Jiang Kui said to Li Guozhu, who was sitting in the carriage: "Eldest prince, this is also the official road to Beijing, and it is also the pass of the Taihang Eight Paths Military Capital Path, we are coming from the Flying Fox Path, and the iron tools of Lingqiu are from the well path, and there is a straight road to cross the mountain, which is much more convenient than walking from here." ”

Li Guozhu sat in a comfortable carriage with a copper stove at his feet and a copper stove in his hand...... However, no one made fun of Li Guozhu's delicateness, Jiang Kui and others have been to the sea, the coastal areas of the country are not like Ezo, the climate is much warmer, especially in Taiwan and Penghu, even in the Xiaoice period the climate is low, in the end it is still much warmer than here in Shanxi.

Jiang Kui went to Japan once in April, and later returned to Tianjin, to his surprise that there was already a large amount of cargo stored in the port of Tianjin, and as soon as the ship arrived, it took only some time to do repairs and maintenance, and then it went to sea again, this time it was two ships, and instead of going down to the south of the Yangtze River, they went straight to the port of Wa.

Zhang Han's courage is very great, of course, he is well aware of the importance of maritime trade, this era is the great era of navigation, but also the era of colonies, but also the beginning of global trade, at this time North America, Australia, Canada, the whole South America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, these places are either already European colonies, or quasi-colonies, countries are scrambling to grab the wealth of these places, used to do their own industrialization development, and then two hundred years, most of the world's wealth has been acquired by Europe and North America, Britain began to enter modern times in the nineteenth century, and in 1863 London had already opened the subway, and at that time the Chinese did not even know what the train was like.

This era is the time of the race to the first, China has fallen behind, fortunately, there are Li Dan and these people, the country's territory in the open sea is still there, the vitality is still there, the Chinese also have a large number of population and territory in Southeast Asia, and the strength of the Chinese on the sea is also very strong, and the white-skinned guy also feels that China is a civilized country and a strong opponent, and there is no lack of respect and cooperation.

Even if it is not for anything else, for the benefit of maritime trade, Zhang Han has to increase investment and deepen the layout.

What he needed was early news, which was used to deduce the situation in the South Seas, the profit rate of trade, the future returns, and the strength of various countries at sea and on land in the South Seas and other places.

Of course, the two sea ships were still hired, carrying 200,000 goods to Japan in mid-June, this time taking the northern route, the speed was faster, Li Dan and his son finally made up their minds to cooperate with Zhang Han seriously after receiving these two ships of goods.

In August, Li Guozhu set off and took Jiang Kui, Wen Zhongfa, Wang Zhang and others to Taiwan first, met with Yan Siqi, and explained that He Yusheng was going to build a village in Bengang, Yan Siqi of course had no opinion, the territory was given up by the Li family, and he only needed to approve of this group of outsiders to come into Bengang.

Penghu was briefly occupied by the Dutch during the Wanli years, and then was driven away by the Ming sailors, at the turn of spring and summer, Penghu was in shallow water, and the sailors stationed in the city returned to Fujian, when Jiang Kui and others went to the island, there were only some fishermen on the island, and there were some villages established by fishermen, there were no towns, and the houses of the villages were mostly wooden except for a small number of stone buildings, this kind of house was very afraid of typhoons, but the fishermen except for a few long-term stationers in Penghu, most of them would also return to Fujian during the typhoon.

At that time, there were about 20,000 Han immigrants in Taiwan, and there were only a few thousand fishermen in Penghu, and the place was very rich, with beautiful natural scenery and extremely rich resources, and the crops in tropical places grew particularly luxuriant, and the yield was very high, and those natives did not need to work hard to get food, including natural edible plants and fruits, all kinds of prey, and catches, which made Jiang Kui feel extremely envious...... A place like Taiwan can be commensurate with a "treasure island".

"Brother Jiang," Li Guozhu was cold, but his spirit was also very good, and he teased Jiang Kui at the moment: "It's really happy to see you like this, didn't you say that you prefer Taiwan?" ”

"Taiwan is good, I have seen many deer alone, a group of hundreds, which is simply impossible in our Datong." Jiang Kui said calmly: "The climate is also warm, and the sugarcane planted is abundant and sweet, and a lot of sugar is squeezed!" Our people here in Datong have had a hard time...... However, in the end, this is home! ”

Li Guozhu smiled understandingly, but the creed of the inseparability of leaving the homeland is not so unbreakable for Fujian people...... Nanyang territory, whether it is Manila or Malacca, or Batavia, there are Chinese who have emigrated and taken root everywhere, and this immigration dynasty has begun in the Southern Song Dynasty, and by this time there have been more than one million Chinese living in the entire Nanyang land, and these Chinese are mainly Fujianese, and Guangdong's people.

"How many convoys are these?"

Li Guozhu and his subordinates were again attracted by the huge convoy.

