It is said that Zhou Bofu got his wife's order, so he took a small servant, rented a boat, and went down the river to the east, and arrived at Songjiang in one day. After abandoning the boat and landing on the shore, he rented a car and went to find Chen Zilong first, planning to borrow it at his house for two days, first, to contact Chen Zilong for a relationship, and secondly, to be more comfortable than the guest house.

Who knew that when he arrived at the door and handed over the post, he knew that Chen Zilong had already taken a few friends, juniors and servants to the north to join the army and join King Qin. Now there are only some women and children in his family, so it is naturally inconvenient for him to stay with outsiders. Zhou Bofu said goodbye and took the little servant to the city to find a reverse trip called "Yuelai Inn", and asked for an upper room to live in.

This "Yuelai Inn" is also the property of the Zheng family, which is found in many cities in the south of the Yangtze River. It can also be regarded as a taste of some later hotel chains. Zhou Bofu and the Zheng family have a lot of contacts, so they naturally know the doorway here. After settling down, he handed over his name to the shopkeeper of the inn and said: "I have been friends with Master Zheng Cai and the prince for many years, but I want to visit Master Zheng Cai tomorrow, but I don't know that Master Zheng Cai will be free tomorrow, so I will go to the shopkeeper first." ”

The shopkeeper heard Zhou Bofu say that he recognized the son, and immediately looked at him twice. carefully accepted the name, and ordered someone to arrange for Zhou Bofu to stay, and let people temporarily take care of their own affairs, and went out. In the evening, the shopkeeper came back and saw Zhou Bofu and said, "Sir, Master Zheng Cai was overjoyed when he heard that Mr. was coming. I was going to visit my husband in person, but there are a lot of things to do these days, and I can't spare time for a while. I had to ask my husband to meet him at home early tomorrow morning. Speaking of this, the shopkeeper paused, and added: "Sir, there are many people who have visited Master Zheng Cai recently, but the road in front of the door is quite narrow, if you enter the alley, you need to order the sedan car to wait outside the alley." Otherwise, if you go early, every time you wait to come out, the carriage and sedan chair will be blocked by the people who come later, and you can't advance or retreat. Sometimes, it is not as convenient to be able to stay in it for two or three quarters of an hour as it is to walk out. It's too late to go, and it's even harder to get in. ”

Zhou Bofu listened to it and said with a smile: "It's hard for the shopkeeper to have a heart." Then he turned around and made a look, and his little servant went to his arms and took out a silver dollar, handed it over and said: "There is a shopkeeper, please ask the shopkeeper for a favor, and tomorrow morning, help us call a sedan chair." It's hard work! ”

Naturally, you don't need a silver dollar to call a sedan chair, and this silver dollar is more of a tip. The shopkeeper took the silver dollar, smiled, and arched his hand: "It's just a trivial matter of helping to run errands, so it's wrapped up in the villain." After saying that, he made another gesture, and then withdrew.

Early the next morning, Zhou Bofu got up, ate a little something, got into the sedan chair prepared for him by the shopkeeper, and went to Zheng Cai's residence. When I arrived at the entrance of the alley, sure enough, there were already many people at the mouth of the alley. Zhou Bofu said in his heart: "Humanity's 'door is like a city', and that's it." The sedan chair slowly arrived at Zheng Cai's door and stopped. Zhou Bofu got down from the sedan chair, and the sedan chair went out of the alley by himself to wait. Zhou Bofu looked at Zheng Cai's door, but saw that there were several more servants in brocade clothes and hats waiting at the door than when he came last time, and the gate seemed to have been rebuilt, brushed with a layer of vermilion paint, and a brass beast head was installed on the door, which was the threshold, which seemed to be a little higher. Zhou Bofu tidied up his clothes, and then took the little servant to the gatehouse and handed over the name. The little servant said: "My lord is a friend of Master Zheng Cai and Prince Wang of Anping, and I came to visit your lord, and I have made an appointment with Master Zheng Cai yesterday." ”

A slightly older servant in the porter listened, looked at the name again, and said with a smile: "Yesterday the master ordered, saying that the gentleman was coming, and let me wait here for a special purpose." The gentleman waited here for a while, and then went inside to make a sigh. After saying that, the servant ordered a servant to go in and report, and asked Zhou Bofu to sit down in the gatehouse, and asked people to bring fragrant tea and melon seeds and other things.

Zhou Bofu waited in the gatehouse for about a quarter of an hour, and then a servant came forward and said, "The master asked the little one to show the way for Master Zhou." The old man was waiting for Master Zhou in Wanghai Tower. ”

It is a small two-storey building, and the rooms in the building are arranged in the same way as the cabins of seagoing ships. There are two theories about this style of decoration. One theory is that Zheng Cai started from the sea with Zheng Zhilong, and the current arrangement is to show that although he is rich, he knows that he will not forget his roots; Another theory is that Zheng Cai was used to staying at sea, but he was not used to going ashore, but because of business matters, he could no longer go to sea as usual, so he built such a building to comfort himself.

The servant took Zhou Bofu around a rockery at the main entrance, and then passed through a small courtyard to the left, and then arrived next to the "Wanghai Tower". The three words of Wanghailou are still inscribed by Hong Chengji.

At this time, Zheng Cai was already waiting at the bottom of the steps, and when he saw Zhou Bofu, he walked up and said, "I haven't seen you for more than a year, Mr. Zhou looks like he is two years younger." I don't know what kind of wind it is today, bringing a rare guest like Mr. Zhou to me. Hurry inside please, inside please. As he spoke, he put Zhou Bofu inside.

"Naturally, it's the sea breeze, which is what the Tessians call the 'trade wind'." Zhou Bofu also replied jokingly.

After entering the small building, the two sat down separately, and the servant brought tea.

"I don't know if Mr. Zhou came to me in person, what can I do here that can help Mr. Zhou?" Zheng Cai has a lot of things to do now, so he doesn't go around in circles, but asks bluntly.

"I want to buy a new batch of ships from you." Zhou Bofu said, "A batch of ships used for inland rivers. ”

"Mr. Zhou, if you want to buy a sea boat and find us, then you have found the right person, but this inland river boat, as far as I know, there are workshops that make this kind of boat, there are everywhere in Jiangnan, how could you think of buying my boat?" Zheng Cai asked.

"Because although it is easy to build inland waterway boats, it is not easy to build them well. I've heard the word 'TEUs' come up with it, and I've heard that most of the ships used for trade in the province are now designed according to the number of TEUs they can carry. And the size of this standard box is also particularly suitable for lifting with a crane. After using this thing, the speed of loading and unloading goods is greatly improved. I think the same design should be applied to inland vessels, as well as boats that can be used both inland and offshore. He also knows that no matter what kind of goods are carried, every time it is loaded and unloaded on the dock, there will be one more loss. So, what I wanted most was a ship that could sail the Yangtze River and its important tributaries, as well as the coast, and be relatively faster to load and unload. ”

"Such a ship?" Zheng Cai shook his head and said, "We really don't have such a ship." At least not for the time being. But if you really want to do it, there should still be a way. But shipbuilding is not my business. If you really want to build such a ship, it is better to go to Taiwan in person and discuss it with those shipyards themselves. ”