Mi Fang's comment left Fazheng momentarily puzzled since Mi Fang was often overlooked in comparison to Mi Zhu, who was usually the first person people thought of when mentioning the Mi family.
"Sigh, you wouldn't believe it—where we went last year," Taishi Ci said, setting his cup down on the table with a sigh, a look of deep contemplation on his face. "It really is true that you don't know how vast the world is until you venture out."
"Stop leaving things half-said. What did you guys see?" Fazheng asked curiously, suppressing his inebriation with a bit of willpower. Only then did he begin to grasp the full implications of what Mi Fang had mentioned earlier—wealth a thousand times that of their family, all in cash. How was that even possible?
Gan Ning set his cup down and began recounting the events of the previous year.
The main task that occupied Gan Ning throughout the previous year was transporting prisoners to Yizhou. After completing that task, he accepted Chen Xi's assignment to explore the southern regions. By that time, it was nearly winter, and with the northern seas already beginning to freeze over, Gan Ning was more than happy to head south.
With orders in hand, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci organized their fleet, towing sufficient supply ships and carrying an uncertain map drawn by Chen Xi along with a few feng shui masters.
It turned out that Gan Ning and Taishi Ci were fortunate to have survived the journey. Mi Fang, known for his fear of death, had prepared an abundance of supply ships after learning that the sea charts Gan Ning held were unreliable. After all, they were not going into battle, so Mi Fang made sure they had plenty of smaller boats in tow.
As they set off, everything seemed fine while passing Yizhou and Qiongzhou, but once they truly ventured into the open sea, Gan Ning realized that his previous experiences navigating the Yangtze River were nothing compared to the vastness of the ocean. Storms at sea could easily spell doom, even if they used their qi to try and resist; in the face of such intense storms, even inner qi was often useless.
After being battered by several major storms, Gan Ning found that all five thousand of his soldiers had developed inner qi, even the rowers. Gan Ning himself saw a significant improvement in his strength through repeated confrontations with the storms.
Even Mi Fang, who was primarily concerned with logistics and had been living an easy life, managed to break through to the level of refining qi into steel after surviving several deadly storms. After all, anyone who saw a storm break the mast they were tied to would fight for their life. In those situations, anyone who got swept away would have drowned unless they could manifest inner qi.
To be fair, Chen Xi had made a slight error when drawing the map. They should have sailed south from Yizhou, but Gan Ning, based on the map, sailed south from Qiongzhou, which led them on a longer route. Fortunately, they eventually discovered what Chen Xi had referred to as the theoretical island of Luzon.
As to why it didn't match the map exactly, Gan Ning, Taishi Ci, and the others believed that this was indeed the large island Chen Xi intended them to find. The reason was simple: after the feng shui masters surveyed the island, they came to the conclusion that the entire island was essentially made of metal, with visible mineral veins everywhere.
The sight of such abundant copper and iron deposits was so captivating that even the fleet captains began to suggest staying on the island indefinitely, ruling over the local resources and living like kings, with Gan Ning as their leader.
However, Gan Ning quickly dismissed this idea after a moment's hesitation. Without the connection to the central plains, these resources would be worthless. Moreover, this island had been pointed out by Chen Xi, who likely had his own reasons for it. Gan Ning didn't believe that claiming the island for himself would lead to any lasting control.
Taishi Ci, a man of filial piety, remained unmoved by the idea. With his mother still alive, he had no desire to settle in such a remote place. As for the wealth, Taishi Ci didn't see the point in having more money than one could ever spend.
Mi Fang, meanwhile, was the most composed. Although he was astounded by the fact that the copper on the island could create wealth a thousand times that of his own family, he wasn't tempted in the slightest. In this life, he had never experienced the hardships of poverty. The wealth of the Mi family was more than sufficient for him, and even if the Mi family subsidized the military, no one would object.
As a result, despite some of the sailors' desires for wealth, the strong leadership of the three men kept things under control, and no significant issues arose.
Of course, those who were so money-driven that they were willing to stay behind were left on the island at Gan Ning's suggestion. He left them with ample weapons and equipment to guard the island, while all the ships were taken away. The remaining sailors and feng shui masters were content with their decision, and everyone was satisfied.
Upon their return, Gan Ning made a new map of the sea route, making future trips much easier. On their way back, as they passed through Jiaozhou and the Nanyue area, they made a profitable trade with the local tribal chiefs, exchanging glassware, porcelain, silk, tea, and other goods for local specialties like jewels, coral, ivory, rhino horns, and spices. They also shamelessly hauled a large amount of timber onto their ships before continuing their journey.
Porcelain, silk, tea, and glassware were extremely popular in the Nanyue area, and since Mi Fang was willing to trade for anything, they accepted not only jewels and coral but also spices and even rare woods if those were all the locals had to offer. The tenfold profit margins made Mi Fang eager to collect whatever he could.
When they finally arrived at the port in Qingzhou, they unloaded their goods, and Mi Fang handled the accounts. The Mi family collected the goods and immediately converted them into cash. Soldiers who wanted their share paid out immediately received it on the spot, while those who wanted to send it to their families had the Mi family deliver it for them.
This kind of service was exclusive to the Mi family in the Taishan, Qing, and Xu regions. In addition to these soldiers, some merchants also entrusted their money to the Mi family for safekeeping to ensure its safety. The Mi family issued receipts, and the funds could be withdrawn at their destination, with the Mi family taking no cut of the transaction.
Initially, the Mi family only offered this service to merchants they knew well, but after Mi Zhu became the head of the Taishan Merchants' Guild, it became a benefit extended to all members.
With Mi Zhu's financial backing, no one doubted the Mi family's reliability, and everyone was happy to take advantage of the service. After all, carrying large sums of money was nerve-wracking, but carrying a small receipt was much safer.
When Chen Xi noticed the increasing trend of money transfers through the Mi family, he quickly stepped in, taking control from Mi Zhu to prevent the unregulated growth of this practice, which could have led to the emergence of banks. It wasn't the right time for such institutions to appear, so the Taishan government took over the operation, although it was still nominally under the Mi family's name.
With the government now handling it, merchants felt even more secure. The government was seen as more reliable than the Mi family, which led to even more people using the service. Over time, as the amount of money held increased, Lu Su, who hadn't initially understood Chen Xi's reasoning, eventually realized why Chen Xi had removed Mi Zhu from the operation.