Everyone who eats a ton of rice is familiar with each other, and Hu Cheng Guan Chao Gai is also called brother.

Hu Cheng said: "Brother, what is the matter with coming to Dongping Mansion, if you can use the younger brother, just speak." ”

Chao Gai said: "Because of business needs, I want to purchase a batch of clippers. ”

Hu Sanniang said with a smile: "My brother is a boat runner, and he has been to Jin, Liao, Goryeo in the north, and Ryukyu Island in the south. ”

Chao Gai said: "It turns out that Brother Hu Cheng is a sea merchant." ”

Hu Cheng said with a smile: "It would be nice if it was a sea merchant, I was the shopkeeper of a wealthy businessman in Yangzhou, and sometimes it would be half a year or a year when I went out." There is a shipyard in Dongping Mansion, there are no big ships, only small and medium-sized ships, the price is still very expensive, if my brother is not too troublesome, you can go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to buy, the price is a lot cheaper. ”

Next to him, Wu Yong said: "My brother is in a hurry to use the boat, just buy a few centipede boats." Chao Gai called Ruan Xiaoqi and Chao Xiong again.

Hu Cheng took Chao Gai and the others to the shipyard directly, and the shipyard was really as Hu Cheng said, the scale was very small, with fifty or sixty fishing boats, twenty or thirty canopy boats, and seven or eight painting boats parked. It's all small ships.

The owner of the boat shop is a fat man, about 1.7 meters tall, weighing more than 180 pounds, in his forties, with a smile on his face. Hu Chengdao: "Boss Huang, this is the famous Chao Gai brother, and he is currently practicing in Yuncheng. ”

"Fortunately, fortunately."

Boss Huang took everyone around to take a big look, but he didn't see a suitable boat type, small fishing boats, and canopy boats have their own covers, as for the painting boat, it is not practical at all.

Chao Gai said: "Centipede ships, there are a few, I want to see the largest." ”

Boss Huang said: "There are more than a dozen centipede boats, but the price is expensive." ”

Li Kui said: "Who is impatient to listen to your ramblings, hurry up and take it." ”

Chao Gai secretly said that he can't ask Li Kui to come next time he buys something, he can't buy things and sell things. Wu Yong asked Hua Lei to accompany Li Kui to the tea shed at the gate of the shipyard to drink tea.

A harbor in the shipyard was full of more than a dozen slender centipede boats.

"Chao Tuanlian, look at it, this is the best ship in my shipyard, such a huge ship, it can pull a lot of cargo." Boss Huang said.

Hu Chengdao: "Boss Huang thinks that others have never seen a big ship?" If your ship is also called a big ship, what is the building ship called? ”

"Laugh, laugh. By the way, this ship is not big, it is not small, you take a closer look. ”

Chao Gai and others boarded the ship to check, Chao Gai and Ruan Xiaoqi took a tape measure and carefully measured the size, the boat was eighteen meters long, four meters wide, and half a meter in draft.

Chao Gai said: "The displacement of the ship is 36 tons, and the load is about half of the displacement, and it can also carry 40,000 catties. ”

"How did my brother calculate, I was confused about how I listened." Ruan Xiaoqi asked.

"This is just an approximate calculation, the length of the ship, multiplied by the width, multiplied by the height of the draft, to calculate the displacement of the ship. The ship has its own weight, as well as sailors, and the load weight is about half more than half of the displacement. Chao Gai explained carefully.

Ruan Xiaoqi said: "I didn't read when I was a child, so I didn't understand any of this. ”

"Haha, it's okay, I'll invite a few gentlemen to give a lesson to the big guy when I get back." Chao Gai said.

Then Ruan Xiaoqi and Chao Xiong checked the setting of the cabin, oars, and masts. Basically, it was reasonable, the boat was divided into five sections with a partition, with ten oars on each side. There are three masts, the main mast is fifteen meters high, the two auxiliary masts are ten meters high, and the sails can be made into three or six. However, Ruan Xiaoqi meant that one sail on each mast would do, because the mast was low, and there was no need to make two sails.

