I have been to Guangdong according to the judge, I have been to the Liangguang Governor's Mansion, and at the invitation of the Guangzhou prefect Pang Fuzun, I have been to Lianxi Academy, and at the beginning of his tenure, the new Guangdong Governor Wang Fulin has been to three places in a row, but he has quietly disappeared, and the procuratorate has become an empty yamen again. Although he has never stayed in one place in the past, his posture of coming and going without a trace still makes the officials of all sizes in Guangzhou officialdom very headaches, and the most passive is the Guangdong Political Division.

Because it was the chief secretary who instructed him not to feast, not to meet, not to invite, and to turn a blind eye to the new governor, but not to hear it, he should not know, but now the chief secretary of the county has gone to visit him, and Wang Fulin has visited the governor and the envoy, but he has missed the chief secretary, and he knows what he plans to do next?

As a result, the chief political secretary almost urgently sent an order to the prefectures and counties of Xiatou, exaggerating the words to the point of exaggeration, and almost scattered the portraits of Wang Fulin everywhere, describing people as beasts of prey, so that all the prefectures and counties in Guangdong were more vigilant. Moreover, there have always been people who like to visit the imperial history in the past, but at least they will bring a message to the bottom, what does Wang Fulin want to do?

But at the moment when others were jumping, Wang Fulin kept Wang Siming and a few documents proficient in writing and ink with the Guard's Office, and also forwarded various newspapers and correspondence documents in the capital, but he took Chen Atian, Chen Bingchang, Zhao San Mazi and Liu Bo Fengzhong, and after leaving Guangzhou City, he quietly traveled south to Xiangshan County, Guangzhou Prefecture. It is in the south of Guangzhou City, and there is only one Shunde County between Guangzhou, according to the general truth, since it is not the first county of Guangzhou. The prosperity of Xiangshan City should naturally be worse. But Wang Fulin led people all the way. However, it was found that Xiangshan was even more densely populated than Shunde, which was closer to the city of Guangzhou.

Xiangshan was originally a town, about after Yuanfeng in the Song Dynasty, before Shaoxing, this was the county, but from the Song Dynasty to the Yuan and Ming dynasties, this place has always been a lower county, initially just a small earthen city, in the early Ming Dynasty rebuilt the brick city. In the Hongzhi period, the county seat of Xiangshan, which was 636 zhang in radius, was already a little small because of the population growth, so the county order at that time expanded the sub-city with a radius of about three miles outside the brick city. Today, there are not only shops in Xiangshan County, but also carriages and horses, as well as hostels. After all, in addition to the local residents, most of the people in Xiangshan City were Fujian and Guangdong merchants who went to the treasure land further south to trade.

Moreover, over the years, the imperial court has tightened its control over the entrenchment mirrors. Xiangshan to the south to Macao is hilly, and the only flat road is in the area of Tangji Ring, also known as lotus stem. The second year of Wanli began. A tall gate was built here. The door is open on Monday and Saturday every month, that is, it is only open six times a month. This is the only way to get in and out by land. There are also strict restrictions on the number of loads of goods that each merchant can carry, with no more than 30 quintals of silk, 70 quintals of tea, and no more than 100 quintals of groceries. As for the sea route, in principle, only wine and rice are allowed, and the trafficking of other goods is smuggling, but the collusion between wealthy merchants and the government sometimes makes this ban a reality.

Although the Guangdong City Shipping Division that manages the transaction taxation is still in the city of Guangzhou, the Bokou and the trading place were once moved to Dianbai County, Gaozhou Prefecture, in the Zhengde period, and then transferred to Haojingao in Xiangshan County in the 14th year of Jiajing-Macao means island, and Zhuao under the jurisdiction of Xiangshan was once a place where merchants gathered, but because of the collusion between the Portuguese and the Japanese during the Jiajing period, the pirates were rampant after the Japanese were finished, and finally except for Haojingao, the rest of Zhuao were not allowed to live again, and the trade place was only limited to Haojingao in Xiangshan. The so-called Macao in later generations really means the gate of Ho Jing Macao.

Therefore, most of the official writings use the word "Macao" or "Macao", and occasionally the word "Macao".

Although the yamen and chief officials of the Municipal Department were still located in the city of Guangzhou, there was also a branch directly stationed in Macao. And now the person in charge of the taxation of Haojing is the deputy director of the city department stationed there, and the Xiangshan County Decree is only a random inspection and verification after the fact, but in any case, these two giants are all the main forces in charge of taxation, and the deputy envoy of Haidao is the outline leader, and everything is listened to the report, but he will not come from time to time, after all, he is a dignified four-grade official, and there are many things to be managed.

