In April of the fifth year of Chongzhen, God suddenly rained heavily for two consecutive days.

The cold weather during the Xiaoice period gradually warms up after the heavy rain stops, the strong infrastructure of Hushan Manor has no muddy roads caused by heavy snow melting, no muddy pools and feces and urine garbage everywhere, the flat and solid roads are clean, the branches of trees have new shoots, and people come and go with happy smiles on their faces, showing vitality everywhere.

When Sayide's fleet arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the rapid and slow waves, the southeast wind that he had been waiting for a long time suddenly blew, and he checked the tokens with the three warships of the Yangtze River Naval Division, which had been waiting for a long time, and immediately rejected the suggestion of docking at the Chongming Qianhu House to rest for a day, and under the escort of the three warships, he pulled up the sails and sailed upstream, and arrived at the Shangyuan Wharf in only two days and one night.

Shangyuan Wharf has changed dramatically.

The wharf has nearly tripled, warehouses have been built, berths have more than doubled, and six new cranes made of steel and pulleys stand neatly on the edge of the wharf.

The craggy hill jutting out of the river to the north of the wharf is now a thick and sturdy two-story fort, and it is already eye-catching before the artillery is installed.

Deep behind the fort, rows of wide barracks stretching south against the towering mountains rose from the ground.

The large school yard in front of the barracks is flat, and there is a square high platform built with bluestone strips and white marble railings between the school yard and the wharf.

Three tall and stout flagpoles were erected in the center of the high platform, although no flags were hung, but Sayide could see at a glance the function of the high platform and the scale of the army stationed, and for Zhu Daolin, who was powerful and had a deep background, his confidence was doubled for a while.

Zhu Daolin, who was dressed in a cyan robe and tied up in a bun with strips of cloth, stood on the civil dock to the south with a smile, and the young man dressed as a scribe to his left was Feng Shengtai, a hired translator sent by Sayid in advance. Ying Changpei, who is gorgeously dressed and seems to be getting fatter and fatter, and Zhao Xunting, the chief manager, who is much darker and thinner, are both old friends that Sayide is familiar with.

Only the middle-aged scribe standing behind Zhu Daolin and with a medium appearance had not seen it before, but this did not affect the happy mood of Sa Yide and the people around him at this moment.

The Galen ship "Xihai" on which Sayid was riding slowly docked.

The 12 young officers who had stood neatly on the edge of the pier immediately dispersed, and 6 officers picked up the thick cables thrown down from the ship and quickly wound them around the thick fixed iron stakes. The other six officers raised the wide guide pedal and accurately placed it on the side of the "Xihai" ship, which had a displacement of no less than 800 tons.

Sayide stepped off the pedal first, shook hands with Zhu Daolin who came forward, and then came to an Arabian cordial hug, greeted each other, and greeted Ying Changpei, Zhao Xunting, and Ruan Dayue one by one, and then took Zhu Daolin's hand, pointed to the officers wearing brand-new copper nail leather armor, brass decoration red tassel leather helmets, and exquisite shark skin Tang knives on their waists on the edge of the dock, and asked curiously: "My brother." Are these tall young officers guarding the docks for you? ”

Zhu Daolin replied with a smile: "They are the most promising young officers in the base camp of the Yangtze River Water Division under the command of Wei Guogong, and they all have the title of Hundred Household Officers or General Flag Officers, and their ancestors and fathers are all Thousand Household Officials or Hundred Household Officials of the Daming Naval Division, so they are more familiar with water transportation and wharf affairs." ”

Feng Shengtai hurriedly took a few steps forward, and after coming to Sayide's side, he whispered: "Mr. Zhu is about to serve as the commander of the Fourth Rank of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies in Nanjing, and concurrently serve as the official of the Thousand Households of the Shangyuan Thousand Households of the Daming Water Division, and he is also the commander of the Nanjing Firearms Factory personally appointed by the Ming Emperor. ”

"All the officers and soldiers on this dock today. All of them were Mr. Zhu's subordinates, the 12 young officers just now. It is the officer of the Shangyuan Thousand Households Institute who was personally selected, promoted and personally trained by Mr. Zhu. ”

Sayid was stunned when he heard this: "I really didn't expect it, my brother, you always bring one surprise after another to our partners!" ”

Zhu Daolin cordially took the hand of his old friend, and invited everyone to sit down and drink tea on the newly built veranda covered with blue-green glazed tiles above the pier, and explained to the enthusiastic Sayid:

"Although I have a military position, I am not required to do anything, but only to pay the salaries of all the officers and soldiers and apprentices of craftsmen under my supervision. My biggest hobby is business, so please don't worry, Mr. Sa, our business will not be affected in any way, it will only get bigger and bigger. ”

Sayid was overjoyed: "I have never forgotten what you once said: 'The trade between us will not only bring the wealth that all parties deserve, but also very likely to open a new chapter in the foreign trade of the Ming Empire.'" Create a glorious history of trade between the East and the West, and even become a legend in the history of world trade! I am convinced of that! ”

Zhu Daolin smiled slightly, picked up a cup of tea and sent it to Sayide: "Thank you, Sayide!" There is a small regret that needs to be truthfully reported to you, since the new tea on the side of Tianshu Pavilion is in the picking stage, it takes a certain amount of time to make the best Tieguanyin tea and high-grade black tea. ”

"I don't want to give you the second-grade tea they have left, so I can't provide you with tea this time, but through arguments, they gave me 500 sets of big red high-grade fine porcelain tea sets as compensation, which are high-quality products with the 'Tianshu Pavilion' mark, which are usually not sold to the public, so the price of each set of porcelain has increased by 20%. If you're interested, I can sell you a portion. ”

"I want them all! I deliberately brought an extra 2,000,000 taels of silver and 350,000 taels of pure gold, just to buy more exquisite goods, don't worry I can't afford to pay, please load me on the ship as soon as I finish unloading. ”

"Insatiable Moleno they are organizing the supply of goods in Goa, Kolkata, Batavia and Manila this time, and it is likely that they will be here in a few days, and they must not be allowed to see this batch of red porcelain, not even a small part of it!"

Sa Yide waved his fist excitedly, he didn't need to hide anything in front of Zhu Daolin, who he trusted, all the porcelain he shipped back last time had just arrived in Quanzhou, and it was snapped up by merchants from all over the world who rushed to hear the news, and the price sold was 3.5 times the price he entered, and only half a shipload of fine porcelain from Tianshu Pavilion made him make a lot of money.

Therefore, Saïd decided that this trip would be shipped back to his hometown in the Middle East anyway, along with all the jacquard cloth, complete sets of axles, and pendulum clock movements, all to the bustling Red Sea and the major commercial ports along the Persian Gulf coast, which would bring him at least ten times more net profit.

The two sides introduced the goods respectively, and the personnel of both sides counted and handed over according to the contract and the manifest.

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