Thinking of this, Guo Zhiyuan happily patted Li Jin on the shoulder and laughed: "Okay! Your idea is good. I will remember you a merit. Let's go to Penghu Island!..."

Immediately, Guo Zhiyuan ordered the ship boss to adjust the route and the fleet headed to Penghu Island. After sailing on the sea for a day, Penghu Island appeared in Guo Zhiyuan's vision. At this time, the sun had just risen and golden light was everywhere. The reefs on the island cast shadows in the sunlight, just like a huge fan. The layers of reefs were clearly divided, and they entered the sea. The surging waves were about to wash away the top of the sea without reaching it. They retreated in despair and turned into bubbles. The reefs were licked by the sea water and turned slightly red, like a pile of copper-cast walls just out of the oven. The white seabirds were flying around the island happily, and they made waves of joy from time to time. The red sun, reefs, seabirds, and waves. This beautiful and magnificent and harmonious picture made Guo Zhiyuan fall in love with this Feng Shui treasure land at first sight!

If you look down from the sky, the island and several smaller islands in the distance are successively converging, forming a semi-arc. Although the waters are connected to the outer sea, the water surface is far calmer than the outer sea, like a moor of a large lake. In Minnan dialect, Penghu means a calm lake. This name is precisely because the inland sea surrounded by the surrounding small islands is like a calm lake, which forms a natural safe haven.

Guo Zhiyuan was very satisfied with this Fengshui treasure land. Before the boat could completely stop, it was the first to rush onto the springboard. After boarding Shanghai Island, Guo Zhiyuan stood on the reef and observed the environment on the island and was even more satisfied. Although there was no permanent population on the island, there were many ready-made wooden houses. They were built by the fishermen passing by themselves by rest. There was also a Mazu Temple on the hillside on the island. Fishermen passing by would make a special trip to the island to worship. According to Li Jin, there were several ancient wells on the island, and it was fine to supply daily drinking fresh water. The only drawback was that there were no tall trees on the island, all of which were low shrubs. If camps were to be built and boats were repaired, there would be insufficient wood.

However, it is not a big problem for Guo Zhiyuan. He wants to build Penghu Island into a base, so the buildings on it must naturally be strong enough. Therefore, he prepared that all the buildings on the island will be built with stone and sanitary soil. After the trade route to Manila is restored, it will become a trade transfer station between China and Manila. Various materials will be transported continuously, and construction materials will not be short of them.

There is also a water camp on the right side of the island, which is the camp where the imperial naval army is stationed. However, there was no one at this time. According to Li Jin, only when the temperature rises in spring will the Ming naval army send troops to the island to take turns to station. Now is the window period for their defense change. Guo Zhiyuan honestly and unceremoniously occupied the water camp of the naval army. The status of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty was higher than that of military officers. Naturally, he, the diplomatic envoy, was not afraid of quarrel with the generals of the Fujian naval army.

Two simple forts were built on the island, which were built by Wei Malang and others. Now it is cheaper to Guo Zhiyuan. Guo Zhiyuan transferred two red cannons from the Fu Ship to load them on the fort. In this way, even if a pirate ship comes, there is no fear. The island with a fort defense is like an unsinkable aircraft carrier. If a small pirate force dares to attack by itself, it is basically a delivery of vegetables.

There are ready-made wooden houses on the island, so more than 500 surviving merchants were easily placed. Guo Zhiyuan made a list of the materials needed on the island and handed them over to Sun Laosan. With the strength of the Sun family, these materials can be purchased soon. In addition, he also asked Sun Laosan to report the news of his successful completion of the mission to the court. He made great contributions this time, and the court will definitely receive rewards, but the specific reward depends on the game of the upper class, so Guo Zhiyuan himself was going to stay on Penghu Island to see the limelight.

In addition, some of the more than 500 surviving businessmen and relatives are still in the inland Fujian and need to go back to visit relatives, but most of them expressed their willingness to go back and take their relatives to settle on Penghu Island. In response, Guo Zhiyuan is based on the principle of freedom of coming and going. After all, the forced melon is not sweet, so they left with Sun Laosanchuan.

Guo Zhiyuan also asked someone to register the strengths of the remaining surviving businessmen to facilitate their respective strengths. There are indeed many talents and talents from all aspects, including technical talents and business talents. After Guo Zhiyuan's maritime expansion plan is fully launched, these people can become backbones who can stand alone.

A week later, Sun Laosan came to Penghu Island again with three merchant ships loaded with various materials, and Sun Chuan and Xu Guangqi were also here. Last time Sun Laosan left, Guo Zhiyuan asked him to bring a letter to Sun Chuan, saying that he would hand over the task of restoring the trade route between China and Manila to the Sun family, and asked Sun Chuan to serve as the Chinese tax officer stationed in Manila. Sun Chuan invested to Guo Zhiyuan naturally expecting returns, but he did not expect that Guo Zhiyuan would give him the return so much and so quickly. For this reason, he was so excited that he didn't close his eyes all day and night. He personally went to Penghu Island to thank Guo Zhiyuan, and said that all the materials needed for the construction of Penghu Island were handled by the Sun family.

Xu Guangqi's arrival helped Guo Zhiyuan even more. Building Penghu Island is a big project. The complicated matters made Guo Zhiyuan look big. With Xu Guangqi's help, Guo Zhiyuan was relaxed and could basically be a hand-off manager. Under Xu Guangqi's dispatch, the work of building Penghu Island was carried out in an orderly manner. With the concerted efforts of everyone, the construction of Penghu Island can be said to be changing with each passing day, and it is no longer the desolate island that was uninhabited in the past!

According to Guo Zhiyuan's plan, the construction of Penghu Island will be divided into living areas, production areas, commercial areas, and protective turrets will be increased to five, which can basically cover the entire island. Sun Chuan also transferred fifty Sun Mansion servants again. With such protective power, even if a large pirate attacks, he will have to return in a defeat!

Besides, Guo Zhiyuan successfully completed his mission, not only successfully rescued the surviving merchants who were imprisoned by the Spanish in Manila, but also forced Spain to apologize for the Manila massacre last year and compensate for the trade taxes. The news spread to Fujian, causing a sensation. The people clapped and felt that the Chinese ambitions had increased greatly, and they asked who Guo Zhiyuan was. His outstanding political achievements in Gutian County and his outstanding performance in Fujian were also mentioned. For a time, Guo Zhiyuan's reputation among the people increased greatly.

On the contrary, after hearing this news, most of the people in Fujian officialdom were so sour and uncomfortable. The reason was very simple. So many experienced Fujian officials had not accomplished the things that had not been done by Manila several times. What did a young boy do? Where did you let them put their faces?
Chapter completed!