Chapter 117 I suddenly heard that there was a fairy mountain on the sea

The sea breeze is not too big, the waves are sparkling, looking at the Quanzhou Port that is getting closer and closer, everyone can't help cheering.

Pu Kaizong's face was full of smiles, he looked at the sailors on the ship, and said loudly: "After the goods are dropped, the reward for each person will be doubled!" ”

The sailors all responded in a hurry, looking very excited, although they were all trapped on the ship, not allowed to go ashore for half a step, but it was enough, standing on the ship, they had seen a new city, a country they had never imagined before.

It was a very rich place, and in the Great Song Dynasty glassware was almost everywhere more valuable than the finest celadons, and everyone was dressed in fine silk, cotton, or linen, and everyone had a red glow on their faces and a loud voice. As far as the eye can see from the boat, there are rice paddies and mulberry fields everywhere, and tea trees can be seen on the hillside. Cattle and horses were very common on the road, and that kind of carriage was flexible and lighter than the carriage of the Great Song Dynasty.

Almost everyone's steps are brisk, there is singing everywhere, and there is always a smile on his face, even if there is an argument, it also ends with laughter. Originally, the dock was the most mixed place, and there were endless battles every day, but the sailors saw that they were in order, and even if they were not in the line of defense occasionally, there was no dispute in sight.

Everyone has clothes to wear, everyone has food, it is almost a fairyland on earth. Some sailors even thought that the legendary Penglai of the East China Sea was referring to Liuqiu.

This trip not only allowed them to get a reward from the shipowner, but also gave them a lot of knowledge, such as knowing that there is a thing called cement and that there is a sharp weapon called artillery. After returning home, I thought that I would not go to sea in a short time, so everyone drank and gambled during this time, and there was one more thing to talk about.

After getting off the boat, accompanied by Li Yunrui, I visited Pu Kaizong in Tamsui City, and I saw more than these sailors, and I knew the situation more than these sailors.

For example, he himself stepped on the flowing street, and when he walked on the solid pavement, he saw that the road was very clean, and the old men in blue sleeves, either men or women, swept up the garbage from the ground and poured it into the clay buckets by the roadside, and in the early morning, someone would carry it away, or burn it or bury it. On both sides of the road, there are ditches, and the ditches are blocked with cement slabs, leaving only some small gaps, which are conducive to the rapid discharge of stagnant water. Pu Kaizong had never seen such a clean city, and on the streets, he believed that he would not be able to shoot a single speck of dust when he lay down and rolled a few times and then got up.

Most of the houses there have flat roofs with a certain inclination, and a few have tiled them, which is said to be to prevent typhoon damage. There will be a thermal insulation layer on the roof, and even a wooden box will be used to cultivate soil and plant all kinds of flowers and plants. The houses are all made of brick and stone, almost no wood, and they are all painted with lime, and the largest one is even plastered with porcelain tiles, which looks resplendent and magnificent.

But there are no inns on the island, not even shops, only at the three intersections, each with a large grocery store, and the goods in the shops are not very rich, but they are enough to meet the needs of life.

The copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty are not passable on the island, and they must be exchanged for coins on the island at the "bank" at the port. Jiaozi Island is refused, copper coins can be exchanged for copper coins on the island in a ratio of one to one, there are silver coins and gold coins on the island, this kind of coin is not as convenient as the copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty, but the whole one, the size is much smaller than the copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty. At the beginning of the exchange with him, Pu Kaizong felt quite at a loss, but later found out that although this money may not contain as much copper as the Great Song Dynasty copper coin, it is far more valuable than the Great Song Dynasty copper coin. Whether it is gold, silver or copper, the four words "Liuqiu Bank" and the value of the currency are pressed, but Pu Kaizong found that there are the most copper coins on the market, and there are very few gold and silver coins.

If it is a large-scale transaction, it is necessary to use "gold dollar coupons", in Pu Kaizong's view, this is just a banknote issued by a begging person. The paper used to make this gold dollar coupon is extremely rare, it is said that it was made of wood pulp from a certain country in the South Seas, and the flower case printed on it used six sets of colors, and each one had a Tianzhu number that Pu Kaizong knew and a tadpole text that he did not recognize. This should be done to prevent counterfeiting, but in Pu Kaizong's view, this kind of gold dollar coupon is only afraid that it is extremely difficult to counterfeit.

In the northwest corner of the island, near the wharf, it is said to be the "factory area", where all the main workshops on the island are concentrated, not only those that Pu Kaizong is familiar with, but also some that he has never seen before, such as glass workshops. Pu Kaizong once tried to get close, but was persuaded by Li Yunrui, who accompanied him, and he thought about it himself, these are indeed the key points of freshwater, and it is impossible for people to enter and exit.

