When it comes to commerce and trade, Ding Daquan is naturally one of the most vocal people in the Great Song Dynasty, and everyone stands still at this time, listening to how he continues. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Ding Daquan said: "Your Excellency also knows that there is a large amount of smuggling trade among the people now. Because of the excellent credit of our copper coins, they were smuggled in large quantities to other countries, and some countries even stopped using their own currencies and switched to copper coins. The outflow of hard currency will inevitably lead to the loss of wealth in the entire Great Song Dynasty. Over the years, however, the situation has changed. At present, the copper output of Lin'an Copper Plant has increased nearly five times compared with last year, and there is a new copper mining area in Lanxi. I heard from the scholars of the Royal Laboratory that when it was manufactured, it would be possible to use electrolysis to make copper. In this way, in a few years, more than a dozen major copper mining areas in our dynasty will use this method, and the output of copper will increase by dozens of times. At that time, whether hard currency can be recycled is no longer important, but some strategic materials or people's daily needs, which is the most important. Therefore, the minister thought that when trading with foreign merchants at present, it was natural to exchange hard currency for the goods of the Great Song Dynasty first, but in order to recover the huizi, these foreign merchants also needed to pay for the huizi, so that the private huizi would be gradually recycled. But in a year or two, our dynasty will gradually exchange strategic materials for commodities, such as high-quality shipbuilding timber or steel ingots, and even allow the Great Song Dynasty to build trading docks in its own country, and open factories on the spot to directly transport the raw materials of finished products back. In this way, the cost of transportation is reduced, and the trouble of reprocessing is eliminated, after all, it is more expensive to bring back a shipload of finished iron ingots than to bring back a shipload of iron ore. ”

Everyone nodded their heads. Li Zong was silent for a while, and after a while, he said, "What the prime minister said is extremely true. If the war is fought together, strategic materials should naturally be put first, and hard currency is secondary. According to what the prime minister said, our dynasty should vigorously develop foreign trade along the coast, and in fact, I also have this intention. Nowadays, land routes with the Western countries are no longer passable, so it is not surprising that maritime trade will be developed. As for smuggling, I've heard a little about it. Although the "Shipping Law" has been promulgated for many years, it still cannot stop the phenomenon of smuggling among the people, and it seems that the matter needs to be resolved immediately. ”

Ding Daquan nodded and said, "The emperor is sage." If the court vigorously strengthens government-run trade and gradually lowers the tariff rate, it will be able to effectively stop smuggling. The immediate task of our dynasty is not to obtain more tax revenues on foreign trade, but to encourage foreign trade, and to continuously transport the strategic material resources of other countries to the Great Song Dynasty, and to these trading countries, they can directly pay hard currency, or exchange them for new goods produced by a few factories in Lin'an. ”

Li Zong nodded and said, "What the prime minister said is very reasonable. Nowadays, the copper and silver refining technology of our dynasty has been greatly improved, which naturally makes the hard currency reserves greatly increased. In another two or three years, the hard pass reserves of the Great Song Dynasty will be dozens of times as much as before, and naturally they will not care about the outflow of small batches of copper coins. It was imperative to store some food, wood, charcoal, horses, and gunpowder for artillery before the war. Since the prime minister has brought up this matter, let the prime minister handle the matter of foreign trade. As for the renovation of merchant ships and warships, Li Qing was in charge, and General Lu was on hand to assist in the improvement of warships. ”

Li Xiang and a few others nodded hurriedly, and listened to Ding Daquan again: "The emperor is sage." However, since it was necessary to increase foreign trade, the minister believed that it was necessary not only to renovate the existing merchant ships, but also to build larger ones. I heard Master Li say that the steam engine could be used on the fortune ship. Therefore, the minister believed that the time was right to build a larger ocean-going fleet. ”

Li Zongdao: "Regarding the matter of the ocean-going fleet, Li Qing has already mentioned it in the recital, and it does not conflict with what the prime minister said. In this case, let's start with the two shipyards in Lin'an and Fuzhou. What does Li Qing think? His last sentence was naturally asked by Li Xiang.

Lin'an Shipyard, Li Xiang has already been to it once, and its shipbuilding capacity is naturally extraordinary. As for the shipyard in Fuzhou, it is said that it uses the most suitable local wood for shipbuilding, so it should be a good choice. What's more, both shipyards are close to the sea, so it is extremely easy to transport goods between them. It's just that two shipyards seem to be a little less, and if you can join another large shipyard, you can fully meet the demand. Thinking of this, Li Xiang hurriedly said: "What the emperor said is extremely true. These two shipyards are the perfect choice. It's just that the minister thinks that the formation and improvement of the sailor division will not be completed overnight. After the new warship was built, the sailors had to master the operation of the new ship, the soldiers had to learn the shooting skills of the ship's artillery, and there were also boilermen and mechanics who needed to be trained. In this way, it will be possible to equip a new unit of warships in a short time. ”

Li Zong said with a smile: "Li Qing's request, I naturally want to agree, so I will approve you." Li Xiang hurriedly thanked him.

After the morning dawn dispersed, there was still some time before lunch. Li Xiang hurriedly walked out, and there was something he didn't understand. Last night, he had briefly mentioned the matter of the American continent to Ding Daquan, and although he did not elaborate, at least he also let Ding Daquan know that farther to the west, there was another 'small' piece of land, and although it was also inhabited, most of it was scattered in the form of tribes. Then he revealed some of the colonial ideas, but did not mention how to do it. In the early days of the dynasty today, Ding Daquan did not say a word about the Americas, but only talked about strengthening trade with countries such as Persia and Persia, which made Li Xiang somewhat puzzled. Maybe there are other arrangements, Li Xiang thought.

The ancestors of the Indians living in the Americas may have crossed the Bering Strait from Asia to the Americas about 20,000 years ago, or they passed through the frozen strait land bridge. After 20,000 years of differentiation, the Indians produced many different peoples and languages, and established four empires in history, the most important being the Aztec Empire in Central America and the Inca Empire in South America.

Of course, Li Xiang would not tell Ding Daquan about these departments, he only mentioned a little bit of land to the west, and some new crops. If these crops were introduced into the Great Song Dynasty, within a few years, the country's food problem would be solved in one fell swoop. Ding Daquan did not ask Li Xiang where he got this information at that time, but only talked with Li Xiang for a long time about this matter. Li Xiang originally thought that Ding Daquan would raise the matter in the court, but the result was very unexpected. At this time, Li Xiang remembered what Ding Daquan said when he said goodbye yesterday, "Virtuous nephew, about trade and affairs, let the old man handle it, and the virtuous nephew only needs to transform the ocean-going merchant ships." (To be continued.) )