dynasty, and many high-ranking officials and even emperors are involved in the sea trade. What's more, the maritime merchants have money and are easy to get together, and when they have said that "they have money to contribute and have the power to contribute", they don't even have to worry about the military expenses of sending troops.

So not surprisingly, two months later, a document was sent from the Bianliang Political Affairs Hall to ask Li Buqi's opinion on this matter.

At this time, Li Buqi could justifiably put forward his plan to send the navy to poison and "show off his strength." The first naval war of the Great Song Dynasty to protect trade began to operate under the secret impetus of Li Buqi. At the same time, another war had already broken out in advance on the land of Liao.