On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the discussion about Fanning had not completely ended, but the person concerned, Fanning, left the capital with dozens of soldiers and rushed to Quanzhou to take office.

At the same time, the Cao family also urgently convened a family meeting, and Fan Ning served as an overseas economic envoy, which contained rich content and huge business opportunities, so that many powerful people in the capital were shocked and convened important family members to discuss the matter.

Cao Cong is old, but he is well maintained, and his spirit is still good, he said slowly to more than a dozen members of the Cao family's core family: "Over the years, the Cao family has harvested no less than one million yuan of gold from Kunzhou, and the huge wealth has effectively maintained the status of the Cao family in the Great Song Dynasty, the Cao family is a prophet, so it can obtain huge benefits, it is the success of the Cao family and the Gao family, which has made other powerful families red, after Fan Ning returned to the Song Dynasty, the first emperor froze the overseas development, what does Fan Ning's return to the overseas Jingluo Mansion mean, I think everyone understands in their hearts." ”

Speaking of this, Cao Cong glanced at Cao Tong, "San Lang, you visited Fan Ning yesterday and told everyone about it." ”

Cao Tong said: "This time Fan Ning's return to the overseas Jingluo Mansion did cause a lot of controversy in the court, many court officials, including the "Chao Pao" and "Tabloid ", said that Fan Ning was the loser of this power reshuffle and was expelled from the imperial court, but yesterday Fan Ning told me that his return to the overseas Jingluo Mansion was actually decided by the first emperor when he was appointed as Ying Tianfu the year before last. ”

Cao Tong's words suddenly caused a slight discussion in the hall, and Cao Cong said again: "Shi'er, you say a few words!" ”

Although Cao Shi is not the eldest grandson, he is the leader of the fourth generation of the Cao family, he will soon marry the eldest daughter of the first emperor, the princess of Yanguo, who served as the doctor of the East Palace for a period of time, and now he is ready to serve as the Shaoqing of Dali Temple from Wupin, and he is also young and promising, because he has served as the magistrate of Han County, Kunzhou, so he also has the imprint of the overseas faction.

Cao Shi got up and saluted his grandfather, and said loudly: "Fan Ning's appointment as an overseas envoy is by no means excluded from the imperial court, but the will of the first emperor to restart overseas expansion, according to the news I have received, Fan Ning's appointment is actually a proposal of the Son of Heaven according to the will of the first emperor, approved by the empress dowager of the two palaces, and unanimously approved by the Zhizheng Hall, this is the truth, if I can't see this, the Cao family will lose a huge opportunity." ”

Cao Cong nodded, and said to everyone: "This is also what I want to say, the Gao family has decided to set up a trading house in Quanzhou and form a far-sea fleet, and the Cao family must not lag behind, and this time I am afraid that there will be deeper things." ”

"What is it?" Cao Cong's son Cao Yan couldn't help but ask.

Cao Cong glanced at him and said slowly: "Land!" ”

The lobby suddenly exploded, the Cao family is not stupid, they know very well what the head of the family said about the meaning of the land, if the Cao family gets a piece of land overseas that does not belong to the Great Song Dynasty, what does it mean?

Cao Cong continued: "Zhu Yuanfeng once got an island in Kunzhou, called Vermilion Island, he once meant that this island belonged to him, it was his land, and it had nothing to do with the Great Song Dynasty, but that time he failed, Vermilion Island is still part of Kunzhou, and there is no difference between him buying a manor in the Central Plains, but this time it may be different, and the land obtained overseas may belong to the Cao family forever, and it has nothing to do with the Great Song Dynasty." ”

"Head of the house, how likely is this?" A clansman asked.

Cao Cong shook his head, "I don't know, there is such a statement, but I believe that if you completely obtain a piece of land, you have the greatest possibility of being crowned king overseas, and it belongs to a part of the Great Song Dynasty, but at the same time it can stand on its own." ”

"What do we need to do, master?"

Cao Cong smiled slightly: "We need to prepare an ocean-going fleet, and at the same time, we need to start recruiting a large number of Zhuang Ding, and the wealth we have obtained in Kunzhou will come in handy." ”

In fact, not only the Cao family, but also many powerful families in the capital realized that another opportunity to distribute overseas wealth was coming, and the major families sent people to the south with a large amount of money, preparing to establish their own foundations in Quanzhou.

...........

Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Quanzhou has been a famous overseas trade port with Yangzhou and Guangzhou, and in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, it gradually surpassed Guangzhou and became the first seaport in the Song Dynasty.

Quanzhou port mainly imports spices, medicines, treasures, precious wood, dyes, metals, cotton cloth and other items, and exports are mainly silk and porcelain, overseas trade east to Japan, Nantong South China Sea countries, west to Persia, Arabia and East Africa and other places, thousands of merchants gathered, sea ships are dense, you can see overseas Yi people everywhere in Quanzhou City, and even many overseas Yi people settle in Quanzhou, bringing different cultures and religions.

