In November of the fourth year of Xuande, the wharf of Xin'an Mansion was crowded with people, colorful flags fluttering, and gongs and drums were noisy.

Li Yuntian and Mu Sheng sat side by side in the middle of a straw hut on the dock, chatting and laughing while drinking tea, the battle situation in Jiaozhi was now firmly in the hands of the two, and they naturally felt relaxed and comfortable.

In addition to Li Yuntian, there were also Zhang Ben, the second assistant of the military cabinet, Huang Fu, the political envoy of Jiaozhi, Wang Jin, the chief eunuch of the chief bingbi of the ceremonial supervisor, Wang Jian, the left deputy commander-in-chief, Liang Shaojie, the right deputy commander-in-chief, and Chen Zhi, the chief soldier of Rongchangbo, all of whom were important officials of the Ming Dynasty in Jiaozhi, and they said a few words to Li Yuntian from time to time, and the atmosphere seemed very relaxed.

On both sides of the straw hut are people wearing official uniforms and brocade robes, looking full of magnificence, either rich or expensive, talking and laughing there with their eyebrows fluttering, a joyful scene.

"It's coming!" Suddenly, a voice of surprise came from the crowd.

When the people on the wharf heard this, they all looked at the sea in the distance, and then there was a commotion, and some small black spots appeared on the sea.

Li Yuntian glanced up at those small black dots, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a hint of a smile, and continued to talk and laugh with Mu Sheng and the others.

Obviously, the little black dots that appear on the sea level are ships, the fleets that set off for the South Seas last year to trade overseas with the countries of the South Seas.

After a year's journey at sea, Li Daniu finally led the fleet back to the dock, which was at least ten miles away from the wharf, and it would take some time to reach the port.

According to the information obtained by Li Yuntian in advance, this overseas trade trip was very smooth, and the fleet went west all the way to Ceylon, leaving nearly 100 people in Ceylon, openly engaged in commercial activities and secretly collecting local military, political and geographical information.

Ceylon, which is later known as Sri Lanka, is located at the southern end of the Pauk Strait, and the northern end of the Pauk Strait is the famous Tianzhu.

For Li Yuntian, Li Daniu came back in a very timely manner, and the reconstruction of Jiaozhi and the military expenses of more than 200,000 troops in Jiaozhi had almost exhausted the funds in his hands.

The outside world did not know that Li Yuntian now only had 20,000 or 30,000 taels of silver left on hand, and the military rations were only enough to eat for four or five months.

If Li Daniu does not return to the voyage, then Li Yuntian's life at the end of the year will not be easy, although 20,000 or 30,000 taels of silver seems to be a lot, but the expenditure of the entire Jiaozhi local yamen is responsible for the Jiaozhi political envoy department, and the Jiaozhi political envoy department has to apply for funds from him, once the capital chain in Li Yuntian's hand is broken, the operation of the local yamen in Jiaozhi will be affected.

Now, Li Yuntian is counting on the tariffs collected from this overseas trade to fill the treasury in his hand, and the use of taxes to rebuild Jiaozhi is the fundamental reason why he came to quell the rebellion this time, and only by developing the economy of Jiaozhi and improving the people's livelihood in Jiaozhi can he truly make Jiaozhi peaceful and stable for a long time.

As an important stepping stone for Li Yuntian's overseas strategy, he is bound to ensure the stability of Jiaozhi, otherwise it will disrupt his layout in the South China Sea.

According to the original plan, Li Daniu should return in August, but there are many uncertain factors in the sea voyage, so it is inevitable that the return date of the fleet will be delayed.

Faced with this situation, Li Yuntian had no other way but to wait, he knew very well that this kind of thing was urgent, and Li Daniu would definitely be like an arrow, but after all, this was the first time that overseas trade would more or less encounter some trouble.

After more than half an hour, the fleet slowly sailed into the harbor amid the cheers of the people, and the decks of each ship were lined up with soldiers, waving to the crowd on the dock.

