No one will be surprised if anything new happened in Luoyang City, because everyone has already agreed that Luoyang is different from other places. As a transportation hub city, there are countless people from outsiders coming in Luoyang every day. Sometimes, what they saw last time was different from what they saw this time. There are always some minor changes waiting for them to adapt.

At first, people felt it was inconvenient and always complained that the locals in Luoyang still explained it. But later, with the benefits brought by these changes, Luoyang became better and better, and Luoyang people became arrogant and stopped explaining, just waiting for you to adapt.

Others don’t think there is anything, but Li Mu understands it in his heart.

In his previous life, an old man drew a circle along the coast. The people in that circle also went through this process.

Reform must have pilot projects. This pilot project is actually for trial and error. However, Li Mu has a vision beyond the previous year. He knew that how to go is right, so there was no trial and error process. The results obtained were positive, which naturally deepened the people's confidence.

Li Mu likes this sense of self-confidence, so he chose to acquiesce to this change.

...

The focus of Li Mu's work is still on shipbuilding.

The main parts of the Wandan ship have been made. However, a new problem was encountered. The Xiao family sent someone to inspect the river channel and found that there were some sections of the river channel, with too high silt. Ordinary ships naturally had no obstacles, but the Wandan ship had a deep draft and there might be blockage.

Although it is not 100% happening, if you have this possibility, you cannot afford to take this risk. Draining the river is a big project. Even if you organize people to do it now, it will be at least a year's project, and Li Mu cannot afford to delay this time.

Therefore, we can only choose the second solution, transport the already-made parts out in batches, choose another harbor, and then assemble them.

After careful study, Li Mu found that this matter was wrong. Compared to assembly in Luoyang and assembly in the harbor, there are many benefits.

There is no need to worry about the draft depth of the harbor. When Zheng He went to the West, he set out from the harbor. Moreover, the size of the Wandan ship was not for the purpose of transporting the river, and the river could not use such a large ship.

In addition, Li Mu has always overlooked one thing. That is, he underestimated the current shipping of the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, the Tang Dynasty had maritime trade and it was always very prosperous. It was just that the court did not pay enough attention to this, and the people were willing to make a fortune in silence, so it was little known.

Li Mu remembered this incident, so he found the Qiuyankee and learned more about it. As the owner of the 36 islands in the South China Sea, Qiuyankee has no idea about the trade at sea.

In fact, there has always been sea transportation in the Central Plains. As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a legend that Xu Fu took away three thousand boys and women from the east. Although the legend has the elements of fabrication, it at least shows that sea transportation had existed as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the load capacity of ships was quite large.

The exact records that can be found can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms period. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei, Shu and Wu divided the world into three parts. The west and north of Wu were blocked by the two countries of Wei and Shu, and they were forced to choose to develop maritime trade.

For example, the Wu Kingdom sent a fleet to first develop Yizhou (Taiwan) and established a stronghold to continue to move south. Then, the General Secretary Kang Tai and Zhu Ying led the sea fleet to Southeast Asia and the southern part of the South China Sea. After the fleet returned, they also wrote a record of the picture, "Biography of Foreign Nations in Wu" and "Creation of Funan Foreign Objects". These two books are collected in Li Tai's Literature Museum.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the development of the sea was also good. Ikkyu told Li Mu that the Kingdom of Japan had a golden seal given by the King of Wei, which indicated that as early as the Three Kingdoms period, Japan had a connection with the Central Plains, and this also showed another problem. That is, during the Three Kingdoms period, small foreign countries actually used the Kingdom of Wei as the main point.

The Central Plains then entered a split, and the court gradually lost control of shipping, and shipping was in the hands of local families and aristocratic families. This is why, although the Central Plains have been fighting for years, the aristocratic families are still as stable as Mount Tai. They obtained the materials they needed through shipping, and made countless money in silence.

Li Mu repeatedly took action against aristocratic families, and they were able to retreat instead of jumping over the wall. This is also related to this. No matter what, as long as Li Mu's hand does not reach the sea, they will have a way out.

After Li Mu learned about this news, he was furious. These grandchildren actually fooled me, would you really think I was a fool? If you don’t want me to touch it, I have to give it a try.

Immediately, Li Mu learned in detail about the current situation of the Tang Dynasty's various seaports and the Tang Dynasty's foreign trade, now there are two major ports.

