Become a feudal king from today

"Your Highness!" Yang He came in from outside the door and bowed to Zhao Xu.

Different from the usual smile, Yang He had a slight sadness on his face.

When Zhao Xu saw it, he shook his head helplessly.

The powerful clans have become self-reliant, and naturally they will no longer allow merchants in the country to communicate with Yanzhou as before.

Therefore, during this period of time, the business house had a backlog of goods.

Furthermore, as steam engines are put into various industries, Yanzhou's production capacity is about to enter an explosive period.

Although the Black Shark pirates opened up the Korean market, the Korean market was too small.

It can only be used as a backup tire when Yanzhou's trade is in dire straits, and cannot absorb a large amount of Yanzhou's goods.

Once the goods cannot be sold, various workshops must stop working.

In this way, the trading house can only pay monthly money to the craftsmen in the workshop every day, but it cannot obtain profits from the workshop.

If things go on like this, the commercial banks will continue to suffer losses, and Yanzhou's industry will inevitably be hit.

"Your Highness, you have to think of a way. The workshop is not making money and has to lose money. This is a big trouble. If this continues, how can we provide salaries to officials and soldiers?" Yang He said.

He was in charge of Yanzhou's trade and workshop. Seeing the workshop withering away day by day was more uncomfortable than killing him.

Hearing this, Liu Fu sighed, "It's just that the royal family doesn't have the final say on Da Song now. I'm afraid His Highness can't do anything about it."

During this time, he was also worried about this matter.

After all, this is no longer the company's own problem, but will affect the entire Yanzhou's treasury income, which is of great concern.

Yang He did not speak, but looked at Zhao Xu quietly, like a resentful woman.

The false plague caused severe damage to Yanzhou.

Now that powerful families are independent, they have a greater impact on commerce.

King Yan once said that he would make up for the loss of trade. At that time, he absolutely believed King Yan.

But now it seems that King Yan also stumbles.

He certainly didn't expect that when Beidi was defeated and the situation was good, Dasong would suddenly fall apart.

"Ahem..." Faced with Yang He's resentful eyes, Zhao Xu's face turned slightly hot.

He really didn't expect that Princess Chun would stir up troubles in Jinling and cause Dasong to split, which would make Yanzhou's business even worse.

If it hadn't been for the strong accumulation in the treasury in recent years, Yanzhou would have been doomed after the Battle of Ningjin.

But everything always comes to nothing, and he really should think of a way.

In fact, he had been thinking about it during this time and had preliminary ideas.

The solution to this problem was the smallpox plague he mentioned originally.

If Dasong hadn't fallen apart, his plan at that time was to take the vaccine and sell it to the powerful people for a big price.

However, judging from the current situation, it is obviously not cost-effective to sell it at a fixed price. It is better to use it to blackmail powerful people.

So he said to Liu Fu: "What do you think if I use smallpox to scare the powerful tribes and threaten them not to obstruct the trade between merchants in the country and Yanzhou?"

Yang He and Liu Fu looked at each other, their eyes bright, and the corners of their mouths also raised.

Yang He said: "Your Highness, this is really a good idea, just scare them like this."

Liu Fu nodded slightly, they knew that King Yan would not do the evil thing of spreading smallpox.

After all, the wealthy and powerful families will have more ways to save their lives by then, and the people who will die the most will be the people of Dasong.

But the powerful people could not grasp the character of King Yan. In their eyes, King Yan was extremely evil.

Maybe smallpox could really be used to intimidate powerful people and force them to open up to trade.

"You can definitely give it a try!" Liu Fu gave a thumbs up.

At the moment, there is no way that is more effective than this.

After all, facing King Yan's troops, they still had soldiers and cities to resist, but smallpox was impossible to guard against.

Especially malicious communication is impossible to prevent.

Zhao Xu nodded, feeling happy.

He is simply tantamount to mastering weapons of mass destruction.

Although he can use it without it, it can intimidate the enemy.

This is just like nuclear weapons. The country that first developed nuclear weapons often used nuclear blackmail against other countries in exchange for benefits.

If he can succeed in blackmail this time, Yanzhou's business will be restored.

In other words, even if you fight to the death, business can still continue as usual.

At the same time, he decided to move out of the ceiling, and there was another layer of consideration.

Russians, Japanese, and in the future there will be Britons, Francons, and Sterdams arriving in Dasong.

There was no telling if any of them would know how to vaccinate against cowpox.

He can use it now but don't use it. When they give the solution to smallpox to the powerful people, his smallpox blackmail will be meaningless.

Therefore, he wanted to carry out his blackmail before the method of preventing smallpox was spread to Dasong.

As for how long this blackmail can last, it depends on luck, but naturally the longer the better.

Even if it doesn't last long, it can at least allow Yanzhou to sell the backlog of goods first.

However, according to his memory, cowpox vaccination did not appear until the beginning of the nineteenth century in contemporary times.

In the early days, it was only carried out on a small scale in the country, and then slowly spread to other countries.

Therefore, at this time, it is not so easy to meet a Western native in the East who knows how to vaccinate against cowpox.

After all, this is also the high-end technology of this era.

After discussing the matter, Zhao Xu asked Liu Fu to select officials from Honglu Temple first.

In Dasong, Honglu Temple is the official responsible for diplomacy, equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He would ask these officials to go to Jinling, Nanliang and Wu of Qi to negotiate the matter.

Two days later, the seven officials set off from Yancheng to their respective destinations.

The first official arrived at Lucheng, the capital of Qi State.

At this time, Han Zheng, who had ascended the throne as emperor, was playing chess with Sato Mahisa in the palace.

He was very surprised to learn that a Yancheng official had arrived.

"King Yan sent officials to Lucheng. Aren't you afraid that I would kill them?"

Then he asked, "What is he here for?"

The eunuch in charge of the announcement took two steps forward and said something to Han Zheng.

The chess piece in Han Zheng's hand suddenly fell from his hand onto the chessboard with a "pop" sound.

"Despicable, despicable!" Han Zheng shouted angrily.

Sato Zhenjiu looked puzzled. He had never seen Han Zheng lose his temper so much, so he asked: "What's wrong?"

Han Zheng then told Sato Zhenjiu what King Yan had threatened him.

Sato Mahisa's expression also changed, and Japan had no way to resist smallpox.

On this issue, he could not provide help to the Han family.

Han Zheng noticed Sato Majiu's expression, his heart sank, and he sat down dejectedly.

Sato Mahisa was still a little unbelievable. He asked: "Could it be that King Yan really mastered the method of resisting smallpox and no longer has to be afraid of smallpox?"

Han Zheng nodded solemnly, "There will be no lies. King Yan's victory over Beidi is proof. This time, I'm afraid we have to make a heavy decision."