Guangdong, Guangzhou.

Liu Shiyang, a henchman sent by Liu Daxia, finally arrived in Guangzhou after leaving Beijing for a month.

Last month, under Liu Daxia's arrangement, the arrangement for the covert use of Eastern Qin arms was finally completed.

This is very similar to the operation of introducing Western artillery technology in history, when the Ming Dynasty felt the military pressure from the north, and the naval guns that salvaged the British shipwreck.

The military attachés of the Ming Dynasty, who were shocked by the British naval guns, immediately began to imitate. It's just that the result is a little unsatisfactory, so the imperial court set its sights on Portugal, which has always been quite deferential, hoping to obtain artillery technology through Portugal in Macau, but it is inconvenient for the imperial court to come forward directly.

So there was Xu Guangqi and his disciple Sun Yuanhua, who introduced Portuguese artillery casters and Portuguese artillery instructors to train in Dengzhou.

At that time, Portugal had a very good relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and although the imperial court did not come forward, it was not too secretive.

It's just that this time, the front foot of the Eastern Qin Dynasty just offended the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty refused the arms trade at the negotiation table with righteous words, so for the sake of the face of the imperial court, it took a lot of effort this time.

First of all, Liu Daxia controlled the convenience of Kaizhong through the imperial court, and obtained salt quotations by changing the accounts. Later, the Hongzhi Emperor approved the red, making these accounts untraceable.

Then Liu Daxia sent his henchman Liu Shiyang to find a Guangdong businessman as a spokesperson, and through this businessman to contact Dongqin.

The reason why he chose Guangdong is also because Liu Daxia served as the political envoy of Guangdong, and he has a lot of connections in the local area, and the Guangdong side is also the emperor of Tiangao.

……

The matter was urgent, and after coming to Guangzhou, Liu Shiyang did not delay too much and walked straight to a mansion near Zhenhai Tower.

The owner of this mansion is called Huang Chongde, who is a rare wealthy businessman in Guangzhou, and they are the head of the Huang family, and there are more than 300 people up and down.

There were also a few jinshi in the family during the Jingtai period, but in the generation of Huang Chongde and his father, the cultural context began to wither.

The sons of the family also like to talk about business, they don't like to study, and at most they spend money to buy a show of fame.

Regarding this matter, Huang Chongde's grandfather and his father turned a blind eye, just because the pickled atmosphere of officialdom is too strong, and being a rich man can make the family safe and smooth.

Therefore, the Huang family has always been the most charitable gentleman in Guangzhou Mansion, and he is also a well-known gentleman.

When Liu Daxia was the political envoy of Guangdong, he often needed to find the Huang family to help when he was building roads and bridges and providing disaster relief.

In just the two bandits in the sixth and ninth years of Hongzhi, the Huang family pledged more than 30,000 taels of silver.

When he thought of finding a middleman, Liu Daxia immediately thought of Huang Chongde.

……

"Steward Liu, that gust of wind blew you?"

After waiting in the lobby of the Huang family for a while, Huang Chongde walked out of the side door with a smile.

Liu Shiyang hurriedly got up and saluted: "Master Huang, don't come unharmed, I am here for my master on this trip!"

As he spoke, he took out a letter with a red lacquer seal and handed it to Huang Chongde.

Huang Chongde hurriedly took it and opened it, only glanced at it, and frowned,

"It seems that in this matter, our Huang family has to come forward!" After a long time, Huang Chongde put down the letter in his hand and said.

Liu Shiyang arched his hand and said: "Huang Gong, please be cautious and careful in this matter, my family said that this is also a last resort!"

"It is beneficial to the country, my Huang family is duty-bound, but this Eastern Qin, I have only heard of it a little, and that place is the sea of Fujian, and I am a Guangdong businessman, and I have always run to the South Seas!"

"Don't worry about this matter, the Fujian sea area at this moment has the surname Dongqin! Any ship can go to the salt port of Eastern Qin to trade! ”

Huang Chongde breathed a sigh of relief, and asked again: "Why does Brother Dongshan give up the near and far, in the matter of firearms, I am a craftsman in Foshan, and the casting must be no worse than that of Dongqin!"

