Section 16 Hegemony in the Qiongzhou Strait

The decision to leave for Lingao was known to no one in the Li Mansion except for a few cronies, and Li Luoyou estimated that the imperial court would sooner or later move troops against Lingao, so the less people knew about this matter, the better. In addition to Quark, he only took Gu Baocheng, his personal servant Sweeping Leaves and a few capable family members to follow.

Although the matter has been settled, but at this time it is already the end of the year, Chongzhen's three-year New Year is coming in a blink of an eye, the affairs of the year are cumbersome, there are many entertainments, and the business and private affairs are finished one by one.

The most convenient way to go to Lingao is, of course, to take the ship of Gaoguang Boat in Guangzhou. Although the ship mainly carried goods, it also took passengers, and the fare was very cheap. However, the environment is noisy, and it is very uncomfortable to live with people and goods; If you use your own special seat boat, it is too public, and the sea is not very peaceful, if you ask a good man on the sea to tie up the ticket, it will be difficult to do. While thinking about it, Sweeping Ye reminded him that Yang Run Kaitang and Lingao in Foshan have business dealings, so why don't you follow their line?

"Do you remember, sir? Last time Mr. Lin from Foshan invited him to eat and drink, there was a Mr. Liu from Lingao at the banquet, saying that he was the shopkeeper of a pharmacy in Lingao. His family seems to be related to Master Yang, who opened the hall of Yang Run. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds to take this route in the past, which is safe and someone to take care of it? ”

After sweeping the leaves to say this, Li Luoyou also thought about it. Take care of your diary at the moment. He has a habit of keeping a diary in every detail. Of course, his diary is not that he is in a bad mood today, that so-and-so is a jerk, which aunt owes discipline and other trivial matters of life, but that it is a matter of business, what business he has done that day, who he has met, what things he has talked about, and what new ideas he has.

This habit he learned from the local Portuguese merchants while trading in Macau. He felt that this method was not easy to forget, and he developed such a habit. Every day, no matter how busy you are, make a note before going to bed.

I looked through the diary and found more details than Sweeping Leaves said. In this way, Lingao's Runshitang Pharmacy is a channel that can be used.

At that moment, he called Master Feng, who was in charge of him, and asked him if there was a branch of Runshitang in the local area?

"Runshitang has no semicolon in Guangdong," Master Feng is well-read and strong, and all the shops and people who have done business with Liaohai Bank and have contact with them are all clear, "but they have an account office in Foshan, which is in charge of connecting with Yang Run and buying and selling drugs." The person in charge is called Liu Benshan. ”

"Master is going to Lingao, you can ask Yang Shiyi and Master Yang to pull the strings." Master Feng said, "Lingao's Runshitang and Foshan's Yang Runkaitang are one branch and two leaves, and the palms of the two families are cousins. ”

Although going to Lingao is a confidential matter, and the fewer people who know about it, the better, but Yang Shiyi does not need to be taboo - this person resells Liaodong goods with him, and he has collusion with Lingao, so he definitely doesn't dare to talk nonsense outside.

made up his mind at the moment and asked another guy who specialized in confidential affairs to go to Foshan to do this.

Li Luoyou was going to Lingao, of course Yang Shiyi didn't dare to snub this "God of Wealth", and immediately contacted Liu Benshan. After a few days, the little guy came back from Foshan and said that the matter had been done.

Because of the secrecy of the matter, when Li Luoyou left Guangzhou, he only announced to the public that he was going to inspect the Foshan branch -- he was a big businessman with a head and face in Guangzhou, and people came to visit him every day, so it was impossible for him to secretly disappear for 10 days and a half months. After arriving in Foshan, Liu Benshan arranged to go to Lingao.

Yang Shiyi flattered this god of wealth and specially chartered a two-masted blessing ship - it was originally to go to and from Lingao. The boat boss is ripe. After carefully arranging the cabin, and sending his own family members who needed to be used in the house to serve on the ship, Li Luoyou declined - he didn't want to make too much noise. Yang Shiyi had no choice but to send a lot of wine and food for the road search.

The boat had nothing to say all the way, this day was beautiful and the wind and sunshine, Li Luoyou went out of the cabin to breathe on the deck, only to see that the sea area here is extremely narrow, and the green mountains and trees on both sides of the river are in sight one by one, and he didn't feel strange, and asked:

"Where is this?"

