Chapter Fifty-Four: What Do You Want to Hold Silk Trade?

Hu You climbed on the high mast, looked south, and then shook his head in disappointment.

This is a large sea ship, the style is very different from the rest of the sea ships sailing in the Great Song Dynasty, the length of the hull is about 10 zhang (about 31.6 meters), the width is 2 zhang (about 6.3 meters), the hull is slightly round, the bow and stern are upturned, divided into three layers: upper, middle and lower. The lowest level is the sealed cabin, and the middle level is the cargo hold, which also has the sailor's quarters. The top deck is the cockpit and aft cabin. There are four masts, three of which are equipped with spinnakers, which are rarely seen in the Great Song Seas, and which can help the ship sail when it is not downwind. The other mast is fitted with a sail, which is to add more power to the boat when traveling downwind. (Note 2)

These canvases are coated with eucommia glue, which makes them perform better for the ride.

This is the maiden voyage of the "Zhiyuan", and as the design assistant of the Zhiyuan, Hu You also boarded the giant ship as a lookout.

"Zhiyuan" is naturally the name of the first sea ship built by Zhao and Ju for the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and the hull manufacturing not only uses the watertight compartment, main and auxiliary elevator (rudder) that is leading the world in the Great Song Dynasty at this time, but also absorbs the "structural method" in the shipbuilding law of Zhao and Ju from later generations. Because of the thorough preparation, after the small sailboat was made in the early test, Zhao and Ju began to build it on the day they left the hanging island, and it took only two months to build the boat.

The ship was also equipped with a 24-way compass needle, a four-clawed iron anchor, two small sampans for both oars (Note 3), and one of the most important things: a sextant.

On this voyage, most of the sailors on board were old sailors borrowed from the coastal envoys, plus shipwrights from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, fishermen recruited from Qingyuan Mansion, and 20 teenagers from the first three classes of Yixue in their families, a total of 122 people. If he just operated this ship, there would have been no need for these many people, but Zhao Heju hoped to take the opportunity of the first voyage to exercise his own teenager more.

The "Zhiyuan" carried about 3,000 hulls (150 tons), which was more than enough to carry these 82 people, and although the space on the deck was narrow, everyone still did not feel crowded (Note 4).

In terms of having sufficient manpower, material resources and time, Zhao Heju was fully confident that he would build the big treasure ship that Zheng He rode when he went to the West in later generations.

"What did you see?"

On the deck, it was Duncan who raised his head and shouted to Hu You, who was now a slave in Yuzhang Villa, the kind who "voluntarily" signed a deed of sale according to the rules of the Great Song Dynasty. Although there were two firewood knives that forced him at that time, in his heart, he was afraid that he was extremely satisfied that his family could take refuge in such a master, at least compared to the pirates who had no meal, he was living a stable life now.

The only regret is that there are no women.

Duncan's secret to save his life was that Ding Gongai's lair was on a large island, and when he described the location of that island to Zhao Youju, Zhao Youju's words made him almost desperate: "This island is called Liuqiu, also known as Yizhou, Quanzhou Haike, there are many passers-by, what is the secret?" ”

"Duncan, you liar, if your master knows that you are cheating on us, you will be chopped into meat sauce!"

Hu You yelled at him, Hu You didn't like this white man at all, because his pirate accomplices burned and killed on the hanging island, and the hanging island lost a number of manpower and wood, causing the construction of the "Zhiyuan" to be delayed for more than ten days.

Duncan shrugged his shoulders, this kind of words, whether he was in the Arabs or in the group of pirates, he had heard it countless times, and naturally knew that it was not true.

"Zhiyuan" left the hanging mountain for three days and three nights, at this time it was September of the ninth year of Jiading, and the northwest wind was blowing, so the Zhiyuan went with the wind very fast. According to Duncan, they were already close to Liuqiu

"Let me see......" After yelling at Duncan, Hu You took out a piece of paper from his arms, and counted the strokes while reading it.

Over the years, he had to go to Yuzhang Villa every once in a while to live for a month or two, during which Zhao and Ju had to give him special guidance, in addition to teaching him literacy and arithmetic and some shipbuilding skills in later generations, there was also an important one, that is, how to use a sextant to locate at sea. Hu You was not familiar with it at this time, but as long as he was given enough time, he could still roughly calculate his position by using the sun and stars in the sky.

Moreover, before this trip, Zhao Youju also gave him a map, saying that it was the Yizhou chart of Wei Wen of the Three Kingdoms that was dug out of ancient books. Hu You calculated his position and judged that the ship did not deviate from the direction, if it is judged by the speed of the past three days, the Zhiyuan is indeed very close to the "Liuqiu" island.

