Chapter 501: Strange Things

The maritime merchants in Yuegang knew the news that the Spanish fleet was going to attack Macao, and they were not alarmed, anyway, the purchase of firearms was not much different from that of Portugal and Spain, anyway, it was the firearms of foreigners, but Yuegang was prepared there.

Foreigners have always been unreliable in their words, this is also a common practice, it is inevitable that there will be some sudden actions, but if there is a fleet coming, the sentinel ships scattered around the Moon Harbor will definitely be able to detect and warn in advance, and when the time comes, the ships in the port will scatter in a hurry.

Your Western warships are indeed fast and have cannons, but there are too many ships in Yuegang, you can hit a few, and there will be no loss at all, even if you drive into the port, the maritime merchants, to put it bluntly, the pirates of the year also have their own methods, set fire to the ship, in a relatively small space, such a large warship must be at a loss. When the time comes, jump into the opponent's boat and slash.

No one can make any cheap, although they think so, but those who need to dock and load in the port of the month are unwilling, who is willing to be so worried every day, but there is really no way, at that time the cost of this port is cheap, and there are not so many rules of Huazhou sea trade, many people come from the north to do business here, at this time, but I feel that there are many rules in Huazhou in the past, but the trade is very safe, there will be such a situation today.

Transmitting news on the sea is different from that on land, where you can arrange to spy on horses, secret sentry and the like on the edge of the opponent's barracks, as long as the other party has action, this side can respond quickly, and the speed of a single light horse will always be faster than that of a large army.

But at sea it was different, the bigger the sails, the faster the speed, and the small ships were not comparable to this at all, and if the big ships in the port of Luzon set sail, the ships and outposts used to keep an eye on them would certainly not come back before them. If it was a ship of the same size, if there was such a ship in Yuegang, Huazhou would have been ignored a long time ago, so why bother now it is only in a corner of South China.

In January of the twentieth year of Jiajing, the news began to circulate that the Spanish fleet was about to attack Macao, but until the first month, when the merchants went to sea one after another, there was no movement, and everyone was a little tired, and according to the merchants who came back from Luzon, these warships did not move at all, and they were training there every day, and the innkeepers in the port had no plans to send troops recently.

Many people are slacking off, and the timid ones are to Yizhou and Liuhengdao Shuangyu, where as long as you sail regularly, there is a fleet to escort you, so that even if you go to the south, you don't have to worry, but the cost is higher. Those who are bold are still doing smuggling business in Yuegang and Guangdong, after all, the cost is low, and the distance is much closer, so they can make more money.

As for the rumors of the so-called attack on Macao by the Spanish fleet, many people took him as a joke, and some said that it was probably a routine colonial tour by Spanish warships, and after a break in Luzon, they would continue to sail for the Americas, and so on.

Anyway, everyone doesn't know much about overseas things, some people say, everyone just believes, slowly, the merchants who originally moved to the north began to return to Yuegang to do business, Huazhou is still silent there, as if these people who do not obey the system do not exist in Yuegang, just there to repair warships, recruit people, and train the army.

The demand for horses in this place in Fujian has always been small, the terrain of northern Fujian is mostly mountainous, the mountain roads are rugged, some places can only be walked by people, but horses are not passable, and the southern Fujian area is mostly by boat, horses are the needs of some rich and noble families, even the guard is only for the officers to travel, raising a few horses.

The horse dealer Zeng rat's business in Fujian has always been so-so, looking at the people he knows have made money at sea, some have made a fortune, some have made a small fortune, he can only make some money to raise horses here, he is very hot to see, but God does not let him get rich, although this rat is a native of Fujian, and grew up by the sea, but he is afraid of water and is afraid of death.

It is absolutely impossible to make a fortune in the sea, so it can only be a horse seller for a living, in February of the twentieth year of Jiajing, Zeng Mouse thought that this year was so muddy past, who would have thought, but there was a big business to find the door, a man with a northern Fujian accent said that he wanted to buy hundreds of horses, into the mountains to traffic goods.