"We've arrived at the Qiongzhou Strait, where is Leigong Island." The captain of the boat looked very relaxed, pointing to a small island near the shore in the sea to the left of the ship.

"This is the junction of Lingao and Chengmai, and after Leigong Island is the coast of Lingao County. It won't take two hours to arrive at Bopu Port. ”

Li Luoyou nodded, he had never been to Qiongzhou, and he had no concept of this big island. His industry is all over Guangdong, but he has never set foot in Qiongzhou Prefecture, which is sparsely populated and barren, except for timber, coconuts, betel nuts, red and white vines, etc., there is no bulk local export, and he also cannot sell anything.

What did the Australians rely on to make a small, desolate and remote county thrive? Li Luoyou is very interested in this.

Quark also emerged from the cabin, dressed all over as a Ming man, but wearing a jet-black square scarf to hide his hair. Still, his blue eyes reveal his identity.

The captain of the boat has also seen foreigners on weekdays, and he is not surprised by this.

"God, what a beautiful landscape." Quark said. He was a little greedy for breathing in the fresh sea air - he had been afraid to show his face for the past few days, and now he had only come to his head.

"The captain said that it would be Lingao in a few hours."

"Really?" Quark excitedly said, "I'd love to see the legendary Great Iron Ship." ”

As he was talking, he saw a dhowing boat sailing on the shore. Li Luoyou immediately realized that this was not a Chinese ship -- it could be seen from the shape of the ship and the sail outfit -- but rather a Western sailing ship.

"What kind of ship is this?" He gave it instructions to Quark.

"It's a dhow," Quark was no less surprised than Li Luoyou. It was a typical dhow, exactly like the one he had seen on the beach in his home country in England. But he had never seen such a ship in Asia, which generally sailed only on the coast of the shore and did not engage in long-distance trade.

"It's an Australian cruiser." The captain of the ship interjected, "From here to Lingao, it is the territory of the Australians. ”

"Australians patrol here?" Li Luoyou was a little surprised, he was really above board, "The water master doesn't care?" ”

"The sailor also has to see if he has the ability to take care of it, right? The sailor will ask for money, and see a few pirates running faster than rabbits and daring to meddle with the affairs of the Australians? The words of the ship boss were full of contempt for the officers and soldiers, "The Australians patrol here every day, exterminate pirates when they encounter them, and are willing to rescue ships when they are in distress, and there is no ambiguity at all -- since there are Lingao patrol ships, the strait is much more peaceful -- pirates dare not enter the strait."

"This ship, it's so beautiful," Quark shouted, "Sail the wind," he screamed again, and it turned out that the ship was tilted to make people feel like it was going to capsize.

"Australians are really first-class sailors," Quark wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, "even in my hometown. ”

"They can sail across the ocean in a big iron ship, and they will naturally be longer than the boat." Li Luoyou watched the movement of the dhow, the speed was fast and flexible, and the cumbersome and old division ship of the imperial court sailors would be difficult to protect itself if there were no cannons.

The patrol ship slowly approached, and when he got closer, he could already see the sailors rushing back and forth on the deck to collect and release their sails. On the sloping and bumpy deck, sailors in blue cloth coats were still able to run and work quickly. Patches of fishing nets hung from the mast to the deck, and I don't know what to do. Everything was in order on the deck, and the most striking thing was the long tubular object wrapped in tarpaulin on the fore and fore decks. It's about the cannon of the Australians.

"Hang the flag quickly," the boat boss instructed the guys. In a moment, a pennant fluttered on the mast. The dhows seemed satisfied, and the bow turned outward.

"What does that mean?" Li Luoyou was interested.

"My ship was registered in Bopu." The captain of the ship said, "So there is a flag, and when it is hung up, you can sail directly to the heights without inspection." If you do not have a registered vessel, you may have to stop the vessel for inspection. ”

"Interesting." Li Luoyou thought that the management of Australians was very disciplined, unlike the actions of businessmen, but like the government.

"What if you don't stop the boat?" Quark asked suddenly.