"Why haven't you seen the island yet? The chart given by Da Lang is naturally not wrong......" While putting away the chart, Hu You raised his head, and then he pointed to the south and shouted: "Land, land!" ”

What he sees is indeed the Taiwan of Liuqiu, the future generations.

In the era when Zhao and Ju crossed over, this island was called China's "testicle", and for this, the Chinese on both sides of the same root had to hand over countless of their hard-earned money to the two Russian and American arms dealers, so that they could use the most advanced weapons against their own compatriots.

At this time, Liuqiu is far away from the mainland, not under the jurisdiction of the Great Song Dynasty, the indigenous Gaoshan tribe on the island has a small population, although there are tribal chiefs, but it is still at the end of the clan commune, Mo said that with the Great Song Dynasty, that is, between the various tribes on the island, there are few contacts.

This is also the first goal that Zhao Youju has worked hard to lay out over the years, to really build a base for his family on Liuqiu Island. In the early years, he was unable to achieve this goal because of his small family, the lack of safe and convenient seagoing vessels, and most importantly, the lack of loyal and reliable personnel. Now it is different, he himself is twelve years old, and in a few months he will be thirteen, and he can even marry a wife in some people's homes, with Hu Ke's experience and the help of the coastal control envoys, this sea ship has also been built, plus the first three batches of nearly two hundred teenagers have been trained, although they are not all top talents, but it is definitely not a problem to put them at the grassroots level to manage a hundred and ten farmers and craftsmen at this time. Therefore, Zhao and Ju made the biggest adventure so far, and sent twenty teenagers to the "Zhiyuan" at one time, if the first voyage failed, a ship was nothing, but these teenagers were extremely pity.

Although Hu You saw the land, it would take time for the ship to really get up, and after some slowdown, the "Zhiyuan" began to slowly approach Liuqiu Island. Hu You was both a lookout and a navigator, and on the map given to him by Zhao and Ju, he had already marked out where it was convenient to dock the boat, so it took more than half a day until the sun went down, and they finally found their goal: a wide estuary.

This is what later became the mouth of the Tamsui River, and today it is still a densely forested place. The Zhiyuan dropped anchor, put down the sampan, and more than 20 people rode the sampan upstream, these people were all coastal control envoys who came out on leave, and the leader was Lin Xi. They received a lot of money from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, so they took leave to serve, and there were more than 80 sailors like them on board.

After Zhao and Ju learned that it was Ding Gong Ai, who fled four years ago, who led the pirates to attack the island, they made up their minds to completely eliminate this hidden danger. Duncan said that he had placed his lair in the northern part of Liuqiu, and Zhao and Ju asked Zhao Ziyue to negotiate with Lin Xi and ask them to send elite soldiers to clear it. In the last attack, there were also twenty or thirty casualties among the children of the navy, so the coastal control envoy also hated this group of pirates, and Zhao Zi said that he promised a heavy reward, and Lin Xi had no reason not to allow it.

"Steward Zhao, this island was originally inhabited by natives." Standing on the "Zhiyuan", watching the sampan move along the estuary towards the shore, Lin Xi pointed to the corner of the house exposed between the forests on both sides.

At this time, the people who lived here were the "Pingpu people", who lived in wooden stilt houses and lived a nomadic farming life. Young and strong men gathered in the "Fuliao" public house (Note 5), one for convenience, and the other for tribal protection. Ah Mao is a young warrior of the Pingpu tribe here, when he saw the big boat on the sea, he sounded the horn in panic, and the young and strong people of the whole tribe rushed out with bamboo spears and sticks.

"Who is that big ship?" Ah Mao asked the patriarch.

"It doesn't look like a Song person!" The patriarch was an elderly woman, she wielded a bamboo spear, and the Song people occasionally wandered to the island, so she still had some impressions of the Great Song in the distance, only that it was a very large and very large tribe.

After a while, the two sampans came to the shore, and the patriarch had a sad face when he saw that the people on the ships were holding bright weapons in their hands. It was an iron weapon, she naturally recognized, and it was clear that these people from other places were not unarmed.

Lin Xi glanced at the Pingpu people's wooden house from a distance, and said to Zhao Zi beside him: "Steward Zhao, do you really want to be like this?" ”

"My master is the most benevolent, although the natives on this island are stupid, my master does not want to take advantage of them." Zhao Ziyue smiled, and then waved his hand: "Lift things up!" ”

What was brought up were some cloth and silk, and these exquisite silks were the product of a new weaving workshop on the hanging island. Zhao and Ju asked people to hold one of the horses and go with him, while he himself held a bamboo pole and gradually approached the village of the Pingpu people, and stopped at a distance of fifty feet.

From here, he could clearly see the uneasiness of the people of Pingpu in this small village, who were not very numerous, with less than fifty men standing on the outermost part, and then women and children, all unclothed. Zhao Ziyue smiled at them, inserted the bamboo pole into the soil, motioned to his companion to put down the silk, and then the two slowly retreated.

