Time blink of an eye to September of the seventh year of Huangyou, and the Jingdong Road Xiangjun finally entered the end of the law change.

In the Laizhou barracks, the soldiers of the 3,000 Xiangxiang Army are rehearsing the formation, the yellow dust is rolling on the martial arts field, the 3,000 spears are neatly aligned, only to see the cold light flashing, the murderous atmosphere, "killing" with a mighty and majestic shout of killing soaring into the sky, the soldiers instantly put away their guns, like three thousand warrior statues standing upright, motionless.

Fan Ning, who was inspecting the martial arts exercise on the viewing platform, nodded, it was not bad, and he smiled at Luo Lin, the commander next to him: "It is slightly stronger than Yunzhou, and it can rank third among the six military camps, second only to Ying Tianfu military camp and Xuzhou military camp." ”

"Thank you for the compliment!"

As we all know, after a year of training, Ying Tianfu was the absolute first, the Xuzhou military camp was second, and he could rank third, and Luo Lin was already very satisfied.

Fan Ning said again: "Prepare to leave for Yingtianfu!" After a month of joint training in Yingtianfu, we entered Beijing to practice, and our change was considered a success. ”

Luo Lin said in a low voice: "There are rumors that we will be transferred to the forbidden army, do you think this is possible to appease the envoys?" ”

Fan Ning nodded, "There is this possibility, in terms of morale and training, you are much stronger than the Ying Tianfu Forbidden Army, which can be called an elite army, and the Son of Heaven is likely to be tempted, but it is really not certain now, after all, there are some institutional issues involved." ”

"Ignorance, understood!"

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Everyone has worked hard today, treat the brothers, let everyone rest for a day, and set off for Yingtianfu tomorrow." ”

Rollin nodded silently, and Fanning got up and left.

..

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Fanning came out of Yingtianfu and went to inspect the major military camps, and he spent almost a whole month on the road, and after inspecting the last Laizhou military camp, it was time for him to respond to Tianfu.

As soon as Fan Ning left the barracks, Zhu Bao rode forward on horseback, bowed down and said, "Master Qiqi, there is news from the state government that there are your acquaintances over there. ”

Fan Ning was stunned, he only arrived in Laizhou yesterday, how could there be his own acquaintances at the harbor?

After a moment's hesitation, he ordered, "Go to the harbor!" ”

He led the crowd toward the harbor.

Laizhou Port, which is today's Qingdao Port, is one of the four major ports of the Great Song Dynasty, ranking behind Quanzhou, Guangzhou and Mingzhou Port, mainly doing business with Goryeo and Japan, and is also the station of the Laizhou Navy.

When Fan Ning came to the port, he saw more than a dozen 10,000-stone sea ships moored on several docks, but Fan Ning squinted his eyes, he saw the flag of Fan's firm, which was still the nine-star flag designed by him himself, and these dozen big ships turned out to be the sea ships of Fan's firm!

"A-Ning!" Someone faintly shouted to him in the distance, his voice was a little blurred, and he didn't hear whose voice it was.

Seeing a person rushing over, Fanning was slightly stunned, how could it be a Kunlun slave, as black as charcoal, could it be that the fleet had been to Africa?

After a while, the black man approached, and Fanning recognized him, and immediately laughed dumbly, how could Akihito be black like this.

He also stepped forward quickly, the two hugged tightly, and both laughed happily, the two had not seen each other for almost three years, the last time they met, it was the second year of Fanning's filial piety at home, and Akihito accompanied his wife and children from Quanzhou to visit relatives.

"Akihito, why are you in Laizhou?"

"Is it strange? When I came back from Changqi, Japan, I happened to hear several state officials say that you are in Laizhou. ”

Akihito was very enthusiastic, he took Fanning by the arm and said, "Get on the boat, I'll show you something, maybe it's what you want." ”

"What is it?" Fanning asked curiously.

Akihito smiled mysteriously, "Just come with me!" ”

Akihito's ship was a 20,000-stone ship, built the year before last, and had already been to the South Seas and Japan, Fanning got on board through a soft ladder, and the deck was also busy, dozens of sailors were still busy unloading, their cargo was mainly lacquerware, copperware, pearls, and precious seashells, and the goods were packed in large wooden boxes and slowly hoisted to the dock with ropes.

"Our firm has three large warehouses in Laizhou Port, and the goods bought this time are easy to store and are not in a hurry to put them on the market."

"How's the comptoir doing?" Fanning asked casually, he hadn't read the comptoir's report for almost two years.

Fan's firm in Fan Ning and Mingren, Mingli each accounted for three percent of the part, and one part of the Zhu family, by Zhu Yuanfu's second son Zhu Xiaolin in charge, after several years of development, the firm has been very large, two years ago the firm owned as many as 100 ships, ranked fifth in the Song Dynasty maritime merchants, I don't know what is happening now.

