"Why does Your Majesty want to recruit pirates?"

Zhang Dun asked with a confused look on his face.

This matter is not serious, but it is too strange. After all, as the emperor, Ning Fu actually ordered the Imperial City Department to recruit pirates, which is really confusing.

"Mr. Zhang misunderstood. I asked the Imperial City Division not to recruit pirates, but to recruit talents with rich navigation experience. There is no requirement for family background. Even if they have committed crimes before, as long as they are willing to pay for their crimes and serve, I can pardon their crimes as appropriate."

Ning Fu explained patiently.

He really didn't deliberately ask for pirates to be recruited from below, but most of the people who met the conditions and were willing to take risks were pirates, but Ning Fu didn't mind their origins, as long as they could help him with things.

"What does Your Majesty want these people to do? Are they preparing to send troops from the sea to surprise the Jin Kingdom's rear?"

Zhang Dun asked again in confusion.

But even if we send troops from the sea, there is no need for these pirates. After all, the Zhou Dynasty already has a navy. Although it is not sophisticated, it is at least much stronger than the Jin and Liao countries.

"I definitely won't need these people in the war, but I need them to go out to sea to find something. The risks are very high. It just so happens that many of these people are desperadoes. As long as I give them enough money, they are willing to do anything."

Ning Fu explained again.

"There is something worthy of your majesty's search overseas. Don't I, Zhou, have it?"

Zhang Dun still couldn't figure it out.

As a traditional Confucian scholar, in Zhang Dun's view, the Central Plains is extremely wealthy and has countless rare treasures. You can find all kinds of things, so why do you need to go overseas to look for them?

"Well... I heard that there is a place overseas that has high-yielding food crops, so I plan to send people to look for it. Although there is little hope, it is still worth a try."

Ning Fu roughly explained.

He has long been thinking about high-yielding crops in America, but he didn't have the chance before. Now that he has become emperor, this matter is immediately put on the agenda.

Of course, Ning Fu didn't dare to go into too much detail. After all, he couldn't tell Zhang Dun that America had potatoes and sweet potatoes that could produce thousands of kilograms of potatoes per mu, or corn that could produce thousands of kilograms of corn per mu.

If he really dared to say that, Zhang Dun would definitely think that Ning Fu was ill. After all, this output was too fantastic for the ancients, and no one would believe it.

"So that's it, His Majesty is really interested!"

Zhang Dun praised him, but he still had some doubts in his heart.

Because Zhang Dun could feel that Ning Fu was not telling the truth, he suspected that Ning Fu had another purpose in sending people to sea. However, he could not ask further questions, so he could only vaguely pass by.

A month later, two small sea-going ships set sail from Dengzhou Port. They first went north to the Japanese country. After replenishing supplies there, they followed a directional ocean current to the Americas.

That afternoon, Ning Fu was handling the government affairs at hand in Chui Gong Hall as usual.

During this period, he and Zhang Dun focused mainly on domestic reforms. Zhang Dun wanted to implement the method of enriching the country and strengthening the army, while Ning Fu needed to strengthen local control, so the two had the same goals for the time being.

Of course, these things are very complicated, so Ning Fu has been very busy recently. Although the newly selected concubine has entered the palace, he really has no time to pay attention to it.

But at this moment, someone suddenly came quickly to report that Ma Yuan had something urgent to see.

"Call him in!"

When Ning Fu heard this, he immediately put down the memorial in his hand. Ma Yuan was his eyes and ears, so as long as he came to see him, there must be something very important.

Soon I saw Ma Yuan walking in quickly with a piece of intelligence. When he saw Ning Fu, he immediately reported: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from Liao!"

Upon hearing that it was an urgent report from the Liao Kingdom, Ning Fu immediately had the information brought up, and then opened it to read it himself. When he saw the content above, he also showed a surprised expression.

The situation in Liao Kingdom has changed a lot, and Ning Fu also saw a familiar name in this intelligence. If this person had not been mentioned in the intelligence, he would have almost forgotten his existence.

Previously, the Jin army annexed the territory of the Bohai people, successfully captured Tokyo of the Liao Kingdom, and used strategies to defeat the Liao army, and took the opportunity to seize the eight states.

After annexing such a huge population and land, Ning Fu originally thought that the Jin Kingdom would take a break. He had also taken advantage of this time to send troops to annex the Liang Kingdom in one fell swoop.

At that time, the Liao Kingdom and the Jin Kingdom were in a confrontation, and they had no energy to pay attention to Ning Fu's actions.

But I didn't expect that the situation between Liao and Jin would be broken so quickly. The key figure was Li Qianshun, the original leader of the Xixia Kingdom.

Li Qianshun originally defected to the Liao State, hoping to rely on the strength of the Liao State to revive the country and regain the territory occupied by the Liang State.

Unexpectedly, Liang Yibu and his son, with the support of the Song Dynasty, defeated the Liao army many times, and finally the Liao State had to recognize the existence of the Liang State.

In this case, Li Qianshun lost its original use value.

In the end, the Liao Kingdom did the trick and married one of their eldest daughters to Li Qianshun, and took away the military power from Li Qianshun, squeezing out the last bit of Xixia's military strength.

As a result, Li Qianshun completely became a useless person.

But Li Qianshun was a great leader in the history of Xixia. Such a person would definitely not be willing to be a puppet.

It happened that the Jin Kingdom was rising and the Liao Kingdom was weak, which also gave Li Qianshun an opportunity.

After Li Qianshun lost power, he was placed in Shangjing by the Liao Kingdom. The Jin Kingdom had previously sent troops to attack Shangjing. Although there was no actual attack, it frightened the people of Shangjing.

Li Qianshun also seized this opportunity very keenly. He saw the momentum of the rise of the Jin Kingdom and knew that his only chance to get rid of the control of the Liao people was to hug the Jin people's lap.

So Li Qianshun secretly sent someone to contact the Jin Kingdom and expressed his willingness to act as an internal response. As long as the Jin Kingdom sent troops to attack Shangjing, he could send people to open the city gate to welcome the Jin army to enter the city.

The Kingdom of Jin was not aware of Li Qianshun's situation, and the title of the leader of the Xixia Kingdom was quite deceptive, so the Kingdom of Jin quickly responded that as long as Li Qianshun could open the city gate, they would be willing to reward Li Qianshun afterwards.

So after Li Qianshun received the promise from the Kingdom of Jin, he immediately took action.

The army that was annexed by Xixia before was also stationed in Shangjing City at this time. Although the number was not large, it was still a considerable force.

Li Qianshun contacted his old subordinates privately and told them that the Liao Kingdom was over and the Jin Kingdom was the future. He also let them know that he and the Jin Kingdom were already connected.

I have to say that Li Qianshun is still very powerful. Despite being deceived by both parties, he quickly convinced his original subordinates and took control of part of the army.
Chapter completed!