Since the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Wu period, in the area of Laohushan on the Xiaguan River, the military wharf Baishibu began to be built, and by the Southern Song Dynasty, Longwandu had developed into a transportation hub of the Yangtze River; During the Hongwu period, the tax collection agency was set up in Longjiang, called Longjiang Pass, during the Yongle period, here is the shipbuilding base of Zheng He, the internal supervisor, and the departure and destination of the fleet, Xuande set up customs in Shangxinhe in four years, and collected ship tax, which is the Xiaguan wharf that involves the world of five continents and gathers tributary merchants.

At the end of November of the third year of Wanli (1575 AD), Shen Qi took Tang Jing and Zhu Hui to board two galleons loaded with raw silk cloth, set sail from Xiaguan Wharf, and held hands with Mrs. He, Wu Xiang and others who were standing on the shore to see them off, looking at each other with tears in their eyes......

When the two merchant ships went down the river and passed through Taicang Huangdu Port, Tang Jing stood on the deck, facing the cold wind on the river, looked at the wharf on the shore, and turned to look at Shen Qi and Zhu Hui beside him, and there was infinite emotion in his heart, he was indeed old, his own glorious era had passed, there were talents from all generations, and a new generation of people replaced the old, and it would be up to Shen Qi, Zhu Hui and others in the future.

The merchant ship docked at Taicang Huangdu Port, and when Shen Qi took the workers to the dock to pick up the goods, Tang Jing greeted Shen Qi and took Zhu Hui ashore.

There are too many memories of Tang Jing in Huangdu Town, at a glance, it has long been a matter of things and people, Tang Jing and Zhu Hui went around on the dock of their house in the early years, and the Yuelai Inn that left an unforgettable memory for Zhu Hui, and finally came to the old house built by the old family Tang Cheng and others......

The two bought incense candles, dark paper, and some fruit offerings, and set up a temporary incense case behind the old house to mourn Tang Cheng and other loyal old family members......

When he returned to the wharf, Shen Qi had finished loading the goods, and the merchant ship set sail again, going down the river, because the mouth of the Yangtze River is mostly shallow shore currents, and cannot go directly to the sea from the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Because of Guo Yi's entrustment, Zhu Hui quietly discussed with Shen Qi that he needed to go to Xu Kun's house in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, because he was taboo to talk about Xu Kun in front of Tang Jing, so Zhu Hui said goodbye to Shen Qi and left.

Tang Jing saw that Zhu Hui was leaving mysteriously alone, and felt a little strange, and suddenly remembered that when he was packing his luggage last night, he heard a whisper between Zhu Hui and Mrs. He, as if to say that Xu Kun's daughter Xu Ajiao and Zhang Gou'er were engaged, and when he passed by Songjiang Mansion, he wanted to go to Xu Kun's house to discuss with Xu Kun the happy event of his family's Gillian and Zhang Gou'er.

In the early years, Tang Jing and Xu Kun, who were both children of the family, could be regarded as close friends, but after Tang Jing's merchant ship was omitted by pirates, Mrs. He took her two young daughters to be helpless at home, and a creditor forced to come to the door.

After Xu Kun helped Tang Jing pay off his debts, he often borrowed Tang's house because he traveled back and forth from Songjiang Mansion to the capital through Nanjing, and slowly fell in love with the He family for a long time, so he had that unbearable fate.

Later, Tang Jing was rescued by Xu Ling'er, but Xu Kun was plundered by pirates because of Tang Jing's affairs, and he was exiled to Japan as a slave for six years.

Knowing the news of Xu Kun's return, Tang Jing had just returned to Nanjing from the place where the army was charged, and he was particularly worried that Xu Kun would come to him to ask for debts, because there were business dealings between the Xu family and the Shen family, Xu Kun learned of Tang Jing's current situation, and he also sent a letter very generously to say that all the grievances between them had turned into smoke clouds, and since then, a write-off.

Legend has it that when Xu Kun was in Japan, he was sold into slavery with Zhu Hui's father Zhu Junwang, and was also rescued by Xu Linger and Guo Yi, so Tang Jing judged that Zhu Hui must have gone to Xu Kun's house, first, for the marriage of Zhang Gouer and Xu Ajiao, and secondly, Zhu Hui may want to inquire about his father's situation.

