For the sake of its own interests, the Imperial Diet soon passed the bill initiated by Hong Tao, began to provide limited deck guns and ammunition to the Straits Company, and at the same time diverted some of the goods destined for the Mongolian side to the port of Malacca, and began to plan the first voyage of the merchant fleet to the Great Food Country. With these three measures, the Straits Company and the maritime merchants who boycotted the market had the capital to continue the struggle against the Great Song Dynasty.

After a merchant ship is equipped with deck guns, it is not an unarmed merchant ship, but an armed merchant ship with a certain attack power. If the Southern Song Dynasty had reacted too violently, these maritime merchants would not have become pigs to be slaughtered. In the waters of Southeast Asia, the maritime merchant fleet, which was united and supplied with weapons and ammunition, was not afraid of the Southern Song Dynasty sailors at all. The Jinhe Empire can't be in a hurry to show up in this regard, and it is best to let the maritime merchants solve the problem on their own, otherwise the nature of this internal struggle between the maritime merchants and the imperial court will change, and it will become a dispute between the two countries, which is not in the interests of Hong Tao.

Rather than the plan to weaken the Mongol Empire by economic means, the maritime merchants needed the help of the Empire more at present. Sending some of the goods back to sell to the maritime merchants was nothing to the Mongol Empire, but it was a very scarce source of goods for these maritime merchants. No matter where you go to do business, you can only earn greater profits by selling and buying, and the cost of sailing away with an empty ship is twice as high.

Similarly, relying on Southeast Asian countries alone, even with the markets of Japan and Goryeo, cannot completely offset the loss of the Great Song market. After all, the volume is obvious, and the annual cargo throughput of the Southern Song Dynasty can be equivalent to the total amount of all the countries in Southeast Asia, plus Japan, Goryeo, Mongolia and the Indian Peninsula. To find a relatively large market to make up for it, there is currently only one suitable place. That's the territory of the Great Cannibals.

Since ancient times. The Great Cannibals and the Oriental countries had maritime trade. And it's a lot of money. They digested some of their goods on the Arabel Peninsula, and the other part was transported overland to North Africa and Byzantium, and even as far as Venice. To put it bluntly, these big cannibals are second-class dealers, taking advantage of their geographical location to play entrepot trade. Now Hong Tao plans to deliver the goods to his door, giving full play to the potential of the two dealers of the big cannibals, and letting them help the maritime merchants digest a large part of the goods that should have been shipped to the Great Song Dynasty.

With these three means, can the Southern Song Dynasty court be forced to make concessions to the maritime merchants? Hong Tao didn't know the final answer. He could only design it this way, and it was his goal to keep the struggle of the maritime merchants as long as possible without affecting the economic development of the empire. The longer this period of time continued, the more unfavorable it was to the Southern Song court, after all, the tax revenue of maritime trade accounted for a large proportion of the Southern Song Dynasty's treasury revenue. At present, the Southern Song Dynasty court is vigorously developing sailors and musketeers, hoping to take advantage of the weakness of the Mongol Empire to launch a northern expedition and regain the lost land. If something goes wrong with the sea trade, their plans will be greatly affected, and they can't do anything without money in the treasury, and whoever is uncomfortable will know.

At present, dozens of large ships anchored in the port of Malacca are preparing for the voyage. There are also a number of merchant ships that have already gone to the port of Calamba, and these ships will have plans to load different goods in both ports. It was then reorganized into two fleets, which were escorted by Royal Navy warships to four ports on the A-La Bre Peninsula.

Two of them are in the waters of the Red Sea, and this fleet will target the kingdoms of Yemen, Egypt, Jerusalem; Another fleet will enter the Persian Gulf, targeting countries on the north and south shores of the Persian Gulf. If necessary, you can go all the way up to the westernmost tip of the Persian Gulf to the seaside port near Basra to sell your goods.

Since it was the first time to open up a new route, Hong Tao asked Cixi to choose salmon-class merchant ships when organizing the fleet, and each ship had to buy deck guns. Although there is a Royal Navy escort, it is better to be cautious if you want to go deep into the hinterland of the Great Cannibals, in case people don't welcome us, we have to talk with cannons. The seaworthiness, endurance and combat effectiveness of the Salmon-class armed merchant ships are much stronger than those of other types of merchant ships in the Southern Song Dynasty, and even if they can't beat them, they can run much faster.

Just when Hong Tao was preparing for his first voyage to the Great Food Country, the merchant fleet of the imperial court also sailed to the sea on the east side of the port of Malacca, and the navigator standing beside the helmsman on the deck of the leading big ship was He Jinrong, and Shi Hong and Zhao An were sitting on the stern watching the maids order tea.

Life on the sea is boring, how could nobles like Shi Hong and Zhao An be like those maritime merchants who mingle with sailors all day long. They are not only accompanied by their own maids and concubines, but also special cooks, tea masters, and entourage, and they go out to do business as if they were traveling to the eunuchs' homes.

"My lord, the tax ship from the port of Malacca is coming...... Soon, a Exocet-class clipper appeared in front of the right side of the fleet with the rat head flag, He Jinrong is very familiar with this scene, for all the ships that do not hang the copper coin flag and the rat head flag, the imperial customs in the port of Malacca will board the ship for inspection, and then collect taxes according to the proportion.

