Liu Dajiang nodded, "Remember me, I have actually been to Luzon Island. We didn't meet any natives, but we didn't investigate them carefully. We will go to Luzon Island next."
"And then comes the second mission!"
Chen Qing spread out a map of Nanyang drawn by Chao Kun. Although it was not as accurate as later generations, he could still roughly distinguish it.
"After exploring Luzon Island, you go to Srivijaya Dynasty. You pretend to be a businessman and buy a piece of land from their king. I will tell you where it is."
Chen Qing pointed to a long strait and said: "This strait is the only way to Tianzhu and Dashi. If you buy the peninsula in the north, even if you can't buy all of it, buy half of it. The key is to have
Tamsui, I want to establish the Nanyang Trade Agency here."
Obtaining a piece of land in Nanyang as the foundation for overseas trade has always been the wish of the Song and Ming dynasties. The person who truly realized this wish in history was Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. He established the Old Port Xuanwei Division with the Old Port as the center.
It is related to the Chinese regime in Qi, but it is indeed an official institution of the Ming Dynasty.
The peninsula that Chen Qing asked Liu Dajiang to buy was naturally the Malay Peninsula. At this time, it belonged to the Srivijaya Dynasty.
Liu Dajiang thought for a while and said: "In fact, with our strength, we can completely occupy any island in Southeast Asia. Why spend that money to buy it?"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "Of course I know that we can directly occupy it, but when it comes to military conquest, we need to pay attention to strategy and long-term vision. In particular, the expansion of land territory requires legality. You buy the land and then resell it.
If you give it to Yong Kingdom, then this land will be the legal land of Yong Kingdom."
Liu Dajiang nodded, "The humble guide Zhang Jiugong also said that the territory of the Srivijaya Dynasty is too vast and there is no territorial awareness. For the rulers of Srivijaya, it is of course okay to sell a piece of land to a businessman in exchange for huge wealth.
Anyway, you can take it back when you need it."
"Yes! Just the idea of taking advantage of them!"
Chen Qing praised: "If the government comes to buy it, they will definitely have concerns. They are afraid that a powerful neighboring country will appear around them, so they may not sell it. But if it is bought by businessmen, they will drink blood, eat meat and gnaw bones."
If they have any idea, they will sell the land, and I want their sale deed."
Liu Dajiang couldn't wait to set off immediately. He immediately said: "I will definitely win this land for Your Highness!"
Lin'an has entered the midsummer season, and the heat is unbearable. The streets seem to be floating on fire, and the air is on fire. Every step is covered with sweat. Except for the people at the bottom who are still enduring the scorching heat and running for life, the rest of the people are in a state of stillness.
Those who had no money stayed at home to escape the heat. Their homes were in good condition, so they crowded into various teahouses to drink iced drinks and cool off.
Except for the common people at the lowest level, the only people who still appear on the streets are the Plum Blossom Guard sergeants. The Plum Blossom Guards have been having a hard time recently. They have received a heavy task, requiring them to clean up illegal salt.
Since last year, illegal salt sales in the Jiangnan area have gradually emerged, and now it has become more and more serious. Senior officials of the imperial court may not feel it, but the salt tax cannot be faked. Last year's salt tax was reduced by half compared with the year before. In the first few months of this year,
The salt tax has even dropped by 70%.
The Song Dynasty did not suppress land annexation from the beginning of the founding of the country. The Song Dynasty unified the world very smoothly. The fundamental reason was that it did not touch the interests of powerful separatist forces in various places and won the support of powerful landowners in various places. From the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, land has always been controlled by the powerful and powerful.
In the hands of the government, it was difficult for local governments to tax land, and land tax revenue was never the bulk of the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue.
This forced the Song Dynasty rulers to vigorously develop commerce in order to obtain commercial taxes as fiscal revenue. This was an important reason for the high development of the Song Dynasty's commodity economy.
Salt tax and liquor tax have always been the major sources of tax revenue for the imperial court, as well as the government-run mining industry and overseas trade, etc. Therefore, the proliferation of private salt has undoubtedly given a heavy blow to the imperial court, which is increasingly struggling with financial revenue. It has to feed an army of 150,000 people.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that a huge amount of military salary had to be paid, which almost drove the emperor Zhao Gou crazy.
