After discussing the security issue, Zhao Wan'er was slightly worried: "If we do this, it will inevitably affect the current commerce of Donghai Province, do we want to find a way to expand the source of trade?" ”

Su Ziheng shook his head when he heard this: "There will definitely be an impact, but the main impact is not the problem of us setting up a customs gate, but now there is turmoil everywhere, and no businessman will risk his life to do business, not to mention that they are also afraid of robbers and robbers on the road, but Wan'er, it is indeed necessary to expand the source of trade that you proposed." ”

Zhao Wan'er heard Su Ziheng's echoing words, and her heart was very useful, and she said with a smile: "I think so, since all countries are at war now, and it is inconvenient to carry out domestic trade, should we actively carry out foreign trade?" For example, in the case of the Wa Kingdom and the South Seas, many of the goods produced in our Tokai Prefecture are still very popular in these two places. ”

"This makes sense, I think it's not just about offshore trade, it's also about developing ocean-going trade, such as the western continent on the other side. In the past, we were not able to cross the ocean to reach the opposite continent. However, large steam engine-powered ships are now being developed, which may be able to withstand strong winds and waves and reach the opposite continent. As long as this route is opened, even if the internal trade weakens a little, there is no scruples. ”

Su Ziheng added a new proposal to Zhao Wan'er's proposal.

When everyone heard that Su Ziheng had such lofty ambitions and wanted to cross the vast ocean to the opposite Western Continent, they couldn't help but gasp, shocked by his ambition.

However, everyone also knows that this proposal is very good, once you really find a safe way from the sea to reach the Western Continent, then it is really no different from finding a gold mountain, which is the kind of gold mine that can never be dug up.

You must know that whether it is glass products, spices or some strange things that have been handed down from the Western Continent, they are extremely precious things in various countries.

Not only that, but the items shipped from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent are also very valuable, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a million profits.

"Lord Changshi, the endless ocean is vast and boundless, and the sea is high and the waves are fast, I am afraid it will not be easy to reach the Western Continent from the East China Sea Mansion, right?" The chief bookkeeper Zhong Chengda asked.

Su Ziheng laughed when he heard this: "It may be difficult for others, but don't forget, our East China Sea Mansion is blessed by the Divine Dragon, and it is not impossible to ask the Dragon God to give us an accurate navigation chart when the time comes, or to take us directly to the Western Continent." ”

In order to vigorously develop the East China Sea Mansion, Su Ziheng also went out of his way, and even came up with the idea of driving the Shenlong warship to find a safe navigation route, and successfully found a sea route to the Western Continent.

Everyone suddenly couldn't sit still, if this is really the case, finding a route from Donghai Mansion to the Western Continent is simply a blessing from heaven, will anyone be able to stop the rise of Donghai Mansion at that time?

Even Zhong Qinghan, who had always been calm, couldn't help but stand up from his position and said in a lost voice: "Ziheng, are you serious?" Can you really ask Lord Ryujin to come forward and find a safe route to the Western Continent? ”

Su Ziheng immediately replied: "Naturally, it is a very dangerous thing to go to the Western Continent, we have to make all kinds of preparations in advance, and we must form a huge fleet, so that we can survive when we encounter danger, and there is a lot of preparation work." ”

Zhong Cheng Dateng stood up and said loudly: "Lord Changshi, no matter how difficult the conditions are, our Donghai Mansion will overcome them. ”

Su Ziheng nodded and said, "In this case, we can start preparations now, which may take more than half a year." However, this is just the right time to avoid the summer when the sea is at its most stormy. During this preparation period, we first gather various materials and information, which can be used as a reference, even if it does not directly guide us to the past. ”

"No!" Everyone should say yes in unison. The officials present are all officials who were raised by Zhong Qinghan and Su Ziheng, and their loyalty is naturally not mentioned, and the construction of Donghai Mansion is all handled by them, and they have watched Donghai Mansion be built from scratch little by little.

Their feelings for Donghai Mansion are naturally very deep, and now that the development of Donghai Mansion is in a bottleneck, they will naturally work together to help Donghai Mansion tide over the current difficulties.

After the meeting, Su Ziheng found the person in charge of the workshop and learned some news about the imitation of steam engines.

Now the workshop is divided into two departments, one is the manufacturing department and the other is the R&D department. The R&D department is responsible for relatively few things, but they are all things from scratch, and they must be thoroughly eaten bit by bit before they are taken to the manufacturing department for production.

The situation of the steam engine is a bit special, and if you want to wait for the R&D department of the workshop to be fully absorbed before starting production, it will delay the economic construction of Tokai Province. Therefore, Su Ziheng asked the workshop to go hand in hand, on the one hand, not to give up their own research, and on the other hand, to imitate the current steam engine to start production.

Su Ziheng came to see how to combine the steam engine with the sea ship, and at present, the Donghai Mansion has its own shipyard, for which the Donghai Mansion has collected many experts who know how to build ships in the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Zhou Dynasty, and has paid a lot of money.

With the full cooperation of shipbuilding experts from all parties, Su Ziheng took out the construction drawings of the large treasure ship, which was really eaten by them bit by bit, and completely copied a treasure ship, which was 124 meters long, more than 50 meters wide, and had a displacement of more than 3,000 tons.

It was precisely because the experts of the shipyard had built a giant treasure ship that Su Ziheng had the confidence to propose to cross the ocean and conduct ocean-going trade.

It's just that the treasure ship relies on sails and oars to provide power, which is a bit slow for Su Ziheng, so he considered asking the people in the workshop and the technicians in the shipyard to work together to study how to use the steam engine as the power.

Once the two are successfully combined, the speed of the ship can be increased by at least three or five times, and the seafaring trade will inevitably flourish at that time.

After some understanding, combined with the information and technical documents provided by Su Ziheng, with the full cooperation of the workshop and shipyard technicians, several steam engines were installed on the treasure ship, which has been successfully started.

After going to the sea to inspect on the spot, it was found that the treasure ships transported a lot of people and materials back and forth between Donghai Province and Zhenbao Island, and there was no bad situation, Su Ziheng issued an order and began to build a large number of treasure ships to prepare for ocean trade.

At the same time, Su Ziheng set up an ocean-going trading company in Donghai Province to be responsible for foreign trade.