It's the end of June, the sun is pouring down on the earth like a stream of fire, and the hot and humid waterfront area is particularly uncomfortable, and this is not yet the hottest time of the year.

In such weather, even in the early morning at night, there is a heat in the air, and no one wants to move, let alone do things. Even the hardest farmer is reluctant to wait for the scorching sun to work.

However, the new Dinghai Commander-in-Chief Lu was tossed at this time, not only urging his subordinate departments to go to sea to patrol and strictly investigate pirates, but he actually took a big boat to patrol all parts of Hangzhou Bay at the mouth of the Yongjiang River.

At this time of the season, when there is such a big movement, the officers and soldiers of Dinghai Castle naturally know the reason, and of course some people are happy and some are worried.

I am glad that those officers and soldiers who were transferred by the general soldier Lu Tai did not take the hot weather as hard at all, and followed the ass of the general soldier one by one. Originally, they were all poor military households that their grandmother didn't love their uncle, and they didn't fall into the eyes of adults such as adjutant generals and generals at all, but now they are finally appreciated by the new commander-in-chief, and have the opportunity to reap the benefits of the extra money, who is not excited, who is not hardworking? It must be known that such opportunities originally belonged to the generals' cronies.

After the resignation of Wang Zhiren, the former commander-in-chief, in addition to the new commander-in-chief Lu Tai, he was respected by the deputy general Wang Lan, the general Ma Yong, and the guerrilla general Li Tao.

Now, the three of them gathered together and discussed with sad faces.

"I'll just say, he's the chief soldier, although he is a newcomer, he shouldn't be completely left behind, and now he can be regarded as sitting on wax." The guerrilla general Li Tao said with a sad face.

"It wasn't like everyone discussed it together, but now it's a fart to complain!" Deputy General Wang Lan snorted coldly and reprimanded.

"I objected to it at the beginning, because you said that the surname Wu didn't understand anything when he first came, and it was easy to fool him, but now, people are not idiots, they have long understood how big the profits are here, and now that the carriage and horses are doing this, I think you will explain to those families?" Li Tao's eyes widened, and he said.

Although Wang Lan is a deputy general, two levels higher than him, everyone is a hereditary thousand households, and the strength of the military households in their hands is not much different, Li Tao is not afraid of Wang Lan!

"Okay, don't argue, since it happened, it's useless to quarrel, let's think of a solution." General Ma Yong hurriedly played the round.

"There are two ways, one is to simply kill this surnamed Wu, and in the future, we will have the final say on this Dinghai, and all the benefits are ours," Wang Lan gritted his teeth and said, before the words fell, Li Tao jumped up suddenly.

"The surname is Wang, you want to be a general soldier and want to go crazy! Don't drag us to death yourself. Kill Lu Tai, do you know who Lu Tai is? He is the confidant of Qi Guogong, although Qi Guogong is filial piety in Hangzhou, but Zhoushan has an army of 3,000, and Wang Yin, the governor of Zhejiang, is also a person of Qi Guogong. ”

"Vice General Wang, don't be kidding, the brothers want to live a few more years." General Ma Yong also looked at Wang Lan with displeasure.

Coward! Wang Lan glanced at the two of them with disdain, "I just said that there is a way, of course it is not possible to kill people, and it is not worth making such a big fuss for a little silver." There is only one other way, and that is to share the benefits. The benefits promised by the gentry could only be divided into a share of the surname Wu. ”

"There's only one way, but how much do you want to divide him?" Ma Yong nodded, embarrassed again, seeing that it was easy to get rid of Wang Zhiren, the brothers finally ate fat, and there was another Lu Tai, who was not as shrewd as Wang Zhiren, and looking at the battle put forward by Lu Tai, I am afraid that I will not be able to satisfy his appetite if I give less.

"At most, a quarter of him, and the four of us will divide it equally!" Before Wang Lan could speak, Li Tao jumped up again and shouted.

Don't dare to kill people, and divide people's money so stingy, it's really a greedy and cowardly thing, Wang Lan glanced at Li Tao with disdain, and couldn't pay attention to him, so he looked at Ma Yongdao: "According to the example of previous years, give Wang Zhiren's share of the general army to the surname Wu." ”

Ma Yong nodded: "That's all it can be!" ”

Li Tao shouted: "The newcomer surnamed Lu doesn't know the market at all, so he can't share him so much." ”

"Shut up, or you'll talk to him!" Wang Lan angrily reprimanded this-stirring stick before Li Tao closed his mouth.

......

At night, when a cool breeze blows from the sea, blowing away the heat of the day, people are much better.

The adjutant general, Wang Lan, prepared a banquet at the only hotel in the castle and invited the chief soldier to the banquet.

Wang Lan and the three of them waited for a long time, and the general soldier Lu Tai was late.

