After hearing the news from Liu Neng, Liu Mang's expression turned ugly. He thought that it would be good news. Who knew that the news was that they couldn't land and lost hundreds of soldiers. This made Liu Mang a little angry.
"Yes!" Liu Neng lowered his head. He could clearly see the unhappy expression on Liu Mang's face.
Liu Mang waved his hand to signal Liu Neng to leave, but Liu Neng didn't move.
"What's the matter?" Liu Mang frowned and asked.
"Milord, the fleet that went south also sent back news!" Liu Neng said to Liu Mang. Liu Neng divided the fleet into two. One went east according to the general location given by Liu Mang, and the other went southeast in the direction of Jiao Province. Liu Neng also knew that there was a treasure island. He didn't even manage to land there. When he returned, his lord would definitely be dissatisfied. This was because sailing on the sea was very long, and the cost was also very high. Just the Sovereign Class ships were worth hundreds of thousands of gold.
In addition to the cost of the ships, it could be said that every voyage was a waste of money.
"Go south?" Liu Mang looked at Liu Neng doubtfully.
"Yes, Milord, go south!" Liu Neng nodded. Liu Mang gave Liu Neng two directions. One of them was to go south to search for a new continent. In other words, they were going to Southeast Asia. However, from Liu Mang's point of view, Liu Neng didn't even manage to settle the matter of treasure island. How could he go south?
"After circling around the island, I didn't know where to start, so I took my subordinates and went south in the direction of Jiao Province!" Liu Neng lowered his head and said to Liu Mang.
"You found the Gui Shuang Empire?" Liu Mang's eyes also lit up. If he remembered correctly, there was a huge empire in Southeast Asia. This empire was one of the four strongest countries in Europe and Asia, along with Great Han, Rome, and Ankara.
"No!" Liu Neng shook his head.
"No?" Liu Mang was so angry that he started to laugh. There was no news from Bao Island, there was also no news from the south. Liu Mang started to doubt his ability to judge people. How did this Liu Neng become so useless?
"Milord, we didn't find the Gui Shuang Empire, but we found two small countries, Fu Nan and Lin Hu...." Liu Neng cupped his fist and said to Liu.
"Fu Nan, Lin Hu?" Liu Mang simply did not know about the existence of these two countries. He had been in China for five thousand years and only had a rough understanding of the history of these two countries. What the hell are these two countries?
Liu Neng continued to explain to Liu Mang.
Liu Mang roughly sorted out his thoughts. This so-called Fu Nan Country was not small at all. It was even bigger than Liu Mang's current territory.
As for Lin Hu, it was smaller. It was about the size of Yangzhou.
If he really wanted to compare it, then Lin Hu was about the size of half of Vietnam, and Fu Nan was about the size of Cambodia, Thailand, and the remaining half of Vietnam.
However, at this time, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, ten thousand countries came to court, so to Liu Neng, they were like a heavenly country, and Fu Nan was naturally a small country.
Liu Mang did not want to correct Liu Neng's thinking of heavenly countries and asked, "How about those two small countries?"
"Not as good as my Great Han Dynasty's Jiao Province and Bing Province!" Liu Neng said to Liu Mang. In other words, it was not very good. Jiao Province and Bing Province were originally the border of the Han Dynasty. It can be said that these two places were barren and unruly. If these two places were not as good as these two places, then it can be seen how poor and desolate they were.
"Poor places?" Liu Mang frowned. Originally, he wanted to find a continent to sell some of his Yangzhou's handicrafts. Yangzhou's production capacity had been greatly improved due to the Ministry of Works' technological advancements.
With the East and West trade routes, naturally, it was expanded. However, Yangzhou was after all, a small place. Other places in the Great Han Dynasty, other than Jingzhou, like Yanzhou, and even the North, were still far away. Moreover, Liu Mang did not want to mess up the Great Han Dynasty's market too much.
However, the developed trade couldn't be stopped. Simply put, Liu Mang had implemented a pottery industry. Because all the land belonged to the government, the nobles had to give up their land regardless of whether they were willing or not.
