The Quanzhou Maritime Merchant Guild is located inside Deji Gate, adjacent to Shunji Palace.
In the meeting hall, dozens of main members gathered, all with gloomy faces at this time.
This time, each family's investment in the overseas trade was quite huge. Although they did not spend all their wealth, it could be said that they were betting on the family's future.
Although scholars often show themselves to be noble and disdainful of things, whether it is an individual or a family, if they want to survive and develop, they cannot do without the word money.
Now that the King of Yan is strong and determined to reform the land, if he still just wants to collect rent as before, he will probably be able to barely make ends meet.
If you want to maintain the past wealth and glory, or even improve it to a higher level, sea trade has become the best way out.
They also know that sea trade has high returns but also high risks, among which man-made disasters are more terrifying than natural disasters.
With the shipbuilding and navigation technology of the Song Dynasty at this time, even if encountering very bad sea conditions, there is a high probability of escaping. Although ships are still often buried in the waves, the proportion has been controlled within an acceptable range.
However, if you encounter extremely vicious pirates, you will basically not be able to escape, and you will have to lose both your life and property.
In order to ensure the development of maritime trade, Zhao Mengqi not only allowed the Maritime Merchant Guild to form a convoy, but also specially dispatched the Ding Navy and the newly established Navy Nanyang Fleet to clean up the pirates.
The results are still very gratifying. Pirates have disappeared in the waters from Quanzhou to Dongsha, and there is no room for survival.
On the one hand, the Ding Navy and the Nanyang Fleet are powerful in combat, and on the other hand, it is the powerful cooperation of the gentry.
And because the merchant ships formed a huge fleet when setting off, the early stage was always smooth.
However, the destinations of the merchant ships were different, and the merchants pursued efficiency. After passing through the Champa sea area, they scattered and sailed in twos and threes.
From this time on, there were incidents of being robbed by pirates, but only two merchant ships were involved in the incident, and the others were all safe.
But in March, bad news suddenly came back frequently. As of today, at least twenty merchant ships have been hijacked by pirates, and all of them happened in the waters near Champa.
There are only one hundred and thirty-six ships in total, and twenty ships are suddenly gone. Who can bear this? What's more, it will definitely continue to happen later.
"This is really weird. Why did the pirates become rampant all of a sudden? It seems that they are specifically targeting our Song Dynasty's ships."
"According to my guess, the sea route has been depressed for too long, and the pirates have become hungry wolves, so they have become even more ferocious..."
"I think it has a lot to do with the previous sea sweeps. Many pirates who escaped the sweeps gathered in Xisha and Zhongsha and even hugged each other. They probably had a revenge mentality, so... "
"What do you mean by this, we shouldn't sweep the sea!? Is it possible that you are dissatisfied with His Highness's decision!?"
"Bah! You surnamed Cai, don't try to denounce someone's innocence out of thin air! Tao Mou has always been loyal to His Highness and firmly supports His Highness. What I mean is to eradicate evil and clean up those pirates!"
"To put it lightly, although His Highness's naval forces are more capable than those in the past, there are countless islands in Xisha and Zhongsha, and the sea conditions are very complicated. It is not easy to use them at all. If not, they may even fall into the trap of pirates. If the boat capsizes in the ditch, to say the least, even if the navy has the upper hand, those pirates will definitely continue to run away. If we hide in the city, what can we do?"
"That's right, you don't have to think about it to know that the Cham people are behind it. Otherwise, these pirates would have no way to supply or sell their stolen goods. Moreover, at least half of the plunder was done by the Cham people themselves. I heard that they were captured by Annan three years ago. I took a big bite and counted on Jie Hai to make up for the loss.”
"It's really unreasonable. A mere barbarian beast actually rides on our necks and poops on us. We must be taught a lesson!"
"How to teach them a lesson? At most, they are not allowed to pay tribute or trade...Speaking of which, the Champa people are inherently tough, unruly and capricious. Nearly eighty years have passed since the three years of Chunxi. Our relationship with them has always been If there seems to be nothing, then the vassal status will exist in name only, and the tribute will basically be extinct."
In the second year of Chunxi, Champa enjoyed the benefits of cavalry, and smuggling horses from the Jiyang Army could no longer meet their needs.
So I don't know whether it was ignorance or arrogance, but he openly wrote a letter to the Qiong Guan appeasement department, hoping to trade and buy horses from the entire Qiongzhou.
At that time, the Qiong Guan appeasement department didn't know about the Jiyang army's horse smuggling, but they were shocked.
The Song Dynasty itself was crazy for lack of horses, how could it be possible to sell food, and Qiongzhou did not have the old system of trade regulations, so it immediately and sternly refused.
The Champa people suddenly became angry and showed their pirate nature. They burned, killed, and plundered along the coast of Qiongzhou, and captured about a hundred people.
As a result, the matter was brought to the attention of the court, and the enraged Xiaozong issued a stern ultimatum to Champa City.
