In August of the Song calendar, the biggest event in Fuzhou and Quanzhou was the preparation of the fleet to the south. The scale of the fleet going south this time was even larger, and the total number of Zhao Jiaren's fleet was as high as 500 ships, and the number of other fleets also reached as many as 250 ships.

The shareholders who can join the big fleet are shareholders, and their ships have not increased much in terms of quantity, firstly, Zhao Jiaren does not want the wealth of these people to grow too fast, and secondly, the ships of these people have been replaced by large ships, the number of which has not increased much, and the tonnage of transportation has increased by about double.

Sitting opposite Qi Rong was Zhou Xing, every time he saw Zhou Xing, Qi Rong easily remembered that Zhou Xing had said in private that he would learn all of Zhao Jiaren's navigation skills, and then form a fleet to do it himself. However, every time he saw Zhou Xing, Qi Rong felt that this person seemed to be more and more calm, that is, he was getting farther and farther away from establishing an independent fleet.

Of course, these words can't be spoken, Qi Rong knows how many people are looking forward to joining Zhao Jiaren's Navigation Guild now, if Qi Rong is willing to take the initiative to leave, more people will be very happy to choose to join. It's one thing to feel that you have been exploited by Zhao Jiaren, and after leaving the Nautical Guild, the collapse of income is the key.

There was something in his heart, and Qi Rong couldn't help but look at his younger brother. As the big shopkeeper of Renda Qianzhuang, this younger brother has handled more than Jianxian Qianzhuang every year. As for personal property, Qi Rong felt that his cousin might already be the richest one in the Qi family. If he could decisively make the choice to defect to Zhao Jiaren back then, maybe he could have such an achievement at this time, right?

"Ladies and gentlemen, the key point set by this shipping is that all ballast will be made of iron pots." Yuan Hongjie, secretary general of the Nautical Guild, announced the latest requirements. In fact, there is only one active proposal this year, and the others no longer need to be uniformly enforced, and those shareholders who have made huge profits have put forward many requests and suggestions.

The source of the iron pot is relatively simple, Foshan on Guangnan East Road is the center of iron smelting, and the output of the iron pot is very large. However, the ballast of the big food merchants was copper coins before, and the iron pot was useless. At present, the nautical guild strictly prohibits carrying copper coins out, and metal products such as iron pots have become an important part of external sales.

After the meeting was over, Qi Rong called his cousin Qi Ye, "Gorou, let's have dinner together tonight." ”

Qi Ye shook his head, "No, I have something." ”

“…… That's it. Qi Rong said regretfully. After saying that, he was still unwilling, so he asked, "Then when are you free?" ”

Qi Ye is not perfunctory Qi Rong, Zhao Jiaren is also very busy with work here, and Renda Money Village has released so many silver coins in order to activate the entire market. As the big shopkeeper, Qi Ye is busy with his work. So Qi Ye said: "Big brother, if you have anything, you can say it now." ”

"Two things, the first is that I want to buy more silk." Qi Rong said.

Seeing that his eldest brother was still thinking old, Qi Ye looked left and right, and pulled his eldest brother to a secluded place, "Big brother, if you want to make a lot of money, it is better to hurry up and get some landless poor people and go to Siam as Zhao Zhizhou talked about to cultivate and cultivate." ”

"Will it work?" Qi Rong couldn't help but ask with a skeptical expression. They also invested in the immigration of Jeju Island before, but the unconscionable immigrants started local homesteaders after arriving on Jeju Island, and Zhao Jiaren did not give the Qi family land, even if they did not lose money, they did not achieve the goal of making money at all.

"I think okay, do you believe it or not?" Qi Ye said decisively.

“…… The second thing is that people from all walks of life are trying to bring goods that make a lot of money. You point out a lot of money-making goods. Qi Rong continued.

Qi Ye lowered his voice, "Isn't it possible for our family to get cheap paper, if it were me, in addition to the iron pot, a batch of paper would be transported." ”

After answering the two questions, Qi Ye continued to go about his own business. As the big shopkeeper, he has a very high level among investors, and those commodities with the highest profits can get a dividend, so Qi Ye doesn't care about what commodities he invests in at all. The entire Nautical Guild was the object of his investment.

In the afternoon, Zhao Jiaren's cadres gathered for a collective meeting. The first is the division of labor, and each cadre has to receive his own errands. After the division, Zhao Jiaren put forward a problem that needs to be solved by working together, "The first is to get a transportation line for coal. Everyone should pay more attention when they go to various places. ”

The problem of coal has been raised for several years, but many problems have not been solved. Everyone nodded their heads as before.

