The household department is in charge of finance, and it is an extremely important department, which can be said to be second only to the ministry of officials. Ma Guangzu, the head of the household, is naturally the most highly valued one. Zhao Jiaren looked at the chubby old man, and secretly admired him for being able to withstand Jia Yidao's blow.

As an elder, Ma Guang's ancestor talked to Zhao Jiaren's father, Zhao Zhizhuo. After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Ma Guangzu put down his wine glass and asked Zhao Jiaren, "Looking at the report on Fujian Road, Quanzhou, where Jiaren is located, has recovered so quickly. Can you tell me what method I used? ”

What method was used? Lao Tzu squeezed out all the copper money to invest, and every cent he earned was used for reinvestment. Zhao Jiaren muttered in his heart. But this can't be said to Ma Guangzu, some of Zhao Jiaren's investments can't see the light now, and even in the future, they will be hidden in the shadows as much as possible. For example, Jeju Island, which is now making Cho Jia-in get huge benefits. With Jeju Island, Zhao Jiaren's shipbuilding costs plummeted, but in the eyes of those who care, this is a matter of opening up territory without permission, which is almost a rebellion.

"You have to talk about people." Zhao Jiaren spoke.

"People and ......" Ma Guangzu looked a little surprised by this word.

Zhao Jiaren replied calmly: "The Zhao family has been in Quanzhou for a hundred years, and there are some hopes. This time, I asked people to go south, and the Zhao clan participated. Although he actually didn't invest much, it made him look like a big family. Ma Shangshu, although Quanzhou businessmen may not like the Zhao family, they know that the Zhao family is most afraid of losing money, if they are not completely sure, the Zhao family will not be so showy. That's why some people are willing to go along. When everyone earns money, they don't have to use the banner of the Zhao family when they go again. ”

Because of the ridicule of the Zhao family, Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but show a wry smile. Zhao Zhihun saw that his son actually said this, he shook his head and sighed. Mrs. Zhao pursed her lips and smiled with Mrs. Ma, who was sitting next to her.

"That's a good idea." Ma Guangzu didn't have a special expression, but he just made a very fact-by-case evaluation. After thinking for a moment, Ma Guangzu felt that the doubts in his heart had been solved, and he continued to ask: "But I don't know why Jiaren wanted to receive the errand of Fuzhou Zhizhou. ”

"This time I went to the Quanzhou merchant fleet. The Fuzhou merchant fleet was suspicious of this and did not participate much. If I can be the governor of Fuzhou, I can mobilize the Fuzhou fleet to join the fleet. The more the fleet goes, the more money it makes. Zhao Jiaren exerted his ability to open his eyes and talk nonsense, and talked eloquently to Ma Guangzu.

From a psychological point of view, all people who are deceived are because the liar speaks of the inner desire of the deceived person. It is the deceived person who has their own expectations, and then they seek something similar to what they expected. If it is put in layman's terms, the clever scam is nine truths and one falsehood.

In all the details, Zhao Jiaren was telling the truth, at least what Zhao Jiaren thought in his conversation was the views of the Great Song literati on maritime trade.

On the crucial point, what Zhao Jiaren said is completely contrary to the facts. What Quanzhou caravans go more, and Fuzhou caravans go less. In fact, Zhao Jiaren's fleet, which took Fuzhou as its home port, drove many Fuzhou fleets southward, but the local fleet in Quanzhou went less.

Zhao Jiaren's purpose is to become the governor of Fuzhou, so he needs to convince people who can support him. Ma Guangzu is a celebrity, and he will probably be a celebrity. However, Ma Guangzu was a Wenchen of the Great Song Dynasty after all, and the Wenchen of the Great Song Dynasty had actual experience as an official, but he did not have a higher level of understanding. This makes it difficult for them to distinguish the real from the fake. At least Ma Guangzu didn't care about the most critical issue, how could Zhao Jiaren's fleet sail through the endless sea and find the destination accurately.

