Xia Xun learned the basic situation of the two largest local pirates from Yu Ren, and wanted to ask more details, but Yu Ren didn't know. After a while, the wine and food came up, Yu Ren and his father-in-law accompanied Xia Xun to eat wine, and Yu Ren asked: "Brother Xian came to Haining this time, what business do you want to do?" ”

Xia Xun said: "The younger brother wants to buy a batch of folding fans, and then buy dozens of Japanese knives, these things are easy to get rid of, the greater the profit, but it is a pity that he has not been in business for a long time, and there is no way to do this, so I have been wandering around here for a long time, but I haven't seen it in any store." ”

Yu Ren was embarrassed and said, "This ...... I'm afraid it's not easy, if the virtuous brother is here, just to buy some seafood and parallel goods, or local specialties, I can help you for my brother. But the things you want are probably hard to buy in the market. The imperial court stipulated that no Japanese merchant ships were allowed to dock to do business without a national certificate, no survey, and no tribute, so that the only way to buy these things was a smuggler, and my brother did not know anyone in this regard. ”

Xia Xun heard Yu Ren say this, knowing that this founder gentleman really didn't know about the relationship between these sideways, and he couldn't hope to get on the line with those pirates from him, so he couldn't help but be disappointed, but Yu Ren's father-in-law Huang Laohan heard it and said: "Brother Xia is my benefactor, let the old man figure out a way to do this." ”

Xia Xun was overjoyed: "The old man recognizes them? ”

The old man said with a smile: "The old man has an aunt and cousin, who opened a shop in the local area, selling some Chinese and foreign lacquerware, some of which are Japanese goods, I think there must be a relationship in this regard, you are the old man Engong, I must help with this favor." Virtuous son-in-law, after a while, you will accompany you to go over, and say that Brother Xia is your own brother, and he can't refuse. ”

Yu Ren nodded again and again when he heard this, Xia Xun was overjoyed, and hurriedly raised his glass to thank him.

The three of them talked happily and stayed to their heart's content, and Yu Ren and Huang Laohan accompanied Xia Xun to his cousin's lacquerware shop. The shopkeeper of this lacquerware shop is surnamed Li, called Li Tang, the antique name, the antique shop, the store is placed with antique antique shelves, and there are some gold-sprinkled tables, gold-painted powder boxes, gold-sprinkled hand boxes, gold-smeared copper cups, sprinkled gold-wood Cho horns and other lacquerware.

There was only one young man in the store, sitting there bored, he knew Huang Laozhang, as soon as he saw him coming, he hurriedly got up to greet him, asked the reason, and hurriedly ran to the backyard to find the shopkeeper, and after a while, Li Tang greeted him......

This Li Tang is forty-seven or eighteen years old, lean, his figure is like a slender bean sprout, he bows his waist slightly, and when he sees his cousin coming, his thin face shows a little smile, and he hurriedly asks someone to serve tea and hospitality, and asks for clarity, Huang Laozhang said that Xia Xun is his uncle's cousin, and asks him to help buy some goods. As soon as he heard that it was his own relative, Li Tang immediately let down his guard.

At that time, Japanese folding fans and Japanese knives were very popular in the Central Plains, a Japanese knife was only worth 800 to 1,000 wen in Japan, but it was shipped to the Ming Dynasty and could be sold at a high price of 5,000 to 6,000 wen, and the same is true for folding shoulders, Japanese fans are beautifully made and have great artistic value, so they are also extremely popular in the Central Plains. Of course, at this time, the Central Plains goods were more dumping in Japan. The price of a Fujian anus in Japan is worth a thousand gold, a bird anus is also worth hundreds of gold, a "Criticism of Tongjian Abridgement" is worth 40 gold, "The Legend of the Earth" is worth 20 gold, flame nitrate, iron, and gold are all 20 times more profitable, especially raw silk, which is in short supply. Xia Xun pretended to be a small businessman, and only buying some Japanese knives and folding fans was also in line with his identity.

Li Tang asked Xia Xun a few casual questions, Xia Xun had been in business for a while, and he barely answered correctly, so Li Tang knocked on the table and muttered: "Listen to your tone, you have done business, but ...... I'm afraid I used to run by land, so I haven't done this business on the sea, right? The little lacquered gold fan is just a Japanese sword...... Can you get it? ”

Xia Xun hurriedly smiled: "This is not a problem, the junior has a friend who is on an errand in Yingtianfu, and with his care in this regard, there will be no problems!" ”

Li Tang frowned: "That's it, that's it, I'm about to buy a batch of goods tonight, you bring money at night, go with me, remember to bring your own car, and the goods will be shipped away immediately." If it is an ordinary time, whether it is a street transaction or a store transaction, it is all grandiose and does not need to be guarded against, but it has not been done recently, and the government has been watching it more closely, and it is necessary to pay attention to it. ”

Xia Xun's original intention was to gain his trust in the name of trading, and then find an opportunity to get rid of him and get in touch with the pirates alone.

After Xia Xun returned to the inn where he lived, he first hid the waist card, official defense and other important items that could determine his identity in the cabinet, and then went to get a donkey cart, and stayed until the evening, only bringing some treasure money and copper coins, and rushed to the small shop again. The shopkeeper Li Tang was waiting for him, and when he arrived, he immediately set off on the road. Li Tang drove an ox cart, driven by a young man, and Xia Xun followed behind, and went out of Yanguan Town together.

