Ten taels of silver in a medium family can live for a year, and five hundred taels of silver will not worry about this life, not to mention that people are not at home now, so they always have to be busy.

These people who run on the sea ship have a little savings in their hands, and if they are put back like this, they will be comfortable for a lifetime, or they will be happy for a few years.

The sunken ship, in addition to the cannon killed, there are forty-five people left, the chosen surname Tang is called Tang Shan, on the ship is the head of the sail, on the ship, to rank fourth or fifth.

Tang Shan said that he was thirty-six years old when he was registered as a servant, but the sea was said to be a destroyer, and he looked like he was in his forties.

They are different from the other two ships, and the attitude of the surviving Tianjin Jinyi guards on this ship is like the shark in the sea, their own ancestors.

The thunderous cannon sounded, the cannonballs whistled and flew, watching their companions being beaten to pieces, and the flesh and blood splashing everywhere, it was really the power of the heavens and the earth, and those who could survive were all the manifestations of the queen of heaven, as soon as Cai Nan went over to pick people, these people didn't dare to take a breath one by one.

This Tang Shan bent down and walked out of the place of detention, he first glanced at the river, and he probably had a bottom in his heart, but then looked at the dozen or so forts by the river, thinking about the conditions that Cai Nan promised him, but his steps were a little slower, thoughtful.

After taking two steps, this Tangshan suddenly stood up and said:

"Master, don't blame the little one."

Cai Nan naturally didn't care, nodded with a smile, but Tang Shan knelt down with a plop, kowtowed and said:

"Master, I don't want the little silver, and I don't want to be put back, I just want to see the big master."

Five hundred taels of silver is not a small amount anyway, and it is indeed difficult to refuse if you are willing to give up the reward of five hundred taels of silver and the free body that is easy to get, but you want to see Wang Tong.

When he got to Wang Tong's side, Wang Tong was in the nearest fort to the sea, which was equivalent to the throat, and yesterday it was said that the artillery blockade with the gun carriage and gun carriage was used, and after the ship was stopped, the construction craftsmen, laborers, and a large number of materials were transported, and a small fortress was to be built here, and at least four guns were set up here.

Cai Nan led the people over, briefly explained the situation, and led the Tang Mountain up, Tang Shan was slightly shorter than Wang Tong, but he was very strong, and when he saw Wang Tong, he knelt down without saying a word, and knocked his head more than a dozen times.

Wang Tong narrowed his eyes and said:

"What are you going to see me for?"

"The big lord, the little one doesn't want to ask for the five hundred taels of silver, and he doesn't want to go back, he just wants to follow the big man on an errand, the little one is fourteen years old and gets on the boat, and he has been on the sea for twenty-two years, and he is proficient in the doorway at sea, and he understands the ship, and he has been to all places in the north and south, and he sees that the big man lacks people in this area, although the small one is not very capable, but he is always of some use to the big man, and he is willing to follow the big man on an errand and work hard for the big man."

After finishing speaking, he bumped and kowtowed again, and the force was extremely great, even Cai Nan on the side felt that his forehead hurt, Wang Tong glanced at this Tangshan a few times, and the other party's forehead had already seen blood, and he didn't stop.

Wang Tong looked at the river, the mast of the sunken ship was still exposed on the water, and a group of people were dealing with it there, otherwise the ship would be a great disaster to the Haihe River in the future.

Three ships raised their sails and fled, and one ship was sunk by cannonballs, this person is from that ship, it would not be such a coincidence, and such a person would be specially arranged to be the eyes and ears of his side.

And Wang Tong's feelings about this Tangshan are a little different, this person has a kind of blazing enthusiasm in his heart to climb up, and there is also an ability to seize opportunities.

There is indeed a lack of people who understand maritime transportation on their side, and they don't know anything about ships and shipping routes, but the Daming Sea has been banned for many years, and Tianjin is a military port, so it is almost impossible to recruit talents who understand this.

Otherwise, yesterday I inspected these sea ships, and let the prisoners go together, Tianjin is a seaport, whether it is economic or military, there are many places that can use this kind of talent.

If you are ambitious, you are not afraid, but what you are afraid of is incompetence, this Tangshan may have analyzed something from yesterday, and then made up his mind to take refuge, such a person, Wang Tong appreciates it very much.

"Get up, finish your errand first, Xiao Cai, get a brocade robe and robe for him to change."

Wang Tong said lightly, this Tang Shan immediately stopped kowtowing, his forehead was already bloody, but his face was full of excitement, Wang Tong took him in.

Being tossed like this, Wang Tong was also curious, and the surname Suo explained a few words about the matter on the side of the fort, and went to the sea ship with Cai Nan and others to inspect it.

The captain and several leaders of the ship, who demanded to pay taxes and fines on their own initiative, were called out, and their ship was lucky, the shells opened a few holes in the hull, and they still had time to get to the shore.

When Wang Tong and a dozen people around him came here, they could still see the shipwright mending the boat over there, and several people on this boat were surrounded by the soldiers of the Jinyi Guard, but they still said with a smile in the back:

"The big lord, yesterday I offended the big lord's tiger might, it's the small ones who don't know things, and now they are willing to make up for it, and the little ones are really lard, the big lord is so fair, the little ones actually want to run, the little ones discussed it, even if they don't make a penny in this business, they must follow the rules of the big lord."

