The funds raised from the sale of stocks and bonds were not only used for construction and ocean exploration, but there was still a lot left over. There are different views within Liuqiu Company regarding the use of this money. Some people think that the money should be returned to reduce the pressure of debt repayment, while others think that the navy should increase investment and strengthen its defense capabilities. After intense discussions, the money was ultimately invested in three areas. The first aspect is to expand maritime trade to earn more funds, the second aspect is to increase mining efforts, expand the area of salt-drying sea fields, and build sugar and glass production lines in advance, and the third aspect is to On the other hand, it is used for Liuqiu’s education, science, culture and health undertakings.
The route from Lin'an to Quanzhou is the main operating route of Liuqiu Company. Although the distance is short and the risk is low, the operating profit is not high due to the monopoly by Pu Shougeng and other large merchants, as well as the fierce competition from other maritime merchants. Although the routes from Keelung to Luzon, Jiaozhi and Champa are highly profitable and not far away, these three places are the territory of Pu Shougeng and others. "How can you allow others to snore and sleep on the side of the bed?" These three places have a large population and rich products, and the trade profits are very huge. How can Pu Shougeng tolerate others getting involved. It is said that the last time Boss Qian purchased grain and buffalo from three places, Pu Shougeng had learned about it. He had sent people to Zhoushan Trading Station to warn Liuqiu Company and issued harsh words. If it happens again next time, there will never be any harm. polite.
Pu Shougeng used Quanzhou as his base camp and had tens of thousands of large and small ships and tens of thousands of sailors under his command. Even Quanzhou officials did not dare to disobey him. Even the Coastal Construction Department gave him three points of courtesy. The entire coastal waters of Fujian Road were under his control. The main force of the government, army and navy was in the coastal waters north of Lin'an to prevent the Mongols from going south by sea. The Liuqiu navy currently has only 1,500 people and dozens of large and small ships. It is far inferior to Pu Shougeng in terms of ships and numbers. The quality of the ships and the quality of the sailors are also not superior. "An elephant can be killed by too many ants." Although Liuqiu Navy has the powerful weapon of artillery, it is absolutely unable to withstand the swarm of many ships and cannot compete head-on with Pu Shougeng's maritime power. It is said that Pu Shougeng has no interest in the nearby Liuqiu Island. It is not because he has no ability to occupy it, but because he feels that the wild land is useless and there is no profit in occupying it.
Although the northern Han regions such as Shandong, Hebei, and Liaodong and Korea also had large populations and rich products, they could only do smuggling trade secretly because the Mongols prohibited trading with the Liuqiu Company. In the eyes of the Mongolian nobles and Han military princes, the Liuqiu Company's continuous abduction of northern Han people was really abominable and must be blacklisted. As for opening up overseas trading? Don't even think about it. Therefore, although there is strong demand among the people in the northern Han Dynasty, and the grassroots officials who benefit from it often turn a blind eye, after all, smuggling is officially prohibited and can only be carried out secretly. Therefore, the profit is extremely high, but the volume of trade is not large.
Boss Qian had no choice but to focus his business on the triangular trade route of Zhoushan-Keelung-Japanese Fukuhara. Fukuhara, also known as Kobe, is the current trading center of Japan. You can buy gold, silver, agarwood and other valuables, as well as bulk commodities such as sulfur. The products between the three places are highly complementary, and the transaction volume is huge. The profits from one trip are extremely considerable. It's just that this route is not safe. There are many forces that are both businessmen and bandits. The largest group of forces is Xiaoliuqiu's wealthy family. Xiaoliuqiu is economically poor, and many people work part-time as pirates in order to gain wealth and convenience. The Liuqiu merchant fleet was frequently attacked by pirates of unknown origin on this route. After investigation, they were from Xiaoliuqiu. This group of forces also attacked ships transporting northern refugees to Liuqiu, but they were repelled by the escorting navy ships of the Coastal Planning Department of the Song Army.