The ship can only be described as a cargo ship, without any armor setup. The asking price of such a boat is actually 500 yuan, you must know that in this era, ordinary people marrying their daughters-in-law are only ten yuan of bride price, and ordinary people can have five yuan left in a year, and they will be happy to close their mouths.

Fortunately, there is a success here, this person has been doing business for many years and is very eloquent, and finally sold ten of them in 4,000. The shipyard is not far from the dock of the inn, Ruan Xiaoqi and Chao Xiong went back to ask the sailors to come back to accept the centipede ship, Chao Gai and others couldn't help, so they and Hu Cheng went out of the shipyard.

Chao Gai said: "If it weren't for Hu Cheng brothers, we would have suffered at least a thousand losses." ”

Hu Chengdao: "This Huang Boss is called Huang Ren, known as the Yellow-faced Buddha, but in fact, his heart is very black. Although these ten centipede ships are a little expensive, the loading capacity is still very good, and the speed is also fast. At present, grain production in Jeju, Cheongju, and Dongpyeong has decreased, and rice prices have risen sharply. If my brother goes to Wuhu and comes back with rice, he can earn four or five hundred yuan, and he will earn back the boat money after ten trips. ”

Chao Gai said: "Don't worry, I'll go back and think about this slowly." After a long day of haggling on the boat, I think everyone is hungry. It's better to be like this, I'll be the east, let's have a good meal. ”

Hu Sanniang said: "Naturally, I can't ask for it." Sanniang also brought a few girls with her, after all, it is inconvenient for a woman from a large family to be outside.

This time he didn't go into the city, Chao Gai found a mid-range restaurant near the pier, Chao Gai advocated frugality, and ordered some geese and ducks.

Chao Gai found that Li Kui was a little abnormal, in the past, when the food was served, he was always the first to eat, and even grabbed it with his hands.

"Li Kui, what's the matter?"

"Brother, what kind of one-and-a-half-foot mountain opener do you have?" Li Kui asked. Li Kuiwen's one-and-a-half-foot mountain knife was made of high-carbon steel by Chao Gaiming Tang Long, which was made of high-carbon steel, and was extremely sharp. Solid wood handle, knife body 35 cm, knife handle 15 cm, heavy, weight 2 catties, very suitable for chopping and hand-to-hand combat.

"Yes, you ask what this is about." Chao Gai said.

Li Kui gritted his teeth and smiled, he didn't look cute, and he was weird and scary: "My brother will give me two, how about it." ”

"You can send it, you say what to do first, if you go to change the wine and drink, it will definitely not work." Chao Gai said, and Wu next to him whispered: "This kid is giving it away, you give it to him." ”

Chao Gai took out two mountain knives with cowhide scabbards from his luggage and handed them to Li Kui.

Li Kui took the knife and went straight to Zhang Lan, the black girl of Hu Sanniang.

"Heiya, look at the knife." Li Kui said.

The black girl took a handful and said, "It's sharp, but you use it too lightly." ”

"It's not just sharp, it's like clay." Li Kui said.

Heiya naturally didn't believe it, and even Hu Cheng and Hu Sanniang thought that Li Kui was bragging.

Li Kui didn't care at all, took out three copper coins, and laid them on the table. Three times, three copper coins become six and a half.

He said to the shopkeeper again: "Borrow a kitchen knife." ”

The shopkeeper naturally didn't dare to snub this group of distinguished customers, and brought over a kitchen knife of pig iron, which has been used for some years, and it was not very good, and now it is even worse.

Li Kui put the kitchen knife on the table, and with a wave of the mountain knife, the kitchen knife clicked, and the kitchen knife was rotten.

