When sailing at sea, if the wind and waves are strong, even if the two ships are close to each other and shout loudly, it is difficult to hear what the other party is saying, and the ship will try to avoid being too close to avoid accidental collision, so when sailing at sea, there must be a set of flags.

The East China Sea Division is the main combat force on the sea of the Chu State, and the flag language is naturally indispensable, and at the beginning of the establishment of the Jiang family's caravan, it was escorted by the East China Sea warship, so the Jiang family fleet and the East China Sea division naturally have a set of flag words for communication at sea.

After a moment of communication between the two sides, the speed of the Jiang family's fleet slowed down significantly, and the sailors on the watchtower reported: "General, they are a caravan that has just returned from overseas trade and is returning home, they ask the general to accompany them all the way." ”

Shen Liangqiu ordered: "Let them sail in front, and we can follow behind." ”

The sailors waved the flag, and soon said to Shen Liangqiu: "They invited us over to use some food, saying that it was a rare thing brought back from Nanyang. ”

When Qi Ning heard it, he said with a smile: "This fleet is coming back from the South Seas?" "I thought that the Jiang family could do business in Nanyang, and it was no wonder that the wealth was rivaling the country, and it was making money every day.

At this time, I also vaguely saw that the Jiang family's merchant fleet was indeed huge, there were as many as seven or eight ships, and the important thing was that these ships were all behemoths, like a group of desolate beasts swimming in the sea, and the ship at the front seemed to be even bigger than the fifteen main warships of the East China Sea Division, and all the ships had flags fluttering on their bows and sterns.

Because Shen Liangqiu waved the flag here to order the Jiang family's fleet to go ahead, the speed of the seven or eight behemoths became faster, one followed by the other and passed in front of Qi Ning's eyes, Qi Ning saw in his eyes, and saw that the two ships in the middle of the Jiang family's fleet had a very deep draft, and obviously the cargo was much heavier than the other ships.

"Is the Jiang family's fleet mainly trading in the South Seas?" Qi Ning asked.

Shen Liangqiu nodded and said: "As early as when the Han clan controlled the East China Sea, the East China Sea had already begun to trade with the South Seas. After the Jiang family reopened trade, it continued to trade with Nanyang according to the route of the Han clan back then. ”

"I haven't seen a few Nansears in the East China Sea, do they have a fleet coming?"

Shen Liangqiu shook his head and said: "Master Hou, as far as the general knows, the Jiang family's merchant fleet is mainly trading with several small countries such as Johor, Temasek, Luzon and Java. There have always been pirates roaming the sea, and if you don't have the strength and still think about sea trade, it will be a sheep in the mouth of a tiger. It is said that Java and Johor once organized a fleet and wanted to come to our Dachu to trade, but they were intercepted and killed by pirates halfway through, and then they broke off their thoughts, and the trade between Dachu and them could only count on the Jiang caravan. ”

Qi Ning secretly thought that if this was the case, then the Jiang family would have a complete monopoly on maritime trade without any competition, and in this way, the Jiang family's caravan would be like a cornucopia, generating a steady stream of wealth.

"The pirates didn't have the idea of beating the Jiang family's fleet?"

Shen Liangqiu showed a slight smile: "Master Hou, everyone knows that the Jiang family's fleet is full of goods no matter how far back and forth, it is a good thing, how can the pirates not make up their minds?" It's just that they suffered a big loss back then, and the pirates are afraid of the Jiang family's fleet. ”

"Suffer?"

"That was five or six years ago." Shen Liangqiu recalled: "At that time, the Jiang family had already received the favor of the imperial court, and they could hire people to escort the escort by themselves, and the humble general remembered that a total of six ships were brought out at that time, and there was no black tiger shark on the sea at that time, and the pirates were all fighting separately, and that time seven or eight groups of pirates joined forces and planned to rob the Jiang family's fleet ......!"

"The result?"

"The pirates lost hundreds of people, and the Jiang family also took five ships." Shen Liangqiu sneered: "Two of the bandits have been annihilated and have lost their name. ”

Qi Ning frowned and said, "The combat effectiveness of the Jiang family's fleet is so fierce? ”

"The Jiang family is not short of silver, and has hired hundreds of martial artists, in the early years of the East China Sea, there was a sword sect of the Hui Sword Sect, there were more than a dozen masters and apprentices, and the swordsmanship was not weak, and there were some names in the rivers and lakes, after being persuaded by Jiang Mantian, this sword sect all defected to the Jiang family and became the escort of the Jiang family's fleet." Shen Liangqiu pointed to the Jiang family's big ship that was sailing westward and said, "The people from the Huijian Sect should be on the boat." ”

Only then did Qi Ning come to his senses, thinking that if this fleet had nearly 100 martial artists, that group of rabble of pirates would undoubtedly bring about their own destruction if they were to engage with the Jiang family's fleet.

"The Jiang family is so powerful, will it be too big to lose?"

Shen Liangqiu said: "The imperial court does not want the trade between the East China Sea and the South Seas to be cut off, nearly half of the taxes in the East China Sea are paid by the three major families, and half of the taxes paid by the three major families are paid by the Jiang family, in other words, twenty percent of the taxes in the entire East China Sea are contributed by the Jiang family, and once the maritime trade is cut off, these two percent of the taxes will naturally be unable to pay." My Great Chu and the Northern Han Dynasty confronted each other in the north and south, although after the Qinhuai War, they were all recuperating, but when the time was ripe, sooner or later there would be a duel, and the imperial court needed to recuperate and prepare for war, and the Jiang family's taxes were naturally unbreakable. ”

Qi Ning bowed his head, knowing that what Shen Liangqiu said was indeed the truth.

