Linga Bay, located in the north of Manila Bay, is a funnel-shaped bay, there are several natural harbors along the coast, which are very suitable for large ships to dock, and it is also closer to Taiwan, so a few years ago, on the peninsula on the west side of Linga Bay, a stronghold called Linga City has been established, although the scale of this stronghold cannot be compared with Manila, but in the whole Luzon Island, it is also one of the famous anchorage ports.

Today's Linga Bay is not calm, yesterday there was a typhoon passed, the coconut trees on the beach were swept away by the wind, although the wind is much lighter now, but the sea is still uneven, and occasionally there are waves several meters high.

Originally, in this kind of weather, it is not suitable to go to sea, even some large ships of thousands of tons, do not like to be bumped in this kind of wind and waves. But what is strange is that there is really a boat out of the sea in Lingjia City today, and the ship is not big, at most four or five hundred tons, but this ship has excellent balance, piercing the wind and waves on the sea, although it is pushed up by the big waves from time to time, but it can always fall safely to the sea.

In the wheelhouse, a muscular man with a bare head grasped a stake in his hand, and said to the people around him with some worry: "Captain, the wind and waves are so strong, although our ship is specially made, but I am afraid that if it goes on like this, the hull will also be damaged, and then we will have to spend a lot of money on repairs!" ”

"Bald, as long as we can find a gold mine, what is this money?" A middle-aged man in his thirties said with a laugh. In addition to the bald man in the wheelhouse, several other people are also fixing their bodies with their hands to avoid falling down by the wind and waves. At the same time, his eyes were also looking at the wind and waves outside, and there was a bit of worry in his eyes.

The middle-aged man's voice just fell. Behind him, a man with a short head but a fierce face suddenly said in a loud voice, "Brother Lin." Why don't you understand, the bald head is worried about spending money, he is afraid that the wind and waves outside will overturn the boat, and then he, a landlubber, will have to feed the dragon king. ”

Hearing the short man's ridicule, the people around him burst into laughter, but the bald man was so angry that he pounced on him and was about to fight the short man. However, the short man knew that he was no match for this bald head, so he relied on his flexible skills to drill around in the crowd. After the bald man chased after him for a while, he couldn't catch up, but he was tired and tired, and their boat shook so badly that in the end he simply sat on the ground and couldn't get up, while the short man stood next to an accomplice, holding the other's arm, and winked at the bald man.

"Okay, everyone, don't make trouble, although the wind and waves outside are very good. But our ship was built by a shipyard moved from Dengzhou, and it was made of fine timber, and I took this kind of ship to Australia at the beginning, and I encountered winds and waves on the way that were even greater than now. I didn't take the ship either, so don't worry! At that moment, the young man at the head of the crowd spoke.

The young man looked sven. It's like a reader, but with a little dark skin. The joints of the hands are also a little thick, which can be seen. The other party is not a pampered person. If Li Su was here, he would definitely be able to recognize the young man who was the leader of the group, Feng Shijie, Feng Shuyu's brother.

After Feng Shijie participated in the exploration team last time, he had accumulated a sum of money, and his wife, that is, a good widow Yunjian Qiuji, also felt that the work of the slave catcher team was too dangerous, and there was no free time, so after careful consideration, Feng Shijie decided to quit his job in the slave hunting team, and then with all his savings, plus the financial support of his sister Feng Shuyu, he bought a boat, and then recruited a group of brothers to start a transportation business.

Originally, with the prosperity of sea trade, the running ship business of the sea route is also very prosperous, generally speaking, as long as there is a sea vessel, and there is no big accident when running the ship, then it is a sure business without losing money, but with more and more people running the boat, now the competition on each route is very fierce, such as the route north of Taiwan, because the earliest development, and also the most mature, so each route has formed a fixed chain of interests, and the average person can not intervene at all.

It is precisely because of this that Feng Shijie, a small boat owner with only one ship, had to take the southern route, but his ship was not big, and the people who ran the ocean were all large fleets, so he could only run in the Nanyang area that was relatively close to Taiwan, especially the Luzon area, which was the closest to Taiwan, and it was his main place.