"Good knives, good knives." Hu Cheng was the first to applaud, and the shopkeeper originally planned to let Li Kui pay for the kitchen knife, but when he saw the sharp blade, he swallowed it back.

Li Kui said proudly: "Black girl, I saw that your weapon didn't fit too well yesterday, and this pair of knives was quite good, so I gave it away." You also have a knife in your left hand and a knife in your right hand, just like Dong Ping, a two-gun general. ”

"Don't, don't." The black girl shook her head like a rattle, "My young lady doesn't let anyone ask for anything casually." ”

Hu Sanniang looked funny, it turned out that this black Li Kui had taken a fancy to his own black girl, and said with a smile: "Zhang Lan, you can take it." ”

Zhang Lan accepted it with a twist.

Hu Sanniang secretly glanced at Chao Gai's handsome face, tall and burly body, and hurriedly turned her eyes away. Secretly, why is this person not as good as the big black aura under his hands.

Hu Cheng saw that the girl seemed to have a little bit of meaning to Chao Gai, and it was not easy to point it out in person, after all, a big family must have the rules of a big family. The meal was very harmonious, and Hu Cheng said: "The day before yesterday, someone brought a boatload of Xinyang tea cakes, tens of thousands of catties, and wanted to find someone to sell them, but the quality was average, and no one dared to eat them." ”

Wu Yong said: "Xinyang Maojian is a good tea, why doesn't anyone dare to make a move." ”

Hu Cheng said with a smile: "Xinyang Maojian is naturally a good tea, and the price is ridiculously expensive. However, his tea leaves are all big leaves after picking them three times, and they are all the most common goods, and they are only sold for twenty or thirty yuan a catty. ”

"I'm still collecting tea, as long as the quality is about the same, I will accept it, please let Brother Hu Cheng let him sail to Shijie Village, Yuncheng, and I will send the shopkeeper of the firm to see the goods." Chao Gai didn't expect that this businessman from Xinyang would later become a big tea supplier in a department store.

Chao Gai and the others had eaten, refused the retention of Hu Cheng and others, and returned to Luhua Village that night with people and horses on the newly purchased centipede boat. Because there is no need to stay and have a hard time with Dong Ping, Dong Ping is not an enemy now.

The way back was much easier, the sails were raised, and the boat walked slowly, like an hour and seven or eight miles, after all, the wind was light. If you want to let the sailors paddle quickly, the speed can reach up to twenty miles, which is much faster than the canopy boat.

On the boat, Chao Gai stood at the bow of the boat and couldn't help but sigh: "This ship is too expensive, if you buy thirty or fifty, you will go bankrupt." If only I could make it myself. ”

Ruan Xiaoqi said: "There are a lot of craftsmen who make small fishing boats in our Yuncheng, maybe they can also build them." ”

"Although craftsmen can do it, there must be a person who commands and supervises the construction, and I see that other shipyards do this, so one or two famous craftsmen must be invited." Chao Xiong Road.

Wu Yong said with a smile: "The bustle of the world is nothing more than fame and fortune, as long as my brother is willing to pay, what kind of craftsman can't be invited, my brother only needs to let three waves, saying that the recruitment of shipbuilders will be 500 yuan, and the annual salary will be 500 yuan, and it is guaranteed that there will be many of them, and then my brother will choose a satisfactory craftsman from them." ”

"Haha, what a plan, sir." Chao Gai laughed.

Immediately let people write it down, and people came to publish an article along the river in Yuncheng to recruit shipbuilders.

Ruan Xiaoqi also proposed: "Shipbuilding requires a lot of wood, and if you buy it, it will cost a lot, and you need to form your own logging team to cut down tall pine, fir, birch, elm and other trees. ”

Chao Xiong said: "The wood can't be used immediately, and it usually has to be dried in the shade for a year, or even three years, so the farmer should arrange for it to be cut down as soon as possible." ”

As he was walking, suddenly the first boat in front of him reported: "There are water bandits blocking the road in front and asking for money." ”