"The Sulfur Ball people also surrendered to the Liao Kingdom!" Wang Jinghui said lightly: "The future of the Song Dynasty must be on the sea, where there are the materials we need most. The knots faced by the Song Dynasty in the future will also find a way out. The alien race is ultimately a foreign race. Before we were assimilated into the same Han people, vassal states like Sulfur Ball were not among the vassal states of the Big Pillow. When they surrendered to the Song Dynasty, they also surrendered to the Liao Kingdom. Xixia even continued to provoke after submitting to the Song Dynasty. Since ancient times, the important ministers have not served as the second master.

Such a vassal state is not worth a pity! Instead of mastering the Sulphur Ball, it is better for the Song Dynasty to hold such important strategic materials in his hand. Looking at the wars in recent years, the status of firearms has been gradually increasing, and the number of equipment has reached an unprecedented level. I think firearms are an important dominant direction in future wars, and the Song Dynasty must not let it go!" Wang Jinghui said: "As for the people of Liao who are willing to obediently seek trouble with sulfur balls, I think this is expected. As long as the Song Dynasty operates carefully, it is very likely to happen!"

"Why is the prince consort so sure that the sulfur ball is unwilling to sell ore to the Liao Kingdom? After all, the Liao Kingdom also has a large number of naval troops!" Sima Guang said.

"Under the threat of the Liao Kingdom, Sulfur Balls must have wanted to sell ore to the Liao Kingdom! Mr. Junshi was the first person in the Song Dynasty to study history. He should know the truth that "it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality". Sulfur Balls, apart from the ore needed by the Song Dynasty, were more suitable for the cultivation of rice. After the Song Dynasty began to vigorously develop overseas trade in the fourth year of Zizhiping, the trade between the Song Dynasty and the Sulfur Balls increased year by year. Many products such as cotton, porcelain, jewelry, tea, books, etc. poured into the Sulfur Balls, and the Sulfur Balls became rich because of the large export of grain and ore to the Song Dynasty. Have you ever thought that a rich man who was used to big fish and meat would return to the poor peasant who was eating bran and vegetables. Can he still survive? There are also some ore of the Song Dynasty.

The rice from the Song Dynasty can also be imported from the Southeast Asian countries. Moreover, the rice imported from the Song Dynasty is just to prevent natural disasters and calm prices, and it is not necessary to import it. On the other hand, the sulfur ball has no other way except to trade with the Song Dynasty. Even if the Liao Kingdom can trade with them, with the nature of the Khitan people, do you think that the Liao Kingdom can tolerate a vassal state asking for prices from them? Not to mention that after the development of the Song Dynasty, the Navy of the Song Dynasty far surpassed the Liao Kingdom in all aspects. The navy of the Liao Kingdom can engage in private salt smuggling in offshore areas. If you want to trade across the sea, especially bulk trade like ore, they do not have the ability to provide the necessary security for the fleet!"

When Wen Yanbo heard Wang Jinghui say that the Liao Kingdom was not able to provide security guarantees for its trade fleet, Wen Yanbo's eyes lit up and said, "The Liao Kingdom's naval army is much different from our Song Dynasty! The northern routes of the Great Song Dynasty traveled to and from Goryeo, and the sulfur ball were often harassed by pirates. In addition to some of them, pirates who were Goryeo and female straight, the Liao Kingdom even sent this regular naval army to pretend to be pirates to rob our merchant ships because of its covetous profits in the sea trade of the Great Song Dynasty, but it has never succeeded!"

"Xu Liao's navy came to rob our Song Dynasty merchant ships. Can't the Song Dynasty rob the Liao Dynasty?!" Wang Jinghui took the second half of Wen Yanbo's sentence. Although the emperor and ministers of the Song Dynasty began to be familiar with using war to plunder, no one would have the nerve to speak like this. However, the people in the venue knew very well that compared with the cattle, sheep and horses robbed by the Northwest War, the naval escort fleet of the Song Dynasty merchant fleet was definitely not worse than Wang Shao and Han Qi, because they copied the old nests of pirates, and there were pirates accumulated over decades or even hundreds of years.

The tiring wealth, gold, silver, gems, etc. greatly enriched the emperor's inner treasury. These were not financial resources obtained through normal channels, so they could not enter the account books of the Sansi. The financial surplus of the Song Dynasty reached 10.2 million yuan last year, and these seized pirates were not included at all. However, the benefits in the middle are well known to all senior officials of the Song Dynasty. Even the navy escort fleet has been successfully expanded year by year. The various messy incomes of the navy officers and soldiers are much higher than that of the imperial guard system.

Hearing Wang Jinghui's exposing words, Wen Yanbo and Emperor Zhao Xu faintly showed a smile on the corner of their mouths. Wang Anshi had no expression, and Sima Guang was even more amused and crying. However, no one could give up the interests of the Song Dynasty at sea now. The prosperous maritime trade has accounted for one-tenth of the country's total tax revenue. Sima Guang, who is well aware of the financial situation of the Song Dynasty, cannot ignore the importance of overseas trade to the Song Dynasty. At the same time, once the maritime ban is opened, all kinds of people enjoying the interests of all kinds. This is a force that cannot be ignored in the Song Dynasty. Even if he dreams of "changing foreign trade" into the "market law" of overseas trade, Wang Anshi dared not!

