After this thought suddenly appeared in Li Xiao's heart, Li Xiao could feel his strong heart beating violently immediately.

Taiwan Island, the treasure island of China, is located on the continental shelf along the southeast coast of mainland China. It is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Ryukyu Islands in the northeast, the Bashi Channel in the south opposite the Philippine Islands, and the Taiwan Strait in the west opposite Fujian Province. The total area is about 36,000 square kilometers.

According to modern statistics, Taiwan has 25% of the area, which is a suitable agricultural farming area, of which 80% is located in the western plains that are conducive to farming. Another 20% of the arable land is scattered in the narrow Taitung coastal areas and the Taichung Mountains voids.

It can be easily calculated that there are 9,000 square kilometers of land, and one square kilometer is about 1,500 mu of land, the area of ​​cultivated land suitable for reclaiming reaches 13.5 million mu, while the total amount of cultivated land located in the plains in western Taiwan can reach 10.8 million mu!

The 10.8 million mu of cultivated land that can be developed is the place that Li Xiao wants to occupy firmly.

The 1,080 mu of fertile arable land is 7 times the area of ​​Li Xiao’s current arable land, and the land quality is much better than those wastelands and saline-alkali land in Shandong.

According to historical records, during the Yongli period, the average yield of rice per mu on the 200,000 mu of farmland developed by immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong reached more than 2 shi of rice per mu, and many of the land even produced as much as 3 shi of rice per mu. Compared with the land in the north, the amount of grain produced in the same area was several times higher.

It can be seen that if Li Xiao has more than 7 times the arable land, he will have a huge granary and the grain problem will no longer be controlled.

The place Li Xiao wanted to occupy was the vast and fertile western plains of Taiwan. As for the Taitung and Taichung Mountains, because most of the areas of Taiwan were occupied by indigenous people, the land was barren and the terrain was dangerous, and it was difficult to conquer for a while, so it was not within Li Xiao's storage range.

You should know that after occupying Taichung and Taitung, Japan in later generations was still strongly resisted by local natives in Taiwan, and paid a considerable price to barely occupy these lands. However, even so, local natives continued to rebel, making it impossible for the Japanese to rule safely. Like the movie "Saidek Bale", it once reflected the resistance movement of the natives in Taiwan at that time.

After all, it is impossible to become a fat man in one step. It is quite difficult to develop and absorb western Taiwan. Taitung and Taichung should wait until they have completely gained a foothold in Taiwan before absorbing and digesting the land and residents of these places.

Now this vast western plain area of ​​Taiwan has been occupied by three different forces.

Among them, the areas in the northern Jilong to Tamsui were occupied by the Spanish, the areas in the central Nanshe, Erlin and Datu were occupied by Zheng Zhilong's tribe, and the areas in southern Taiwan, the most fertile part of Taiwan was firmly occupied by the Dutch.

So, what Li Xiao wants to buy now is the land occupied by Zheng Zhilong in the area of ​​Nanshe Dadu in the western plains of Taiwan.

With this land as a foothold, Li Xiao took it as a base and implemented a series of expansion plans to drive Spain to the north and destroy the Dutch in the south, and eventually included the entire western plains of Taiwan into his own ruling scope.

Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared on Li Xiao's face.

"Zheng Shou Ge, your lord wants to trade with me Chifeng Guard. This army is welcome, but this army has conditions."

After hearing Li Xiao's faint words, Zheng Cai hurriedly said, "What are the conditions for Lord Li?"

Seeing that he was so anxious, Li Xiao chuckled and was not in a hurry to answer him. Instead, he asked: "I heard that Deputy General Zheng has now occupied the Penghu Islands and Jinxia and other places. His subordinates are majestic and have numerous sea ships. Is it true?"

Zheng Cai was puzzled for a moment. He didn't know where Li Xiao heard the news. However, after thinking about it, he smiled proudly and said, "That's true. My Lord Zheng has defeated the Guangdong bandit Liu Xiang and the Dutch in the past two years. The entire southeast coast, all pirates of all sizes surrendered. Now he has more than 10,000 troops and more than 2,000 sea boats. It's not because Zheng boasted that my Lord stomped his feet in Penghu, and the entire southeast coast would have to shake three times."

The younger brother Zheng Lian, who was standing beside him, also interrupted with a smile: "Mr. Li, if you have time, you can go to my Penghu to take a look, and you will know that what we say is not false."

Seeing the two of them being proud of each other, Li Xiao smiled and said, "Mr. Zheng's current power is so strong that my soldiers are envious. However, I heard that since the early years of Chongzhen, Deputy General Zheng has been constantly going to Taiwan west of Penghu to arrange refugees and pioneering production, but I don't know what the situation is now?"

Zheng Cai was very surprised to see Li Xiao interested in the wilderness of Taiwan. He shook his head and said, "Then Taiwan is still a wilderness. The east is mostly local barbaric natives, the north is occupied by the Spanish, the south is occupied by the Dutch red-haired areas, and only the central Nanshe, Erlin, Dadu and other places are occupied by Lord Zheng. However, no people are willing to immigrate to open up land, and most of these lands are still desolate."

