There were noticeably not as many people in the office as before, which made Sheila's secretary, Elena, feel a little strange. Maybe it was because there were few people, but the office staff quickly went to the back and asked, "Miss Elena, there is a meeting in the office today, and there is no way to see you." Please come back tomorrow. ”

"What time is tomorrow?" Elena asked helplessly.

"Tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning."

Elena returned with regret, quite dissatisfied in her heart. The office did not care that even if the matter discussed at the meeting was related to Sheila, Sheila would not be received if she came now.

"Yuan Guo really can't bear it, or do you have any ideas?" Director Xin's tone was full of doubts.

"It's good that they want to continue to export coal, and the coal in the Yuan country is much better than the coal in the province." Naturally, Li was very relaxed. The coal supplied by the Yuan State was anthracite, and the coal mined by the province in Greece was lignite. Not to mention the burning value, the smell is unbearable when burned.

"If the food supply of Yuan Kingdom is restored, will our previous progress be affected?" Director Xin is very concerned about this. During his time as director, he has achieved great results, and Director Xin especially does not want any twists and turns.

"Don't worry, there's no turning back for Eastern Rome." Li is naturally very confident.

In Athens, the governor of the province of Europa, Chesson, said confidently: "There is no turning back for Eastern Rome. The current situation is back to two years ago, and the Eastern Rome will not abandon the use of paper money. The reopening of the grain of the Yuan Kingdom would only allow Eastern Rome to start the grain-based system of the Great Song Dynasty, and the demand for paper money would only be greater. ”

Yeluhong was rarely relaxed, and he smiled: "The Yuan civil war is well fought, very good!" At that time, I was worried that Yuan Guo would be able to learn to make guns if he got our arsenal. I really don't know. ”

No one laughed at Yeluhong, and the imperial court had already told the province not to worry about the technology of the Yuan State to make guns, it was a systematic project and everything would be fine with a factory. The people of the province were not relieved by this, even knowing that the bombing of the arsenal did not make them feel better.

More than a year later, the situation developed as the imperial court expected. Not only was the Yuan State unable to continue producing firearms, but even the ironworks could not be restored. As for the sulfur trade in the hands of the Great Song Dynasty, the Yuan Kingdom used less and less high-quality gunpowder. The province got the low-sulfur and low-nitrate gunpowder that Yuan Guo himself imitated, and its inferior performance made the provincial officials who saw the effect dumbfounded. Sulfur was in the hands of the Great Song Dynasty, and saltpeter production was now the strong point of Eastern Rome. Due to the favorable climate and land, the densely populated cities, and the strains provided by the Great Song Dynasty, even the province of Europa imported saltpeter from Eastern Rome.

"The negotiation will be handed over to Mr. Xie. Be careful what tricks Yuan Guo plays, if they want us to help them repair the ironworks, they will say that the imperial court is responsible, and we don't care. Yeluhon assigned the task, "Hao Kang has a foothold in Damascus, and we must strengthen the route to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean." ”

Europa Province thought that it would soon receive news from Yuan Guo, but it didn't expect to wait for more than half a month. Seeing that it was about to be the first day of the Western Lunar New Year, someone asked Xie Song what he thought. Yeluhong, who was sitting next to him, didn't hear this question, Xie Song laughed, "Haha, I think those people in the Yuan Kingdom are even more useless than I thought." After hearing this, the crowd laughed for a moment and put the matter down. Xie Song was right, compared with Hao Ren's courage and determination to travel tens of thousands of miles to find a place to live, the people in the Yuan Kingdom are really waste now.

The level of anxiety in Xie Song's heart was much higher than what appeared on his face, the import and export of the Yuan Kingdom had a very significant practical impact on the Quadripartite Alliance. Now the province of Europa solves the food problem by eating meat without food and eating cake without bread. No matter how advanced the social system and the level of productive forces are, there is no way to solve the food problem in a short period of time. Having lost the Yuan country's grain imports, Europa Province relied on alfalfa and pasture provided by the Kingdom of Ethiopia to support its food supply. Xie Song mocked the second-generation lord of the Yuan Kingdom, but in his heart he was looking forward to Hao Rui having the same vision as his father Hao Ren.

Ahh Hao Rui, thousands of miles away, sneezed, he rubbed his nose and continued the meeting. Wang Dongsun, who was speaking, was interrupted by this small sneeze, and seeing that the lord of the country did not mean to speak, he continued to speak generously, "My lord, the loss of Warsaw is not the defeat of our army, but the delay of the first king having to go to Mongolia to become prime minister. If the former king had stayed in the Yuan Kingdom and moved the capital to Warsaw, the city of Warsaw would have been built by us at this time. Since the former king decided not to take Warsaw as a priority, there is no need for us to rush to recover it at this time. Our Yuan country is now strong and strong, and the grain is abundant. If you trade with the Song State again, you will be restricted by the Song State. That's an unforeseen disaster. ”

Hao Rui didn't say anything, most of the speeches he heard from his subordinates during this time were like this. Someone in the Yuan court proposed the resumption of trade with the Quadripartite Alliance, which immediately aroused strong opposition. Opponents argue that it is more dangerous to be confined to the province of Europa to the south than to fight in the west. The meeting looked similar.

