All kinds of universities and halls began to spring up in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces like mushrooms after a rain, and quickly rose from the ground.

Zhou Changjun, who is in charge of the Foreign Trade Department, is not idle.

After several months of hard work, all the grain taxes in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, almost tens of millions of quintals of grain, have entered the granaries of various localities and are waiting to be processed.

At the same time, a large amount of surplus grain, cattle, sheep and livestock scattered in the hands of the tun people...... It was also accepted by the Governor's Mansion at a relatively low price, and was ready to be sold at a high price.

At this moment, Mr. Zhou was sitting in his office, listening to the deputy director of the Foreign Trade Department report on the achievements and achievements of the Foreign Trade Department over the past month.

"My lord....so far, the amount of grain in the hands of our foreign trade department has reached an astonishing 13 million quintals. In addition to the five million quintals left for the governor's palace for emergency purposes, there are eight million quintals that can be sold. ”

"In terms of cattle and sheep: there are 190,000 sheep in total, more than 6,300 cattle, and more than 6,500 horses that are not suitable for war horses, and they urgently need to be sold..."

"In order not to affect the prices in the Central Plains and the North Zhili area. These areas are in dire need of large quantities of food, cattle and sheep. However, the Department of Foreign Trade did not dare to act rashly..."

"In the past few months, the Department of Foreign Trade has only imported 1.5 million quintals of grain to these areas, totaling more than 25,000 cattle and sheep, and earned back 9.56 million taels of silver. So far, all of this silver has been handed over to the Governor's Palace......"

Hearing this, a satisfied smile appeared directly on Zhou Lao's face. Affirming to his deputy.

"Good job... In four months, there was almost tens of millions of taels of silver. Even after excluding various costs, there are almost six million taels... At this rate of making money. Year down. That's almost 20 million taels. It's not much different from the old man's guarantee at the Standing Committee..."

"How about it, in the process of exporting, is there any other problem that can't be solved?"

"There is a ......" As soon as Zhou Lao finished speaking, the deputy director opened his mouth to affirm.

"The biggest problem is the sale of these grains and cattle and sheep...... Although the demand for the Central Plains and Beizhili is very large, if we hoard the grain, cattle and sheep in our hands, all of them will flow into Beizhili and the Central Plains. It is bound to have a great impact on the prices of goods in these places. ”

"In this case, we will not be able to achieve the high profit as expected. Not only that, but those grains purchased from the tunmin will not only not make money, but will also lose money because of the decline in prices in the Central Plains and Beizhili....Therefore, in order to ensure sufficient profits, we must find other ways to sell them..."

As an old man who has been in the shopping mall for a long time, Mr. Zhou is very aware of the huge impact that oversupply can have on prices. So. As soon as the subordinates' words were finished, the smile on Old Zhou's face was replaced by solemnity.

After some contemplation. He asked his subordinates in front of him: "Does the Foreign Trade Department have any specific solutions, of course, you can have your own ideas, say it, and the official will analyze it for you......"

Under Zhou Lao's encouraging gaze, his subordinates replied tentatively: "My lord, Xiaguan does have some ideas here, but I don't know if it's feasible..."

"Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, the Central Plains and North Zhili also needed food. In order to ensure our interests in the two places, we must not import too much grain into the two places. Therefore, if you want to find other sales channels, you can only look for them from places other than the Ming Dynasty..."

"Thinking about it, the slave thought of Houjin, Mongolia, and even Korea, and Japan in the east, which we often call the Japanese ......."

"Xia Guan thinks that no matter what state these countries are in with us, we can sell each other's grain, cattle and sheep at very high prices. For we can use the grain, cattle and sheep that the other side urgently needs, and plunder as much wealth as possible from these countries..."

"As a result, the wealth of these countries will become less and less, and the war potential, as a result, will become smaller and smaller. And I, the Governor's Mansion of Shanxi, can develop myself and increase my war potential by virtue of the large wealth I have earned from these countries......"

"Xia Guan also gave this kind of economic plunder a special name, that is, 'economic warfare'... Through guò economic warfare, weaken the enemy's strength, and increase your own strength......."

Spending the money on war is definitely a very innovative idea. However, Zhou Lao still figured out this idea at the first time, and made an attitude of approval of this idea.

However, such a big matter is obviously not something that he can decide as a deputy prime minister.

With an appreciative look at his subordinates, Zhou Lao replied directly: "Your ideas are very good, and they coincide with some of the ideas and ideas that the marshal once told me." Therefore, this official decided to take you to meet the marshal, hoping that you can fight for this opportunity to show your face in front of the marshal. ”

Zhou Lao was not wrong, as soon as the deputy director of the Foreign Trade Department said his thoughts, Wei Zheng looked at him with a look of impress.