"What did you say about the red-haired man?" The boat boss said, "Don't stop the boat? Not to mention that the cannons above cannons can't bear it when they come over, even if you are given a row of bird guns, it is enough to bear it. Besides, the inspection will not ask for your money and goods, so why bother looking for this uncomfortable. ”

The captain of the ship said: "The Australians in Lingao are very good, and the errands are very polite, and they don't ask for money." Recently, ships have not pumped in and out of the port, and people who have gone to buy and sell have said that it is good. ”

"Imports and exports are duty-free, and this is to attract businessmen to trade there." Quark was excited, and from that point of view, Australians welcomed merchants to trade. There is a good chance that you will succeed in setting up a trade hall there

Although Macau is good, after all, it is the territory of the Catholics, and if it were not for the protection of Li Luo, he would have been expelled from the country long ago by the fanatics - it is difficult to save his life, and his compatriots were caught by the Spaniards when they were smuggling black slaves in the Americas. As for Guangdong, I can only stay in the Li family's mansion and try not to go out, and my life is quite comfortable, but it is too boring.

If you can set up a warehouse in Lingao, you can do business with the mainland through this stronghold, buy silk, sugar and porcelain, and then take the opportunity to take a ship back to Surat to resell after Lingao storage, and when you have more money, you can simply buy a ship to traffick, and if you have more strength, you can negotiate with the Australians again, so that they can allow the establishment of a British merchant house, so that more British merchants can trade in Lingao, and they can act as agents of the merchant house, and the benefits are immeasurable......

John?quark's merchant's heart beat violently, as if there was a myriad of gold glittering in front of him. He was a little impatient.

Quark? The poor couldn't help but swallow his spit and asked, "Are there many people who go to Lingao to do business?" ”

"It wasn't much earlier, but it's been more than half a year in the last half a year." The boat boss smoked his cigarette stick, "You can sell almost anything." Besides, you can also bring a lot of good-selling Lingao goods back on the return trip, and you can make double the money back and forth. ”

"I see."

"You two also went to Lingao to do business, right?"

"How so?" Li Luoyou asked.

"If you don't do business, who will go to that place." The old man said, "Besides, there is this red-haired old man." Red-haired people can't afford to be early, as long as there is money to make, the sword mountain and the sea of fire have to go through, and the money in the oil pot must be scooped up. ”

Quark? Poor hahadaxiao, even the name is right. At that time, mercantilism was popular in Europe, which sounded derogatory to Chinese, but to him, an Englishman, it was a compliment.

Li Luoyou thought it was interesting and chatted with the ship boss for a while, and only went back to the cabin when he saw that the wind and waves at sea were getting stronger.

"Pack up all your belongings, it's coming soon." Li Luoyou ordered to sweep the leaves, frowning, "What about Baocheng?" ”

"Back to the master," said Sweeping Ye cautiously, "he is still seasick today, and he can't get up in the cabin." ”

"It's really delicate" because of his seasickness, let him rest in the cabin at the beginning of the ship, Li Luoyou thought to himself that it had been five or six days, and seasickness was not good. This child is about to start a family, his body is still so weak, and the only bloodline of his wife and clan doesn't know if he has the ability to reorganize the family business? Thinking of this, I can't help but secretly worry.

Living by himself, of course, is doing his best for him, but his body is getting worse and worse, if there are three long and two short, Bao Cheng can not say that he can stand on his own and revitalize the court, even if he finds a position in the Li family, it will be difficult. Li Luoyou knew that there were quite a few close branches in his clan, and he was troubled by taking such good care of him and promoting a person with a foreign surname.

Constantly some people asked people to move in front of his father or other elders in the clan, and they wanted to stuff their own children and nephews under his hands, saying that they were "learning some skills". And Gu Baocheng's existence has repeatedly become evidence of his reluctance to get close to his clansmen.

"Hmph, it's not good to do things, but it's good to be greedy for money." In the past few years, there have been quite a dozen clans who have defected to Guangzhou, and except for a few, most of them are ready to rely on the benefits of an ancestor to enjoy happiness. That's pretty good. What's even worse is that he is extremely drilled, and he wants to "serve" by his side, so that he can make a "shopkeeper" and "steward" who handles a lot of money.

"If you can't write two Li characters in one stroke, uncle's affairs and nephews don't care, who else cares?"

Li Luoyou was about to vomit when he heard this kind of words. It turns out that people of the same clan are more unreliable than hired men with different surnames - and they are even more justified in making money: it's all the money of the Li family, why can't I use it? Li Luoyou was very helpless about this person, and it was inconvenient to drive them away. I had to arrange an errand to make good food and drink to avoid trouble.

Li Luoyou felt bored when he thought of the people in these clans. In order to relieve his boredom, he took a book and read it. This is a book of "Nine Chapters of the Book of Numbers", which is the work of Qin Jiushao of the Song Dynasty.