The royal shipping fleet stopped at Jeju Island. In addition to taking some supplies, more importantly, it unloaded raw silk, satin, cloth, porcelain, pottery, purple clay ware, tea, brown sugar, black sugar, etc. shipped from Jiangnan... There were even pens, ink, paper, and inkstones, as well as exquisite books... Mainly Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist classics, novels, novels, and other philosophical and artistic books. There would not be any content related to science and technology.

Because all the export goods are carefully selected by Mr. Zhao himself, the group's subsidiaries prepare the goods according to the group's orders, and deliver them to Chongming and hand them over to the Royal Sea to transport them to Xingang.

The Tamra Chamber of Commerce accepted all the orders and then transported them to Japan, where they were distributed to ports such as Sasebo, Hakata, Hirado, Usuki, Onsenzu, and Sakai in Kyushu.

In fact, Xingang City was now full of merchants from the Joseon Dynasty who had heard the news and wanted to take advantage of the wind to sell their goods to Japan. However, the Tamra Chamber of Commerce would not accept or sell any goods that were not carefully selected by Mr. Zhao, even if the merchants from the Joseon Dynasty begged the king for leniency.

The Tamra Chamber of Commerce said that the Celestial Empire has strict controls and if they are caught smuggling once, their exclusive right to trade with Japan will be revoked.

In fact, Jiangnan Group holds 90% of the shares in Tamra Chamber of Commerce. It is basically just a front for Mr. Zhao. Since when has a front been able to act on its own?

What? Smuggling by yourself? Is the garrison water police station just for show? Over the past year, several water police stations have captured more than 200 smuggling ships in their respective jurisdictions, including those from the Joseon Dynasty, Japan, and the Ming Dynasty. No matter which country you are from? All of them were sent to the City Hall Arbitration Tribunal, and the ships and cargo were confiscated for smuggling, and the sailors were sent to lifelong labor reform. The shipowner was treated as the mastermind, but he could pay a huge fine to compensate.

In order to combat smuggling, the Marine Police Department has also vigorously promoted the reward for reporting to coastal fishermen - anyone who provides clues to smuggling ships will be rewarded with one-tenth of the property seized from the ships! In order to protect fishermen from retaliation, they can also directly deposit the cash into the bank, leaving them with no worries.

And it's not just the fishermen of the Joseon Dynasty, the fishermen of Japan also enjoy the same reward. Now, the Marine Police District immediately has countless pairs of eyes, and many fishermen don't even dare to do anything else, just look for smuggling boats day and night, making smuggling nowhere to hide.

As long as they report successfully once, it will be enough for their lifetime expenses. Why bother fishing? Isn't it nice to go to Xingang City to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks?

In short, in this age of navigation, there was no room for free trade. Trade routes had to be opened up and protected by warships and cannons, and there was no alternative to monopoly.

It was very generous of Mr. Zhao to ask Chen Huaixiu to take out a part of the shipping capacity to carry out domestic north-south freight for Ming merchants, and only earn the freight in this area. Of course, this is also because of the existence of the Grand Canal shipping. Before squeezing out competitors, capital is always generous and makes people want to call it daddy.

After unloading, the fleet immediately loaded gold, silver, copper, sea cucumber, abalone, scallops, shrimp slices and other seafood produced in Japan, as well as swords, Japanese satin and other goods that were popular among the dignitaries in the capital. There were also Korean ginseng, honey, dried mushrooms, sea dragons, foxes, mink skins, deer antlers, astragalus, and Polygonum multiflorum produced in the Joseon Dynasty.

In addition, the Jiangnan Trading Company would trade with the Portuguese once a month in Ryukyu, and a portion of the goods purchased from Southeast Asia and the West would be shipped to Tamra, and then transferred by royal shipping to the capital and other places for sale.

The East Asian trade network that Master Zhao had spent a huge amount of money and several years to build was finally running smoothly. In the first half of this year alone, the total overseas trade volume reached 30 million taels of silver, which has exceeded the heyday of the Nine Great Families.

This was when the Jiangnan Group was burdened with heavy grain transportation tasks and had too many ships and insufficient transportation capacity. When the grain transportation tasks are not so heavy next year, the navigation school will train more sailors and increase the transportation capacity, and the trade volume can at least double again.

However, the markets of Japan, the Joseon Dynasty, and Ryukyu are still limited. Zhao Hao estimated that if he wanted to increase the trade volume in the future, he would have to open up new places for product dumping... Oh no, emerging markets. Of course, with the productivity level of the Ming Dynasty, it would not be easy to produce excess products in the short term.

~~

After loading and unloading was completed, the fleet left Jeju Island the next day.

Before departure, the Jeju Island Meteorological Station issued a cold wave warning, warning that in the next few days, there is a high probability of high winds, high waves and a sharp drop in temperature.

Sure enough, a north wind blew two days later. Although the Chinese sailing ship could be hit by winds from all directions and could still continue to move north, its speed was inevitably greatly affected, and it arrived at Chengshantou Meteorological Station four days later.

The wind was strong and the waves were rough on the sea. The fully loaded ship was like a leaf, being tossed up and down by the waves, and was tossed violently.

Young Master Zhao has been living a life of luxury this year and his complexion looks a little bad, as if he is seasick.

He and Chen Huaixiu stood side by side in the wheelhouse, holding on to the railings tightly, listening to the terrifying rustling sound made by the strong wind against the sails, which was very unsettling.

"We should have listened to the weather station and waited until the wind died down before setting sail." Zhao Hao sighed. He was in a hurry to get to Beijing, and since it wasn't a typhoon, he insisted on setting off.

I didn't expect that even a typhoon could make a person's intestines come out.