Liu Shiyang shook his head and said, "Huang Gong has lived in Guangdong for a long time, and I don't know how powerful this Dongqin is!" My family has worked hard for two months, and the cannons they have made are not as good as those made by the Eastern Qin, so I have to make this decision! ”

"But this Dongqin will be sold?"

Liu Shiyang smiled smugly: "Dong Qin had the intention of selling artillery before, presumably the people of Dong Qin are extremely greedy for money, plus they need to buy a large number of goods from my Ming Dynasty, and the silver consumed in a year is tens of millions. So if there is a chance to earn some silver, Dong Qin will gladly agree! ”

Huang Chongde nodded, he had been immersed in the mall for many years, and he almost understood the meaning in a few words.

Combined with Liu Daxia's move, it is natural to guess that the imperial court can't pull it down, and the Eastern Qin artillery is indeed unique.

As a businessman, he is also very knowledgeable about all kinds of information and goods. Recently, there are threshers, ironware and glasses produced in Dongqin on the market in Guangdong.

It's just that these commodities are sold to Guangdong by some small maritime merchants, and Huang Chongde has not been too concerned.

When I heard this today, I felt that here in Eastern Qin, their Huang family had to go around.

"In that case, our Huang family will definitely do our best!"

Liu Shiyang smiled with satisfaction, took out a wad of salt from his arms and said: "This is the remuneration and expense of this time, my family said it, I beg Huang Gong to help with this!"

Huang Chongde took it and looked at it, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

He put down the salt quote and said: "This is too much, even if it is beneficial to the country, my Huang family cannot be rewarded!"

Liu Shiyang pushed the salt over and said with a smile: "Huang Gong suffered!" My family said that after the matter is completed, there will be many things that need to be reconciled by Huang Gongju, and I am afraid there will be many more! ”

Huang Chongde was silent for a while and nodded. He was surprised that these salt introductions were all in the middle of the road.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Kaizhong system was regarded as the cooperation between the imperial court and the merchants, and the whole process could be decomposed into three parts: reporting, guarding the branch, and changing the market.

"Newspaper" means that the businessman opens the project according to the requirements of the list, supplies the military supplies to the garrison, and receives the corresponding salt from the government.

Generally speaking, any garrison office can report to the center, but the situation varies from place to place. After Yongle, most of the newspapers concentrated on the so-called nine-border areas such as Liaodong, Jizhou, Yongping, Miyun, Changping, Yizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, Yansui, Ningxia, Gansu, and Guyuan.

"Shouzhi" means that after the merchant completes the report, he will lead the salt to the designated salt factory to wait for the salt, and the salt will be punished if he does not attract the salt or exceeds the salt. "Shiyi" is when a merchant puts salt on the market and thus makes a lot of money.

And taking the middle way shows that it is not the way to buy seriously.

He was a little worried in his heart, afraid that this was Liu Daxia's private purchase of artillery, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that Liu Daxia did not look like a person who would rebel.

After Liu Shiyang went down to rest, Huang Chongde picked up the salt quote and the letter again, and after reading it again, he read the deeper meaning of Liu Daxia's letter.

There are incisions and hidden words in the letter, which is equivalent to a "word test" in the army, which is equivalent to a kind of secrecy measure.

After Huang Chongde interpreted, he immediately stood up in shock, this matter was actually approved by the emperor!

However, he did not dare to say that this matter was the emperor's will, because the use of incisions and hidden words proved that this matter must be done in concealment.

This made him cry out for a headache, and he scolded Liu Daxia viciously in his heart.

This matter makes it clear that they want their Huang family to be the main wrongdoer, although this salt is useful, but their Huang family will never dare to use it personally, so they can only sell it separately to avoid arousing suspicion.

After thinking about it, Huang Chongde called his eldest son over.

"Dad, are you looking for me?"

"Mmmm, you quickly put down the matter at hand, immediately go and gather the ships, and you will personally go to the East Qin Salt Port!"

"Dongqin Salt Port? Where is this? ”

Huang Chongde confessed: "That's the other side of Fujian, after you go, give this letter directly to the person in charge over there!" Also, you can inquire over there, and if you can, you can do it over there! ”

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