Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1025: Troubles at the Sea
Hearing Zhu Su's question, Abigail smiled awkwardly and said, "This... Hehe, sir, it's not that I don't want to return to my hometown. Although I am a great Venetian merchant, I can't stand the temptation of such fine wine. The wine of the Ming Dynasty is too charming..."

Zhu Su knew at a glance that the man was lying. He winked at his left and right, and Di Meng immediately understood and stepped forward. In Abigail's sad eyes, he snatched the cup of wine from his hand.

"A businessman would use all his wealth to buy alcohol in a foreign country, and then be driven out on the street by a waiter?"

"Abigail, I advise you to think it through. I can treat you to a drink, or I can castrate you and sell you as a slave to the Ming merchants who are about to go out to sea..." Zhu Su said, playing with the wine cup. "Selling you as a slave should be able to pay off the wine money you owe me and Zuixianlou, right?"

Abigail's face had turned pale, and her red rosacea was as red as a clown's. He hesitated for a while, and finally, with his head down, he completely confessed his experience.

It turns out that his family background is not as noble as he pretends. He is indeed a descendant of Marco Polo, but in fact, after Marco Polo's death, the Polo family had already declined.

When the news reached Abigail, he was just a gangster in Venice. He worked as a thug at the docks every day, cleaning decks for others. After earning copper coins, he would go to the taverns in Venice and spend his days drinking.

It was not until Venice defeated Genoa that the wind direction in Europe seemed to begin to change. When the Venetian merchants heard that the Ming Dynasty in the East had completely defeated the Yuan Dynasty and that sea merchants from the Ming Dynasty appeared on the streets of Venice, Abigail, who was drinking every day, finally remembered the travel notes left by her ancestors and was full of admiration for the country in the East where "gold was everywhere."

He borrowed a few silver coins from his friends and used them to board a ship of a Venetian merchant that was heading to the Ming Dynasty. He fantasized that like his ancestors, he could become rich through a journey to the Ming Dynasty and completely change his life situation.

However, an accident occurred before the ship reached Ming Dynasty.

"You mean, your ship encountered pirates?" Zhu Su asked with a serious look.

"Yes, sir." Abigail's face revealed a trace of fear, as if she remembered the night when her ship was ravaged by pirates. "...Oh God, that was a terrible night."

"The pirates holding scimitars used the swinging ropes to jump onto our deck. The scimitars in their hands were stained with blood like the horns of the devil. Poor Captain Lakeb had his stomach pierced right in front of me, and his intestines were all over the floor..."

"I'm not interested in hearing your details," Zhu Su said impatiently. "First, tell me where the ship you were on was attacked?"

"...Yes, it is near Srivijaya." Abigail did not dare to hide it, so she had to tell the truth.

"Srivihara..." Zhu Su muttered the place name. This place was occupied by the bandit Chen Zuyi in the past. It is a sea pass located in the Strait of Malacca and one of the important gateways of the Ming Silk Road. Later, after he, Li Jinglong and Tang He defeated Chen Zuyi, it was incorporated into the sphere of influence of the Ming Navy. There are many merchant strongholds and Ming concessions nearby.

"Since you encountered pirates, how did you escape?" Zhu Su continued to ask.

"...Because Captain Lakeb was killed by the pirates, the sailors surrendered quickly. The pirates took over Captain Lakeb's ship and regarded us as their slaves." Abigail said. His face was pale, as if he had been subjected to a lot of inhuman abuse during this period. "Later, when the pirates landed at their base, I and a few sailors managed to seize a small boat and escape from there. Finally, we were rescued to shore by a kind-hearted Ming Dynasty merchant."

"Do you still remember the location of their stronghold?" Zhu Su asked again.

"Sir, I don't remember." Abigail shook her head and said, "It was a terrible stormy night. We didn't know which direction to go. We just rowed hard to escape from these demons... We rowed very far away before we were rescued by a kind-hearted Ming Dynasty merchant."

Zhu Su suddenly realized that if what he said was true, this drunkard was lucky enough to escape by boat on a stormy night without the boat being overturned by the wind and waves, nor did he get lost in the vast ocean. He even encountered rescue by the Ming Dynasty merchants...