Emperor Zhao Xu walked down the imperial case, walked to Wang Jinghui and said with a smile: "I have predicted everything about it. I'm afraid I've thought about the law in the middle for a long time, right?"

Wang Jinghui bowed and said, "Let this Liao spy go back. When necessary, they can also let them know the importance of sulfur balls to the Song Dynasty. The Khitans will never sit idly by and watch the Song Dynasty have more and more firearms, and they are also very eager for firearms. It is natural to ask for mineral resources from sulfur balls. We use trade to tie the necks of the sulfur balls, and then send a few people to the master of the sulfur balls to deceive them, provoke a fight between the sulfur balls and the Liao Kingdom. Once there is a conflict between the two sides,

The rest is the priest who has the final say. After all, the Song Dynasty is the absolute overlord at sea! Because the sulfur ball has abundant sulfur and saltpeter mineral resources, it must be firmly controlled by the Song Dynasty! The sulfur ball is just the first step, and the islands of the South Ocean have all important mineral resources for the Song Dynasty and its important mineral resources, which is absolutely not allowed to be given up. The indigenous people are worse than the Sulfur Ball. They are all small tribes. Before they develop, they will completely incorporate the Nanyang into the territory of the Song Dynasty!"

Sima Guang felt a little harsh after hearing this. When he was about to say something, Wang Jinghui said first: "The people who went to Mayi Island to survey the copper mine have returned. They were invited by the Chenshang Company. During the year, they carefully visited several locations and found a large number of copper mines. The reserves, quality and difficulty of mining were far greater than those of the copper mines in the Song Dynasty. As long as it was developed, the amount of copper produced in the entire Song Dynasty can exceed the copper output in four or five years. From then on, I, the Song Dynasty, will never be troubled by the problem of copper coins! Fortunately, except for some small tribes on Mayi Island, they did not form a complete country. The Song Dynasty can be included in its own territory openly. I believe that Mr. Junshi will not object to such an important place!"

Regarding the Nanyang Islands with abundant copper reserves, they heard Wang Jinghui say last year that Wang Jinghui has actually sent people to take a boat to go to Mayi Island with overseas trade fleets for field surveys. Even the surveyors were specially approved by Emperor Zhao Xu. These mine prospectors easily found their targets in the Mayi Island area of ​​Nanyang, following the map provided by Wang Jinghui. From their perspective, they could naturally see that this small Mayi Island actually had surprising copper reserves. They just hit a wall while looking for gold mines. After searching for gold mines for several months, they did not see any signs of gold mines. In addition to the very obvious signs of copper mines on Wang Jinghui's map, they were vague about the location of the gold mines. Later, they had to give up. One and a half months ago, and returned to Kaifeng, Biandu, to report their lives in these days.

For Wang Jinghui, the successful finding of the existence of copper ore from Mayi Island was a great success, and even he himself was overjoyed. He knew that the Philippines had abundant copper ore storage in later generations, but who knew what the burial depth of these ores was like? It was his luck to be able to find copper ore so easily. Wang Jinghui was even more lucky that he needed to use this news to stimulate the development of overseas careers of the Song Dynasty and firmly implement it for the top leaders of the Song Dynasty's rule and be more proactive in implementing it for the strong implementation of the Song Dynasty's top leaders.

Overseas trade and overseas territories provide stronger power - compared with food, the Song Dynasty was even more scarce. The prosperous trade of the Song Dynasty established the strong monetary status of copper coins in this era, even better than the US dollar in the world in later generations. When trading with other countries, copper coins could only flow out but not in. It is conceivable how lacking copper in the Song Dynasty was. As for the birth of paper money, it was just a helpless choice in this emergency.

It was very good news to find copper mines with abundant reserves on Mayi Island. Even Sima Guang was very happy. Everyone present knew how much wealth the big pillow had. They understood what the significance of an island with copper output was exactly the same as that of the Song Dynasty. However, Wang Jinghui proposed it at this time, almost angered Sima Guang.

"Can it exceed the current copper production of the Song Dynasty? Take this seriously?" Unlike Sima Guang's anger, Wang Anshi expressed a very strong interest in this - minting copper coins is a very profitable cause in itself, and the most important thing is that the power of coins is completely in the hands of the court, so that there is no need to be bound by the prince-consort, who is tied up by the prince-consort to go against the court like overseas trade.

"If Wang Xiang doesn't believe it, the people who went to Mayi Island to survey the copper mines are still in Biandu. They can ask for inquiries. I wish they would not dare to deceive Wang Xiang. However, since the distance between Mayi and the Song Dynasty is still relatively far, it is best to set up a copper smelting workshop on Mayi Island. From the development of copper ore to smelting, it takes time, but I think that as long as the court pays attention to it, the copper output on Mayi Island should be able to reach a very high level within four or five years. As for how much you remember, it depends on how determined the emperor and the ministers are!" Wang Jinghui said with a smile.

