Chapter 77 Coastal Routes

In fact, the biggest benefit of the opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty is not foreign trade, but trade exchanges among the coastal provinces. Even many officials are willing to take a ship by sea.

Generally speaking, they all take official ships, after all, the shipping of Daming is frequent, and there is no problem for officials to rely on their own identities to add one or two stops on the grain carrier.

Even the Chongming Shenjiasha Boat Gang has regularly traveled from Songjiang to Tianjin to transport people and goods.

A considerable part of the taxes paid by the customs of the Ming Dynasty are the taxes of the internal economic activities of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, in this era, Daming is the world's largest market, and there is no one.

Even though some people have run to India for the Ming maritime trade, more people prefer to move along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, although they can't make a lot of money, but they are much more stable.

That's the case with Xian Jing.

He went to Xin'an first, walked the way, rented a boat, and found all acquaintances.

This Zheng boss, although he is from Fujian. The elders also did business with no capital back then, but after the opening of the sea, it can be regarded as abandoning evil and following good.

Especially when I found a mother-in-law in Xin'an, I settled down and didn't go to a place that was too far away. He got a boat with hundreds of materials and ran goods for people, and legend has it that when the imperial court fought Annam, his ships were also conscripted to transport military rations for the imperial court.

The most important thing is that Boss Zheng and the Xian family in Foshan are relatives who have turned a few corners, and they can be regarded as their own people, who know him well, and are not afraid of him messing around.

Boss Zheng has dozens of sailors under him, all of whom don't seem to be good at stubble, and Xian Jing has brought more than a dozen companions, most of whom are the children of the Xian family. Many of them are born in iron, and just looking at the clothes, it seems that they can't wrap their muscles.

I also brought guys with me.

The Xian family was born in iron, and they brought with them all first-class good guys, not to mention swords and the like, and more than a dozen iron pipes.

Ordinary people naturally look at it as an iron pipe, but Boss Zheng knows at a glance that this is a gun pipe. It's just that the imperial court has no ban on knives and guns, and you can take as much as you want.

But crossbows, firearms, and armor are among the bans. Private individuals are not allowed to keep it privately.

It's just these bans, how can it be rare to live in the Xian family in Foshan. Don't look at it as a gun, it's just that the guntube is too big and not easy to hide, and the other parts of the firearm are secretly hidden.

It's just assembled at sea.

Boss Zheng looked at the skin of a beautiful woman, looked at the pipe, and said, "Good thing, Young Master Xian, I don't need money for this trip, will you give me a hundred and ten of these iron pipes?" ”

Xian Jing laughed and said, "Uncle Zheng said he was smiling. ”

Boss Zheng said regretfully: "It's really a joke." ”

With such a big industry as the Xian family in Foshan, it is natural to take care of the travel of his heirs. Although the fire gun is forbidden, it can be controlled by oneself.

But if it really comes out to sell,

It's too unscrupulous, and sooner or later I won't be able to hold back.

The Xian family in Foshan is not short of these hundreds of taels of silver, why bother?

Boss Zheng looked at Xian Jing's entourage and said, "Young Master Xian also knows the rules of the sea." Lao Zheng, I repeat, I am responsible for bringing you to Tianjin, but along the way, no matter what happens, you must listen to me, and I will do what I tell you to do? Even if it's killing, you have to do it. ”

"Young Master Xian, if there is no objection, let's go. If you don't want to, forget it. ”

Xian Jing said: "Before I came, my father explained that everything was entrusted to Uncle Zheng. ”

"Okay, let's worship Mazu and Li Gong tomorrow, and then go to sea."

Some people were ready to pay homage to the Mazu Temple and the Li Gong Ancestral Hall in Hong Kong.

Needless to say, the Mazu Temple is the ancestral hall of Li Shimian.

Li Shimian was ordered by Zhu Qizhen here to decide to open the sea, and even the port in Xin'an County was not enough, so it was also Li Shimian's idea to transfer the customs to Hong Kong.

Now, after decades of development, Hong Kong has the reputation of Little Guangzhou.

Of course, the difference from history is that Hong Kong did not develop Hong Kong Island first, but the opposite side of Hong Kong Island, that is, the area around Kowloon.

