The captain of the first ship of the caravan sent by Chen Xian this time, that is, the leader of the caravan, was named Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng is only twenty-five years old this year, and he has been following Chen Xian for six years, and before becoming Chen Xian's student, he used to be a minion in Linqu Qinglong Mountain.

Wang Sheng was born in Banqiao Town, and his father was a guy in Banqiao Town who was begging for a living on a merchant ship, so Wang Sheng lived on a ship with his father at the age of 12 until he was 17 years old.

That year, the merchant ship followed by Wang Sheng's father and son capsized in a storm, and Wang Sheng floated at sea for three days with the planks pushed by his father before going ashore.

After going ashore, Wang Sheng asked for food all the way, and it took several months before returning to Banqiao Town, but when he returned home, he saw that his mother had died of grief, his young brother was gone, and the family's dilapidated house was also occupied by others.

The numb and desperate Wang Sheng began a career of wandering around aimlessly begging for food, and on the way to Yidu, Fucheng, with a few people named Huazi, they were coerced up the mountain by the thieves of Qinglong Mountain, and became a member of the cannon fodder of Qinglong Mountain......

Last year, Chen Xian selected the crew members in the army, and all those who had come into contact with the ship were singled out, and among all the officers and men selected, Wang Sheng had the highest rank and was the battalion commander on active duty.

After being personally received by Chen Xian and having a long conversation for several hours, he was appointed captain of the lead ship of the merchant fleet.

Wang Sheng looked at the familiar situation at the mouth of the Yongjiang River, and couldn't help but think of that stormy night again, the taciturn father, the big hand that pulled him up from the sea when he was exhausted, and the last words that his father said to him after he found that the small wooden board could not bear the two of them, "It's too small, you hurry up, I'll find another piece." ”

After saying this, the silent man who was only in his thirties, but who was as stiff as an old man, let go of the plank without hesitation, swam towards the sinking ship, and disappeared from Wang Sheng's sight......

Wang Sheng was a merchant sailor for four years and came to Mingzhou nine times, after all, it was one of the most prosperous commercial ports in the world.

The merchant ship carrying him and his father capsized when he returned from his ninth visit to Mingzhou.

The port of Mingzhou in the Song Dynasty was located at the mouth of the Sanjiang River in the upper reaches of the Yongjiang River.

The so-called Sanjiangkou is the confluence of the Yuyao River and the Fenghua Fenghua River, after the confluence of the two rivers, it becomes the Yongjiang River, so it is called the Sanjiangkou.

The wharves of Sanjiangkou are mainly concentrated on both sides of the Yongjiang River in the lower reaches of Sanjiangkou, where the water volume is abundant and the water depth is calm, and it is a very good port.

Chen Xian's newly built Venus-class sailing ship, 22 meters long, weighing more than 100 tons, and with a full load displacement of only more than 200 tons, according to the calculation of this era, belongs to a medium-sized sea ship of nearly 2,000 materials (with a carrying capacity of 2,000 stones, about 120 tons). Such a big ship, in the Yongjiang waterway, is not too conspicuous.

Wang Sheng looked at the wide river, not to mention the sailing ship of 2,000 materials, and it was not uncommon for a large ship of 4,000 materials to be twice as large as the Daystar-class merchant ships.

Even in Wang Sheng's fleet, the Daystar class sailing ship is not the largest, the largest is a typical Mizhou red-headed ship, this ship belongs to the Mizhou maritime merchant Xu Wen, is a 4,000 materials (carrying capacity of about 240 tons) sailing ship.

As the fleet entered the mouth of the Yongjiang River, Wang Sheng ordered the soldiers on the ship to take off their armor and change into sailors' clothes, and some of the sailors stayed on duty in the arsenal duty room below the deck in case of accidents.

Soon, the fleet slowly arrived near the mouth of the Sanjiang River along the Yongjiang River.

After arriving at the destination, a small boat was released from the Xu family's merchant ship, carrying the Xu family's shopkeeper and a few men to the dock on the east bank of the Yongjiang River first.

Half an hour later, the shopkeeper of the Xu family returned from the dock to take the boat, hung out the flag, and signaled everyone to dock with him.

As one of the top maritime merchants in Michigan, the Xu family has a wide range of contacts in Mingzhou Port.

After more than ten sailing ships docked, several officials wearing Song State official uniforms, accompanied by the shopkeeper of the Xu family, boarded the ship one by one for inspection.

After each of them received more or less gold cakes from the shopkeeper Xu, the officials hastily inspected and registered the goods, and then disembarked.

For the goods on Wang Sheng's Liusouge ship, only iron tools were registered, and the glass, revelor muskets, soap and other goods hidden in the bottom compartment were not registered.

Next, Wang Sheng organized people to unload one-tenth of the amount of iron from the ship according to the amount of goods registered by the officials of the city shipping field, loaded them into the carriage of the city port to transport the lottery (the so-called lottery is the commission, which is equivalent to the city port tax), and obtained the official certificate of the city shipping department.

With this public certificate, Wang Sheng will be able to sell the goods on the ship in Mingzhou Port.

In the next few days, Wang Sheng, under the introduction of the shopkeeper of the Xu family, met some Mingzhou merchants and began to sell the goods on the ship.

Facts have proved that Chen Xian's vision is not bad, and the goods he prepared for the merchant ships are very interesting to the merchants of Mingzhou.

Whether it's crystal clear glassware, ironware that won't rust, or large pieces of soap, local traders are very valuable.

In a few days, most of the goods on the ship were sold, and Wang Sheng purchased some high-quality silk and exquisite porcelain in the Mingzhou market according to Chen Xian's requirements.

On this day, Wang Sheng was settling accounts in the courtyard of the chartered inn, and a Mingzhou businessman who had bought a lot of goods yesterday asked to meet.

The Mingzhou businessman named Wang Yu exchanged a few words with Wang Sheng in the obscure Mingzhou dialect, but fortunately, Wang Sheng followed his father to the sea when he was a teenager and learned a lot of dialects, and this Mingzhou dialect can also deal with a few simple words.

After the greetings, Wang Yu said to Wang Sheng: "Manager Wang, one of my big customers, saw your goods and was very interested, and wanted to package your remaining goods, but he wanted to see you, I don't know if Manager Wang is interested?" ”

After finishing speaking, Wang Yu saw that Wang Sheng was silent, he also knew that the goods brought by the other party were very gunman, and he was not worried about selling, so he hurriedly said: "Manager Wang, my big customer, is a big businessman from Lin'an, as long as you can get in touch with him, you will not worry about selling any goods you bring in the future." ”

Wang Sheng raised his eyes and glanced at Wang Yu, showed a knowing smile, and said, "Since it was introduced by Wang Yuanwai, of course I have to go." ”

Wang Yu was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly got up to lead the way.

Before Wang Sheng went out, he whispered a few words to his guard captain.

After that, he took four guards dressed as guards to follow Wang Yu out of the inn and sat on the two small sedan chairs brought by Wang Yu.

After Wang Sheng's guard captain left, he quickly left the inn and returned to the ship, and soon the soldiers of Chen Xian's six merchant ships wore helmets and armor, and the artillery prepared ammunition, and in ten minutes, the six ships were ready for battle.

After that, the armed merchant ships notified the maritime merchant ships and told them to be ready to evacuate at any time.

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