Akihito smiled proudly, "We have 130 ships above 10,000 stones, and as many as 500 river ships from 1,000 stones to 3,000 stones.

Fanning interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "What I want to ask is the situation of overseas trade, is there a base established overseas?" ”

"There are too many overseas countries, Japan, Goryeo in the north, as well as Sulu, Chenla, Java, Srivijaya Kingdom, Lion Country, Tianzhu, Persia, etc., the farthest is Dashi, at present, the trading houses in Japan, Java, and Lion Country buy land to build warehouses and docks, speaking of which, the land over there is simply outrageously cheap, a hundred taels of silver can buy a plot of land as large as Wu County, and we have bought hundreds of miles of land in Java and Johor."

The two walked as they talked, and soon came to Akihito's cabin, where Akihito sat Fanning down, took out a basketball-sized box from a large box, placed it on the table, and pushed it to Fanning.

"What is this?"

"For your own sake, it's a rare thing."

Fanning slowly opened the box, and suddenly jumped up in shock, the box turned out to be a pumpkin weighing seven or eight pounds and a corn, Fanning's eyes were straight, this is something that only exists in the Americas, where did Akihito get it?

Seeing his astonishment, Akihito smirked and said, "I got it by accident in Java, every time our ship docked at the harbor of Java, the natives from all over the island took canoes to buy daily necessities, and one day I accidentally found these two things in his boat, as if they were food for their crossing the sea, and they came from Java as if they were cultivated on their islands. ”

Fanning was simply surprised and delighted, his guess was indeed correct, the natives on the Pacific Islands did go to the Americas, got pumpkins and corn seeds, and came back to plant them themselves, the Song Dynasty never found out, until the Western colonizers in the Ming and Qing dynasties planted them on a large scale in the South Seas, and the Central Plains Dynasty introduced these high-quality agricultural products.

He had specifically told Akihito at the beginning, so he paid attention to the collection, and after so many years, he finally had a harvest.

"Anything else?" Fanning asked again.

"There are other things you have seen, what balala, galaba, etc., they are all some Nanyang fruits, it seems that they are already sold in the capital."

Balala and Galabas refer to bananas and coconuts, and there are a lot of them in the Ryukyus Prefecture, which are shipped to the capital in large quantities and have begun to be sold in some shops in the capital, but the price is very expensive, Fanning has seen it with his own eyes, and a bunch of ten bananas costs ten yuan, which is equivalent to a consistent money, and only the wealthy can afford to eat it.

Coconuts are a little cheaper, and there are more in the south, but they also cost a few hundred yuan to be transported to the capital.

Fanning nodded, "These two are good things!" Especially this corn, which can be used as food, I will go back and send it to the countryside of Wuxian County for the third uncle to plant. ”

"You call it corn?"

"Isn't it like? All of them are like jade. ”

"It's also very vivid."

Speaking of jade, Akihito suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly took out a small box the size of a palm from the box, put it on the table and said with a smile: "I haven't seen my nephews and nieces yet!" Here are two gems I bought in the Lion Country, and I gave one to each of them. ”

The Lion Country, later Sri Lanka, was famous for its abundance of precious stones, and the fleet also purchased spices and precious stones there many times, but Akihito's solemn selection of two gems as gifts for his children made Fanning look forward to it.

He slowly opened the box, and there was a layer of velvet inside, and on the velvet were two sapphires, each about the size of a date, and this large sapphire was also sold in the capital, about 1,000 yuan.

But this blue is not light blue, but dark blue, this is a cornflower sapphire! The best of the best.

That's right, this is how the car cornflower sapphire that was later produced in Kashmir appeared in the lion country?

Of course, this must be a sapphire from the Lion Country, but the condition is very rare and cannot be seen in the market, no wonder Akihito cherishes it so much.

"This is what I bought unintentionally last year, a total of five, I keep two for myself, one for Mingli, these two will be given to you, such a good sapphire, it is estimated that it is only available in the palace, you can't buy it with money outside."

"Then you're welcome."

Fanning put away the gem and asked with a smile, "Where are you going to go next?" ”

"I am going to go to the country of Sulu again, I intend to exchange five hundred horses of silk from the king of Sulu for an island, I have long taken a fancy to an island, very long and narrow, its southern end is very close to the country of Boni, which is rich in spices, just across a strait, and the king of Sulu promised to sell it to me last time, but he asked for no money, but five hundred pieces of silk."

Fanning thought about it, the country of Boni is later Malaysia and Brunei, the terrain is long and narrow, and it is very close to the country of Boni, isn't it Palawan?