"The chief soldier has worked his patrol, and the general will give you a drink." Wang Lan took the lead in raising the wine glass and saluted Lu Tai.

Lu Tai pinched the wine glass and didn't hold it, but glanced at the three people who were worried, and said with a smile, "We are all martial artists, don't fucking go around the corner, if you have something to say, it's not too late to drink and play together!" ”

"Lord Lu is really a cheerful person, and the end will be admired and admired." Before Wang Lan could speak, Li Tao took the lead in patting the fart.

Lu Tai glanced at Li Tao and didn't pay attention to him, but said straightly: "Although this general is new to the city, he is not a mallet. As the saying goes, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and the sea to eat the sea, our Dinghai City is close to the sea, located on the top of the mountain, the land is barren, the entire Dinghaiwei is tens of thousands of military households, it is not easy to fill the stomach, only to reach out to the sea.

This Ningbo Prefecture, more hilly and mountainous, less plains, if the people's wealth is far from Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, Jiaxing and other prefectures, but there is also one advantage, that is, the harbor is extremely developed by shipping, and it is close to the Japanese Kingdom and the Ryukyus. Since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Ningbo Prefecture has been an important place for maritime trade, and there are no less than dozens or hundreds of sea ships going to and from the Ryukyu Kingdom every year.

Of course, the imperial court has a rule that the sea is forbidden, and this official, as the chief soldier of the Dinghai Defense Guard, is responsible for confiscating the sea ships of the Tongwai, which is not discussed. ”

With Lu Tai's words, Wang Lan, Li Tao and others turned pale, could it be that this Lu Tai is really a mallet, and he has to confiscate smuggling maritime merchants?

"However, it is not easy for the people to live, and many times it is forced to go to the Japanese country to trade, although the official has a duty, he can't kill them all, if it is not for military materials such as copper and iron, it is not impossible to turn a blind eye." Lu Tai changed his words and said again.

"Yes, yes, it's not easy for the people, we should consider them," several people were overjoyed when they heard this, and said one after another, "Don't worry, the general soldiers, the people are loaded and traded with cotton cloth, raw silk, tea, porcelain, and other daily necessities, not military materials." ”

"Is it that military supplies must always be inspected on the spot, and they go to sea to make a lot of money, but our brothers have a lot to do with it, the brothers are constantly running around in the water and fire, but the family members are waiting to be fed, and the brothers always have to be fed." Lu Taidao, righteous and stern, sanctimonious words said, the next is the time to divide the dirt on the spot, so everyone knows that the time for a showdown has come.

Among the three, Wang Lan is the most calm and has many ideas, although Li Tao is not convinced and repeatedly contradicts him, but when he really encounters major events, Wang Lan is the leader.

Wang Lan held the wine glass, his mind turned quickly, the new chief soldier spoke with a knife and cut tofu on both sides, which can be described as reasonable and well-founded, not long after coming to Dinghai, he unknowingly let him win over a group of dilapidated military households to work for him, it can be seen that it is not a fuel-efficient lamp, maybe how deep the water in Dinghai is, people have already explored it clearly, so, and like Li Tao said, bargaining and bullying people don't understand when they first come here, it is stupid.

"Mr. Lu is refreshing, and the brothers are not hiding. You know about the situation in Dinghai, and the general will have something to say.

When the southeast monsoon rises in the summer of every year, it is the time when the maritime merchants go to sea to the Wa Kingdom, and there are about dozens of ships that go to sea in Ningbo every year. According to the custom, each ship would give our brothers 500 taels of silver, and if one of our brothers turned a blind eye, it would add up to 30,000 taels or 40,000 taels a year.

This money has always been given to the general soldier alone, and the three of us each have two percent, and the remaining ten percent is divided equally among the brothers. How do you think about this year's profit sharing according to this ratio? ”

After Wang Lan finished speaking, he looked at Lu Tai without blinking.

The income of 30,000 or 40,000 taels a year, as a general soldier, alone occupies 30%, about nearly 10,000 taels of silver, which is a lot of income. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the continuous influx of silver depreciated a little, it was still very valuable, and the annual income of a medium-sized family was only twenty or thirty taels of silver, and the annual tax revenue of a county was so much!

After hearing this, Lu Tai's heart fluctuated, he knew that this anti-Japanese general soldier had a lot of oil and water, but he didn't expect it to be so big. With such a big benefit, it's no wonder that these three people are so excited that they want to bypass themselves and swallow it alone! With so much pumping and drinking the blood of the soldiers, a few can make twenty or thirty thousand taels of silver every year! Wang Lan and the three of them came to him together, that is, they wanted to pull themselves into the water and join them. However, Lu Tai sneered in his heart.