Zhao Jiaren didn't say anything more about this old question, and he continued to say the next question, "There will be problems with soybean supply next year." ”

"Principal, the place where we grow soybeans may not be able to produce them next year?" Liu Yong, who came back from visiting relatives to attend the meeting, asked Zhao Jiaren in surprise.

Zhao Jiaren nodded. Along with the Gongtian Reform, the first to be hit by the Gongtian Reform were the big landlords, whose land was forcibly purchased by the imperial court. Zhao Jiaren had been renting land to grow soybeans before, and this time the big landowners in Jiangnan could not continue to fulfill the contract, and Zhao Jiaren also had to brainstorm.

A large number of cadres are not very clear about this matter, so Zhao Jiaren first briefly introduced. "The imperial court implemented the reform of public land, and the land of large landlords would be divided. When the dust settles on this matter, it will take about two or three years. And most of the land we rent to grow soybeans is in these four roads. ”

Hearing this, Li Hongjun blinked his eyes a few times, and then asked, "Can our cattle endure for two or three years?" ”

Although these words pointed to the problem, Li Hongjun said it interestingly, and everyone laughed together. Even Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but smile bitterly. After laughing, everyone had to face this real problem. The soybeans produced in the past are sent to Jeju Island for oil extraction, and the soybean meal left over from the oil extraction is used to feed various livestock on Jeju Island. As Li Hongjun said, livestock can't last long. This year, in any case, we have to start determining the source of next year's soybeans.

Some people have raised the question of whether the islands that Zhao Jiaren now controls can produce enough feed. Liu Meng expressed his denial without hesitation. All three islands are suitable for animal husbandry, but all three islands are barren. If you want the animals to grow fast, you can't just eat grass, you have to feed them soybean meal. What's more, one of Zhao Jiaren's big deals now is candles. In order to meet this demand, the number of livestock raised on Jeju and Inki Islands has long exceeded the limit of forage production on the islands.

At the mention of candles, a very lucrative business, the cadres looked even more solemn. Zhao Jiaren's cadres have a list of profits, and candles with profits of up to 5,000% are at the top of the list. At this stage, the highest profit is sulfur ointment with a profit of 10,000%. Sinhala and Tianzhu lack sulfur, and this drug for ringworm is more popular than you think. Sulfur is also closely related to fat, and sulfur obtained from the Ryukyus and Wakoku is first sent to Jeju Island and refined by boiling butter.

After a few pieces of information were gathered, the question on everyone's mind became, 'Where are we going to get the land to grow soybeans?' ’

The first thing to consider, of course, was the Lianghuai Road, but it was quickly denied. The Lianghuai Road is just north of the Yangtze River, and although it is not the Jiangnan area of the Gongtian Reform, it will also be greatly affected. Everyone thought they had to give it a try, and no one dared to bet on it. Then Li Hongjun proposed that Jeju Island should go to the Liaodong Peninsula every year to cut down oak trees, whether it can steal soybeans in the desolate Liaodong Peninsula.

Liu Meng immediately objected, "There are many female straighteners on the Liaodong Peninsula, and there are also Mongols. Every year we go to cut down trees, we take advantage of late autumn and winter. At that time, we wore cotton jackets, cotton clothes, footwraps, and ula grass in our shoes. At that time, the weather was very cold, and the local Nüzhi and Mongols probably didn't bother to look for us in the winter. But in the summer, those people won't be so easy to deal with. Shall we build a city over there and fight against them? ”

The cadres all know how to read the map, and as long as they look at the map of the Liaodong Peninsula, everyone will not have the mind to open up here. Most of Mongolia's capitals are not far from the Liaodong Peninsula. It is impossible for the Mongols to sit idly by and ignore the invasion of the Liaodong Peninsula by foreign forces.

The land in the north was unreliable, so someone asked, "What about the Wa Kingdom?" ”

Zhao Jiaren had already considered the Wa State very seriously, and he was only afraid that intervening in the Wa State too early would cause changes and be detrimental to the development of Iwami Yinshan, so he smiled and said: "The land that is easy to reclaim in the Wa State has been opened up, should we open up the wasteland for the Wa State?" ”

Looking around the map, the cadres were frowning. After a moment of silence, Liu Meng suddenly sighed: "The world is so big, it is difficult to have no place to grow soybeans?" ”

Poof, Zhao Jiaren was amused. However, most of the cadres had never read the poem, and everyone's reaction to this sentence was not so fierce. A lot of people don't really understand what's funny about that.

