Tengju and Rai have been merged to form Teng Lai Province.

Qingzhou, Mizhou and Weizhou were merged to form Qingzhou Prefecture.

All of them are important mining and metallurgical towns, and they will also develop maritime trade in the future.

During the Yuanfeng period, the annual gold output of Denglai and Denglai states has reached 9,583 taels, accounting for 89.5% of the country's total output.

And that's just the numbers, and the actual gold production is much higher. During the reign of Song Shenzong, the emperor once issued a decree to buy tens of thousands of taels of gold in Shandong at one time.

When Zhu Ming left Beijing, the imperial court had received an invitation from the prefect of Denglai - asking the imperial court to formally establish Qixia, Zhaoyuan and other counties.

Elsewhere in Shandong the population has plummeted due to the war, but the population has increased dramatically on the Denglai side. A large number of displaced people fled to Jiaodong, where they were reclaiming land and panning for gold at the same time, and some were hired as gold miners.

Everywhere the gold mines were divided, forming large and small organizations, similar to gangs and guilds. The peasant rebels came to kill them, but they only symbolized their submission and handed over some gold as a sign of loyalty.

These local snakes also learned to hold together, and the foreign peasant rebels did not dare to come hard.

In the new Ming Dynasty, Zhang Shuye also focused on appeasement, and then cooperated with force to suppress a few high-rise ones.

Now the application for the establishment of several new counties is because the population has reached the standard for establishing counties, and second, it is also convenient for the imperial court to manage the localities. The influence of the gang must be weakened!

The same situation also happened in Yizhou.

Two months ago, the imperial court ordered the establishment of a new county in Yinan County, also because of the concentration of too many gold mining populations.

The first chiefs of these gold-mining areas were all the magistrates transferred by Yushi, that is, they sent Beijing officials to shock the local area and clean up those gang leaders.

Zhu Ming stayed in Yizhou for a few days, and then went to Banqiao Town, Mizhou, where Jiaoxi County was also reestablished due to the opening of the sea.

"The goods transported from the south of Banqiao Port are mainly timber, ironware, and mountain goods, and they are transported to Hangzhou for sale," said Zhu Ming, a shipping official from Jiaoxi City, "There are many goods transported from the south, such as silk, lacquerware, tung oil, ceramics, and rice...... Everything is available. Jiaodong and Jiaoxi now have many metallurgical iron smelters, and the local grain is simply not enough to eat. This year's grain price is only 70% of last year's! ”

Zhu Ming asked, "Didn't go to Goryeo and Japan to trade?" ”

The city shipping official said: "After Shandong reopened the sea, the Goryeo trade all went to Dengzhou Port, how could it come to Jiaoxi?" As for Japan, I heard that it was engaging in a maritime ban, and most of them were smuggled from Zhejiang. ”

Zhu Ming looked at the sea area of the port and found that it was really depressed, and there were not many ships moored here.

After all, this is only the first year that Shandong has opened the sea.

Zhu Ming guessed that there must have been smuggling Shandong gold to Jiangnan by sea.

But the imperial court will not take care of it for the time being, and can use gold to attract Jiangnan maritime merchants, and wait for the prosperity of the maritime trade in Jiaoxi County before strictly cracking down on smuggling.

Because the law stipulates that Shandong gold is not allowed to be shipped out of the country without permission, except for selling it to the government, the rest of the gold can only be circulated in the county.

If Jiangnan merchants wanted to transport Shandong gold away, they had to hide the gold in other goods under the guise of normal trade. Every smuggling batch of gold is equivalent to transporting a shipload of seafood, which is very conducive to Shandong's economic development.

On the third day of his stay in Jiaoxi County, Zhu Ming finally got the news that Xue Daoguang had returned.

He immediately set off for Dengzhou and met Xue Daochang at the Denglai Mansion Hotel.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you." Zhu Ming smiled with a smile.

Xue Daoguang was very emotional, and said as a Taoist priest: "After a farewell year, His Royal Highness's demeanor is still the same. ”

Xue Daoguang looks much older, his complexion has darkened, and he has more wrinkles, and it is estimated that he has suffered a lot overseas.

