After some inquiries about Slade, Liu Fan had some general understanding of the trade between Europe and the Ming Dynasty. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Everything that Info Slade said is probably consistent with what Liu Fan understands from historical sources. According to the current situation, from Europe to the Americas, and then from the Americas to Southeast Asia, and even India, Vietnam and other places have become the world of Westerners. With the exception of the Ming Dynasty, which still retains some sea dominance, most of the world's maritime trade routes have been reduced to a playground for Westerners. Liu Fan's desire to meddle in the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Europe is tantamount to moving their cake, which is bound to cause the siege of many Western colonists. With Liu Fan's meager strength now, such a result is something he can't afford.

Since he has not yet had the strength to intervene in the trade between China and the West, he can only temporarily nest in the coastal area of Daming to develop. But Liu Fan knew very well in his heart that if he wanted to develop his own maritime trade along the coast of Daming, the difficulties he had to face were not much easier than grabbing land with Western colonists.

Putting aside the powerful maritime group of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong alone is an insurmountable mountain for the current Liu Fan. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, after Zheng Zhilong defeated the fleet of the Dutch East India Company in the Battle of Kinmen off the coast of Fujian, he had basically controlled the coastal sea control of the Ming Dynasty. From the East China Sea to the South China Sea, from the South China Sea to Luzon, this vast sea area has become Zheng Zhilong's territory, and since then he has controlled the sea routes and collected fees from merchant ships from various countries, and Zheng Zhilong has quickly become rich and captivated. It became the lord of southern Fujian and the overlord of the sea, and gave the Zheng family's order flag to the merchant ships of Zhilong (a large ship needs to pay 3,000 taels of silver), and if they wanted to pass through the Zhilong sea area without paying, they might not escape the fate of being robbed. Zheng Zhilong was so strong that the Dutch East India Company was unstable, and the Dutch united with other forces to take Zhilong, but Zhilong continued to expand its power and defeated the Dutch twice. Those who are not allowed to order the flag of the Zheng family cannot come and go. Each ship into 3,000 gold, the annual income of 10 million, in order to enrich the enemy country, since the construction of the city of Anping Town, since then the sea atmosphere is quite resting, the sale of foreign goods, domestic and foreign merchants, all with the Zheng banner, no example, businessmen have 20 times the benefits, Zhilong to Haili traffic Dynasty noble, to show greatly. So far, Zheng Zhilong's trade has a wide range of trade in the East and South Seas, including Da Ni, Hun Ni, Champong, Luzon, Yonggang, Beigang, Dayuan, Hirado, Nagasaki, Mumbai, Banten, Old Port, Batavia, Malacca, Cambodia, Siam, it is estimated that the strength includes Han Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Austronesian languages, African blacks and other races as high as 200,000 people, with more than 3,000 large and small warships, is the only power in the waters of East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Liu Fan, a small shrimp on the sea, wants to get a piece of the pie from Zheng Zhilong, and its difficulty is tantamount to the difficulty of ascending to the sky. The southern coast is impassable, and the only thing left is North Korea and Houjin Tatars. Not to mention whether doing business with them is considered a financial enemy, just a big enemy Wang Zhi is not something Liu Fan can deal with now.

After thinking and meditating for a long time, Liu Fan realized that there was no place for Liu Fan on the huge Ming coast and more than 20,000 miles of coastline. The trade routes from the south to the north were occupied by others, and it was very difficult for Liu Fan to break through this encirclement.

Seeing Liu Fan's sad look, Slade couldn't help but ask curiously, "Your Excellency General, why are you troubled?" If it's convenient for you to talk to Slade, maybe I can help you? ”

Liu Fan smiled bitterly and said helplessly, "Captain Slade has been the captain for a while, and you are also very clear about the situation of this fleet. Do you think that the profits from this escort caravan between Hangzhou Bay and Jiaozhou Bay alone can feed such a large fleet? ”

Slade shook his head and replied, "Your Excellency Admiral is right, this fleet has been in a state of loss since I took over as captain. I am afraid that it will be difficult to sustain it in the long run. ”

Liu Fan nodded and said, "So this official has been thinking about opening up a new trade route, and the purpose of asking you just now is the same." In view of the current situation, I would like to choose one between Nanyang and Japan. In the captain's opinion, how should the officer choose? ”

Slade thought for a while before replying, "If Your Excellency the General wants to do business on the coast of Daming, it is difficult to bypass Zheng Yiguan, and now even if we Portuguese, Dutch, and Spaniards have to do business according to the rules of Zheng Yiguan along the coast of Daming, Your Excellency General is probably not exempt from vulgarity!" So there is not much difference between Nanyang and Waguo. ”

Liu Fan sighed and nodded helplessly, since even Slade said so, it seems that if the Broken Army wants to develop overseas, it will be difficult to bypass Zheng Zhilong's hurdle. Now for Liu Fan, there are only two ways in front of him, either give in, or fight with Zheng Zhilong to break the net and fight a bloody way. But with Liu Fan's current strength, the net may not be broken if the fish is dead. Shaking his head, Liu Fan also lost interest in continuing the conversation for a while, stood up and said, "Thank you Captain Slade for your help, this official still has some things, so I will leave first." ”

Slade hurriedly stood up, sent Liu Fan to the captain's room, and bent down respectfully and said, "Congratulations to Your Excellency General!" ”

Leaving the captain's room, Liu Fan and the others went straight to the deck, just came to the deck, Liu Fan saw the women who were full of interest and pointing around something, and when they saw Liu Fan coming, Xiaozhu, who was more lively, immediately flew up and grabbed Liu Fan's arm, and said excitedly: "Husband, come and see, we caught a big, big turtle!" ”

"Turtles?" Liu Fan was stunned, and involuntarily followed Xiaozhu to the crowd. Liu Fan took a closer look at everyone separately, and it was indeed a large sea turtle, according to Liu Fan's visual observation, this turtle was probably no less than a hundred catties, and the turtle shell alone was larger than ordinary armor. Seeing this, Liu Fan asked curiously, "Where did this turtle come from?" ”

Hearing Liu Fan's inquiry, Zhang Kun immediately replied: "Overseer, this turtle was originally caught by a fishing boat, and I saw it by chance, and I thought it was difficult to see such a big turtle, so I bought it and put it on the boat to raise, originally I wanted to find a chance to release it after going to sea next time." Unexpectedly, it was discovered by several ladies..."

Before Zhang Kun finished speaking, Lu'er smiled and shouted, "Master, you see this turtle is so cute, why don't we take it back to the house and raise it!" It just so happens that we have a pond in our house, how about putting this big turtle in it? ”

Well, Liu Fan said with a black line on his head, "Can turtles be raised in fresh water?" I'm afraid that you will be raised to death in a few days when you bring it back! Lu'er, don't mess around, this turtle is Camp Commander Zhang's thing, how can you take it away without the consent of others? ”

Zhang Kun hurriedly said, "It's okay, it's okay, since Miss Lu'er likes it, just take it away." ”

Liu Fan stretched out his hand to stop and said, "No need, this turtle should be taken to the sea and released!" Lu'er, Zhu'er, if you really like these things, you can buy a few baby turtles to raise! Another day, I'll build a pool in the house for you to raise these things, okay? ”

Seeing this, Lu'er had no choice but to nod sullenly and said, "Okay then!" You have to talk about it! (To be continued.) )