Chapter 13: The Vanishing Spice

After completing the basic layout of the industrial zone, Changsun Tang was idle again. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

When we are busy, we hope to have time to enjoy life, but once we are free, we will be a little uncomfortable.

At this time, Wang Zixin is also about to give birth, and it is obviously impossible to go out for a walk, after all, it is not good to have a large family with more or less people.

People, that's how cheap they are! The eldest grandson said.

But there is a price to be paid for indiscriminately expressing emotion. It didn't take long for Changsun Yu to express the above feelings, and Wu Yuanqing hurriedly came over.

"Master Hou, something happened." Although Wu Yuanqing and Changsun Yu are very familiar, the title of the two when they meet is very bad. Now the eldest grandson is called Hou Ye by Wu Yuanqing, this is the first time.

"What's wrong?" The eldest grandson did not notice some of the differences here, and was practicing calligraphy in the study at this time.

"The ship we sent out to carry spices this time hasn't come back yet." Wu Yuanqing said the matter succinctly.

"What's going on?" The eldest grandson was a little puzzled.

"We're basically sending a fleet a month now, bringing supplies when we go and spices when we come back. But this time I really didn't come back. Wu Yuanqing's tone revealed anxiety.

The eldest grandson said with some disapproval: "Sailing on this sea, in case of heavy rain or windy weather, it is normal to have a few days at night, there is no need to be so anxious, sit down and drink tea, see if you are in a hurry." ”

The division of labor between the two is like this, the eldest grandson is responsible for the general direction of affairs, and Wu Yuanqing is responsible for the details. If this is a presidential republic, Changsun Tang is equivalent to the president, and Wu Yuanqing assumes the role of prime minister.

Therefore, whenever there is a big or small matter, the first person to be notified by the gang under his command must be Wu Yuanqing, and they will also report to the eldest grandson. These are the basic systems.

"No, our fleet usually leaves at the beginning of the month and returns in the middle of the month. It's been like this all this time, but this time it's the end of the month. ”

"Then this problem is a bit serious, it's twenty-five today, and it's usually a few days late?" The eldest grandson finally sensed that something was wrong with the matter.

"Generally, I came back around the 15th, the latest was a typhoon, and I came back on the 22nd, which was three days later than the latest." Wu Yuanqing said.

"It's only three days, you can wait, maybe the situation is more complicated this time, there has been no problem with the fleet transporting spices in the past few years, and there should be no big problem this time!" Now Changsun Tang hates the backward communication conditions at this time, which can be done with a phone call in the future, of course, this refers to satellite phones.

"Okay, how many days will it take?" Wu Yuanqing also knew that this was the best way to do this time, and he also made some fuss, but these things involved issues of principle. Originally, Wu Yuanqing didn't care much about this, but he went back not long ago, and in Chang'an, he was severely trained by his father Wushi Tong a few times, so he naturally paid attention.

"Wait, if we don't see it early next month, we'll add it up." The eldest grandson thought.

"Do you need to organize a fleet of ships to stand by first?" Wu Yuanqing continued to ask. This involves the issue of military strength, and it is even more unlikely that Wu Yuanqing will overstep his authority.

"Well, you can prepare it." The eldest grandson thought for a while and said, after such a long time, it was still necessary to send a fleet to search for it.

"Okay, then I'll go down and prepare." Eldest Sun Tang felt that Wu Yuanqing's attitude today was a little strange. Why is there no such a ridiculous word, this is too abnormal.

"Wait, is there anything else?" The eldest grandson is also regarded as having the attribute of "cheap", Wu Yuanqing didn't earn a few words with him, but felt a little uncomfortable all over his body.

"No, that's good." Wu Yuanqing replied.

"Oh, that's fine, you go down first." The eldest grandson seemed to have some thoughts, but he didn't think of them.

"I'll go first."