In front of me is a convoy of more than 100 carts, all of which are almost all kinds of food and cloth and other materials, the body of the cart is very heavy, the front and rear four wheels are pressed deep in the official road, and the rut marks left are clearly visible, it can be seen that the carriage does not know how many materials are loaded.

"Sixth!"

The guard Seinfeld was born as a pirate, I don't know how many winds and waves he has seen, and he can't continue to make a living at sea when he is old, because his martial arts and courage are very good, and he was picked out by Li Dan to be Li Guozhu's personal guard, at this time his eyes were very big, and he felt extremely shocked!

Of the six convoys, the smallest is also more than 90 big cars, and the most is the one in front of you, more than 110 vehicles!

These six convoys transported hundreds of thousands of catties of grain and tens of thousands of pieces of cloth!

"Brother Jiang," Li Guozhu couldn't help but say, "Guishang is really just an ordinary businessman?" ”

"It's not ordinary." Jiang Kui's face was silent, and his tone was still difficult to hide his smugness: "My family is already a military officer of the Acropolis garrison, the commander of the two guards, and the third rank of the national dynasty." ”

"Well, with your age and strength, I'm afraid it will rise again in the future."

"Entrusted to the eldest prince Jiyan."

Li Guozhu didn't speak again for a while, sitting in the car and looking at those big cars in a daze.

The shape of these cars Li Guozhu has seen in Manila, those white-skinned cars and trailers are also like this, but the workmanship of those cars is far less than these big cars in front of him, and the shape is smaller.

Of course, Li Guozhu did not know that these big cars were after several years of non-stop testing, finalization, re-testing, and final finalization, with strong financial support and superb technical support, it is also Zhang Han has been investing heavily to have the immediate results, it can be said that there is no country or institution in this era as Zhang Han pays attention to the carriage industry...... Of course, the result is like this, and now Yusheng's carriage can be said to be unique in the world, and even a well-informed figure like Li Guozhu is the first time to see such a convoy in front of him, and the impact on him is certainly not ordinary.

"Okay, there is the No. 3 store on Li Zi South Road in front." Jiang Kui beckoned people to stop, and many people began to get out of the car, and the person in charge of the branch and the guys also came out of the store.

Li Guozhu got out of the car and took a look outside the store first.

There are also quite a lot of big cars parked on both sides of the store, and the periphery is a tall fence more than a zhang high, enclosing the entire store in the wall, surrounded by some corner towers, and a few guys with arquebuses patrolling and guarding at high places, Li Guozhu was a little surprised, the store in front of him was actually as heavily guarded as a military fort.

"Brother Jiang," asked Seinfeld this time, and he said, "Isn't it peaceful here?" ”

Jiang Kui looked at the bird stalkers patrolling the heights, he smiled and explained: "There used to be bandits, but they have long since subsided, and now this alert level is very low, just a daily guard. ”

If Li Guozhu has a clear understanding in his heart, there are merchants and businesses of this scale in the interior of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that there are many people who secretly covet them, and the bandits are only on the surface, and I don't know how many people are secretly making up their minds, and now it seems that Zhang Han has such a level of garrison in such an ordinary branch, and in other places, in larger and more important bases, I am afraid that there are more hidden forces.

"The proprietor of your family," Li Guozhu said to Jiang Kui, "How many merchant soldiers are there on the surface?" ”

"Now there are 10 divisions, and two more divisions will be expanded." Jiang Kui also did not hide from Li Guozhu, the desire for cooperation between the two families was very strong, and there was no need to deceive.

Li Guozhu lowered his head and silently calculated, and then said: "The Acropolis garrison and the command of the two guards, there are still more than 10,000 guards and garrison battalions available on the account, but what is the actual situation?" ”

"Not one, actually." Jiang Kui grinned and said: "The original generals and family members all asked them to keep for themselves, or they were dismissed, and the guards were a group of farmers, so let's not be on the errand of the army, don't embarrass them, just farm honestly at home." The lord plans to build an Acropolis garrison camp next year, plus the name of the family, and another 2,000 people, and that's it. ”

Li Guozhu nodded thoughtfully, Zhang Han's subordinates still have a very high force value, all the way over, there is a small team of bird guns who rushed over to guard, the training is very good, and the manufacture of bird guns is also very good, far from the garbage in the hands of the Southern Ming Army, and then the ranks are uniform, just a robe and those bits and pieces on the body, Li Guozhu has never seen it in the officers and soldiers, and the spirit of the people is also very good, Li Guozhu is also very surprised when talking to these archers, most of these people have read books and know some words, There are some literate words that make Li Guozhu feel like a child who has been enlightened...... He later learned that the more literate the merchant archers, the more likely they were to be promoted and reused, and the officers had to be educated in school, not only to be literate, but also to read military books, learn arithmetic, drawing and other things, and only after passing could they be qualified to be officers.

Although he has not yet seen Li Zhuang's brigade, Li Guozhu also felt the strong force value of He Yusheng from these scales and half claws.