As if all this was providential, Tang Jing also wanted to settle with Xu Kun as soon as possible, if Zhu Hui accompanied him to meet Xu Kun, it would be more appropriate for Zhu Hui to be the mediator between them, and it would not be so embarrassing when the two of them met, and complained in his heart that Zhu Hui did not bring himself along.

Tang Jing pondered for a long time, and felt that while Zhu Hui was at Xu Kun's house, he should hurry up and go to the dock to find Shen Qi, who was busy, saying that he wanted to go ashore to buy some things and would come back soon.

Shen Qi saw a hint of strangeness from Tang Jing's face, and just told Tang Jing that there were all the things on the ship, and there was no need to go outside to buy them, but he saw Tang Jing's face red and his neck was absent-minded, he snorted softly twice, and ran away in a hurry.

Tang Jing hired a carriage on the dock and told the coachman to rush to the Xu family in Huating County immediately, and after half an hour, the carriage stopped in front of the tall archway group of the Xu family manor.

As soon as he finished settling the account for the coachman, before he entered the archway, Tang Jing was surrounded by seven or eight people who looked like housekeepers.

"Hey, isn't this the Tang official from Jinling? How did you get here? Someone exclaimed.

Tang Jing smiled awkwardly and replied, "I came to visit my old friend Xu Kun." ”

Everyone laughed for a while, laughing crookedly one by one, making Tang Jing embarrassed and wishing that there was a crack in the ground that could be drilled into.

Someone suddenly asked, "Tang Jing, haven't you brought enough green hats?" Still come to us Xu Daguan? ”

Then, someone shouted: "Don't be this surnamed Tang with bad intentions, come to blackmail us Xu Daguan?" Or do you want to assassinate our Xu Daguan? ”

"That can't let him in!" The group shouted and surrounded Tang Jing.

Seven or eight young strong men rushed up, and Tang Jing couldn't help but say, wiped his shoulders and put his back together, and tied Tang Jing's face and tied up.

On the territory of the Xu family, Tang Jing didn't dare to shout loudly, and he thought in his heart that these subordinates were not sensible, and it would be fine when he saw Xu Kun and Zhu Hui later.

Someone strangled Tang Jing's mouth with a strip of cloth, and the gang lifted him up, and soon ran to the river, throwing Tang Jing into a small boat, and they were relieved.

The boat set sail, and someone laughed: "It's really fucking lucky, I originally wanted to tie up this old turtle in Nanjing, but I didn't expect it to be sent to us." ”

"We have this in our hands, why don't we get a million taels of silver, haha......"

Hearing these words, Tang Jing's heart was both surprised and filled with infinite sorrow, could it be that Xu Kun was still obsessed with the million taels of silver? Are you even going to Nanjing to kidnap yourself?

When it got dark, the boat didn't go far to the shore, and the gang dragged the hearer into a house, and then they all went out.

After a while, Tang Jing suddenly felt that someone had approached him, and sure enough, someone came up and tore the strip of cloth on his mouth.

Tang Jing was still blindfolded, let out a long sigh, and asked, "Brother Xu Kun, where is my nephew Zhu Hui?" ”

"Zhu Hui? I threw him into the river to feed the king! ”

Tang Jing was even more surprised, and thought about it carefully, but he didn't feel like Xu Kun's voice, or this was Xu Kun's prank, so he smirked twice and asked: "Brother, everything is a certainty in the dark, don't wash away the old brother, I came to Songjiang Mansion today to pay a visit, just to settle the grievances between the two of us." ”

"You old bastard, what a fixed number, and you still want to settle your grievances!" As he spoke, someone came up and slapped Tang Jing, and then he heard two people laughing.

Tang Jing knew that there were two people in front of him, not like a joke, he just heard that they threw Zhu Hui into the river, could it be that Xu Kun was abused by Zhu Junwang during his exile in Japan, and now he took revenge on Zhu Hui's head, and he was suddenly scared into a cold sweat, and he didn't dare to say anything more.

"Who is Zhu Hui?" One asked softly.

"This damn Zhu Hui ruined my good deeds in Nanjing, otherwise, 300,000 taels of silver would have been in hand a long time ago." As he spoke, the man ripped off the mask on Tang Jing's face.

