In view of the uncertain whereabouts of the pirates, relying solely on two or three search ships to search for them would definitely not work, Xiao Ming decided to transfer his fleet of sailors from the Zhoushan base to the South China Sea, and at the same time he still used the method he used when searching for the fog hidden mines, that is, to collect as much intelligence as possible.

But a long time passed, and the pirates disappeared as if they had evaporated from the world, and just when everyone thought that the drunk crew on the ship was lying about the military situation, a merchant ship that was doing business with Chenla was sacked again, and according to the sailors who escaped, this group of pirates was extremely vicious, almost killing people on sight, and the sailors were able to escape by jumping into the sea.

The pirates were very cautious for fear of exposing their hiding, and the sailor was rescued by a merchant ship that had been on a merchant ship in the port of Guangzhou, the only Chinese merchant ship that had not yet used a hybrid or even clipper.

The merchant ships that found the pirates last time belonged to the port of Quanzhou, and because they used the improved sail-powered clippers of the Hongshan people, after discovering the pirates, they struggled to escape, and the pirates found that they couldn't catch up after desperately chasing for a while, so they gave up the robbery.

Xiao Ming then knew why no trace of pirates had been found during this time, and the pirate's ship thought that it was because it couldn't catch up with the hybrid merchant ships, so it gave up the attempt to rob these merchant ships, but it didn't mean that these pirates had died down, Xiao Ming deduced that the pirate's ships must be small boats.

Since they are small ships, they are not destined to move on some open sea, they must hide in some narrow sea lanes, relying on some scattered islands as cover, and only do it when they encounter those very slow merchant ships, and they must be small boats pouring out, killing people and destroying goods before destroying traces.

So at this time, if there is a detailed chart, you can find such a few seaways suitable for pirate ambushes to find those pirates immediately, but at this time in the Song Dynasty, it is definitely not so easy to scoop a very clear chart of the South China Sea.

After many inquiries, Xiao Ming got such news that such a chart did exist, but it was in the hands of a monk! However, this monk was in the Yuanyin Temple in the city of Guangzhou, Xiao Ming had never been to Guangzhou, and this time he decided to go to seek the chart in person.

For fear of causing disputes, Xiao Ming changed a clipper ship and sailed into the port of Guangzhou, Xiao Ming went to Guangzhou for the first time, the largest city in South China was very early in the Tang Dynasty due to overseas trade and prospered, during the rebellion of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Guangzhou not only did not fall but became more and more developed due to the establishment of the Southern Han Dynasty.

Now the city of Guangzhou covers a large area, the main urban area in the east city and the sub-city, these are mainly built in the Northern Song Dynasty, is based on the capital of the Southern Han Dynasty to expand, the important east city and the west city is built in the Northern Song Dynasty Qingli period, at that time due to the perennial war in Lingnan, the city wall of the whole Guangzhou city is somewhat dilapidated, after experiencing the Nong Zhigao incident was rebuilt.

The area of Guangzhou is very wide and is not only called Guangzhou City, his history is also very long, during the Zhou Dynasty, the state of Chu sent ministers to this place where the "Baiyue" people lived, and the "Baiyue" was called Chu Court when it was subordinated to Chu. During the reign of King Zhou Xun, he built a city on the coast of the South China Sea and called Nanwu City. In the 33rd year of Qin Shi Huang, he sent Ren Huan to lead troops to unify Lingnan and set up the capital of the South China Sea, which was called Panyu in Guangzhou at that time. Ren Huan served as the lieutenant of Nanhai County, built Panyu City, commonly known as "Ren Huan City".

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Lun took over Nanhai County, annexed nearby areas, established the Nanyue Kingdom, and established himself as the Wu King of Nanyue, whose dynasty lasted for 5 generations and 93 years. Zhao Lun took Panyu as the capital, and took Panyu City to the east and west, most of the provinces and regions of Guangxi, which was the beginning of the name of Guangzhou. Tang was the governor of Lingnan Province.