The Champa people were awakened by this slap and returned the 83 people who had been kidnapped. From then on, the two sides also entered a period of indifference, and there was basically no official communication.
"How about we also ask the court to issue an official letter of credence to Champa?"
"It probably won't be useful. Hasn't His Highness already sent three edicts to Champa? If they are afraid that they will care about it, they should restrain themselves..."
"Then what should we do now? Are we going to let those Champa monkeys run amok? Can we continue our maritime trade?"
"This... sea trade must be done, but I guess we need to take a long-term approach and ensure the safety of sea routes."
"Hey, since the Champa people are not afraid of us, why not have a good talk with them. The prosperity of maritime trade is also a good thing for them. Cooperation will benefit both sides. We just lack a suitable middleman. If Pu..."
This guy wanted to say that it would be great if Pu Shougeng was still here, because Pu Shougeng is still very relevant in Champa.
However, the Pu family was executed by Ming Zhengdian at the end of last year. In addition to Pu Shiwen's family, there were female relatives and men under ten years old, and more than 60 descendants of the two brothers Pu Shougeng and Pu Shoucheng were beheaded.
At this moment, Pu Shiwen was also in the meeting hall. After hearing this, he immediately felt a little embarrassed. Then he smiled flatteringly at Zhao Mengqi who was sitting in the chair, "Your Highness, why don't the guilty people go to occupy the city? The guilty people will do their best to negotiate the matter... …”
Zhao Mengqi glanced sideways at Pu Shiwen and waved his hands expressionlessly, "We have been robbed and we still have to beg in a humble manner? How is this unbecoming!?"
It’s already this time, why should we talk about decency? Your Highness can't let go of the arrogance of the suzerain country, right?
Chen Zhi, the leader of the Maritime Merchant Guild, opened his mouth, but finally stopped talking.
"Hmph! How can we tolerate these wolves who are occupying the city? We should ask the officials to reprimand them severely. If they still do not repent, we will ask the king to punish him!"
The person who said this was Zhao Xihan. Originally he was extremely opposed to maritime trade, but after Zhao Mengqi had several heart-to-heart conversations and gave him a blueprint for the clan's future, he finally changed and agreed to serve as vice president of the Maritime Trade Guild. head.
It's just that Chen Zhi didn't agree with what he said and couldn't help but roll his eyes.
A stern reprimand is enough, why should I punish you as a teacher?
Nowadays, the imperial court is suffering from internal and external troubles and wishes that nothing happened in all directions. How can it possibly take the initiative to raise troops against a country?
"Although Zhancheng is a small area, the nature of Zhanzhan people is more fierce than fighting. Most of the kings in the past have been warlike. They are separated from our dynasty by a wide sea. Even if they really go on an expedition, they have no chance of winning... We are not saying that. Asking them is just to reason with them."
Reasonable?
Zhao Mengqi laughed in his heart. If reasoning worked, why would there be so many disputes in the world.
Truth is only within the range of cannons, and diplomacy relies only on strength.
Of course, he didn't intend to say his true thoughts, he just tapped the desk lightly.
"I listened carefully to what everyone said. I don't think there is any long-term plan for this matter. It must be resolved as soon as possible because there is no need to delay the development of maritime trade!"
"So I decided to take a multi-pronged approach. It is definitely necessary to ask the court to issue a formal credential. In addition, I will write a handwritten ultimatum to express my determination to the city. Then I will lead the navy to move to Qiongzhou. Even if I cannot clear out the pirates at sea, , it can act as a deterrent to some extent, and it can also handle merchant ships. If necessary, the lone general will personally talk to the king of Champa, and I believe he will see the situation clearly."
Everyone was a little surprised by King Yan's decision, but they also felt more clearly that King Yan attached great importance to the development of sea trade, so everyone suddenly felt much more at ease.
Even if this matter cannot be resolved smoothly in the short term, as long as King Yan does not give up, there is still great potential for sea trade.
The next day, Pu Shiwen served as a messenger and boarded a thousand-material warship to go to the sea and go south.
In fact, he was still very resistant to this mission, because according to reliable information, the most violent band of pirates in Southeast Asia was led by his nephew Pu Chongmo.
He surrendered to King Yan, which led to the rapid destruction of the Pu family. This is already known to everyone, and I believe Pu Chongmo must also know it.
The death of Pu Chongmo's father Pu Shisi is probably also blamed on Pu Shiwen.
Therefore, Pu Chongmo is probably gnashing his teeth and deliberately trying to avenge his father's murder.
If Pu Shiwen stays in Quanzhou, Pu Chongmo will be unable to do anything to him for a while, but now that he is out at sea, he will be sent to his doorstep.
Even if you avoid it at sea, you will definitely not be able to avoid it when you get to Champa.
Because Pu Chongmo's ability to grow wings in such a short period of time must have a very deep connection with Champa.