Because of this, unless it was the period when the pirates were most rampant, and the Portuguese were insatiable and wreaked havoc on the coast with the pirates, and when the pirates were at their most arrogant, there was an endless stream of Fujian and Cantonese merchants rushing to Xiangshan every day to trade with the Francophiles. After coming and going, Xiangshan County has developed like a fly in the past few decades.

Since Wang Fulin was carrying the big task of military salary on his shoulders, he made a military order to Ling Yunyi, and after the official entertainment was over, the first choice was of course to hurry here to take a walk. When he first arrived in Xiangshan, he heard for the first time several languages other than Cantonese and Mandarin - after all, unlike Guangdong, which has a largely unified language, the whole of Fujian has its own dialects, which are by no means different from each other. Not to mention him, even Chen Atian couldn't understand what those Fujian merchants were talking about.

Chen Bingchang, who has always been among scholars, is full of curiosity about everything when he comes to this kind of place where big businessmen gather for the first time. He honestly according to Wang Fulin's request, omitting a Wang character from his title, and when staying at the guest house, Wang Fulin only said that he was a brother, and even changed his surname to Chen, so as not to let anyone think of something else from a Wang character.

"Haojing is full of gold, no, no, no, it's not that there are many good things from those Franc Ji people, it's our good things that can be exchanged for a good price from them, porcelain, silk, tea, they offer very high prices!"

Hearing this loud shout, Wang Fulin followed the prestige, and saw that the spitting stars on the adjacent table were flying around, it was a middle-aged man with buckteeth, and when he was excited at this moment, he even waved his arms vigorously. Especially when talking about his experience of buying the most fashionable crepe and satin from Suzhou, and then quickly shipping them to this side for shipment, he was even more blushing, and his right hand was turned over and over.

"Ten times the profit, because I caught up with the earliest one, a full ten times the profit, but when a few Fujian merchants brought in two more ships, the price immediately fell to one-third of what it was before. I brought a lot of spices back, and this one came and went. I paid back all the money I borrowed. I also earned 8,000 taels! So. You listen to me, go to the mirror to meet that old man, absolutely yes! ”

Wang Fulin didn't take this very inflammatory shouting to heart, but for the three words of Master Sai, he couldn't help but move in his heart. He still remembered the two Portuguese businessmen he had met in Putuo Mountain, one was named Sebastian? Franco. One called Francisco? Estrera, of course, has been five years in a flash, and according to the virtues of these Portuguese merchants who are adrift at sea, there is a great possibility that they have already returned to China to make a fortune, plus the name Sebastian does not know how many there are in Portugal, and when Chinese people listen to the names of foreigners, as long as they are a fraction of a second, they will be wrong, so the probability of being acquaintances is very low.

Despite this, he saw that the middle-aged man with buckteeth spoke vigorously. A few people around him were full of excitement, but there were several other tables. There are so many people who scoff at it, so I'm going to give it a try. Just sitting close, he asked with great interest: "Ask this master, I don't know who the old man you are talking about is?" ”

Seeing that a lot of eyes were focused on him, and many of them were afraid that people would rob him of business, Wang Fulin opened the fan with a smile and said leisurely: "My two brothers are both talents, of course they won't rob other people's business." It's just that the birthday of the elders in the family is approaching, so I plan to go to Haojing to see if there are any fresh things from overseas, so I can give gifts to the elders, but I didn't see us empty-handed? ”

Wang Fulin and Chen Bingchang at first glance, they do look like the kind of fledgling scholars, although it is not that there are no Confucian merchants in these years, but the two of them are too young at this age, and they are dressed quite gorgeously, and the few who follow are obviously entourage, and the lobby that has just quieted down gradually reverted to the previous noise. Moreover, this inn is one of the premier inns in Xiangshan County, as long as you ask the guys, people who are interested will feel Wang Fulin's bottom clearly. Indeed, this rich boy brother did not invite a porter except for his entourage and horses, and he didn't have any goods.

And the middle-aged man with buck teeth didn't pay much attention to Wang Fulin's roots, not only asked outsiders for advice, but also called him master, he was very proud, and immediately said with a smile: "The old man I am talking about is a very big man in Haojing." It is said that he is a nobleman of Franco, a nobleman, do you understand, it is similar to those princes and uncles of our Ming Dynasty, hereditary replacement, it is said that there are fiefs over there, there are retainers, there are countless slaves to take care of the fields and manors for him, and he has a big ship, which is the largest ship in the whole Haojing......"

