After teaching the strong men of Chicken Coop how to use arquebuses and how to build improvised walls of earth and stone, Conté urged Columbus to turn around and sail back. After all, Marin was still waiting for their news. Before leaving, Kong Tai also specially left a batch of silver coins for Liu Laogen to use as a purchase of materials.

Although Liu Laogen took the villagers of Jilong Village to Keelung to reclaim the wasteland, there were no basic living materials on the island of Tai, not even needles and threads, let alone iron farm tools or something. Therefore, sometimes, Liu Laogen and others will secretly drive small fishing boats to the coast of Daming to purchase supplies.

However, there is a Pinghaiwei on the coast of Putian County, which is dedicated to guarding against threats from the sea. Therefore, the fishing boats in Jilong Village must avoid the patrol of the Pinghaiwei warship. Otherwise, if they were caught, those officers and soldiers of Pinghaiwei would not be polite to them.

Therefore, even if you secretly drive a fishing boat back to the mainland to purchase, the fishing boat in Jilong Village cannot get close to the land, nor can it return to the original place of Xiaoliuzhuang, although there are many acquaintances there.

Later, the people of Jilong Village discovered an important phenomenon - that is, the patrol fleet of Pinghaiwei generally does not go to sea to cruise during major festivals. For example, during festivals such as the Chinese New Year, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Chongyang Festival, Pinghaiwei's patrol ships generally do not go to sea. After all, those soldiers also have a holiday.

In this way, the fishing boats in Jilong Village have the opportunity to procure. However, they did not dare to approach the land, so they had to choose to dock on the coastal islands, which are also islands, and then trade with the locals.

Of course, the villagers of Jilong Village did not have any goods to exchange for money before. The village mainly farms and fishes for a living, and in addition, you can cook a little private salt. If you want to cook private salt in the Ming Dynasty, you will be imprisoned. After all, the Ming court monopolized the salt trade, and private individuals dared to intervene and decisively arrest it......

But in Keelung Sheliao Island, it's different. There are no officers and soldiers here, everyone can boil salt casually and not worry about lawsuits. Moreover, in the past, the people of Jilong Village relied on boiling salt to trade with the people on the main island. The aborigines on Taiwan Island do not know how to boil salt, so they naturally welcome the salt cooked by the villagers of Jilong Village. The commodities exchanged by the people of the island were mainly deerskins, venison, and timber.

When sneaking back to the islands on the edge of the mainland to trade, the people of Jilong Village also used the deerskins they exchanged for from the Fanmin. As for the salt, they did not dare to trade it. Because, once discovered, it is definitely a felony. Even if they dare to sell, the people on those islands may not dare to buy it.

The trade objects chosen by Jilong Village are fishermen on Meizhou Island in Putian County......

Speaking of which, although the Ming court did not pervert the implementation of moving to the sea as in the early Qing Dynasty, it generally forbade fishermen to go out to sea to fish. However, the Ming court forbade sailing boats to go to sea, but it did not prohibit the kind of small fishing boats that could be paddled by manpower. Because, this kind of small fishing boat can't go out to sea. Even if you go to sea, you will die for a lifetime. Therefore, fishermen along the coast basically use small fishing boats to fish along the coastline. Meizhou Island is one of the islands where fishermen are concentrated.

Moreover, the origin of Meizhou Island is very large. Because, this is the hometown of Mazu. On the island, there is also the Tianhou Temple, which was specially built for Mazu.

Mazu is the patron saint believed in the coastal area of Hu Jianguangdong, so although Meizhou Island is small, it is a small island with relatively high popularity along the coast. Because, every year, many people from outside the island come to Meizhou Island to pay homage to Mazu. This has also led to more exchanges between Meizhou Island and the outside world, and it is easier to obtain goods from the outside world. Nanri Island, which is also an island, although it is not far from Meizhou Island and is larger, is not even popular with businessmen. Therefore, if you want to purchase goods, you have to go to a popular island like Meizhou Island.

Before, Zhuang Ding of Jilong Village once drove a dhow to Nanri Island to purchase. Although he avoided Pinghaiwei's boat, he didn't buy anything. Moreover, no one took the deerskins they brought.

Later, the villagers of Jilong Island went to Meizhou Island, and finally found a merchant who was willing to buy deerskins, and also purchased farm tools and various daily necessities from the merchant.

However, in order to avoid the defenders of Pinghaiwei, such opportunities are only made several times a year, and they are all carried out on major festivals. If they are caught by Pinghaiwei's patrol ship, the confiscation of goods will be light, and people may also be thrown into prison......

It's just that before, because only the merchants on Meizhou Island were willing to buy their goods, they were also willing to sell their goods to them. Therefore, their deerskins could not be sold for a higher price, and the goods offered to them by the merchants were more expensive.

For example, the price of a deerskin in Daming is more than 400 yuan. However, Lin Million, a black-hearted wealthy businessman on Meizhou Island, was only willing to give a purchase price of 40 wen a piece, which was so dark that it was my grandmother's house......

On the other hand, when Lin Million sold things to the villagers of Jilong Village, the price was double high. For example, an iron pot costs only 80 Wen in Daming, but Lin Million sells it to them for 160 Wen. The price of a white cloth in Daming is 200 Wen, but Lin Million dares to sell them for 400 Wen...... However, the people in Jicoo Village can only recognize it...... Because no one else wants to trade with them......

