The fishermen of the Ming Dynasty rarely hunt whales, there are very few good whaling players in this area, Shen Lang has basically never seen the whale people of the Ming Dynasty, maybe it is too bloody to hunt large cetaceans, the people of the Ming Dynasty have always believed in Buddhism, and they can't bear to hunt such a huge cetaceans, while the Western countries and the Wa country are different, the whaling history is long, and a lot of whales are killed every year, and they eat more whale meat than beef and mutton, and they have quite rich experience in this area.

Shen Lang asked the guards to call Fu Min, who was in charge of the economy in Palembang, to see what she could do.

In less than ten minutes, Fu Min rushed to the island owner's mansion and came to Shen Lang's conference reception room.

"Master Hou, are you looking for me?" When Fu Min came to the conference room, Shen Lang was looking at the map with his back to her, and he kept pointing a few places with his fingers, which in his memory were the places where whales appeared.

"Commander Fu, you sit. Shen Lang poured a glass glass of bright red wine and put it in front of Fu Min, Fu Min immediately stood up, flattered, Shen Lang ignored her, and poured himself a glass, holding the wine glass and shaking it, the sun shone on the wine glass, the bright red wine was jumping, Shen Lang sucked lightly, and continued, "Commander Fu, how long can the grain in Palembang last?"

"Back to the Hou Ye, it can be supplied for ten days at most, and his subordinates are trying to find a way to raise food. Fu Min was a little surprised, Hou Ye would pay attention to such a trivial matter, didn't he always be a shopkeeper?

"Then do you have any good ideas?" Shen Lang stood three feet away and shook his wine glass.

"My subordinates are arranging for people to go to the nearby sea to buy grain, Champa, rice from Ayutthaya, meat from Johor, and fish from the nearby sea, and I think I will be back soon. Fu Min replied.

"Oh, how long can it last if the grain is bought?" Shen Lang asked indifferently.

"My subordinates sent three merchant ships, as long as they buy them back, they can support them for half a month. Fu Min affirmed.

"That's a drop in the bucket, it won't solve the fundamental problem, and now there are two months left before the harvest on the islands, and if you don't hurry up to replenish it, there will be famine on the islands. ”

"But now it is very difficult to raise food, and many merchants used to take the initiative to deliver it, but now, for some reason, they don't come, and it is also very difficult for us to buy food now, and only those friendly countries can barely supply food. Fu Min was a little worried.

"We fought a war with the Portuguese, drove them out of Johor, and robbed the Spaniards of tin mines in Sumatra, and you said they would not target us, so ah, in the past, food was not a problem, as long as you had money, others would bring it, now there is a blockade by hostile countries, they have many colonies in Central and Southeast Asia, where the grain cannot be delivered, we will not be short of food, and also, they will secretly put pressure on the countries that sell us grain, and if the problem is not solved, it will be more and more difficult to buy grain. Shen Lang analyzed.

"What Hou Ye said is not wrong at all, the situation is getting more and more severe, and his subordinates are incompetent, so does Hou Ye have any instructions? Help his subordinates solve this big trouble. Fu Min asked.

"I'll give you two pieces of advice, the first one, buy grain at twice the price of the neighborhood. Second, recruit a whaling fleet to hunt whales in nearby waters. Shen Lang stretched out two fingers.

"It's good, the two suggestions are very good, but twice the price, then wouldn't we suffer too much?" Fu Min was a little painful, as the logistics commander of Palembang, he was in charge of finance and logistics supplies, how much money was spent every day was a huge amount of money, and it was an astronomical amount to buy a month's worth of food.

"Money is not a problem, we are very rich now, we have to spend it, now we spend twice as much to buy food, we can earn it back several times in the future, don't be reluctant, besides, raise the price of food in Palembang, you don't need to go out to buy, someone will take the initiative to send it, you have to know that businessmen are profit-seeking, as long as there are huge profits to be made, they don't send it up. Shen Lang said lightly.

"Or Hou Ye has a way, I will arrange it immediately, post a notice, notify the merchants, I think they will definitely send grain to sell when they know this information, in addition, I will organize some experienced whaling experts to go whaling, if there is nothing else, I will not bother." Fu Min stood up and left.

Shen Lang made a gesture of asking for convenience, watching Fu Min go out, thinking in his heart, these people's roles are too slow, they used to rely on grabbing, and it was easy to get them, but now they are running on their own, it is too difficult, take your time, don't expect them to become senior management talents and excellent leaders all of a sudden, cultivate them slowly.

For raising the price of food to avoid famine, this is what Shen Lang saw from a historical story, when there was a famine everywhere, there was no food, and many people starved to death, and there was a county town where no one starved to death, it was the county order to buy grain at a high price, causing many grain merchants to flock to it, although the price of food was very high, the people did not starve to death, and it was much stronger than other affected places, which was a very smart method, full of wisdom that ordinary people could not understand.

The ports of the coastal cities in the Middle East and South Asia are colonies of the West, and they are not allowed to sell grain to Palembang, but those farmers and merchants will definitely transport grain through the black market in order to sell their crops at a high price, and they are eager for profits, Shen Lang knows the psychology of these businessmen, as long as they have 100% profits, they can risk hanging.

Soon, a strong news came out, first of all, the merchants of Palembang knew about it, and immediately went to purchase grain, and gradually the merchants of the surrounding seas also knew, and they raised grain one after another and transported it to Palembang.

There is also news that Palembang is preparing to build a whaling fleet, which requires hundreds of whaling masters, and the monthly wage reaches ten silver coins, which is a good income for the local fishermen, who live by fishing, risking their lives, and their lives are not guaranteed, and sometimes they can't even pay taxes.

In addition, there are many good whaling experts in Sumatra, knowing that Palembang can afford a high price, and whaling in the nearby waters, a 30-ton whale can be sold for 500 gold coins, as long as they hunt one, it is enough for them to live a comfortable time. However, whaling is also a matter of luck, if you are lucky, you can hunt it in a few days, and if you are unlucky, you can even risk the ship being wrecked.

In less than five days, more than 100 whaling experts were recruited, Palembang provided three fishing boats, hired experienced old captains to take them to whaling, no accident, within a month they will bring back the joy of harvest, each fishing boat also built a brick oil refining furnace, after catching whales, dig out of the whales on the spot, scoop out the whale oil in the whale's body, refine it, and then put it into wooden barrels for preservation.