"Commander-in-Chief, please." After waiting for a flagship-like Zheng He treasure ship to dock on the dock, Mu Sheng got up with a smile and made a gesture of invitation to Li Yuntian.

"Grandpa Guo, please." Li Yuntian smiled and made a gesture of invitation to Mu Sheng, and the two walked side by side to the Zheng He treasure ship.

At the same time, Li Daniu, who was wearing a black military dress of the Lecture Hall and an embroidered spring knife with a gold handle and silver sheath hanging from his waist, strode down from the Zheng He treasure ship, followed by a group of people dressed in foreign costumes.

"Lord Commander-in-Chief, I am fortunate not to be dishonored, and I have successfully completed my lord's entrustment, but the sea journey is difficult and I missed the time to return to China, please forgive me!" After getting off the boat, Li Daniu walked quickly in front of Li Yuntian, bowed his hand at Li Yuntian, and said in a deep voice.

"General Li Shen has worked hard and made great achievements, what a crime." Hearing this, Li Yuntian smiled and helped Li Daniu up, and then introduced Mu Sheng beside him, "This is the Duke of Qianguo who guards Yunnan, and he will encircle and suppress the Jiaozhi rebels together with this official." ”

"See Grandpa Guo!" Li Daniu saw Mu Sheng for the first time, and hurriedly saluted Mu Sheng.

"Lord General Soldier, seeing you and General Li, my lord feels that he is old, he is really a terrible boy!" Mu Sheng smiled and helped Li Daniu up and said to Li Yuntian.

Li Yuntian and Li Daniu are both young people in their twenties, and even Chen Zhi, Wang Tong and Liu Sheng, who have made great achievements, could not quell the Jiaozhi rebellion, and now under the pressure of Li Yuntian's bullets, they have become the end of the crossbow, as long as Li Yuntian is willing, the 200,000 army can set foot on Yi'an City day and night.

This really made Mu Sheng feel a little embarrassed, thinking that he and Liu Sheng marched into Jiaozhi together, but was first stopped by the rebels in Zhili Prefecture, and then chased and killed by the rebels, and the wolf bèi was unbearable to withdraw to Yunnan, now I feel a little embarrassed to think about it.

"Grandpa Guo has won the award, my juniors are still inexperienced, and the momentum is more than stable enough, and we still need an old and serious person like Grandpa Guo to press the battle, otherwise I will suffer a big loss." Li Yuntian hurriedly shook his head with a smile when he heard this, and said to Mu Sheng with a humble face, he still understands the truth that Mu Xiu will be destroyed by Lin Feng, how can he get carried away?

Mu Sheng's compliments to Li Yuntian were very useful, and his eyes looking at Li Yuntian couldn't help but get a lot closer, it was very rare for a young man like Li Yuntian to be ambitious and introverted, and he was happy to deal with Li Yuntian.

"Lord Commander, Grandpa Guo, these are envoys sent by the kings of the Nanyang countries, taking advantage of their humble duties to go south to meet the emperor." After a few words of greeting, Li Daniu stretched out his hand and pointed at the people in alien costumes who followed him, and said to Li Yuntian and Mu Sheng.

When those people saw Li Daniu's gesture pointing at them, they saluted Li Yuntian and Mu Sheng one after another, knowing that these two were high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty.

"Come on, let the people of Ning Yuanyi entertain them." Li Yuntian bowed his hand to those envoys, ordered the officials on the side in a deep voice, and then returned to the city with Mu Sheng, Li Daniu and his party chatting and laughing.

Ningyuan post is the Yuntun City Bo Division specially received the envoys of the South and Western countries, according to the regulations to come to the Ming Dynasty to meet the Son of Heaven envoys arrived in the Ming Dynasty to live in the official post station, this is for safety, and the second is also easy to manage, so as to avoid the contradictions and conflicts between the entourage of those envoys and the locality.

Among them, Guangzhou City Bo Division set up "Huaiyuan Station", Quanzhou City Bo Division set up "Lai Yuan Station", Ningbo City Bo Division set up "Anyuan Station", Yuntun City Bo Division set up "Ning Yuan Station".