There is only Lin Million on Meizhou Island, who is more wild and dares to buy their deer skins. If someone else comes, he may not dare to accept it. Because, the origin of the deerskin is not clear......

It should be pointed out that the island of Taiwan in this era was full of sika deer, and the total number was estimated to be several million. Later, when the Dutch colonized Taiwan, the East India Company was able to purchase 400,000 deer skins from the natives every year and sell them to Japan.

The natives of the island, because there are more deer. Moreover, after hunting a deer, you can get hundreds of catties of meat, which is enough for many people to eat. Therefore, the aborigines are not very concerned about the development of agriculture - if they can hunt hundreds of catties of meat at will, why do they still work hard to farm? Therefore, even if there is agriculture on the island, those Pingpu aborigines who engage in agriculture are only slash-and-burn. For them, venison is the staple food, and as for the food, it is a change of taste......

In fact, the villagers of Jilong Village also hoped to make a fortune by selling deer skins on Taiwan Island. But reality gave them a blow in the face - ordinary merchants along the coast did not dare to buy their deerskins at all, because the origin was not clear...... And Lin Million, who dared to buy their deer skins, was desperate to lower the price......

Therefore, although they brought a lot of deer skins to Meizhou Island to trade every time, they could not exchange too many goods......

In addition, the villagers of Jilong Village do not have big boats, nor do they have craftsmen who know how to build big boats......

It just so happened that after Kong Tai helped them defeat the group of Japanese robbers this time, a Japanese boat that could carry dozens of people was directly left to them by Kong Tai.

After Columbus's fleet had departed, some people gathered around and said:

"Uncle Gen, do we really want to take refuge in these ghosts? Now that we have this big ship, we can engage in bigger trade, and there is no need to take refuge in the ghosts! ”

Indeed, before the fishermen of Jilong Village went to Meizhou Island to trade, they could only drive small boats with oars, not to mention the danger, and they could only carry hundreds of deer skins, and they were also slaughtered by Lin Wan.

With this Japanese boat with a load of dozens of tons, the villagers of Jilong Village can completely drive this big ship to find a more suitable trading place and trade. At least, it's much better than being slaughtered by Lin Million.

Liu Laogen shook his head and said:

"Babies, you're thinking bad. Indeed, we have a ship, and we can make a bigger deal. But have you ever thought about safety? This time, a random Japanese boat almost wiped out our entire village. Therefore, our village needs to be protected! ”

"These ghosts have said that they will send people to occupy this island next year. They're coming, and we can't stop them! ”

"What then? Why don't we go back to Daming? "The people on the side were in a hurry.

"Go back?" Liu Laogen sneered, and continued:

"Ah Rong, do you know that our Xiaoliuzhuang's land has long been occupied. And our household registration has long been cancelled. If you go back now, not only will you not be able to get your land back, but you will also be arrested as a fugitive. So, we can't go back. Unless, you're willing to go back to jail. ”

The household registration system in the Ming Dynasty was very strict, and it was strictly forbidden for people to leave the county without permission. If something goes out of the county, there must be a road guide issued by the county government. Otherwise, they will be put in jail. After the villagers of Jilong Village escaped from their hometown of Xiaoliuzhuang, because they did not return for several years, their household registration and fields must have disappeared. And the one who annexed their land must have been the local tycoon. If you go back at this time, in order to keep the land, the local Haoqiang will definitely denounce them and arrest them in prison.

"Then we can only take refuge in those ghosts?"

"Hmm!" Liu Laogen nodded, and then said:

"Those ghosts don't look bad, at least they're reasonable. However, the ghost is by no means a great good person. I thought that they left us without even collecting taxes, probably because they wanted to use us to help them......"

"Doing things? What can we do to help the ghosts? "The villagers were curious.

Liu Laogen pointed his hand to the south and said:

"Dealing with those people! The old man knows the local language of the Fanmin, and he is the most suitable to deal with those Fanmin. I pondered, these ghosts, I'm afraid they have the ambition to annex Dongfan Island, otherwise, they won't be able to win over a group of us mud legs...... So, babies, if you want to mix well in the future, come and learn the local dialect of Fanmin from the old man. As long as you learn the local dialect of Fanmin, there will be times when you can be used by Fangui in the future......"

"If you learn the local dialect of Fanmin, you can live a good life?" The young man of the village asked incredulously.

"Of course, since those Fan ghosts want to annex Dongfan Island, they must need a translator who understands the local dialect of Fanmin. Otherwise, even if Dongfan Island is defeated, how will it be governed? ”

"I see...... everyone suddenly realized. You must know that Liu Laogen is the only "cultural person" in Jilong Village who has read a book, and his knowledge is naturally higher than that of everyone.

In fact, when I was in Xiaoliuzhuang, there was not only Liu Laogen in the village, but also a Xiucai and a child. But when the flood was blowing, the two scholars went to the county seat to join their relatives, and did not follow the refugees to the side of Jilong Village. Therefore, the only "brain" in the village is naturally Liu Laogen, and everyone is very convinced of him.

"Okay, let's go back if it's okay. Starting tomorrow, all the clever babies in the village will come to learn the official dialect and the local dialect from the old man, so that they can be interpreters for those ghosts in the future......"

"Why do you still need to learn official language?" A group of young people grimaced.

"What do you know? Those ghosts only know some Ming official dialect, you want to be an interpreter for them, you can't even understand what they say, right? Therefore, the official language must also be learned......"