The first overseas economic strategy was Zhao Zongshi, the second was Di Qing, and Fan Ning was the third, each of which had a clear goal, the first period was mainly through Tanzhou and Kunzhou, and the second period was mainly through Ryukyu Prefecture and North Ryukyu County, and now it is the third term of Fan Ning, and the goal is probably Nanyang.

On a sunny afternoon, Fanning's boat arrived at the port of Quanzhou, a sparkling bay surrounded by gentle hills, which resisted the attack of wind and waves, and made Quanzhou Port an excellent natural harbor.

There are thousands of ships gathered in the bay, there are as many as thousands of sea ships above the light of ten thousand stones, and there are many sea ships that are not made in the Song Dynasty, but from Persia, Arabia and other places, but compared with the huge volume of the Song Dynasty sea ships, these foreign sea ships appear to be small and thin, and the ability to resist wind and waves is far apart, and many foreign merchants like to take the sea ships of the Great Song Dynasty.

Quanzhou City is also called Jinjiang County, about ten miles away from the harbor, separated by a hill that stretches for more than ten miles, the Jinjiang River flows through the county seat, directly into the bay.

Fanning's big boat sailed directly into the Jinjiang River from the mouth of the sea, and after traveling for more than ten miles, it entered the county seat and docked at a large wharf.

When Fan Ning walked down from the big boat, he saw Di Qing who came to greet him at a glance, he had been stumbling for more than ten years, Di Qing's beard was white, but he was still energetic, and his waist was straight, he saw Fan Ning, and immediately laughed and greeted him, the two hugged heavily, Di Qing smiled: "I knew that you were here to replace me, and finally looked forward to you!" ”

Fan Ning also sighed: "Di Gong has been guarding here alone for many years, I am ashamed!"

"I'm ashamed, I didn't do my overseas business, and I will count on Fan Zhijun in the future."

Fan Ning shook his head, where is Di Qing's responsibility, it was Zhao Zhen who froze the overseas development, everyone knows this, Fan Ning introduced several officials accompanying him to Di Qing, and Di Qing took Fan Ning to the overseas economic strategy.

Overseas Jinglufu is directly opposite the wharf, across the street, walk dozens of steps to arrive, Jinglue Mansion covers an area of about 30 acres, magnificent, there are soldiers standing guard at the door.

Di Qing took Fan Ning into the lobby, and the two held a simple power transfer ceremony, and Fan Ning officially became the master of this Jingluo Mansion.

The two sat down, Di Qing let the tea boy serve tea, and said to Fan Ning: "The development of the Ryukyu Mansion has been completely stopped, so far, only a part of the northern part has been developed, and a county town has been built, with more than 1,000 households and a garrison of 3,000 people. ”

"There should be a mine in Ryukyu Prefecture, right?" Fanning asked again.

"It's still the previous silver mines, the three divisions stopped all mine approvals, and they didn't allow any overseas economic strategy to go beyond the rules, and I applied for the relocation of 20,000 families to the Ryukyu Mansion last time, and finally it was gone."

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "The application to relocate 20,000 families to the Ryukyu Prefecture has been approved, but it is not a one-time migration, but a five-year migration, in addition, the Third Division has also delegated the approval power of mines and land to the Jingluo Prefecture, and the army of the Jingluo Mansion will be expanded to 20,000 people, and at the same time, I have obtained the gold medal for the transfer of troops and the battle medal, and I can launch a war of less than 3,000 people overseas." ”

Di Qing's eyes widened more and more when he heard this, and he sighed after a while: "I understand, the second round of overseas development is really going to start in your hands." ”

Fan Ning shook his head, "There is a lot of power, and the pressure is also great, and the Zhizheng Hall will not let go of power if it is not beneficial, it requires the Jingluo Mansion to completely solve the problem of overseas grain self-sufficiency from next year, and also to input 10 million guan of fiscal and tax revenue to the imperial court every year, of course, this 10 million guan also includes Kunzhou." ”

Di Qing frowned, 10 million guan, he said with a sad face: "I'm afraid that Kunzhou and Ryukyu Mansion alone are far from 10 million guan." ”

"I've thought about this problem, food self-sufficiency is not a problem at all, we have a small population, we can solve it by relying on Juntun, and Kunzhou has a large grain output, and it is also a good way to transfer some of the Kunzhou grain appropriately, as for 10 million guan, Kunzhou is currently stable at 3 million guan per year, I plan to develop the gold placer in Whale State, and the war horse will begin to import the Great Song Dynasty next year, and it is expected to import 30,000 horses into the Great Song Dynasty every year, according to the calculation of 50 guan per horse, the annual finance and tax of Kunzhou will reach 5 million guan, The Ryukyu Prefecture is mainly wood, seafood, fruits, and ores, and cannot provide too many resources for the time being, so the annual 5 million kan has to be obtained from Nanyang. ”

Di Qing understood a little, "So your strategy in the past few years has focused on Nanyang. ”

Fanning nodded slowly, "Exactly!"