After all, the imperial court was naturally reluctant to build the yamen on the island.

Even so, it does not hinder the prosperity of the place.

Moreover, there is even a motion in Guangdong to separate Xin'an County into a county. Or move the county seat of Xin'an County here. Without him, the prosperity here has even surpassed that of Xin'an County, which will inevitably bring more problems than management.

Although there is also a county branch office here, it is still not enough.

And the people drank water and thought of the source, so naturally all this was pushed to Li Shimian, so Li Shimian's ancestral hall became a place where the local people must come to worship when they go to sea. Also pray for a smooth journey to the sea.

There were nearly 100 big men in a group of people worshipping Li Shimian, and the situation was also ordinary.

The sea has never been a place of law, even if there are patrols of the South and North Ocean sailors along the coast, but the sea is vast, and the ships are miles apart, so it is likely that they will not be able to catch up.

Therefore, the patrol of the Daming Navy Division is more to prevent large-scale piracy, as for killing people and causing trouble, looting or something. It can never be managed. I can't take care of it.

That's why a trip to a boat costs hundreds of taels of silver.

Because going to sea is not only to face the impermanence of the sea waves, but also to face all kinds of man-made disasters.

Under normal circumstances, it is the sturdy men who carry weapons that go to sea.

So such scenes are also very common.

The group went through the formalities, paid the tax at the customs, and then left Hong Kong and headed northeast along the coastline.

Boss Zheng is an old Jianghu, so he is very stable, does not enter the deep sea, and can see a black not close or far to the northwest

The line, if nothing else, is the main road.

If there is a problem, whether it is a storm or something else, you can go straight to the shore.

Although there may not be any law on the shore.

Many pirates are actually committed by coastal people, and even entire clans in the village, but in general, if you go to the county office, there is still a place for reason.

The politics of the Ming Dynasty have not yet come to the point of inauguration, and these people are acting recklessly.

But in the same village, every village does this, and it is difficult for the magistrate to do anything. It's just to find a few leaders to kill them, and it's hard to arrest all the people in a village.

The local gentry would not be happy.

It is also customary for southerners to take boats.

When Xian Jing first went to sea, he felt a little uncomfortable, but he quickly got used to it.

And the further you sail to the northeast, it seems that you have entered the main channel, and you will encounter many ships.

A ship can be seen almost not far away.

It's just that all ships get out of the way of each other at a safe distance.

Xian Jing looked at it for a while, and suddenly said: This distance is nothing else, it is the range of the cannon, of course, the cannon that Xian Jing said is not the kind of cannon of the Daming Jingying Artillery Battalion. Rather, it is a small cannon that is carried by ordinary ships.

If it weren't for the war in Annam, the imperial court would have been too far away from Beijing to supply these small cannons, and it would have ordered Guangdong to build several batches of artillery to supplement the front line.

This matter is naturally an errand in Foshan.

Xian Jing would not know what the range of such a gun was.

Suddenly, Xian Jing saw a ship, I don't know what happened, there was a pillar of smoke on it that went straight to the sky, and some people were on the mast, waving a flag constantly, obviously asking for help.

Xian Jing saw that Boss Zheng ordered, and everyone took up arms and avoided it from a distance.

Xian Jing said: "Uncle Zheng, what does this mean? ”

Boss Zheng sneered and said: "This kind of little trick, and come to Banmen to get an axe, this place is not far from the coast, and there is no reef nearby, the ship is on fire, but it does not dock, but asks for help here, there must be fraud in it." ”

Although Xian Jing had some doubts in his heart, he also knew that the fire on the ship was also a very serious matter. After all, ships in this era were made of wood, and once there was a fire, it was impossible to control it at all.

Xian Jing said: "Uncle Zheng ------"

Boss Zheng said coldly: "Young Master Xian, what did I say before I got on the boat?" ”

Xian Jing sighed and said, "I know." ”

Although he can't bear it in his heart, he is not a good man, after all, this is not another place, and it is not a place to be kind at sea. He sighed and prepared to go back to the cabin.

Prepare out of sight and out of mind.

But I heard an exclamation from the people around me. But when they saw that the ship, which had been emitting a pillar of smoke, suddenly moved and raised its sails, and actually rushed towards them.