He was a businessman, and he first saw what was related to business, but in addition to that, he saw something that had nothing to do with business. For example, the Stream Guards. The exquisiteness of the equipment of the Liuqiu escort team and the high morale of the Great Song Dynasty were not comparable to the Great Song Forbidden Army he had seen, these men between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two were well-disciplined and well-trained, and whenever they walked on the street, they would never appear to be hooked shoulders and backs, they all marched forward in a row, and there was an air of slaughter.

"Boss, what are you thinking?" As he was groaning, he came up to his tent and asked.

Although Tamsui "confiscated" one-fifth of the goods he sent, and when he bought Freshwater products, he added twenty percent of his "tariff" to the price negotiated between the two sides, but he calculated that it was not a fine and a tariff, and the profit from this trip was 80,000 yuan, which was 80,000 copper coins instead of the worthless banknotes!

Therefore the tent that came with him was always smiling, and the corners of his mouth were grinning on his ears.

"I'm thinking about it." This tent is a cronie, and Pu Kaizong will not avoid him if there is anything, so he replied: "That is a treasure land, if it is...... If so......"

Speaking of this, the two glanced at each other, and they both saw the look of greed in each other's eyes. But that greed then turned into fear, they all knew that when the eighteen groups of pirates in the South China Sea attacked a hanging island, the whole army was wiped out, and this strength was farther above the hanging island, the terrifying magic weapon, that kind of terrifying magic weapon, is to go up to more than 10,000 people, but I am afraid that it will be given in vain.

Unless the Great Song Dynasty Navy Division and the forbidden army can be used, however, how can the water division and the forbidden army be moved by a figure like him. Even if he went the right way and moved tens of thousands of sailors and forbidden troops, but with such fanfare, would he not alarm all parties, and at that time, with the power of Pu Kaizong, where would he be able to keep this foundation! Instead of cheapening others for nothing, it is better to make a profit in trading with Liuqiu as it is now.

"Flow...... Flowing......" Pu Kaizong muttered to himself: "When did this appear and where did it appear......

In Quanzhou Port, the entry and exit of sea ships was originally a regular thing, but Pu Kaizong's voyage was unknown to others, but the maritime merchant shipowners in his circle knew that he was looking for the flow of foreign goods that were rich in all kinds of foreign goods. It had only been more than ten days before his ship returned to the port, and boxes of goods were loaded on board, and it was evident that he had found the Liuqiu, and had made a great profit.

Therefore, the news quickly spread in the circle, Pu Kaizong only arrived at home and settled, and sent in one by one, some said that they had not seen each other for a long time to visit, some said that some time ago they had newly married a concubine and invited them to eat and drink, and some people simply said that the sea is so vast and the sky is so wide that there is no reason to eat alone anywhere, please Pu Kaizong will tell everyone about the begging.

At this time, the Pu family was not a first-class maritime merchant in Quanzhou, at most it could only be said to be second-rate, so these people dared to use all kinds of reasons to force him.

"If I can't get a foothold here, I'll move to Liuqiu, and look at the appearance there, there are still many places that have not been explored, if I bring the clan slaves over, there are more than 200 households, and I can be at ease in Liuqiu." He thought to himself, and then moved: "Could it be that the freshwater was built on the land where there is no foothold?" ”

After thinking about it, he felt that something was wrong, he met a lot of people in Liuqiu, although when he talked to people, Li Yunrui or other high-level Liuqiu executives were present, but he still got a lot of news from those who talked to him inadvertently. He heard at least four different accents from those people, including those from Shaoxing, Qingyuan, and northerners like Jingdong and Yanyun. And when he paid the tax, Li Yunrui introduced a person to him, and that person's surname was Yelu - this was obviously a Khitan surname.

How did these people from all walks of life on land get together, and how did they cross the sea?

Pu Kaizong is just a maritime merchant in Quanzhou, although he has some power on the sea, but his tentacles have not reached the north, let alone the place occupied by the Hu people in the Yanping area. Therefore, he didn't know that over the years, in the area of Jingdong East Road and Yanyun, Hu people had wantonly abducted and sold Qingzhuang. Otherwise, with his shrewdness, he would naturally be able to guess the origin of the begging people.

However, if you guess it, you can guess that with the power of the sailors of the Jin Kingdom and the Hu people, let alone Liuqiu, even the Tamna that is closer to them will not be able to reach it. And the Great Song Dynasty will have great changes in the past few years, and there is no time to take care of overseas, even if you know that there is such a place overseas, you can only wait and see. Zhao and Ju left the strategy for Liuqiu to let them choose the opportunity to open the port after they had 100,000 people, which is the reason.

