In the first year of Jianxing, on the fifth day of August, everything was ready, and in Port Arthur, a large fleet of ships was about to set sail. A large number of smooth porcelain, fine silks, and fragrant tea leaves had been loaded into the cabin, and the sailors were fully prepared to wait for the captain's order to set sail.

The person in charge of the voyage is also from Laoshan refugees, named Zhang Fang, born in a fishing family, an orphan, only 25 years old this year, but he is the oldest group of people in Laoshan, and is the staunchest supporter and follower of Wei Shuo.

"The owner!" Seeing Wei Shuo coming to see him off, Zhang Fang shouted with some excitement.

In the minds of all Laoshan people, Wei Shuo will always be the owner of the Laoshan trading company, and it is he who has changed the fate of the Laoshan people, so that the Laoshan people no longer have to starve, even if the whole world betrays Wei Shuo, the Laoshan people will swear to follow Wei Shuo to the death.

Similarly, in Wei Shuo's heart, Laoshan people will always be his most trusted partners and family.

"All ready?" Wei Shuo asked with a smile.

"Well, rest assured, the sailors, the compass, the map, the doctor, and all the other things you need for the sea, oh, by the way, this huge ship of fortune."

Zhang Fang looked at the huge 'Laoshan Ship' in the harbor with a confused look, saying that Zhang Fang has lived in a fisherman's home since he was a child, and has a yearning for the sea that is different from ordinary people.

"My lord, when will we equip our sailors with a big ship like the 'Laoshan'? Compared with the 'Laoshan', the ships equipped by the sailors are too backward at the moment! As the head of the Navy Division, I have to fight for the brothers of the Navy Division, otherwise I will have no face to mix among the brothers again! ”

Just as Wei Shuo and Zhang Fang were greeting, Mr. Liu, the commander of the Liaodong Navy Division and the director of the Navy Division, came over with a bitter face, and complained to Wei Shuo as soon as they met.

Wei Shuo glanced at Mr. Liu angrily and said: "For the time being, your sailors are only sailing in the coastal area, and the farthest is only to the waters near Sanhan, how can you use a sea ship like the 'Laoshan'?" ”

"Why can't you use it? Now that our trade fleet is about to go to the South Seas, once our trade fleet is in danger, don't we need our sailors to escort it? Without large sea vessels, how can sailors go to the depths of the open ocean? Mr. Liu retorted.

"Gree......" Wei Shuo was speechless for a while, and suddenly felt that Mr. Liu's worries were very reasonable, and he pondered for a moment and explained: "Director Liu, with the current strength of Laoshan Shipyard, it is impossible to fully meet the large-scale equipment of the naval division with new warships, not only because of the high technology and long construction period of the new Fu ship, but more importantly, because the new warship is expensive. ”

"With the current financial revenue is not enough to support our simultaneous development on land and water, the focus of our development in the next ten years will be on land, and the development of the water division can only be postponed temporarily."

"That's right...... Alas, what a disappointment! After listening to Wei Shuo's words, Mr. Liu looked disappointed.

Looking at Mr. Liu's depressed appearance, Wei Shuo couldn't bear it, he looked at Zhang Fang, who was silently beside him, and said with an idea in his heart: "However, if Zhang Fang's trip goes smoothly and opens up the entire Nanyang market, it will make the scale of our overseas trade several times larger than before, and I can take out some of the profits from it to develop the sailor." ”

"Really?" Mr. Liu was already desperate, and he was suddenly almost knocked out by the pie in the sky.

After some thought, Wei Shuo decided to take out a part of the profits from overseas trade every year to develop the sailors, which could not only tie the sailors firmly to the big ship of overseas trade, but also provide a steady stream of money for the development of the sailors. Once the sailor is combined with overseas trade, it will be seen who dares to put forward the proposal of banning the sea and striking the sailor in the future!

"Don't be too happy, even so, you sailors won't get too much money in the early stage, overseas trade doesn't mean that expansion can be expanded, it takes time to operate. According to my estimates, it will take at least five to ten years for the Nanyang market to be fully developed. ”

"During this period, it is unlikely that you sailors will have many opportunities for development, but even if the sailors can only get a small amount of money from overseas trade every year, together with the financial allocation, it is enough for the sailors to triple the size of their current size in three years, and have an overseas fleet of all-blessing ships within five years."

