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"Brother Li, it's time for the fleet to go north to come back!" Geng Jingzhong asked leisurely with the tea bowl.

"Well, it's almost time out, and the fleet hasn't sent anyone back, which means that the fleet is a good thing, and they will deal with some small things themselves!" Li Guangdi is also paying attention to the affairs over there, after all, he is the big housekeeper, and he will deal with everything first. "By the way, Shizi, the head of the Gu family, the head of the Wang family, came to report yesterday that the cargo of the ocean-going fleet has been basically prepared, and now the cargo from the north is missing!"

"You can't rush this out, they will come back naturally after they have done the job. Besides, when the fleet set off, we gave them two months. According to the scheduled situation, there should be half a month. But that's fine, it's already November, and it will be December when the fleet returns south, and the ocean-going fleet will set sail. When our goods were delivered to Korea, Wa and Jiaozhi in the south, they also happened to celebrate the Spring Festival, and the goods happened to be selling well! ”

Many countries in Asia, such as South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc., have always had the tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year. This is true in the 21st century, but Japan is the only country that has not maintained its traditional culture of welcoming the Lunar New Year. In fact, before the Meiji Restoration, Japan also celebrated the Spring Festival, and after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese New Year was changed from the Chinese New Year to the New Year's Day of the new calendar year, and New Year's Day is the "first day" to welcome the new year.

Li Guangdi thought about it, and it was also true that not all of their goods were for Westerners, and many of them were to be transported to the East. North Korea is not as good as China economically. But the population is huge, not to mention those ordinary people. Even the rich are a lot. At this time, the Qing court was still very friendly and relaxed towards these subject countries. Every year, you only need to pay tribute to 100 taels of gold, 1,000 taels of silver, 200 pairs of buffalo horns, 100 mink skins, 100 deer skins, 1,000 bags of tea, 400 otter skins, 300 green millet skins, 10 buckets of pepper, 26 waist knives, 200 knives, 200 catties of sumu, 1,000 rolls of large paper, 1,500 rolls of small paper, 40 collars of five-clawed dragon mats, 40 collars of flower mats, 200 horses of white ramie cloth, 2,000 horses of cotton silk, 400 horses of fine linen, 10,000 horses of fine cloth, 4,000 horses of homespun cloth, and 10,000 bags of rice.

These numbers are public. Li Guangdi remembers it clearly. Such a little thing is simply pediatric for a country, and it is purely for show, representing submission. By this time, private handicraft farms had developed in North Korea, replacing state-run workshops, which greatly stimulated the development of handicrafts that produced goods for sale. The increase in commercial activity in North Korea has also contributed to the rise of commercial agriculture, which in turn has led to a beginning of changes in rural life. In short, the current North Korea, when it comes to the average living standard of the people, is worse than China. However, it is stronger than the Wa State. It's absolutely right to do business with them.

"But Shizi, we have more than forty big ships, and the cargo is almost ten times the number of four hundred ships in the north! Just a few places in the north and south, can you digest it? Li Guangdi is still a little worried, if these places can't digest these things, and then pull them back, isn't it a loss?

Geng Jingzhong was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then laughed. "Brother Li. You're worried. Do you know how big Korea, the Wa Kingdom, and many other places in Southeast Asia are? Adding up to half of China, the total population is more than our whole country, are you still afraid that things will not sell? In addition, Manila and Batavia in the south are the territory of Westerners. There are a large number of Western merchants entrenched there, and our things are rare to them, and they must be rushing to buy them! ”

It's no wonder that Lee thinks this way. The eyes of readers in this era are basically in China. No one will set his sights on the Gentiles. In the Heavenly Empire, only others worship the suzerain. There is no Shangbang concerned about foreign countries. Just like before Geng Jingzhong crossed, he pulled a random person on the street and asked who the president of the United States was, then he knew 100% about Obama! But you have to ask him, who is the president of Vietnam? Ninety-nine percent of the people who guarantee it don't know!

And in this era, there is not even a decent map of the world, and many places are blank. People don't know how big the world really is, and it is common sense for Li Guangdi to be confused. But Geng Jingzhong is very clear, he has seen the world map of later generations, although the details are not very clear, but the positions of the world's seven continents and four oceans are clearly remembered, and the general outline can also be said.

"Really? The area is less than ours, and the population is more than us? Li Guangdi was a little unconvinced. There are nearly 10,000 people in more than 20 provinces in the country, and those surrounding areas are all small countries, how can they be compared?

"The information is absolutely correct, whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway!" Geng Jingzhong looked at Li Guangdi and still didn't believe it, and rolled his eyes helplessly and said. "Let those people in the company wait first, anyway, the world is not in a hurry, if they really can't wait, they will send five or six ships to Korea or the Japanese country first, anyway, it is not far away. The five of them just have an idea about the company's affairs, don't always ask me about anything, I'm not omnipotent, they are still good at doing business! ”

"Alright! I'll get back to them later. ”

Geng Jingzhong's goal was to develop the Ocean Trading Company into a behemoth like the Dutch East India Company, and many things could not be decided by him, but he had to let go when it was time to let go. Now he is still needed to control the general direction, and when the company grows and grows in the future, he only needs to firmly grasp the military power in his hands, and other things can be delegated to the shareholders. Otherwise, he himself would have become Zhu Yuanzhang and Yongzheng in the history of his previous life, and he would be exhausted to death.