"...Very good, you have taught me a lot of interesting things." Seeing that there was no more information to be extracted from this man, Zhu Su stood up and said, "Marco Polo was also a famous adventurer. As his descendant, you should not be beaten to death in a tavern."

"Go do some business. Yingtianfu is a city with a broad mind. As long as you are willing to work hard, there will always be a way to make a living. Perhaps, you can earn some capital and buy some goods to return to Venice... The things in my Ming Dynasty are exquisite and rare. If you bring anything back to Europe, you can earn dozens or hundreds of times the profit."

"As long as you work hard, you will become a successful maritime merchant." Zhu Su encouraged him.

Abigail's expression turned into panic. She shook her big head like a rattle and said, "No, no, I don't want to be a sea merchant anymore."

"The terrible sea water and pirates...Oh my God, I don't want to have anything to do with them again in my life!"

"My distinguished sir, if you pity Abigail, please give her some wine money... Even if Abigail dies, she will definitely be grateful to God for your great kindness."

Zhu Su heard this and shook his head, saying nothing more. Seeing that he was alone now, the sailors who escaped with him must not have been as lucky as him. It was just fate that this man finally escaped death, but in the end he became afraid of the sea and could only spend the rest of his life drinking in this tavern.

"Brother Xiaoer." Zhu Su called the waiter who was waiting outside the private room and pointed at Abigail and said, "Give him two more cups of good wine, let him drink his fill and then throw him out. I will pay for the wine."

"Sir, you are so kind, how can we let you pay for this person's drinks? We will pay for this person's drinks ourselves." The waiter said, looking up at Zhu Su with admiration. Zhu Su was startled, and saw the old shopkeeper standing outside the door with his head bowed. He knew that his identity was exposed. He didn't care, just smiled and said, "I can't afford to be embarrassed by people who don't pay, so I'll pay for the drinks."

"Shopkeeper, if there are still people who make trouble by buying on credit here, you don't have to fight with them, just report them to the government."

"Live here peacefully, no one will let you suffer any harm."

"Yes, I'll take note of what you said, young master." The shopkeeper said respectfully, and then watched Zhu Su leave the tavern. Zhu Su went to the imperial farm to pick up his wife and children, and returned to the palace in Yingtian Prefecture. He immediately changed into the prince's robes, asked Gou'er to harness the carriage, and said, "Let's go."

"To the Maritime Department."

"Yes." Gou'er didn't ask any more questions, but drove forward silently. The carriage of Prince Zhou's palace soon arrived at the gate of the Maritime Affairs Bureau. Upon learning that Zhu Su had arrived, Yang Shiqi, who was in charge of the Maritime Affairs Bureau, hurriedly came with his subordinates to greet him.

"Student Shiqi welcomes Your Highness!" Yang Shiqi watched Zhu Su get off the carriage, and he and a group of people saluted Zhu Su respectfully.

"You are all appointed officials now, so you don't need to call yourself students, just call yourself ministers." Zhu Su waved his hand. The Maritime Affairs Bureau was a newly established government office in the court, and most of its officials were young people who had studied in the Imperial College in the past. It can be said that they were all students of Zhu Su when he was the chief priest of the Imperial College. Therefore, when facing Zhu Su, most of them did not describe their official titles to show their closeness.

Zhu Su waved his hand and asked them to return to their respective posts, leaving only Yang Shiqi. "Shiqi, there are some things I want to discuss with you. Please take me to your duty room at the Maritime Affairs Department."

"Yes." Yang Shiqi quickly agreed, and then ordered the clerk in the government office: "Quick, go and make a pot of tea for His Highness..."

Zhu Su followed Yang Shiqi to the duty room of the Maritime Affairs Bureau. He took a look and saw that the room was filled with documents and files. The desk was so crowded that there was not even a place to put teacups.

Yang Shiqi smiled at Zhu Su somewhat embarrassedly, turned around and made room on the table, then invited Zhu Su to sit down, and attentively placed the cup of hot tea he had just brewed on the vacated seat, and said to Zhu Su, "Your Highness, please have some tea."

