As the weather warmed up, after a dry maritime merchant went south, Xu Xinsu also began to get busy nervously. The first is to resettle the clansmen and fellow villagers brought from their hometown in Zhangzhou to the cotton textile industry in the capital, so that they can start anew in the north.

In the past, they were only responsible for organizing and concentrating inland goods into the port of Yue, and then handing them over to the sea convoys to be trafficked to the East and West Oceans. When Li Dan, Yan Siqi and other maritime tycoons were still there, the organization of cargo sources, maritime transportation, and overseas sales originally had their own duties, and most of the maritime merchants along the entire Fujian coast belonged to a part of this maritime trade kingdom.

No one has the strength and courage to resist the maritime order established by the two maritime tycoons. But when these two people died in a short period of time, Xu Xinsu and others, who had always been responsible for organizing the supply of goods, suddenly saw an opportunity, they believed that this maritime kingdom should be inherited and managed by them, after all, without the goods they provided, whether it was a fleet of sea transportation or a port merchant who sold overseas, they would fall into the dilemma of having no rice to cook.

Although Li Dan's son Li Guozhu inherited his father's industry in Japan, most of the fleet of this maritime kingdom has been taken over by Zheng Zhilong and others, so he has actually lost the capital to compete for the dominance of this maritime trade kingdom, so he has taken a silent approach to the opinions of Xu Xinsu and others.

But Zheng Zhilong and others, who controlled the strongest part of this maritime kingdom, obviously did not agree with Xu Xinsu and the others' statement, and they responded with force, wanting to jam Xu Xinsu and others in their necks on the source of goods.

At Chongzhen's suggestion, Xu Xinsu had to move to the north with his cronies and clansmen. Although with the support of the emperor, Xu Xinsu was given the opportunity to establish a sea trade route from Tianjin to Japan. But after all, the north is not as good as Fujian, backed by Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang, Guangzhou, adjacent to Fujian, can easily form a large number of sources of disaster, after all, in his surroundings are either raw material production areas or manufacturing centers.

However, after moving to the north, it was different, and before the first year of Chongzhen, most of the daily necessities consumed in the Gyeonggi area came from the south, and there were almost no goods that could be produced in the north. As a result, ships heading north of the Grand Canal are often loaded with sunk, but ships heading south are brisk, because there is basically no northern cargo to transport.

After the first year, many new industries have sprung up in the Gyeonggi area, and it seems to be very profitable. For example, cement, glassware, leather goods, canned fish, iron and steel products, coal, cotton cloth, etc.

But these new industries are not too small to meet the needs of the north, such as cement and canned fish and iron and steel. Otherwise, it is not suitable for too bumpy sea transportation, such as glassware. Otherwise, the value is too low and it is not cost-effective to ship abroad.

Therefore, in the end, only the cotton textile industry, which can be exported in large quantities and is not worried about not being able to sell, is left. Shandong's cotton planting industry was originally the most outstanding area in the Ming Dynasty, as long as some cotton planting area was expanded, it could provide enough cotton textile raw materials.

In addition, this year, the imperial court is preparing to promote the cotton planting industry in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, so it is good news for the booming cotton textile industry.

The cotton textile technology in East Asia can be compared with the Ming Dynasty, that is, North Korea, and the people of other regions have obviously not entered the circle to which the cotton textile technology has been spread. However, both Japan and the Ryukyus have already begun to grow cotton.

As the weather gets colder every year, the demand for warm clothing in Northeast Asia has naturally increased a lot compared to before. Compared with fur, which is warm but not gorgeous and comfortable, the finest silk and cotton cloth produced in China have naturally become goods in short supply in various countries.

The silk industry has always been dominated by the south, and although there is a small amount of raw silk in Shanxi and Shandong, it is not enough to compete with the silk industry in the south of the Yangtze River. The Gyeonggi standard cloth developed by Gyeonggi can already compete with the Songjiang standard cloth.

Although the cloth produced in Gyeonggi is still inferior to that of the south in terms of fine cloth weaving, the price and thickness of Gyeonggi standard cloth are not inferior to Songjiang cloth at all.

For the residents of the northern region, the cloth produced in Gyeonggi is enough to make them feel interested in buying. There is a limit to how much food a person can eat and how much water he can drink, but when it comes to dressing up his clothes, there is almost no real limit to what he can do.

Xu Xinsu, who was driven away from his hometown in Fujian once, not only accepted Chongzhen's opinion, but also made the cotton cloth produced in Gyeonggi the main product for export. He also planned to change his old style and invest his own money in the cotton textile industry, so as to integrate himself more closely with the northern gentry, so as to prevent him from being hated by these northern gentry in the future.

After all, the cotton textile industry in Gyeonggi now not only has the investment of the Inner Government and the nobles and the Gyeonggi gentry, but more importantly, this industry will unite the landlords and gentry in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to form a class of cotton planters, and such a class will inevitably be close to the factory owners who control the cotton textile industry.

