Fresh water.

Liu Mingde sat behind the table, pinching the corners of his forehead, pondering, and the list of invitations made him anxious.

"New ships, new ports, the money owed to the Guangzhou Iron Mill, and the salaries of the new guards ........" Liu Mingde looked at them one by one, and put the highest priority in the front, as for the uniforms of the army and the personnel in the company, the canvas for the next voyage will naturally be slowed down.

"Oh, at least 150,000 taels of silver will be needed before the year, otherwise the expansion of the trading company will stop." Liu Mingde muttered while stamping the approved lists.

"Shopkeeper Liu, shopkeeper Liu. Great news, the big fleet is back. A familiar voice sounded in Liu Mingde's ears, and when he looked up, it was his clerk, and it was he who sent the most urgent inquisition to Yang Yandi.

It was an order for the purchase of training ammunition for the new formation, and it could not be delayed at all.

"Why didn't you hear the cannon?" Liu Mingde asked suspiciously.

According to the rules, when the ships of the trading company entered and left the Tamsui port, the batteries at the mouth of the river had to be greeted or sent off.

The clerk said: "The fleet went to the chicken coop first, just to show the strength of the Spaniards, and came back at noon, I heard the news from Chief Yang, and the chief treasurer sent someone back to inform the convoy in advance."

Before the fleet arrives at the port, the guards are required to maintain order in the port and prepare the wagons. ”

"What do you want a carriage for?" Liu Mingde was puzzled.

The clerk said, "I heard from the messenger that the great treasurer had brought with him a great deal of silver, all of them the size of a millstone, and that it was necessary for a carriage to bring them back to the vault." I have also heard that the great treasurer has brought back two hundred white and tender women from Sado to reward the meritorious men of Tamsui with meritorious service.

Now that everybody has gotten the news and is rushing to the port, aren't you going to take a look? ”

Liu Mingde said: "Everyone has their own responsibilities ......... But he was halfway through his words, scratching his ears and cheeks in his heart, and finally stood up, tidied up his clothes, and walked out of the Red Mansion.

At noon, with the sound of the salute, the fleet entered the port, and the port was crowded with people, and people chattered and discussed.

"I heard that this voyage made a fortune!"

"Nonsense, where is the voyage? The last time Tang Xiaoye came back, I heard that he first attacked Nagasaki in the Japanese kingdom, and then occupied a treasure island. In the last trade, I didn't make a deal, I just went around to solicit it. It's an expedition, an expedition! ”

"Expeditions are expeditions, or expeditions, and trade will earn back the silver, where can you get back so many girls, look, those widows on and down the Dongfang, hehe, but the water is spiritual."

"I don't know how these girls sell."

"Lao Huang, aren't you getting along with a barbarian widow, why do you still want this?"

"Get out, Lao Tzu used to be poor, widows are just women, and barbarians are also counted. Now that Lao Tzu has panned for so much gold, and he has money, he has to find a yellow flower girl. ”

The soldiers maintained order in the harbor, pushing back some frantic people.

Li Zhaoji got off the boat, hugged Yang Yandi for a while, and held Liu Mingde's hand again: "Two, thank you, I am not here for all these days, thanks to the two of you." I haven't seen Tamsui City for a few months, and it's a new look, and you two have done a great job. ”

"Thanks to the treasurer, these are what the two of us deserve." Yang Yandi said.

"Where's the carriage?" Li Zhaoji asked.

As soon as Yang Yandi greeted, the four carriages were brought over, Li Zhaoji patted the carriage and said, "Dismantle the carriages, I want everyone in Tamsui to see the goods they carry." ”

When the carriages of the carriage were dismantled, they were moored at the wharf, and the cranes of the ships lifted pieces of silver the size of millstones onto the carriages, and the horses marched towards the city with their hooves and heavy nuggets of silver, and the people everywhere along the way cheered at the sight of the great nuggets and the deep imprints of the wheels on the ground.

For these immigrants from Guangdong, the most attractive thing about the island of Taiwan is the countless opportunities.

You can pan for gold, you can reclaim wasteland, you can enter the workshop, and even do some trading in the market, as long as you are not lazy, you can live, and if you have some skills, you can live better.

But all this is based on the Oriental Trading Company, and there are two foundations, one is whether the force of the Oriental Trading Company can maintain peace in this eastern land. The second is the wealth of the Oriental Trading Company, the mines here need the investment of the trading company, and the large workshops and factories are all trading company industries, and if there is no capital, everything will collapse.

"There are a few things that require the presence of the chief treasurer himself. First, the Governor of Macao sent people to discuss, and second, he met with the Cantonese gentry on October 15 at Fei Hung Lou. Third, there is the ........ on Atta's side. Liu Mingde followed Li Zhaoji, entered the Red Mansion, and said beside him.

"Lao Liu, I'm coming back from an expedition of thousands of miles, don't take a day off." Li Zhaoji said, he smiled: "Brother Liu, if you are in a hurry, those widows, I will pick a few and send them to your house." ”

"No, no, the big shopkeeper is resting."

On that day, the taverns in Tamsui City were full, and the people returning from the expedition went to their own feasts, and the trading company paid for all the expenses.

Li Zhaoji not only hosted a separate banquet for the high-ranking executives above the third level of the trading company, and from afternoon to evening, he wandered around the houses and toasted to everyone, and the last stop was the Tamsui City Guard Barracks, where the largest table was set up, where the guards soldiers and low-level sailors gathered.

"Brothers, have you gotten the reward?"

"Got it!" The crowd cheered.

"The daughter-in-law brought back by Sado, did you serve tea to the old people in the family?" Li Zhaoji asked again.

"Hehe, Wang Erdan, his daughter-in-law, the rice is ready." Some people made fun of their comrades.