"Hmm." Zhu Su picked up the teacup and drank a sip. He had come to the Maritime Administration with a bit of temper. But now seeing Yang Shiqi on duty like this, the anger in his heart had mostly disappeared. He said to Yang Shiqi, "Shiqi."

"Develop maritime affairs. This is the suggestion I made to my father. Maritime affairs are becoming more and more important to the Ming Dynasty."

"All the ocean-going affairs are entrusted to you, the Maritime Affairs Bureau. It can be said that the burden on your shoulders, Shiqi, is no less than that of the six ministers in the court."

"You must not be lax in overseas affairs. Sometimes a little negligence can become a huge wave for the maritime affairs of the Ming Dynasty in the future... Shiqi, do you understand?"

Yang Shiqi was nervous when he saw Zhu Su's serious tone. He said cautiously, "Your Highness, since I was favored by His Majesty and Your Highness and took charge of the Maritime Affairs Department,

"I have never forgotten your teachings. Every day and every night, I work diligently and never slack off."

"Your Highness, have you discovered any negligence on the part of our Maritime Affairs Department? Please let me know so that I can make up for it immediately to avoid any major mistakes."

Zhu Su looked at Yang Shiqi, and then said to him: "Pirates appeared near Srivijaya. Do you know about this?"

"Srivijya? Pirates? How could it be?" Yang Shiqi seemed very surprised. Srivijaya was a sea pass controlled by the Ming Dynasty and one of the most important nodes on the Maritime Silk Road. The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of effort to eliminate the pirate king Chen Zuyi and expand the strength of the Ming navy to Srivijaya.

If pirates appeared there again, wouldn't it mean that the safety of Ming Dynasty's maritime trade routes was once again threatened?

Every year, the Maritime Silk Road provides the national treasury with a huge tax of more than hundreds of thousands of taels. Many people rely on the maritime trade route to make a living. If it is blocked by pirates, the consequences will be disastrous. After listening to Zhu Su's story about Abigail's experience, Yang Shiqi hurriedly flipped through the files and compared the revenue from the maritime trade over the years. He wondered, "It shouldn't be."

"Your Highness, please see that the flow of trade on the sea route has not changed much in recent years. If there really were pirates blocking the way in Srivijaya, the number of merchant ships traveling to and from the Ming Dynasty should have dropped sharply, just like when they were blocked by Chen Zuyi."

"But now, there is nothing unusual..."

Zhu Su also found it strange. He took the file handed over by Yang Shiqi, read it carefully, and found that it was indeed as Yang Shiqi said. Judging from the accounts, there was not much discrepancy in the number of merchants and merchant ships traveling to and from the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Su thought for a while, and suddenly asked: "Since there is no sharp decrease, is there a trend of increasing the number of merchant ships coming from the West to our Ming Dynasty?"

"…Your Highness, that's not the case." Yang Shiqi flipped through the files again and replied, "The number of merchant ships coming to our Ming Dynasty from the West is no different from that in previous years."

"That's strange." Zhu Su pointed to the figures from earlier years in the file and said, "Since the Ming Dynasty opened up to maritime trade, the number of foreign merchants has increased dramatically every year. In the past few years, even though the Ming Dynasty refused to trade with merchants from Britain and other countries, the number of merchant ships coming from the west has not decreased but increased."

"But in the 18th year of Hongwu, the number of merchants has reached a bottleneck, and is almost the same as this year... This is strange."

"Could it be that the merchants and merchant ships of the Western barbarians are limited and they are unable to send more people to do business in a short period of time?" Yang Shiqi guessed.

"Impossible. As far as I know, some of the Western countries that have been fighting for more than a hundred years have already made peace because they covet the maritime interests. They want to free up their hands to seize the maritime trade interests." Zhu Su then told Yang Shiqi what Abigail said, that Venice and Genoa had already ceased fighting, and that Portugal and other countries had announced the development of maritime power. He then asked Yang Shiqi:
"Your Maritime Affairs Department should be the most far-sighted government office in the Ming Dynasty. The other six ministries need to focus on the country, while your Maritime Affairs Department should be extremely sensitive to overseas affairs."

"Have you not noticed the change in the wind direction of the western countries? Have you noticed that they have all set their sights on the sea?"

(End of this chapter)