"Hmph, leave them alone, I want to see who dares to collect the official family's taxes, it's just the other way around!" Shi Hong didn't listen to the word tax ship, but his face immediately sank after hearing it.

Last year, it was at this port that I was forced to pay taxes, which was a great shame! Before coming this time, he specially instructed not to anchor at the port of Malacca, but to go directly to the port of Kalamba. He didn't believe that anyone dared to attack the fleet of the Great Song Dynasty on the sea, don't look at the Great Song Dynasty and couldn't beat the Mongols, but it was still a very powerful presence in Southeast Asia. No matter which port the ship with the royal flag docks at, the local officials will greet it warmly.

"The Golden River Empire actually set up a card here to collect taxes, is there still a royal law here! What is hateful is that there are still people in the DPRK and China who collude with them, which is a misguided move for the country, but they don't know that raising tigers is a problem! Zhao An also stomped his feet and beat his chest with Shi Hong, he was more ruthless than Shi Hong, and directly linked the Jinhe Empire and Zheng Qingzhi together, and was stunned to depict another layer of meaning.

"What Brother Zhao said is very true, after returning from this trip, I will definitely explain to Enxiang that it is only related, don't just beat away the Mongols, and there is another Jinhe country behind you." Shi Hong didn't seem to be as skilled as Zhao An in buttoning people's hats, but he was very interested in the hat that Zhao An threw out. If you make such a connection, you may be able to do it. As long as these things are revealed to the officials through appropriate channels, Zheng Qingzhi will inevitably receive a lot of impeachment, and if he does it properly, he may be able to remove Zheng Qingzhi from power. This kind of trick is staged every year in the Great Song Dynasty, and no one dares to say that they can get through.

"My lord, I heard that this Jinhe country has been helping the Great Song Dynasty fight the Mongols, and two years ago, the merchant ships in the south also organized volunteers to fight with them against the Mongolian sailors, and when they came back, they were rewarded by the officials. They should be better than the Mongols, right? He Jinrong heard the conversation between the two people on the stern and couldn't help but interject.

"No, no, no...... This son has a heart of disobedience, and it is just a matter of being called a king, and he is also called an emperor! As everyone knows, there is also one Son of Heaven, he is called the emperor here, where does he put the official family? It's a big rebellion! Shi Hong's remarks to He Jinrong were even more distressed, or to say that the people are so good, as long as they give them some benefits, they will say hello. But this kind of trick can't deceive a person like him who has read books, although he is not an official of the imperial court, but he has a loyal heart.

"Your Excellency is right, you are right...... It's a pity that Mongolia also called the emperor and occupied my hometown, I don't know if I can bury this old bone back. Brother, do you think you can? He Jinrong was very satisfied with Shi Hong's explanation, being knowledgeable is being knowledgeable, why can't we ordinary people figure out this kind of reason? But as soon as he turned around, the smile on his face was gone, and he looked lonely, at first he still muttered to himself, and then he simply asked the helmsman next to him.

"Old man He, don't think so much, let alone say so much. You are the one who has territorial waters, and I am the one who is at the helm, and it will be your turn for me to discuss major national affairs. Don't talk nonsense about this kind of thing, be careful that someone spreads it out, and your third child's right lang is in the soup! "The helmsman was a sturdy man in his thirties, with a straight waist and a dark complexion, and he looked like a man who had been exposed to the wind and sun on the sea all year round. These days, he and He Jinrong cooperate very well with each other, people, there are always emotions, and he can only laugh at He Jinrong's whining.

"Wu Juntou, I wonder, maritime merchants like us, running around on the sea all year round, carrying the lives of their families to go on long voyages, and paying a lot of taxes to the city every year, why did the imperial court come when they said they came, and it didn't matter if we were happy or not, and whether we could eat or not? If this is the case, the next time the court fights with the Mongols, who will be a volunteer soldier? The plaque rewarded by the official family is still hanging in the city of Guangzhou, how can it be said that it will turn its face? He Jinrong looked at the flag on the tax ship, as if he was very talkative, not only did he not speak, but he also talked more and more deeply.

“…… Old man, if you don't want to die, I will die...... Do you think I'm willing to come? The navy has just changed to a large ship, which is exactly the same as those warships in Jinhe Country, and it is also equipped with cannons. With these big guys, I might be able to go back to my hometown of Mizhou in a few years. However, as soon as the imperial court ordered us, our brothers came to the merchant fleet, and although there was a lot of money, the brothers were not sure. You may not have seen those warships in Jinhe Country, but our brothers have seen them with their own eyes on the sea, they are really like sharks, whoever bites them will be broken! You've been running here all year round, and you say they're going to bite us? "It's true that the helmsman's surname is Wu, and it's not wrong that he is a soldier, they were transferred from the Southern Song Dynasty Navy Division by Shi Songzhi and his boat. Originally, he didn't want to talk about these things, but let He Jinrong tease him like this, and he couldn't hold back the resentment in his stomach.

(To be continued.) )