Chapter 603 Blackmail Strategy

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

Unlike the usual smiling face, Yang He had a faint look of sadness on his face.

Zhao Xu shook his head helplessly when he saw it.

The powerful families became independent, so naturally they would no longer allow domestic merchants to trade with Yanzhou as before.

So during this period, the business had a lot of goods in stock.

Moreover, with the steam engine being put into various industries, Yanzhou's production capacity is about to enter a period of explosive growth.

Although the Black Shark pirates opened up the Goryeo market, the Goryeo market is too small.

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

Once the goods cannot be sold, all kinds of workshops must stop working.

In this way, the business can only pay the craftsmen in the workshops a monthly salary every day, but it cannot make a profit from the workshops.

In the long run, the business will continue to lose money, and Yanzhou's industry will inevitably be hit.

"Your Highness, you have to think of a way. The workshop is not making money, but losing money. This is a big problem. If it goes on like this, how can we pay the officials and soldiers?" Yang He said.

He was in charge of the commerce and workshops in Yanzhou. Seeing the workshops withering day by day, it was more painful than killing him.

Liu Fu sighed when he heard this, "But now Dasong is not under the control of the royal family, I'm afraid Your Highness has no way."

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

After all, this is no longer a problem for the business, but will affect the treasury income of the entire Yanzhou, which is of great importance.

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

The false plague caused heavy damage to Yanzhou.

Now that the powerful families are independent, the impact on commerce is even greater.

The King of Yan once said that he would make up for the losses in commerce. At that time, he absolutely believed in the King of Yan.

But now it seems that the King of Yan also has his moments of missteps.

He certainly did not expect that when the situation was good after defeating Beidi, Dasong suddenly fell apart.

"Ahem..." Zhao Xu's face was slightly hot when facing Yang He's eyes like a resentful woman.

He really didn't expect that Princess Chun would stir up trouble in Jinling, causing the division of Dasong, and even worsening the trade in Yanzhou.

If it weren't for the strong accumulation of the treasury in the past few years, I'm afraid Yanzhou would be finished after the Ningjin War.

However, there is always a time when everything is exhausted, and he really should think of a way.

In fact, he has been thinking about it during this period, and he has also had preliminary ideas.

And the solution to this problem is still the smallpox plague he mentioned at the beginning.

If Dasong hadn't fallen apart, his plan at the time was to sell the smallpox vaccination method to the powerful families for a high price.

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

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

Yang He and Liu Fu looked at each other, their eyes shining, and the corners of their mouths rose.

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

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

After all, the nobles and powerful families will have more ways to save their lives at that time, and the people of Dasong will die the most.

But the powerful families can't grasp the character of the King of Yan. In their eyes, the King of Yan is unforgivable.

Maybe they can really use smallpox to scare the powerful families and force them to open up trade.

"It's worth a try!" Liu Fu gave a thumbs up.

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

After all, facing the troops of the King of Yan, they still have soldiers and cities to resist, but smallpox is hard to defend against.

Especially malicious spread, there is no way to prevent it.

Zhao Xu nodded, feeling happy.

He is just like mastering weapons of mass destruction.

Although he can not use it, but it can deter the enemy.

This is just like nuclear weapons. The country that first developed nuclear weapons did not use nuclear blackmail against other countries in exchange for benefits.

If he can blackmail successfully this time, Yanzhou's trade will be restored.

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

At the same time, he decided to bring up smallpox, and there is another consideration.

Russians, Japanese, British, Portuguese, and Sterdans will arrive in Dasong in the future.

Maybe some of them will know how to vaccinate against cowpox.

It can be used but not used at this time. When they hand over the solution to smallpox to the powerful family, his smallpox blackmail will be meaningless.

Therefore, he wants to implement his blackmail before the method of preventing smallpox is spread to Dasong.

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

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

However, according to his memory, cowpox vaccination only appeared in the early 19th century.

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

So at this point in time, it is not so easy to meet a Westerner who knows cowpox vaccination in the East.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The King of Yan actually sent officials to Lucheng. Isn't he afraid that I will kill them!"

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

The eunuch in charge of the notification took two steps forward and whispered 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 screamed in anger.

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

Han Zheng then told Sato Masahisa what the King of Yan threatened him with.

Sato Masahisa's face also changed. They in Japan also had no way to resist smallpox.

He could not help the Han family on this issue.

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

Sato Masahisa was still a little unbelievable. He asked: "Could it be that the King of Yan really has mastered the way to resist smallpox, and he no longer has to fear smallpox."

Han Zheng nodded solemnly, "It can't be false. The King of Yan defeated Beidi and proved it. This time, I'm afraid we have to make a heavy decision."