If Ma Guangzu asked, Zhao Jiaren would have prepared a reason, 'I have found an old sailor who knows the way'. Zhao Jiaren believes that Ma Guangzu will definitely be persuaded by this reason. Although this reason is not logically valid, if there were old sailors, why could it not have been like this before. Of course, Zhao Jiaren is also prepared for this.

Sure enough, after listening to Zhao Jiaren's words, Ma Guangzu couldn't help but nod slightly, and said at the same time: "If it can really be like this, that's not bad." ”

Seeing that Ma Guangzu had confidence, Zhao Jiaren continued: "Ma Shangshu. When they colluded with Mongolia, they had ghosts in their hearts, so they let his second and fourth sons return to Champa with their families. The Pu family monopolized the trade from the Great Song Dynasty to Zhancheng for decades, and now although the Great Song fleet opened the South China Sea trade route, the remnants of the Pu family in Zhancheng are only afraid of unwillingness. I'm worried that they will attack the Great Song fleet. So I want to work in Fuzhou for another term. After all, the errand of Fuzhou Zhizhou and the pacification envoy of Fujian Road can control the left wing army of the front division of the palace. If there is a left-wing army, it is possible to escort the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty with sailors. ”

Having said that, Zhao Jiaren said all the content he had prepared. He was not worried that Ma Guangzu would be able to see through the problem, and 99% of the officials of the Great Song Dynasty did not know where the city was and what the situation was in the nearby seas. Zhao Jiaren once tested the officials of Fuzhou City and Quanzhou City, and even Guangdong City. These people's understanding of the South China Sea can only be described as 'ignorant of what to do'.

It's not that these officials really believe that the sky is round and the earth is round, but that these officials don't have the concept of the earth at all, so the latitude and longitude based on this idea can never appear in their minds. That being the case, their geography is in confusion.

The officials of the City Department are still like this, and Ma Guangzu is even more so. As long as Zhao Jiaren's fleet left the port on the north wind, and Zhao Jiaren said that his fleet was near Champ, officials would believe it. An official from the Quanzhou City Department replied very representatively, "Since it is all the South China Sea, what is the difference?" As long as you can come back and pay taxes to the city. ’

It can be seen that Ma Guangzu basically feels that he has mastered Zhao Jiaren's purpose at this time. He asked, "Why is Jia Ren so adamant about this?" ”

"If there is no beginning and no end to work, I will feel uncomfortable." Zhao Jiaren's answer was categorical.

"Haha!" These words amused Ma Guangzu, and he couldn't help laughing.

Mrs. Zhao hurriedly came up to beat the side drum, "Let Ma Shangshu smile." My family Saburo is such a stubborn character, in addition to his stubborn temperament, he does things and seeks full blame, although he is the youngest son of the family, but he has never been as pleasing as the smart and clever youngest son of other people's families. ”

Ma Guangzu waved his hand, "Mrs. Zhao, I was also young, if I didn't do things as I wanted at that time, I couldn't wait to turn back time and go back to the past." Do it all over again. Jiaren's temperament is not necessarily a bad thing. But I still want to ask something, isn't it so insistent that Jiaren is so insistent for the sake of making some money for his own fleet? ”

The latter sentence is a bit sinister. No matter how fanciful Zhao Jiaren says, as long as he says, 'it is for Zhao Jiaren's own money bag', all Zhao Jiaren's efforts can be morally negated. The atmosphere during the banquet suddenly became tense, Ma Guangzu looked at Zhao Jiaren with some playfulness, and Zhao Jiaren's parents were a little nervous.

Zhao Jiaren replied calmly: "Ma Shangshu, do you think that compared with the nearly 1,000 ships on Fujian Road that can run the ocean, my family's few ships make more money, or those ships that run the ocean make more money?" As I said earlier, if my ship does not take the lead in going south, who would dare to believe that going south will make money. Everyone thinks that our Zhao family will not make a loss, so they feel that the route we take is safe. But when it comes to the sea, where is there safety. It's all left to fate. Build a ship for tens of thousands, does Ma Shangshu think that a few words with one mouth can be worth tens of thousands? ”