"Tamil Tiger, it's just too skinny!" Seeing those captives being sent to the deck by small boats in batches, and then pressed into the bilge after being searched, Hong Tao couldn't help but mutter.

Where is this Zhu Yuan country, that is, the country of pigs? In the southern part of the Indian peninsula, above the island of Sri Lanka, here is the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Because there was an Indian woman like Singh in his previous life, Hong Tao still knows a little about India. The official language of the state is Tamil, which is mostly Tamil and belongs to an ethnic minority in India. In later generations, there was a very famous national independence organization called the Tamil Tigers, and they were Tamils, who lived partly in southern India and partly in northern Sri Lanka. Hong Tao originally thought that they were so strong, but now it seems that they are not as strong as the Indians, not only thin, but also short and dark, it is estimated that the nutrition has not kept up, who knows.

In every ethnic group, there are translator characters such as Maitini and Cixi, and the Tamils are no exception even if they call themselves tigers. When the minister of the king of Malacca said that the interpreter could be spared death, there was still a lot of enthusiasm for the sign-up. The three Tamil interpreters who were singled out were under the watchful eye of the minister, and their first meritorious service was to take Hong Tao's fleet to raid their own settlement in Phuket.

This settlement on the east side of Phuket, nestled on the east side of the island, has been under construction for several years, and it is quite a small Tamil village, and the most surprising thing is that they have not only built a dock, but also a small shipyard, and many trees cut down from the Malay Peninsula are piled up on the shore and have been peeled. Apparently it's been in the shade for a long time.

Most of the young people in the settlements have been caught by the flood in the ports of Malacca and Penang. Now the remaining 200 people are women and children. Hong Tao's fleet saved even grenades. After anchoring in the deep water a few hundred meters from the shore, he directly began to land in a small boat, and under the persuasion of the interpreter, he basically did not encounter decent resistance, and he could just surrender. These women and children made a wise choice, if they did not surrender, Hong Tao would burn down the docks and shipyards, leaving them without supplies and ships on this desert island. can only wait for the local natives to slowly kill them all, or be starved to death.

"Oops...... This stall is getting bigger and bigger, where can I find so many people to garrison! "Seeing that the other three sailing ships filled the cabin with these captives and hoisted their sails to return home, Hong Tao still stayed here with the flagship, and he had to look at the hundred and ten people on the shore, he really couldn't fit it, and he had to be transported twice. But on the one hand, it was overcrowded, and on the other hand, there was an urgent shortage of manpower, and Hong Tao was reluctant to destroy this settlement, if he could turn it into a sub-base of Jinhewan. The conditions are still quite good, but the biggest problem is people, basically reliable people!

"Great place...... Enchanting scenery. There are also rivers, there is no shortage of fresh water, and if you cut down these forests, it will be good fields! Not only did Hong Tao look at this place, but Luo Dacai also lay on the side of the boat and couldn't help sighing.

"There are many good places, but it's a pity that we Song people don't know how to come out and look for more, instead of fighting for land in our hometown, it is better to come here to live a worry-free life. Foreigners are not afraid, they should be even more afraid of us, good days are always fought out, not discussed, what do you say, Secretary Wen? If I talk to these people for two days about the indoctrination of saints, will they give us their homeland? "Hong Tao has fallen into trouble now, and if he doesn't run on Wen Nan and Luo Dacai, he won't speak.

"Without the enlightenment of the saints, how should you govern, there is no Tan family here to help you." Wen Nan is also a cheap bone, he has become a slave, what's the use of still talking about it, but he is not convinced, he has to talk back.

"Oh, is it? Well, I'll grant you this wish, and I'll let you see how I govern this place in the next two days. Hong Tao already had a general idea in his mind, and he still needed to try it if it succeeded.

Three days later, outside the port of Malacca, on the deck of Hong Tao's flagship Guangzhou, there was a circle of people, Hong Tao, as the owner, squatted on two wooden barrels placed side by side, and the others were slightly better, and there was a stool or bed under the buttocks. These were borrowed from the King's Palace in the Port of Malacca, and if the quantity was not enough, they had to be replaced with wooden barrels.

Although the conditions are simple, but the things to talk about are very high-end, Hong Tao plans to set up a joint venture with these Southern Song Dynasty maritime businessmen to set up a strait development management company, and everyone will contribute money and efforts to manage this trade route to the big food country. What to manage? It is to operate the three supply ports of Phuket, Penang and Malacca, including the construction of permanent defensive forts, the stationing of personnel on duty, the provision of supplies and escorts to passing ships, the establishment of exchange prices for some commodities and the policy of unified purchase and collection. To put it bluntly, it is to monopolize all shipping industries in this strait, including both ends of the strait. You can pass from here, but you have to accept taxes! If you are touched by that kind of galleon, and without a receipt from the Straits Development Management Company, it will be regarded as smuggling, and you will be detained as a hat that destroys the balance of commerce and trade and affects world peace, and ships, goods, and people will be seized. Don't resist, the result of rebellion is even worse, the ship, cargo and people are all wiped out, and being able to go to the mine to mine is already the most merciful result.

