After demonstrating the invincible power of the sail cruiser, Wang Dahu continued to drag the wealthy businessmen to the headquarters of the newly established Army's First Town. Thirty new 12-pound steel cannons, after three rounds of rapid fire, the huge power to destroy the world shocked all the wealthy businessmen. When it was the turn of the line infantry to appear, I saw rows of New Army soldiers wearing big-brimmed hats, new military uniforms, and military boots, forming a line infantry attack formation. Under the sound of military drums, Go hand in hand. Nearly a hundred sheep were tied to a wooden platform set up on the ground. The line infantry stood 120 meters apart and stopped advancing. "Load, charge, purge." "Raise the gun" "Fire five rounds quickly, release." "Pop, pop, pop" With the crisp sound of beans exploding, the sheep fell to the ground one after another. This time, since there was no bombardment effect from the volley of artillery, the wealthy businessmen who did not understand military affairs did not have such a shocked reaction. "However, Lin Feng is knowledgeable. In his fleet, he actually hid two cannons and more than a dozen sets of bows and arrows. On the sea, when you encounter pirates, you almost always have to fight close to the side, and then start a life-and-death hand-to-hand fight. The group of sheep 120 meters away were all killed in five rounds of rapid fire. Others may not know what this means, but Lin Feng, who is familiar with the range of bows and arrows, has a clear mind. After showing off his illustrious military power, Wang Dahu pulled the wealthy businessmen back to the Huxin Pavilion in Suiyuan. "Everyone, the East India Company has a limited quota. Only fifty lucky people are eligible to participate in the shares. In addition, I would like to add that the trading scope of the East India Company includes the Angkor Dynasty, Champa State, and Sri Lanka. The country and the Quyue Kingdom are prohibited from doing business across the border for ten years. "Wang Dahu deliberately picked out ancient India and the ancient Philippines. Li Zhongyi knew very well that at this time, ancient India and the Philippines were in a state of disunity. The strategic location of the ancient Philippines was as important as Penghu Liuqiu. The military occupation of the Philippines was equivalent to blocking the maritime trade route from Japan to Southeast Asia. As for ancient India, that land was really fertile. The two million square kilometers of great plains in the Indus and Ganges river basins can completely solve the food problem of the entire Li and Han empire with three to four crops a year. ¡°Different from the traditional idea of ??making friends far away and attacking close friends, Li Zhongyi adopts the strategy of attacking far distance and attacking close friends. The Angkor Dynasty, Champa State, Srivijaya State and Quyue State all have political power, so we need to do trade first and understand the terrain first. The Philippines is still in the state of indigenous chiefs. They captured slave workers and returned, just in time to build bridges and pave roads. The ancient Indian continent was the granary of the entire empire, the hub of trade between China and the West, and the springboard for military westward expansion. How could Li Zhongyi not salivate over the great achievements made in navigation and geography? "The minimum price is 10,000 guan per share, the one with the highest price will win!" Wang Dahu personally presided over the auction of the maritime trade rights of the four countries. As a result, Wang Dahu completely underestimated the strength of the wealthy businessmen. When the fifty quotas were settled, the auction price per share had risen to 200,000 yuan. In the blink of an eye, private equity has reached 10 million yuan. According to the prior agreement, Wang Dahu announced on behalf of the emperor that the emperor also invested 10 million yuan in shares, bringing the total share capital to an astonishing 20 million yuan. The emperor only contributed money for shares and did not participate in specific maritime trade. All trade matters were collectively decided by the shareholders of the East India Company. "Wow." The emperor contributed money but did not participate in business activities. This was the first time in history. The wealthy businessmen were all stunned for a moment. Wang Dahu smiled slightly and couldn't help but think of Li Zhongyi's words. "Folk trade has long been regulated, so let them figure it out on their own. If I sent a royal shopkeeper or something like that, all the money I still made would be wiped out by them, and there might even be a huge loss. "Wang Dahu didn't understand the emperor's business experience, but he knew clearly: the businessmen who participated in the shares had made a lot of money, but the emperor's share capital had lost money. Hehe, some people were about to lose their heads and their homes were ransacked! In the field of free competition, royal business houses have a natural disadvantage and cannot compete with private merchants. What Li Zhongyi wants to do is to monopolize Royal Bank, which is a banking financial institution. "The Royal Bank can be less efficient and let the bank's big boss secretly transfer some profits, but it must not be controlled by private capital. When private capital develops to the stage of controlling finance, it will have a huge impact on the supreme imperial power and official power.Don't hit accidentally. The wealthy businessmen who did not win the bid are all businessmen who are not strong enough. There is no way. In the business world, we only talk about strength, not tears. However, Wang Dahu did not let them return empty-handed. "Everyone, the imperial court plans to auction out the franchise rights for salt and grain. One auction, for a period of three years. The auction will be divided into sections, and you can choose any region." With Wang Dahu's announcement, the entire venue immediately burst into excitement. Salt and grain are currently exclusively owned by the imperial court, and private businessmen are not allowed to participate. Now, the imperial court is willing to put its monopoly financial resources up for auction. A businessman of my size who does not participate in the auction is definitely an idiot. There is no way, a monopoly is fiercer than a tiger. Even though Li Zhongyi had to chop off dozens of heads a year, he still couldn't stop the big rats inside the Royal Salt and Grain Store from trying to make a fortune. In fact, the grain monopoly is only a periodic monopoly. Li Zhongyi has no intention of monopolizing it forever. The truth and logic are actually very simple. As long as it opens up Southeast Asia and colonizes India, the Li Han Empire will never be short of food. As long as the merchants are not deliberately hoarding and the Changping warehouse is full of grain, what does Li Zhongyi have to worry about? