August 19, 1627, the ninth day of the seventh month of the seventh year of the Great Tomorrow's Apocalypse. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable)

After staying in Shengli Harbor for more than 10 days, the fleet finally pulled anchor and embarked on the return journey. And Schneider and He Xi also got on the boat as passengers. They really went on the road alone this time, and they didn't even bring any of the subordinates they called. Schneider thought that he would hire people when he arrived in Guangzhou, but Li Nai thought that they were acting freely and freely, and they were relatively surrounded by themselves all day long, and they had to come to ask for advice on big and small things, but they were a little envious of their unrestrainedness, at least on the surface.

The fleet stopped and stopped all the way, and the speed of movement was not even comparable to the fast sailing ships such as the "Speed", and even the training ships of the Ministry of Shipping. The reason is that there is a noble person named Li Nai on board, and the first task is to ensure the safety and stability of the voyage. The fleet only travels along the coastline at dawn every day, and when it is getting dark, they stop at the shore to rest, and when the wind and waves are a little stronger, they will slow down. The two-hundred-nautical-mile journey from Shengli Port to the capital city of Qiongzhou alone took three days, which made the two traversers, who were accustomed to a tight schedule, very uncomfortable.

The fleet stayed in the capital of Qiongzhou for a day, mainly to replenish supplies, by the way to fill the vacant space with some local specialties, and also left some of the newly purchased goods to the local "Fu Ruifeng" branch. Schneider also had the pleasure of visiting the 17th-century capital city of Qiongzhou. He Xi had already been here once before, so he acted as a guide for Schneider.

As the political and economic center of Hainan Island at this time, the area and population of Qiongzhou greatly exceeded that of Yazhou. Of the island's more than 200,000 people, nearly one-third of the population lives in and around the capital city of Qiongzhou. Schneider's preliminary estimate is that the consumption power of the capital city of Qiongzhou is at least five to seven times that of Yazhou, but the current trade volume between it and Shengli Port has obviously not reached the passing line.

However, this situation will definitely change rapidly with the gradual import of Haihan goods. In addition to glass and salt, industrial products such as soap and matches will soon appear on the market. Savvy businessmen will take the initiative to purchase those materials needed to cross the group and send them to Shengli Port for trade, a free port without tariffs, for merchants engaged in maritime trade, it is absolutely irresistible**.

After inspecting the local semicolon, Li Nai also gave instructions to the shopkeeper here to try to recruit some people from the local area to make preliminary preparations for the investment of "Fu Ruifeng" in Shengli Port. In addition to some more important management positions that need to be sent from Guangzhou, Li Nai believes that grassroots positions can be recruited locally, which can also save a lot of transportation and resettlement costs for "Fu Ruifeng". Li Nai even thought about recruiting people directly in Shengli Port, but when he understood the remuneration given by the Haihan people to the people, he gave up this plan, and the wages given by the Haihan people did not seem to be high, but the food, clothing, housing and transportation were all covered, so the operating costs were very high, and there was no such precedent for the careful "Fu Ruifeng".

Then the fleet went directly north from the mouth of the Nandu River, slowly moved along the Leizhou Peninsula, and then turned east after reaching the sea off Zhanjiang, passing through Maoming, Yangjiang and other places, and finally arrived at Haojingao at the mouth of the Pearl River a few days later, which was later known as Macao.

The Portuguese fleet arrived here and began to settle here. In 1557, the Portuguese asked the Ming Dynasty for residency in Macao, but it remained nominally a Ming dependency with a local government under the direct jurisdiction of Guangdong Province. However, it was not until 1590 that it was named Ho Kiang O because of the production of oysters. The depiction of foreign merchants in the dramatist Tong Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion is inspired by his travels in Macao at the end of the 16th century.

However, at this time, Macao was still only a small trading port, and it was completely different from the prosperous Pinjin Grottoes in later generations, and it could not be called a city at all. Aside from the rows of stone-made warehouses on the dockside, there were low-slung wooden taverns where sailors and sailors basically passed the time. The sharp-eyed Schneider also saw a cross erected on the roof of the house in the distance, which was supposed to be a small church.

The wharf on the shore is not even as complete as the current port facilities of Victory Harbor, and there seems to be no one in charge to coordinate the cargo loading and unloading areas of these ships, and the messy cargo is piled up everywhere, and from time to time the crew members who are blocked in the way make angry noises. However, there were many more ships docked than in Victory Harbor, and there was even a three-masted Spanish galleon, with its towering bow and stern and long mast that made it stand out among the ships in the harbor.

