thefictionvixens Chapter 2024: Maritime Trade Obstructed
Chapter 2024: Maritime Trade Obstructed
Li Shen has always wanted to develop maritime trade. He knows that maritime trade was also developed in the late Tang Dynasty and that maritime trade can promote economic growth.
It can also bring huge economic benefits to the Tang Dynasty.
The goods of the Tang Dynasty were luxury goods in other countries, with very high profits, and could be exchanged for many materials that the Tang Dynasty did not have and a large amount of gold.
Maritime trade can also promote the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology, making it possible to build larger ships that are more suitable for ocean voyages.
In addition, it can also carry out cultural exchanges and political influence with other countries.
Spread the culture of the Tang Dynasty to all parts of the world and let them see what the real cultural heritage is.
Li Shen once wanted to make public the clipper shipbuilding technology, but later selfishness prevailed over his ideals.
But no matter what, Li Shen still hopes to strengthen maritime trade and exchange it for things that the Tang Dynasty does not have.
Such as grains, fruits, spices and so on.
Moreover, Li Shen also had another idea, which was to hope that someone could explore and discover America.
There are mountains of gold and silver, as well as abundant natural resources.
Wang Hongfu knew Li Shen's idea very well. Now that the Western Regions were blocked, Wang Hongfu prepared to develop sea transportation.
Because Wang Hongfu knew that at present, the power of Ji Wang Mansion on the sea was unmatched, and there were two pirate groups of Ji Wang Mansion on the sea.
As the boss, he is well aware of the huge amount of money that flows into the shipyard every year.
"Sir, it may not be appropriate to have them ship by sea at this time." A shopkeeper saluted and replied.
"Oh? Why?" Wang Hongfu stopped writing and looked over.
"To the shopkeeper Wang, the sea has been in turmoil in recent years. A notorious pirate group has emerged and many merchant ships have been intercepted by them.
Thousands of people are still missing.
They have been active in the coastal waters of the Tang Dynasty and have had a considerable influence on maritime trade.
The imperial court also sent out naval forces to encircle and suppress them, but they could never find them.
This group of pirates is very mysterious. They come and go without a trace, and no one knows where they are.
Some surviving merchants said that this group of pirates was large in number and it was hard to tell where they were from, but some of them could speak Tang dialect.
Suspected to be fishermen from the coastal area.”
The shopkeeper told Wang Hongfu the news he had received.
Wang Hongfu was surprised when he heard this:
"Is there such a thing? I have also heard that there were pirates on the sea and the imperial court sent troops to suppress them. I always thought that these pirates had been wiped out.
I didn't expect that even the imperial court couldn't deal with them. No wonder they were so rampant.
However, they have been active in the East China Sea of the Tang Dynasty. There has been no news of pirates appearing in the south, so they have to start from the south to go to the Western Regions.
I don't think these pirates would travel all the way to Guangzhou Port to cause trouble, after all, it's a long journey and they are not familiar with the place.
In this way, you can spread the news to the outside world, saying that Prince Ji's Mansion is beginning to prepare to do a large amount of shipping business, so that this group of people can be prepared first.
It takes time to build a ship. I will report this to His Royal Highness Prince Ji, and I hope His Royal Highness will give me your instructions."
The affairs of the pirate group have always been a secret, and not many people know about it, especially Li Shen’s second pirate group, the Straw Hat Pirates.
The overall strength of the Straw Hat Pirates has surpassed that of the Roger Pirates. After all, their ships were built later, and the craftsmen in the shipyard had experience and made improvements.
And at Li Shen's request, they all replaced their ships with large clippers, which were twice as large as the clippers used by Roger's pirate group at the beginning.
Other weapons and equipment include the most advanced crossbows, and with small clipper ships as escorts, it looks quite respectable.
The Roger Pirates are more diverse, with all kinds of ships, almost all of which are robbed. Although they are also equipped with large clippers, the number is not as large as that of the Straw Hat Pirates.
After the Straw Hat Pirates switched positions with the Roger Pirates, they have been active in the East China Sea and Bohai Sea area, specializing in intercepting supplies sent to the three countries of Silla, Baekje, and of course, including supply ships from Japan.
This news was only circulated among merchants engaged in shipping. Most merchants did not pay much attention to it, and no one knew that this pirate group belonged to Prince Ji's Mansion.
Except for Wang Hongfu, no one knew the identities of these shopkeepers.
When the shopkeeper mentioned this just now, Wang Hongfu remembered this matter. In fact, there is also a pirate group in the south, and they are blocking the waters of the Western Regions to intercept spices.
Now it seems that he is still a little anxious, and this matter must be discussed with King Ji.
Wang Hongfu explained some more things before letting everyone leave, and he continued to write furiously at his desk.
He wanted to record what he thought of today and then report it to King Ji.
~~~~~~~
The weather in June is already very hot, even in the north.
Li Shen's convoy was already halfway through its journey. In the past few days, Li Shen had ordered his guards to wear light armor and put their armor on the carriage at the back.
To prevent the guards from suffering from heatstroke and falling ill, thus delaying their journey.
Anyway, he is now in the country, and Li Shen is not afraid that someone will assassinate him.
Although Li Shen was in a hurry, it was almost like traveling. Whenever he came to a place with a good environment, Li Shen would stop to rest.
Afterwards, he took Wu Meiniang, Liu Ruyan and others to travel around and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Occasionally, there would be a bonfire party at night, with singing and dancing, and they would eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of wine.
As the Chief Secretary, Wang Xuance wanted to persuade him several times, but he finally held back.
Before leaving, Prince Ji said that he wanted to speed up, but in fact he completely forgot about it.
Except that they set out early every day and Li Shen slept in the carriage, all the other things like hurrying on the road and the imperial mission were nonsense.
"Xuan Ce, come here, drink some iced juice to cool down."
In the evening, the team set up camp beside a valley. Li Shen asked someone to prepare a glass of cold juice and handed it to Wang Xuance.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Wang Xuance took it and touched the cold cup, feeling deeply that Prince Ji was still Prince Ji. Even if he was on business for the court,
Still couldn't stop Prince Ji's extravagant lifestyle.
He always had to drink cold drinks when he traveled, so he brought several bags of saltpeter. There were also people on site to help make it in advance, and even His Majesty did not have such a grand ceremony when he traveled.
"Wow~~~~So refreshing." Li Shen sat on the recliner and took a sip of ice water. He felt extremely refreshed.
"Your Highness, we have already set up camp and have inspected everywhere. There is nothing suspicious."
At this time Xue Rengui came over to report.
"Well, sit down and have a drink, it's very comfortable." Li Shen nodded.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Xue Rengui also sat down.
"How long will it take us to reach our destination?" Li Shen asked.
"Your Highness, we will be able to leave the border tomorrow, and it will take about a month to reach Xizhou." Xue Rengui estimated and reported.
(I watched several videos on the short video platform and found that ice can really be made with nitrate.
A large amount of saltpeter is dissolved in water, and the water temperature can drop to minus ten degrees Celsius, which is really amazing.