Just when Zhao Jiaren felt that he seemed to look very boring, Yuan Hongjie, the secretary general of the Navigation Guild, spoke, "Zhizhou, I have made a lot of money by doing business with Mongolia. The Han military princes in Shandong are all the leading figures in Shandong, and now the goods monopolized by the Mongolian government are controlled by Dadu, but soybeans are not monopolized. We might as well discuss it with the Han military princes from all over Shandong. ”

Many cadres can't understand Liu Meng's adaptation of 'the world's great place', and many cadres are not very clear about Yuan Hongjie's suggestion of Wen Crepe, who is also a scholar. However, Zhao Jiaren's eyes lit up, and he thought so in his heart.

Although this feeling of excitement turned into a certain worry after a while, Zhao Jiaren still felt that Yuan's suggestion was feasible. Compared with the Great Song Dynasty, which had more people and less land, the living standards of the people in the north exceeded those in the south. Because Shandong was vast and sparsely populated at this time, the locals did not lack land for farming. As for the enthusiasm of Shandong locals to buy all kinds of daily necessities, they do not refuse to trade.

"Feasible!" Zhao Jiaren replied, "But you have to go first." ”

"Do you want to try to see it?" Li Hongjun immediately asked.

Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but shake his head slightly, if there was no public land reform, the land in Lianghuai would probably be able to find rental land. However, as soon as the public land reform came out, people's hearts were shaken, and the land sale was afraid that it would not be possible. Although there are such expectations, we can't really sit idly by. Zhao Jiaren said: "The two sides work together. It's already August, and it's all going to be done quickly. ”

After the meeting, everyone from all walks of life went about their jobs. Yuan Hongjie arranged for Song Jie to contact the Han army in Shandong, and he himself began to prepare for the southward journey. Liu Meng went to Sado Island, and Zhao Jiaren promised him that as long as he worked for another year, he would let Liu Meng come back. Li Hongjun was no longer willing to go overseas, so Zhao Jiaren arranged for Li Hongjun to go to Lianghuai to discuss the matter of renting land. After all, Zhao Jiaren also rented a part of the land in Lianghuai, and since Jiangnan can't count on it, he can only hope that the situation in Lianghuai will not deteriorate.

Li Hongjun had a working conversation with Zhao Jiaren before setting off for Lianghuai, and everyone had the same opinion on Lianghuai. In times of such turmoil, everyone would be cautious. Since it's not optimistic, there's not so much nonsense. After expressing that he would do his best, Li Hongjun said: "Principal, I celebrated my fortieth birthday last year, and I will be forty-two years old this year. When I come back this time, I don't want to go out of town again. ”

For such a request, Zhao Jiaren immediately replied cheerfully: "Okay, I promise you." ”

"Really?" Li Hongjun said happily.

"Really!" Zhao Jiaren confirmed again. In this era, physical strength will decline rapidly if you are over 40 years old, and over the years following Zhao Jiaren, Li Hongjun can be said to have worked very hard and made great contributions. Of course, Zhao Jiaren will not force Li Hongjun to go out on duty.

First Li Hongjun talked about work, and Song Jie also soon came to bid farewell to Zhao Jiaren, a young man in his twenties who was full of spirit and had great hopes for the future. However, Song Jie was also a little worried, "Headmaster, will those Han Jun princes make any requests that we can't agree to?" Or will they pit us? ”

Zhao Jiaren said with a smile: "Whether it is a pit or not, it depends on how you let these people know us." ”

"How?" Song Jie came to his senses, and he felt that he could get some useful guidance from Zhao Jiaren.

"Generally speaking, people who can't work together have a characteristic, they just want money. And those who can cooperate, you ask them if there is anything they can get their hands on, and they will usually tell you something. So I don't recommend that you say we want beans when you get to Shandong. You first go to Shandong to see where there are people who buy and sell grain, and then you go to see if there are any beans to sell, and then you go along the vine to see those who have planted beans and come out to sell. We have to deal with these people, and as for the Han army and the marquis, if they themselves can produce grain to sell, we will cooperate with them. If not, don't tell them anything. Zhao Jiaren carefully recounted his views.

Song Jie is also a person who has done things, and after listening to it, he nodded again and again, "Then there are fewer people I originally wanted to bring, and this time I will bring more than 20 people." Divided into seven or eight teams. Those Han military princes, we just use them to keep us safe. ”

Seeing Song Jie's adjustment, Zhao Jiaren secretly praised in his heart, he was really teachable.