Some things are afraid of analogies. Zhao Jiaren demanded that the entire fleet obey his will and face the voyage in the way he wanted to push. At least in Zhao Jiaren's view, this is to adopt advanced thinking to face the test. Sima Kao thought of Jia Nidao to eradicate dissidents and implement a system with Jia Nidao as the core in the court.

The two views corresponded, and Zhao Jiaren felt speechless for a while. Although the truth is on the lips, 'I am talking about science in this set, and Jia Rudao is not talking about science at all'. However, such an argument always made Zhao Jiaren feel that what he said was very weak.

After thinking about it, Zhao Jiaren said to Sima Kao: "What I said benefited thousands of people in the fleet. How many of those promoted by Jia Rudao have benefited? ”

In this way, Sima Kao will not continue to talk about it. There were more than a hundred ships in the fleet, and there must have been several thousand people on board. There were only more than 20,000 officials in the Great Song Dynasty, and the number of such officials in the court of Lin'an was not as large as the number of a fleet.

"Since there are so many things such as silk and spices, Brother Zhao's fleet will probably be able to make a lot of money." Sima Kao asked.

Zhao Jiaren suspected that Sima Kao might not be convinced, but he didn't want to argue too much with Zhao Jiaren. In Sima Kao's position, it is already very rude to compare Jia Yidao with Zhao Jiaren. Since Sima Kao is like this, Zhao Jiaren said with a smile: "I think our Great Song Dynasty has a wrong idea about the South China Sea. In order to make money, those people get most of the goods that are supplied to the rich. As far as I know, what really grows in the South China Sea is spices. With spices such as pepper, star anise, cloves, cardamom and spicy bark, we can change the taste and coolness of food, allowing us to eat a wider variety of foods. ”

"Changing the nature of heat and cold?" Sima Kao listened thoughtfully.

"It's just that you need to use shredded ginger to eat crabs." Zhao Jiaren continued to explain.

At this time, Sima Kao suddenly realized that his family was from Gusu, next to Taihu Lake. When eating crabs, it is natural to blanch rice wine and add ginger shreds, which is called 'removing the cool air in crabs'.

Zhao Jiaren thought of German sausages. The Age of Discovery brought spices to Europe, because there was no effective food storage technology in the past, and pickling food was the only way to keep the food obtained in autumn through the winter, and pickling food required spices.

In Europe, spices are produced in small quantities. Portuguese navigator reached? Gamma's main purpose in circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope to India was to discover a trade route for spices. It can be said that spices, like gold and mission, were an important reason for the great geographical discoveries in Europe. The Spice Islands also got their name from the scramble of European powers over Southeast Asia. It wasn't until new products such as coffee and cocoa rose that the Spice Islands declined. From rise to decline, it took hundreds of years.

After seeing the South China Sea trade of the Great Song Dynasty, Zhao Jiaren has always felt very incomprehensible. At this time, the 'spice trade' of the Great Song Dynasty was spices such as agarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, and ambergris, rather than edible spices. Zhao Jiaren was puzzled by the weakness of the maritime trade of the Southern Song Dynasty, but he could understand why the maritime trade failed to promote the economic development of the Great Song Dynasty.

Spices are small commodities, and no matter how much money is made, the number of ships required is small. Spices are a commodity aimed at the broad masses of the people, and what is needed is a large number of ships. If the number goes up, the opening up of the South China Sea will naturally go up as well. Needless to say, Cho needed a lot of spices to boost his output on Jeju Island. If you want to cook pork well, spices are very important.

Looking at Sima Kao's thoughtful appearance, Zhao Jiaren said: "It's already October, I can't wait for those people longer, and there are as many people as there are at the moment." Whether they succeed or not depends on whether they can come back next year. ”

This is said categorically, as if full of confidence. However, Zhao Jiaren himself actually knows that this is just a lot of visions, and most of these words are emboldening statements.

The Zhao family's fleet began to make new water tanks, and the crew members on the ship all went to participate or watch. Everyone was surprised to see those thin pieces of silver being pasted into the inside of the water tank. However, when they learned that the huge tank was only a few taels of silver silver, everyone immediately lost interest.

Every home is different. Other ships were also making new tanks, but they were reluctant to let the sailors see the silver in them. The shipowners were also very serious, and they were afraid that the sailors would find out and steal the silver.

Zhao Jiaren didn't want to talk nonsense about it, he thought it was more effective to be open than not to be public in this kind of thing. However, the sailors in Zhao Jiaren's fleet were educated in biology. Know that the purpose of using silver is to sterilize. In addition, seeing that the amount of silver in the tank was very small, Zhao Jiaren thought that with the income of the sailors, they would not risk being sick by bacteria because of these few taels of silver. The ideas of those shipowners are too backward.

When it comes to the discussion that follows, Zhao Jiaren's view is even more so. At the preparatory meeting of the fleet, Zhao Jiaren proposed to purchase the goods, and he might as well take out 20% for the sailors to pay. At that time, the profit was also made by the sailors. Zhao Jiaren wants to implement such a system in his fleet. After all, it is the first time to go to the South China Sea, and it is not a problem to earn more or less, the problem is that there is no unified attitude, and Zhao Jiaren is afraid that the fleet will not be efficient.

After speaking, among the hundreds of boats, only Zhao Yichang publicly stated that he agreed with Zhao Jiaren's opinion and would do so in the six boats he led.

Other shipowners are reluctant to work on team building, and Zhao Jiaren can't force them to do so. The flotilla preparation meeting continued.

In recent years, more and more fleets have learned to use dhorns, and the transformation only requires the transformation of huge human-powered boats with rudders controlled by pulley blocks. The Mawei shipyard in Fuzhou has a large number of slipways and rich experience. The renovation went well.

In December of the second year of Jingding, the fleet began to move south. Most of the tonnage of non-Zhao Jiaren's ships in the fleet carried silk and porcelain, and Zhao Jiaren's ships were empty forty percent of the tonnage, which was reserved for the iron pots that had been set in Guangdong. The countries of the South China Sea are technologically backward, and they do not have the ability to manufacture high-tech products such as iron pots. The iron pot that is very ordinary in the Great Song Dynasty can be sold at the price of copper tripods in the upper echelons of the South China Sea countries.

Watching the fleet leave the port, Zhao Jiaren was both happy and uneasy in his heart. In terms of military power, this formidable fleet has no maritime rivals in the South China Sea, but that does not mean that the fleet itself is invincible. Now that Zhao Jiaren has made all the preparations he can make, all that remains is to wish the fleet a smooth journey.

Raising his hand and waving to the fleet, Zhao Jiaren was not the only one doing it. Thousands of family members at the port are doing the same. In the blessing of so many people, the figure of the fleet gradually disappeared at sea.