"Okay." The eldest grandson had been thinking about what else needed to be prepared for. When he saw that Wu Yuanqing was about to step out of the door, he stopped him again: "Slow, where are the Yellow Emperor, Emperor Yan and Tang Yao?" ”

Wu Yuanqing turned back and said, "The Yellow Emperor and Tang Yao have gone to the mainland, and this Yandi is under maintenance. However, according to the usual practice, the Yellow Emperor should be coming back soon. ”

"In that case, when the Yellow Emperor returns, let's set out to search. You first organize the sailors and personnel of the Yandi, and when the Yellow Emperor comes back, this group of people will go to sea on the Yellow Emperor. "Changsun Tang thought about it and said, there is almost no difference between the Yellow Emperor and the Yandi, and there is no big problem.

"Okay, so is there anything else?" Wu Yuanqing asked.

"Not this time."

"Then I'll go first!" Wu Yuanqing seemed to say this sentence again.

"Okay, then you can go first!"

Seeing that Wu Yuanqing had arrived at the door again, the eldest grandson said again: "Come back!" ”

Wu Yuanqing had no choice but to turn back again and ask, "What did you think of again?" ”

"No, I just asked you to come back and see if you came back."

No matter how good Wu Yuanqing's temper is, he will have anger, although he Lao Tzu has repeatedly emphasized these similar things, but when the young man is not impulsive, this fire immediately came up and said: "I said that you are not cheap, do you need me to give you some medicine to eat." ”

Hearing this, he said unhurriedly: "Oh, it's normal now, I thought you were abnormal, and I was going to give you some medicine." ”

Wu Yuanqing stared at the eldest grandson for a long time before leaving.

After a few days, the Yellow Emperor finally returned. No time was lost.

The crew of the Yandi inspected the Yellow Emperor and boarded the Yellow Emperor, although the two are very similar, but this is not the same ship after all, and there are still more or less differences.

After a few days of adaptive training, the eldest grandson set off on the Yellow Emperor with the sailors of the Yandi.

Of course, there were six other accompanying ships along the way, forming a small fleet, the fleet had a powerful firepower and secret weapons, and there were also Quanzhou and Guangzhou, which were also only this small combat power, and the remaining four ships were mainly to provide logistical support.

Pull off the sails and arrive at Spice Island without any surprises.

There were no accidents along the way, and naturally there were no ships that were supposed to be carrying the spices.

When he arrived at Spice Island, the eldest grandson was apprehensive.

In fact, there is no spice on the spice island, and this is just a small trick, after all, spice is an extremely lucrative financial road, and Changsun Tang still hopes that he can operate for a longer period of time. The Spice Island is just one of the main routes for the construction of docks on several nearby islands.

The harvested spices are transported to the island by boat from the nearby islands and then dried. When a certain number was reached, ships sent from the Big Island were sent to the Golden Mountains, and then to the mainland and even to the Persian region.

With the arrival of the eldest grandson, the person in charge here naturally came forward to greet him.

"I've seen Master Hou." The person in charge here is naturally a close confidant of Changsun Tang, but a veteran given by Duan Zhixuan to Changsun Tang, and he will be replaced by Duan San. Not many people know this real name.

"No courtesy." Although the eldest grandson is very anxious, he can't be too urgent in front of these subordinates.

"I don't know what the Hou Ye is here?" Duan San didn't quite understand the meaning of this eldest grandson.

"When did this last spice ship depart?" The seemingly casual Q&A of the eldest grandson.

"Master Hou, this is all according to the usual practice, the ship will set off as soon as it arrives, and it will be on the tenth day of the first lunar month." Duan San didn't know what Changsun Tang's intentions were, but his years of military career still made him develop the habit of not asking too much.

"On the tenth day of the first month, today is twenty-nine and nineteen days." The eldest grandson said to himself.

"Exactly, don't you know what's going on here?" Duan San went directly to the problem.

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just going to come over and have a look, and I'm leaving." After speaking, Changsun Tang didn't wait for Duan San to say anything, and walked out in stride.

Just left a confused Duan San followed Changsun Tang to the dock. Forcibly suppressed the doubts in his heart, and respectfully sent the eldest grandson to board the Yandi ship.

When Changsun Tang got off the ship, he asked the crew to stand by on the spot, and now they are also in a state of being ready to leave at any time.

It didn't take long for the Yandi to embark on its journey again.

"Looks like something really happened." Changsun Yu said.

