Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 573
On the second day, Cao Xiu met the famous elf of the Fan family, Fan Zhen'er, who had just recovered from his illness, and couldn't lie down. Introduced a group of squirrel brothers, a few sika deer heroes, the hedgehog brother did not know where to hide and was not found, but he still saw Zhu Zhe living in his own world.

It is Fan Zhen'er's elves and cuteness that greatly help Cao Xiu, making her quickly adapt and integrate into this family.

At the same time, Fan Ning was accompanying his new father-in-law, Cao Yi. Let’s not mention the father-in-law in Japan. It’s not the same world. Among the three father-in-laws in Song Dynasty, he didn’t like Zhu Xiaoyun very much. adapt.

Ouyang Xiu made him a little afraid and a little ashamed. When in contact with Ouyang Xiu, he always talked about big things, which made it hard for people to relax. He could not see him as much as possible.

But the third father-in-law, Cao Yi, he likes very much. Cao Guojiu, one of the Eight Immortals, is full of romanticism in his bones. Other families go to sea with him to find a rich island, but he is not. He wants to go overseas to find immortals. .

On the third day after marriage, Fan Ning accompanied Cao Yi to the Cao's firm. Cao Ping, a son of the Cao family, was in charge of the Cao's firm in Quanzhou. He was also the first son of the Cao family and had a very important status in the Cao family. beautiful wedding.

The reason why the Cao family sent their son-in-law to the Quanzhou Commercial Bank is because the commercial bank's mission is extremely important, and it actually shoulders the important task of the Cao family's overseas development.

Of course, Cao’s firm also does overseas trade. Their business is mainly divided into two parts. One is the spice trade. The diptero incense from the Luzon Prefecture and the sandalwood from the Boni Kingdom are transported by the Cao family to the Song Dynasty in large quantities. The second is overseas mining. , Cao’s family owns an iron mine and a copper mine in Luzon Province, employing 700 Japanese laborers to mine the mines, and another 240 Song craftsmen to be in charge of smelting. Last year, they produced [-] million catties of high-quality pig iron, crude [-] million catties of copper ingots.

Another important task of Cao's firm is to find a suitable island, which is actually the task of Cao Ping.

Fan Ning has become the son-in-law of the Cao family, and Cao Ping did not evade, but reported to Cao Bi the results of their search for the island in the past few years in front of Fan Ning.

Cao Ping hung up a map, and Fan Ning recognized it at a glance. It was a map of Luzon Island. The focus of Cao Ping's investigations in the past few years was on Luzon Island.

"According to the family's idea, we have focused on islands with an area similar to that of Ryukyu Prefecture in recent years. We have found four eligible islands, all of which are in the south of Luzon Prefecture. Frankly speaking, these four islands are not ideal. There are too many plains and too few plains. Although it is covered by forests, it has little development value and is far behind Luzon Island.”

Cao Ping hung up a map of the four islands again, the drawing was very inaccurate, and Fan Ning couldn't see where they were?But he recognized one of the islands, the long and narrow Palawan.

Fanning asked, "How many families want to buy the island?"

Cao Wei thought for a while and said, "As far as we know, there are currently 33 families who want to buy an island, but their requirements vary. Most families only want to buy a medium-sized island like Danzhou or Xiaoliuqiu, and only a few families want to buy an island. If you want to buy Big Island, there should be no more than five."

Fanning understood that most families only wanted a medium-sized island of a few thousand square kilometers.

Although Luzon Island is recognized by everyone as the best island, it is too big after all, [-] square kilometers, which is equivalent to the area of ​​a province in later generations.

Kunzhou is only slightly smaller than Luzon Island. Although many families are eager to acquire such a large area of ​​land, considering the political risks involved, everyone unanimously chose to keep a low profile.

"A-Ning, you are very familiar with the Luzon Mansion, please evaluate these four islands!" Cao Yi said to Fan Ning.

This is also Cao Yi's main purpose for bringing Fan Ning to the Cao's Firm. Since they are all a family, Fan Ning should frankly propose to the Cao family and come up with a more valuable plan.

Fan Ning smiled and said: "The last time I was in the capital, I recommended Timor Island to Cao Shi. The area of ​​Timor Island is only slightly smaller than the Ryukyu Mansion, which is very in line with the Cao family's requirements."

Cao Ping shook his head and said, "Brother Fan mentioned Timor Island. We have never been to Timor Island. It is too far away. Our initial consideration is to choose an island among the islands of Luzon Prefecture."

"If I were me, I wouldn't choose the islands of Luzon Prefecture. In fact, no matter Luzon Prefecture or other Nanyang regions, it is too hot. I would rather choose a slightly colder place like Kunzhou."