In the third year of Liang Zhenming in the fifth dynasty, Liu Xi, the king of the South China Sea, was called the emperor here, changed to Yuan Qianheng, and the country name was Dayue. In the following year, it was renamed the Han Dynasty, known as the Southern Han Dynasty in history, and promoted Guangzhou to the Xingwang Mansion as the capital. During the period of the Three Kingdoms to the end of the Tang Dynasty, the city of Guangzhou had expanded to the south, because it was close to the riverside, it was often flooded, Liu Yinyan, the king of the South China Sea, took the soil to cushion the height, expanded the city wall, and named the new southern city. The Song Dynasty was governed by the East Road of Guangdong.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, there were constant wars in Lingnan, and the rule of the Song Dynasty over Lingnan was seriously threatened due to the lack of a strong army and a strong city. In the fourth year of Jingyou, the local officials of Guangzhou, Ren Zhongshi, reported to the imperial court, saying that the city wall of Guangzhou had collapsed, and asked for funds and manpower to repair it.

During the Xining period, Nong Zhigao led the soldiers to rebel in Guangyuan Prefecture, Guangxi, he broke through nine counties in a row, attacked Guangzhou City, and besieged Guangzhou City for 57 days. As a result, the commercial area west of Guangzhou's sub-city was looted, and commercial trade was dealt a heavy blow. After Shenzong ascended the throne, Guangzhou's economy has recovered, the Pearl River Delta has accelerated its development, and foreign trade has developed rapidly, so there has been a large-scale construction of Guangzhou City, and now there are three cities in the north of Guangzhou, two cities in the east and west, and the south to the Pearl River, and the population is extremely dense.

Since it is an important foreign trade port, it is indispensable for merchants from the south to the north, when Xiao Ming established Hanzhou Gang and Quanzhou City, most of the overseas treasures of the Great Song Dynasty entered the Central Plains from Guangzhou City, but now this prosperity has been gradually replaced by Quanzhou.

But even so, treasures such as pearls, corals, rhino horns, **, tortoiseshell, ivory and other treasures are not uncommon in Guangzhou, coupled with the rich natural resources of South China, it has also promoted the development of industry and commerce, and the textile industry, food processing, and ceramic industry here are extremely developed, and there are countless craftsmen born for this!

And the ceramic firing here is completely fired some of the big road goods, there is no boutique at all, but this is the favorite utensils of the common people, in this is the textile industry, Guangzhou's textile industry is very developed, but it is impossible to invade the sphere of influence and technical ability of Richanglong!

Especially with their linen gauze, the Southern Dynasty Liu and Song dynasties produced "as thin as cicada wings" kudzu cloth, a 24-meter-long cloth, rolled up to fit into a bamboo tube, known as "into the tube of fine cloth". Xiao Ming had studied this cloth with the craftsmen of Richanglong, and found that its raw material was linen yarn, but it was rare to be able to weave such a thin cloth.

But with the price impact of a large number of Richanglong's low-cost cotton fabrics, it is obvious that this completely hand-woven gauze is becoming more and more difficult! Xiao Ming is not a philanthropist, commercial competition is sometimes very cruel, relying on high-end silk textiles, coupled with the large-scale industrial production of low-end cotton and wool textiles, has become the overlord of the entire Chinese textile industry, but in the face of a kind of linen yarn fabrics stubborn, of course, can not stop the pace of monopoly.

Xiao Ming had already held a meeting in Hangzhou last year to study, that is, to carry out a large-scale purchase, not only this kind of linen gauze, but also a kind of "jingbu" specially produced by ethnic minorities in South China, which is a kind of homespun cloth, but with batik technology and special texture, these are within the scope of acquisition, and study the possibility of mechanized production.

But this is not the purpose of Xiao Ming's visit to Guangzhou this time, he came to find the monk, and the Yuanyin Temple is on the Yuexiu Mountain in the sub-city, the Yuanyin Temple is very famous, that is because it actually has two temples, one in Guangzhou City, and the other is in Xi'an City, as a royal temple in the Tang Dynasty, this Yuanyin Temple in Guangzhou is a branch, and it has always been called the North and South Yuanyin Temple.

