Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 520 First Arrival in Ryukyu
Fan Ning quickly accepted the reality. If Cheng Qing really has talent, but is only restricted because he came from a merchant family, then it is not impossible to support him.

He said to Lin Junsheng again: "This mansion is too old. I want to tear it down and rebuild it, and build a garden-style house centered on the mountains and lakes. In addition, the wasteland to the north of the mansion is also my land. I plan to pave it. Make a large grassland, the kind that you can ride horses on, and then build a private dock in Jinjiang, Lin Yuanwai will see if the construction can start as soon as possible and be completed as soon as possible.”

Lin Junsheng said: "There is no problem in building the mansion. I promise to build a beautiful and comfortable mansion for the envoy, and it only takes two months. But the key is that the envoy will go to the Ryukyu Mansion the day after tomorrow. How to confirm the blueprint? Wait until the envoy returns from the Ryukyu Mansion, this problem must be resolved before the envoy leaves, so there will be no delay in the construction period."

"Then, is there any other way for Lin Yuan?"

"There is a way."

Lin Junsheng thought for a while and said: "We have repaired a lot of mansions over the years, all of which have lakes in the middle, or I will take ready-made drawings for the envoy to choose. If I can find ready-made ones, then I will modify them a little, and there is no need to redraw them. .”

This method is good, and it saves a lot of time by using the blueprints of houses built by others for reference.

"Will the demolition of the old house affect the mountains and the lake?" Fan Ning asked again.

Lin Junsheng smiled slightly, "We have experience with this. First build a high wall to separate the hill from the lake. After the new mansion is completed, the high wall will be demolished, and then the scenery of the mountain and lake will be carefully decorated to ensure that there will be no problems. .”

"How much will that cost?"

"To be simple, three or four thousand guan is enough. If you want to build it better, you need at least five or six thousand guan, but if you want to build it extremely exquisitely and beautifully, you need at least tens of thousands of guan. Your money is only charged for materials and wages, and you have to pay for the repair of the wharf. If it is to build a sea-ship wharf, it cannot be repaired without five or six thousand yuan."

Fan Ning nodded, "Then I will prepare [-] yuan to build the mansion. As for the dock, Master Lin will calculate it as being able to dock two [-]-stone sea-going ships at the same time."

"I understand. Tomorrow morning, I will bring the blueprints to the envoy to choose. I will try to finish the mansion within two months. The wharf will be faster, and it will be completed within one month. I will pay after the envoy is satisfied."

"Then leave it to Member Lin!"

This time Fan Ning went to Ryukyu Mansion for inspection, and he happened to follow the supply fleet. Fifty thousand-shi ships were parked in Quanzhou Bay, loaded with [-] shi of grain, meat and various daily necessities, and headed for Ryukyu Mansion.

Zhang Ying, the county magistrate of Ryukyu who was on board, sighed and said to Fan Ning: "This time, the Ryukyu Mansion will be replenished with 20 guan, and it will be replenished twice a year. This has been the case since the establishment of the Ryukyu Mansion. No wonder the court has complained, saying that we are a huge burden on the court. , we don't want to either!"

"If you don't want to be a burden to the court, you have to rely on yourself. What is Zhang Zhixian's idea?"

"Actually, our three Ryukyu magistrates all had a common idea. Following the example of Kunzhou, the first thing is to provide food, followed by road construction, and then the development of carp silver mines. If these three things can be implemented, the Ryukyu government will not need to continue blood transfusions from the court." , especially the conditions for growing grain in Ryukyu Prefecture are much better than those in Kunzhou, and they can grow crops three times a year. It’s a pity that these advantages have not been developed.”

Fan Ning frowned, "I remember that the Ryukyu Prefecture has already developed a silver mine? It appeared at the same time as the Kunzhou Gold Mine."

Zhang Ying sighed and said, "The silver mine that the envoy mentioned is the carp silver mine. It is located fifteen miles southwest of Liuqiu County. The quality is very good, but the mining had to be stopped after less than two years."

"why?"

"Safety!"

Zhang Ying pointedly said: "The local natives promised to attack the miners at night and killed 18 people. The remaining hundreds of miners had to withdraw to the county town and wait for the army to exterminate the natives, but there was no result after waiting. Di Qing wrote many times The imperial court asked the imperial court to approve the army to suppress the bandits, but the Privy Council did not approve it."

Speaking of this, Zhang Ying complained a little: "In my opinion, Di Shijun is still too conservative. In the Song Dynasty, other state capitals suppressed bandits, and no one asked the court for instructions, so they sent troops to attack directly. Why can't Liuqiu government take the initiative? Attack?"

Fan Ning shook his head and said, "I really can't blame Di Shuai for this matter. Quanzhou's army is all navy and belongs to the forbidden army. Any movement of the forbidden army must be consulted with the Privy Council. And the suppression of bandits in various places mainly uses the township soldiers and the Xiang army. Freer."

