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Three days ago, the "Pacific" steam sailing ship, which had just completed the owner's change formalities, was moored at the berth and was making final preparations for sailing, several small sampans around the "Pacific" brought fresh vegetables, fruits, rice, and of course, flour and chickens in cages, and the Chinese sailors on board, who had become accustomed to Western-style sailing, were inspecting the sails, and from time to time replacing some of the rotten ropes with thick ropes made of new Manila linen.

Although it has only been 13 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, more and more Chinese sailors have appeared on foreign ships, most of these sailors are from Guangdong, and only a very small number of crew members are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, most of them are just ordinary sailors, and the captains and first mates are still mostly foreigners.

Standing on the bow of the sampan, when the sailor rowed the sampan towards the "Pacific Ocean", Zhu Yifeng's breathing seemed a little short, at this time, he only saw this ship, to be precise, the hope carried by this small boat without a steam engine.

When the sampan approached the Pacific, Zhu Yifeng could see the bow carving, which seemed to be the Lady Liberty, and when passing underneath her, Zhu Yifeng couldn't help but have a thought in his heart.

"Let's hope everything goes smoothly!"

A moment of thought did not stop the sampan from leaning to the side of the big ship, and the "Pacific" had already lowered its climbing net. After stepping on the climbing net, Zhu Yifeng met the first mate, Mr. Johnson, and accepted his salute. He was a French sailor and even wore a French seaman's uniform.

Although the Shanghai Concession at this time was only the prototype of the city, but as a new trading port, the biggest advantage here is that it can hire enough sailors, American, British, French, Portuguese, and even some sailors from some Nordic countries, of course, more are Chinese sailors, after the opening of the port in Shanghai, here gathered from all over the world, even Chinese sailors who have never operated Western sailing equipment also gathered here.

Of course, the crew is easy to find, but the right captain is not easy to find, which is ...... It's not that difficult, in this place where crews from all over the world are gathered, there are always all kinds of adventurers from all over the world, as long as they provide enough salary, they can naturally hire competent captains, such as their own captain, a captain from the United States.

Just then, a sailor followed the cabin.

"Sir, Captain Johnson has asked to speak with you."

The sailors' words were equally respectful to the shipowner, who was also the emperor of the ship, even though the captain was always the emperor of the ship.

"I am always at the captain's order to invite him in."

Zhu Yifeng nodded in response, in any ship, the captain enjoys absolute authority, even the owner needs to obey the captain's orders, this is a tradition established in the West since the Age of Discovery.

The captain followed the sailor and immediately walked in and closed the door behind him.

"How's it going, Captain? I hope everything goes well, everything is well prepared, and if you can, it's better to go out to sea today. ”

Zhu Yifeng was looking forward to the next voyage, and his understanding of history made him very clear that at present, he had to connect with the Taiping Army and sell weapons to them before the others reacted, otherwise once the whole world knew about them, there would not only be competition from arms dealers, but more importantly, inspections and interceptions along the river were not what he wanted to see.

"Yes, sir,"

Captain Johnson looked at his employer, obeyed, and then asked tentatively.

"I believe it's better to get straight to the point, even at the risk of offending you. Until now, I don't know, is the real destination of our trip really Hong Kong? ”

Johnson, who was dressed in a shabby seaman's tweed coat, looked at Zhu Yifeng with some sly, and from the first time he saw the list of goods, he concluded that the purpose of this trip was not very likely to be in Hong Kong. Anyone knows very well that there may be people who will ship weapons from Hong Kong to Shanghai, but no one will ever ship weapons from Shanghai to Hong Kong, but this shipowner of his ship is ready to do this, and accurately ship a batch of old weapons to Hong Kong.

"Perhaps, captain, the sea is unpredictable, and who knows how it will change in the next moment?"

Zhu Yifeng said with a smile that the reason why he chose Johnson was because the captain from the United States was an adventurer, he had studied at the United States Naval Academy, but he was fired for alcoholism, and then he sailed in ports halfway around the world, until last year, he was hired as a captain, but it was very unlucky, his ship encountered a storm outside the mouth ******of the Yangtze River, hit the reef, and his ship sank. Shipwrecks were frequent, but people attributed the reason for hitting the reef to being drunk at the time.

