Faced with the question, Zhang Yu's answer was a little weak. First of all, he admitted that the development potential of this stronghold was not good. There was no large plain around it, which was not conducive to farming. If you want to advance east, you had to cross mountains and ridges. As for what was on the east side of the mountain, I don't know yet.

When it comes to trade, there is no object of trade. Even if we have a good relationship with the surrounding tribes in the future, with the life of these tribes, which is almost like eating raw meat and drinking blood, there will probably be no valuable things to be used for business.

As for minerals or specialties, nothing can be explored without at least ten years of exploration.

Maybe it can explore gold, silver and copper ores with abundant minerals like the Luzhou area, but maybe there is nothing. No matter what the result is, this stronghold will inevitably be in a loss state in the short term.

So, what is the point of maintaining such a stronghold?

In order to immigrate to Liaodong, the court abandoned the power of the emperor to promote and mobilize, and finally achieved decent results. This is still the old place of the Han Dynasty, only three or four days away from Hebei.

For the New World, more than 20,000 miles away, you have to take a boat on the sea for more than two months to arrive. After arriving, there is no fertile land to immigrants. Who is willing to go?

It’s better to go to Liaodong.

Not to mention immigration, even officials, soldiers and even merchants may not be willing to go to that ghost place to drink the northwest wind. You should know that although Australia, thousands of miles away in the south, is a place of exile, at least it has crocodile skin and kangaroo skin to make money, while what resources and output can be profitable in the New World 20,000 miles away?

Zhang Yu talked about the problems he faced, and then changed the topic and talked about the importance of the stronghold.

This stronghold is of course meaningful, because it is the first place where the Central Plains sea ships advanced east along the Black Tide and arrived at the New World after sailing on the vast sea for several months.

The tired fleet must have a safe place to replenish and rest, and also allow the crew to rest ashore and repair the ships at the same time.

Zhang Yu believes that even if the trade, mining and military farming value of this stronghold is very low and cannot even accommodate many immigrants, it is an indispensable transit and supply port for maritime routes.

The Central Plains fleet must have a reliable port in the New World in order to effectively explore this mysterious place that may be recorded in the "Shan Hai Jing".

After hearing this, the Secretary Ling Wang asked: "The Classic of Mountains and Seas? Could it be the "Dongshan Jing" in it... Are you talking about the extreme east, maybe the area mentioned in the "Dongshan Jing"?"

After Zhang Yu bowed, he said, "The officials are just speculating and have no real evidence, but this possibility is not ruled out."

When others heard this, they found things more and more interesting. "Shan Hai Jing" is an ancient book, which describes mountains, rivers, birds, beasts, and strange flowers and plants in various places, which makes people feel incredible when they see it.

If we take the Central Plains and surrounding areas as references, the records of many mountains, rivers and rivers in the "Shan Hai Jing" are simply like bull heads that are not right, but if we look farther, it will be different.

For example, if the "Dongshan Jing" in "Shan Hai Jing" is used as a reference, and the eastern part of the Central Plains is a land of Qingqi, how is the mountains, rivers and terrain recorded in "Dongshan Jing"?

However, if the location of "Dongshan" is placed in the "New World" that has just been discovered, it would be different.

Not to mention whether the indigenous people in the extreme east are survivors of the Shang Dynasty, if that place is really what the "Dongshan Jing" says, does it mean that there were talented people and strange people there in ancient times, and do rare birds, beasts, and strange flowers and plants contained in the book exist?

Will the legendary immortal medicine and fairyland be in this vast new world?

Everyone's curiosity was aroused by Zhang Yu's answer, and Wang asked again: "So, who will bear the relevant expenses of exploring the New World? The court cannot spend a lot of money and money on exploring the desolate land thousands of miles away."

Zhang Yu replied: "The officials think that Beiyang Trading Company should be responsible."

“No need.”

Yuwen Wen suddenly spoke, and the three senior officials present quickly corrected their posture and made a tilt-eye listening gesture.