First, Guangzhou Port is bordered by the South China Sea and is known as Yin Rong. Guangzhou Port is a natural port with superior water and land transportation conditions and is adjacent to the South China Sea countries. Most of the Chinese and foreign ships traveling between the East and West Asia use Guangzhou Port as the starting and ending point. What shocked Li Mu was that according to the Qiuyan Guest, the commerce of Guangzhou Port can actually lead to Africa. Kunlun Slaves came in this route. Li Mu always thought that Kunlun Slaves were from the South China Sea, but he did not expect to have arrived in Africa.

Although the bearded guest had never been there, his men had been there with the ship. The route was generally like this. Departing from Guangzhou, the Vietnamese sea islands went southeast, along the east coast of the Indian Peninsula in the South China Sea, across the Gulf of Siam, along the Malay Peninsula, south to the southeast of Sumatra, and to Java Island. Then go west from the Strait of Malacca, through the Nicobar Island, cross the Bay of Bengal to Shiziguo (Sri Lanka), then follow the west coast of the Indian Peninsula, cross the Arabian Sea, pass the Strait of Hormuz to near Abadan, head to the Persian Gulf, then follow the Euphrates River to Basra, and then travel thousands of miles northwest to the Arab capital Baghdad. From the Persian Gulf, then exit the Strait of Hormuz and then sail west along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, then travel west through Bahrain, Oman, Yemen to the Mande Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, and south to all parts of the East Africa coast.

According to the bearded guest, it takes three months to depart from Guangzhou to Basra, and half a year to travel. You only need to go out a year to make a fortune. The ivory, rhinoceros horn pearls, gems, coral, glass, frankincense, ambergris and other spices are abundant on the shore of the ship. These things are everywhere in the local area. You only need a bowl or a piece of cloth to exchange for a lot of them. These things are transported back to China, but they are all good things equivalent to gold.

Another big port is Yangzhou. Yangzhou is located at the estuary of the Yangtze River and connects to the Grand Canal. It is the convergence point of southeastern transportation and the place where the Yangtze River materials are gathered. It has a unique geographical location. Goguryeo, Silla, and Japan all use this as their destination port, which is considered the first commercial port inland.

The commerce here is very developed because it is not only a place for material transportation and raw material distribution market, but also many skilled craftsmen process raw materials into commodities on the spot. The silk weaving industry here is very developed. Most of the silk sold to the sea pass through this place. Porcelain in Yuezhou, Hongzhou and other places also uses Yangzhou as a trading market. Guangzhou's goods are also transported by water. If the attribute of Guangzhou Port is an import and export port, then Yangzhou is a trading port.

Both ports have supporting shipbuilding industries. The scale is not small, but the ships they built are not as big as Wandan, but there are many Thousand Dan ships. Li Mu checked the information of the two ports and made a little changes in shipbuilding. Both ports can actually meet the needs, but compared with the two ports, the most suitable port is Yangzhou. One is that the distance is appropriate, and the other is that Luoyang and Yangzhou are connected to Tongji Canal, which makes material transfer very convenient.

Li Mu immediately wrote a memorial to Li Shimin, requesting the requisition of Yangzhou Port. Li Shimin's decree was still on the way, and Li Mu's ship was already down the Tongji Canal and was almost at Xuzhou.

...

On board.

"Husband, it's time to rest." Jin Chen brought Li Mu some snacks and reminded him softly. But she also knew that reminding was useless. Li Mu would not go to bed obediently. In the past few days, he has slept very late every day, holding the superstition sent by the Jinyiwei, and didn't know what he was studying.

Sure enough, Li Mutou didn't raise his head and said, "You and Yingluo go to bed first, I'll talk about it later."

Jin Chen pouted and said, "Where will you sleep tonight, husband?"

Hearing this sentence, Li Mu's face became more and more charming. He glanced at Jin Chen, leaned close to her ear, and whispered: "Sleeping there."

Jin Chen pursed his lips shyly and turned around and went out. After a while, Wei Yingluo came in with a stack of files and placed them on Li Mu's desk, saying, "All have been sorted out, the information of the Jiangnan gentry." In recent days, Li Mu has used various means to collect information about the Yangzhou "local snake". Now all the information is summarized here.

"Let me re-read it." Li Mu took the information and started to read it from the beginning.

There are twelve families in Jiangnan who can be mentioned now, namely the four surnames of Kuaiji, the four surnames of Wuzhong, and the four surnames left by the south.

