Arrived at the villa. () The first rain dragged the coat down. hung under the porch, and hurried over to unbutton his raincoat. Wu De saw that a green cloth skirt inside her was wet, and there was a lot of mud on it, and her legs and feet were bare, but they were black into a pair of mud feet. His hair was wet into strands, his lips were cold and blue, his body was shivering, but he was carrying a package on his back.

"What are you doing here? Did I say I'm going on a business trip? Mother-in-law Mommy's! Wu De couldn't help but reprimand when he saw her embarrassed appearance. Walking on a rainy day? But there was already a feeling of pity in the words.

"I'm a slave, so delicate?" Chu Yu didn't care, she didn't care that her clothes were still wet, and unwrapped it from her back, "I saw that the master didn't bring this, since he was on a business trip, he must have gone to the territory of the government, so I hurriedly sent it." ”

When I opened it, I saw a black stab-proof vest inside. In the past, when Wu De went to the countryside or went to the quarantine camp, he would wear this as a preparation whenever the weather permitted, but recently, as the situation has improved and the weather is getting hotter, he rarely wears this thing anymore.

"My lord wears this protective garment every time he goes on a business trip. I see you forgot. I just rushed here. Chu Yu said excitedly, "I thought I wouldn't be able to catch up, but I didn't expect the master to set off yet, so let's put it on." ”

"This-" Wu De couldn't cry or laugh, it doesn't matter if this thing is worn today, it can't be hot to death as soon as the sun comes out. Chu Yu's heart for him still touched him very much.

"Okay, I'll bring the clothes."

"Remember to put on—"

"I'll remember." Wu De decided to do good things to the end, and promised everything, "You can go back quickly." I'm going to leave in a moment. ”

"Master," Chu Yu wiped his wet hair, shook it back gently, and got into Wu De's arms, and said in a low voice, "Master, do you want your wife to come back peacefully-"

Wu De's heart warmed, there is no woman who can make a man feel more happy with you as a kyo. Even if she's not beautiful.

"I'm going to Guangzhou to do business, and it's not a sea of swords, what are you afraid of!" Wude scolded quietly.

"My lord is doing a rebellious business." Chu Yu raised his head, a pair of eyes that were not big were clear and transparent, "Guangzhou is not higher than Lingao, it is under the rule of the government, the lord is careful in everything." The first rain will serve the lord for a lifetime. ”

Wu De originally wanted to comfort him, saying that he was not a rebel, but then he thought about it, so why should he deceive himself. He nodded solemnly.

……

"Dengyingzhou" left the port, sailed northwest, headed for Guangzhou Bay, and an hour later, the port of Bopu had disappeared on the horizon. Only the light of the lighthouse at the high corner can still be faintly seen.

It's approaching dusk. The wind became more and more violent, and it was mixed with raindrops, Wu De looked at his watch, 17:05, but the sky was already as dark as evening, the sea was rough, and the displacement of only 70 tons of "Dengyingzhou" was like a leaf, appearing and disappearing in the waves.

Wu De sat in the captain's room, looking at the sea outside the glass window, Dengyingzhou is a fishing boat remodeled, the living facilities are not very comfortable in all aspects, the so-called captain's room naturally does not have a leather high-back chair, but only a rattan Kao chair, which is fixed on the deck, this is the captain's throne.

"Chief, the rain is too heavy, it's dark, and you can't see anything. Do you want to anchor at Kao Shore first? The first mate stepped into the cabin and reported to Wood. The coat and hat he was wearing were all soaked, and his lips were cold.

This first mate was promoted from among the captive pirates, and his surname was Wang. Because the beard is very thick, it is called the king's beard. Wang Dabeard turned out to be a small boat owner, and he had a brig of his own, which was used for coastal trade and transportation. Until one day he was robbed by the red hair at sea, and he simply became a pirate when he had nothing - unfortunately, the first time he followed the leader out to sea to rob was destroyed by the traverser, and the bearded king who filled his stomach with water was no longer angry after being fished up from the sea, and was thrown on the beach to die.

After months of honest digging by the labor camp, he passed the initial political review. According to the appraisal, Wang Dabeard belongs to the kind of people who have not been pirates for a long time, have not had a deep habit of banditry, and have little contact with the pirate network, and he is relatively familiar with coastal shipping routes, so he was absorbed by the navy. After serving in the Navy for several months, he passed the second secret political examination of the General Administration of Political Protection, and his trust level was raised to Class II.B, and he was appointed as the first mate on the Deng Yingzhou.

