Li Buqi dipped his finger in the water and drew a sketch map of the topography of the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Sea of Japan on the table to Cao Tong: "To buy ginseng, you still have to find the Jurchens. From the perspective of Uncle Guo, although my Great Song Dynasty and Jurchen are separated by the Liao State on land, they can bypass it by sea. The old man said that if you go south from Dengju, you can reach the southern tip of Goryeo, and then sail east along the coast of Goryeo and then turn north to reach the place where the Jurchens live. As long as you can find the Jurchens, it is easy to do, it is said that the Liao people did not give them iron tools to guard against the Jurchens, so as long as they exchanged iron tools with them, they could exchange them for ginseng. ”

"It's just that this route has never been traveled, and the sea route is thousands of miles, and someone needs to explore the way, so I said that we need to recruit dead soldiers. And this dead man is not one or two, but at least a boatload of people. Goryeo is now a vassal of Liao, and although there are also ships to trade with Mingzhou, it is unknown what they will do with the Song people. When you go to the east of Goryeo, there are few people, and the situation in the Jurchens is unknown, and it is said that there are also raw and cooked people, so there are still strong men on the ship to deal with the worst-case scenario. ”

"Oh, that's a bit of a trick."

"Also, if you let the Liao State know that my Great Song sent ships to that place, I am afraid that it will cause disputes between the two countries. If it is to be proper, the people sent can only bear the name of maritime merchants or bandits, and must not have anything to do with the government. ”

"Oh, too. It's really a good thing to think about. ”

Li Buqi was afraid that the difficulties would scare Uncle Cao Guo, so he threw out a big temptation: "If this channel is opened up and can trade with the Jurchens, it will also be a profitable deal, and there are more than ginseng in Liaodong." ”

"Oh? What other good stuff is there? ”

"There's a lot of good stuff. It is an extremely cold place, and the fur is the best, especially the mink and fox fur are incomparable to those of the Central Plains. In addition, there are deer antler velvets and Dongzhu. By the way, there is also a thing called snow clams, which is really a good nourishing product for replenishing deficiency and moisturizing the lungs and strengthening the body. If you can transport these things back, they are all a lot of copper coins, and you only need to give them some axes, kitchen knives, etc., to trade with the Jurchens. ”

Cao Tong nodded and said, "It turns out that there are so many good things in Liaodong, I originally thought it was a barren land." It's just that this matter does involve a lot, and I have to ask the official family to decide. By the way, if you can communicate with the Jurchens, maybe you can still get a deal on the official family's mind. ”

"What's on your mind?"

"In fact, since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, some people have proposed that if the Jurchens can contain the Liao State in the north, the Liao State will have no time to look south. Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the country, when the Jurchens came to pay tribute, Taizong rewarded him, but later the road was blocked by the Liao State, and there was no news. But the official family has always been concerned about contacting the Jurchens. If you can get in touch with the Jurchens through this sea lane, it is an unexpected joy. ”

It turns out that the Song people already know that Jurchen exists. This is something Li Buqi did not expect. In this way, the more the Great Song monarchs and ministers had high hopes for this route, the more likely it was that this route would succeed.

This route will give Lee a chance to reach into the Sea of Japan. Further east in the Sea of Japan is the Kuril Islands, and further east is the Aleutian Islands. It is said that the Russians tracked seals all the way to Alaska in order to obtain fur. Intervening in the Sea of Japan is the first step for Li Buqi to let the Song people land on the American continent, as long as the Song people land in the Americas, and Li Buqi provides some black technology in this era, will there be anything about the white pigs in the future history? Hehe!

There shouldn't be a lot of people in Japan in Hokkaido right now, right? In order to enter the Americas, you can consider swallowing Hokkaido. Lost Hokkaido, see how the Japanese will jump in the future, hehe!

So although opening this route around Korea would be a small step for the Song people, it would be a big step for the history to change. As long as you can grasp this route in your own hands, then it will not be YY to let China rule the earth.

In the afternoon, the emperor summoned Li Buqi into the palace and asked him about contacting the Jurchens by sea. Obviously, the emperor was tempted by this idea and couldn't care about other consequences, and Li Buqi could feel how much pressure the Liao State made the emperor feel in his words.

Take advantage of this time to hurry up and ask for benefits, stuffing private goods. Li Buqi proposed that in order to show the sincerity of the Great Song Dynasty, facilitate transactions, and improve the Jurchens' ability to cause trouble for the Liao State, they should export iron weapons, including weapons, to the Jurchens. This was against the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, but the emperor casually agreed.

Li Buqi said that in order to accomplish this, a group of death squads needed to be selected, and the conditions were particularly high, and it was necessary to select from the death row prisoners, and the emperor also happily agreed, and directly called the Imperial City Division to raise Gan Zhaoji and Zhang Yonghe, the governor of the city, to come, and asked the two to assist Li Buqi in recruiting manpower.