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¡ Lin Feng finally understood that the imperial court¡¯s intention was to allow the most powerful wealthy merchants to participate in the most profitable maritime trade. By allowing some powerful businessmen to actively participate in trade within the empire, this will save the court a lot of money! Regarding the temporary regulatory management of salt and grain, the main reason is that the Chinese nation is hungry. As long as there is peace, the population will grow rapidly. No, in just over ten years, according to the new population data sent back from various places, more than two million babies were added every year. As for the total population of the empire, due to the abolition of head money, the hidden strong men no longer hide. According to the cabinet¡¯s summary, the country¡¯s total population is roughly around 70 million, instead of the more than 40 million previously expected. This is mainly due to delays in the delivery of government orders. Kaifeng issued a decree canceling the capitation fee. However, the hidden people hidden in the mountains actually knew the news only a few years later. Today, the real granary of the empire is Liangzhe Road and Jiangnan East Road. The Jinghu area is still an undeveloped wilderness. In the Guanzhong area, soil erosion caused by cutting down too many trees is becoming more and more serious. This is a vicious cycle. The more water and soil are lost, the smaller the precipitation, and the smaller the food production. ¡°Moreover, after more than a thousand years of high-intensity farming, the soil fertility in the Guanzhong area has been nearly exhausted, and the yield per mu has declined year by year. In addition, in the Luoyang region of Guandong, the water volume of the Yellow River is decreasing day by day, and the grain output has become unsatisfactory. In other words, if the capital is moved to Luoyang, the cost of sending food and other materials from Jiangnan will be too high. Due to the large-scale appearance of sail-type cruisers, Li Zhongyi's idea of ????building the Eastern Capital also increased day by day. As for the location of the Eastern Capital, Li Zhongyi¡¯s initial expectation was that it would be Huating County or Mingzhou. Huating County, also known as the Magic City in later generations, is located at the estuary of the Yangtze River. Both water and sea transportation are extremely convenient. Mingzhou, also known as Ningbo in later generations, is located at the starting point of the Grand Canal and the starting point of maritime trade. It is also close to the main grain-producing areas of Liangzhe Road, so it has extremely important strategic significance. "However, these are just ideas. If we want to actually start construction, we need to capture large-scale labor slaves from the Philippine Islands. After Li Zhongyi became the ruling king, the biggest good governance was actually the elimination of corvee work hundreds of miles away. The corvee in history is frightening. If the local subordinates want to torture you to death, they don't need to kill you for any crimes at all. They can directly send you from Guangzhou to Youzhou to do corvee work, and most of you will die. Because when ordinary people go out to do corvee work, they need to bring their own dry food, their own bedding, and pay for their own travel expenses. If this is not the biggest evil policy, what is it? Agricultural civilization requires the protection of mountains and rivers to resist barbarian invasions dominated by cavalry. In the era of pre-industrial civilization, the Li-Han Empire already had steel cannons, flintlock steel guns, cannonballs, new armies, and sail cruisers. Naturally, like London in the United Kingdom and New York in the United States, it would be easy to build a new capital on the seaside. Convenient control of maritime trade??Inland trade has begun. As for the empire's control of the inland areas, it is actually very simple. It just uses the captured overseas labor slaves to build roads and bridges. What¡¯s more important is that facing the military threat from the Northern Barbarians on the front line in Youzhou, whether the empire sends troops from Huating or Mingzhou, it is much faster than sending troops from Kaifeng. Moreover, the cost of transporting troops by sea is more than thirty times lower than that of marching on land? After Wang Dahu settled all the auction matters, he happily came to see Li Zhongyi. As soon as they met, Wang Dahu bowed and said: "Your Majesty knows things like a god, I feel ashamed." Li Zhongyi waved his hand and said: "There are no outsiders here, second brother, come and sit next to me, we two brothers Keep chatting." Wang Dahu also sat next to Li Zhongyi in a relaxed manner, smiling and recounting the situation of the wealthy businessmen's conference in full. Li Zhongyi lifted his chin and said with a smile: "This is just the beginning. When the empire conquers the Indian subcontinent, hehe, it will be equivalent to establishing a foundation that will last forever. It is no exaggeration to say that the Indus and Ganges Plains are really It's about raising people. Even if it's slash-and-burn farming and the grain is sown and left alone, it will only be harvested three to four times a year. The total grain output is simply unimaginable." Wang Dahu looked at the emperor's happy look, as if he had fallen into it. Like a mouse in a granary, he looked extremely proud.