Tang Jing looked at it, and was so surprised that he almost fainted, there were three people in front of him, Jingming, who was already vulgar, Shen Qi's younger brother Shen Mao, and Tang Jing didn't know him, I saw that this guy was stunned and looked arrogant, it was Ma Liangbi's son's hornet's nest.

Just when Tang Jing was kidnapped by Shen Weijing, Shen Mao, and Mafengwo, Zhu Hui had already visited Xu Kun, first telling Xu Kun about Jingming, and then asking about the horse boy from the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Since Jingming was in the Ryukyus, he was swept away by Guo Yi and Xu Ling'er in Taiwan, but Xu Kun didn't know why when he was in the Ryukyus, Guo and Xu didn't tell him about Jingming, so that they let Jingming eat and drink in Xu's house for a month, and let this bastard get Ma Gongzi away.

In the end, Zhu Hui and Xu Kun unanimously judged that after Jingming rescued Ma Gongzi, he had the 100,000 taels of silver that Shen Mao had defrauded, and this group of people must go to Iki Island in the Hirado Domain of Japan to hunt for treasures, anyway, the treasure map in Ma Gongzi's hand is fake, let them fend for themselves in the future.

Next, Zhu Hui and Xu Kun discussed the marriage of Zhang Gouer and Xu Ajiao, and set the day for the happy event on the May Festival of the following year.

Zhu Hui was afraid of meeting Xu Ajiao in Xu Kun's house, and after finishing the matter, he hurried away.

When he returned to Songjiang Wharf, it was already late at night, and Shen Qi saw that only Zhu Hui came back alone, so he asked about Tang Jing's situation, and Zhu Hui said that he had not met Tang Jing at Xu Kun's house.

Could it be that Xu Kun secretly left Tang Jing behind, or that after Zhu Hui left, Tang Jing arrived at Xu Kun's house, both of them felt that something was wrong.

Afraid that Tang Jing and Xu Kun would have another unpleasant incident, Zhu Hui and Shen Qi immediately got up and got off the boat, hired a carriage on the dock and rushed to Xu Kun's house again.

Knowing the intentions of Zhu Hui and Shen Qi, Xu Kun thought for a while, smiled slightly, and explained to them: If Zhu Gongzi hadn't come to his house in the evening, Tang Jing would have followed you to Fujian to do business, and he would have gone; Now he is worried that Zhu Gongzi will leak his whereabouts, if Xu Kun knows that he is not at home, Tang Jing is afraid that I will go to Nanjing to see the He family, and Tang Jing is embarrassed to explain too much to you, therefore, I suspect that he will leave without saying goodbye, he should secretly go back to Nanjing, maybe he will go home to pick up his wife, and then go to Fujian to find you together.

Listening to Xu Kun's statements, it is reasonable and reasonable, Zhu Hui and Shen Qi did not stop long, said goodbye to Xu Kun, and got into the carriage at the archway of the Xu family manor, after more than half an hour of turbulence, the two boarded the merchant ship, they were exhausted, considering Tang Jing's safety, the two of them did not close their eyes almost overnight, but Tang Jing never came back.

Early the next morning, two merchant ships loaded with raw silk set sail again, sailing south along Hangzhou Bay, entering the East China Sea, crossing the Zhoushan Islands, and heading south along the coastline to Zhangzhou Yuegang.

Shen Qi's merchant ship arrived in Yuegang at the beginning of December, Haicheng Zhi County Zhai Yin, Fujian Commander Envoy stationed in Yuegang General Flag Song He got the news at the same time, heard that Shen Qi's merchant ship arrived, all came to the dock to greet him, colleagues, Zhai Yin urgently notified the Westerners of the Hongmao Pavilion to let them go to Yanhailou to meet.

On the same day, a banquet was set up on the Yanhai Tower, led by the local civil and military governors Zhai Yin and Song He, Li Dan served as the translator, Shen Qi and Felipe signed the purchase and sale documents, and then, Zhai Yin ordered the banquet, and everyone raised their wine glasses to congratulate the transaction of this transaction.