This is not a rare thing, now all the people are business, everyone is trying their best to make money, northern Fujian is mountainous, the goods into the mountains is very inconvenient, so the prices inside are quite high, as long as you can traffic things in, you can make a lot of profits.

And there is another advantage, even if it is a green forest bandit, they will not rob the merchants at will, especially these who go into the mountains to sell necessities, otherwise you rob one, who will come to buy and sell again, even if it is other colleagues, they will also attack it in groups, besides, it is not a trouble to sell stolen goods without a place.

The man also sounded like the accent of the Nanping area, and he still had a certificate issued by the government in his hand, buying such a large number of horses, after all, the government was required to issue a certificate, of course, the official behavior still had to find a private person to buy and sell in the end, otherwise, the purchased silver would be swallowed in the middle.

Since it is a government business, and all kinds of procedures are complete, the rat is very happy in his heart, thinking that he doesn't know if he did something good last year that he doesn't know, so there will be such a good reward, the oil and water in this transaction is too big, just the difference in the middle can play a lot of tricks, and the guest from Nanping has negotiated various rules for sharing accounts.

The man who wanted to buy the horse generously paid a fifty percent deposit, Zeng Mouse happily went out to buy it, and the guest was settled in the inn in Quanzhou by eating and drinking.

The business of 350 horses is impossible for a horse dealer of the size of Zeng Mouse to eat alone, so he also contacted several colleagues to do this kind of business together, buying horses in Fujian only when they go to Guangdong, and only in Guangdong can there be horses suitable for mountainous areas.

These horses are in Sichuan and Yunnan and Guizhou around the Sichuan horse and Yunnan horse, although not a tall horse, but the victory in the endurance is good, suitable for the mountain load, this is also from Nanping that buy horse man requirements, Guangdong is one of the richest places in the world, abundant goods, these hundreds of horses are very simple is to gather, delivered the silver two, Zeng mouse and his party joyfully brought the horse back.

The man in Nanping was already a few more companions around him, and after checking the horses outside the city, they took out the silver, ready to make up the remaining amount, which was very unfortunate, according to the amount that should be paid, it was less than five hundred taels of silver, and of course the horse dealers asked to pay all the money, otherwise they could not give the horses, and they had to pay the full amount to get the horses, otherwise they would not be able to get a horse.

The two sides discussed for a long time, Zeng Rat's side had the other party's fifty percent deposit, and he had some confidence in his heart, and he didn't give an inch, so he had no choice but to say that Zeng Rat's party would go to a certain village to withdraw money in a few days, saying that the village had relatives they knew and could raise money.

Zeng Rat, these people are not stupid, and they also considered whether the other party took this opportunity to kill people and rob money in the village, but after thinking about it for a long time, I also felt that this may not be big, the other party's upfront payment has already been paid, and the official documents are accurate.

And the horses are still in their own hands, so they don't have to worry too much, so they simply told the family about the situation, explaining that if they don't come back for a few days, they will report to the official, and several people who have passed together have warned each other to be careful, and run away if something is wrong.

Who would have thought that after making so many preliminary preparations, they were still dumbfounded after arriving at the agreed village, the man from Nanping asked them to go into the village to negotiate and pay the money, and they insisted on making money in the village, but the other party pushed their home in Quanzhou out with a smile on his face, and the knife was on the neck of his relatives, even if he wanted to run, he couldn't move his legs.

Then there was an accident, they were locked up in a vacant house of a villager, there was no shortage of food, they were not allowed to go out, and what was even more surprising was that they were given the remaining silver to make up for them. At first, these horse dealers waited in the house to die, but then they saw that they were only forbidden to come out, and they gradually got used to it.

A month later, the guards suddenly disappeared without a trace, and after Zeng Mouse came out of the courtyard, he found that the dozens of families in the village were all familiar people, because they were all peers, all of them were horse dealers, and they were all small horse dealers, and they inquired about each other, and there were more than 2,000 horses and mules, even donkeys and the like.

It is strange that everyone has made money in these businesses, and that the whole family has been brought to this village for a month.

The truth came out when the horse dealers returned home, but more than a month had passed since the horse was purchased......