"Okay, my Lao Lu is not a greedy person, just according to what Brother Wang said, he will share dividends in proportion to previous years, but when the ugly words come to the front, my Lao Lu does not rub sand in his eyes, when the sea ships go to sea from my Dinghai, you must report to me in advance, I want to know the situation of all sea ships! Who dares to fool me, don't blame Lao Lu's treasure knife for not recognizing people! ”

Lu Tai patted the steel knife on his waist as he spoke, giving a stern warning.

"How can you, Lord Commander, you are too worried." Seeing that Lu Tai agreed, Wang Lan and the others immediately breathed a sigh of relief, eating more and occupying more did not succeed, at least the interests of the past were preserved, and each person put six or seven thousand taels of silver into the bag.

"Come on, brothers, let's go!" Lu Tai took the wine glass and drank it all, and everyone began to push the glass and change the glass.

The breeze blew the military flag, the flag drifted to the northwest, the wind became stronger and stronger, and the flag was blown and hunted.

The southeast monsoon rises, and it is another year when the Japanese go north for maritime trade.

......

Yang Wenqing personally went to Dinghai Castle and sent five hundred taels of silver.

Yang Wenqing is a member of the Yang family in Yinxian County, and is the cousin of Yang Bingnai, the head of the Yang family.

The Yang family has three Shangshu and seven jinshi, which is the first family in Ningbo Prefecture, and is also famous in the entire south of the Yangtze River, with tens of thousands of acres of land across prefectures and counties, which can be regarded as the top landlords in Zhejiang.

The economy in the south of the Yangtze River is developed, mainly in the fields of a variety of mulberry cotton and other cash crops, if all of them grow grain, tens of thousands of acres of land of grain left enough for tenants to chew, and the rest can not be sold for much silver. However, planting mulberry and raising silkworms is not the same, the value of silk produced by raising silkworms in one acre of mulberry field is eight or nine times or even ten times more than that of growing grain, which is also the reason why there are fewer grains and many kinds of mulberry cotton in the south of the Yangtze River. A load of raw silk is worth fifty or sixty taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty, and if the raw silk is transported to the Wa Kingdom, it can be sold for more than two hundred taels of silver, and the profit is as much as several times more.

Huge profits, so that countless maritime merchants flock to it, from the founding of the Ming Dynasty to the present, although the imperial court has repeatedly banned the sea, but also repeatedly banned, it is the benefit of people to move forward bravely. If the imperial court prohibits it ruthlessly, there will be major turmoil, such as the Wakou Rebellion in the Jiajing period, which was instigated by the coastal clans.

The Yang family, and even other families in Ningbo Prefecture, will not let go of such lucrative transactions as sea trade, and only need to ship their own raw silk to the Wa Kingdom, and the value can be multiplied several times, which is easier than hard work to raise silkworms and reel silk.

However, doing business also has to be done all the way, and all the Hades imps have to understand that no matter how powerful the Yang family is, they can't cover the sky with one hand, not to mention that anything can happen on the ocean.

Therefore, in order to buy a safe one, each ship needs to spend three thousand taels of silver to buy a "water mark" from the Zheng family in Fujian, which dominates the route of the Japanese state, and the so-called water mark is a flag, which means that the Zheng family is allowed to trade with Japan. (Because of the monopoly of the South China Sea route of the Wa Kingdom, relying on the sale of water marks every year, plus their own trade, the Zheng family's income reached 10 million taels, which is a real rich country, no, more than the annual treasury income of the Ming Dynasty!) ）

The Zheng family, the "king of Hades", needs to be dealt with, and the "little ghost" of the Dinghaiphong Japanese army cannot be ignored, the station of the Dinghaiphong Japanese general army is at the mouth of the Yongjiang River, responsible for most of the coastal defense of Ningbo Prefecture, if the military households in Dinghai are a little bad, they can also let the sea ships never return.

Of course, the silver of Dinghai does not need as much as three thousand taels, and five hundred taels is enough for those tattered military households in Dinghai to make them turn a blind eye.

Yang Wenqing sent silver to the sea and agreed to go to sea in two days, and in these two days, two three-masted ships were moored in a small fishing port in Hangzhou Bay, which was owned by the Yang family. Ships carrying raw silk, cotton cloth, lacquerware, tea, etc. entered the fishing port through the Yongjiang River one after another, and loaded all kinds of goods onto the sea vessels.

Ships carrying goods passed through the mouth of the Yongjiang River one after another, but the officers and soldiers of Dinghai Castle turned a blind eye, and this kind of cooperation has been experienced for decades and hundreds of years, and everyone has regarded it as normal.

Two days later, the two ships set sail and took advantage of the rising southeast monsoon to sail in the direction of the Wa Kingdom. Yang Wenqing stood on the stern of the ship, looking at the coast that was gradually moving away, and lamented that it would take another half a year to go. But thinking about the huge gains he made half a year later, he was overjoyed.

However, when the sea boats left Hangzhou Bay and just passed Jintang Island, more than a dozen sea boats surrounded them, which surprised Yang Wenqing.