My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 329 Missing People
"beat!"

Following Zhang Zhong's order, two strong soldiers swung their whips and slapped the bound Dashi businessman fiercely.

"Ah~, my lord, please forgive me, I won't dare again!"

The food merchant begged for mercy loudly in blunt Chinese, but Zhang Zhong ignored him, and still let his men whip thirty lashes.

"What a dare, you dare to set up a mezzanine in the cabin, hide the goods in order to evade taxes, this time I will give you thirty lashes as a punishment, if there is another time, all the goods will be confiscated!"

Zhang Zhong finally gave a cold snort, and glanced at the crowd of onlookers when he spoke. Many of them were businessmen, and these people were also terrified when they faced Zhang Zhong's gaze.

This is the port of Belori. The last time Zhu Gaoxu came here, quelled the rebellion in Belori and occupied it. He felt that the name of Belori was too awkward, so he simply renamed it Lion City.

Zhang Zhong and his merchant ships from Ming Dynasty also started to use Lion Harbor as a base to trade with maritime merchants from all over the world, thus earning huge profits.

In addition to managing the fleet, Zhang Zhong also helped Zhu Gaoxu manage Lion Harbor. For example, merchants from various countries have to pay taxes when they come to the port. These merchants can be said to do everything in order to evade taxes. For this reason, Zhang Zhong also issued various laws and regulations to severely punish these merchants who dare to evade taxes.

After whipping the businessmen who evaded tax, Zhang Zhong inspected the port again, mainly to supervise the officials under him to see if they had accepted bribes. After all, the port is currently short of manpower, which leads to many loopholes to exploit.

After walking around the port, Zhang Zhong returned to the government office behind the port and dealt with the official business at hand.

This voyage to the Western Seas brought a large amount of goods. They sold a batch in Nanyang before, but bought a lot of goods. In addition to the original goods, they had to be sold in the Western Seas.

Relying on Lion Harbor alone, it may take a long time to sell these goods, and the price difference will be earned by other sea merchants. Therefore, Zhang Zhong has decided to organize a fleet in the next two days to go to further ports and sell the goods directly. This way, the profits will be greater.

As for Lion Harbor, besides the lack of people, other rules and regulations have been formulated. As long as people are replenished, there should be no major problems. Of course, it can barely operate now.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu and Yang Shiqi suddenly came in from the outside.

"See Your Majesty!"

Zhang Zhong immediately stood up and saluted.

"No need to be too polite, how are the preparations for the ship going?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked directly.

His armor seemed to have just come back from practice.

"My lord, the dispatch of the ship has also been completed, and you can leave at any time!"

Zhang Zhong replied immediately.

During this period of time, Zhu Gaoxu was resting and preparing to go north to attack Tianzhu. Among them, Yang Shiqi was in charge of the dispatch of money and grain, he and Zhang Xing were in charge of the drill and command of the army, and Zhang Zhonglai was in charge of the dispatch of the ships.

"Very well, after ten days, the army will go north, and the ships will not have any problems!"

Zhu Gaoxu clapped his hands excitedly.

With his temperament, he had long wanted to lead the army northward and directly enter Tianzhu, but Yang Shiqi kept persuading him to calm down and make full preparations, so he waited patiently for so long, and now everything is finally ready, just waiting for the troops to be dispatched.

Zhu Gaoxu left excitedly, Yang Shiqi did not leave, but stayed to chat with Zhang Zhong.

"Yang Changshi, this time going north to Tianzhu, how sure do you think we can gain a firm foothold in Tianzhu?"

Zhang Zhong poured Yang Shiqi a cup of tea before asking.

"Recently, I have been collecting all kinds of information on Northern Tianzhu. Although I dare not say that I am [-]% sure, there are still [-]% to [-]%."

When Yang Shiqi said this, he suddenly said with emotion.

"Speaking of this, I have to mention the prince. He really knows Tianzhu too well. At first I didn't believe that the situation in Tianzhu would be so strange, but after frequent investigations, I discovered that the situation in Tianzhu is actually even more peculiar than what the prince described."

Through collecting information, Yang Shiqi has a deep understanding of all aspects of Tianzhu, and the more he understands, the more surprised he is, especially for the religion of Tianzhu, which divides people into four classes and can rule so stably, which is beyond his imagination.

"Zhan He does know a lot."

Zhang Zhong smiled slightly, took a sip of tea, and then said again.

"If the prince can gain a firm foothold in Tianzhu this time, it will be much easier in the future. With the situation of Tianzhu being torn apart, as long as a few powerful forces in the north are eliminated, the rest will be nothing to worry about."

"Yes, the only problem now is our lack of manpower, which will also be a big problem for future governance."

Yang Shiqi nodded first, then sighed.

Zhu Di gave Zhu Gaoxu 3 people, but this time he could only transport 5000. Adding Zhu Gaoxu's 5000 personal guards and the army stationed in the Lion Kingdom, there were only [-] people, plus [-] cochin servants, a total of [-] people.

However, an army of 5000 people is enough for Zhu Gaoxu. After all, there is no strong country in North Tianzhu. An army of 5000 people can completely conquer the entire North Tianzhu.

But the problem now is that there is a shortage of administrative officials. Yang Shiqi is responsible for the logistics scheduling and needs various officials to manage. After the territory is conquered in the future, officials will also need to take over.

When he first came here, Zhu Gaoxu brought a lot of officials from the palace, and there were also some scholars who took refuge in Zhu Gaoxu. Most of these scholars did not go well in their official careers, and they couldn't even pass the imperial examination, so they simply took the risk to follow Zhu Gaoxu to the sea.

But even so, Yang Shiqi still has not enough people under his command. Although he is talented, it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. He can't do everything alone.

"Lack of people is indeed a big problem. Now the port officials are in short supply, and I have to undertake a lot of official duties."

Zhang Zhong also complained at this time.

"I have an idea, but I don't know if you are willing, Mr. Zhang?"

Unexpectedly, Yang Shiqi suddenly asked with a sly smile.

"Yang Changshi, what can you do?"

Zhang Zhong was taken aback when he heard the words, the lack of people is a big problem, but people can't be conjured out of thin air, right?

"This trip to the West, most of the stewards sent by the nobles are smart and capable. Many of them can write and count. You said that if we let them serve as officials, wouldn't our problem of shortage of manpower be solved?"

Yang Shiqi suggested with a chuckle.

"This... How is this possible? If the stewards of each family become officials, how will the fleet go back?"

Zhang Zhong was stunned in shock when he heard the words, he never dreamed that Yang Shiqi would hit the manager of each family with his idea.

(End of this chapter)