After the new land tax system was gradually established, the fifth year of Yanning arrived as scheduled.

As the new year arrives, the capital city is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, filled with a joyous atmosphere.

Li Xin also looked excited.

This is not only because the Western Regions and the Tibetan Plateau have been pacified, but also because the past year has yielded very rich results.

The construction of the naval force has been basically completed in the past year.

Each of the three main fleets already has four main ironclad warships, as well as twenty or thirty ironclad three-masted sailing warships.

The naval forces also developed very rapidly.

The entire sea area adjacent to the Great Gan Kingdom is almost entirely under the control of the Great Gan Kingdom. Even the maritime trading fleets of major trading companies such as Qingyu Trading Company are extremely large.

Amazing strength!

However, behind the prosperity, there are also hidden dangers.

Just after the fifth day of the first month of the fifth year of Yan Ning, Hu Xueyong of Qingyu Trading Company arrived at Wuying Hall.

The purpose of my visit is twofold: firstly, to report on my work over the past year.

Secondly, there is one more thing I need to tell Li Xin.

Looking at the summary of Qingyu Trading Company's situation in his hand, Li Xin nodded in satisfaction and said, "In recent years, Qingyu Trading Company has been developing very rapidly! The profits have also grown very quickly! Xueyong, you've done a very good job!"

"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty!"

Hu Xueyong quickly thanked him.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Your Majesty, actually, the profits should have been even higher than expected. However, there have been many cases of ships mysteriously disappearing at sea in the past year."

"Mysterious ship disappearance case?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xin frowned slightly, stared at Hu Xueyong, and said with a smile, "Xueyong, I don't believe in any mysterious things in this world. Whenever something like this happens, there must be someone secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes."

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong nodded and said, "Our Qingyu Trading Company thinks the same way. Over the past year, our Qingyu Trading Company has also assigned special personnel to form an investigation team to investigate and understand these matters, but so far we have not made any progress."

As he spoke, Hu Xueyong took out another document from his briefcase and handed it to Li Xin.

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong took a deep breath and said, "This is a summary of the mysterious disappearances of ships that have occurred in our Qingyu Trading Company over the past year. Please take a look."

Li Xin took the document and flipped through its contents.

Upon seeing this, Li Xin was somewhat surprised.

He never expected that in the past year, Qingyu Trading Company would have experienced 26 mysterious ship disappearances.

The highest number of these incidents occurred between June and July, totaling as many as nineteen. Moreover, most of these ships could not be found without a trace, and even the crew members mysteriously disappeared.

So many cases?

Li Xin frowned and asked, "Why was the cause of disappearance listed as 'affected by a typhoon' in June and July?"

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong explained, "Because in June and July, these ships were passing through areas where typhoons often occurred. As for the other ships that went missing, our investigation team found that severe weather had also occurred in the nearby areas. That's why, when we first encountered these incidents, Qingyu Trading Company marked them as maritime disasters and compensated for the loss of crew members and cargo."

"but,"

Hu Xueyong continued, "In the past year, there have been far too many of these incidents, nearly twenty more than in the three years since Yan Ning. Such a large number is still somewhat unbelievable in the Asia-Pacific region. After all, almost all of our Qingyu Trading Company's seafaring crew members are veterans. They usually pay attention to the weather in the surrounding area when transporting goods. They will not sail if there is bad weather in the nearby waters. Even if they do encounter bad weather at sea, the entire ship will not disappear without a trace, and we have never even found the bodies of the crew members."

“In the past, after such incidents, bodies, ship debris, and cargo would be found near the scene. But now, none of these have been found.”

Li Xin was stunned by Hu Xueyong's words.

yes!

Logically speaking, even if a maritime disaster did occur, there should be remains on the sea surface such as bodies of people, ship debris, and cargo fragments.

Why don't we have them now?

There must be some hidden story behind this.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened so quietly, without leaving any trace!

"Xueyong,"

Looking at Hu Xueyong, Li Xin narrowed his eyes and asked, "Do you have some guess?"

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong said cautiously, "I do have a guess."

"oh?"

Li Xin narrowed his eyes and asked, "What guess? Tell me."

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong began, "Of the twenty-six incidents last year, the vast majority occurred in the waters near the East Sea..."

"Eastern Japan?"

Li Xin frowned, staring at Hu Xueyong, and asked, "You mean..."

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong continued, "After this period of investigation, the approximate location of the incident near Dongyang has been determined."

As he spoke, Hu Xueyong took out a map.

"Your Majesty, please look!"

Hu Xueyong pointed to the map and said, "These red dots are the locations of the incidents..."

Li Xin was stunned as he stared at the red dot on the map.

As Hu Xueyong said, most of the locations were located near Japan.

Many of these locations are also very close to Japan.

Seeing the red dot on the map, Li Xin frowned and asked, "You mean the people from Japan have made their move?"

"Yes."

Hu Xueyong took a deep breath and nodded, saying, "Based on the information we have so far, if a maritime disaster had truly occurred, there would definitely be debris on the surface. But now, nothing has been found, not even a body. This means it's highly unlikely to be a maritime disaster. Moreover, similar incidents mostly occur near Japan in the East, which is enough to explain the situation. After all, our Qingyu Trading Company transports goods across the sea every year, not just to Japan, but also to Southeast Asia and the West, in large quantities, even far exceeding those to Japan. Why don't these kinds of incidents happen in Southeast Asia and the West?"

At that moment, Li Xin suddenly realized what was going on.

There's definitely something fishy going on behind all this!

Japan!

They actually dared to extend their reach to my great nation!

They're really asking for death!

Taking a deep breath, Li Xin asked, "Xueyong, what do you think we should do about this?"

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong said, "A wild goose leaves a trace. If it really was done by the Eastern Kingdom, they must have been plundering goods for profit. These goods will definitely be sold in some places! I request Your Majesty to send military intelligence personnel to the Eastern Kingdom to investigate this matter!"

"No need!"

Li Xin waved his hand and said, "Send the Beiyang Fleet directly to Japan to question them about this matter!"