It is precisely for this reason that in the past year, he had been a captain of a ship, and he could hardly even get a job as a sailor, so he could only get drunk in bars, and he was so drunk that he could not return to the United States at all - not to mention that his creditors in the United States were still waiting to pay his debts, and even in Shanghai, he was facing a lawsuit - the captain and the cargo owners demanded compensation from him, so to speak, he was exhausted.

Money!

This kind of person needs money, and he is willing to take risks for it! This is exactly the reason why Zhu Yifeng chose him, a person who is exhausted will not miss any opportunity, as for those crew members, as long as they are given double salary, they are willing to sail anywhere. As for the destination choice of Hong Kong, this is just a report of leaving Hong Kong.

"Sir, I want to say that it is precisely because of this that the sea is full of dangers,"

Johnson said seriously, and at the same time he lit the tobacco in his pipe and said to Zhu Yifeng's gaze.

"I think we should probably plan the route of this voyage now, if you will."

When he spoke, he deliberately accentuated the phrase "this voyage" to tell the other party that he had guessed the purpose of this voyage and that it would never be Hong Kong.

"Hmm...... It's not necessary yet,"

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Yifeng said bluntly,

"My captain, now you just need to follow the normal navigation, our purpose is Hong Kong, understand?"

"Yes, sir, I understand that my task is to get this ship to where Sir ordered me to go,"

Johnson shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly, he knew that at least before leaving Hong Kong, the other party would never tell him the destination, because this was only the first cooperation between the two, and trust was generated through continuous cooperation, not at the beginning, it would be unconditional believing.

"So far, so good. If all goes well, the departure will be possible at 4 p.m., and the wind is now favourable for the voyage. ”

After three weeks of waiting, Liang Wenzuo has been waiting for news from the "Pacific" for the past three weeks, where will it go?

Shanghai is not big, although at first Liang Wenzuo really thought that Zhu Yifeng was ready to take the path of benevolence, but he never thought that after lending him 20,000 taels of silver, after a news came, he almost didn't vomit a mouthful of blood.

"Brother Eun Ran, what do you think, that kid, where are you going this time?"

Liang Wenzuo asked Xu Zichuan on the side, both of them are Cantonese fellows, many years ago, they studied foreign languages together under the Thirteen Lines Translation Sect, after the opening of Shanghai, it was even more difficult to work in Shanghai, the two have cooperated closely over the years, this time, half of the 20,000 taels lent to the kid.

"It's okay, Brother Yushan, you don't need to worry about it at all!"

Xu Zichuan, who was smoking a cigar, exhaled a puff of smoke and looked at Huangpu outside the window through the glass window. Unlike most Chinese compradors who don't like to wear suits, Xu Zichuan wears a suit, drinks coffee, smokes cigars, tastes red wine, eats steak, and even marries a foreign daughter-in-law.

"No matter where he goes, for him, there are only two choices, either pay back the money, or give us the land?"

There was a hint of mockery on his face, and the corners of Xu Zichuan's lips lifted.

"That's a deed written in black and white...... As for Thompson's old thing, hum, his pile of broken copper and iron has been backlogged for several years, and the 500,000 taels of silver were sold at a low price of less than 150,000 taels, and I asked the American Nengda to take it out and take a look, except for the deposit of 20,000 taels and the agreement to pay off the balance within three months, there is no other constraint, he Thomson is just the kid's supplier, the other party can't pay, he takes back the goods, and it has nothing to do with our land......"

Xu Zichuan then raised his voice slightly, and said in a dissatisfied tone.

"But this kid is really not authentic, Yushan, this time he has blinded us all, and he takes our money to do business, what a shame for his mother...... According to me, when he comes back this time, we will have to find a way to deal with him! ”

"Hey, the old Zhu family is so rooted, just think of a way to get the land!"

Shaking his head, he first rejected Xu Zichuan's meaning, but then he said again.

"However, it's not impossible to give a lesson appropriately, it's all a lesson for Lao Zhu......"