After taking a sip of tea, Cheng Long asked tentatively: "Just now the envoy said that he would go to the Ryukyu Mansion in two days?" ”

"Cheng Yuanwai is interested in the Ryukyu Prefecture?"

"I used to have, but now that I'm older, I want to go back to my hometown to retire."

"Cheng Yuanwai is expensive this year?"

"Fifty-two years old."

Fan Ning smiled slightly, "Lian Po is still not convinced of old age, and Cheng Yuanwai is only fifty-two years old, so he wants to retire?" And Cheng Yuanwai's children and nephews are all working hard, who will serve Cheng Yuanwai for the elderly? ”

Cheng Long was told by Fan Ning, his old face couldn't help but blush, he said before that he wanted to go back to his hometown to care for the elderly, that was just afraid that Fan Ning would have concerns, embarrassed to buy his own house, in fact, he returned from Japan, just wanted to show his strength in China, he was only fifty-two years old, and his newly married wife was only twenty years old, at least he could fight for more than ten years, and the pension was just talking.

Cheng Long hurriedly drank tea to hide his weakness, but he was so anxious that he choked all of a sudden, and his cough eased for a long time.

Fan Ning smiled again: "How about it, is Cheng Yuanwai interested in the Ryukyu Mansion?" ”

Cheng Long saw that Fan Ning was serious, and he muttered: "In fact, after I came back from Japan, I considered opening a trading house in Ryukyu Prefecture, in fact, not only I had this idea, many businessmen had this idea at that time, but until now, there are only two or three small commercial houses in Ryukyu Prefecture, so do you know what the reason is?" ”

"You can talk freely, but you can let me know something."

Fan Ning then called Chen Yu in to record, Cheng Long pondered for a moment and said: "There are several very unfavorable factors in Ryukyu Prefecture, the first is transportation, although the Ryukyu natural harbor in the north of Ryukyu Mansion is good, and you can moor ten thousand stone ships, but there are still more than 20 miles from the harbor to the county seat, and the goods dare not be placed on the harbor, so they can only be transported into the city, but as soon as it rains, the road is so rotten that it is difficult to move an inch, and when you walk in, the muddy water will flood to your knees, and the cart will fall into the quagmire after a few steps, we call this section of the road the ghost mud road, shouting for so many years, but never repaired.

The second disadvantage is safety, in fact, the first problem is also security, if it is safe, then build a warehouse directly on the dock, why go into the city? As far as I know, from the first day of the Great Song Dynasty into the Ryukyus, it encountered strong opposition from the local natives, the aborigines used poisoned arrows to sneak attack, constantly harassing the military and civilians, merchants and their men also died a lot, I knew a merchant surnamed Lin in Quanzhou, the spring before last was shot through the neck by the aborigines with a poisonous arrow, killed on the spot, leaving orphans and widows, it was this incident that led to the collective withdrawal of Quanzhou businessmen, in the final analysis, the security problem is the biggest obstacle, other miasma, poisonous insects, not at all, I have two taels of realgar and two bottles of pills on my body, and I have never encountered poisonous insects, and I am not afraid of miasma. ”

Fan Ning nodded silently, yesterday the merchants of Quanzhou held a banquet for him to catch the wind and wash the dust, and no one at the banquet mentioned the Ryukyu Mansion, it seems that there are roots in it.

"What else?" Fanning asked with another smile.

"There is also the issue of property rights, for example, I found a gold mine in Ryukyu Prefecture, yes, the gold mine belongs to the imperial court, but can I mine it? I still have to go to the imperial court for approval, I heard that the imperial court has already closed the approval of gold and silver mines, what is the point of this gold mine? Envoy, with all due respect, the imperial court has lost its initial enthusiasm and tolerance for overseas development in recent years, and has competed with the people everywhere, which has chilled the hearts of many people! ”

Fan Ning knew that Cheng Long was telling the truth, after Zhao Zhen fully contracted overseas development, the third division took back all overseas gold and silver mines, and private mining was not allowed, and private gold mining in several rivers in Kunzhou was forced to stop, and Mingli and the Zhu family were forced to leave Kunzhou in this context.

The Kunzhou government did not even allow the Zhu family to mine the gold sand on Vermilion Island, Zhu Yuanfeng was angry, and returned Vermilion Island to the government.

Fan Ning nodded, "This time I am the overseas economic envoy, and the new emperor ascends the throne has a lot to do with it, the third division has delegated the approval power of mines and other resources to the Jingluo Mansion, I will implement the regulations of the imperial court, if you find gold mines, then you have the right to mine, as long as you hand over fifty percent of the harvest to the government, the other half is yours.

In addition, I will also send troops to garrison according to the requirements of the mine owner, before, the aborigines were rampant because Di Envoy Jun did not have the right to transfer troops and use force, and I have, I will mobilize the army to severely strangle the natives who do evil, and the natives who are willing to cooperate with the government, I will hire them to develop together.

