Chapter 259 I'm the Boss
“Your Highness, how dare a foreign king be so arrogant? Our Great Xia’s princes are so noble, yet he dares to treat you with such disrespect. Please grant me permission to kill that king immediately.”
Qin Mo did not take Boluo Jialuo Mobahu's rejection to heart, but his subordinates could not stand it. Not only did several of his troops come to ask for battle, but even several strong members of the pioneer team wanted to avenge their prince.
"When did it become your business to start a war?"
Qin Mo's face was unusually stern, causing several high-ranking military leaders to lower their heads; their behavior had indeed overstepped their bounds.
"Your Highness, please forgive me. It was not that I overstepped my bounds, but this false king was simply too arrogant. I have never been looked at like this before. I was angry and spoke inappropriately. I beg Your Highness to punish me!"
"I beg Your Highness to punish me!"
Seeing her subordinates bowing their heads and kneeling on one knee to beg for forgiveness, Qin Mo sighed and reached out to help them up.
"There are already quite a few gems in Southeast Asia. Although Japan and Korea can buy some, how much can those poor folks afford?"
"Aren't we going to sell them to Daxia?"
"Only the rich can afford gemstones. How much benefit can selling them to the poor in the Great Xia?"
"Qin Mo, Qin Mo, you paid a luxury goods tax when you sold gemstones in Da Xia. Wasn't that tax money used by the imperial court for the benefit of the people?"
Shia, being soft-hearted, couldn't bear to see the high-ranking officials being scolded like grandsons, so she quickly tried to help them get out of trouble.
Of course, it was actually she who instigated a few people to come to Qin Mo; as the mastermind behind it all, she had to step forward and help.
"The Great Xia's grain production is limited. What good is money? I'm having you sell back as many new vegetable seeds, grains, cotton, and hemp as possible. Every bit helps them."
Two years ago, Qin Mo established a rule that neither merchants selling luxury goods such as gems nor the ships of the pioneering teams were allowed to return to Taiyuan empty-handed. The ships had to be fully loaded with grain, cotton, and hemp to sell at low prices in the South Seas. There was plenty of grain and hemp in the South Seas, but the profit margin was thin. If it weren't for Qin Mo's order, merchants might not have been willing to go through all that trouble.
Nowadays, the people of several prefectures and counties in Fujian are all hoping that the official's ship will arrive at the coast so that they can have enough food to eat and enough cotton and linen to cover their bodies. Although it can only cover a few prefectures and counties, it can still be considered a good deed.
In Qin Mo's words: "We are nouveau riche, but we are nouveau riche with conscience and love. We must have the poor people in our hearts."
"Once we establish a transportation route to the Western Continent, selling gems and perfumes there will be the right way to make money. For now, you should slowly infiltrate the region and find out the specific origins and true prices of their gems to prepare for large-scale sales in the future."
The group exchanged glances and finally understood Qin Mo's meaning. Qin Mo had always adhered to the principle of "harming others to enrich himself." He would purchase goods from Da Xia and sell them to foreign lands, then exchange them for large sums of money to bring back to Da Yuan. He would then buy a large number of people and goods from Da Xia to strengthen Da Yuan's foundation. This cycle repeated itself, which is why Da Yuan became so powerful so quickly.
"Your Highness, can we... really find a sea route to the Western Continent?"
Several staff members from the Development Administration who were on board stared at Qin Mo and asked uncertainly. They still lacked confidence, since no one had ever heard of reaching Xizhou by sea.
“Of course, we can reach Persia and the Abbasid Caliphate in a month at most, and from there we can go north to reach the Western Regions.”
Qin Mo's resolute answer put his subordinates at ease.
He had already obtained basic geographical information about the Indian Ocean coast from Shia. Although passing through the Middle East would inevitably reduce profits, crossing the Indian Ocean and rounding the Cape of Good Hope was still too risky for the current Da Yuan fleet. It was too early, both in terms of navigation experience and ship conditions.
For example, the fact that the magnetic declination of the Indian Ocean is very different from that of the western Pacific Ocean can stump many inexperienced navigators. When sailing in the Indian Ocean, one must use the positions of the stars for navigation and cannot rely entirely on the compass. All of this requires practical experience.
Therefore, Qin Mo's safest approach was to let his fleet spend two years in the Indian Ocean before embarking on a circumnavigation. This would also alleviate the shortage of seafarers caused by the rapid development of the maritime industry in Taiwan.
Qin Mo's fleet was mainly exploring sea routes this time, so it didn't bring much cargo. After staying in Koti Port for three days, it sold half of the cargo on board and then stopped selling, which greatly disappointed some Lion Kingdom merchants who arrived later.
Qin Mo felt it was necessary to leave some goods as a stepping stone for future trade route exploration. After all, without these goods, no one would believe that you could bring wealth to the locals, making the development of trade routes much more difficult.
When Qin Mo's fleet weighed anchor and left, Shili Luohouluo on the shore was filled with disappointment. He had mobilized a lot of manpower to quickly build the warehouses on the shore and show his sincerity in order to retain these Daxia people.
But his king was too stubborn. He had asked several times, but he still hadn't hosted a banquet for these distinguished guests of the Great Xia. Now that they had left, even though they would return soon after leaving, who could say for sure what would happen after they were treated so coldly?
After setting sail from Cote Port, Qin Mo turned northwest, crossed Cape Comorin, and headed straight for the western coast of India. His destination was a very famous port in Qin Mo's previous life's maritime history—Calicart.
Calicut, also known as Kozhikode, is located on the northwest coast of Cape Comorin. In Qin Mo's previous life, two famous navigators chose to land here during their voyages of exploration, and both eventually died in this port.
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