Wang Tong walked onto the board, and when he heard this, he turned around with a smile and teased:

"If you really tell the official's suspicions, dismantle your ship, and see what you can hide!"

After saying this, the faces of several people on this ship immediately turned dark, Wang Tong turned his head, and said in a low voice through Tang Shan, who was two people:

"Big man, look at this boat, how deep the draft is."

Wang Tong glanced at the hull of the ship, and sure enough, there was a long distance, and Tang Shan said:

"The eldest lord doesn't know, after Haizhou, that is, the Haihe River in Tianjinwei can have such a deep draft, it is all rain, and there is no sand in the river."

There were actually two small cannons with the thickness of the bowl on the deck, but Wang Tong was surprised, and when he looked closer, he found that the words engraved on the cannon should be Western characters, according to the experience of making cannons, such a cannon is not even a catty, it can hit more than 100 steps to the sky, I don't know where to use it.

That Tang Shan really understood, and hurriedly explained:

"Sir, this is an eagle cannon, when the sea is fired, it is very useful to rely on this cannon to sweep the people on the other side's ship."

The ship's boss and several people also went on deck, and when they saw Wang Tong's interesting observation of the artillery, they couldn't help but let go of their hearts just now, this was obviously a person who had never been on the ship, and they were afraid that he would do something, so they just said a few words.

When I got out of the hold, I could see that a lot of poplin rolls had been beaten to pieces, and it seemed that they had been hit by shells, but the others were still easy to say, covered with tarpaulin, and tied very close with ropes.

"A total of 3,100 horses, the big lord cut the rope to see it, the small ones say something offended, although this is beaten to the sparse, but the rotten belong to the villains, taxes and fines are paid according to the number of these 3,100 horses, the big lord Xu The tax amount is low, it is a chance for the small ones to get rich, if they don't know the number, it is a shame for the small ones."

What he said was indeed impassioned, but Wang Tong became more and more unconvinced, but Tang Shan stepped forward and whispered:

"Sir, there's something down there." This kind of structure, which is similar to the modification of the Fuchuan sea ship, Wang Tong has also learned a little in the past two days, generally there are one to two layers of cabins, and the bottom is the bilge.

The structure of the bilge is similar to that of boxes put together, and the walls of the boxes connected into a grid are the brackets that support the upper cabins, although there is space below, but it is less than three feet high, and it is quite wet, and the ship will be at sea for ten days and a month, and the cargo will become wet when it is placed there.

And because the wind and waves at sea are not small, the ship is bumpy and shaking, in order to maintain stability, some large stones are generally placed there, called ballast stones.

This is also the experience that Wang Tong heard after yesterday's inspection, hearing Tang Shan say this, he also became curious, turned around and ordered a few words, this time he clearly saw that the faces of several people on the boat who had been saying generous words changed.

When it was opened, it was very dark underneath, and when you lit a torch, you could see that the large wine jar with a wide mouth higher than the calf was completely sealed with oiled paper and mud.

"Sir..."

As soon as those people shouted out at the top of their voices, Wang Tong waved his hand impatiently, and several soldiers immediately started to put people on the deck.

"What is this?"

Wang Tong asked in surprise, could it be a gold and silver treasure, Tang Shan saw that his judgment was not bad, and his mood also relaxed, and he actually said in the official dialect with a thick Fujian accent:

"The big man can guess, go down and move around."

Since this ship could not hide its secrets, Wang Tong was also relaxed, and when he heard this, Suo jumped out of the bilge and hugged the wine jar hard...... Wang Tong said that he was boiling his body, and his strength was really not small, but he could move this wine jar and his waist was suspended, and he hadn't moved a little, so it could be seen how heavy it was, "Is this gold and silver?" ”

In Wang Tong's impression, it is gold and silver that can have such a weight, looking at Wang Tong's face full of doubts, Tang Shan said with a smile:

"My lord, the Japanese have more gold and silver than the Ming Dynasty, and they will definitely lose money when they are transported over, and what is in this wine jar is mercury."

Mercury...... Wang Tong's first reaction was the silver pillar in the thermometer, what is the use of this thing being trafficked across the ocean to the Wa Kingdom, this time Tangshan did not sell Guanzi, and said with a smile:

"There are many gold and silver mines in the Wa Kingdom, and mercury is needed to refine, so the price is high, adults can know how much a pound of mercury can earn, fifty catties of mercury, or it is only forty-five taels from Shaanxi, and it can be sold for seven hundred taels when it is transported to the Wa Kingdom, and sometimes it can even be sold for eight hundred and fifty taels, and it is a huge profit to transport mercury and oxtail medicine to the Wa Kingdom, and the small estimate of this ship's mercury will not be less than two thousand catties, and the big master calculates ......."

Wang Tong is good at calculating the calculation, but the result made him gasp, not counting the poplin that can double the income, the profit of mercury alone is more than 20,000 taels.

If you want to take two out of ten percent and add a fine of twenty percent for such a huge profit, there is such a cheap thing.

(To be continued)