Although Liu Mang has given them money, there will still be complaints. This is because in this era, everyone follows the same principle. That is to have money to buy land, collect rent, save money, and buy land again. This is the new type of small farming economy. This is also the idea of landlords.
But now, Liu Mang had taken their land. In order to not let these nobles be idle, he also wanted to open up a source of income for them. Otherwise, these nobles would go crazy if there was no money to earn.
In order to let these nobles find another source of income, Liu Mang strongly encouraged them to develop a business model.
The business tax of the nobles had been lowered to a certain extent, and they also released a lot of technology. For example, cement was released. Of course, this cement was for civilian use, and it was different from Liu Mang's strongholds. But it was this cement that made a lot of money.
Now, as long as people had money, they would buy cement to build their houses. This was because cement was not only strong, but it was also easy to form. It was not like the previous houses that were made of boulders. A boulder from mining to transportation was a big problem.
Cement, bricks, and tiles were all sold by manufacturers.
But Yangzhou's market would eventually be saturated.
Those cement factories and brick factories couldn't make money, so the nobles were naturally dissatisfied. Although they wouldn't go against Liu Mang, at least they would secretly be restless.
Liu Mang had no choice but to open a new market for them, and the southern fleet was one of them.
Originally, Liu Mang thought that Kushuang Empire was one of the four great empires of the Great Han Dynasty. In any case, it was also a rich empire. Since this empire's porcelain and silk could be sold as treasures in the Western Regions, there was no reason why they couldn't be sold in Kushuang Empire.
But now, Liu Neng's words completely extinguished Liu Mang's beautiful dream. That was, these two countries were poor. What should they do? Yangzhou's merchants were watching Liu Mang open a trade route for them.
If this matter wasn't done well, then those nobles wouldn't be obedient.
"Milord, although these two small countries don't have much money, they have food!" Liu Neng continued to speak.
"Food?" What did he mean when he wanted to sleep, there was a pillow.
This was it! Why did Yangzhou send Zhuge Liang to Western Liang? Wasn't it because of time? There was enough time for the autumn harvest, and the autumn harvest was to get food.
But now, Liu Neng said that Fu Nan and Lin Hu had food.
Liu Mang's eyes lit up. Why didn't he think of it? Vietnam and Thailand were Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia was located in the subtropics. The subtropics monsoon climate was characterized by warm winters, with the coldest monthly temperature above 0 ℃, and hot summers, with the hottest monthly temperature above 22 ℃. The annual precipitation was generally 1,000 to 1,500 mm, and there was more precipitation in the summer, but there was no obvious dry season. Therefore, the crops in the subtropics monsoon climate region grew longer than those in the tropical rainforest climate region. Therefore, the crops in the subtropics monsoon climate region ripened twice or thrice a year. Most of the rice in Southeast Asia ripened thrice a year.
Don't doubt, the people in Southeast Asia also ate rice. Although rice was originally produced in China, it had been brought to Southeast Asia through thousands of years of evolution. Rice might be difficult to grow in the north, but in the south, there was a lot of rain. Coupled with the adaptation of light and heat, rice could thrive with water.
Therefore, the people here didn't lack food and drink. As for why the population growth was slow, one of the reasons was laziness, and the other was the local rulers. The chaos in Southeast Asia was no less than that of the Great Han. It could even be said that it was much more chaotic. There were hundreds and thousands of tribes, and each tribe had its own conflicts. If there were conflicts, they would fight. Southeast Asia was not like the Great Han.
If the Great Han tribe was defeated, then all they had to do was flee. If they couldn't survive in this state, then they would go to another state.
However, the people here were ruthless, and there was no place for them to escape.
These Southeast Asian monkeys were more vicious than anyone else when it came to dealing with their own people. In such a massacre, it would be strange how many people could survive.
There were fewer people, more food, and they couldn't sell it. It was all rotting in the granary. In the long run, the rulers were too lazy to manage the food. Anyway, they wouldn't starve to death. If they wanted to, then they could just farm. If they didn't, then forget it. Three times a year, as long as they ripened once, it would be enough for them to eat for a year.
Even so, Fu Nan still had a lot of food.