"Yes, Lord Zheng originally arranged for nearly 20,000 Fujian immigrants to the country in total, but after these people arrived in Taiwan, they found that their lives were hard and the land was malaria. Over the years, they secretly ran back a lot. Now our army occupied the land in Taiwan, but there are still more than 5,000 immigrants who are still farming in Taiwan. Lord Zheng said that this land in Taiwan is really a waste of money, and it is a pity to eat it." Zheng Lian added on the side.

After hearing the introduction of Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian, Li Xiao remained calm on the surface, but he was secretly happy in his heart.

He remembered that historical books also recorded that it seemed that in the ninth year of Chongzhen, because he felt that the investment in Taiwan was greater than income and was not cost-effective, Zheng Zhilong, who was determined to be a maritime merchant and a pirate king, had no interest in occupying Taiwan, and even had the idea of ​​immigrating the remaining Taiwanese people back to Fujian and Penghu.

It's really a vision that determines the future.

Humph, you Zheng Zhilong have short-sighted eyes and regard Taiwan as a useless person, but I, Li Xiao, love him like a treasure.

Li Xiao coughed lightly and changed his face to a solemn look. He said to Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian, two of them, "Two, let's talk straight to the point. The trade terms between our army and your army is the land of Taiwan that the army is occupied by the generals. The capital will be paid for by our army and exchanged for our army to manage. Our army can trade with your army for a long time, and benefit each other with each other."

After hearing Li Xiao's conditions, Zheng Cai's face was delighted, and then he was full of doubts: "This Taiwan is a remote place, one north and one south of Chifengwei, and it is very far away. But I don't know what Lord Li wants these lands?"

Li Xiao smiled, but did not intend to hide it. He said directly: "The army lacks land, and plans to open up wasteland in Taiwan, cultivate grain to supplement military supplies."

When Zheng Cai heard this, hesitant and confused again.

Li Xiao spent a long time to do something, but it turned out to be a waste of money like Taiwan. This person's plan was very strange.

Zheng Cai pondered for a moment, then hesitated and said: "Will General Li respond to this condition when I reply to my Lord Zheng?"

Li Xiao nodded: "Of course, in addition, this soldier has two suggestions. Zheng Shoujie can also report to your Lord Zheng together."

Zheng Cai's eyes lit up and he hurriedly said, "Please tell me clearly by Lord Li."

"The first thing is that our army hopes to get some craftsmen and technicians with rich shipbuilding experience from your army to help our army build ships." Li Xiao said calmly.

"Oh." Zheng Cai blinked and said, "Mr. Li wants a shipbuilder. There are many suitable candidates for this army, but these people have lived in the south for a long time, and they are afraid that they will not want to come to the north."

"Haha, Zheng Shoujie, you can tell those craftsmen that as long as they are willing to come to Chifengwei, our army will provide them with generous treatment. The salary can be more than five times that of them in Fujian and other places. In addition, if each craftsman comes, the soldier can introduce the army to your army for 50 taels."

Zheng Cai was very happy when he heard Li Xiao’s favorable conditions and his actions were so generous: “Mr. Li is so generous. If he has such conditions, I believe that many craftsmen will be willing to come to the land. After I go back, I will report this suggestion from my master immediately.”

After Zheng Caifang finished speaking, Zheng Lian, who was standing aside, interrupted: "What is your second suggestion by Lord Li?"

Li Xiao smiled and said, "Is this second suggestion? If Deputy General Zheng agrees to exchange Taiwan for our army, then our army can invest again, rent out your military ships, transport military soldiers and refugees from Chifengwei, and take over Taiwan's land."

After listening to Li Xiao’s suggestion, Zheng Caixin thought to himself that it seemed that Lord Li was determined to occupy Taiwan. Well, he just went back and just reported the report, but he saw what Lord Zheng was thinking.

"Don't worry, Lord Li, after you promise to go back, you will immediately convey these two suggestions to Lord Zheng and ask him to give you a reply as soon as possible." Zheng Cai smiled unnaturally.

"Okay, that soldier, I'm waiting for good news from you." Li Xiao replied with a smile.

Afterwards, Li Xiao arranged a banquet to entertain Zheng Cai and others, and the guests and host and the guests were in harmony.

After the banquet, Zheng Cai and others whispered to Li Xiao, saying that since the fleet had arrived at Chifengwei, it was difficult to return empty-handed, hoping that the buyer could go back, and hoped that Li Xiao would give them a discounted price.

Li Xiao smiled and agreed to their request.

So Zheng Cai and others bought 20,000 pieces of woolen velvet at the price of 5 taels per piece. At the price of 100,000 taels, they bought 200,000 pieces of ironware of all sizes and sizes. At the price of 1 tael per catty, they bought 100,000 kilograms of raw silk. A total of 300,000 taels of silver were spent.

Zheng Cai and others returned home with a full load, everyone was smiling happily.

