After promising Ayako that she would come back to see her soon, Ren Siqi left the Matsuura family's castle under her reluctant gaze. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Along the way, Ren Siqi secretly pondered, did he lose or earn this time? Judging from the price of raw silk, it seems that it will make tens of thousands of taels of silver less, but from the perspective of expanding its channels in Japan, it seems to have made money. Huaixing had a complicated mood, came to the residence, and asked people to convene everyone in Shanghang to discuss the matter, and told the deal just now, but everyone was not depressed, but one by one they were elated.

"Obediently, I sold five hundred taels of raw silk at once, and what is the current price, it seems to be three hundred and sixty taels of silver, let's send it!" Anthony glared and muttered, counting with both hands how much silver he could sell, but he couldn't figure it out.

"The shipowner's business is not bad, and being able to connect with the local Japanese lord is very beneficial to our future business." Sima Nandao.

Mao Shiba's focus is not here: "Xiucai, you said that Songpu Dong introduced someone to you, what is his name?" ”

"It seems to be called Li Guozhu, yes, it's Li Guozhu!" Ren Siqi said.

"It's him!" Mao Eighteen is thoughtful.

"Eighteenth brother recognizes him?" Ren Siqi asked anxiously.

Mao 18 shook his head: "I don't recognize him." However, I heard Fu Bozhu (Fu Chun) say that when he was young, he followed Yan Siqi among Japanese officials and created a big career, and Fu Bozhu knew Li Guozhu's father. Li Guozhu's father's name is Li Dan, a famous maritime merchant, whose fleet covers the East and South China Sea routes, and has a lot to do with the Japanese feudal lords, the Dutch, and the Ming government. However, for some reason, after Li Dan's death, his fleet was not left to his son Li Guozhu, but was inherited by Zheng Zhilong. ”

"This Zheng Zhilong is also a character, in just over ten years, he has such a big power on the sea, Yan Siqi Li Dan, who is not a hero on the sea, all look at him differently and leave him with his life's work. Now he has achieved the post of Fujian General Army, which can be described as a model of being an official by bandits! Ren Siqi sighed in admiration, very envious of Zheng Zhilong's chances.

"Just a shameless villain." Mao Eighteen Senran said: "According to what Master Fu said before his death, the cause of death of Yan Siqi Yan Da is unknown, and most of them were killed by Zheng Zhilong. harmed the life of Yan Da's boss and occupied his foundation, this is what Zheng Zhilong did! ”

"Okay, now that they are the general soldiers of Fujian, and they control the entire East China Sea, we can't afford to mess with them. Or let's talk about going to visit Li Guozhu tomorrow, is the eighteenth brother willing to go with me? Ren Siqi invited.

Mao 18 nodded and agreed.

The next morning, after breakfast, the group took a small boat to Hirado Island, where Li Guosuke lived.

"What do you think is that, master?" Anthony exclaimed in a panic. Ren Siqi turned his head and saw that three large ships were slowly sailing into Nagasaki Port, it was the Dutch ship "Princess" that had recently started a war with Qiyun Trading House, and two other Dutch ships.

"The Dutch are finally here, and it's all about fun!" Ren Siqi's face suddenly became serious, and now there were three Dutch ships at once, which was not a good thing for Qiyun Commercial Bank. Not long ago, a "Princess" made it difficult for the two ships of Qiyun Commercial Bank to deal with, but now three of them came at once! All of a sudden, things got serious. But now that everyone is in the port of Nagasaki, under Japanese control, the Dutch don't dare to make trouble!

"Owner, do you think the price of raw silk will come down?" Anthony asked suddenly. The Dutch are coming, surely with a lot of raw silk.

"No!" Ren Siqi thought for a moment and shook his head: "The Dutch got the raw silk from our Daming maritime merchants, and their purchase price was much higher than ours, and they would definitely not do it if they earned less!" ”

Li Guosuke lives on Hirado Island, which is very close to the port of Nagasaki, and it only takes half an hour to reach Hirado Island by boat.

Hirado is the earliest place of Japan's foreign trade, as early as more than 100 years ago, the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants traded with the Japanese here, and the pirate Wang Nao was based on the Goto Islands and Hirado Island.

However, a few years ago, there was a rebellion in Kyushu-Shimabara, in which the poor Japanese who believed in Western Catholicism revolted under the leadership of Amakusa Shiro, and fought a series of battles with the shogunate army, although they were finally suppressed, and the shogunate was also shaken. In order to resist the encroachment of Western religion on Japan, the shogunate issued a decree of "closing the country to the outside world", leaving Nagasaki as a port for foreign trade, and the trade objects were limited to the Dutch and Ming maritime merchants.

Hirado, a once-prosperous seaport, has also been depressed by the "isolation of the country".

Li Guozhu's father, Li Dan, was based in Hirado, although the fleet at sea was later inherited by Zheng Zhilong, but the Japanese career was still among his son Li Guo's assistants. Of course, Li Guosuke has his own business in Nagasaki, but he still prefers to live on Hirado Island.

There is a dedicated Karato town in Hirado, and more than half of the inhabitants of Hirado Island are Daming. Here, the Japanese kimono and the Ming crown costume are parallel, the Japanese language and the Ming official dialect are mixed, and most of the buildings are completely Ming style.

Li Guozhu's residence is in the best location on the island, surrounded by mountains and seas, with beautiful scenery. The tall fence surrounds the courtyard, and the pavilions and garden ponds in the courtyard seem to enter the Jiangnan garden. It is worthy of a number of sea merchants, and its luxury is no less than that of Japanese princes!

Perhaps because of Matsuura's letter, Li Guozhu welcomed Ren Siqi's visit very much, and personally went to the gate of the mansion to greet him. Then he took Ren Siqi's arm and entered the mansion.

Mao Eighteen, Li Xingjiu, Xiong Er and Anthony followed silently.

Glancing at the four of them backwards, Li Guozhu said to Ren Siqi: "I haven't been back to Daming for many years, and I didn't expect that there would be a young man like Ren Xiucai, but looking at the four entourages behind you, you know that Ren Xiucai's strength is extraordinary." ”

Ren Siqi said humbly: "Where is it, in front of the seniors, I dare not call it Junyan." These four are not my retinues, but my brothers. This is the eighteenth brother, who has followed the late Fu Bin Fu Bo Master for many years, according to the eighteenth brother, Fu Bo Master has seen Lord Ling Zun many times when he was under Yan Siqi Yan Da's master. ”

"Oh, it turns out that it's still my father's old friend!" Li Guozhu said solemnly, and immediately greeted Mao Eighteen and was commensurate with brothers.

Li Guozhu is kind and warm, and he does not put on the shelf of a sea merchant at all, which is deeply favored by everyone.

Knowing that Ren Siqi and the others had something to do with his dead father, Li Guozhu was even more enthusiastic and ceremoniously entertained everyone.

Plates of delicacies are placed one after another, a pot of wine is poured into the cup, the dish is an authentic Ming dish, and the wine is not Japanese sake, but the most famous daughter of Jiangnan.

Between pushing the cup and changing the lamp, the sound of silk and bamboo sounded, and the Ming singer dressed in palace costume and the Japanese prostitute dressed in kimono danced one after another, and in a trance, Ren Siqi felt that he had returned to the past of the horse and the stage.