Several shareholders of the company did not stop when they received Geng Jingzhong's words, and really sent six ships to North Korea and the Japanese Kingdom. The purpose of their trip was to sell goods, to send a large number of local products to the Korean kingdom, but they did not expect to bring back a large number of goods, so that the round trip could take a month at most, and even shortened.

In half a month, the offshore formations going north finally returned, and the time was just right. It's really a day no more, a day no less, a whole two months. This trip can be said to be very smooth. There were no storms, pirates or anything like that. Such a large formation is an encounter with pirates. The pirates didn't dare to do it either. Not to mention the size of the fleet, let's talk about the blue tiger flag on the ship, and those pirates did not dare to move. In a few months, the situation on the Fujian side has spread throughout the Chinese seas, and all the pirates dare not move when they see the ships with the tiger flag on a blue background, for fear of summoning the Mawei Navy and destroying them! The ocean-going formation was formed, and the Kunpeng flag was hoisted, which the pirates didn't know about yet. I don't know which pirate will be the first to rush forward in the future.

The 300 ships that entered the Yangtze River were the first to complete their mission, and even the ships that traveled as far as Wuhan in Hubei Province returned to the mouth of the Yangtze River five days ahead of schedule to make peace with the large army. The speed was slightly slower than the 100 ships that continued north to Tianjin and entered the Yellow River, to be exact, the 50 ships that entered the Yellow River were slow. Although it was winter and the Yellow River was relatively gentle, the fleet was too far away and spent a lot of time on the road. They were no slower than the rest of the fleet, and there was not much fresh fruit on the eighty ships. Basically, they are preserved fruits that are easy to preserve, and they are shipped immediately and local specialties are purchased at the same time as they stop at one place, and they are very fast.

Winter temperatures in the north are low. A lot of the work on the ship was made of the problem of not adapting to the water and soil, and the same was true for the soldiers in disguise with the ship, and it was normal for them to vomit and diarrhea. Cotton clothing was also urgently purchased for all crew members on board. Let everyone put it on, just like that, all of them still shout cold! This season. There was no fresh cargo left in the north, and the trees were all bare. It is very different from the evergreen scene in Fujian all year round. The fruits here are all made into preserved fruits, and the quantity is very large, which is not as difficult to buy as in the Jiangnan area.

The boundaries of the Yellow River estuary, Shandong, and Henan are mainly noodles, and there are many local specialties that are also related to noodles, but the taste is very good, so that the Fujian people who eat rice all year round feel a handful of northern flavors. The dozens of ships that went to the capital were the fastest, and their task was not to do business at all, but to enter the capital to give gifts. Dozens of ships entered Tianjin Bay, leaving 30 ships, and the other 20 ships were loaded with the most valuable glass mirrors and other glass products, tens of thousands of bottles of perfume, hundreds of pocket watches, hundreds of table clocks, and a large number of Fujian and Guangdong specialties diverted the canal to the capital.

All the things on these twenty ships are to be given away, and they don't make a penny, but they are precisely the most important. After the things were sent to the capital, all the matters were handed over to Geng Hou to take care of. He has been in the capital for two years, in charge of the intelligence work in the capital, and it can be said that he knows the capital well. A large number of glass mirrors, glassware, perfumes, silks, clocks, etc., were sent to the palace and to the concubines, and everyone had a share, and the total amount on the gift list to the emperor reached one million taels. In fact, Geng Hou knew in his heart that most of these things were produced in Fujian. Just like those glass mirrors, it is a hundred times more difficult to make a large glass mirror than to make a small one, and the cost of making the largest piece is seven or eight thousand taels, and the market is worth 10,000 taels of silver. In fact, the cost is only a few dozen taels, and Geng Jingzhong can have as much as he wants. But in order not to destroy the market, only so much was produced. If this stuff is overflowing, it won't make much money.

Kangxi was very satisfied with this gift, and the queen, the queen mother, the queen mother, and the imperial concubine and concubine in the palace were also very happy. Although Kangxi didn't know what King Jingnan was doing, since he was giving so many gifts to himself, he still accepted them happily. Although he had already made up his mind to deal with the three feudatories after he was in addition to Aobai, Wu Sangui was the big man in the three feudatories, and it was best to appease his Geng family.

In addition to the inner courtyard of the imperial palace, all the officials in Beijing who were above the sixth grade also received gifts from Geng Jingzhong, except for those who were not wanted to live or die, everything went into the officials' homes. Of course, the most received among the officials was Ao Bai, a powerful minister, who alone was able to send half of the palace into it. Although he has received a lot over the years, this time he still accepted it happily.

The return of the offshore fleet made the cargo of the ocean-going trade fleet more complete, and after loading, the thirty-eight newly formed Kunpeng fleets set off. The Mawei Navy accompanied the fleet all the way to Manila. The 1,000 and hundreds of kilometers by sea were not far away, and the fleet reached Manila in only ten days, driven by northwesterly winds.

The Mawei Navy also appeared in the South China Sea for the first time, greatly deterring pirates along the way. Even Manila, a Spanish colony and a well-known treaty port, was shocked by the Red Army fleet. In this way, when the Kunpeng fleet comes to do business again in the future, it will always be courteous and will not be bullied. Such a powerful fleet is no worse than the strength of the Spaniards in Asia, and it can even be said that it is even surpassed. Even the Dutch have to weigh this fleet, after all, they don't have much strength in Asia. (To be continued......)

PS: The second chapter is sent, and the third chapter is working the codeword!