Zhou Zhong followed the bald man to the largest ship docked in the port, this ship is loading, although it is very tightly bandaged, but it can also be seen from some gaps that these goods are all silk horses, and several other ships are also loading, if these goods are silk, then this time the volume of cargo is really amazing.

The ship that Zhou Zhong boarded should be the largest ship in the whole port, the hull is about ten zhang long, the ship is tall and sturdy, and the deck above looks like a basketball court. Follow the bald man into a relatively independent cabin entrance at the stern, inside are two large cabins, which seem to be for the more powerful people on the ship to live.

I saw the bald man walk to the cabin door on the left, and then stretched out his hand and knocked on the door to report: "Miss, Zhou Gongzi has come!" ”

"Childe, please come in!" As a woman's familiar voice came from the cabin, Zhou Chong walked over and pushed open the door and walked in, only to find that there were three people in the cabin, among which Xie Lingyun was sitting behind a low table, making tea with a leisurely face, and there were two women standing behind her, one of them was naturally the little maid abacus, and the other was an ordinary-looking middle-aged woman, standing there with her eyes slightly closed, as if she didn't care about the outside world at all.

Xie Lingyun saw Zhou Zhong coming in, raised her eyes and pursed her lips and smiled: "Zhou Gongzi, please sit down, the little woman just learned the art of tea from her mother, I don't know if the son is willing to appreciate the light, how about tasting the little woman's tea-making skills?" ”

Hearing Xie Lingyun's invitation, Zhou Chong was not polite, strode to the opposite side of her and sat down and said: "Miss Lingyun is a blue heart, the tea made is definitely not wrong, but unfortunately Zhou doesn't know how to taste tea, I'm afraid it will only waste Miss Xie's carefully brewed tea in vain." ”

Hearing Zhou Chong, who has always been lukewarm to himself, suddenly say words to praise himself, Xie Lingyun couldn't help but be a little surprised, and then handed the teacup to Zhou Chong with a smile and said: "Zhou Gongzi is polite, in fact, the little woman doesn't like to drink tea, in my opinion, tea is nothing more than to quench people's thirst, how to pour the taste second, this cup of tea will be given to Gongzi to quench his thirst!" ”

Zhou Zhong didn't be polite after hearing this, he reached out and took the teacup and drank it all, without the slightest hint of "taste", which made the little maid abacus behind Xie Lingyun couldn't help muttering in her heart: "It's really a kid who doesn't understand the amorous feelings, you are still from a show, I didn't expect that you didn't even know how to taste tea." ”

"I don't know why Miss Xie went to Shuangyu Port this time, does Miss Xie have to take charge of such a trivial matter as escorting a boat?" After Zhou Zhong put down the teacup, he immediately spoke. Generally, big smugglers like the Xie family, they have a large number of trusted stewards under their commands, and when the smuggling ship is sailing at sea, these stewards are generally responsible for escorting it, Xie Lingyun only needs to dispatch it at home, and only those small smugglers will personally escort the ship.

Regarding Zhou Chong's question, Xie Lingyun thought for a while and replied: "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that there is a problem in the transaction between our Xie family and the Japanese State, and the other party asked me to go to Shuangyu Port to negotiate, and it just so happened that Zhou Gongzi you are also going, so the little woman took the liberty to arrange you on my ship." ”

"Wa Kingdom?" Zhou Chong couldn't help frowning when he heard this name, he had an instinctive antipathy to this country from later generations, and then he couldn't help but ask with some curiosity, "I don't know what kind of business the Xie family is doing with the Wa Kingdom?" ”

I saw Xie Lingyun chuckle after hearing this, and replied casually: "The Wa Kingdom is now in turmoil, coupled with the narrow land and the poor country, almost everything in the country is needed, porcelain, cloth, and even food are the most needed by the Wa people, and the Wa country itself also produces silver and sulfur, plus some handicrafts unique to the Wa State, the annual transaction volume is very large, and it is even no exaggeration to say that the money of the Wa people is actually the best to earn!" ”

"Oh, it seems that Miss Lingyun knows a lot about the Wa Kingdom, I just heard that the Wa Kingdom is now controlled by the shogun, and the king's power is on the side, I don't know if that's the case?" Zhou Zhong asked deliberately. Thanks to the vigorous propaganda of the Japanese in later generations, especially the influence of some Japanese games and anime, Zhou Zhong still knows a lot about this period of history of the Warring States period in Japan, but he wants to hear it now, how much does the Xie family, as a representative of the Ming smuggling merchants, know about the Japanese state?

Xie Lingyun heard Zhou Chong's question, but he showed a faint smile and said: "The situation in the Wa Kingdom is indeed more complicated, and it is already very rare for Zhou Gongzi to know the shogunate of the Dao Dao. ”

When she said this, Xie Lingyun gave Zhou Chong an appreciative look, after all, as a scholar, it was extremely rare for Zhou Chong to be able to know some of the situations overseas.

