Zhu Yijun looked at Li Dan in disbelief, "So many?"
At this time, someone next to him said, "Your Majesty may not know, but Manager Li's caravan alone has placed an order for 200 ships. There is also Yongnian Bo's caravan that has placed an order for 100 ships. The rest of the chambers of commerce have also placed large orders. I am already preparing to ask the emperor to build a shipyard."
Zhu Yijun glanced at the person who spoke. It was Li Bin, the manager of the Song Jiang Shipyard. Zhu Yijun nodded to him.
In fact, the sea merchants of Daming knew that sea trade was profitable, but they didn't have this opportunity before!
Now that there was this opportunity, the sea merchants could be said to have exploded with great enthusiasm.
How rich were the merchants of Daming?
In the past, the merchants were also rich, but it was completely different from now.
Ever since Zhu Yijun encouraged the trade and started weaving from the grassland, the commerce of Daming had flourished.
Now, it was normal to mobilize a merchant that had a million taels of silver. Big merchants easily mobilized tens of millions of taels of silver.
Not to mention other things, a few years ago, Zhu Yijun still restricted the production of silver coins and took back the silver from the market. Now, the Mint Department opened up the production, even so, it could meet the demand of the market.
The capital of the Royal Bank grew like a rolling snowball. Not to mention other things, just the denomination of the banknotes was constantly expanding.
In the past, 1,000 taels of silver was considered a large denomination. Now, 10,000 taels of silver was normal, and 100,000 taels of silver was considered a large denomination.
The great development of the commerce led to the prosperity of the economy. The imperial court's tax revenue was constantly increasing, and the national strength of Daming was also constantly increasing.
Now, there was basically no need to raise funds to mobilize the supplies for 100,000 people. The Grand Council made the decision, the Ministry of Revenue approved the silver, and the Ministry of War was responsible for the procurement. In a few days, the list would be in the hands of the merchants.
The supplies were transported by the merchants, so the speed was definitely very fast. The control of the transportation costs was very low.
Of course, Zhu Yijun knew this, but Zhu Yijun didn't expect Li Dan to be so rich. He ordered 200 ships at once. What was he going to do?
Seeing Zhu Yijun looking at him, Li Dan was very calm and said directly, "I am preparing to go to Nanyang!"
Go to Nanyang!
After listening to Li Dan's words, Zhu Yijun just nodded gently, then smiled and said, "That's good."
In fact, Zhu Yijun didn't care whether Li Dan would go to Nanyang or not. However, Li Dan had good foresight. Since the imperial court had sent troops to Annan, they definitely wouldn't stop. The next target would be the Proclamation Office of the Old Port. Once the Old Port was taken, the trade door in the south would be completely opened to the Great Ming Dynasty.
From this point of view, Li Dan was really preparing to go south. His foresight was really superb.
Seeing that Zhu Yijun didn't say anything, Li Dan was slightly relieved. Buying so many armed merchant ships, Li Dan was really worried that he would be suspected by the emperor.
Now that Zhu Yijun didn't say anything, it meant that there was still room for negotiation. Naturally, Li Dan was relieved.
The reason why Zhu Yijun didn't care was very simple. These merchant ships were backward and about to be eliminated.
The steam engine was successfully manufactured. The next step would be steam-powered ironclad warships. They would no longer be equipped with cannons, but rear-mounted rifled cannons. Compared to these warships, Daming's warships were backward. Zhu Yijun planned to go back and order to reduce the manufacturing of warships and focus on building armed merchant ships.
Of course, even armed merchant ships were powerful in this era, especially after they reached a certain scale.
Zhu Yijun couldn't imagine what these merchants would do if they sent out 1,600 armed merchant ships.
However, Zhu Yijun didn't care. Wasn't this the way of this era?
If you don't hit me, I'll hit you. Zhu Yijun didn't care what they wanted to do. They could do whatever they wanted!
Soon, Zhu Yijun finished visiting the shipyard. After getting familiar with this place, he returned to the temporary headquarters.
"Imperial Majesty, report on the war in Annan Province!"
Wei Dynasty came to Zhu Yijun's side and directly handed a report to Zhu Yijun with a solemn expression.
Zhu Yijun took the report and glanced at it. There was no expression on his face. The content of the report was very simple. Daming had conquered Liangshan and was now preparing for the next step.
Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and then said, "Send an order to the Grand Council. Ask Zhang Weixian to go south and transfer the troops of the six provinces south of the Yangtze River."
"I want to form an army of 200,000 soldiers to go south. Ask the fleet of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be ready to transport supplies."
It should be known that Zhu Yijun didn't just want to conquer Annan Province. Since he was going to make a move, he had to make a big move. Since the land had been opened, the army could be sent out.
This time, Zhu Yijun mobilized the troops of the six provinces south of the Yangtze River. To some extent, it was also to train the soldiers. Although they were useless, it was impossible that they couldn't even conquer the south.
If they couldn't conquer it, they would be directly removed from office and beheaded.
At the same time, Zhu Yijun also wanted to use this war to mobilize the merchants' enthusiasm to go south.
Once a large number of supplies went south, the merchants would naturally see the trade route. This was Zhu Yijun using the army to pave the way for the trade route.
Zhu Yijun's imperial edict was quickly passed down. Jiangnan was suddenly in an uproar. Was the south so difficult to conquer?
Did so many people need to be transferred?
The news came back quickly. Daming had conquered Liangshan, and the royal navy had occupied Haiyang. With two attacks, they could take down the Rising Dragon Mansion at any time.
At this time, the emperor sent the army south. His purpose was very simple. He wanted to rebuild the administrative department of Jiaozhi.
Of course, there were also people who guessed Zhu Yijun's other purpose. That was, the emperor was going to use troops against Mangyingli.
After Yang Yinglong was defeated in Chongqing, the troops of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou could be integrated and go straight to Mangyingli.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were two routes into Burma. One was from the mainland, starting from Yunnan's Cheng Xuan Office. There were three routes, one from Tian Ma, one from Piao Dian, and one from Ah Guo's territory, all of which led to Jiangtou City in Burma.
From Jiaozhi Cheng to Jingmai (800 Da Dian Xuan Si), from Jingmai to Dong Wu (Diwu La Xuan Si) to Awa. During the reign of Xuande, Jiaozhi Cheng was abandoned and the Jiaozhi Cheng Xuan Si was abandoned. This road had not been used for many years. Obviously the Emperor wanted to open up this road.
At that time, the army would attack from both sides and directly destroy Mangyingli. After capturing Mangyingli, the entire southeast peninsula would be under Daming's control.
After capturing the southeast peninsula, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines would naturally be in Daming's pocket. The next step would naturally be to march into Malacca.
Of course, many people didn't care about these. They were more concerned about the big order in front of them.
A big order of 200,000 troops. This was a big order that could feed many people.
Zhu Yijun didn't care. Now that the imperial court was rich, he didn't have the habit of putting money in the warehouse to collect dust, nor did he have the habit of repairing the garden.