To the surprise of those envoys who followed Li Daniu, unlike the previous Ningyuan post to eat and drink, big fish and meat, after arriving at Ningyuan Station, the post men of Ningyuan Station had the strength to tell them that due to the successive wars in Jiaozhi, the post station had limited financial resources, so except for the envoys of various countries, they could no longer afford the food and lodging of their entourage, and they had to pay relevant fees to move in.

Yi Cheng's words made the envoys suddenly commotion, and they exchanged words with each other, and no one thought that such a thing would happen.

Because they were accustomed to taking advantage of the situation in the past, after a brief discussion, some envoys protested to the post minister, believing that this was difficult for the strong man and would damage the prestige of the great tomorrow.

"Daming is a state of etiquette, has always been hospitable, my Emperor Taizong Gu Nianer and other long-distance travel is not easy, so the courtesy, the reward is rich, but now the war is in full swing, my Ming 200,000 rebel army is fighting fiercely with the rebels in Qinghua Mansion, you and others do not understand my Ming difficulties but blame, the official wants to ask, what do you want to come to Daming? Do you really admire my great tomorrow's might? ”

In the face of the accusations of those envoys, the post man was not afraid at all, but looked at them coldly and asked word by word.

The envoys who were protesting in protest fell silent after learning from their respective interpreters that Yi Cheng had asked him seriously, and their faces showed a look of surprise, never expecting that this post man would question their motives for coming to Daming.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to being a state of etiquette, I also advocate etiquette exchanges, if you think that the cost of your visit to my Ming will be borne by my Ming, then the cost of my Ming visit to your country should be borne by your country, I wonder if you can agree with what this official said?"

Taking advantage of the moment when the envoy was stunned, the post man spoke again, looked at everyone with a stern expression and said.

This made the envoys even more stunned, and whispered among themselves that Zheng He's first six voyages to the West and Li Daniu's trip to the South Seas through the South Seas were all at their own expense, and if the local state was responsible for the expenses of the fleet of more than 10,000 people, some small countries would undoubtedly be in an embarrassment.

"Daming is the kingdom of the Heavenly Empire, prosperous and rich, we and other remote small countries are poor and weak, it is not easy to come to Daming once, and I really can't afford the expenses in Daming." Just when the atmosphere at the scene became quite awkward, an envoy said to Yicheng in half-baked Jiangnan dialect that he wanted to break the current deadlock.

"If it's so difficult, why do you bring so many retinues here?" A sneer flashed at the corner of Yi Cheng's mouth, and he looked at the envoy who spoke quietly, "As far as this official knows, you don't need so many people to bring tribute to the emperor!" ”

The envoy was dumbfounded when he heard this, he didn't expect Yicheng's question to be so sharp, and he didn't know how to answer for a while, in order to promote the prestige of the Ming Dynasty overseas, Emperor Yongle not only rewarded the envoys who came to the Ming Dynasty, but also gave a lot of preferential treatment in trade affairs.

The Nanyang countries are far away from the Ming Dynasty, and it is not safe to pass through the pirate-infested sea area on the way, so those Nanyang envoys come to the Ming Dynasty thousands of miles away, in addition to admiring the Tianwei of the Ming Dynasty, the main reason is to trade with the Ming Dynasty, and only get a lot of profits from it.

In the final analysis, economic interests are the main motivation for those Nanyang countries to come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute, and the Ming Dynasty has been doing loss-making business for more than 20 years in order to maintain the majesty of the Celestial Empire.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my Ming official army is fighting fiercely with the rebels, please forgive me for the difficulties of my officials." Seeing that the envoys present had fallen silent, the postman bowed to them and bowed.

When the envoys heard this, they first looked at each other, then shook their heads helplessly, and with a depressed expression, they handed over the food and lodging expenses of the entourage according to the request of the post officer.

They came to Daming this time with a lot of private goods, and wanted to trade with Daming to profit from it, how could they fall out with Yicheng because of this small accommodation fee, wouldn't that be a bamboo basket for water, and the gains outweighed the losses?