Zhu Ming asked, "Can you tell us about your overseas experience?" ”

Xue Daoguang said in detail: "Eight years ago, the eunuch Cui Hu led the immortal hunting fleet to sea. He traveled south through Liuqiu Island (Taiwan) to the country of Ma Yi (northern Philippines), and although he did not find any immortals, he brought back a large number of rare and exotic goods, which he sold in Hangzhou and made a lot of money. However, there was a storm on the way, and the three seagoing ships and their crews were killed. Cui Hu almost died, and he was so scared that he didn't dare to go to sea again. ”

"Seven years ago, Poor Dao was ordered to take over the fleet, and in addition to seeking immortals, he also had to send an envoy to Japan. Official...... Zhao Ji was so happy that he wanted to canonize the king of Japan and personally write a letter of state to Japan, but Japan did not reply, so he needed the two countries to pass the letter first. Poor Road went to Japan, did not see the king, but fought first. ”

Zhu Ming felt very interesting: "Fighting in Japan? ”

Xue Daoguang said: "The situation in Japan is extremely complicated, they call the king the emperor, the emperor after abdication, and the emperor after becoming a monk. ”

"Today, Japan has an Emperor Shirakawa, and his grandson, Emperor Toba. When he was young, Emperor Shirakawa adopted a daughter, rumored to be his illegitimate daughter. It is also rumored that he had an affair with this illegitimate daughter, and married the illegitimate daughter to his grandson as queen. ”

"There are other rumors, but it's really unclear. The biological mother of this adopted daughter is the nurse of the son of Emperor Shirakawa, the nurse of his grandson, and the wife of the Minister of Ministers of Japan. It is rumored that Emperor Shirakawa first had an affair with the nursing mother of his children and grandchildren, and then adopted him as an adopted daughter after having an illegitimate daughter......"

"It is rumored that Emperor Shirakawa also had a son born with an illegitimate child, who is now nominally the son of his grandson......

Zhu Ming was shocked: "Well, sure enough, the national situation is complicated. ”

Xue Daoguang said: "When Poor Dao first went, he didn't know the situation, and he was involved in Japanese political struggles in a daze. However, it was the Emperor of the White River who set up a separate palace and promoted the Hanmen (middle and low-level aristocratic samurai) to get rid of the powerful ministers and relatives. The relatives of the ministers assisted Emperor Natoba and fought openly and secretly with Emperor Shirakawa. ”

"The Emperor's faction is willing to associate with China. The French emperor is a faction, but he pursues a closed country. The poor road is unknown, so through the relationship of Zhejiang maritime merchants, the letter of state was handed to the emperor's faction. The Emperor of the White River was furious, mobilized Japanese sailors, and fought with the fleet of my immortals. ”

"The Japanese sailors were small and weak, and they were undoubtedly defeated. The poor road could not restrain the soldiers under his command, and after the victory, the soldiers landed and plundered, and besieged a mountain castle in Japan. Although the mountain city is not large, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so you can only loot outside the city and leave. ”

The situation in Japan may seem complicated, but it is actually very simple to sort out.

The ministers and lords were too big to lose, and the emperor started to centralize power. Unwilling to lose their power, vested interests rebelled with the emperor as the center.

But the rebellion was ineffective, and the French emperor, through several wars, and other political means, had gained absolute superiority. And afraid of the intervention of foreign forces, the emperor decided to close the country, the Japanese sails were not allowed to go to sea, and the Chinese maritime merchants had to concentrate on trade with the emperor.

Xue Daoguang didn't understand anything, and he just went to Japan to visit the wrong pier.

