The dawn first appeared, the sky broke out, and the earth was covered with a faint mist, like a silver gauze.

Jiaozhi, Halong Bay.

This place is called Guilin on the Sea, with more than 3,000 islands of all sizes and beautiful scenery.

It is said that someone once saw a dragon landing here, so it was called Halong Bay.

On Dragon Stone Island, the former Dragon Stone Island.

Li Shimin turned over, walked out of the stern, stood on the deck and stretched.

On the deck, a team of slaves tied with chains were wiping the deck under the whip of the sailors.

The waves are rising and falling, and the water birds are flying.

The scenery here is so beautiful, with the sea and sky all over the sky and the stone islands standing on it. It is truly a beautiful scenery.

"This place looks like the landscape of Guilin. When I passed by Guilin, I was amazed at the scenery of the mountains and rocks there. I never thought that there was such a place on Jiaozhi Sea. This is really a fairyland." The white-bearded mate looked at the sea and said.

"It is indeed a good place. It is said that this was the place where the ancient Yue people lived, but now it is full of gangsters."

"Captain, Ning Chang is really dead, and the imperial government army has also recovered the lands of Hepu in Ningyue. It is not convenient for us to go there again." The first mate said with regret. During these times, they were below Longwan as the base camp, appearing on the coast of Qinjiang Bay in Beibu Gulf, landing in various places, and robbing happily, so it is so satisfying. But now Li Jing led the official army to recover the rebel land, and these pirates who were wearing the black skeleton flag were not convenient for them to go there again.

"It's no pity. We have also robbed a lot of people in the past two months, including Hepu pearls, Ningyue rhinoceros horns, Yulin elephant teeth, longans, longans, gold and silver, spices, porcelain craftsmen, etc., enough."

Luo Yi gave Li Shimin a thousand men and more than a dozen boats. Li Shimin led his fleet to sea. For two months, he has been rampant along the coast of Qinjiang Bay, and has divided his troops into several directions and penetrated deep into the inland, attacking Ning's porcelain workshops, gold and silver mines, and attacking his textile workshops.

Many money, silk, gold and silver were snatched, many craftsmen also snatched, and many slang barbarians were captured. Now Shilong Island is full of their spoils. Li Shimin felt that it was enough. Even if Luo Yi came here in person, he might not have such a rich result.

"Are we transported all of these things back to Sunset City?" said the eldest mate.

He is a gray-haired old man and has been on the sea for thirty years. It can be said that if there will be a storm when you smell the sea breeze.

"The craftsmen of the gold and silver mine, the craftsmen of the textile farm, and the craftsmen of the porcelain kiln are all sent back first, and the slaves are also sent 3,000 yuan. As for the others, we don't have to send them. We can get to Songping City, Jiaozhi County for transactions, and we can also go to Nanhai County to buy larger ships, and buy treasure ships like the Royal Caravan." Li Shimin said.

The first mate was a little excited.

He had seen that kind of treasure ship twice. The hull full of streamlined shape, the high stern tower, the decks of several layers, especially the magical cannons and crane crossbows on the ship, they really didn't dare to go to the side. The bow of each treasure ship was also equipped with an extremely powerful and majestic statue of the god's bow, with a hideous horn below.

Pirate ships like them will be broken if they encounter them.

"It is said that a great treasure ship costs 8,000 guan." The first mate said excitedly.

"Eight thousand guan? That is a treasure ship that has no match for nothing, and the materials are definitely not as good as the Royal Merchant Fleet. In addition, I guess I have to queue up. If you want to save the ship, it will not be reduced. At least tens of thousands of guan, you probably have to add more money to withdraw the ship." Li Shimin knew very well how powerful this treasure ship was. Luo Cheng's Royal Merchant Fleet was not just a merchant fleet. They were named as a merchant fleet, but in fact they were a Royal Navy fleet.

"As long as you can buy a treasure ship, ten thousand coins are not expensive. We are not short of money now." The mate said with a grin. They have indeed made a fortune in the past two months.

Attacking several Ning's gold and silver mines not only robbed many craftsmen, but also many gold and silver ingots that had been cast. This thing is valuable. Although the gold and silver in Lingnan are almost of color, it is no problem to refine one tael of silver for 1,500 and six hundred copper coins. One tael of gold can be exchanged for five taels of silver.

If you are more bold and then cast some gold, dragon, silver and tiger coins in private, it would be even more amazing.

However, the court is now extremely strict in private casting, and the court's gold, dragon, silver and tiger coins are not easy to counterfeit, so Li Shimin does not need to mint counterfeit coins. He only needs to transport the gold and silver to Jiaozhi Port, and naturally there will be a large number of merchants to trade with him, no matter how many, they can still eat them.

What's more, he still has so many slaves in his hands.

The boxes of rhinoceros horns, elephant teeth, tortoiseshell, pearls and pearls that were stolen are extremely valuable, as well as spices.

Pepper, cardamom, garam, sandalwood, ambergris, agarwood, and yellow suo. These things are not native to the Beibu Gulf, but were stolen by Li Shimin. In the Beibu Gulf area, these spices are like gold and silver, used as hard currency and used for trading currency. Their source is further south of Linyi, south of Jiaozhi. Ju said that it is the hometown of Kunlunnu. It is in the depths of the South China Sea. There are many large and small islands, and these spices are produced on those islands.

The price of spices is extremely high. When Li Shimin was just a noble child in the Central Plains, he knew that these spices were expensive. Things like pepper were the most valuable goods in the hands of merchants in the Western Regions.

In order to make more money, some Hu merchants even add psoriasis to their pepper to fake it and use it as minced pepper. They know how expensive pepper is.

It is said that in Fulin (Eastern Rome) in Tessie, pepper is four pence per pound, white pepper is seven pence per pound, and ginger is six pence per pound. A pound of pepper is equivalent to the wages of a skilled craftsman for a week.

Pepper, cinnamon, and ginger can even be directly deducted taxes.

Pepper, cloves, and nutmeg are not only spices, but have even become symbols of power and identity in the West.

Since Zhang Qian opened the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, Western Region merchants began to transport various precious merchants to Chang'an for sale. At that time, the spices brought by the Western Regions merchants were still in India and Indonesia, but the spices at that time were mainly transported to India first, then along the Silk Road to the Western Regions, and then through the Hexi Corridor to Chang'an in Guanzhong. This road is very straight and difficult to walk, and the cost has increased greatly, making spices extremely valuable in the Central Plains.

This is something that only nobles can enjoy.

The batch of spices in Li Shimin's hand actually came from the sea. With the strengthening of navigation technology, merchants from the Central Plains have continued to take a boat to the South Ocean, and even to the Tianzhu and the Persian Gulf. Hu merchants have also begun to come along the routes of the Central Plains sea merchants.

Spices naturally came from the sea, but the prices still did not change much.

"I heard that the Royal Merchant Fleet now has to travel several times a year to the Persian Gulf, almost monopolizing the trade of spices to the Central Plains. I don't know how much I made." The first mate said enviously.
Chapter completed!