Among these worship stickers, some can be pushed off, and some can not be refused, Pu Kaizong pondered for a moment, and then smiled, the tent cronies, with him into the study, saw him smile and knew that he had a way to deal with it, and he stepped forward and asked: "The owner has a way to deal with it?" ”

"Don't they want a piece of the pie?" Pu Kaizong sneered: "I'll let them share this cup, I can't monopolize it, then no one wants to monopolize it, we have dealt with Liuqiu, and we are more or less acquaintances, I don't believe that they can be better than us in Liuqiu!" ”

"The proprietor is ......" the tent asked, still a little confused.

Pu Kaizong waved his hand, pondered for a moment, and then called a housekeeper to hand over all those prayer posts to him, and asked him to worship back from house to house according to the name above, only saying that at noon the next day, everyone was invited to a banquet in the "Heroes Meeting" in Quanzhou Mansion, and everyone was welcome to enjoy the light.

At noon the next day, the Quanzhou Mansion "Heroes Club" restaurant was already full. This Quanzhou was originally a place where maritime merchants gathered, although over the years because of the "and buying" reasons, the number of sea fangs to Quanzhou has decreased, but the local maritime merchants are always concerned about overseas trade, and they have to come to inquire after hearing that Pu Kaizong Fang will return with a full load in more than ten days.

Pu Kaizong asked them to wait for about a quarter of an hour and half an hour to arrive, and some of these people couldn't hold their breath, and when they saw the figure of him, they began to shout: "Pu Dongjia, since there is a rich business, it should be taken out and shared by everyone, why don't you come for a long time?" ”

"The younger brother just went to the city, and the three ships of goods have not yet paid taxes, so I have kept you waiting for a long time." Pu Kaizong smiled faintly and said to the shouting person: "Isn't this Lin Dong's family, the younger brother is not as good as Lin Dong's family, your family has its own private port, so there is no need to deal with the city's shipping department." ”

It is a big crime to set up a port to evade the inspection and collection of taxes by the city, and the surname Lin has a small private port, so it is more profitable than the rest of the maritime merchants, but this matter cannot be said in public. Therefore, the man surnamed Lin immediately jumped up and said loudly: "Pu Dongjia, what you say is a bloody spray, my house is just a small wooden platform for fishing boats to go to sea, where is there any private port!" ”

"Don't be noisy, and listen to Pu Dong's family!" Some people thought that Pu Kaizong was taking the opportunity to make a noise, so as to make a displeasure and disperse, so as not to tell everyone about the request.

If it was just one or two maritime merchants, Pu Kaizong might not have taken it to heart and didn't take it to heart, but he could see that the second floor of the "Heroes Meeting" was full, and even there were people sitting in the aisle, and he was even more sure that if he didn't say it today, he would no longer have a place among the maritime merchants in Quanzhou. The heads of these guilds, their hands and eyes can reach the sky, and many of them even have the royal family standing behind them, although Pu Kaizong has the means, he does not dare to offend so many people at the same time.

"This trip has indeed reached Liuqiu, and the iron sand, raw silk, and cotton sent in Xia are really what Liuqiu needs." Pu Kaizong pondered for a while, and then clasped his fists and made a group gesture: "The law of Liuqiu is extremely strict, although I can enter the port and dock the ship, I don't know much. ”

"Where are you going?" Someone shouted from below.

"Wherever it goes, it is called Tamsu, and it is the only place where the port is opened. Tamsui has a population of about tens of thousands, the people are rich, and there is no official government, but the copper coins of our Great Song Dynasty are not commonly used in them, and the land, fields, workshops and shops are all owned by their owners. When they asked for what they needed, they were most lacking in all kinds of mineral deposits, copper, iron, lead, and tin, and they would accept them at a fair price. The second is raw silk and cotton, you all know that the silk and cotton cloth are extremely exquisite, which was originally made by the weaving mill machinery, and the local silk and cotton are insufficient, so it needs to be purchased by the Song Dynasty. ”

In the past, maritime merchants and foreign trade were mostly trafficking in silk, porcelain, books, paper, etc., and there were few mineral deposits, and raw silk and cotton were mainly sold to local workshops. Now that they can sell a large amount of raw silk cotton to the stream, those who have a wide range of fields in their families among the maritime merchants have begun to ponder whether to change their fields to mulberry cotton.

If the profit permits, they naturally have a way to let Fujian grow cotton widely.

"There is another thing, the matter of the begging, which has been reported to the government below." Pu Kaizong said with a smile.

He didn't say a word about Liuqiu's armament, only saying that Liuqiu had no official government, and the whole island belonged to one person.