After that, I didn't think about answering to this deputy director called Xiang Lian: "Your idea is very good, but there are still great difficulties in implementing it......

"It is true that food can be exchanged for a very large wealth from these countries. However, grain can also increase the strength of the opponent in a certain way. Therefore, relying only on grain, cattle, sheep and horses, in addition to exchanging huge wealth for Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, will not achieve the ultimate goal you said at all. ”

Seeing the thoughtful expression on the other party's face, Wei Zheng changed his words and continued: "However, if we sell the other party's grain, cattle and sheep at the same time, and then forcibly sell some accessories to the other party, then it is very likely that your goal of weakening the other party's war potential through guò economic means will be achieved. ”

Being able to think of economic warfare, something that only appeared in the next few hundred years, shows that Xiang Lian, deputy director of the Foreign Trade Department, is a very intelligent person.

Therefore, as soon as Wei Zheng's words were finished, two rays of light shot out from Xiang Lian's eyes.

Facing Wei Zheng with an expectant expression, he asked rhetorically: "Dashuai, what do you mean is to sell our unique glass mirror and refined salt to these countries by the way......"

Wei Zheng nodded in affirmation: "Not only refined salt and glass mirrors, but also the flintlock muskets we sold to the imperial court and Houjin...... Everything that is impossible to threaten us with a qiē can be sold to these countries. ”

"If you think about it, whether it's a glass mirror, or refined salt and flintlock muskets, these are things that only the rich can afford, or the nobles of these countries. Ben Shuai is sure that as long as we send these things to these countries, it will definitely make the nobles and rich people of these countries go crazy...."

"In Ben Shuai's eyes, the more crazy and obsessed they are with these things, the more silver we can earn from them. And these countries are exchanging untold wealth for a bunch of things that are only useful for their personal pleasure. But for their country there is hardly anything that does not work ...

At this time, the expression on Xiang Lian's face can already be described by the word 'excited'.

Yes, it's exciting... I am excited that my ideas have been recognized by the big handsome Wei Zheng, and I am excited that the ideas that the big handsome Wei Zheng put forward to him have to make up for the shortcomings as much as possible...

At this moment, Zhou Lao spoke: "Dashuai, I think that after your perfection, these 'economic warfare' ideas of the deputy director can be completely implemented..."

"I believe that with the help of this 'economic war', in a few years, these countries that have been attacked by the 'economic war' will collapse because of the massive plundering of national wealth. Under such circumstances, we in the Haw Par Army can destroy these countries with little need to use too many troops..."

"Not only that, but I also thought that this kind of 'economic warfare' could not only be directed against Houjin, Mongolia, Dongying, Japan, and North Korea...... These hostile countries, we can also appropriately point the finger at the imperial court. ”

"Every time, it was the court that calculated us, and we fought back. This time, it will also give the imperial court a taste of being calculated, and let them also taste the power of this 'economic warfare'..."

"Finally, I have another idea....... this idea of 'economic warfare' was put forward to the deputy director. In addition, Deputy Director Xiang is young and promising, and my age is also beaten, so I can't manage so many things. Therefore, I would like to ask the marshal for approval to delay me from the post of director of the foreign trade department, and let the deputy director Xiang serve as the director of the foreign trade department, and concretely implement this so-called 'economic warfare'."

"And I, the deputy prime minister in charge of the Department of Foreign Trade, will only assist from the side and carry out some coordination work to ensure that the 'economic warfare' of Xiang Lian can be carried out smoothly and achieve the desired goal..."

In the face of Zhou Lao's mentions, Xiang Lian, who was also excited, finally reacted from the excitement.

However, in front of this mention, Xiang Lian fell into shock again and did not react for a long time.

However, the two scorching gazes that shot out of his eyes betrayed the madman in his heart at this moment, the desire for the director of the Foreign Trade Department.

For this thought, Wei Zheng did not show the slightest dissatisfaction on his face.

As a soldier of later generations, Wei Zheng believes in one sentence very much, that is: 'A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier'.

If this sentence is placed here, it is: 'An official who does not want to be a big official is not a good official'.

Therefore, under the simultaneous gaze of the two pairs of eyes, Wei Zheng affirmed without thinking.

"Yes, Zhou Lao's proposal to be agreed to be held....this commander immediately proposed to convene a standing committee and appoint Xiang Lian as the director of the Foreign Trade Department to specifically implement this so-called 'economic warfare'." (To be continued......)