At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 369: North-South Expansion in the Age of Discovery and Financial Tycoon Hu Hai
The eighth year of the Han Dynasty, July 5th, Chang'an City.

"Chang'an City, I, Hu Hai, am back again!" Hu Hai said excitedly when he saw Chang'an City coming into view while sitting in the rail carriage.

At this time, he felt like a successful man returning home in wealth and glory, because in the past six months, Hu Hai's wealth had more than doubled.

The northern part of the Han Dynasty was more concerned about the upcoming Northern Expedition, while south of the Yellow River, there was very little discussion about the Northern Expedition. And south of the Yangtze River, many people didn't even know there was such a war.

It’s not that people in the south are ill-informed, but that their attention is drawn to other hot topics.

That is the great maritime trade in the south. As the number of shipyards in the Han Dynasty increased, it became difficult for the nobles of the Han Dynasty to blockade maritime trade, and more and more civilian fleets joined this tide of wealth.

These folk heroes, if lucky, would become rich overnight, but if unlucky, not only would their ships be destroyed and they would die, but they would also be left with a lot of debts that had to be paid off by their wives, children and relatives.

It can be said that maritime trade at that time was both a place of wealth and a place of death, but because of the huge profits, it still attracted a large number of people to join in maritime trade like moths to a flame.

However, the captains of the Han Dynasty were also quickly summarizing their experience. They counted the time of the shipwrecks and their own sailing experience, and realized that there were many storms and big waves at sea around June to September, which made accidents more likely to occur.

The period from December to March of the following year is the calmest in the South Sea. There are almost no accidents during this period, unless you are unlucky and get lost or hit a reef.

Captains and sailors who are aware of risks will avoid the period from June to September, and concentrate on going out to sea from December to March of the following year.

But those who are anxious to get rich choose to seek wealth and honor at risk, and do not care about the solar terms at all. Of course, the most capsized people are also such people. It is impossible to be lucky every time.

There are also some smart people who think that it is easy for a ship to capsize in the deep sea, and it is difficult to survive after a capsize. However, if they continue to sail along the coastline of the Han Dynasty, then that would be fine. When they see a storm, they can hide in the coast of the Han Dynasty and sail again when the weather is good.

Although this kind of voyage was inefficient and slow, it was safe, so the small princes in the Baiyue region took advantage of it. They built simple docks, set up a few wooden taverns, sold water, vegetables, and fruits, and provided logistical services for these ships, which was also a way to get a share of the pie. They were the first to enjoy the way to make money on the Silk Road.

These captains actually came to the Spice Islands along the coastline of South China, sticking to the continental shelf. They discovered a new shipping route and even opened up the South China market.

At this time, there were still some savages in Nanzhong. Influenced by the radiation from the Nanyue Kingdom, they also established some savage countries. Although these countries were no different from the Han villages in the eyes of the Han sailors, they at least had some traces of civilization and had certain wealth. The Han captains sold Han cloth and ironware and obtained local precious woods, and the profits were not much less than spices.

The wealth of the world has increased dramatically in recent years, and the nobles and those who own workshops in the Han Dynasty have seen the fastest increase in wealth. Those with assets of one million yuan have at least 10 or yuan in the Han Dynasty, even if they do not have yuan.

These people desperately need precious things to show their status. In the past, it was the spices of the Han Dynasty, but in the past two years, as the amount of spices increased and the prices decreased, the spices also depreciated a bit.

The precious sandalwood, mahogany and other woods brought back by the Han captain from South China became symbols of luxury for these nobles and wealthy people. They made a table, a chair, or even a carriage out of the sandalwood, which was more valuable than gold, to show off their wealth.

Of course, the host would not be so nouveau riche as to say that his chairs and carriages were valuable. Instead, he jokingly told his guests that sandalwood could repel mosquitoes and flies and help calm the mind.

Therefore, the market for precious woods such as sandalwood in the Han Dynasty is still in its rising period, with extremely high profits, and it is also one of the main commodities in maritime trade.

Among them, there were some captains who calculated the route by observing the nautical charts printed by the court. They believed that sailing from Ryukyu Island to the Spice Island was closer and could also avoid the South China Sea storms.

As a result, these people encountered a storm. They were lucky enough to be blown directly to Luzon Island. Then these sailors repaired the captain on the island while exploring the island to find the island's specialties.

