In the palace of King Zhao in Beijing City, Zhou Zhong set up a family banquet in a warm pavilion in the inner house today to entertain Xie Da who came from afar, that is, Xie Lingyun's father, in recent years, Xie Da has taken advantage of Zhou Chong's support to make the business of the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce very large, from the Ming Dynasty to the South Seas, and then from the South Seas to the coast of India and Africa, you can almost see the fleet of the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, what made Xie Da even happier was that just two years ago, one of his concubines actually gave birth to a son for him, which made their Xie family finally have a future, plus Xie Lingyun is also a side concubine of Zhou Chong, which is even more of an unexpected joy, so Xie Da has been very motivated in the past two years, and has been running at sea for almost a long time, although Xie Lingyun has written to him many times to pay attention to his body, but Xie Da has not cared.

In fact, Zhou Zhong can also understand Xie Da's thoughts, on the one hand, Xie Lingyun used to be his equal wife, but after he recovered his identity, he became a side concubine, which is worse than Wang Jinxuan who is a concubine, and Wang Jinxuan's father is a member of the imperial court, especially after the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate has risen sharply, Wang Lun has become a figure who can be equal to the cabinet, so whether it is family background or identity, Xie Lingyun cannot be compared with Wang Jinxuan, and the reason why Xie Da is so dedicated to showing his chamber of commerce, In order to let Xie Lingyun overwhelm Wang Jinxuan financially, in order to maintain a certain status.

There is also Xie Da's old son, for this son who carries his hope of passing on the family, he naturally loves him in every way, and the way he spoils his son is no different from ordinary people, he is desperately trying to leave a bigger family business for his son, even if his son becomes a loser in the future, he can let him lose for a few more years.

It is for the sake of his own sons and daughters that Xie Da has almost tapped out all his potential, and in recent years, he has managed the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce into one of the largest chambers of commerce on the sea after the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and he is also one of the most famous businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, which can be said to be very difficult.

Originally, Xie Da has been busy running the chamber of commerce overseas in the past few years, let alone coming to the capital, and even Songjiang rarely returns. But when this year was about to enter the winter, Xie Da suddenly came to the capital, and came directly to Zhao Wangfu to see his daughter and son-in-law.

Compared to a few years ago. Xie Da looked a lot older, especially the temples had already appeared a lot of white, and there were a few more fine lines on his forehead, and Xie Lingyun couldn't help crying when he saw his father's old appearance, but Xie Da was moved and sad as a result. At that moment, the father and daughter talked a lot, and finally stopped crying.

Everything that followed was very harmonious, Wang Jinxuan took Bai Mengwan and a few children to salute Xie Da, which made Xie Da very happy, especially the three children born to Zhou Zhong and Xie Lingyun, which made Xie Da smile from ear to ear, and waited until the gifts were distributed to the children. Wang Jinxuan took the child and retreated, Xie Lingyun and Zhou Zhong accompanied Xie Da to eat, but halfway through the meal, Xie Lingyun also left under the pretext, because she also saw that her father suddenly came to the capital, and there must be something important to discuss with Zhou Chong, although she is Xie Da's daughter. But now she is in charge of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, so if Xie Da talks about matters related to the interests of the Chamber of Commerce, she will be a little embarrassed as a daughter, and it is better to leave everything to Zhou Chong.

After Xie Lingyun left, Zhou Zhong accompanied Xie Da to drink a few glasses of wine and chatted a few words, and then suddenly said, "Father-in-law." I heard that some time ago, you and several chambers of commerce were planning to organize a fleet to go to Europe, I wonder how this matter is being prepared, and now the fleet has already left? ”

Since Zhou Zhong sent Shen Zhou to drive Portugal from the west coast of India to the east coast of Africa, the entire route of the South Sea and the Indian Ocean belonged to the Ming Dynasty. The maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty naturally dared to disturb the people along the Indian Ocean, but the goods of the Ming Dynasty and the South China Sea and other places wanted to obtain the greatest profits, or they had to be transported to Europe, but now the European routes are controlled by the Portuguese, they can only sell the goods to the Portuguese in Africa, and then the Portuguese will transport the goods back to Europe, so as to obtain the maximum profit, which naturally makes the merchants of the Ming Dynasty dissatisfied, so several maritime chambers of commerce with Xie Da as the head are ready to organize a fleet to Europe, I had also invited the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce to form a fleet together, but then there was no follow-up, and now Zhou Zhong thought of it by chance, so he asked.

