Early the next morning, Fan Ning came to the Zhizheng Hall located in the province of the Imperial City, as soon as he entered the door, Fu Bi saw him and said with a smile: "Little Fan Xianggong is here!" ”

When Fanning saw the seven ministers gathered, he knew that they were going to hold a meeting in the prefect's hall.

"Congratulations to the Zhizheng Hall for its wide range of wealth, and the lower officials have come to congratulate you!" Fanning came in and quipped.

"The wealth is also rich thanks to Xiao Fan Xianggong."

Han Qi, who was rare and serious, also made a joke, and he smiled at Fan Ning: "Wait a while, drink a cup of tea, and we will end the discussion soon." ”

Wen Yanbo also said to him: "Use the dragon tea to entertain distinguished guests to fry a pot of good tea for Xiao Fan Xianggong." ”

All kinds of attitudes show that the Xiangguo of the Zhizheng Hall are extremely satisfied with Fanning, who can make money.

Those who can be the prime minister are all people who have been mixed in the officialdom for decades, and the principles must be spoken, and favors must be given, so Fan Ning proposed to buy the island, and the Xiangguo agreed when Fan Ning met the conditions, and gave him a big discount, and then eight discounts on the basis of seven discounts, and gave him a great discount with a large concession of five or six discounts.

In the Guike Hall, Fan Ning tasted the best tea with a strong tea aroma, but he was thinking about how to persuade the Xiangguo to build a mansion in the Southern Continent, which was the main purpose of his visit to the Zhizheng Hall today, and how to develop the Southeast Ocean?

Since the people were reluctant to go to the Southeast Ocean and the Southern Continent, they had to be taken over by the imperial court.

Of course, there are also some selfish motives of Fan Ning, if the imperial court does not run the southern continent, how can he borrow troops from the imperial court to develop the northern island?

A quarter of an hour later, one of the practitioners came over and said, "Fan Yuanjun, please princesses!" ”

It seems that their discussion has ended, Fan Ning walked quickly to the council hall, and saw seven Xiangguo sitting on their seats chatting and drinking tea, and the Xiangguo who presided over the deliberations of the prefect hall today is Cai Xiang, the governor of the council.

Cai Xiang saw Fan Ning walk in, got up and said with a smile: "Please sit down!" ”

It's okay to be joking about Xiao Fan Xianggong's title, but on formal occasions, you really can't call it casually, and calling Fan Ning the official title is the official title.

Fan Ning sat down across the long table, and Cai Xiang asked with a smile, "Is there anything that the envoy needs the help of the Zhizheng Hall today?" ”

Fan Ning reported directly to the Queen Mother and the Son of Heaven, and basically had little intersection with the Zhizheng Hall, so he sorted out his thoughts and said to everyone: "Today, I want to talk to you about the affairs of the Southern Continent. ”

Fu Bi nodded, "We have all read the report on the southward expedition, it is indeed unexpected, everyone is not interested in the Southeast Ocean and the Southern Continent, but at this time, we can't force it, is there a better suggestion?" ”

"It is recommended that the government take over the southern continent and set up prefectures and counties in the southern continent like Luzon."

Everyone looked at each other, and Fu Bi said again: "It takes three months to sail to the Southern Continent, it's too far away, the original intention of the Zhizheng Hall is not to establish an official government there, but we still want to give you a chance, tell me the reason!" ”

Fan Ning took out a report and handed it to everyone: "This is the exploration report of the Southern Continent, after the five hundred soldiers landed, they went deep into two hundred miles to investigate, and some of the information they found, please take a look at it." ”

The report was very short, about 3,000 words, Fu Bi took it and read it hurriedly, then handed it to Han Qi, and then handed it to Wen Yanbo, and everyone passed it down one by one, and after a while, everyone finished reading Fanning's report.

"In just two hundred miles, the soldiers have discovered large tracts of fertile land, discovered extraordinarily large copper and gold mines, and large charcoal fields that are easy to mine, and we are basically certain that the resources of the southern continent are no less than those of Luzon, and once developed, the Great Song Dynasty will surely obtain a steady stream of huge wealth for a long time."

Wen Yanbo nodded and said: "Your reason is indeed tempting, but the long distance is the biggest obstacle, how to overcome the problem of a three-month flight?" ”

Fanning said unhurriedly: "First of all, I want to explain that the voyage is not three months, and the expedition fleet has been delayed too much time near Luzon Province, plus the road is not familiar with it, and it has also taken a lot of unjust roads, deducting all these factors, at most one and a half months is enough, forty-five days of sailing."

Second, the steam engine has been successfully developed, and the Zhujia shipyard is installing it on the ship, once the steam ship appears, not only will there no longer be a need for hundreds of rowers, but the speed will be increased by two to three times, and the voyage of 45 days will be completed in 20 days, which is the same as the time taken to Kunzhou.

Third, we can learn from the experience of Kunzhou, with Tanzhou as a transit, so that we can set up several transit cities along the way, the fleet can reach the destination in just a few days, unload and return to the sea, now Luzon is a good transit place, in the future we set up two more transit cities, then the development of the southern continent will be very easy. ”

Fanning's reasoning was indeed very strong, and everyone had to be convinced.

