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After a little silence, Sun Shao made a decision, Geng Jingzhong was already suspicious, and if he covered it up, it would only be possible to do bad things, so it was better to say it happily. "Brother Geng is straightforward, the younger brother does have something to ask for, but he is afraid of making superficial words, so he only arranged it like this once!"

Geng Jingzhong also smiled, this is good, otherwise this wine will really not be able to eat. "Since you call me Brother Geng, then of course as a brother, you will be able to listen to what you say. Say, what makes you so anxious, don't deny it, your eyes have betrayed you"

"Oh, brother, discerning. The younger brother did encounter difficulties, and asked the elder brother to listen to the younger brother slowly. Sun Shao saw Geng Jingzhong's expression like this, and his heart also relaxed. The younger brother is the son of the Sun family in Jinling City, you already know that the younger brother is the third in the family, and there are two elder brothers above, the eldest brother has already intervened in the family business, and the second brother is the same as the younger brother. The second brother has been smart since he was a child, and he was admitted to the Jinshi three years ago, and is now the county magistrate of Xuyi County, Sizhou, Fengyang Prefecture. Although the younger brother is studying, he doesn't want to be an official, and he also participated in three scientific examinations at the request of the family but failed to make the list, so under the arrangement of the family, the younger brother began to work for the family at the end of the year before last. ”

"In the past two years, the younger brother has taken care of the family business in an orderly manner, so the younger brother's eldest brother is afraid that I will take his place in the family. To tell the truth, the younger brother had no intention of being the head of the family before, but under the repeated pressure of the eldest brother, the younger brother must also fight, otherwise the younger brother's life in the future can be because of this, when I chatted with Brother Geng before, I heard that Brother Geng was close to the governor of Geng, and was the principal of the Fujian offshore fleet. So the younger brother figured out that Guò intersected with Brother Geng. As a result, the family has reached some commercial cooperation with the Fujian offshore fleet. In this way, the younger brother's position in the family will be stable, and he will no longer be afraid of the suppression of my eldest brother. ”

"Well, Brother Xian is indeed a frank person, he can spit out the truth without getting drunk, and he doesn't lie to each other. What are your main products? This time, the offshore fleet arrived, but it brought a lot of Fujian products, and when it was time to return home. It will also take away a large number of Jiangnan specialties. Geng Jingzhong asked.

"So, did Brother Geng agree to the younger brother?" Sun Shao said happily.

"Hehe, it's rare that as soon as I arrived in Jinling City, I met someone who thought I was right, and it was just a matter of helping you. What's more, the offshore fleet is originally here to do business, and since it is a business, who is not doing this business! Geng Jingzhong said with a smile. And the two of us are so close to each other, if you don't say it, I will also take the initiative to find you, and there is a local person who will help you. It's also much easier for offshore fleets to get things done. Geng Jingzhong's words were right, and Wu Sangui began to raise troops. He withdrew all the people in Jiangnan to Fujian, but there were still a lot of industries left in Jiangnan, which were swallowed up by Jiangnan's Haoqiang before. But now, of course, they have all returned, and those who embezzled these industries were mostly close to the Qing court, and they had already been awarded in the previous clean-up campaign.

Sun Shao is now immersed in joy, and the suppression is to be able to catch the big ship of the Mawei Army, and the development of the family will definitely be rapid every day. As for what will happen if the Qing court calls back in the future? He was not worried about this, the strength of the Mawei Army gave him great confidence, not only because he did not have a good impression of the Qing court, but also because he was inclined to what the Mawei Army had always done. "Then I'll ask my brother, but then again, the younger brother has a Jianyì, brother, you can refer to it."

"You say!" Geng Jingzhong looked at Sun Shao with a smile and said.

"The younger brother thinks that since the elder brother knows the Metropolitan Governor and is in charge of the offshore fleet, he can also speak. So can the elder brother make a proposal to the Metropolitan Governor, and the Metropolitan Governor will take the lead in building a large port in the south of the Yangtze River, so that ships from the north and south can come and go smoothly, and the promotion of commerce and trade is immeasurable! ”

"Oh, can you say that, is your family still a maritime merchant?"

At this time, the sky, although there are yarn lanterns illuminating, but it is still full of shadows, Sun Shao looked around, glanced at the people in front of him, and slowed down his footsteps, the former Ming Dynasty forbade the sea, and the Qing court also forbade the sea, this maritime merchant has never been a glorious identity, he became cautious at the moment, and immediately said: "Brother, this place is not a place to talk, why don't you talk about it on the painting boat?" ”

Geng Jingzhong smiled and said, "Hehe, do you still think that this is Jinling City under the control of the Qing court?" The Mawei Army has always been keen on maritime trade, and it will be the same here in Jinling in the future, so you are still worried about trade? ”

Sun Shao slapped his head: "Oh, yes, yes, the little brother was negligent, forgetting that this is already under the rule of the Metropolitan Governor, damn it, damn it!" ”

When Geng Jingzhong saw Sun Shao like this, he had already determined the identity of the Sun family's maritime businessman, if it wasn't a maritime businessman, there was no need to hide it like this, but when he saw Sun Shao's appearance, he smiled again. "Let's go, we've been out there long enough, and it's okay to get on board!"