Hearing Zhou Zhong ask about this matter, I saw Xie Da smile bitterly and said: "Don't mention it, we were too arrogant at the beginning, thinking that if we had money and ships, we could organize a fleet to go to Europe, but when we inquired, the Portuguese did not allow anyone to get involved in their interests, so as long as we dare to send a fleet, I am afraid that if we just cross Africa, we will be ambushed by their army, and it is impossible to reach Europe, so the key to this matter is not us, but the Portuguese, but it is related to our own interests, The Portuguese would never have agreed, unless our navy could drive the Portuguese back to their European homeland! ”

"Hehe, I know that this is the result, the Portuguese were originally a bunch of pirates, let them give up the route to Europe, unless it is to use force, but now the Ming Dynasty's troops are mainly used to clean up the border troubles in the north, and the navy can only slow down, I am afraid that in recent years, it will be difficult to use troops against the Portuguese!" Zhou Zhong smiled and shook his head, he knew that this was Xie Da's own words, but he didn't mind leaking some of the movements of the imperial court to Xie Da, so as not to let those big businessmen think about it.

Sure enough, hearing Zhou Chong's answer, Xie Da obviously showed a somewhat disappointed expression, but this disappointed look was only a flash, and soon Xie Da returned to normal, and then smiled and said to Zhou Chong: "Wenda, the route on the Portuguese side will definitely not be able to pass in a short time, but we have inquired about a new route, just want to pass through this route, but we need the imperial court to come forward, so I will come to see you." ”

Hearing that Xie Da directly stated his intention, Zhou Chong also smiled and said: "Don't hide it from your father-in-law, I have also received some news about your intention before, but the person who sent the news does not know much about the situation in the Red Sea and Africa, so my knowledge is also very limited, and I ask my father-in-law to tell my son-in-law about this matter in detail." ”

Zhou Chong actually knew Xie Da's intention for a long time, after all, Xie Da did not come alone this time, but came with a group of famous businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhou Chong also heard some news from the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, so he also knew the reason why Xie Da came to find him, but it was inconvenient to say it just now, so he could only deliberately bring up the matter of going to Europe, which led to the following topic, and now that Xie Da said it himself, Zhou Chong will no longer act.

Xie Da also knew that Zhou Chong's identity was different now, and as the prisoner of the Ming Dynasty, if he didn't even know this thing, it would be really a little abnormal, so he didn't show too much surprise, but nodded and explained his intentions.

It turned out that Xie Da came to discuss with Zhou Zhong this time was a big thing, although the Portuguese were driven out of India by the Ming Dynasty, but they still firmly controlled the route from India to Europe, so that they could share the maximum profit from the exchange of goods between the East and the West, which made the merchants of the Ming Dynasty greedy and hateful, so in this case, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty also began to prepare to find a new route to Europe, and then use the new route to break the monopoly of the Portuguese.

However, anyone who has seen the map of the world can see that there are only two natural routes from India to Europe, one is to go west around Africa, and then to Europe, this route is also the shortest, and the other is to go east through the South Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and then go around after reaching the Americas, and then go around through the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, but this route is too far and too dangerous on the way, so it is not practical at all.

It is only the above two routes, one of which is not practical, and the other practical is monopolized by the Portuguese, so although the Ming merchants spent a lot of financial and material resources in order to find a new route, but there has been no progress, until a Muslim merchant learned about it, and finally told them another route, but this route is not natural, but artificially excavated, this route is the Suez Canal, which is famous in later generations, connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

The Suez Canal was built by the French in the 19th century, but in fact, as early as 200 BC, the Egyptians had already dug a canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and this canal was opened for a long time during the Roman period in 117 BC and the Four Hari periods in the 7th century AD, making it easier to communicate with Europe and Asia by sea.

However, in the eighth century, for various reasons, the Arab Empire abandoned the canal, and as a result, the canal fell into disrepair and was slowly abandoned, and since then, the connection between Europe and Asia has either been through difficult traffic on 6 or can only reach each other's ports by bypassing Africa.

After Xie Da and other Ming merchants heard about this, they immediately organized a batch of goods to be sent to Egypt, and inquired about the authenticity of this matter while selling the goods, but the local residents and historical materials told them that this matter was indeed true, which made Xie Da and others ecstatic, and immediately began to discuss the possibility of reopening the Suez Canal.

However, Xie Da and the others were obviously happy a little early, and when they inquired about the situation on both sides of the Suez Canal, they suddenly realized that they had no way to open this canal, unless it was the Ming court, this matter could be successful.