After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

It took two whole years to gather a hundred ships.

The day when "hundreds of ships set sail to empty the Japanese mines" is just around the corner.

In fact, the fleet also went to sea several times during this period, and expanded its territory in several small countries such as Japan, opening many shops.

The silk, porcelain, spices and other products of the Great Zhou Dynasty were exported overseas.

Jiang Xiaoqi completed her coming-of-age ceremony last year and somehow convinced her grandfather to stop pressuring her to get married.

As he was single, Jiang Xiaoqi was always the "diamond bachelor" that everyone in Beijing was interested in.

The young noblewomen, who were only sixteen or seventeen years old, couldn't wait any longer and got married one after another, because youth waits for no one.

Noble ladies in the capital city grow up in batches, and the list of outstanding young women is constantly being updated.

As the saying goes, "No one is eighteen forever, but there will always be someone who is eighteen."

However, in ancient times, an eighteen-year-old was considered an "old maid".

"二八年华" refers to a sixteen-year-old girl.

In later generations, she would be in junior high school, but in ancient times, she would already be getting married or even becoming a mother.

Over the years, Lin Feng has trained dozens of outstanding captains and thousands of crew members.

These people will all participate in the first voyage of a hundred ships, with the destination of Japan, of course, and the purpose of mining the silver mines and transporting them all back to the Great Zhou.

"Captain Lin, everything is ready and we can depart at any time."

"Very well, do Lord Qiu and Lord Jiang have any instructions?"

"Both of you wrote you a letter. Lord Qiu is probably representing His Majesty, while Lord Jiang's letter is likely about business matters."

"Well, let's go!"

One hundred captains led their crews in an orderly fashion and set sail once again toward Japan.

Japan is now completely under the control of the Great Zhou, and soldiers of the Great Zhou are stationed on the island of Japan year-round.

The soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty took over the military territory of the Japanese islands, and all the local armed forces on the islands were dismantled.

Japan currently does not have its own army; the security of the island is maintained by the troops of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This was a joint decision by Jiang Xiaoqi and Emperor Zhao Hongchang: Japan could not be allowed to have its own army.

Since it is a vassal state, it should act like one.

If any other country invades, the Great Zhou will send troops.

A hundred ships set sail simultaneously, in a magnificent procession.

Colorful flags are fluttering, indicating that the ships are using flag signals. This set of flag signals was developed by Lin Feng and Jiang Xiaoqi together.

This perfectly solved the problem of poor communication between ships.

At this time, the lead ship was using flag signals to communicate the situation in the waters ahead to the ships behind, which effectively avoided unforeseen dangers.

Flag signal: "All is well ahead, full speed ahead!"

"All is normal, full speed ahead!"

After the Zhenhai fleet set sail, the officials in the imperial court were restless for a while.

It's not for any other reason than that they are among the hundred ships.

They knew that the purpose of this voyage was to bring back all the silver mines.

When the ships return to port, that will be the day they receive their dividends.

People die for wealth, birds die for food; accepting bribes is risking your life to enjoy riches.

This is different from going to sea on a ship; this is legitimate income that can be made public.

It's reasonable and legal, and most importantly, I can spend it without worrying about it.

Most importantly, this money came so easily.

With just a small investment, you could potentially recoup several times your initial investment in the future. Such a business opportunity is incredibly rare!

In other words, they held relatively high official positions and could speak to the emperor.

In particular, they are decisive and quick-witted.

Those officials who didn't get involved are now kicking themselves for it.

However, there may still be opportunities in the future.

Although Japan's silver mines have been exhausted this time, aren't there many other profitable businesses at sea?

The Great Zhou Dynasty had many skilled craftsmen and abundant resources, offering a wide variety of businesses to conduct.

Just as the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty revered various spices, people outside the Great Zhou were also fascinated by its porcelain and silk.

The people of Da Zhou would spend a lot of money to buy pepper and other things, and they could also sell their good products to neighboring countries at high prices.

In the past, carriages and horses were slow and lacked carrying capacity, but now with ocean-going ships, more goods can be sold to farther places.

Many people who missed out on investing in the first batch of shipbuilding projects had this idea in mind. Even if they didn't get to eat the meat, they could still have some soup.

The key is whether their emperor will grant them the opportunity to drink the soup.

The biggest owner of the ships was still His Majesty himself, since the funds pooled by the court officials only amounted to building about thirty ships.

In other words, out of the hundred ships, more than sixty were solely owned by His Majesty the Emperor.

Although the ministers pooled their money to build more than thirty ships, the ships still belonged to the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This was also the condition agreed upon when everyone pooled their money to invest; the ministers only had the right to use the shares, not the right to own them.

Furthermore, the emperor still had the autonomy to distribute the silver after its mining, and he could decide the distribution ratio as he pleased.

Of course, the premise is that everyone gets their money back and doesn't lose it all.

Subsequent maritime business activities will also be divided according to a certain ratio.

Of course, it's not a lifetime appointment; there's a five-year time limit.

In other words, five years from now, if the ships make money again, it will be none of these people's business.

It must be said that these are all unequal treaties.

However, only those who were willing would take the bait, and the ministers voluntarily parted with all that silver.

Those unequal treaties were also signed voluntarily by the ministers.

After all, there was a supplementary agreement that stipulated that the ministers who signed the agreement would have priority in acquiring shares in business activities five years from now.

What appears to be a harmless supplementary treaty is actually quite tempting to them.

After all, they've already made their fortunes at sea, while a considerable number of people are still just gazing longingly at the ocean.

So is this rule too harsh?

That's still demanding...

However, the initiative is in His Majesty's hands; if they want a share of the pie, they have to compromise.

There's nothing we can do about it; it's just that the allure of the other side of the sea is simply too great.