"Besides, I have one more reason!" Fanning said again.

"Please speak!"

"I met two Western merchants from Genoa in New Port before, and they told me that there are some coastal powers in the West, and their navigation skills are also very strong, and I am afraid that if we abandon the southern continent, once the southern continent is discovered and occupied by Westerners, our children and grandchildren will scold us for being incompetent and give up our great wealth and resources to others."

Fan Ning's words made everyone feel terrified, and Han Qi couldn't help but say: "After a little envoy, this statement is too exaggerated!" ”

Fan Ning shook his head, "It's not an exaggeration, what I'm saying is the truth, history will evaluate our choices today, if you don't want to leave a bad name in history, then please agree with my suggestion and establish an official government in the Southern Continent." ”

.........

In the end, the Zhizheng Tang reluctantly agreed to Fanning's suggestion, and prepared to build Dingnan Prefecture in the southern mainland, and initially set up two prefectures, which were to be implemented by the Overseas Economic Strategy Prefecture, and the Zhizheng Tang would relocate 2,000 households, and at the same time promised to recruit 20,000 laborers in Japan.

At noon, Xiangguo Han Jiang invited Fan Ning to lunch at the Qingfeng Restaurant on Yujie as usual.

The two of them did not enter the elegant room, but found a seat by the window on the second floor and sat down, where the surrounding drinkers were relatively far away, and they did not have to worry about being heard by others.

"You don't seem to be satisfied with today's results?" Han Jiang poured Fan Ning a glass of wine and asked with a smile.

"It's not that I'm not dissatisfied, but I do think that the imperial court's interest in overseas development has faded......"

Speaking of this, Fanning realized that his tone was too hard, so he said in a joking tone: "Is it that Luzon Mansion sells islands and land, and the money is soft, and there is no interest in the Southern Continent?" ”

Han Jiang smiled and said: "Actually, there is a bit of a reason for this, the people are generally dissatisfied with the South Continent and the islands of the Southeast Ocean, and those powerful and rich businessmen have complained about their grievances, saying that the ship has been gone for three months, and a ship has been sunk, which has caused the imperial court to have doubts about that side, but the main reason is the distance, everyone can't imagine, how far is the three-month voyage?" ”

After a pause, Han Jiang said again: "In fact, the imperial court finally agreed to build two counties, which is already the biggest compromise. ”

"But I think the migration of 2,000 households is still too small."

Fan Ning said without hesitation: "The small Luzon Mansion has relocated 30,000 households, and the Southern Continent has only moved 2,000 households. ”

"Fan Yuanjun, you have to understand the hardships of the imperial court, there have been too many overseas immigrants in recent years."

Fan Ning sneered and said: "How many people are in the Great Song Dynasty, and how many immigrants are in the population, all of them add up to 500,000 people, not even a fraction of the Great Song Dynasty, so I am embarrassed to say that there are too many overseas immigrants." ”

"It can't be said that soon, the powerful and wealthy will develop the island, and there will definitely be another wave of immigration, and the land of the Great Song Dynasty will be barren, what should I do?"

"Then find a way to improve planting technology, or plant corn and wheat, and plant hundreds of acres of land by yourself, and solve any problem."

Han Jiang smiled bitterly and shook his head, taking it for granted.

Fan Ning was silent for a moment and said: "Then I said ugly things in front, if the imperial court is unwilling to develop the southern continent, then I will suggest to the queen mother and the Son of Heaven that the military take over, once the military makes tens of millions of taels of gold, the imperial court should not regret it." ”

..........

In the afternoon, after listening to Han Jiang's retelling, the Xiangguo of the Zhizheng Hall shook their heads one after another, Fan Ning was simply fooling around, and let the military take over the Southern Continent, he could figure it out.

Han Qi was silent for a moment and asked Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo, "What do you think?" ”

Fu Biyang raised the report in his hand, "I only explored two hundred miles before I discovered a large gold and copper mine, if this report is true, the Southern Continent is really a treasure land." ”

Wen Yanbo also said: "Fanning is more likely to get the support of the military, once the military really takes over the Southern Continent, we will be passive, although the Southern Continent is far away, but if it is really like what Fanning said, take a steam ship, it will arrive in twenty days, I think we can consider development." ”

Han Qi nodded, "The area of eighty Luzon Mansions, only two thousand households have been moved, which is indeed a little less, so let's do it!" It will be operated according to two Luzon prefectures, 60,000 households will be relocated, and ten counties will be built in two prefectures, but they cannot be relocated at one time, and they will be relocated in five years. ”

"What about the army and Japanese laborers?" Fu Bi asked again.

"The army is set at 5,000 people, and the Japanese laborers are set at 50,000 in advance."

Han Qi thought that Fan Ning was using the military to persecute the Zhizheng Hall, and he was really angry in his heart, and said with a hint of ruthlessness in his tone: "The establishment of the first county, Fan Ning must be there for me to keep an eye on, if the first county is not successful, the rest of the plan will not be continued." ”