"In the past, every time the Jiang family traded, they had to send warships to escort it, once or twice, but if it was like this for many years, it was always inappropriate." Shen Liangqiu said lightly: "The water master is to serve Da Chu, and he can't serve a businessman. Later, the household department went to the imperial court and begged the imperial court to give a special decree to allow the Jiang family to hire guards on their own, and the imperial court also approved the request of the household department, but stipulated that the number of hired guards should not exceed 200 people. The Jiang family got the will, and soon hired a martial artist, these people are not weak, the Jiang family paid a lot of silver, and the sailors on the ship, up and down add up to three or four hundred people, the bandits at sea suffered the loss that year, and they no longer dared to embarrass the Jiang family. ”

Qi Ning thought to himself that if it was only kept at two hundred, it would not form a big climate, even if the Jiang family was rich and rivaled the country, as long as there was no army and under the supervision of the East China Sea Division, it would not be able to make big waves.

When it was dark, the two fleets had already merged into one, the six big ships of the Jiang family's caravan were sailing in a straight line in front, and the three ships on Shen Liangqiu's side were following behind.

When a bright moon rose in the sky, all the ships also slowed down, Qi Ning suddenly heard someone shouting outside, came out of the cabin, and met Shen Liangqiu head-on, seeing Qi Ning out of the cabin, Shen Liangqiu arched his hand and said: "Hou Ye, send someone over there to invite us over to have a glass of water and wine, I don't know what Hou Ye thinks?" ”

"Water wine?"

Shen Liangqiu explained: "This time it is Jiang Mantian's third brother Jiang Yishui who leads the team to trade, he is mainly responsible for leading the team to trade, the Jiang family has to send some things to the water division every year when the Chinese New Year is about to come, and it is also this Jiang Yishui who sends it over, and most of the governors don't like to associate with them, so they are all humble generals to deal with them, and this Jiang Yishui is also an acquaintance." ”

Qi Ning said with a smile: "He knows I'm here? ”

"Without the Hou Ye's orders, the humble general would not dare to reveal the identity of the Hou Ye to him." Shen Liangqiu said: "Jiang Yishui sent a boat over, saying that he brought back fine wine from Java, so ..... I don't know if the Hou Ye is willing to go over and taste it. ”

Qi Ning thought for a moment before he smiled and said, "Since they all sent ships over to invite each other, why did General Shen refuse?" I also want to taste what the fine wine brought back from Java is like, so why not take a look at it with the light of General Shen. ”

"The humble general will not dare!" Shen Liangqiu said busily.

The two of them arrived at the side of the boat, and saw a small boat on the side, which was naturally a small boat put down from the side of the big boat, Shen Liangqiu threw down the rope ladder and asked Qi Ning to get off the boat first, and after Qi Ning went down, he followed and got off the boat, the two of them arrived at the boat, and the four sailors immediately rowed the boat, the arm strength of these four people was great, like a machine, the boat broke the waves and moved forward, and the fleet walked slowly at night, so the boat sped up, but it quickly overpassed, and it was just a stick of incense time, and it had already rushed to the edge of the front ship, Throwing down the iron rivet from the side of the big ship, the sailor hooked the iron rivet to the bow and stern of the small boat, and there seemed to be a machine pulling the boat up, but for a moment, it was already parallel to the side of the big ship, Qi Ning stood up and saw that the lights on the big ship were bright, and at this time a middle-aged man in brocade clothes was waiting on the side of the ship with a smile.

The man was about thirty years old, his appearance was six or seven points similar to Jiang Mantian, he looked more elegant, polite, with a gentle and kind smile on his face, and when Qi Ning and Shen Liangqiu got on the boat, the man took a few steps forward and arched his hand: "The good guest arrived, but he couldn't meet him from afar, forgive the sin!" ”

Qi Ning also returned the salute with a smile, and Shen Liangqiu also arched his hand, and said, "Jiang Sanshao went to Nanyang, this trip is hard. ”

The man immediately smiled and said, "Don't dare, General Shen, Sanshao was the ridicule of others when he was young, and he would never dare to be called so by General Shen." Looking at Qi Ning, Qi Ning had already smiled and said: "I have just been transferred from the capital to the East China Sea Division, and I will train under General Shen in the future, my surname is Ning!" ”

"It turned out to be Brother Ning." Jiang Yishui said with a smile: "General Shen is already overjoyed to be able to come, and Junior Brother Ning can also appreciate the light, and it is even more brilliant, please!" Raise your hand and make a gesture.

Qi Ning glanced at it, and saw that this merchant ship was very magnificent, and said with a smile: "Shen Sanshao is resplendent here, and it can't be called Pengyu." ”

Jiang Yishui laughed again, and the three of them went straight to the cabin, after Qi Ning entered, he saw that the cabin was very luxuriously arranged, and he was in it, as if he was in the elegant room of the dignitaries, and the wine and food had already been placed on a round table in the middle, Jiang Yishui seemed to see Qi Ning's thoughts, and explained: "We went to Nanyang to trade, and we wanted to do business with them, and the local dignitaries sometimes boarded the ship to take a look, so arranging this ship like this is also to show them that my Great Chu is the upper state of the Heavenly Empire, There is enough strength to trade with them. ”

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