"Then there is no hope!"

Zhang Ying said with a look of despair: "The imperial court forbids us to use troops, so we can only dawdle and do nothing!"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Since the imperial court does not allow the Imperial Army to move troops at will, why can I bring two thousand troops to the Ryukyu Mansion this time?"

Zhang Ying was startled for a moment, but then he was overjoyed, "Has your lord been approved by the imperial court?"

Fan Ning nodded with a smile, "I have full authority to mobilize the navy in Quanzhou. If I'm lucky this time, I plan to attack the aboriginals and severely attack their arrogance."

Zhang Ying was so excited that tears were about to flow down his face. They had been looking forward to this day for so many years, and finally it came.

Fan Ning cast his eyes on the blue sea, and asked again: "I heard that there is a group of pirates near the big island of Ryukyu. Is it true?"

Zhang Ying nodded, "There is indeed a group of pirates with a dozen small boats and 40 to [-] people, but they are not on the big island of Ryukyu, but in the area around the small island of Ryukyu. This pirate group has existed for a year, but it is very mysterious. The cargo ship, but no one was injured, some people suspect."

"Suspect what?" Fanning asked warily.

Zhang Ying hesitated for a long time and said: "My subordinates only heard that some people suspected that the pirates were soldiers from the Song Army stationed on the small island of Ryukyu pretending to be pirates for profit."

"impossible!"

Fan Ning was extremely shocked. Song Jun pretended to be a pirate. This kind of thing is unimaginable.

"I think it's possible. After the imperial court contracted and expanded overseas, the number of troops escorting merchant ships was significantly reduced. Many scattered merchant ships went north without any escorts at all. This is a good opportunity to make money. It's normal for someone in the army to be tempted."

Fan Ning's complexion became very ugly. If this incident was as Zhang Ying said, it would be too bad in nature. He must investigate to the end and punish him severely. Otherwise, once this momentum spreads in the army, it will have a negative impact on his overseas expansion. The plan will be a very heavy blow.

The fleet finally arrived at Ryukyu Island. Ryukyu Island is naturally today’s Taiwan. It was called Ryukyu in the Song Dynasty. As early as the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan sent troops to patrol Ryukyu. In the Song Dynasty, many fishermen still settled in the Penghu Islands. Here It is not under the jurisdiction of the government, does not need to pay taxes, and has rich products, so there are many people who have settled on the Penghu Islands.

However, since Fan Ning mentioned managing the Ryukyu Islands during the imperial examination interview more than ten years ago, the good times for the residents of the Penghu Islands have come to an end. After several years of efforts to build the city, the first county seat, Liuqiu County, appeared, and the court immediately established Liuqiu Prefecture, which governed Liuqiu County and Penghu County. The prefect of Ryukyu is generally served by overseas economic and strategic envoys, so Zhang Ying, the county magistrate, is Fan Ning’s real official. inferior.

Penghu County is very small, with only about 500 households, almost all of whom are military families. There are [-] troops in the garrison, led by a commander.

There are ships in Penghu County for supplies, so the fleet did not detour to Penghu County, but arrived in Liuqiu County in a straight line.

Ryukyu County is located in the northernmost part of the big island, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side, which is today's Keelung Port area. The county seat is about [-] miles away from the port. At the beginning, the county seat was not built close to the seaside, mainly because it was convenient to reclaim farmland and mine the south. Liyushan Silver Mine.

The weather is fine these days, and the roads are not muddy. The arrival of the supply fleet is a major festival for the soldiers and civilians of Ryukyu County. Three thousand troops and more than seven thousand civilians all ran to the beach to meet the supply ships.

There are 1 households in Liuqiu County, with over [-] people in their early years. Now nearly [-]% of the people have come here.

The fleet did not hesitate, and immediately began to dock to unload the goods. Soldiers and young and strong people worked as coolies one after another, loaded the food and supplies into carts, and dragged them to the county town.

More than a dozen garrison generals, county magistrates, county lieutenants and others stepped forward to welcome the arrival of the new economic envoy.

The soldiers set up a temporary big tent on the shore, and Fan Ning invited all the generals into the big tent to meet.

The commander of the capital is Zhou Mi, a native of Fuzhou, 37 or [-] years old, with dark skin, a loud voice, and very forthright. He introduced Fan Ning's subordinates one by one, and he said frankly: "The thing we most hope for is Fan Shijun. Being able to get the right to send troops has made us suffocated to death all these years!"

Fan Ning nodded with a smile, "I have obtained everything you most desire!"

As soon as this sentence came out, there was a burst of cheers in the big tent, and then the entire pier became a sea of ​​jubilation. They had been looking forward to it for many years, and finally they could send troops.

(End of this chapter)