Just thinking about it, Li Boya, the secretary of the military department, got up and said, "King, the minister thinks that he still has to trade. For more than a year, the ironworks could not be repaired, and the guns and artillery could be used for a few more years, and the gunpowder had to be inferior gunpowder, and even the supply of inferior gunpowder was not much. The first king conquered Warsaw and used hundreds of thousands of catties of iron. Now the iron has been brought back to cast farming tools. In addition to iron, many other items were previously imported from the south. There are few people in our Yuan Kingdom, most of them work on farms, and the things made by craftsmen are not very useful. ”

"How can it be useless!" Wang Dongsun immediately shouted.

"Is this how the first king held the meeting? Someone yelling before they finish speaking? Hao Rui spoke.

Wang Dongsun hurriedly apologized, and then looked at Li Boya, the secretary of the military department, angrily. Li Boya continued: "Great King, the minister thought that it would be better to resume trade, and when the first king was doing great business with the southern countries, the Yuan Kingdom was full of vitality. Trade has been interrupted for more than a year, and Kyiv is clearly in a depression. ”

Hao Rui thought for a moment before asking: "You said that leather goods are not usable, and our leather production is much more than that of the southern countries." How can it not be compared to the south. ”

"This is the craft of the countries of the South. Our leather is easy to break for some reason, the leather in the south can be used for two or three years, and our leather will not be able to use for one year. ”

"Then change it once a year!" Wang Dongsun seized the opportunity and said.

"Not what you think." Li Boya was also a little moved, "The stirrup of the horse was suddenly broken when I was used, and I looked at the leather of the stirrup in advance." If the leather is broken, replace it immediately, and what should I do if someone breaks it. I calculated that if I changed it frequently, it would be cheaper to import leather from the south. It's not that we can't make a lot of things, but the things in the south are cheaper than ours. There are also goods like sulfur that we don't have, and saltpeter from the south is cheaper than ours. ”

Hao Rui thought that the military department Shangshu would get some support after talking about practical problems, but he didn't expect a group of ministers to speak out against it. Li Boya did not give up his position, but he faced many people alone, and when he wanted to speak, he was taken up by the other party's gossip. Everyone wanted Li Boya to answer their questions, so that Li Boya couldn't deal with them one by one.

"Forget it, don't talk about this!" Hao Rui had to pause the topic for the time being.

After the next dynasty, Hao Rui was in a very bad mood, and first went to the ancestral hall to incense his father Hao Ren, Hao Rui did not leave, but looked at his father's portrait blankly. He has five brothers and sisters, and when his parents were alive, the whole family was lively. Hao Rui only felt that he was so safe. Just over a year later, my father died, and my mother and second brother died in a power struggle. The eldest brother left the country, leaving only one sister and sister in Kiev.

The same is true in national politics, where no matter what ideas are proposed, there will be strong resistance. Hao Rui only felt confused in his heart, he didn't know much about trade himself, and many of the people below felt that he had to resume trade. The view above the court was completely different, and those officials all believed that if trade could not be resumed, the resumption of trade would be controlled by the Great Song Dynasty. Hao Rui recalled that when his father was alive, he did not see any signs of the Yuan Kingdom being controlled by the Great Song Dynasty. As the military department Shangshu said, at that time, the market was full of goods, and you could buy anything you wanted. Now that the market is obviously in recession, the civil officials said that this is because the Yuan Kingdom has experienced a civil war, and it only takes a while to recover. Hao Rui himself doesn't believe it, it's been more than a year, and the part that is not involved in trade has long returned to normal, while the depression in the market is worse day by day.

Looking at his father's portrait, Hao Rui wanted to get some hint from his father's spirit in the sky. But the portrait did not change in the slightest, and the ancestral hall was quiet, not even a trace of wind. Is this what it's like to be alone?

In the evening, my sister came, and the so-called evening is just a saying. The summer lasts as long as the winter lasts, and in winter it gets dark very early in Kyiv. Guided by the lantern, my sister was invited to the living room. The two sisters and brothers sat opposite each other, and the empty living room made Hao Rui feel very lonely.

The eldest sister said: "Third brother, I heard that everyone in the court is opposing your resumption of trade. ”

Hao Rui was not surprised by the eldest sister's statement, the eldest sister has been married, and now Hao Rui's brother-in-law is the commander of the forbidden army. He nodded, but didn't speak.

"Third brother, don't listen to the nonsense of those civil officials. Do you think it was Yuan Guoqiang when my father led us to Kyiv, or Yuan Guoqiang now? The eldest sister asked cheerfully.

"I know what you mean, at that time, the Song Kingdom couldn't control the Yuan Kingdom, and now it's even more impossible." Hao Rui replied.

"Do it if you know it! Where to listen to what those people say. ”

"When my father was alive, he always said and listened." Hao Rui sighed.

"When did Daddy make someone else his lord when he was alive?" The eldest sister asked dissatisfiedly.