Seeing Geng Jingzhong nodding, Sun Shao said, "Brother take a slow step, and the younger brother will go and arrange it." So saying, he hurried forward.

After a while, everyone got on a large painting boat on the dock by the Wuding Bridge, and Sun Shao and Geng Jingzhong then got on a small painting boat and followed behind.

After the painting boat reached the river, Geng Jingzhong spoke: "Since the virtuous brother's family is a maritime merchant, he should know more about the pros and cons of maritime trade, I don't know what your maritime merchants think of maritime trade?" What do you think of the Metropolitan Governor's series of initiatives? ”

After listening to this, Sun Shao sighed for a while before saying: "Don't hide it from my brother, the younger brother was originally in favor of the imperial court opening the sea, and the advantages of sea trade outweigh the disadvantages. ”

Geng Jingzhong even raised his hand and interrupted: "This is not bad, the huge profits of sea trade have been like this since ancient times, and when the Metropolitan Governor opens up Western trade in the future, my Chinese ships can pass through the four seas, and the profits will be doubled!" ”

Hearing this, Sun Shao couldn't help but be stunned, this newly recognized brother was really familiar with the Metropolitan Governor, and he was so clear about the profits of sea trade. At the moment, he smiled happily and said: "What my brother said is very true, this is the orderly management of Fujian, but it is a different scene in Jiangnan." This sea trade is highly profitable, but on Qushan Island, Zhoushan, the only smuggling island in the south of the Yangtze River, the shipments and purchases were arbitrarily exploited at low prices, and most of them were swallowed by local maritime merchants. ”

Hearing this, Geng Jingzhong was also interested, he knew that there were smuggling islands here, but he really didn't know the specific details. With a slight groan, he said, "What is the situation of this Qushan Island now?" ”

Sun Shao immediately let go and said: "Because the Qing court has been implementing a sea ban, Qushan Island is now the largest foreign trade port along the coast of the south of the Yangtze River, however, there are many maritime merchants secretly smuggling in the south of the Yangtze River, and the fleet headed by Zhang Yonggui, Gelji, and Lin Shida not only has a large number of sea vessels, but also controls the Qiantang River and the Yangtze River. Every time they go to sea, 30% of the profits will be handed over to them, not including the purchase and shipment that are stripped by them at a wanton price. ”

The largest foreign trade port in the Jiangnan region? Geng Jingzhong couldn't help nodding secretly, it seems that the development of maritime trade here is also good, but it is estimated that it has always been developing in the direction of the East. Geng Jingzhong groaned slightly, and continued to ask: "When did the smuggling on Qushan Island begin?" In addition, there are many coastal islands in the south of the Yangtze River, and there should be many smuggling ports that can be built. ”

Sun Shao took a sip of tea, and then said slowly: "For a long time, the imperial court has implemented a sea ban, and overseas trade is 'tributary trade', that is, overseas Zhuyi has come to the Ming Dynasty trade in the form of 'tribute', and the imperial court has set up a city to manage it.

However, the Qing court entered the Central Plains, but there were very few foreign countries, due to the reduction of the tributary ships, the sea ban was once loosened in the south of the Yangtze River, and the coastal smugglers of overseas ships also flourished.

At that time, the Francois people were rampant in Guangdong, repeatedly caused disputes, disturbed the place, caused the fear of the Ming court, and the so-called disaster was not a single line, and Ningbo had a battle for tribute, which affected Zhejiang, and the imperial court sent troops to suppress it, and once again imposed a sea ban, blockaded the coastal ports, destroyed the ships going to sea, and cut off sea traffic. Strictly prohibit the import and trade of non-tributary ships, and anger in the South Seas, and block the ships of Annam and Manchuria, and the maritime trade in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places is depressed.

In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court began to enforce the sea ban, many ships and merchants on the sea were unwilling to cut off their livelihood, Qushan Island has a good geographical location, in fact, the most important thing is that there is no local sailor, and the sea patrol is not to come for many years, so Qushan Island has become the largest port for private maritime trade. As for the smuggling on Qushan Island, it is reported that it was quietly prevalent as early as the Yongle period of the previous dynasty, but the scale was too small to be known. ”

The battle for tribute was fought for tribute in the second year of Jiajing in the previous dynasty, so the large-scale smuggling of Qushan Island was only a matter of recent decades

(To be continued......)