"Young Master, what should we do next?" It was Ge Long who spoke up.

"Captain Zhang, what do you mean?" The captain's name is Zhang Xingping, and he has been following the old man since the Jingzhou period.

"I think nine times out of ten they were robbed." Zhang Xingping had already started to run by sea before the eldest grandson went to Nanyang, and the matter here was clear.

"Go on." The eldest grandson knew that Zhang Xingping's judgment must have his reasoning, so he waited for his follow-up.

"Master Hou, this sea is no better than the land, as long as there are ships and people on this sea, they can mix in, and the place to stay is also easy to find, so this pirate can be said to be countless." Zhang Xingping said.

"With the strength of our huge fleet, no one should dare to oppose us." Ge Long wondered.

"This is the sea, the sea will hide everything, and you can't see people on land for three or five days at most, but ten days and half a month are common things in the sea and mountains, and this matter has passed for so long, it's difficult." Zhang Xingping said with his years of experience.

"Then there's no other way for us to find them?" Ge Long asked the eldest grandson Tang's doubts.

"It's more difficult to find it directly, it depends on their greed." Zhang Xingping said.

"What does this mean? You're saying we're doing it once, let's set a trap? "Changsun Tang still couldn't help it.

"That's okay, but it won't work in the short term, these people definitely have eyeliner, and they won't be stupid enough to be tough in the face of our huge strength." This can be regarded as a veto of Changsun Tang's proposal in disguise, but it just saves face for Changsun Tang.

"So what else can be done? Is that all there is to it? There were not only spices on that ship, but so many brothers! Ge Long said. On the spice ship was one of his countrymen, whom he had brought out, and who had a good relationship with him.

"Yes, even if the spices and the ship are gone, that's fine, but people must be found, and even if people can't find them, the corpses must be found." When the eldest grandson said, this was a bit sensational. After all, anyone who is a subordinate wants to meet such a boss. Of course, Changsun Tang felt this by feeling, and he also planned to do so.

Sure enough, in this cabin, all the people heard the eldest grandson say this, and the seven before and eight after said: "It was originally for the Hou Ye to serve the dead." "There were even people who got down on one knee on the spot.

This is a windfall.

As soon as Zhang Xingping saw this posture, he knew that it was impossible to come out this time and return empty-handed. He frowned, as if he had thought of something, but he seemed to be worried about something.

"Xingping, but what do we need to do?" The eldest grandson asked.

"Master Hou, I still have an idea, but I don't know if it has any effect." Zhang Xingping said with some slurry.

Seeing such a scene, the eldest grandson was naturally very happy, and said, "But it doesn't hurt to say it! ”

"These people can hijack the spice ship, there must be internal responsibility and meticulous work, otherwise how to find this leaf boat in the vast sea. So, we can start with those. Zhang Xingping said.

"You mean to hunt on Spice Island?" Ge Long asked.

"It's not. The fine work of the sea must have stayed in some place that was easy to observe, and the spice ships that came and went must have passed through a small island, where it is estimated that nothing will be found. ”

As soon as Zhang Xingping said this, Changsun Tang also remembered a small island not far from here, so he ordered the fleet to go to the island.

Zhang Xingping is worthy of being a veteran for many years, and the group really caught three people on this small island.

The three men explained the ins and outs of the matter.

It turned out that the stolen spice ship this time was a group of pirates entrenched in the waters off Quanzhou, and with their familiarity with the strait, they escaped several liquidations. But with the rapid growth of Quanzhou Port, the imperial court set up a sailor division in Quanzhou, which was transferred to Nanyang, and after stepping on the point for more than a month, the attention of spice ships was raised.

After listening to the confession, the eldest grandson felt that his head was big. Obviously, this is a gang of bandits, which is not easy to be cleared, they not only have rich experience in water warfare, but also have strict organization and strict discipline.

Many people may laugh when it comes to the fact that pirates have discipline, but Changsun Tang knows that the discipline of pirates is even stricter than that of the regular navy sometimes.

After knowing the truth of the matter, Changsun Tang just felt that this matter was more troublesome, and his head couldn't help but grow bigger. (To be continued.) )