The waves are rolling, the sea breeze is strong, and a small dot between the blue-black sea and the sky seems to be motionless: a 600-material Daifuku ship is riding the wind from west to east in the strait, and the bow is aimed at the direction of Taiwan.

The shipowner, Lin Baoquan, is standing on the stern tower at this moment, looking into the distance. Lin Bao is not confused all year round, his body is strong, his square nose is wide, his bronzed face is not expressive at the moment, the sea breeze blowing from behind him constantly blows up the three black whiskers under his chin, and the short brown on his body is also full of sea breeze, and his sleeves are bulging.

At this time, a word floated from his side: "Fifth brother, it's windy outside, let's go back to the cabin." ”

Lin Baoquan didn't need to turn his head, knowing that it was his own brother Lin Baoan who also went up to the stern: "Old Seven, there shouldn't be a mistake in the direction of the wind, right?" ”

"Fifth brother, you're stunned." Similar to Lin Bao's overall appearance, but Lin Baoan, who had short hair on his cheeks, shook his head and smiled: "The wind direction is right, even if there is land, it is the guy in Wangdou who sees it first...... Don't stick here, go back, go back. He grabbed the fifth brother's arm and was about to go back to the cabin.

"Alas, I'm always unsure......," Lin Baoquan was still not at ease, and said while getting off the cabin.

......

The Lin brothers are from Funing Prefecture in the north of Fuzhou, close to Sanduao, which was called Fuding County in later generations.

The Lin family is a local wealthy family in Funing Prefecture, with a lot of mouths, and there are some petty officials and officials who have come out to support the façade from generation to generation, and bullies and heroes are also often produced.

Lin Baoquan and Lin Baoan are clan brothers, one is in the clan for five and the other is for seven. Lin Baoan's house was sparsely populated in the early years, and the two families were close, Lin Baoan, who died since childhood, was raised in Lin Baoan's family, and the two were the same as brothers.

Now their generation is the age at which they carry the crown in the clan. Because the two brothers were still young and strong, they ran out to sea, and they survived the wind and waves, so in the early years, the clan handed over the Dafu ship named "Xing'an Ping" to Lin Baoquan, and the two brothers were responsible for shipping the boat to the clan on weekdays, and the business was profitable.

After Lin Baoquan took over the "Xing'an Ping", he no longer ran to the ocean, and went north to Suzhou and Hangzhou every year, and went south to Fuguang, only doing stable short-distance business.

That's how family buying and selling. The Lin brothers together only account for 30% of the shares of Xing'an Ping, and the rest of the shares are family property, the most taboo thing about this kind of trading is recklessness - no matter how much you earn, you should be, how can you spare you if you lose it?

Therefore, Lin Baoquan and Lin Baoan have not been to Nanyang in recent years, and the sea surface of Fujian and Guangdong has not been very peaceful in the past year, and the sea lords and the government have fought fiercely, and the Zhangquan area has heard that it has become a pot of porridge...... Therefore, Xing'an Ping didn't even go to Fuzhou this time, and the focus of business fell on Hangzhou.

The Lin brothers sailed to Taiwan this time, and the reason was still in Hangzhou.

......

Xing'an Ping is the Hangzhou Mansion that went to the autumn of the year and drove the tail of the south wind.

As in previous years, the ship was loaded with indigo, dried bamboo shoots, dried lychees, iron, ramie, bamboo, and bamboo paper, which are traditional local products of Funing Prefecture.

After the ship arrived in Hangzhou, the Lin brothers contacted the old customers to sell the goods, and at the same time went around to buy the goods needed for the return trip, and worked from the end of autumn to the beginning of the month, so that the goods were ready, and the brothers were ready to go home for the New Year by the north wind. At this point in time, it was January 1628, just over two months after crossing the occupation of the people.

I didn't want to leave two days ago, but the housekeeper of the Liu family came to invite him, saying that there was a good deal, and there was a good friend to introduce to the two brothers.

..... Yes, the most important business partner of the Lin brothers in Jiangnan is Chairman Liu Yaozu Liu.

For many years, the Lin family has been selling the groceries shipped to Jiangnan to the Liu family, and then replenishing some of the return goods from the Liu family's commercial channels. Although the price is a little lower when it is sold in a whole, the Lin family generally recognizes it: the goods are sold to the local snake Liu family, so naturally there is no need to worry about the local cow ghosts and snake gods, and it is much easier to even carry the replenishment, and the Liu family's business network is very developed, and many seasonal goods can be bought.

In this case, since the housekeeper of the Liu family came to the door to introduce the business to the brothers, the Lin brothers naturally refused to refuse, so the two sides made an appointment, and at the beginning of the next day, everyone met at the Fuzhou Hall where the brothers stayed.

......

Since crossing the crowd and leveling the Hangzhou beggar gang like playing, Liu Yaozu's attitude towards Zhou Tong and Zhou Tuantou has suddenly changed dramatically. The head of the beggar gang called Huazi, who commanded 8,000 people in Hangzhou City, has passed the official face, and is already a first-class scene figure in the rivers and lakes, and the bandit leader who cuts the path is completely two concepts, this is a serious green forest guard!

Master Liu, who has done business in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, knows too well the stakes here, and Liu Yaozu is now very happy: because the eldest prince was seriously ill, he had to agree to Zhou Tong to deal with the aftermath, and the danger of standing on the shore to watch the joke was revealed; Fortunately, the Liu family really contributed to maintain the situation after the beggar gang, and now as Zhou Tong gains a firm foothold, benefits have begun to appear.

The Liu family's recent plan to reopen the mountain goods business upstream of Qiantang is a case in point. This time, if the tooth people and boat gang on the dock outside the city dare to seduce the water bandits to rob the Liu family's boat, then these bastards must be prepared to kill the whole family - as long as the Liu family throws money out, this kind of business Zhou Tuantou will naturally help the old friend.

The beggar gang is one of the few local forces that can mobilize a large number of people without going through layers of official documents, especially in the urban area, and the operation capacity of the beggar gang is more than that of the trough gang on the canal; All kinds of inferior methods of the three religions and nine streams, the trough gang can't catch up with the beggar gang, Liu Yaozu Liu Master Liu has been full of joy recently, and several opponents who originally had a faint taste of competition in the business are now also full of togetherness, and they are dead.

......

In this situation, the people who stayed in Tangzhuang wanted to meet some friends in the Liu family's business, and Liu Yaozu naturally agreed: Zhou Tong's friends on the sea route were once the focus of Liu Yaozu's attention, and after learning that the people who crossed the sea were far away, Liu Yaozu was still a little reluctant at that time.

Fortunately, the traversal people left behind in Tangzhuang have not died down, and the contacts between the two families have been deepening - after the traversal occupied the majority, there was a strong demand for food groceries. For a long time, the crossing fleet was empty ships returning to Hangzhou, and the next wave of goods full of holds, many of which went into Chairman Liu's pocket in the form of silver ingots.

Liu Yaozu also reciprocated the favor, and usually helped organize the supply of goods: the fleet of the crossing crowd is going to rest in Tangzhuang after all, Liu Yaozu actually knows better than what happened to the big man than the traversal imagined, including this gang of murderers killed the red-haired bandits like a chicken in the big man, and robbed the red-haired village and a large number of silver goods, and opened the gate and set up a cabinet in the local area, the Liu family knows it.

In this case, if Liu Yaozu still doesn't know how to befriend these potential overseas strangers, then he is not a big businessman.