They have tested that the quality of all kinds of goods produced by Li Xiaojun is quite good and the price is very favorable. If these things are resold to Japan or Southeast Asia, the price will be several times higher.

Watching Zheng Cai's fleet go away, Li Xiao looked deep and felt very moved.

My own navy is still too weak. If you want to develop as soon as possible, you can only ask for help from external forces.

Only after you have a powerful navy can you ensure that Taiwan’s food will be transported to the north in the future. Protecting the smooth flow of grain will become the top priority of Li Xiaojun.

It’s not easy to build a powerful navy in the short term.

In addition to the shortage of craftsmen and sailors, the most basic point is that Li Xiaojun's ships are extremely lacking.

Li Xiao actually knew that even if there were qualified shipbuilding craftsmen, it would be unrealistic to build a large number of ships in a short period of time.

Because to build a ship, you must first build a dry dock.

Speaking of which, this dry dock is a craft handed down by our ancestors. The first dry dock in Europe was built in Portsmouth, England in 1495. It was not until the creation of this dry dock that Britain embarked on its path to its prosperity in maritime competition.

However, in the 90 years before this, the Ming Dynasty's Treasure Ship House, Longjiang Shipyard, located in Songjiang, built seven dry docks, three of which were about 500 meters long and about 40 meters wide, and could build 10,000 tons of giant ships or a large number of 1,000 tons of ships at the same time.

The Longjiang Shipyard built more than 200 large ships within three years with these seven docks, and sailed to East Africa as the main force voyage to the West.

Of course, whether the treasure ship really reaches a displacement of 10,000 tons is no longer verified now, but not to mention 10,000 tons, just building 200 ships above 1,000 tons in three years is an extremely amazing number.

This huge number of shipbuildings exceeded all of Europe's shipbuilding capabilities during the same period. Even Britain, which claimed to be the empire of the sun, would not be able to catch up with this number until the end of the 18th century.

This was the only way for the Ming Dynasty to do such a thing that was unprecedented and modern with the strong financial resources of the whole country. It was incomparable to the present.

Li Xiao estimated that under the guidance of qualified shipbuilders, it may take at least half a year to build this suitable thousand-ton dry dock at the Marine Island Shipyard.

Even if you have a suitable dry dock, it will take quite a time to build a durable big ship.

Because, if you want to build a long-lasting large ship, the wood is very demanding. You need to use dense wood from large trees and then slowly dry it to remove moisture without deforming the wood before it can be used for shipbuilding. It usually takes nearly a year or even longer.

The wood used by Zheng Zhilong’s Fujian shipyard is generally iron-li wood imported from Vietnam, which can only be used for shipbuilding after a year of drying down.

Now in the world, the Netherlands is the fastest shipbuilding industry in the Netherlands. Because the Netherlands has developed its artificial shipbuilding industry and many materials have been reserved, a merchant ship is often built in a few months.

But like other European countries that were just starting out, shipbuilding speeds were much slower. For example, the Swedish man-made large sail warship Vasa took a full three years to build this ship that symbolized the power of the state from 1625 to 1628.

In other European countries, it takes almost such a long time to build similar ships. For example, the Spanish sailboat, which is talked about by historical fans, generally takes about two years to build.

Therefore, even if Zheng Zhilong agrees to sell Taiwan to Li Xiao in the future, for a long time that can be predicted, Li Xiao has to rely on Zheng Zhilong's breath and rent his ship to transport military soldiers, refugees, and food to be produced in the future.

This is a very helpless but unavoidable thing.

In short, if you want to build a qualified ship, you must not be able to achieve it overnight, but it is a very time-consuming and laborious thing. Especially in the initial stage, there are many difficulties and obstacles waiting for Li Xiao.

However, now Li Xiao has made up his mind to take the road of expansion in Shanghai, and then shipbuilding has become a top priority that must be faced.

It was not until Li Xiao, who had been thinking about Zheng Cai's fleet disappeared between the sea and the sky, that he let out a long sigh and turned back to the city.

Li Xiao originally estimated that it would take more than half a year for Zheng Cai to return this time until Zheng Zhilong sent someone to come next time. Therefore, after Zheng Cai and others left, his originally urgent mood gradually faded over time.

But Li Xiao didn't know that Zheng Cai, who led the crowd to return, was actually even more anxious for Li Xiao.

Shortly after leaving Chifengwei, Zheng Cai wrote a letter, explaining Li Xiao's suggestions in detail in the letter, then wrapped the letter in oil paper, tied it to the pigeon's legs, and released the pigeon for reporting the message, so that the pigeon could return quickly and early.

It is about 1,800 kilometers from Shandong to Fujian. A carrier pigeon can fly more than 500 kilometers a day. Including the mid-way foraging and rest, it is enough to arrive within a week.

In fact, just five days later, Zheng Zhilong received a letter from Zheng Cai in his official residence in Penghu.

Zheng Zhilong, who was sitting upright on the official hat chair, carefully read Zheng Cai's letter, fell into deep thought for a long time.
Chapter completed!