As a result, they did not find any special products, but discovered that the island was extremely large. They spent more than a month circling the island by ship and confirmed that they had found an extremely large island, with an area equivalent to several counties in the Han Dynasty. However, they only traded a small amount of special products with the savages on the island and then returned.

The captain reported his newly discovered island to the court, and Xu Fan then noticed that the captain of the Han Dynasty had found Luzon of later generations.

Xu Fan remembered that there were a large number of copper mines on this island, which were said to be among the top ten in the world, and there were also quite a few gold mines.

In order to encourage the captain's discovery, Xu Fan appointed him the Baron of Luzon of the Han Dynasty. Of course, it was just a title. If he wanted to live up to the title, he could establish a fiefdom in Luzon, which Xu Fan would be happy to see.

After getting the sea chart, Xu Fan sent a fleet to Luzon to establish a reclamation site and explore the gold, silver and copper mines in Luzon. At this stage, the Han Dynasty does not have so much energy to develop Luzon. Only the precious metals such as gold, silver and copper in Luzon are worth investing in.

At the same time, the Han Dynasty’s North Sea Fleet also made new discoveries.

They saw that the South China Sea Fleet was gaining more and more attention from the imperial court, and they were ready to rebel. Moreover, the nobles and powerful people in the north were unwilling to see the south getting rich from maritime trade while they could only dig guano.

This sea is not only in your south, there is also a sea in my north.

So the captains of the North Sea Fleet began to move south along Pei State, and soon discovered the later Wa State. After circling Wa State, the officers of the North Sea Fleet were pleasantly surprised to find that this island group was extremely large, comparable to the Hebei area of ​​the Han Dynasty.

But what made them depressed was that such a large island had no precious specialties, only a group of short savages, and naturally there was not much credit for only discovering a deserted island. This made many people extremely disappointed.

Of course, there was also a small surprise, that is, the Han fleet discovered Xu Fu's trace.

Xu Fu, who had deceived the First Emperor, actually brought 3000 boys and girls to the island of Wo and built a small city. However, Xu Fu had died on the island, and only the boys and girls and their descendants remained here.

When they saw the Han fleet, they were extremely surprised. After learning that the First Emperor was dead and even the tyrannical Qin Dynasty was gone, these people asked the Han army to lead them back to their hometown.

It’s a pity that the Han fleet couldn’t bring too many people, and in the end only led dozens of people back to the Han Dynasty.

Xu Fu was found, which caused quite a stir in the Han Dynasty. Under this sensational news, the people of the Han Dynasty did not pay any attention to the affairs of the Wa Island. After all, who would care about a wasteland with only a group of dwarfs?

But after Xu Fan learned that the Japanese island had been discovered, he told Peng Yue that there were many gold and silver mines on the Japanese island and asked him to find a way to explore them.

It is common knowledge for many people who read time-travel novels that Japan has abundant gold and silver.

Even Xu Fan had heard of the famous Iwami Ginzan and Sado Gold Mine. It was said that the mining output during its peak period exceeded half of the world's total.

Now Xu Fan regretted very much. Why didn’t he pay attention to the locations of these two gold and silver mines when he read the novel? Otherwise, finding these two mines would solve many problems for the Han Dynasty.

Of course, now that the Japanese islands have been discovered, Xu Fan is not in a hurry. He will eventually find them if he searches slowly.

However, in order to commend Huo Ze who discovered the Wa Island, Xu Fan conferred him the title of Viscount Izumo. This was also the lowest title bestowed on a senior military official in the Han Dynasty in recent years. Even the captains below did not get a title.

In contrast, of course, Luan Bu was granted the title of Che Hou and was also granted titles to more than a dozen nobles. The titles given to Huo Zhe and others were completely different.

It's not that Xu Fan doesn't want to be more generous, but Deng Zong, Chen Lin and others think that although the Wa Island is big, it is not of much use to the Han Dynasty. It is just a cold and barren land, which is completely incomparable to the Spice Island discovered by Luan Bu, which can bring hundreds of thousands of gold wealth to the Han Dynasty every year.

If the emperor had not expressed his intention to enfeoff meritorious officials, they would have also considered that Hu Zhe had been in the north for many years, transporting supplies and laborers to the Liaodong vassal states, and also obtained millions of stones of guano for the Han Dynasty, which was considered hard work. Otherwise, they all thought that this viscount should not be enfeoffed.

