It is said that it is five islands, but in fact there are hundreds of islands nearby, and of course, most of them are uninhabited at all. There are basically five large islands that can be inhabited, so they are called five islands.

These five islands are inhabited, but most of them are Ming people, and there are very few Japanese people.

The Ming maritime merchants who came and went to Japan had to live in Japan for at least a whole winter, for a few months, they could not live on a sea ship every day, so they naturally had to find a place to live, so some people built their own houses on the five islands off the coast, and lived here after coming to the Wa Kingdom. The five islands also became the settlement of Daming maritime merchants.

Zheng Zhilong was born as a pirate, and later worked in the merchant Li Dan's caravan, after Li Dan's death, he inherited Li Dan's caravan, and later colluded with another maritime merchant Yan Siqi, tried to raise an incident in the Japanese country, and was wanted by the Japanese shogunate after the incident, and everyone led the fleet to escape to the island of Taiwan.

The matter of being wanted by the Japanese shogunate has long passed, and later Zheng Zhilong also returned to Japan several times to trade, and had his own residence on Fukue Island, the southernmost part of the five islands, and this time he led the fleet to Fukue Island.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the fleet stopped in the bay, many small boats sailed towards Fukue Island to visit the owner of the Ming fleet.

Most of these visitors are Japanese businessmen, both Ming and Japanese.

For the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty, they would bring a large amount of goods to Japan, and if they sold them in a small way, it would take time, and they would choose to sell the goods to the Japanese merchants. Unless there are some loose goods, or goods carried by some small merchants on board, the goods will be retailed in a specific trading area within the port of Nagasaki.

The businessmen who came to visit were all customers, Zheng Zhilong and Mao Liangzhe naturally welcomed them, so they entertained them, but they were noncommittal about the trade requirements of customers, and they had to figure out the current market first.

"Zheng Sang, we are all old acquaintances, I don't come to vain, two hundred quintals of raw silk, or last year's market, two hundred and twenty taels of silver per quintal, if we can, we will go to Nagasaki Port today to sign a contract, and we can reach a deal in the afternoon." Ichiro Yamada said. According to the shogunate's requirements, trade could only be carried out in the port of Nagasaki, so even if the two sides made a deal, they had to go to Nagasaki to complete it.

Raw silk is one of the most important goods in the trade with Japan. Although the Wa Kingdom was small, it had hundreds of daimyo feudal lords and countless retainers and samurai, and these constituted the upper class of the Wa Kingdom. The upper class naturally wore beautiful clothes made of silk, so the Wa Kingdom had an almost endless demand for raw silk from the Ming Dynasty, and raw silk also played a very important role in the trade with Japan.

The fleet came to the Wa Kingdom and carried 1,500 quintals of raw silk, part of which was obtained from the raid of the Quanzhou merchant gang, and the rest came from the plundered Fujian sea ships. In Fujian's market today, the price of raw silk per load is about 70 taels of silver, and now Yamada Ichiro's export is 220 taels per load, which is more than three times the price of Fujian, which shows the huge profit of sea trade!

Listening to Yamada Ichiro's words, Zheng Zhilong and Mao Liangzhe glanced at each other, and they both saw the smile in each other's eyes.

They are not happy to be able to sell at last year's high price, but happy that the market has not fallen. According to the previous speculation, this time it is late, and the market is likely to fall, but now Ichiro Yamada has offered a "high price", what does this mean? It means that the market is declining. Why is the market declining? Indication of insufficient supply!

It's already the beginning of August, and the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty should have come, and their fleet should be almost the last wave, what does this mean? Strange goods!

The two made eye contact, and Mao Liangzhe went out under the pretext. Ichiro Yamada thought that Zheng Zhilong was the owner of the goods, so he naturally didn't care about Mao Liangzhe's outing.

When Mao Liangzhe got outside, he immediately ordered to investigate around the five islands to find out how many Daming ships were coming this year.

More than a dozen crew members were ordered to go, and Mao Liangzhe stood by the sea, and saw several small boats heading towards the bay.

The boats docked one after another, and they all came to visit and discuss business. Mao Liangzhe smiled and ordered his subordinates to take these merchants to see Zheng Zhilong, while he himself continued to wait for news.

Soon a crew member came back and brought back the news, Mao Liangzhe was pleasantly surprised to learn that up to now, there were only four or five Daming sea ships that came to the Wa Kingdom, and all of them arrived in Nagasaki in late June, and it is said that from late June to early July, there was a hurricane at sea, and many sea ships were destroyed by the hurricane.

This is probably the real reason why so many businessmen come to visit! Mao Liangzhe's heart was settled.

Two hundred and twenty taels of silver a load, dream!

Turning around and going back to the house, Zheng Zhilong was chatting and laughing with the guests. Mao Liangzhe nodded at Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong smiled.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't hide it, I have raw silk in my fleet, but what is the price......" Zheng Zhilong deliberately paused.

"Zheng Sang, if you are not satisfied with two hundred and twenty taels of taels, you can still go up, it will rise to two hundred and fifty taels, I only need two hundred taels." Yamada Ichiro said hurriedly.

The other merchants wanted to speak, but when they heard that Yamada Ichiro only had two hundred quintals, they all closed their mouths, wanting to hear what Zheng Zhilong had to say.

"Two hundred and fifty taels and one quintal? Too little! Mao Liangzhe said coldly.

"Who is this?" A businessman looked at Mao Liangzhe.

"Haha, let me introduce to you, this is Mao Liangzhe, the big shopkeeper, and he is the real master of the fleet." Zheng Zhilong said with a smile.

"Mao Sang, it's really rude." Yamada Ichiro hurriedly stood up and bowed to Mao Liangzhe, apologizing again and again.

Seeing this, the other businessmen also stood up and bowed one after another. Some of them knew Zheng Zhilong, and they thought that Zheng Zhilong was the owner, but they didn't expect that there was someone else. It's just that this Mr. Mao is white and pure, and he doesn't look like a lord who is begging for a living at sea, could it be that he is an official gentleman of the Ming Dynasty?

"Maosang, the price of two hundred and fifty taels is not low, and it is thirty taels higher than last year." Ichiro Yamada said.

Mao Liangzhe smiled slightly: "It's not low." But you have to know what it was like last year, and what it is like this year. As far as I know, up to now, there have been only four or five Daming ships coming to Japan. In other words, except for the raw silk in our hands, there is no stock on the market at all! ”

Zheng Zhilong's eyes lit up suddenly, and these Japanese businessmen looked at each other. They all came as soon as possible, hoping to grab a batch of goods at a low price while the maritime merchants of the Ming Kingdom did not know the situation here, but they did not expect to be noticed by the Ming people.

"Then Zheng Sang, how much silver are you going to want?" Ichiro Yamada asked tentatively.

Mao Liangzhe smiled and stretched out four fingers: "Four hundred taels and one load, no bargain!" ”