Zhao Gou gave the Meihua Guard a strict order to wipe out all illegal salt in the Jiangnan area within a month, otherwise the Meihua Guard would be disbanded.
This simply cost the Plum Blossom Guards their lives. They were mobilized from top to bottom. Everyone was busy clearing out the smugglers, and extortion could not be taken care of for the time being.
In the Yongwang Special Envoy's Office, Yan Xin, the governor of the Meihua Guard, visited the special envoy Lu Gang. Of course, Yan Xin had good reasons to suspect that private salt was related to the Yong Kingdom. The rise of private salt coincided with the time when Fujian Road was occupied by the Western Army.
If the Yong Kingdom was not selling salt secretly, how could private salt in Jiangnan spread so rapidly?
Lu Gang understood Yan Xin's euphemistic and implicit expression, he smiled and said: "Why doesn't Yan Dutong just say it and ask us not to sell salt in the Jiangnan area?"
Yan Xinxin smiled and said: "Some words cannot be said too bluntly, as long as Special Envoy Lu understands what I mean."
"But Yan Dutong didn't have any evidence. He just took it for granted that we were selling salt in Jiangnan."
"Well, I was forced by the emperor to have no choice but to do anything. If I have offended anything, please forgive me, Special Envoy Lu!"
Lu Gang said coldly: "I understand Yan Dutong's difficulties, but I can tell Yan Dutong frankly that I have never heard of the Yong Kingdom or the Western Army selling salt in the Jiangnan area. I can also tell Yan Dutong responsibly.
Tong, we have no such idea. The proliferation of illegal salt in Jiangnan has nothing to do with us. Of course, if Yan Dutong is willing to listen, I can provide some clues."
Yan Xin quickly stood up and saluted, "If Envoy Lu Te can provide clues, I would be very grateful!"
Lu Gang smiled slightly and said: "Since the year before last, we have been clearing out private salt dealers on Jiangnan West Road. We killed ten of the thirteen private salt dealers, but there were still three private salt dealers who were from Jiangnan East Road. They escaped back
After reaching Jiangnan East Road, we could not cross the border to arrest us and were escaped by them, but we notified your Salt and Iron Supervisor, Li Zengping of Xuanzhou, Luo Zhi of Ningguo Prefecture, and Lu Guang of Health Prefecture.
Three salt lords are still at large."
Yan Xin took a breath of air and said, "Could it be that the three of them are responsible for the proliferation of illegal activities?"
Lu Gang shook his head, "Things are not that simple. Even if they are making trouble in the Jiangnan area, who will provide them with private sources of salt? Also, who will distribute it for them in various places? These salt lords are just middlemen in the trafficking process, and
The source and the end are like a network of trafficking branches.”
"I beg Special Envoy Lu for further advice!"
Lu Gang said lightly: "It's not advice, it's just common sense. With the ability of the three salt lords, they were active in a few states at most, but in just half a year, they spread to the entire Jiangnan. Yan Dutong, think about it, who can
Have such great ability?"
Even though Yan Xin was relatively dull, he understood. "What the special envoy means is that there is collusion between government and businessmen?"
"I am just guessing, but there is no evidence, and this matter has nothing to do with us. In fact, it is easy to catch illegal salt. Yan Dutong might as well go back and torture the housekeeper in his house, where did he buy the salt? Catch the first
One point, then trace back to where the goods came from, then find the second point, and then further trace the third point, just like this, trace it back one link after another, I believe you can find Lin'an Prefecture in a few days
Who is the boss of your personal relationship?"
Yan Xin scratched his head and said, "I checked our family's account. The price of our salt is official salt. We didn't buy private salt."
Lu Gang laughed and said, "Spend private salt money and report it to the official salt account. Why is private salt so prevalent? This is the reason why it is profitable!"
Yan Xin's face suddenly became extremely ugly. Could it be that the housekeeper dared to be greedy for his own money?