"Warm up with a sip of wine." Wu De untied the kettle on his body and handed it over, asking, "What is the speed of the boat?" ”

The first mate took the wine, took a big sip with his head up, and said, "Verses 7-8.5." ”

This speed is the speed at which the diesel engine is driven, and in such sea conditions, the power provided by the diesel engine is very useful for effectively maneuvering the boat.

"How much wind?"

"Verse 20."

In this way, the rain was heavy, but the wind did not strengthen. This reassured him slightly, but the barometer showed no signs of improvement.

"We can't stop the ship, we have to travel day and night to catch up." "You sleep in two shifts with sailors and sailors," said Uder. Take turns on duty. ”

"Yes, I'll arrange it!" Wang Dabeard wiped his mouth and hurriedly ran out again.

After arranging his affairs, he put on his navigator's hat and raincoat and ascended to the aft tower. The six cadets who had sailed for the first time were curled up on the aft deck and vomited, and some of them were already pale.

Seeing the arrival of the commander, the cadets struggled to stand up, but Wu De stopped them: "Hold on to the cable and stand up!" Learn to stand on the deck first! ”

"Yes, sir!" The first one reluctantly saluted.

"You are divided into two shifts, one shift to keep an eye on the nearby sea, and the second shift to the deck to assist in pumping water!" He gave orders to the cadets.

I walked to the front railing of the stern tower to observe the situation in the distance. The wind seemed to intensify, and the rain was so heavy that he could barely open his eyes, and the raindrops fell densely on his face, and the water slanted down his face. Ude wiped his face, took a firm foothold on the deck, and surveyed the surface of the sea with a telescope—the darkness of the sea was so dark that only light and shadow could be seen.

The cold rain soon made his skin all numb, and the cold accelerated the fatigue, and he became a little confused. Wu De quickly shook his head to sober himself up. Back in the captain's quarters, studying the charts under the flickering lantern.

It should be said. In this time and space, where there are almost no navigation facilities, it is quite dangerous to sail at night with such a ship with no radar, no GPS, and no gyrocompass. Ude chose the safest route on the chart, least likely to encounter reefs and sands, but the danger of running aground was still with the ship.

"Chief! The wind was too strong for the sails to bear. The rain was so heavy that the bilge was flooding faster! It could have been even worse later. Wang Dabeard walked into the cabin and reported to Wu Dede. His robe had been torn in the wind and rain.

"Sea conditions?"

"The wind speed is 25 knots, and the wave height is 3.3 meters!"

"Command! Sail down! Tighten the ropes! The course remains the same! Ude ordered.

"Sail down! Tighten the ropes! The course remains the same! Yes, sir. The first mate saluted and turned to leave.

"Captain of the Marine Corps! Tell the team members to work in a shift of five, and all the pumping machines are fully open. Help with drainage!! All unrelated personnel are out of the cabin! Wu De threw down the sub-gauge in his hand and ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

As Ude stepped out of the cabin, the deck was now bustling with busyness, with short-troned, barefoot sailors disembarking, tightening cables, and covering their cargo; Marines in long pants and blue sleeves on their left arms were busy draining water.

At this moment, a swell lifted the bow of the boat, and when Wude saw this, he immediately shouted: "Hurry up!! Hold on!!! ”

Before he could finish speaking, the boat plunged headlong into the valley floor, and the sea swept across the entire surface.

Oude was also swept down to the deck by the waves, and he quickly grabbed a rope and struggled to get up, shouting: "Count the numbers!" Notification of loss!! ”

"No casualties among the sailors!!" "No casualties in the Marine Corps!!" "The front hatch is broken!! Water!!! "The middle cabin is flooded!!"

"The front compartment is plugged, and the middle compartment is drained!!" Wu De commanded loudly. The sea breeze mixed with the rain, and Wude's voice was already a little hoarse.

"Someone overboard!!" With a sharp whistle, the stern sailor alarmed.

It's broken, and when Wu De looked at the cadets draining on the deck, there was only one left.

Wude ran to the stern of the boat, and looked in the direction pointed by the alarm water finger, and there were two people floating face down on the sea about 100 meters from the stern.

"Sir, do you want to save it?" The first mate who rushed to hear the sound said.