After getting two "supports", Yuwen Wen started a topic: "Beiyang Trading Company is a trading company specializing in maritime trade, not a company that spends money on adventure games. It is unreasonable to let shareholders' money invest in exploration that cannot see the future."

"But I am very interested in the extreme east region and really want to see what it looks like on the other side of the mountains."

"I want to know whether there are any Shang countries established by the remnants of the Shang Dynasty, whether there are strange flowers, plants, rare birds and beasts, or elixirs of immortality."

Yuwen Wen asked Zhang Yu to "recite the lines" in the past few days and let the king be the "support" to set the matter of continuing to explore the new world and set a tone so as not to discuss the government and the opposition.

His previous wishful thinking was that Zhang Yu came back with peppers, corn, and potatoes, and then he wanted to use public opinion tools, such as launching the story of "exploration teams and iron-blooded battles of aliens", which would blow the New World into the sky and nothing on the earth, so as to convince the officials of the Political Affairs Hall to support the layout of the New World.

But Zhang Yu came back empty-handedly, and the "script" had to be changed.

Yuwen Wen continued: "The court does not need to allocate money and grain, nor does it need to invest in Beiyang Trading Company. I will pay out of my own pocket to support the expedition team and explore the new world!"

Even the "elixir of immortality" was said. The senior officials here could not hear the emperor's meaning. Since ancient times, emperors have used all the methods to seek immortality. Now if this person really wants the elixir of immortality, who would have come forward to advise him?

"Of course, the family's financial resources may not last for a few years." Yuwen Wen set a tone first and then began to reason, so that everyone would think that he advocated exploring the new world in order to seek immortality.

"So, what I mean is to decide to entrust Beiyang Trading Company to handle this matter, it is best to set up a semicolon or company to raise funds, raise personnel, and conduct long-term exploration of the extreme east region."

"If you find strange flowers, plants, rare birds and animals, as well as mineral resources, and development rights, they are all owned by this semicolon or the company!"

"In other words, the court's finances do not need to bear the expense of exploring the new world. In the near future, it only needs to send personnel to diplomacy with possible states and countries in the new world. As for whether there will be troops in the future, the need to set up prefectures and counties depends on the situation."

Yuwen Wen said this, and the meaning was already very obvious:

Take the exploration of the New World as a bet, organize private people to make a big gamble, and if they get the bet (the New World has high-value resources or plants, animals), the investors will make a fortune.

If you lose the bet, you are willing to accept the loss, even he is no exception.

It was confirmed that the emperor did not need the court to bear the expenses of exploring the new continent, but paid out of his own pocket. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but then their minds became active.

In theory, the money spent by the emperor is also the money of the people, but when today's sons are different, they have great means of making money. They do not rely on tribute or monopoly or monopoly, but only rely on normal operations, and have reached the point where they are "rich can rival a country."

Although no one outside knows how much treasury (royal private property) is, "knowledgeable people" can draw a rough conclusion: the emperor is already the world's largest rich man by relying on managing industries.

Then, the other party will not have much money and have nowhere to spend it, so just throw it to the New World in the Far East?

So, what exactly is there in the New World that deserves the Emperor's persistence?

Is it an elixir of immortality? Or... a new way to make money?

For the three high-ranking officials, being able to sit here has already gotten rid of the pattern of profit-seeking and bribery, and they are in love with the world, so they don’t think about having a way out of money and want to get a share of their own pie.

Many people think that if you explore and develop a new continent, will the court invest in it as an "investor"?

Use part of the fiscal revenue to invest, "money makes money". As long as you ensure that you don't lose money, you will be paid dividends every year, which is better than issuing treasury bonds, and there is no need to increase taxes, which will not cause public grudges.

For the priests, it is always better to have less financial pressure.

Looking at the calm emperor, everyone's doubts became increasingly big: the emperor is famous for being good at business (doing business). I think he would not do business at a loss, so...

What is the significance of exploring or even developing a new continent?
Chapter completed!