Li Buqi finally proposed that the civil officials should not be allowed to interfere in this matter, but the emperor hesitated. "Contacting women is really a national matter, it's always good not to let Zai Zhi know, and how to make a decision to contain Liao in the future will have to be discussed with them."

Li Bu gave up but did not back down: "Your Majesty can guarantee that the deacons are tight-lipped?" In case the rumors are revealed, let the Liao people know that the Liao people will sit idly by? What if the Liao people use this as an excuse to provoke again? ”

The emperor had nothing to say at this time. The fact is that every time there is something in the imperial court, there will be a lot of noise and uproar, and it is impossible for the Liao people not to know. The emperor thought that if the Liao State provoked another incident, the possibility would be great.

Seeing that the emperor did not speak, Li Buqi took the opportunity to say: "Uncle Cao Guo said that many people want to open a route to Liaodong. In this case, you can raise some shares to buy a ship and go to sea, and you don't need the court to pay half a penny. The minister thought that he would still open up the route as a maritime merchant or pirate, and when the time was ripe, he would inform the Zaizhi and send an envoy to make peace with the Jurchens. Such an advantage is that there is no need to spend the state's money, and another advantage is that the Liao people find that the imperial court can also not admit it, so that the Liao people have nothing to do. ”

In the end, the emperor persuaded Li Buqi to set Cao Tong on an errand to open up the Jurchen sea route, and asked his brother-in-law to do it. However, Uncle Cao Guo obviously didn't know much about things at sea, and his idea was to ask Li Bu to take it, he was a businessman.

It's really capricious when you have money, and it didn't take two days to decide on such a big thing, and you have to marvel at the financial resources and determination of these nobles to seek immortal medicine.

Li Buqi first explained that Cao Tong not only spent a lot of money to recruit experienced seafarers who were willing to take risks, but also went to death row and prison camps to recruit death row prisoners, and went to the beach to recruit strongmen who dared to go to sea and work hard. Of course, Zhou Qing was first recommended to Cao Tong, as for how Cao Tong got Zhou Qing out, Li Bu didn't give up, it didn't matter, anyway, these nobles are the head snakes of the land, and they have a way, not to mention that they have Shang Fang's sword now.

Two days later, Zhou Qing was transferred from the prison in Kaifeng County, and Li Buqi met Zhou Qing in a military camp. As soon as Zhou Qing saw Li Buqi, he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "The official is very gracious and virtuous, and he is unforgettable." From now on, my life will be an official. ”

Li Buqi said: "Your life is not mine, but this life is not your own now, only if you can complete the task and come back safely, this life is yours." But don't worry, no matter whether you can complete the task or not, I will treat your wife well, and I will help you raise your children back. ”

Zhou Qing asked, "I don't know what the official asked me to do?" ”

Li Buqi told him about going to Liaodong to find ginseng, and wanted to tell him the details now, but he thought that some things could not be said too early, so he should wait until he set sail.

The day before he was about to return to Chunze Prison, Lian Guangzhi told Li Buqi that he had found a green building that might be related to Western Xia.

Nani? That's too fast, isn't it? The thief catcher is not even ready to find the Western Xia detective? Li Buqi hurriedly warned that even Guangzhi had a lot of power in Bianliang Kaiqinglou, and he must not draw conclusions casually without getting conclusive evidence.

As a result, Lian Guangzhi said the details, Li Buqi felt that it was really possible that this Qinglou was related to Western Xia. Li Buqi once gave Li Zhang and Lian Guangzhi a brief training and asked them to check which family in the capital could often contact officials from all walks of life, and often sent people to the northwest, but there was no clear necessity. The two of them didn't know how to engage in intelligence at the beginning, so they tried to investigate through the door of the Imperial City Division, but they didn't have to make much effort to find out a green building.

To say that the level of intelligence work in this era is really low garbage, perhaps the bureaucrats of the Great Song Dynasty are too insensitive to anti-espionage, and the boss of this Qinglou will regularly send people to swagger to his hometown in the northwest to deliver letters. Recently, there has been a fierce struggle in the court, and this boss sent people back to his hometown twice in three days, and every time he went back, he took thick letters and even books with him.

Moreover, your family Qinglou blatantly collects the recitals of court officials all day long, and especially conducts low-price promotions for officials in the Privy Council, so it is a big problem.

If you can touch the melon along the vine, maybe you can catch a big fish, and if there is really a problem with this green building, the officials of the Privy Council can't run away, hehe. However, this matter must be conclusively evidenced, otherwise it is likely to give a bite back, Li Buqi instructed Lian Guangzhi to tell Li Zhang not to worry, to collect evidence carefully, and to strike again when they get ironclad evidence.