"Those who offend the Pili Army will be punished no matter how far away they are." Yu Zhu decided to settle old accounts and new accounts to completely solve this trouble and pocket Xiao Liuqiu. Brother Xuan once told him that Xiao Liuqiu's position was extremely important, and he must be brought under the rule of the Pili Army when the time was right. In Yu Zhu's opinion, now was the best time. One is that the company has already established a trading point in Xiaoliuqiu in the early stage, and there are also many escaped Japanese and Xiaoliuqiu people in the caravan. They are familiar with the routes and the surrounding sea areas, and can even conduct sneak attacks. There are less than 20,000 people on the main island of Erze Xiaoliuqiu, its city has only a few thousand people, and its military strength is only a thousand people, so it can be easily taken.
When Liao Niluo and the Liuqiu army ship appeared on the sea outside Xiaoliuqiu City, the city was in panic. This time Liuqiu Company dispatched a navy and an army battalion with a total of 1,000 people. After a round of shelling, the city lord sent people out to ask for surrender. Although Xiaoliuqiu is isolated overseas, there are also large merchant ships that often come and go here to dock for supplies, but I have never seen a ship equipped with artillery. In just one stick of incense, the escort ship in Xiaoliuqiu Port was destroyed and the city gate was blown down. In fact, Xiaoliuqiu also frequently encountered foreign invasions or internal fights between pirates, but these battles often only involved a few hundred people. Compared to the Song-Mongolian wars, which often involved tens of thousands, it was simply children's play. Not to mention that Liuqiu Company has an absolute advantage in weapons, and even the number of soldiers is more than that of Xiaoliuqiu. How can we fight this battle?
After occupying Xiaoliuqiuzhu Island, Liao Nilu sent people to continue to clear out the pirates on the surrounding large islands, while sending the captured island owner and his cronies to Keelung. To completely control Xiaoliuqiu, in addition to annihilating the pirates, the forces they support must also be uprooted. However, there are many islands in Xiaoliuqiu, and it will take a long time to completely eliminate the pirates. Now that the large group of pirates have been eliminated, the Zhoushan-Keelung-Japanese Fukuhara trade route will be smooth. As for the management and development of small streams, we can consider it in the long term.
When it comes to development and construction, you can never have too much money. Therefore, Liuqiu company executives decided to increase ways to make money. Salt and sugar are both important strategic materials. The purpose of expanding the salt-drying area is to ensure that Liuqiu Company can use it for its own use and prevent others from getting stuck. Sugar is a hugely profitable commodity, so there is no need to worry about sales. Yu Zhu has ordered the construction of the sugar mill to be carried out in advance. As soon as the 200,000 acres of sugar cane is harvested in the fall, they will work overtime to produce it and put it into the market to collect funds as soon as possible. What is gratifying is that during this period, with the help of Shengfan guides, the prospectors not only discovered copper and gold mines, but also discovered a very large sulfur mine. Not to mention gold mines, copper is of great use in industrial production, especially military production. As for sulfur, most of it is exported. Not only can we obtain a large amount of funds, but we can also exchange for many scarce materials - such as nitrate and mercury. .
Upholding the Pili Army's tradition of attaching great importance to education, science, culture and health, Liuqiu's senior management also attaches great importance to education, science, culture and health. In addition to the various professionals who came with Li Kaipeng and Boss Qian in the early stage, Yu Zhu brought another 500 professionals. Most of these professionals are industrial and mining technicians, and there are less than a hundred teachers and medical personnel. Following the model of the Pili Army in western Sichuan, the Liuqiu Company used the best buildings for education and medical care, set up a county school and hospital in Keelung, equipped teachers and barefoot doctors at the central settlement, and also sent people to Lin'an. We purchased a large amount of medicinal materials from Zhoushan.
It is said that the work of teachers is very hard. During the day, they have to teach school-age children of villagers and foreign students, and they have to attend night school literacy classes in the evening. In comparison, doctors' work is not as hard as it should be. In addition to minor ailments such as headaches and fever, tropical diseases frequently occur on Liuqiu Island, making them so busy that they can't even touch the ground. Faced with the dilemma of manpower shortage, Yu Zhu had no choice but to ask Li Kaipeng to recruit talents from coastal states and counties, but there were no scholars willing to come here. In desperation, he had no choice but to organize examinations and select hundreds of bright-minded people from the villagers for training, hoping to train a group of doctors and teachers. If that didn't work, he would train them to become industrial and mining technicians.