Hearing this big bucktooth, the more he spoke, the more energetic he became, and Chen Bingchang listened attentively, Wang Fulin was very focused on the surface, but secretly he really wanted to yawn. In this era, can those European nobles be compared with the princes and nobles of the Ming Dynasty? Besides, it is indeed the period of European exploration, but the people who can really go to sea are all those who have lost their fiefdoms or are down-and-out aristocrats, and it is strange that the big nobles will take great risks to participate in the voyage, and they will at most contribute money to fund it.

Besides, Portugal was not having a good time at this time, as if the reigning young king was at war with Morocco like a nervous nerve? When this king, who has no wife and no heir, dies, it seems that Portugal is about to be annexed by Spain, right? And in that part of Portugal itself, there are so many retainers and slaves who deceive these guys who can't take a step out of the country in their lifetime!

Having said that, Wang Fulin still noticed that except for the three small businessmen beside Big Buckya, most of the guests in the lobby showed extremely mocking expressions when they heard such words.

The big bucktooth preached the nobility and wealth of Master Sai, and then said mysteriously: "Having said that, there is still a lot of land on Haojing Island now, which is suitable for building a house. In the past, except for small fishing villages, Haojing was a barren land, and these Franc people did a lot of good deeds. ”

Hearing this, the people at the tables last couldn't help it, and sneered at the moment: "Huang Tianren, forget it." Everyone went to Haojing to do business with those red hairymen, thinking that they would make real money from them, how could they listen to your nonsense? In addition to the newcomers you brought here, and these two Lang Jun who are studying don't know, who doesn't know what kind of goods those Lang Ji people are in Haojing? ”

"Their ships are indeed well built, and the artillery is indeed powerful, but what kind of noble and rich can you say, and liars! I think that at the beginning, these Hongmaoyi were the same goods as the Japanese robbers, burning, killing and looting, and they did many things that lost their conscience, but later they were scared again and again, and the court allowed them to live in Haojing temporarily. A few years ago, they made a farce about the Holy Mother stepping on the dragon's head, but Yu Dashuai was ready to use troops to drive them out of Haojing, and they immediately relented! ”

"That is, my grandfather said that when these Franc people first came to Daming, their eyes lit up when they saw silk and porcelain, saying that they didn't have it there at all, just this kind of thing that we have everywhere in Daming, but they didn't have it, aren't the words noble and rich nonsense?"

From the first time Wang Fulin entered the territory of Guangdong to the present, it was about half a month, and he used this half a month to raise his Cantonese to the level of genius that amazed Chen Atian, so he no longer had to be deaf and dumb in front of people, and he heard this ridicule clearly. At this moment, seeing that the big bucktooth was ridiculed by everyone, his face was blue and white for a while, and in the end, he didn't dare to be angry, so he snorted coldly and turned his head and left. And the three little businessmen he brought with him hesitated for a moment, and finally chased after his ass and left, and he couldn't help but laugh.

In later generations, some people worship foreign flattery, although today's Ming Dynasty is backward in some aspects, the pride of the people is engraved in their bones. Of course, if you are so closed for a few hundred more years and let others complete the colonial rule of Southeast Asia, so as to form an encirclement of China, it will really be over.

After such a small episode, the guests in the lobby dispersed in a hurry, and Wang Fulin naturally took everyone back to their rooms. After washing and changing clothes, he lay down on the bed, he pinched his fingers to calculate the time to come out of Huizhou, thinking that Xiaobei had to sneak and dress up in disguise to set off, thinking that Qiu Feng and Jinbao were going to take the exam by themselves, he, who was a teacher and a father, could only miss this big test in their lives again, thinking that Ye Xiaopang was going to Beijing to reunite with Mrs. Ye Dacang Su after marriage, thinking of Wang Xiaomei, who was staying in his hometown, and Wang Xiaomei, who had not yet been determined and whose marriage had not been finalized, had an indescribable melancholy when he was floating alone in a foreign land.

Although there are other people around, it is always one layer worse than blood relatives, and it is really not so pleasant to be alone in a foreign land as a stranger! What's more, this is not a temporary outing in the past, but at least a year!

Knock knock knock -

There was a knock on the door in the middle of the night!

PS: The lotus stem gate was built in the second year of Wanli, and Wanli fell into decline in more than 40 years, in fact, it is also the prototype of the gate in later generations...... Today's update, sorry (to be continued.) )