Fenghou

Chapter 1401
On the vast sea, a lone cargo ship is sailing eastward with full sails. Several miles behind it, a pirate ship of about [-] stone is chasing after it. This scene is very common in the South China Sea. As long as there is a cargo ship If you place an order, you will definitely be targeted by pirates.

Therefore, cargo ships must sail in groups, and if necessary, they must also ask for the escort of the Quanzhou Navy.

In the past two years, in order to build a navy, the imperial court has requisitioned a large number of private large-scale seagoing ships, making fewer and fewer merchants going south, and the life of the pirates is also difficult. It is so easy to encounter a single ship, how can the pirates let it go?

The pirate ship speeded up and was gradually catching up with the cargo ship. The people on the cargo ship were terrified and shouted.

At this moment, a fleet of ten large ships suddenly appeared more than ten miles to the east. The large ships were all equipped with wooden paddles and sailed by manpower. They did not need sails and were not affected by the wind. quick.

The merchants on the cargo ship cheered together when they saw this fleet. The pirates turned pale with fright and turned around to run away. This fleet with wooden wheels has been famous in the South China Sea in recent months and has been easily killed. There are more than a dozen pirate gangs.

Needless to say, this fleet is exactly the Nanyang expedition team led by Liu Dajiang. His appearance made the small Nanyang countries suffering from pirate attacks overjoyed, and they provided them with pirate information. With accurate information, within a few months, Liu Dajiang led his men to exterminate fourteen pirates, maintained the safety of the business road, and made a lot of money himself.

This time, Liu Dajiang led the fleet to return to Quanzhou. Unexpectedly, they encountered a pirate ship near the Luzon Islands.

How could the pirate ship escape, it was surrounded by Liu Dajiang's fleet in just a moment, a dozen burning oil tanks were thrown over, the pirate ship immediately caught fire, dozens of pirates had to jump into the sea to escape, but they couldn't escape the soldiers Their crossbow arrows shot down like a rainstorm. In just a moment, all the pirates were shot to death, and none of them survived.

The Western army has become a tactical routine to deal with pirates. First, use fire to force the pirates to jump into the sea, then shoot them to death with arrows, and finally clear the ship. , Sell the goods cheaply, spend the money on wine and wine, put the valuables on the boat, hide them on the deserted island, it is better to put them on the boat to be safer.

"There are no more lives left!" shouted the soldier.

Commander Han Xiaowu waved his hand, "Clear the ship!"

The soldiers hooked the pirate ship over, and fifty soldiers in iron armor, holding shields and short spears boarded the ship. Although the deck was on fire, it would be at least a few hours before it was completely burned down, and the bottom cargo hold did not catch fire.

Fifty soldiers entered the hold, and after a while, several pirates hiding in the hold were found out, stabbed to death with a spear without any explanation, and thrown directly into the sea.

Soon, five disheveled women were found. They were all women who were ravaged by pirates to vent their anger. After the five were rescued, they couldn't help crying. They were picked up on the big ship, and the treatment was simple. A sum of money for each person, and then handed over to the rescued cargo ship, and ordered the cargo ship to send them home when it returned.

Liu Dajiang will also ask the ship owner to write down a written statement. If these women are killed by them, then the ship owner and crew should stop messing around in the South China Sea.

Not long after, the inspection team found the secret warehouse where the treasures were kept, and quickly sent a large box of large boxes to the big ship. Every soldier smiled when he saw these big boxes. Everyone is the same, including himself and commander Han Xiaowu, which makes all the soldiers feel grateful and work extra hard.

An hour later, the five women were sent to the merchant ship, and the merchant ship followed Liu Dajiang's fleet to Quanzhou. The pirate ship was burned by the fire and gradually sank.

After half a month of sailing, the fleet arrived in Quanzhou. This is Chen Qing's second visit to Quanzhou. The last time he inspected Quanzhou and Ryukyu Island, this time he will inspect the entire Fujian Road.

When the big ship arrived at the wharf, Hu Yantong, the military envoy of Fujian Road, Wang Feng, the governor of Quanzhou, Chao Kun, the order of the Overseas Trade Administration, Zhang Jing, the order of the Municipal Shipping Administration, and other civil and military officials welcomed His Highness King Yong on the wharf.

After seeing the ceremony, Hu Yantong arranged for Sima to send the [-] guards to the barracks to rest. Chen Qing immediately took everyone to stay in the expensive hotel near the pier. The expensive hotel was built on a low mountain with a panoramic view of the sea and the port. In the blue sea, flocks of seagulls are flying in the sky, making crisp calls, and the sea breeze is blowing on the face, which makes people feel refreshed.

In a pavilion, Chen Qing and Zhou Kuan sat and drank tea, Zhou Kuan said with a smile: "I heard from the Crown Prince yesterday that Your Highness has learned quite a lot in the past two days, what have you gained?"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Actually, it's not really a feeling. It's just that I didn't experience it personally before, so I couldn't understand it. I've always been very surprised. Since the Tang Dynasty, our sea transportation has been very developed. We went to Nanyang, Tianzhu, and Dashi. There are large tracts of land overseas that are unclaimed, with dense forests and abundant resources, why don’t we occupy and expand the territory?”

"Does Your Highness understand the reason?"

"I couldn't figure it out before, but now I understand."

"Your Highness, tell me why?"

"We went all the way south from the coast of Wenzhou, and there were basically no people in sight. When we arrived at the coast of Fujian Road, it was even more sparsely populated. On Guangnan East Road and Guangnan West Road, there were even large areas of land uninhabited, and our own land was empty. There is no one to live in, and you can’t even live in your own land, so how can you consider overseas?”

"Your Highness is right. We do have a large area of ​​land that is vacant and uninhabited. In this case, overseas land will not be considered. The key is insufficient population!"

Chen Qing shook his head and said, "I don't think about it now, but what about 300 or 500 years later! Population overgrowth, land scarcity, and dynasties changing in history, except for foreign invasions, are all due to land annexation, and the people cannot survive. Finally, peasant uprisings broke out and were Ambitious people use it to seize the country, but if we have a large piece of land overseas, the peasants can't survive in the country, so they can migrate overseas and own their own land. I can even seal the overseas land to heroes and let them go overseas to become vassals , so that many difficult problems that cannot be solved in the past dynasties can be solved.”

Zhou Kuan pondered for a while and said, "I feel that Your Highness's idea is very good. It is easy to occupy the land, but it is difficult to move the people. However, we can divide it into two steps. First, occupy the unclaimed land, arrange for the army to be stationed, and migrate the criminals to develop it. First build a county, wait for the population to grow in the future, and then move out the population who are willing to live overseas. In a hundred years, there may be millions of people living overseas.”

The reason why Chen Qing brought Zhou Kuan together for inspection was that Zhou Kuan had a broad mind, could understand himself, and would support him in the court. He needed to use this inspection to reach some consensus with Zhou Kuan.

There is also his son Chen Ji. He also needs to cultivate his son's overseas awareness. After he inherits his own business, he can continue to expand outward and strive for more land for his descendants.

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "In two days, I will go to the big island of Ryukyu for patrol first, so you can go and see it with me!"

(End of this chapter)