In short, the security problem of the Ryukyu Mansion is the first obstacle I have to solve, this time I go to the Ryukyu Mansion, Mingli and his father-in-law Li Yao will also go with me, if Cheng Yuan has time, we might as well go to see together. ”

"When will Fan Yuanjun leave?"

"I'll leave early the day after tomorrow."

Cheng Long thought for a while and said, "Okay! I won't go back to Fuzhou for the time being, and follow the envoy to the Ryukyu Mansion to have a look. ”

........

Cheng Long then took his leave, and Fan Ning asked Zhu Long to find a Zhuang Zhaiya person, hand over the house to him to transfer, and after he finished lunch, he walked to the new house.

The new house is located in the west of Jinglu Mansion, only two miles apart, on the upper floor of Jingliu Mansion, you can clearly see the hill of Xinfu, that hill is called Bei Mountain by the locals, and it does look like a shell lying on the ground from a distance.

The new mansion is also very close to Jinjiang, only about 100 meters, the south of the mansion is a bustling commercial street, and the north is a large piece of wasteland, the weeds are half a person high, and it continues to the bank of the Jinjiang River, about 30 acres.

Fanning looked at the large wasteland to the north for a long time, and if this land was bought, Xinfu would face the Jinjiang River, and then build a private dock that could go directly to the sea.

Fan Ning immediately said to Zhu Long: "I plan to buy this wasteland." ”

"Inquire about the land to which it belongs!"

Zhu Long turned the horse's head and went, Fan Ning walked into the mansion from the south gate, the old family who took care of the mansion had been picked up by Cheng Long, the mansion was empty, and there was no one, Fan Ning let the soldiers rest outside, and he entered the inner mansion alone and looked at the mansion carefully.

The house has not been inhabited for at least twenty years, and it is well maintained, with no overgrown weeds, which is also characteristic of tropical regions, with plenty of hot and light water, and if left unattended, it will become a jungle in a few years.

But it's cleaned up well, the house is still very old, there are a lot of cracks in the walls, and in addition to the main house, the other annex houses and walls are made of mud, no wonder it cost 1,500 yuan to build such a large mansion, and the quality of the house is really worrying.

The only advantage of this house is that there is a waterfall of Dushan, and a small lake, but this is also the biggest advantage, the whole Quanzhou city is only five exquisite hills, as well as two relatively large mountains in the county, have become the people's attractions, of course, there is Dongping Mountain, which stretches for dozens of miles, but it is outside the county wall.

A full set of hundreds of pieces of furniture is also good, it is actually made of dipterocarp, which is widely distributed in Luzon and the South Seas, and the resin in this large tree is the famous spice borneol, that is, borneol.

At this time, Zhu Long hurriedly came and said: "Qiqi envoy, that forest was a farmland at that time, and this hill was sold to Cheng Yuanwai's father-in-law, his father-in-law also used to grow his own food, after he died twenty years ago, the farmland was abandoned, and then it was overgrown with weeds. ”

Fan Ning was stunned for a long time, he really didn't look at the title deed carefully, the title deed should be eighty acres of land, not fifty acres, which is a good thing, saving himself a lot of trouble.

Fan Ning asked Zhu Long to invite Lin Junsheng, the head of another wealthy family in Quanzhou, to come over, the Lin family and the Li family are both famous for shipbuilding in Quanzhou, and they are also one of the best private shipbuilders in the world.

In addition, the Lin family is also engaged in the construction industry, and has built countless mansions and temples in Fuzhou, Jianzhou, and Quanzhou.

The major businessmen and famous scholars in Quanzhou Fan Ning basically saw it, but the Cai family, the first scholar, never showed up.

Not long after, Lin Junsheng, who was short in stature, hurried over, bowed down and saluted when he entered the door: "Xiaomin Lin Junsheng sees the envoy!" ”

"You don't have to be polite outside the forester, today I have something to ask the forester."

Lin Junsheng said with a smile: "I heard that the Zichuan Mansion was bought by the envoy, which is enviable!" ”

"It's called Zichuan Mansion here?" Fanning asked curiously.

"Exactly, if you take a boat from the Jinjiang River in the early morning, when the glow shines, you will find that the waterfall is purple, so it is called Zichuan House, which is a sign of great wealth and wealth! How many people wanted to buy this house but couldn't, and finally it was bought by the envoy, congratulations! Congratulations! ”

Fan Ning is still a little bitter in his heart, Cheng Long spent a lot of money in order to tie himself up, and actually sold the Zichuan Mansion to himself, Fan Ning understood in his heart that Cheng Long was not for money, but for his eldest son Cheng Qing, since he embarked on a career in office, he needed a background backer, and Cheng Long obviously took a fancy to himself.

。 m.