Xia Xun didn't know where they were going, just followed behind, they turned around and he turned, they went straight and he went straight, the road became cheaper and cheaper, and when it was completely dark, he had heard the faint sound of the waves, Xia Xun secretly wondered in his heart: "Could it be that he has already arrived at the riverside?" ”

Sure enough, further on, there is the rolling Qiantang River, and in the distance, there are fires everywhere, like stars on the beach. There are also many vehicles that are faintly visible. Xia Xun followed the shopkeeper to the nearest place, only to see a big boat parked on the river, gloomy like a giant beast undulating with the waves, and many small boats were rushing back and forth between the big boat and the river bank, unloading a boatload of goods ashore.

There were people on the shore with rosters, people with torches, shouting names one by one, and some people went forward to check the goods, deliver money or barter, and load them and transport them away.

Xia Xun was secretly stunned, and then he believed that what Li Tang said in the past that he could directly trade with pirates on the streets of the city and even in the shops was indeed true, if it wasn't for the unscrupulous on weekdays, how could so many shops trade directly by the river now? Looking at this skill, it is obviously not the first time. I didn't expect that the private business in Yanguan Town was so developed.

Speaking of which, pirates have always existed, but a large reason why pirates are so strong at this time is because of the maritime politics of the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the country, he implemented a policy of restraint on Japan and allowed them to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not understand the national conditions of Japan, and mistakenly regarded Prince Huailiang, the general of the expedition to the west, as the king of Japan......

Later, the Japanese ronin and Chinese pirates often raided the border, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an envoy to Japan to condemn Prince Huailiang, let him strengthen control, Prince Huailiang was busy with the civil war between the north and the south, how could he have spare time to manage those idle ronin, in fact, he wanted to manage it, but he couldn't manage it, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very dissatisfied, thinking that the Japanese government was deliberately perfunctory.

Immediately afterwards, Hu Weiyong's rebellion broke out, and after interrogation, it was found that there were Japanese figures, these Japanese planned to hide the ambush soldiers in the tribute ship, and hide the fire and medicine weapons in the giant candles of the tribute, and when they entered the palace to see the driver, they joined forces inside and outside, and acted together to kill Zhu Yuanzhang. Although these samurai may not have been sent by the Japanese rulers, it is likely that Hu Weiyong invited mercenaries with a lot of money, but Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, and when he asked those prisoners, he learned that Prince Huailiang was not the king of Japan, and he felt cheated, and in a fit of anger, he simply canceled the official contact with Japan.

Since then, Lao Zhu is tired of the small files on the island, and later the Ming Dynasty sailors exterminated a group of Japanese pirates, and presented a Japanese fan to him as a trophy, Lao Zhu was full of poetry for a while, and also wrote a poem on the top: "The king has no Taoist people as thieves, disturbing living beings and ghosts, watching the sky and sitting in the well, how to know, and breaking his hair and spotted clothes for convenience." The monarch and the minister stomped and whispered frogs, and jumped the beam in Tianxian. He ridiculed those files on the island as frogs sitting in wells and watching the sky, and despised them fiercely, which shows Lao Zhu's perception of the Japanese.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang still allowed the Japanese to come to pay tribute, but he strengthened the control in this regard, and stipulated the tribute period and the number of tribute ships for the Japanese. Lao Zhu's conditions for the Japanese were too harsh, such as five or even ten years, they could only pay tribute once, and no more than three ships were allowed at a time.

This article alone could not meet the trade needs of the two countries at all, and Zhu Yuanzhang even stipulated that no trade was allowed without a national letter and a survey. The survey allowed by the Ming Dynasty is the only one, and there is no semicolon. And Lao Zhu also stipulates that tributary ships are not allowed to carry weapons, which is indeed a bit embarrassing, in the vast sea, there are pirates in both countries, how to escort without weapons?

As the saying goes, they rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, and they rely on the water to eat the water, and the coastal residents do not allow them to trade, and the amount of official trade is very small, how much money can they earn by only fishing? Therefore, private businessmen began to flood, private businessmen were already illegal, and they had to establish their own military escort team, without the constraints of law and discipline, most of them were no different from pirates, but what they did was actually very beneficial to the coastal people, with the support of the coastal people and for them to be their eyes and ears, the imperial court simply banned it, so that a huge scale was formed.

Li Tang drove to the riverside, waited patiently there, about half an hour later, the person holding the roster called his name, Li Tang hurriedly stepped forward, did not take it first, but whispered to the leader, thinking to help Xia Xun contact the temporary increase in goods, the man listened: "Japanese swords and fans?" Yes, did you bring the money? ”

"Brought, brought, eldest nephew, come here, come and see Leader Jia." ……

Xia Xun hurriedly stepped forward, the bearded man looked him up and down a few times, turned his head and ordered: "He Tianyang, He Tianyang, go to the boat to get fifty Japanese swords and a thousand small fans." ”

A person next to him came out in response, his eyes turned on Xia Xun, and suddenly shouted: "Huh! I know him! Today, the gang leader was sued, and when the officers and soldiers surrounded and suppressed, he was there! ”

Before he could say a word, a series of "click" sounds of pulling knives out of the sheath next to him made people lose their teeth when they heard it, Xia Xun was just stunned, and six or seven sharp steel knives had already forced him to front and back.