Only by settling the affairs of the capital can Xu Xinsu go to Jeju Island without worries and expand the sphere of influence of the East China Sea Patrol Office in the East China Sea. After all, Chongzhen's trust is their greatest capital, and without the industry of the capital, they, the southern maritime merchants, would not be able to truly gain the recognition of the local gentry.

However, when he was busy instructing his people to do things, a servant suddenly ran into his study in a hurry, and in a panic, not only did he not knock on the door, but also hit the door frame fiercely, and the loud noise immediately attracted the attention of the people in the room, including Xu Xinsu.

Without waiting for Xu Xinsu to scold, the servant who grinned but didn't dare to shout hurriedly reported in a somewhat translucent voice: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has arrived, and the housekeeper asks the head of the house to go out to meet you quickly." ”

Xu Xinsu's scolding, which was already on his lips, suddenly turned into a series of commands, and he himself quickly got up and walked towards the door.

When Xu Xinsu hurriedly walked to the second gate, he happened to see his housekeeper following Chongzhen and waiting carefully. He walked forward quickly, and then bowed down to Chongzhen, and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty is greeted by Xu Xinsu..."

Zhu Youzhen interrupted his salute and said, "Don't salute, the ground is still wet." Arise, I will come to meet you and talk to you about the cooperation between you and the Prime Minister's Yamen. ”

Xu Xinsu carefully accompanied Chongzhen to his study, and someone brought hot tea and snacks. At this time, he had some time to think about what the emperor had just said.

He knew that the newly established Prime Minister's Yamen had brought the overseas vassal states and the overseas inspection and town guard offices under unified management. However, Feng Quan, a scholar who mastered the Prime Minister's Yamen, was about a good hand at writing poems and essays, and let him manage overseas affairs, Xu Xinsu actually didn't think so. Once the ships went to sea, the constraints imposed on them by the Prime Minister's yamen were almost non-existent.

He was thinking about what other affairs the Prime Minister Yamen had that he needed to cooperate with in addition to customs affairs, but he heard the emperor say lightly: "Where is the English girl you adopted?" Bring it out so I can get to know it. ”

Xu Xinsu suddenly raised his head and looked at Wang Chengen beside Chongzhen, wanting to know if Chongzhen's request was arranged by him. But Wang Chengen stood behind Chongzhen with his head bowed with his hands bowed, and did not give him any hint at all.

Wang Chengen's posture made Xu Xinsu chuckle in his heart, but he still reacted quickly and agreed to the emperor, and then instructed his housekeeper to bring his adopted daughter to the study to meet His Majesty.

Zhu Youzhen carefully looked at the woman standing in front of him, in addition to the color of her hair and the contour of her face, the former British girl Ida has completely turned into a Chinese lady with an elegant temperament.

"I heard that Mr. André once asked you if you would like to return to England, but you refused, can you tell me why?" When Zhu Youzhen's unscrupulous gaze made Ida feel that her ears were a little hot, she heard a question that surprised her.

Ida thought for a while, and then calmly replied: "Although Mr. Andre is a gentleman, I also want to go to England to meet my father's family. But I was worried that my father's family would not recognize and accept me.

And as far as I know from Mr. Andrei, my father's hometown was not a relatively wealthy place, and the people there were not tolerant of a single woman living alone.

In addition, I was a Buddhist believer in Japan, and I heard that the British were very discriminatory against even Catholic Christians, and I was worried that my faith would be attacked when I returned to the UK. I don't want to give up my faith just because I can go back to England.

So after much consideration, I rejected Mr. Andrew's suggestion. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at her and was silent for a while before he spoke: "If I appoint you to England, would you be willing to accept this request?" ”

Ida looked up at the young man in front of her with some surprise, she didn't understand why the other party would make such a strange request, but she still bowed respectfully and replied: "If it is His Majesty's order, the little girl is willing to accept it." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at her and thought for a while before saying, "Don't worry too much, I just want to use your eyes to observe the entire British society." You know, for the British, the emissary I sent was, after all, a foreigner, and it was difficult for them to reveal their true nature in front of foreigners.

But if you were different, the orphan of an overseas compatriot, the adopted daughter of a Chinese nobleman, and the infatuation of the Chinese emperor, I am sure that the ladies of the British high society would be happy to associate with you.

And you can think of it as a rare long trip, and I think when you return to Daming, it should be difficult to have such a long trip again. ”

Ada's eyes suddenly widened, and she asked in surprise, "Is Your Majesty infatuated with me?" But I didn't feel it at all. ”

Looking at Ida, who didn't pay attention to the point at all, Zhu Youzhen could only smile and say, "You can make them think so, even if someone asks me for proof, I will help you testify." ”