Zhang Shun's clerk on the boat was named Zhu Wu, I don't know why, Zhang Shun always felt that this person was very kind, and when they first met, they quickly became friends.

The former scholar soon boarded Zhang Shun's ship and became the deputy captain and his clerk.

Zhu Wu gave him a lot of ideas, such as this time, he said to Zhang Shun, looking for this port, don't think about anything else at all, just go directly to the mouth of the Molong River.

That place may not have more than six months of sailable time per year, but since it is the mouth of the Molong River, the liquidity must be very good, and there is no problem with more than four months.

In addition, from here, you can go upstream to control the entire Molong River basin, such a treasure land, even if it takes a few months less to sail, the navy will not be too picky.

Therefore, when Zhang Shun set sail this time, he had already made up his mind to go north, knowing that he could not sail at all, or find the mouth of the Molong River to the sea.

Zhu Wu, who was also wearing thick clothes, quietly came to Zhang Shun's side, looking in the direction of the coastline like him.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"Haven't found it yet, maybe north of the strait?" Zhang Shun asked rhetorically: "How is the morale of the little ones?" Are there any complaints? ”

"How can no one complain? The little ones want to go home. Zhu Wu replied with a smile: "But it doesn't matter, I can persuade the crew, as long as they support us, other people's opinions don't matter." ”

On the private sea vessel of the Great Tailwind, it is entirely up to the owner how to configure the crew.

With the help of Zhu Wu, Zhang Shun equipped his ship with the following crews:

15 Qi civilians, these people are in charge of the technical positions on the ship: such as clerical work, whaling cannon operation, lookout, boatswain, navigator, helmsman, etc.

At the same time, they were generally armed with flintlock pistols, which were also the core of the ship's armed forces.

There were also 15 Goryeo sailors, and these people were not Goryeo slaves or Goryeo commoners of the Qi Kingdom, they were recruited from the Goryeo Kingdom.

Finally, there were 8 Fuso and 7 Ryukyuan.

These thirty crew members can only get one-third to one-half of the income of the civilian crew of Qi State, and are responsible for hard work such as operating sails or paddling on the ship.

However, these people were all crew members recruited by Zhang Shun in foreign countries, and they came from various parts of the three countries, so they could not unite at all, so they could not pose a threat to Zhang Shun's position.

There are 47 people on the "Great Shunfeng", and as long as Zhang Shun can unite his own people, he can act arbitrarily without considering the thoughts of others.

For example, this time, Zhu Wu used the high bounty and merit of the Qi government as bait to encourage the Qi crew to unite and support Zhang Shun to continue to go north, and it was useless for the other crew members who could only get a meager salary to oppose it.

"But you can't completely ignore their ideas." Zhu Wu continued: "How about giving them a little more salary?" It only takes a small amount of money to satisfy them. ”

The foreigners who go on the "Great Shunfeng" are poor ghosts who can't get along in their hometowns and can only take risks, Zhang Shun gives them very low wages in Qi State, but they can be described as high salaries in their own hometowns, and at this time add a little bonus - really just a little bit, then they will work harder.

"Tell the little ones that Lao Tzu will give them a 10% salary." Zhang Shun thought for a while, and then said: "If you can find a port, add another percent." ”

Zhang Shun called the Qi people as the crew members, and the crew members of Goryeo, Fuso, and Ryukyu as the little ones, which was also a kind of differential treatment in itself, but everyone didn't care much about it.

"Okay, that's enough."

As soon as Zhu Wu agreed, he suddenly heard the lookout on the mast shouting loudly with a wooden horn: "See! See! I saw the entrance to the sea! ”

Zhang Shun raised his head sharply and looked into the distance.

His position was not high enough, and he still didn't see his target, but the lookout used to be a maritime businessman's lookout, and his eyes were very trustworthy.

"Don't tell the little ones in the back."

Zhang Shun hurriedly instructed Zhu Wu, and then shouted loudly:

"Get up! Get up! Paddle! Speed up! We've found our goal! ”

……

On June 12 of the fourth year of Longdao, the "Great Shunfeng" landed near the mouth of the Molong River.

This was the first recorded planned and organized arrival of Han Chinese at this place, although in reality only 17 Han Chinese out of 47 crew members.

After Zhang Shun arrived at the mouth of the Molong River, he sailed more than ten miles against the river and landed on a riverside land that seemed to have been cultivated.

He then left Zhu Wu and 15 crew members on board, and he landed with 30 men and searched for local villages along the fields.

However, the operation did not go well, and on the day of the landing, only one abandoned village was found, and the crew saw burned houses, abandoned wooden houses and corpses everywhere in the village.

Zhang Shun had to camp in the abandoned village – at least there were some uncollapsed earthen walls to shelter from the wind.

The next day, Zhang Shun's expedition continued its operations, finding the second and third abandoned villages, all of which had been abandoned in the vicinity of the land that had been cultivated.

Some experienced crew members told Zhang Shun that the land had been abandoned for a short time, at least for a year or two.

In other words, there aren't really many people around here.

Zhang Shun did not give up, and continued to explore the south bank of the Molong River on the third day.

As luck would have it, at dusk that day, the expedition caught a local probing his brain in the fifth abandoned village.

Of course, Zhang Shun had a Tongyi translator on the boat, and with him, Zhang Shun soon learned that he had indeed arrived at his destination, and this big river was the Molong River!

Zhang Shun let out a long sigh of relief.

His purpose was indeed achieved.

But there's more.

"Ask him, why are all the villages around here abandoned?"

Quack, Quack, Quack.

"The year before last, all the men in all the villages here were recruited by Bomu Boguoer to fight the Tartars, but they were defeated, and most of the men in the village did not come back."

The translator explains:

"It didn't take long for the Tartar army to come and wipe out all the villages here, and many people were taken away, and now there are only a few villages left here."

Zhang Shun nodded, that is to say, the Jurchen Alliance no longer has the strength to deter the Jurchen Tartars from the north.

This information is very important, and reporting it to the Ministry of War can also exchange a lot of benefits.

"Tell him that we are the sworn enemies of the Jurchen Tartars."

Zhang Shun said proudly:

"We are here to prepare to send troops from here to attack the back of the Jurchen Tartars, and if they still want to take revenge, we will notify all the village leaders in this vicinity, and three days later, we will go to the mouth of the Molong River and formally discuss with us how to fight the Tartars."

There was another burst of chirping.

Although he couldn't understand Yiyu, Zhang Shun could see a deep distrust in the other party's expression.

"Tell him that we brought a lot of food, and salt."

Zhang Shun smiled evilly:

"Even if you don't want to seek revenge on the Tartars, you can at least come and trade with us, they must be short of these, right?"