"This Galen ship must have a displacement of more than three hundred tons, right?" He Xi muttered as he was very interested in this exotic ship.

"I'm afraid it's more than that, I estimate it to be between four hundred and five hundred tons. Schneider guessed, "The ship is probably coming from Manila." ”

"This ship is tall and has strong guns, and it is very powerful at sea, and I have heard that this kind of ship can easily escape even if it is besieged by pirates. Li Nai heard them talking about the ship, so he joined in.

Schneider shook his head and said: "This ship is an old-fashioned 'Karak' type sailing ship, and if the bow and stern are too high, it will attract wind, which will definitely affect the center of gravity of the ship, and it is not conducive to the operation of the ship when the wind is headwinded." The British have improved this type of ship with a lower height at both ends and better seaworthiness, and the new ship type has now been widely adopted in Europe. This type of old ship is probably only found in Manila and Macau in the Far East. ”

"Oh, Mr. Shi also has research on the sailing ships of the Francophiles?" asked Li Nai in surprise.

"A little bit of it, a little bit of it. Schneider replied reservedly. Before leaving, he went to the shipping department to find a lot of information and make up for his knowledge of navigation. However, he did not want to be able to defeat the Western powers on the sea one day, it was the responsibility of the military and police department, and he was not interested in getting involved. The reason why Schneider did this was mainly because he was worried that in case of some accidents in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Office would need to evacuate urgently, and he would at least know how to escape all the way back to Shengli Port by hiring a boat.

Schneider had wondered if he could also travel here, but this time Li Nai disappointed him. The fleet stayed on the dock for just over an hour, loaded and unloaded a small amount of cargo, and then sailed away from the small harbor. He Xi breathed a sigh of relief, because this place was so smelly. Although there is inevitably a fishy smell in the air of the harbor, the port here is the kind of smell after the fish stinks, and if you stay for a long time, you will really worry that your respiratory system will be wrong.

What He Xi didn't know was that the vast majority of Europeans in this era had such a smell in the ports they were controlling, because Europeans had no interest in establishing a public health system in places like ports. Local officials didn't think there was any need to spend money to clean up the stinky sailors, and no matter how well they were tidyed, they would have made it stinky as soon as they arrived. As a result, almost all the ports became garbage heaps, and this management habit was brought to Macau by the Portuguese.

To the north of Macao was the city of Zhuhai, but at this time Zhuhai was still a barren place, and there was no sign of prosperity in this land from the boat, and even small fishing villages near the sea were rare.

Schneider also felt very incomprehensible about this: "Guangzhou is a major trading port in southern China, and it stands to reason that these places at the mouth of the Pearl River should be prosperous, but how can they look like wilderness?"

Li Nai explained that the islands outside the mouth of the Pearl River have always been plagued by pirates, who occasionally come ashore to raid, and the area around Zhuhai is the hardest hit area, and most of the coastal residents have spontaneously moved inland.

"This place is so close to Guangzhou, why didn't the Guangzhou government send troops to exterminate the pirates?" Schneider continued.

Li Nai shook his head and said: "When the government sends troops, the pirates hide, and as soon as the government withdraws, the pirates come back." As soon as this officer and soldier moves, it is really a rejuvenation, and the money is used externally, and it is still useless to toss a few more times, who is willing to bear this responsibility?"

"So the pirates should have placed a lot of informants near Guangzhou, and as soon as the officers and soldiers moved, they got the news. Schneider immediately figured it out.

"Then wouldn't the existence of these pirates affect ordinary merchant ships?" He Xi asked.

"Of course, there were influences, but merchant ships generally traveled in formations, and there was some connection between the big local merchants and pirates. After Li Nai finished saying this, he pointed to himself, meaning that "Fu Ruifeng" was also included, but did not specifically explain what this so-called "connection" was.

However, even if Li Nai refuses to say it explicitly, Schneider and He Xi can probably deduce one or two with the experience of later generations. There is a connection between maritime merchants and pirates, which is nothing more than a few routines, either paying protection money to the pirates to ensure the safety of entry and exit, as Zheng Zhilong did along the coast of Fujian, or colluding with the pirates to help sell the stolen goods and procure supplies from the land to provide to the pirates; or even worse, they directly go to land as a merchant and go to the sea as a thief, and have two identities at the same time.

When the "Fu Rui Feng" ordered the ordnance in Victory Port, it had already been indicated that they had a sales channel, in fact, the Executive Committee at that time was almost certain that there might be trade between the "Fu Rui Feng" and the pirate gang.