Originally, Luzon's slave hunting industry was very prosperous, and through trade with the local natives, a large amount of grain, furs, ores and other commodities could also be obtained, but since the last time Li Su sent troops to Luzon, in one fell swoop wiped out the local natives forces, the only surviving dwarf blacks also became allies, although in this war, countless slave hunters made a fortune, but in the following time, the evil consequences of the war appeared.

First of all, as the war progressed, a large number of natives were reduced to slavery, and this method of fishing for the best of the land could bring a temporary prosperity to the slave industry, but then a sharp depression followed.

Second, with the decline of the population, especially the rapid reduction of the prime-age labor, the local native economy was greatly damaged, and as a result, other merchants could not receive the goods at all, which also led to the fact that the shipping industry in Luzon was also affected.

And Feng Shijie's ship usually does some extra money in addition to transportation, such as encountering a lone foreign merchant ship, they will also make a cameo appearance as a pirate, and when they encounter a war with natives on land, they will also ransom some slaves, etc., in fact, not only them, almost all merchant ships will do these things now, and it can even be said that as long as they can earn money and do not violate the laws formulated by His Royal Highness King Qi, then everything is reasonable.

The temporary decline of the Luzon maritime trade industry also affected Feng Shijie's ship, fortunately he had already made a lot of money before, and he was planning to buy a second ship, but with the current situation, it seems that it is good to be able to support him through this special period.

Thinking of the impact he had been affected during this time, Feng Shijie in the wheelhouse couldn't help but sigh, and at this time, the wind and waves outside had become a little smaller, at least some of the old crew members could already walk normally, but novices like bald strong men could only stay in the cabin, otherwise they would be thrown into the sea if they were not careful, and there was no way to save them at that time.

Feng Shijie's ship has gone through such a big wind and waves, and the deck is already a mess, and all the crew members who can go on deck have already begun to be busy, striving to clean up in the shortest possible time. And Feng Shijie sat quietly in the helm room, looked back at the bald man and a few other novices, and showed a little smile on his face.

Just a month ago, he finally took a business to ship a batch of inferior iron tools from Taiwan to Manila, these iron tools were wanted by the Manila Assassin Shi Yamen, mainly for trading with dwarf blacks, after all, now Luzon is entering the development stage, and all aspects need the help of these dwarf blacks.

Originally, after Feng Shijie delivered the ironware, he still wanted to find another business in Manila, but unfortunately his ship stopped on the dock for three or four days, and he kept looking for acquaintances to introduce him, but unfortunately in the end he still found nothing. For those of them who run the boat, time is money, Feng Shijie felt that instead of waiting here, it was better to go back to Taiwan, after all, there was not much impact there, and there were many goods to Nanyang, so he didn't have to worry about running out of goods, but just when he was about to go back empty, he suddenly received a very tempting news.

According to this announcement, in order to develop the local economy of Luzon, His Royal Highness King Qi issued a special edict, promising all the people under his rule, as long as the minerals found in private individuals, then belong to individuals, and also specifically pointed out that if gold, silver, copper and other precious metals are found, not only the mine is yours, but also the government will provide convenience in mining.

After learning this news, Feng Shijie was very keen to find that this was an excellent opportunity to make a fortune, not to mention that if he could really find a relatively large mineral deposit, then he would have a rich family foundation, and no matter what business he did in the future, he would have a confidence.

With this in mind, Feng Shijie immediately dismissed the idea of returning to Taiwan, began to recruit people in Manila, and prepared for prospecting. Although he didn't know much about prospecting, he had his own way, which was to ask the local natives about the situation, after all, before that, the natives of Luzon had a lot of gold ornaments and some copper weapons, which meant that the natives of Luzon were already able to mine minerals such as gold and copper.

Although most of these mines were taken over by the Manila government, in the war, many natives were directly exterminated, so there must be many minerals that have not been discovered by the government, and Feng Shijie's goal is these minerals that were previously occupied by the natives and have not yet been discovered by the government.

Feng Shijie mobilized all the people on his ship, inquired about the situation with the local natives, and after half a month of investigation, he listed a table of all the natives who may have mining in his hand, excluding those that had been discovered by the government, and there were still a dozen left, but these dozen tribes were all the kind of tribes that had been exterminated, and none of the original clansmen could be found, and Feng Shijie only got some information that was not very accurate from some natives who knew about these tribes. (To be continued......)