Ah Mao looked at the movements of these people strangely, and then looked at the patriarch.

"They want to give it to us...... no matter what kind of woman it is, she has no resistance to these glittering and beautiful fabrics, and the patriarch swallows his saliva and orders: "Ah Mao, take our deerskin and go and exchange that thing!" ”

Ah Mao hurried back to the house, his movements were agile and athletic, and in a moment he was holding a complete deerskin. He approached the silk horse step by step, his eyes were firmly fixed on Zhao Ziyue, Zhao Ziyue followed Zhao Heju's instructions, always smiling on his face, but did not make any other movements.

Ah Mao changed the deerskin to the edge of the satin, and picked up the silk, which was so slippery and soft to the touch that he couldn't help but rub it twice. His eyes were always on Zhao Ziyue, and seeing that Zhao Ziyue did not make any hostile moves, he slowly retreated back to his original position.

Zhao Ziyue instructed Li Yilao, who accompanied him, to go back and bring a piece of silk again, and then he took this silk by himself, and when he got under the bamboo pole, he put down the silk again, this time he did not leave, but stood in place, looked at Ah Mao and beckoned to him, signaling him to come over.

"Take another piece of deerskin...... And the antlers, this thing ......" The patriarch repeatedly rubbed the silk that Amao brought back, whether it was the exquisite pattern, the shimmering luster, or the soft touch, it made her feel that it was worth taking out all the deer skins of the tribe in exchange for this. She looked over to the side of the boat, where there were at least ten more, and she was a little disappointed that she had brought all the deerskins of her own tribe, and she was afraid that she would not be able to exchange them for so many.

Ah Mao took the second deer skin and a pair of huge antlers, still in the same cautious appearance, and slowly approached Zhao Ziyue. Zhao Zi said that there was about thirty zhang behind him, Li Yilao held his breath, although this native man did not seem to have malicious intentions, and he did not have any sharp weapons in his hand, but Li Yilao still felt nervous.

However, Zhao Zi said that he was always confident and stable, and his appearance at this time was a bit like when Zhao and Ju faced the children at the beginning.

In front of Zhao Ziyue, Ah Mao put down the deer skin and antlers in his hand, but refused to get closer. Zhao Ziyue smiled and took a step forward, Ah Mao was startled and was on guard, but Zhao Ziyue walked straight to him and hugged the deer skin and antlers.

This move made this small tribe completely relaxed, and in exchange for something so exquisite, the tribe's men, women and children were extremely happy, and even sang and danced. The inquisitive children were bold enough to come up and touch the silk, and then ran away quickly.

Zhao Ziyue beckoned behind him, and he signaled, and the sailors who went down with the boat moved all the horses of silk and satin, and removed two baskets of porcelain from the sampan, and put them under the bamboo poles. Ah Mao saw the silver-white porcelain like jade, his eyes were straight, he looked at Zhao Ziyue, and then looked back at his tribe, but found that the patriarch had also come over.

The patriarch touched the silk and porcelain with trembling hands, and muttered in words that Zhao Ziyue couldn't understand, and his voice was short and fast-paced. After a long time, she shook her head, sighed, and reluctantly put her things down.

She had seen this porcelain from the land, and on this island it was a very precious thing, and only the largest tribes had a few.

Zhao Ziyue bowed to her, then made a gesture to push everything to her, and then turned and pointed to the other side of the river. The patriarch was very puzzled at first, but after Zhao Zi saw it, he hugged a piece of silk and a piece of deerskin, swapped the positions of the two, and then repeated the action of pushing everything to the patriarch, and then pointed to the other side of the river.

"He's going to exchange with us, take the other side of the river and exchange with us!" Ah Mao was the first to react and shouted at the patriarch: "They are stupid, they exchange these excellent things for the land that has no owner!" ”

"Take it away, it's all ours now!" The patriarch was overjoyed and nodded desperately to Zhao Ziyue.

In this way, Zhao Ziyue used twelve pieces of silk and a hundred pieces of porcelain in exchange for the land on the north bank of the Tamsui River in later generations.

Note 1: "The Book of Songs": "The hooligans, holding the cloth trade silk, the bandits come to trade the silk, and I will seek it." ”

Note 2: This text is a description of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Columbus when he discovered America, with slight modifications.

Note 3: These configurations are owned by the Yuan and Ming Dynasty Fu Ship, and there is absolutely no problem for the technology at this time.

Note 4: In the Song Dynasty, the golden finger was not opened, and the large ships built were 2,000 to 5,000 hundred, equivalent to 100 to 500 tons, while the flagship of Santa Maria, when Columbus discovered the Americas more than 200 years later, was only 1340 tons.

Note 5: This is the folk custom of Pingpu, Taiwan.