Compared to Hu Ze who almost became a joke, the emperor's discovery of the impact of Luzon's enfeoffment of common people was extremely great.

Discovering a new island could make one a noble of the Han Dynasty, which made countless captains and sailors eager to find a new island so as to achieve family migration.

Unfortunately, although the South Seas are known as the Land of Ten Thousand Islands, there are not many islands comparable to Luzon Island. Many sailors and captains only found some small islands, which are almost worthless. Slightly larger islands, without precious specialties, are not of much use to the Han people at that time. This was the case during the Age of Exploration. Without finding precious metals such as gold and silver, or luxury goods such as spices, such islands were useless and wild to the people at that time. The cost of developing a wild land was extremely high.

Of course, in order not to discourage the enthusiasm of these people, Xu Fan would give a lordship to the discoverer of a place with an area close to that of a county of the Han Dynasty. If it is lower, he could only give a reward of tens of thousands of money.

The cartographic department of the Han Dynasty court would then mark these islands and sell a wave of nautical charts, and their discovery would be considered a reward for their hard work.

With the blessing of various fame and fortune from the Han Dynasty court, more and more people started sailing in Kuaiji County.

The more ships were built, the more people's ships capsized. Many people who came to Kuaiji County did not get rich, but lost all their money because of ship capsizing.

Soon, the smart people in the Han Dynasty came up with a way to reduce the risk and let others help share the risk.

Hu Hai took advantage of this trend and joined the maritime trade. He had his own shipyard, so he simply invested in it by selling ships. He then contacted local powerful people to buy supplies and recruited a group of brave and courageous heroes to serve as captains and sailors.

A ship capable of ocean trade was born. The profit distribution of a ship was as follows: Hu Hai took 40% of the profit from the ship, the local tyrants took 30% of the goods from the goods, and the captain and sailors who worked hard took the remaining 30% of the profit.

In this way, Hu Hai invested in five overseas trading ships, and now two ships have returned. The two ships have brought him a total profit of 5 million coins. At this time, Hu Hai has already made his investment back. If one of the remaining three ships can return, he will make a profit of 400 million coins. If all three ships return, he can make a profit of 200 million coins. It can only be said that the profits from maritime trade are indeed crazy.

His business grew bigger and bigger. He began to invest the money he earned in other industries in Kuaiji County. His tentacles began to spread to the carriage and horse business, shipyards, fisheries, textile industry and other industries in Kuaiji County.

More importantly, a small half of the profits brought by maritime trade were obtained by Kuaiji County. With the influx of huge amounts of wealth, the spice trade made the entire Netherlands the richest country in the world at that time, and ordinary people could also enjoy a middle-class life.

Now the spice trade has naturally limited impact on the physical strength of the Han Dynasty, but its effect on the economy of Kuaiji County with a population of one million is extremely obvious. The people are prosperous and all industries are thriving. Now the economic development of Kuaiji County has shown a clear trend of catching up with Chen County.

Of course, on a micro level, all industries in Kuaiji County were extremely prosperous, which allowed Hu Hai's investment to increase exponentially. It is not wrong to say that Hu Hai was a financial tycoon now.

A month ago, news came from Guanzhong that the emperor had issued a ranch ticket, and 100 million yuan could be used to purchase 1 acres of ranch in Mobei. Hu Hai would naturally not miss such a good opportunity, so he led his trusted men back to Chang'an. That's why this scene happened today.

The three major renovation projects in Chang'an City have been completed. Xu Fan began to focus on the renovation plan of the city blocks in Chang'an City. Now Chang'an City will renovate one or two city blocks every year, and they will be changed into the community model of later generations.

Of course, it is impossible to complete the reconstruction of Chang'an City with a population of one million in a short period of time. This requires a long-term effort of more than ten years. However, the current situation of Chang'an's reconstruction is enough to make people who see Chang'an City for the first time feel like they have come to the future world.

The flat and wide cement road is cleaned by workers without a trace of dust. The transplanted trees have begun to sprout, adding a touch of shadow to the road. Tall cement buildings are on both sides of the road. In order to save precious space, five- or six-story high-rise buildings have begun to appear in Chang'an City.