Cao Yi suddenly remembered that the queen mother had hinted to herself that the Fan family would also buy an island, so where would the Fan family want to buy an island?
Thinking of this, he commented to Cao without hesitation: "Give up choosing an island near Luzon Mansion, and then consider elsewhere!"

Cao Ping was stunned. It took them three years to go to Luzon five times, staying for two or three months each time, eliminating islands one by one, and finally found four more suitable islands, but now they were flatly rejected. , without even looking at it, and making a decision like that.

Cao Ping was extremely wronged, but he couldn't compete with Cao Yi. Cao Yi was his elder, and his status in the family was much higher than him.

He even hated Fan Ning a little bit. The proposal of Timor Island cost him several years of painstaking effort.

At this time, Fan Ning also saw Cao Ping's dissatisfaction, and he smiled lightly: "There is no need to rush this matter, first approve the application, and then slowly search for the island."

Cao Yi also realized that he was impatient, so he stopped mentioning the matter of buying the island, and said with a smile: "We really can't be in a hurry, let's talk about it later! Let's go and see the fleet first."

The two left the firm and went to the harbor in a carriage. In the carriage, Fan Ning said bluntly: "My lord father-in-law, I can help the Cao family, but I don't want this to cause conflicts within the Cao family. I hope my father-in-law can agree with the owner of the Cao family." Good communication."

Cao Yu sighed, "This matter is really difficult to handle. Cao Ping is currently the person in charge of the Cao family who is in charge of overseas affairs. Although I am his elder, I will go to sea next year for more personal purposes. The final decision is still in the In Cao Ping’s hands, the Cao family really can’t have internal conflicts over an overseas island, it’s really inappropriate for me to make a hasty decision just now.”

Fan Ning pondered for a while and said, "Let him see other islands, maybe his mind will change."

"Perhaps! The matter can only be discussed in the long run."

Fan Ning asked again: "Has any family applied to buy the island?"

"It should be. I heard that there are about ten families in the first batch, but they are strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to the public. The Cao family has already applied. Aning, your Fan family should also submit it!"

Fan Ning didn't want to hide Cao Yi on this matter, he nodded, "I should be the first to submit, and the island I submitted has already been decided."

Cao Yi was very interested immediately, and asked quickly, "Where is the island?"

"It's very far away, even farther than the southern mainland. Its area is about the same as that of Luzon Island. It is said that it is a place where gods live."

Cao Yu chuckled, "Since there are gods, I can't help but go see them."

The island that Fan Ning was interested in was the North Island of New Zealand. Fan Ning originally wanted the Zhu family to get the South Island, but the Zhu family's conditions were insufficient, so the Zhu family could only be attached to the Fan family.

Now Fan Ning has a new idea, let the Cao family get the South Island, relying on the strong military background of the Cao family, the development of the North Island will also be very convenient in the future, and now Fan Cao is married, let the Cao family get the South Island , which is more in line with the interests of the Fan family.

There is a fleet of official ships that just returned from Luzon Island parked on the pier, all of them are Wanshi blessing boats. This kind of blessing boat is also a kind of paddle boat. It is a real long paddle boat. There are a row of windows on both sides of the big boat. , each window sticks out a large oar several feet long, and each oar requires 24 people to row. A fleet of 380 Fuchuan ships requires more than [-] oarsmen alone, which really consumes a lot of manpower.

The official fleet is unloading the rice from Luzon, which is more than [-] shi. The Quanzhou Port wharf has piled up like a hill, and the dock workers are sending the rice to the warehouse with a wheelbarrow.

"Since this fleet does not need wind power, why not send the grain directly to Yangzhou, but put it in the Quanzhou warehouse?" Cao Yi asked puzzled.

"This is a distant sea fleet. It's too uneconomical to use them to transport in the near sea. There are offshore fleets. They will go north after the spring of next year, and this fleet will soon transport supplies to Luzon."

Cao Yu's eyes lit up, "Then I will follow them to Luzon Mansion. I happened to take a good look at Luzon Mansion in the past few months. When you go to the south of Hainan, just pick me up in Luzon Mansion."

"This"

Fan Ning was a little confused. My father-in-law said that the wind is like the rain, and he can leave when he wants, not that he agreed to go to sea together in February next year.

"Father-in-law, why don't you go back and discuss it with Xiu'er?"

Cao Yi waved his hand, "There's no need to discuss it with her, it's my business, so it's decided, I'll go to Luzon Mansion with this fleet."

(End of this chapter)