"Five years? Isn't it too long! ”

Wei Shuo no longer paid attention to the 'insatiable' Mr. Liu, and only carefully told Zhang Fangdao: "Zhang Fang, you are a talent who came out of Laoshan and the pride of the entire Laoshan people." There are many dangers in going to Nanyang, but I still hope that you will not forget the name of Laoshan, which represents glory and hope, and strive to overcome all difficulties and obstacles to complete the mission and responsibility I have entrusted you! ”

"Please rest assured, Zhang Fang will not disappoint your expectations!" Zhang Fang solemnly promised.

For the fleet's voyage to the South Seas, Liaodong prepared for several days, and it took nearly two days to load people and materials on the ship. Today, this fleet sailing to the South Seas is finally about to officially set sail.

In order to form this fleet, all the ships of more than 3,000 materials under Wei Shuo's command were recruited. Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the huge 'Laoshan'. The hull is six zhang long, two and a half zhang wide, and half a zhang deep, and there are 12 bulkheads in the ship, dividing the ship into 13 cabins.

This is the largest ship ever built at the Laoshan Shipyard, with features such as three-masted sails, pointed bottom shape and keel structure, watertight compartment structure, multiple bottom plates, and a winch for steering the tail rudder lifting, representing the highest level of Chinese shipbuilding technology at this time.

The second floor of the ship is where the personnel live, but most sailors can only live in a few people, except for the captain and first mate and some technicians, who have their own suites. But even so, this living environment is very satisfying for many sailors.

Traveling at sea is always a frustrating experience, not only to endure the rough and bumpy, but also to live in an extremely bad environment at sea. During the construction of the Laoshan ship, Wei Shuo specially told him to provide a comfortable environment for the people on the voyage as much as possible.

The wharf was crowded with officials and crowds of people who had come to see them off. Zhang Fang stood on the 'Laoshan' and slowly sailed away from Port Arthur, announcing the official departure of the entire fleet. Zhang Fang stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the huge fleet behind him, and the officers and soldiers standing on the deck, elated, with a lot of thoughts.

The future is uncertain, but he has no regrets!

The ocean-going fleet, composed of nearly 1,300 sailors and merchants, is about to embark on a completely unfamiliar journey, and in the face of unknown dangers, they not only need to cooperate with each other, but also need a qualified leader -- Zhang Fang. From the moment the ship sailed, all their lives and loyalties had been entrusted to Zhang Fang's hands.

The whole fleet was lucky, they set sail on this day and the sea was calm, Wei Shuo waved at the sailboat that was gradually moving away, at that moment his heart suddenly swelled with a trace of sadness, he couldn't predict how many of them would disappear forever on the sea when the fleet returned, they were all brave explorers of this era!

"My lord, how much do you think this fleet voyage to the South Seas can bring us?"

Yang Tan stood beside Wei Shuo, and asked with longing in his eyes, among all the subordinates of the staff, Yang Tan cared about the ocean-going fleet the most, after all, no time the fleet returned to bring a huge amount of income to Shui Cao.

"You have to have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!" Wei Shuo replied casually.

"Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver? Isn't that higher than the tax paid in the first half of this year for maritime trade? Could it be that Nanyang is really as gold everywhere as the lord said? ”

"I don't know if it's gold, but it's rich in gold, silver and copper. As long as we occupy Nanyang, we will no longer have to worry about money in the future. ”

"Forget it, don't talk about this, let's go, let's go back to Xiangping!" As the fleet disappeared into the distance, Wei Shuo returned to Xiangping with his people, where there were more important matters waiting for him to deal with.

……

"Is there any new movement from Shile?" As soon as he returned to Xiangping, Weishuo couldn't wait to ask about the situation of Xiangguo Shile.

Gao Zhan stood up and replied: "Lord Qiqi, according to the report from the scout, Shi Le has successfully confused Wang Jun after a series of actions before, but he has not yet shown signs of aggressively attacking Youzhou, and it seems that Shi Le will not make any moves this year." ”

"What the hell is Shiler doing? Jizhou has been settled, and Wang Jun has also fallen into his calculations, what is he still worried about? ”

By now, Wei Shuo also has to admire Shi Le's tenacity, it seems that he will never make a move unless it is foolproof.

"If the next expectation is good, Shile should still have a henchman problem that has not yet been solved!"

"And Liu Kun!?"