The four surnames in Wuzhong, Gu Lu, Zhu Zhang, Kuaiji, Kong Xie, and Kong Xie, and the Wang family of Langya, Chen Jun Xie, Yuan, and Lanling Xiao family, totaling twelve prominent families.

The aristocratic families in Jiangnan are different from those of the Five Clans and Qiwang. The aristocratic families in Jiangnan are relatively more restrained. Many aristocratic families do not want to regard themselves as family members. Unlike the inner ambitions of the Five Clans and Qiwang, the aristocratic families in Jiangnan are far from the political center and rarely have ambitions that want to seize the world. Of course, this is also related to their strength.

The gentry in Jiangnan had money, but in terms of force, they did not have the ability to seize the world. The only outstanding one was the Lanling Xiao family, but when the Tang Dynasty drove the army south, it almost did not cause much difficulty and was dealt with by Li Xiaogong.

However, the strength of the Jiangnan gentry cannot be denied by the weakness of force. The overall economic size of the twelve prominent families in Jiangnan is not below the five surnames and seven hopes. If the ocean trade is included, it will be even higher than that of the five surnames and seven hopes, which were severely affected by Li Mu.

These twelve prominent families have more or less involved in shipping. However, not all aristocratic families need to worry about Li Mu. He draws and paints, and in the end there are only four families left, which requires him to take some thought.

These four families are the Gu family of Wujun, Zhu family of Wujun, Yu family of Kuaiji, and Wang family of Langya. In fact, there is a fifth family of Lanling Xiao family, but now the Xiao family of Lanling is tied to Li Mu on a boat, so there is no need to bother.

The Gu family in Wujun was a native gentry in Jiangnan and a descendant of Goujian, the king of Yue. The thirteenth generation grandson of Goujian served as the leader of the Minyue tribe, helped Liu Bang defeat Xiang Yu and was awarded the title of King of Donghai. His son was named Gu Yuhou, and since then he grew up. The true rise of the Gu family can be traced back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and joined forces with the Wang family of Langya to assist Sima Rui to the throne and was highly valued. During the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, it was affected very little. With a strong economic foundation, it still belonged to the superior circle among the geniuses in Jiangnan.

The Zhu family of Wujun was the most prominent family that Li Mu wanted to win over. The Zhu family of Wujun was a family of military generals, especially good at water wars. During the Three Kingdoms period, it was with the help of Zhu family that Sun Jian was able to pacify Jiangdong and lay the foundation for the situation of three divisions of the world. The most important thing was that the Zhu family mastered the waterway map. At that time, it was Zhu Ying, a ancestor of the Zhu family, who was ordered to open up alleys. The "Funan Foreign Objects Record" was written by Zhu Ying.

The Yu family of Kuaiji was not exposed or exposed. However, no matter how the Jiangnan changed its ownership or how the dynasties changed, the Yu family was an important minister in the court. The current Minister of Rites Yu Shinan was born in the Yu family of Kuaiji.

The Wang family of Langya was the world's number one clan before they moved south in the late Western Jin Dynasty. After they moved south, they supported Sima Rui to the peak. At that time, it was rumored that the king and the horse shared the world. However, with the destruction of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the strength of the Wang family of Langya was repeatedly weakened, but after all, the lean camel was larger than the horse, and its strength should not be underestimated.

If there is no problem with these four leaders, there will be basically no problem. Li Mu made some plans in his mind and had a scheming in his mind.

...

Li Mu is studying the prominent family in Jiangnan, and the prominent family in Jiangnan is also studying him. Gu Yuan, the head of the Gu clan of Wujun, and Gu Sizhi's mansion. Today, there are many guests, but the guests present are not very good. They all frown, as if they are infinitely melancholy. No one has moved the wine and food on the table, as if they are poisoned inside.

Today, Gu Sizhi was the host and invited prominent families in Jiangnan to gather together. The Xiao family also received an invitation, but the Xiao family did not send anyone. This action invisibly expressed its position.

"Li Mu has arrived in Xuzhou and will arrive soon. What should we do? Do you have any insights?" Seeing that everyone was not speaking, Gu Sizhi, as the convener, had to speak out first.

"Experience?" The speaker sneered. It was Wang Rui, the eldest son of the Wang family of Langya, and said, "You don't know who Li Mu is. Unless you make up your mind and take action to get rid of him together, who can stop him what he wants to do?"
Chapter completed!