Xue Daoguang continued: "The small country of Pu'er dared to resist the army of the Celestial Empire, and the soldiers of the fleet became more and more angry. Poor Dao couldn't dissuade them, so he could only watch them rob along the coast and loot the people of several mountain towns in Japan. But he really couldn't capture those mountain cities, so he could only return to Hangzhou with the looted goods. ”

When he returned to China, he found that Hangzhou was occupied by Fang La, and hurriedly sailed to Mingzhou to land. Most of the crew members are people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they don't know the life and death of their relatives, and they are afraid that Fang La will capture Mingzhou. At that time, Mingzhou was short of food and the goods were not easy to sell, so Poor Dao took them to Fuzhou. ”

"When Fang La was exterminated by the imperial court, Poor Dao returned to Hangzhou and informed the imperial court of Japan's national conditions. I thought that Jiangsu and Zhejiang were in chaos, the country's finances were insufficient, and the officials were ...... Zhao Ji will dismiss the immortal fleet. But he didn't think about it, Zhao Ji didn't seem to have happened, and ordered Poor Dao to take people out to sea to look for immortals. ”

"This time, I sailed to the side of Champa, passing through Champa, Chenla, Srivijaya, Yanpo and other countries, and when I returned to the voyage, I encountered a storm and sank several ships."

Seeing that the soldiers and sailors were pitiful, the poor man sold a lot of goods privately, quietly distributed them to them, and asked someone to bring pensions to the families of the victims. After the ship was repaired, he received a holy decree from Zhao Ji, saying that if he went to the south to find immortals, he could go east to find the legendary immortal mountain. ”

"The fleet went all the way east, even through the whole of Japan. There is a vast ocean ahead, and there are not even a few desert islands. In this way, a month passed, many people fell ill inexplicably, the soldiers and sailors were terrified, and Poor Dao was forced to order to return to the sea. Caught in a heavy storm on the way, most of the fleet was scattered and landed on an unknown island. ”

"There were only a few ships left, and they were in dilapidation. The poor sent people to land to look for the locals, but the island was full of natives, and there was not even a city to be found. After three years on the island, he befriended one of the indigenous tribes and helped them fight another. Many of the officers and soldiers died of illness, and the rest learned to hunt with the natives, and also fished inshore for food. ”

"Barely repaired a few ships, Poor Dao led the fleet back to China, and encountered wind and waves when passing through Goryeo, so he looked for Dagang to repair ships in Goryeo, and then he knew that the Central Plains had changed dynasties."

After listening to this, Zhu Ming was silent for a long time, and only got up and patted Xue Daoguang's shoulder.

This Taoist can go far, and it is estimated that if he persists for another month or two, he will be able to discover North America with his fleet.

However, the crew was so frightened by the vast sea that they returned halfway, presumably landing in Hokkaido, and fooling around with the Ainu for three years.

Zhu Ming pondered for a moment and asked, "How many boats and how many people are left?" ”

Xue Daoguang seemed to remember the painful past, and said: "There are six remaining sea ships, but the total number of soldiers and crew is less than eight hundred. Many died at sea, and some on the big islands, and the incompetence of the poor road killed them. ”

"When going to sea in the ocean, it is inevitable that there will be huge casualties," Zhu Ming said, "and these ships and personnel will be temporarily incorporated into the Dengzhou Navy." When they recover, they can cross the sea and raid the hinterland of Jin. When I go to Japan in the future, I know where there are big silver mines, and I want to take them over. Dao Chang has been at sea for many years, and he must have been a connoisseur......"

Xue Daoguang was startled and hurriedly interrupted: "Your Highness, Poor Dao will not go to sea again!" ”

Zhu Ming said: "I chose a great avenue view in Zhejiang, which is the dojo of Ziyang Zhenren, which is specially used to promote the Jindan lineage. ”

Xue Daoguang hesitated, he not only wanted to cultivate the Tao himself, but also shouldered the heavy responsibility of developing the Daoist sect.

Zhu Ming also said: "The Taoist chief can immediately go to Zhejiang and choose a temple to be the abbot, and the Taoist priests there will all change the Taoism of your sect." He gave the Taoist two or three years to receive disciples and preach, and then he went to sea as a navigator to explore. It's not about looking for immortals, I have another purpose, it's about the national economy and people's livelihood. ”

Xue Daoguang thought for a long time, and suddenly stood up and said: "Obey!" ”

(End of chapter)