Li Zhaoji laughed: "Did you give the reward to your father?" Today, I said ugly things ahead, tonight, how much to eat, how much to drink, I Li Zhaoji to settle the account, but who dares to gamble, and the money that I have worked hard to play with, I will not spare it. ”

"Don't worry, the rules of the army, we should follow them!" One of the veterans stood up and replied in a deep voice.

Li Zhaoji held up a bowl of wine: "Okay, the brothers drink a glass of wine together, and the wife and children are hot on the kang." ”

"Thank you, big boss!" The crowd cheered.

In the end, Tang Mu took Li Zhaoji and sent him to the mansion, Tang Mu saw that Li Zhaoji was drunk, and said: "Big shopkeeper, you have to say something, do I send you to the East Courtyard or to the West Courtyard." ”

"West..... West Courtyard. Li Zhaoji threw down a sentence and was completely drunk.

He slept until noon on the second day, and after getting up, he played with Bai Mo and the others for a while before going to the East Courtyard for lunch.

Gu Jinniang of the Eastern Hospital, won the bid before Li Zhaoji's expedition, at this time the stomach was already pregnant, Li Zhaoji had been gone for four months, and even the morning sickness reaction was over, and his body was hard at this time.

"Big, this is the egg custard made by my mother, and I brought it to Gu Niangniang." Chen Meiyu came to the room with a basket and said with a smile.

Now the Li family and the Chen family are just such a child, they are all loved, but the child is really cute, and it has long been gone. Especially Li Zhaoji, I like this kid the most.

"Dada, when will my brother be born?" Chen Meiyu touched Gu Jinniang's stomach and asked.

Li Zhaoji smiled and asked, "How do you know it's a younger brother, not a younger sister." ”

"I dreamed of it, it must be my brother." Chen Meiyu said.

Li Zhaoji was even more happy, pinched his face, thought about it and said, "Then I won't have a younger brother until the New Year." ”

"Then I'll hide the delicious food for the New Year, and when I have my younger brother, I'll give it to my younger brother." Chen Meiyu carried the basket and left happily.

"I heard from someone that you went out yesterday and came back late?" Li Zhaoji asked.

"Yes, this expedition was a great joy for all the people who were alive, but many of the brothers of the trading company died in battle, and some were detained in the Wa Kingdom. They also have families, how can it be better to watch other people's families reunite? Gu Jinniang touched her stomach and said.

Li Zhaoji nodded: "This is also true, this trip, killed, died of illness, accident, seventy-four brothers were broken, and more than 20 were detained in Japan. If you go to see them, it's also a little concern of the trading company. ”

Gu Jinniang said: "Most of these people are not married, or their families are in Guangdong, and there are not many people living in Tamsui, but these people who have a family alone are the most difficult to do." You also know that these people are uprooted from their hometowns and come to Tamsui for the good treatment of the trading company, and most of the family relatives are in their hometown, and only their wives and children follow.

But now, the pillars are gone, and there are only orphans and widows left. You give a lot of bereavement benefits, but if you go back to your hometown, will the orphans and widows be able to stop the toss of those desperate people in the township? ”

Li Zhaoji thought for a while: "You don't want these widows to remarry, do you?" ”

"But this is also a road, there are few women in Tamsui and there are widows who want it. In addition, a few families went to Tamsui to marry barbarian women, those barbarians are incorruptible and shameless, not to mention that people are dead, when people are outside, some of them run away with people, and they don't even care about their children, and they are thrown directly at the door of the Red Mansion.

Brother Liu caught two of them back, and the woman said that the man couldn't find it, so he naturally had to find a way to live, and the child was born to a man from the trading company, so he raised it for the trading company. Gu Jinniang said.

Li Zhaoji smiled wryly, he knew that the local natives did not know etiquette, and everything was done according to the traditions of the tribe. The local tribes, on the other hand, have a strong matriarchal society.

"No wonder I heard from the people below that Liu Mingde can't afford a woman and a child." Li Zhaoji remembered a joke by Yang Yandi yesterday.

"Yes, the children who were picked up are still breastfeeding, and they were raised at home by Brother Liu." Gu Jinniang said.

Li Zhaoji smiled: "This is not good, Lao Liu doesn't have his own children, how can he raise other people's children." Moreover, a few of them are good to say, should the orphans of the brothers who died in the future be sent to him? ”

"So, it's better to set up a nursing home in the name of a trading company and collect these orphans." Gu Jinniang said.

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Do you have the heart to do this kind of thing?" ”

"What's the use of having a heart, it still costs money."

Li Zhaoji laughed: "Qian Hao said, I won't stop those who are willing to remarry, but there is one thing, the bereavement pension given by the trading company must be left for the children, no matter who it is, they can't move it." If you don't want to remarry with your children, you can leave your children to a trading company to raise, and half of the bereavement pension will be kept.

If you don't remarry, if you don't have another place to go or work, come to a nursing home. ”

"But I can't do it with the pension of the fallen brothers." Gu Jinniang said.

Li Zhaoji waved his hand: "How is it possible, I naturally have arrangements." Let me ask you first, have you seen the widows I brought back? ”

Xiaocui said on the side: "Master, you went to drink yesterday, but our door was about to be broken down." You don't know, there are too many singles in this Tamsui, and there are many rich people, and many people are looking for Mrs. Liu to intercede and want to buy a daughter-in-law.

Mrs. Liu couldn't resist it, so she hid in our house, but who knows, those people entrusted a large group of women to come to intercede, and they had to marry their brothers and friends to the widows. The shouting is endless, but it doesn't stop. ”

Li Zhaoji laughed: "This group of guys, do you think the master is a human trafficker?" How can I do that kind of thing, in the future, the master will become famous, and he will be famous in history, but he will be infamous. ”

new