This is only the first step, and after the company is officially operational, depending on the situation, one or several bazaars will be set up in the strait. The goods on the east side of the strait and the goods on the west side of the strait can be traded directly here, and then everyone takes the goods or money exchanged, turns around and returns to the sea, saving at least half of the voyage. Although the profit earned may be less, but it is safe to save time, you used to be able to run once a year, now you may be able to run two or even three times, the voyage is near, the danger is reduced, and in general, it is still earned.

If you are not happy to exchange here, it doesn't matter, after paying the high tolls, you can continue on the road, but as long as you leave the strait, the strait company will not guarantee your safety. It is said that the sea is not very safe in recent years, whether it is the east side of the strait or the west side of the strait, there are some sailboats with big rat heads out to rob, see people robbing people, see ships wrecked, no one is responsible for you. What the? You say these damn pirate ships are docking in a port in the strait! Phew! On what basis do you say these are pirate ships? All hang the rat flag, I'll bah! Are rats the same as rats? This rat is a good mouse, and that rat is a bad mouse.

Is anyone in this company willing to join? Isn't this a clear desire to buy and sell? yes, if it's not for buying and selling, no one will want to play with you. What is the most profitable thing in the world? Establish the rules! What you sell is nonsense, I have a rule, half of your profits have to belong to me, I don't sell anything, just sell this rule! But to do this business, you can't play without enough strength to back it up. If you want to completely block the strait, there are so many countries on both sides of the strait, other businessmen will definitely not agree, and if you can't do it alone, you will let the country send troops to crusade against you, and no country will watch the profits that should have been collected by itself flow into other people's pockets in vain.

Will Hong Tao be able to withstand the attack of these countries? Maybe it's not just one country, and maybe several countries are united. This question no longer needs to be answered by Hong Tao himself, and the choices of those maritime merchants have already helped him answer. On the same day, nine maritime merchants said that they wanted to join the Strait Company, and the law of the Great Song Dynasty did not allow them to be pirates, but only in China, and did not say that they were not allowed to go to foreign countries to be pirates. Besides, when the work of pirates is all done by Hong Tao, everyone only needs to run that bazaar in the port, which is a business, and has nothing to do with pirates. They are willing to sell me goods, and I am willing to buy them, is that still wrong? As for knowing in my heart why those merchants are willing to sell goods here, I know in my heart, and I can think about it or not. If you ask for businessmen by the standard of asking for saints, there will be no businessmen in the world.

These little maritime merchants couldn't eat meat in the Great Song Dynasty, so they could only drink soup behind the big merchants' butts, and now they finally have the opportunity to eat meat, and they are still the first bite of fat. Didn't the great old horse say that when the profit reaches 300 percent, capital dares to trample on all the laws in the world. The benefits of this first bite of fat are more than 300%, and the laws of the Great Song Dynasty are a fart in the eyes of these merchants, and they have already been thrown to the back of their heads.

However, there is a big problem with doing so, that is, it will touch some of the interests of the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants. In fact, the maritime merchants of the Southern Song Dynasty were still small heads, mainly the interests of the Pu family, that is, the Arab merchants who were mixed in the ports of Guangzhou and Quanzhou. Once the Strait of Malacca is occupied by the floods, not only will they not be able to eat the first bite of meat, but they may not even have any meat, and they can only gnaw meat and bones. For a group of people who are used to eating big fish and meat, if you suddenly let them gnaw on the bones, they will definitely not do it, and they will work hard.

For this problem, Hong Tao intends to take two steps. The Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants belonged to a category of people who could be united, and they were the internal contradictions of the people, which could be reconciled, and as long as they were willing to abide by their own rules, they could give them benefits. The Pu family and the Arab merchants belong to the category of people who must be eliminated, and they themselves and they are irreconcilable contradictions between themselves and themselves. Even if there are no Arab maritime merchants and themselves to grab territory, their own fleet will have to compete with the Arabs sooner or later. These two forces on the sea must be divided into winners and losers, either the Arabs continue to expand eastward, or they themselves lead the Southern Song Dynasty merchants to the Arabian Sea, and they can only choose one of the two, and it is impossible to have both. (To be continued.) )