"Good, good!" Liu Mang's face finally broke into a smile.
"Liu Neng, you have done a great service this time. I will definitely reward you heavily!" Liu Mang was happy. He wanted to increase the population by a large margin, but the most important thing to restrict the population was food. The current Fu Nan and Lin Hu in Liu Mang's eyes were huge.
"This is Milord's good fortune!" Liu Neng bowed and said.
"Bring the fleet down south immediately, and exchange letters of credence with Fu Nan and Lin Hu! Bring our Yangzhou's specialties to visit our good neighbors! "Liu Mang said excitedly to Liu Neng.
"Milord, what about the matter of Taiwan?" Liu Neng asked Liu Mang suspiciously. Liu Mang had just given him 8,000 troops to go to Taiwan.
"The matter of Taiwan can be put aside for now. The most important thing is to go down south! If this matter is successful, you, Liu Neng, will definitely have a lot of merit! "
"Yes!" Liu Neng took his leave.
The news of Liu Neng's return reached the Ministry of Revenue in Yangzhou, and then the Ministry of Revenue passed it on to the merchants and the nobles.
"Fu Nan? Lin Hu? What kind of small country is that? " Some merchants did not understand. It was not that they were ignorant, but generally speaking, very few people went to the sea. Most people who wanted to communicate with the outside world would go on land. The Silk Road could be said to be an important channel for the Great Han to see the outside world.
Later, because of the war in the Western Region and the chaos in the Central Plains, the Silk Road was abandoned.
Lin Hu and Fu Nan were in Southeast Asia, so it was normal that no one knew about them. Now, there was news from Yangzhou that they wanted to trade with these two small countries.
"I have heard of this Lin Hu!" A merchant said.
"Brother Sun, you know about this Lin Hu? Come and tell us! "Someone hurriedly looked at a merchant surnamed Sun.
The merchant surnamed Sun was flattered. He came from Jiao Province. How much capital could a merchant from Jiao Province have? Since ancient times, Jiao Province had been a place of exile. Because of the war in the Central Plains, many people went there, bringing life to Jiao Province. But even so, Jiao Province could not be compared to Yangzhou and Jiangdong and other big provinces.
Therefore, in Yangzhou, this merchant surnamed Sun was not famous. It was not easy for him to squeeze into the business bureau, and this time, he was the center of attention.
Fortunately, this merchant surnamed Sun was not afraid. As a merchant who had traveled extensively, he had a pair of thick skin.
"Everyone, this Linghu Country is located at the border of our Jiao Province. It was built by the natives to imitate our Han Dynasty!" The merchant surnamed Sun explained.
"On the border of Jiao Province?" When the people heard this explanation, they were not interested. Jiao Province was already a poor place, and this one was on the south side of Jiao Province. What the hell? You want us to sell goods to the local people?
"The grain in that place is the same as in Jiao Province. It can be harvested in a year!" The merchant surnamed Sun explained.
"Hmph, so what if it can be harvested in a year? It is a wasteland, how can it be planted?" The land in Jiao Province was also barren. It was not that the soil was not fertilized, but it was mostly forests and hills. There was miasma inside, making it difficult for ordinary people to survive.
"This …" The merchant surnamed Sun did not know what to say. Jiaozhou was indeed like this. Moreover, these merchants were not interested in land at all. This was because Yangzhou had a rule that all land belonged to the government.
"If we bring goods over, what will the local people give us? Using food? "Someone on the other side sneered.
"It really is grain!" A person walked into the business bureau. When the people saw this middle-aged man, they all lowered their heads and respectfully said, "Minister Mi!"
This person was the Minister of Revenue, Mi Zhu. He was no longer the humble merchant he used to be. Now, he was the Minister of Revenue of Yangzhou. It could be said that he was under one person and above tens of thousands. Everyone respected him. Mi Zhu was very satisfied with this feeling. All of this was given to him by Liu Mang. Mi Zhu was even more grateful to Liu Mang.
"Milord has ordered that as long as you sell the goods to Lin Hu and Fu Nan, you will receive the grain according to the market price. As for how much grain you can get, it depends on you! "
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