Sending Felipe and the others away, Song He and Zhai Yin left Zhu Hui behind, and told him what happened on the Jade Pillow Continent, in order to seize Manila, Lin Feng sent Cai De, the lord of Jiu'ao, under his command, to sneak back to Yuegang secretly, and contact Ma Zhishan and Li Chenghuai and others, with the help of Elder Guan Yuekong and Xuande Zhenren, the brothers on the Jade Pillow Continent were not bewitched by Cai De, but controlled him.

Because Cai De was extremely arrogant, he said that Lin Feng would capture Manila in a few days, and scolded on the Jade Pillow Island every day, the people in the village were annoyed, Ma Zhishan and Li Chenghuai couldn't bear to harm Cai De, so they quietly handed him over to Song He to take care of, and in the hands of the government, Cai De didn't know who this Song He was, and he was honest all of a sudden.

Now, all the brothers on the Jade Pillow Continent, under the guidance of Ma Zhishan and Li Chenghuai, are all willing to escort Shen Qi's merchant ships in the future.

After dealing with the incident on the Jade Pillow Island, Guo Yi took the Elder of the Moon Sky and Xuande Zhenren back to Ryukyu, preparing to bring back all the hundreds of people stranded in Shuri Castle.

After Guo Yi left, Lin Shaoqi and Ma Wu discussed, and they were also ready to move the business to Yuegang, but after Lin Shaoqi experienced two blows, the foreign debts had not been resolved, and the two were dealing with Lin Shaoqi's debt disputes in Zhangzhou City with the help of Pang Fu.

Shen Qi decided to help Lin Shaoqi and Ma Wuyi, after the raw silk of the two merchant ships from Nanjing was transferred to the Manila galleon, and the imported goods transported by the Manila galleon were loaded into the ship, which was originally intended to be done by Tang Jing, but now it was handed over to Ma Wu and Lin Shaoqi, and asked them to go to Hangzhou and Nanjing, and seventy percent of the silver earned from this trip belonged to Lin Shaoqi and Ma Wu.

Li Chenghuai stayed in the village to take care of his family because of his leg disability, and Ma Zhishan, an old man who had planned to return to his roots, picked 15 "elite soldiers" and took them to Manila again with Zhu Hui and Shen Qi.

Shen Qi took the workers to be busy preparing goods on the wharf every day, and the bundles of raw silk were divided into three categories: high-quality double-strand silk, high-grade loose silk, and ordinary loose silk, which were divided into white silk and colored silk, which were wound into small handfuls, and a large number of gold and silver silk threads wound into small bundles, which were packaged separately according to categories; In addition to raw silk, there are a large number of velvets and fabrics of various colors, brocades, divided into solid colors and embroidered with various patterns, colors and styles, in addition, there are dark satin, single-sided satin, corrugated silk of various colors, and a number of different colors of white cotton, and by the way there are all kinds of fine porcelain, this bag of goods is piled up like a hill, labeled in different categories, waiting for Felipe and others to come and inspect the goods.

Li Dan served as a translator, accompanied Felipe and other Western businessmen, took the list of goods drawn up by Shen Qi and checked it for more than two days, and finally there was no difference, everyone gave a thumbs up, admired Shen Qi so much, and these goods were finally loaded onto the two Manila galleons.

Early one morning, Zhai Yin of Haicheng Zhi County, Song He, the chief flag officer stationed in Yuegang, and his wife Lan Wanxi, the chief housekeepers Pang Fu, Ma Wu, Lin Shaoqi, and the dart master from Zhangzhou City, came to the Yuegang Wharf to see off Shen Qi and others.

Accompanied by Li Dan, Felipe and the others expressed their gratitude to Zhai Yin and Song He, the civil and military governors of Yuegang, and said that after Shen Qi and others arrived in Manila, the highest governor of the Manila authorities would definitely come forward and give courtesy, and would send a galleon to Yuegang again to help Shen Qi transport back the money for the million taels of silver.

Subsequently, Shen Qi, Zhu Hui, Ma Zhishan and others took fifteen entourages, waved goodbye to everyone who saw them off, and boarded the Manila galleon with Felipe and others.

Zhai Yin, Song He, Wanxi and others stood on the shore to see each other off, and the two Manila galleons loaded with raw silk set sail, left the Yuegang Wharf, and sailed to the vast sea in the wind and waves......

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