Zhu Pei could see many huge buildings, comparable to palaces. He looked at the palace-like buildings, and carriages kept coming out. In a short period of time, dozens of carriages came out. And he saw the words Chang'an Carriage Factory written on the gate of this huge building.

He was astonished and said, "How could a carriage workshop be built as big as a palace?"

Hu Hai looked over and said, "They are the largest carriage factory in the world. They can sell carriages worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This size is nothing."

Zhu Pei became autistic.

The people of Luoyang City have always looked down on the bumpkins from other places. Today, he has become such a bumpkin.

After passing the Chang'an Carriage Field, Zhu Pei saw beautiful fountains, parks, various sports venues, football fields, bustling crowds on the roads, and a constant stream of carriages. He also found many carriages that were 3-4 meters long, filled with people.

After entering Chang'an City, Zhu Pei felt that his eyes were not enough. There were too many new and interesting things in Chang'an City. Entering this city was like entering a new world.

Hu Hai said proudly: "You Luoyang people are arrogant, but you are nothing in front of the imperial capital. In my Chang'an people's eyes, the whole world except Chang'an City is the countryside."

"This is Chang'an City! It is worthy of being the capital of our Han Dynasty." Zhu Pei could only sigh.

After getting off the rail carriage, Hu Hai rented a carriage and the group came to a tree-lined community in Chang'an City.

Hu Hai pushed open the door skillfully and said, "Father-in-law, I have returned to Chang'an City."

A young man soon walked out of the courtyard. Seeing Hu Hai, he said helplessly, "Why are you here again? Are you down and out again? Come to my house to eat free food!"

The young man is Li Feng, the son of Li Si.

Hu Hai said nonchalantly: "What do you mean by eating white rice? A son-in-law eating his father-in-law's rice can also be called eating white rice."

Then Hu Hai patted his gorgeous cotton clothes and said, "This piece of clothing of mine is enough to buy your small courtyard. Can a person who can afford such clothes be shabby?"

"Zhu Zi, bring in the gift I gave to my father-in-law."

Zhuzi came in immediately carrying large and small bags.

Hu Hai said: "This is the best brocade clothing in Kuaiji County. A set costs 2 coins. I bought it for both my father-in-law and you. There is also Kunpeng meat and ambergris, which are all top-quality goods."

Then Hu Hai said to Zhu Pei, "This is my second uncle, Li Feng. Don't be fooled by his young age, but he is the disciple of Zhang Cang, the Minister of Planning. He is also the Minister of Planning, a senior official with a rank of 1,000 stones, and can meet the emperor."

In recent years, the Han Dynasty court has to collect more and more data and review more and more items. The power of Zhang Cang, the Minister of State Affairs, has become increasingly greater, and is already showing signs of surpassing the Nine Ministers.

Now many Han officials call Zhang Cang "the Prime Minister", and believe that Zhang Cang will definitely become the one who rules the world.

Zhu Pei immediately bowed and said, "Zhu Pei from Luoyang greets Li Jicheng."

Li Feng immediately returned the greeting and said, "Don't listen to Hu Hai's nonsense. I am just a minor official."

Then he looked at Hu Hai's gift and said, "Please don't bring trouble to me. I don't want to be targeted by the censor."

Hu Hai was dissatisfied and said, "Did the censors of the Han Dynasty grow up drinking seawater? They are so nosy. They even have to censor the gift I gave you."

Li Feng said: "In the past two years, corruption in the Han Dynasty has become more and more serious. Qin Bo, the leader of the Mohist school, has begun to propose a law to publicize the assets of Han officials. Don't cause trouble for me."

Hu Hai said disdainfully: "Qin Bo is not satisfied with wanting to be a saint himself, and he actually wants to drag everyone in the world to become a saint. He is a fool. How can such a thing succeed?"

He had seen Qin Bo before. He wanted to be neither a minister nor a nobleman of the Han Dynasty, but insisted on being a peasant. He wore linen clothes and straw sandals every day, saying that he would plead for the people and even organized the unruly people to rebel.

If the current emperor had not been Xu Fan, who started out as a rebel, Qin Bo would have been killed long ago. Now he actually turned his spearhead toward the Han officials. He probably didn't know who the real master of this world was, or he thought he had nine heads and could not be killed.

(End of this chapter)