"Forget it, forget it, I'm too lazy to get involved in things a thousand miles away!"
After opening and closing his mouth a few times, Zong Ying immediately lost interest.
After all, at this time, they were too busy with their own troubles to care about other people's affairs, especially this kind of fighting. For him, a civil official, it was really a bit uninspiring...
"Didn't I just want you to help me consider it? How about we go to the dock together and see what they've brought back this time?"
"That's a good idea. I've only heard that the倭国 (Wōguó) is rich in gold and silver. I've never seen how rich it is with my own eyes. It's a good opportunity to go with you and broaden my horizons!"
"Prepare the carriage, let's go to the dock and have a look!"
"Yes!"
Seeing that Zong Ying had agreed, Han Mo smiled and gave an order. However, by the time the two of them arrived at the dock, the entire dock, from top to bottom, was already under strict guard by naval soldiers.
"My Lord!"
Seeing Han Mo approaching, Li Yueyang immediately smiled and stepped forward.
"Why are you so happy?"
Seeing his excited face, Han Mo gave him a nudge. Although the gold and silver brought back this time was indeed a lot, it seemed to have little to do with him, the local official...
"My Lord, have you forgotten? You set the rules back then. Don't all goods entering and leaving the dock need to pay taxes? There's so much gold and silver in here..."
Li Yueyang said, emphasizing the words "gold and silver."
Reminded by him, Han Mo finally realized that he had indeed been negligent. It seemed that such ships carrying gold and silver would need to be somewhat concealed in the future! The gold mines overseas, the nobles in the imperial court, although they couldn't get their hands on them, the gold you brought back is different! Gold ingots and gold artifacts are two entirely different things!
"Go to the ship later and pick out two boxes you like, and take them back for your wife to make some jewelry! Tell them it's from me!"
After a moment of thought, Han Mo lowered his voice and whispered a few words in Li Yueyang's ear.
"Thank you, my Lord!"
Hearing Han Mo's words, Li Yueyang was overjoyed. The ship was loaded with solid gold! And it was all packed in boxes of two thousand taels each! Han Mo's casual reward was forty thousand taels of gold! Converted to copper coins, it was at least fifty to sixty thousand guan!
"Is all this gold and silver?"
Looking at the mighty fleet, Zong Ying suddenly felt his legs tremble. Seeing the numbers on paper was one thing, but seeing real gold and silver jewelry in front of him was completely different! If it weren't for his usual composure, he might have made a fool of himself today!
"Of course not. Some of them are loaded with copper ingots, as most of the accompanying ores of gold and silver are copper mines!"
Han Mo said as he casually inspected the boxes.
"Hoo—"
"I've always heard that the倭国 (Wōguó) is poor. Today I realized that these damn倭国 (Wōguó) people are begging with a golden bowl..."
After walking from the bow to the stern and inspecting the entire cargo hold, Zong Ying couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"What you said is both right and wrong. Often, things are there, but they don't have the ability to mine them! Also, people like them, who have no regard for their sovereign or parents, are beyond education. If it weren't for the fact that they can mine, I would have let Li Bao and the others slaughter them long ago!"
Since only the two of them were on the ship at the moment, Han Mo spoke without any reservations.
"I'm convinced, I'm completely convinced! Before, seeing you throw large sums of copper coins into the two naval forces, I always thought it was a losing business, and I didn't say much out of respect for you, but now I'm truly convinced..."
Looking at the golden and silvery objects everywhere he looked, Zong Ying's ears couldn't hear what Han Mo was saying at the moment, he just said to himself.
"Alright, let's go. Such fleets will return three or four times a year, and the scale of the teams will grow larger in the future..."
Although Han Mo himself was seeing so much gold for the first time, his composure was much better than Zong Ying's.
"This merchant house has made so much money, what are your plans next?"
After getting off the ship for a long time, Zong Ying finally recovered temporarily.
"What plans? Of course, to spend money! Don't you think this is the time to build ships on a large scale? The Mingzhou and Quanzhou naval forces are, after all, part of the imperial court. How can they always follow merchant ships around?"
Patting Zong Ying on the shoulder, Han Mo smiled and talked about his plan.
"You mean, these merchant ships should also have their own warships?"
Hearing him say this, Zong Ying immediately understood his underlying meaning.
"No, no, no, all ships owned by merchant houses are merchant ships! Only merchant ships can enter the ports of the Great Song!"
Ever since he received the things Han Mo handed him last time, Zong Ying knew he had been roped into a perilous situation. Han Mo's words, at first glance, seemed to have no problem, but if you thought about it carefully, the pit dug in this sentence was not ordinary! Warships, after removing their weapons, wouldn't they become merchant ships? And judging from the drawings of the new warships Han Mo had shown him before, all the weapons on the entire warship were detachable. In case of damage to the ship overseas, they could always find a way to repair it nearby! Of course, if it couldn't be repaired, the weapons on the ship could be transferred to other ships! This process might take a little longer, but as long as they built their own dry dock near the coast, everything would be solved!
"With so much gold and silver, if it's just for building ships, how many ships would that build? Moreover, even if you have so much money, there aren't that many shipbuilders near Mingzhou?"
"If it's just for building ships, it won't take that much. However, weapons have a cost of trial and error! This cost is not a small sum!"