Chapter 1534: Sea Caravan

Facing Hou Shikai's expectant gaze, Yun Zheng spoke slowly.

"The three southern feudatories have now all surrendered to our Daqian."

"In the future, the imperial court will vigorously develop the Three Feudatories."

"San Francisco is also rich in resources, many of which are what we need."

"But transporting supplies from San Francisco is a long journey and the cost is too high!"

"So, I plan to build a port near the mouth of the Li River."

"You can form a sea caravan to transport supplies from the Three Feudatories or the south to the places north of Qijiang River for sale. If the court needs it, the court will also purchase a large amount from you."

"But there is one thing. Don't expect to make too much money from the materials purchased by the court from you..."

Yun Zheng explained his thoughts to Hou Shikai in detail.

Sea shipping!

The imperial court will definitely vigorously develop maritime transportation in the future.

Not to mention that they haven't developed the train yet, even if they have developed the train, shipping will be vigorously developed.

The development of maritime transportation can not only greatly reduce the transportation costs of materials, but also enable foreign trade in the future, which can not only increase the tax revenue of the imperial court, but also enable the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry.

It was impossible for Hou Shikai to make too much money from him.

At most, he let Hou Shikai earn some hard-earned money from him.

But as long as Hou Shikai develops sea transportation, he can seize the initiative when conducting foreign trade in the future. At the same time, he can also make huge profits by reselling other materials.

Originally, he planned to organize a maritime merchant caravan by the imperial court.

But since Hou Shikai has come to us, we can let him do this.

After hearing Yun Zheng's words, Hou Shikai couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, Yun Zheng smiled again: "This is just my suggestion to you. If you don't want to, or think the risk is too great, you can..."

"no no……"

Hou Shikai came back to his senses, "It's not that I don't want to go, I'm just afraid that the sea is rough and it's easy to be attacked by pirates, so I'm a little worried..."

"Don't worry about this. I have already thought about it."

Yun Zheng smiled and said, "The court will send a navy to escort you along the way. You don't need to pay any compensation to the navy. You only need to pay the corresponding commercial taxes to the court."

Sending the navy to escort can not only ensure the safety of the caravan, but also is a disguised form of training the navy.

With more goods arriving at the port, the court can also collect more tax revenue.

When others see the profits brought by maritime trade, they will certainly rush to go out to sea.

At that time, the court could sell any obsolete warships and the like.

In addition to building warships, places like the Ship Administration can also help private individuals build merchant ships. This can not only train more shipbuilding personnel, but also obtain more funds to research new warships, thereby reducing the burden on the court.

This is a win-win situation, there is no reason for him not to do it.

Hou Shikai's eyes lit up: "If there is a navy escort, I won't have anything to worry about."

"Then it's settled."

Yun Zheng did not hesitate, "You can organize a maritime caravan first. The court needs to spend some time to build a port and dock at the mouth of the Li River."

"In addition, we also need to attack Yu Country to prevent Yu Country bandits from harassing merchant caravans at sea!"

"By the time you have formed the caravan, the affairs at the court will probably have been resolved!"

In terms of time, there is still plenty of time.

He wanted Hou Shikai to form a large maritime merchant caravan, not just one or two merchant ships.

By the time Hou Shikai prepared the merchant ships and corresponding personnel, they should have finished defeating the Yu Kingdom.

At that time, more naval bases can be built in Yu Country.

This will further ensure the safety of Daqian's coastline.

so!

For both public and private reasons, the State of Yu must be destroyed!

This is the perfect overseas base.

"Thank you for your guidance, Your Majesty!"

Hou Shikai was secretly happy.

At present, Daqian also has sea transportation, but it is mainly short-distance sea transportation.

If he could take the lead in forming a large-scale maritime caravan, he would definitely make a fortune in the future.

Moreover, he also knew that Yun Zheng's foresight was beyond the imagination of people like them.

Since Yun Zheng has this idea, even if he doesn't do it, there are others who will do it.

What he is doing now is to seize the initiative!

"The merchant ship you build should be as big as possible while ensuring stability!"

Yun Zheng reminded Hou Shikai, "Your merchant ships can't just think about sailing around Daqian. In the future, you must go overseas to trade! This is where you can really make a lot of money!"

Overseas trade?

When Hou Shikai heard this, he was immediately excited.

But he knew that Yun Zheng attached great importance to overseas affairs.

Many years ago, Yun Zheng sent people to explore overseas.

There must be many things overseas that Daqian doesn’t have.

Things are rare and valuable!

If we start trading overseas, it will definitely be a lucrative business!

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will order people to build a good merchant ship!"

Hou Shikai answered confidently.

"That's good."

Yun Zheng nodded and smiled, then turned to ask Hou Shikai, "Did your caravan encounter any robberies or the like in the Northwest Protectorate?"

Hou Shikai replied: "We did encounter them, but they didn't dare to attack us because they saw that we were outnumbered..."

Although the Northwest Protectorate has been developing for several years, it is still not very stable.

There are still some people from the fallen country who become bandits and rob passing merchants.

Anyway, the officers and soldiers of the Northwest Protectorate have nothing to do so they go to suppress bandits and train their troops.

Under the attack of officers and soldiers, there were no large groups of bandits there, but there were still some small groups of bandits.

These bandits are generally not numerous, most of them are in groups of three or five, and the largest are about ten people.

Therefore, merchants along the way formed caravans. Merchants with a small number of people followed the larger caravans. With the protection of the caravan guards, generally no bandits dared to touch them.

The officers and soldiers would also send small cavalry units to patrol along the newly built roads and crack down on bandits along the way.

"How is the situation in the Northwest Protectorate now?"

Yunzheng asked.

Counting the time, he hasn't been to the Northwest Protectorate for two years.

Although there is often news from there, it is not very comprehensive.

“It’s not great, but it’s much better than the past two years.”

Hou Shikai replied: "In the past two years, our caravan went there and earned a lot of money. Since last autumn, the business of many merchants has gradually improved..."

To be honest, they went there to do business in the past two years just to please Yun Zheng.

Otherwise, they wouldn't bother to go there.

The money earned from a trip over there is not as much as that earned from transporting goods to the interior.

But as the Northwest Protectorate gradually stabilized, it became much easier for them to make money there.

Listening to Hou Shikai's words, Yun Zheng couldn't help but think secretly.

After a moment, Yun Zheng asked, "How much silver did you earn in the Northwest Protectorate?"