"It's not bad. We've encountered stronger waves than this many times before. Our boat is new and strong, so we can handle it." Chen Huaixiu was used to it. She took Zhao Hao's hand and pressed the Hegu acupoint on his tiger's mouth, saying, "Didn't you drift on the sea for more than a month last year? Aren't you used to these waves yet?"

"I haven't surfed for a long time, I'm really not used to it." Young Master Zhao laughed dryly and said, "Last year, the weather was good and there were no big waves for a month."

"Such situations are rare." Chen Huaixiu sighed, "But we have to persevere no matter how big the waves are. The north got cold early this year, and the bay will freeze in more than a month. If we don't hurry up, we won't be able to complete this year's mission."

"Oh, it's really not easy." Zhao Hao was moved and held her hand and said, "Sister Huaixiu, you have worked hard."

"It's okay, this is my job." Chen Huaixiu's heart trembled, and she quickly pulled her hand away. She couldn't help but give him a sidelong glance, and he dared to take advantage of her.

But Zhao Hao looked innocent, his eyes as pure as a child, it seemed that I was overthinking...

She couldn't help but laugh at herself secretly, the young master only treated me as his godsister, but I had such dirty thoughts.

You are really being sentimental.

~~

On the sixth day of October in the fourth year of the Longqing reign, Master Zhao and his entourage arrived in Tongzhou.

Then I saw that the official ship dock was covered with white frost, and it was a cold and bleak winter.

Suddenly, a ball of leaping fire appeared before his eyes, instantly making this cold and icy scene come alive.

Li Mingyue was seen wearing a sable fur coat, a pearl necklace around her neck, and a bright red cloak. She was riding on a chestnut horse and was galloping towards Zhao Hao.

"Brother Zhao!" Seeing Zhao Hao standing at the bow, the young county lady excitedly waved her hands and said with a sweet smile: "I'm here to take you home!"

"Mingyue, I'm here to spend the New Year with you." Zhao Hao was genuinely happy to see Li Mingyue, whom he hadn't seen for half a year, and waved his hands to greet her.

Li Mingyue rode her horse straight to the dock. The boat was still more than one meter away from the shore. She couldn't wait to jump off the horse's back and leap towards Zhao Hao like a young swallow flying into the forest.

"Be careful, be careful..." Zhao Hao quickly caught her with both hands, and before she could react, he hugged her tightly and threw her onto the deck. Their mouths were pressed tightly together...

Qiaoqiao quickly closed her eyes, but Secretary Ma looked at Chen Huaixiu and saw that she was staring at him in a daze.

"I think it's great to be young..." Gang Leader Chen explained in a slightly flustered manner.

"Yes." Secretary Ma nodded and said, "No need to pretend to be seasick."

Chen Huaixiu was so embarrassed that he couldn't explain anything.

~~

Li Chengen and Xiwa, who were left far behind by Li Mingyue, finally caught up on horseback.

The young master's heart was broken when he saw his sister hugging and kissing Zhao Hao on the boat in public.

"Stop it, oh no, shut up! Stop taking advantage of my sister!"

"Your sister is on top and my uncle is on the bottom. Who is taking advantage of whom?" Zhao Shixi was not happy.

"Fuck you, where are you standing?!" the young master said angrily.

"Of course it's my uncle's side!" Zhao Shixi said in a long tone as if it was a matter of course: "That's my uncle!"

"Everyone, their elbows are bent outward..." Li Chengen looked up at the sky and suddenly felt that he was surrounded by people but alone. Is this the destined ending of a sister complex?

Alas, it is true that girls cannot be kept at home when they grow up...

~~

The river was not frozen yet, so they could take a boat directly to the capital. So after his sister finished being intimate with that bastard, Li Chengen and Xiwa also got on the boat.

In fact, they really misunderstood. The two of them just fell into a heap due to the strong momentum, and Zhao Hao even broke his lip with his teeth...

But when Li Chengen saw this scene, he naturally had another crime. It was not enough for grandma to just kiss her, she also had to bite her and make her bleed!

Looking more closely, he saw that his sister's mouth was not broken, but Zhao Hao's lips were broken.

"Ah, you silly girl, can't you be a little more reserved?" Li Chengen didn't get angry.

"Uncle!" Xiwa excitedly stepped forward and kowtowed to Zhao Hao. "My nephew misses you so much!"

"Haha, I miss you too, get up quickly!" Zhao Hao pressed his lips with a handkerchief with one hand and pulled Xiwa up with the other hand.

He was wearing a narrow-sleeved, stand-up collared yak with python pattern, a wide leather belt around his waist, and a wingless black gauze hat on his head. He looked heroic and full of martial spirit.

I learned from my elder brother's letter that after Zhao Shixi came to Beijing, he successfully passed the examination of the Ministry of War and was awarded the title of Jinyiwei Baihu... According to the rules, the sons of high-ranking officials would not be given a real job after they were given a military position. First, the sons of high-ranking officials could not endure hardships, and second, most of them were weak and would only cause trouble in the army, so the Ministry of War would rather let them eat empty salaries than cause trouble for themselves.

But Zhao Shixi was transferred to the front guard of the palace army that accompanied the prince. This was naturally Li Chengen's doing. The young master was abandoned by Emperor Longqing last year and became the guard of the prince. After more than a year, the young master had been promoted to a thousand households for his merits.

What? What kind of merit did he make? He is the emperor's nephew and the prince's cousin. Is this a big merit? It's just that he is too young, otherwise he would have been a governor directly...

Therefore, the young lord easily transferred Xiwa to the vanguard of the palace army to accompany him through the relationship with the Duke of England.

Originally, the elder brother was planning to send Xiwa back to Jiangnan for training, but now he had no choice but to give up...

ps. I wish you all a happy New Year. Today is a holiday, so I will update once...