"How to save it? Now such a big storm, besides, those two children are finished! The first time ......I go to sea," said Wu De indignantly, "go, put the rest of the boys in the middle cabin!" Hey......"

In the middle of the night, the wind and rain were fierce, and Wu De went down to the middle cabin, where the sailors and marines who were not on duty were gathering for dinner, while the four offspring who had survived the disaster were huddled aside and sobbed quietly.

Oude sat down beside them in the aisle and asked, "You all know that?" ”

None of them spoke, still weeping.

"The sea is like this, all you usually see is her calm side, and today's wind and waves are not the biggest."

"It's not the best, God ......" One of the cadets stopped crying. Look at Wude.

"Yes, look at them, they don't care at all," Wu De pointed to the sailors who were eating and fighting, "the sea can only be conquered by those of us who are not afraid of hardship and death, and only after experiencing this can you be considered a true husband, and if you want to be a naval officer who gallops on the sea, you must endure such a sin." ”

"I don't want to be a naval officer, woo woo." The child, who was crying and snotting, was about fourteen or fifteen years old, apparently overstarted.

Wu De sighed and said, "You guys take a rest first, and then continue to work in two hours!" If you don't want to be a naval cadet, I'll drop you out of school when you go back! ”

After saying this, Wu De ignored these offspring and turned back to the captain's room.

Ude returned to the captain's room and began to eat dinner.

Dinner was very simple, only 4 slices of rice crackers, 1 piece of dried fish, 1 grapefruit, 1 cup of water. Wu De took the rice crackers and sandwiched the dried fish, put them in the water, and chewed them vigorously. What the hell is dry grass food!

After a night of wind and rain, the next day dawned, the sky gradually brightened, the wind and rain were much less, Deng Yingzhou finally resumed normal sailing, and arrived at Guangzhou Bay early in the morning of the third day.

The place of delivery is on the Guangzhou wharf, and the people of the Qiwei Dart Bureau escort the whole process, using almost half of the people of the whole Dart Bureau - now Qiwei has almost become a subordinate enterprise of the Guangzhou Station, and two-thirds of the business is serving the Guangzhou Station.

Zhang Xin rushed to the dock and directed the iron box containing 50,000 taels of silver to be loaded onto the ship.

"This is 50,000 taels, and we are in contact with the Gao family to raise more cash, but the position is not easy to adjust ...... now," Zhang Xin reported.

"So nervous? Didn't the Gao family owe us more than 100,000 yuan for the goods? ”

"Not only the Gao family, our accounts receivable are close to 180,000." Zhang Xin said, "But according to the rules, you can't settle the bill for the first time until the fifth day of the fifth lunar month." Most of the goods released by the merchants have not been returned, and they are the same for all of them -- they can't get much cash, and the interest rate on dismantling in the city is very high now. Even if the Gao family can raise tens of thousands of silver, we will have to pay interest, that is, pay less. ”

"How tall?" Wu De knew that the executive committee was still worried about where the silver would be in the future.

"The market outside is two minutes a month. The Gao family is about five points and five points willing. ”

"20% monthly interest?!" Ude almost cried out, this loan shark was too high. The annual interest rate is 240%!

"Even at this rate, as long as we can complete the flow of goods within a month, we will make money. Both the British and the Portuguese were willing to pay in cash for sugar. If you really get this step, you can consider such a short-term loan! Zhang Xin took out a copy from his pocket, "This is another suggestion from the Guangzhou Station to the Executive Committee, but the matter is big and it may be difficult to cure the thirst of the near water, but if it can be implemented, the future monetary system will be much looser." The telegram has been sent and should be discussed soon by the Executive Committee. ”

"Okay, I'll take a look, and if I can, I'll send a message directly to the Executive Committee to suggest it."

Time was pressing, "Dengyingzhou" did not stay in Guangzhou for long, after loading the silver, repaired the ship a little, replenished the clear water, and immediately set off for the direction of Leizhou.

Ude opened the transcript on the ship. This is a document drafted by the Guangzhou station. In this document, which was jointly drafted by the three main business leaders of the Guangzhou Station, it was proposed that the Guangzhou Station use its subordinate enterprises to absorb the deposits of the wealthy families of the officials in Guangzhou and even in the entire Liangguang and Fujian regions.

"Deposit?!" Wu De was taken aback and stood up directly from his chair, with only four words in his heart: "Whimsical!" ”(！ )