Then I saw Xie Lingyun and introduced: "However, the shogun's control of the Japanese government has been decades ago, since the Ming Ying Rebellion, the prestige of the shogun's prestige is not as good as before, ten years ago, the shogunate general Ashikaga Yoshisai led the army to crusade against the Hosokawa clan, but was deposed by the Hosokawa clan, since then, the shogun's prestige has been lost, and he has become a puppet of the daimyo to control the government." ”

Hearing Xie Lingyun introduce the situation of the Japanese Kingdom in such detail, Zhou Chong was also surprised in his heart, the other party's understanding of the Japanese State did not seem to be less than his, and even because of the needs of business, Xie Lingyun must have a comprehensive understanding of the Japanese State, which she could not compare with her at all, at most, she knew the development direction of the situation in the Japanese Kingdom in advance than Xie Lingyun.

When talking about the Wa Kingdom, Xie Lingyun seemed to think of one more thing, only to see her brows furrowed slightly, and then said to Zhou Zhong with a solemn face, "Since it is said that the Wa Kingdom, I have to mention the Wako, about the Wako, the little woman has one thing to warn Zhou Gongzi!" ”

"Wako?" Zhou Chong also frowned when he heard this name, and then asked with some puzzlement, "At the beginning of my dynasty, I was deeply affected by the Japanese Rebellion, but then the Japanese Invaders have disappeared, why are there still Japanese Invaders?" ”

Hearing Zhou Chong's question, Xie Lingyun smiled coldly and said: "The war in the Japanese country is in turmoil, the warriors and people in the country have gone bankrupt, these people can only go to sea as thieves in order to survive, the war in the Japanese country has not stopped in recent years, but has intensified, so the number of people who go to sea as thieves has not decreased, and there is even a tendency to increase, but these Japanese people are now also smart, they form a large and small force, and make huge profits by smuggling between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese country, but Kou is Kou, even if it is a business, still maintains the habit of pirates, not to mention anything else, there is a force composed of these pirates on the side of Shuangyu Port. ”

Hearing that the power of the Japanese Invaders had penetrated deep into the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Chong's brows couldn't help frowning even tighter, and he said in a heavy voice: "Why, are those Japanese Invaders very powerful, how about it compared to your Xie family?" ”

Hearing that Zhou Zhong tested the power of his family again, Xie Lingyun couldn't help but glance at him, and then turned a corner and replied: "The power of those Japanese pirates is indeed very large, and there are five or six forces of Japanese robbers in the entire Shuangyu Port, among which the strongest one is called the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce, although it is called the Chamber of Commerce, it is actually a group of brave and ruthless pirates, who can't do business with others, they will fight with each other, so ordinary people are rarely willing to provoke them, and it is the same as your father Zhou Hai's power, It is also one of the four top potential forces of Shuangyu Port! ”

Hearing that a group of small Wu Kou even dared to claim hegemony on the coast of Daming, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but be angry, and he couldn't wait to immediately drive these people out of the land of the Chinese, but soon he calmed down, now Daming, he doesn't pay attention to the coastal areas at all, and he is alone, there is no way, now the most important thing is to make himself strong.

However, Zhou Chong didn't notice that when he was angry with the widow, Xie Lingyun had been quietly observing his reaction, and when he saw Zhou Chong's anger, the scheming woman nodded slightly, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but put a few imperceptible smiles.

Next, Xie Lingyun explained to Zhou Zhong the distribution of the Japanese people on Shuangyu Island, speaking of which, these Japanese people are not monolithic, and even some forces are still incompatible, such as the most powerful Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce, the leader of the Chamber of Commerce is the Shogun Ashikaga family, because he is unwilling to be oppressed by the daimyo in the Wa country, so he fled to the sea as a thief, and I heard that he also maintains contact with the Ashikaga family.

Several other Japanese chambers of commerce are not simple, and there are big names within the Japanese kingdom behind them, either openly or covertly, and it is precisely because of this that the relationship between the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce and several other Japanese chambers of commerce is extremely bad, and there will be firefights from time to time. In addition, there are also some Japanese people who are reluctant to join the chamber of commerce in their country, and will instead take refuge in the hands of Ming merchants.

Xie Lingyun added another point later, there are not only Japanese people in Shuangyu Port, but also North Koreans, their situation is similar to that of Japanese people, and they also live by smuggling with their own country in Daming. Because of some historical reasons between the two countries, the chamber of commerce between the Japanese and the Korean people is also in constant conflict, but the Koreans are less than the Japanese people, and the power is relatively weak, so they have been pressed and beaten by the Japanese people.

At the same time, in a carriage parked in a remote corner of the port, two thin and dirty figures sat in the carriage, and one of them said in a very crisp voice: "Sister, I met the Zhou Gongzi who saved us once just now, I don't know why he came here?" ”

The other person ignored the other party's words, but sighed lightly and said: "Little sister, we have been in Songjiang for many days, these smuggling ships are not willing to let strangers like us on the ship at all, it seems that it is impossible to escape overseas, plus we don't have much money, we can only think of a way to settle down in Songjiang Mansion first, I hope those people will not chase here again!" ”

PS: Ask for Sanjiang tickets for collection!