"There were malaria in the south of the Song Dynasty, and Mayi Island was farther away than the south. I have read the "Complete Map of the Sea Dictations". The location of Mayi Island is even further away than that of Qiongzhou on Guangnan West Road. I am afraid no one wants to go. Even if you go, the copper is not so easy to transport back!" Sima Guang said.

"Mr. Junshi said it is good, but Mayi Island is different from the southern part of the Song Dynasty. We can board a boat in Chuzhou, head south to Quanzhou and cross the sea to Mayi. The journey between this is different from taking land from Biandu to the south. As long as the weather is suitable, taking a boat is much faster than walking on two legs. As for the problem of malaria, we will invite many masters from the Song Dynasty to study it specifically. I believe there will be a solution. Before that, we can only restrict people who go to Mayi Island to smelify copper." Wang Jinghui replied.

"Your dear, no need to argue, I have a scruple in my heart! Do the son-in-law have a specific idea of ​​developing the copper mine on Mayi Island?" Emperor Zhao Xu was unwilling to see the fierce confrontation between his ministers. In politics, Zhao Xu had changed a lot from his own political sects. He would not turn to any political faction too much, and prefer to use balanced methods to coordinate the relationship between his ministers. In history, Zhao Xu almost leaned against Wang Anshi in the reform stage, which did open up a channel for reform. But at the same time, it also opened the beginning of the party struggle between old and new conservative forces in the Song Dynasty for forty years. Now it is more due to Wang Jinghui's long-term influence and provided Zhao Xu with a path that can also revitalize the Song Dynasty. Of course, the influence of Zhao Shu on the Heavenly Earth Emperor is still in the Deshou Palace.

Emperor Zhao Xu's words were obviously inclined to Wang Jinghui. Although this made Sima Guang feel so comfortable, he could not deny that he also longed for Ma Yi's copper mine. After all, if the Song Dynasty wants to continue to develop, it is inseparable from currency. Paper money has begun to appear on the stage of history, but even Sima Guang can see at a glance what risks are hidden behind the convenience of paper money. Paper money is a revolution in the history of currency, but if you want to use paper money correctly, it is not to say this.

It's so easy, at least Sima Guang saw that Wang Jinghui's "internal reference" was written by him, and he realized that the prince-consort's attitude towards paper money was very intriguing - both against it. The reason was that paper money did have advantages that metal currency could not reach, but opposed it because paper money now lacked the guarantee conditions. When it comes to the issue of how to better use paper money correctly, the prince-consort, who has always been resourceful, is indeed secretive about this issue.

In fact, Wang Jinghui didn't know how to solve this problem at all. Of course, he knew that the reserves of precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum in later generations had stable banknotes, but this does not mean that the large-scale issuance of banknotes is now mature. In Wang Jinghui's view, banknotes are like Wang Anshi's new law, which is a double-edged sword. There are too many places in the middle that can make people take advantage of loopholes. The official system of the Song Dynasty really made him unable to rest assured. It would definitely be a burden to expand the scope of use of large banknotes. It might also cause unexpected disasters. Therefore, under the current circumstances, although Wang Jinghui really hopes that banknotes can replace metal currency, the risks in it make him afraid. The most steadfast way is to take it slowly. The most realistic thing is to find a way to find copper mines and maintain the current circulation needs of copper metal currency.

"As Mr. Junshi said, Mayi Island is still in a wilderness, and it is not easy to develop it. At least the people sent will face various difficulties. My suggestion is to use prisoners of war with capable and capable officials to execute it. Of course, there are also a large number of doctors and troops responsible for supervising the work. In addition to the prisoners of war responsible for construction, other dispatched personnel are transferred once a year or a year, and appropriate adjustments must be made in order to provide sufficient talents. Master, this cause is a great attempt to start the overseas territory of the Song Dynasty. It is of great importance and has very important reference for the development of the same work in the future. Therefore, it must be carefully planned. I can come up with a preliminary statement and submit it to the Secretariat, and will be reviewed and supplemented by all the ministers and Hanlin bachelors. If it goes well, it will start at the end of this year!" Wang Jinghui bowed and said.

The best way Wang Jinghui could think of is to use prisoners of war to develop overseas territories. It is both economical and affordable, and it is not easy to be opposed by some orthodox ministers like Sima Guang. It has been a matter of using prisoners of war to build roads and clear river transportation in the Song Dynasty. Although it is the son-in-law who is nominally doing it, it is a very far-reaching change in the Song Dynasty's policy towards prisoners.

However, no matter how Wang Jinghui looked at it, he felt that he was becoming more and more like those early European colonists. After killing all the indigenous people of the Americas, they trafficked slaves from Africa to develop the Americas. It is obvious that the Song Dynasty had to attack Mayi Island and inevitably touched the interests of the local indigenous people. Whether to use tough measures or gentle methods, it is very interesting. The discussion of Funing Palace is just a general direction, and the specific implementation method must be cautious in its own hands.

"This is really a challenging job!" Wang Jinghui thought silently in his heart.
Chapter completed!