Li Zhi said that he wanted to invite everyone to eat leftovers, which was naturally a joke.

When he released the news of the opening of the eastern route, he immediately attracted a large number of merchants to inquire about the situation in the city.

Most of these merchants have been trading offshore for the past year.

They have come to realize that the countries around South Asia may not have anything to trade in their hands.

The opening of new routes is just the right time for these merchants to explore new markets.

If the new routes could also be profitable, then they would be able to trade back and forth in the southeast and southeast directions.

In this way, there is no need to worry about the other party's hands not having goods that can be traded.

Some merchants who have just completed ocean trade are now inquiring about the profits of offshore trade.

They need to accurately analyze which commodities are suitable for offshore trade and which ones are more profitable in offshore trade.

Ten days later, Guangzhou Port was a lively scene of a thousand sails.

Li Zhizheng explained one of the main tasks of this trip to Du Shen, the deputy governor of the naval division who was about to lead the team to set off.

Li Zhi said to Du Shen: "It is important to maintain the safety of merchant ships on this trip, but it is also necessary to carefully examine the hydrological conditions along the way.

It is advisable to find a few seaports suitable for merchant ships to dock in order to develop them in the future. ”

Du Shen said: "Please rest assured, Your Highness will live up to His Highness's instructions and investigate the situation along the line." ”

Li Zhi said: "This trip is still mainly trading, try not to have conflicts with other countries, and if there is resistance during the period, you can detour." ”

Du Shen asked a little puzzled: "Your Highness, all the countries along the route are subordinate to my Tang Dynasty, why do you want to tolerate them?" ”

Li Zhi said: "The population of various countries is sparse and the economy is backward, and it has been difficult for the central government of Datang to exert much influence due to the transportation problem.

Therefore, it is necessary to focus on appeasement at the moment, and try not to make them resentful. ”

After listening to Li Zhi's words, Du Shen asked, "What if the other party takes the initiative to attack?" ”

Li Zhi said: "I, Datang Tianwei, should not be taken lightly, and if I am attacked, I will teach me a hard lesson." ”

After listening to Li Zhi's words, Du Shen bowed down and said, "I understand my humble position. ”

After Du Shen left, Li Zhi observed on the dock for a while.

This voyage was dominated by small and medium-sized merchant ships, and even Li Zhi's own goods were transported by several merchant ships of 500 materials.

The two 2,000-gauge ships will continue to trade on the Great Food Route after simple maintenance.

Today, the caravans of the ocean-going trade are still collecting goods, and all the merchant ships are also required to be maintained, which is why Li Zhi advocated the construction of a shipyard.

A large number of ship repair operations will seriously affect the construction progress of new ships, which will have a great impact on the development of maritime trade.

With a dedicated repair shop, this problem can be solved perfectly.

Li Zhi is running the new route here, thinking about contributing more taxes to Datang.

But I didn't know that at this time, there were many people secretly engaged in the smuggling trade in order to evade taxes.

A celebratory banquet was being held at this time in the Wu'an Prefecture Thorn History Mansion.

Liu Hongbo, the assassin, raised his glass and said, "Everyone, we should raise a glass to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor."

It is precisely because of its opening of the sea ban that the sea trade is flourishing now, and we have the opportunity to make a windfall. ”

After listening to Liu Hongbo's words, more than a dozen people attending the meeting immediately raised their glasses.

One of them spoke: "Lord Thorn Shi is right, we really owe a debt of gratitude. ”

Liu Hongbo smiled "haha" and then took a sip of the drunken immortal brew in the cup, and the others hurriedly followed suit.

I only heard Liu Hongbo sigh: "If there is no profit from this sea trade, where can I afford to drink this 1,500 yuan a pound of drunken immortal wine?" ”

One person said: "My lord's words have made me feel a lot of emotion, if there is no rise of maritime trade, I am afraid that I can't even afford to eat at this moment!" ”

Someone opened his mouth and laughed: "Brother Song Zhen's words are very untrue, who doesn't know that Brother Song is a rare huge rich man in Wu'an?" ”

Song Zhen opened his mouth and said: "Brother Zhou, don't make fun of me, where can this little wealth in your hands get into Brother Zhou's eyes?" ”

Liu Hongbo opened his mouth and said: "You don't need to sell miserably in front of the official, you must know that the person who really can't afford to eat is the original official." ”

Song Zhen said: "Rest assured, the filial piety of the villain will definitely not be less in the future, and the adult will completely forget the desolation of the past." ”

After hearing this, the others hurriedly opened their mouths to express their heartfelt feelings, and said that they would not lose their filial piety to Liu Hongbo.

These are all merchants who have made their fortunes from maritime trade in the last year.

Under Liu Hongbo's protection, they are engaged in smuggling and trading.

By omitting at least 10% of taxes, these people all made a lot of money in just one year.

The destinations of their trade were all South Asian countries.

It not only involves coastal countries, but also penetrates into the neighboring countries of Nam Chang (Laos), Siam (Thailand), Chenla (Cambodia) and other countries.

These people originally operated an overland trade route, which was not very easy to walk, but it brought them some wealth.

It's just that at that time, they had limited benefits, so they didn't deal with Liu Hongbo too much.

But since the rise of Datang's sea trade, they immediately discovered that sea trade can bring huge benefits to themselves.

After two attempts, these people were no longer satisfied with the little profit they had earned from traveling back and forth to the port of Guangzhou.

So they soon joined forces to buy Liu Hongbo and started a smuggling business directly in the remote Wu'an Prefecture.

In this way, they not only save more than 10% of their taxes, but also save a lot of transaction time because of the closer distance.

At this time, Liu Hongbo not only collected regular filial piety from everyone, but also organized a caravan to carry out smuggling trade with these people.

Vu An Prefecture belongs to the fringe area of Vietnam, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and there are no other court officials who come here to inspect at all.

This made Liu Hongbo more and more emboldened, and now he has begun to openly call these smugglers brothers.

After three rounds of drinking, Song Zhen asked Liu Hongbo: "My lord, I heard that not long ago, the Tang Dynasty sailors once escorted merchant ships passing by here.

Will this phenomenon become the norm in the future? ”

Liu Hongbo waved his hand and said, "You don't need to worry, the current sailor is only protecting the ocean-going caravan.

We are only active in the surrounding area, and we are not affected at all. ”

The merchant surnamed Zhou spoke: "I heard that there have been many bands of pirates on the sea recently.

I'm afraid it's hard to guarantee our safety in the future! ”

Liu Hongbo said: "What Brother Zhou Chong said is right, the rise of this pirate is indeed a big threat to us. ”

Someone asked, "I wonder if you can ask the imperial court to clean up these pirates?" ”

Liu Hongbo said: "The whereabouts of pirates are unpredictable, if you ask the imperial court to send troops in a short period of time, I am afraid it will be difficult to make contributions!" ”