The scenery on Yuexiu Mountain is pleasant, the tourists are continuous, more are the pilgrims of incense, the good men and women have contributed a lot to the Yuanyin Temple, this has nothing to do with religion, the people only seek a peace of mind! Xiao Ming only dressed up with ordinary ears, took Gu Xiaoliu and Guo Shouxin, and Qian Baguang was originally going to come to Guangzhou with Xiao Ming, but Xiao Ming let him stay on the island of Taiwan, the purpose was to train the sailors on the warship to practice shooting and firing on the sea.

Xiao Ming's fleet in Zhoushan consisted of a total of twelve warships, and the sailors on these ships, except for some specially trained tiger guards as infantry warriors, were all recruited water-based skilled water warriors, and they never conducted artillery training at sea, which required them to practice on bumpy ships.

Since the pirate trail was not obtained, Xiao Ming had to divide the warships in some narrow waterways and routes to escort Richanglong and some southeast merchant ships, but these ships had to pay a part of the escort fee, because the sailors on the new ship belonged to actual combat training, so at the beginning it was the four large warships of Xiao Ming's own fleet that escorted.

When Xiao Ming first arrived in Guangzhou, in order to avoid publicity, the Jiaolong went to serve as an escort mission, and he took a clipper ship used to transport supplies, such a clipper ship is still very high-profile, after all, he is a new type of sailing ship, but at the same time has steam power, although the Hangzhou shipyard sold more than a dozen such ships, but it is still a little conspicuous in the port of Guangzhou.

Xiao Ming couldn't care about it so much, he didn't go around after getting off the boat, but after asking around, he went straight to the Yuanyin Temple of Yuexiu Mountain, the scale of the Yuanyin Temple in Guangzhou is not large, and the mountain gate is also a little shabby, but because of the lush incense, there are many people who know, so Xiao Ming will not find the wrong place.

Outside the mountain gate, Xiao Ming stopped and looked at it, the main hall of Yuanyin Temple was crowded, thinking that it was all incense, there were many small vendors at the door, selling all kinds of snacks and goods, and the two monks were cleaning the open space in front of the door, Xiao Ming took Gu Guo and the two of them straight to the Daxiong Treasure Hall.

There are two plaques on both sides of the hall, and the book has a couplet, Xiao Ming took a look, how this is the same as the couplet of Hangzhou Fajing Temple: the Dharma building is now Ciyun, watching the autumn moon and spring flowers, all of which are the three empty wonderful truths; The wisdom lamp hangs on the throne, and listening to the morning bell and dusk drum is nothing more than a little Zen machine.

It seems that the witty words of the Buddhists in the world have figured it out, and it is the same, Xiao Ming smiled, and instructed Gu Xiaoliu to buy some incense and candles nearby, worship the Buddha on the main hall, and then go to the merit box and say to the guest monk: "I want to donate incense money!" ”

This is equivalent to coming to the God of Wealth, the monk suddenly smiled, he clasped his hands together and said: "The donor wants to have a good fate, right?" Please come with me" and then led the way backwards, brought Xiao Ming into the guest room in the back compartment, and then sent the merit book, Xiao Ming wrote a thousand with a stroke of his pen! Two words.

One thousand taels of silver is not much, but it is not too much, and the smile of the guest monk is quite reluctant, but then I saw Xiao Ming add two more words after those two words: "Guanzi!" I couldn't help but change color on my face, and said continuously: "Donor, wait a minute!" Donor, wait! At the same time, let Xiao Shami serve tea for Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming wrote about the banknotes, and now the common people like to call: "Guanzi!" "This thousand guanzi is equivalent to a thousand gold coins, no wonder the guest monk's face changed, Xiao Ming donated a lot of sesame oil money! The guest monk must have gone to invite the presiding abbot to come, and a big benefactor like Xiao Ming was naturally accompanied by an elder.

Sure enough, after a while, an old monk hurried over, and after meeting Xiao Ming, he reported to his home, claiming that he was the presiding abbot of the temple, and his legal name was Miaokong! He exchanged a few polite words with Xiao Ming, and learned that Xiao Ming came to Guangzhou for the first time, and he came to Yuanyin Temple to find someone, so he hurriedly asked.

"I don't know who the donkey is looking for, but the old man will definitely help you find him?"

Xiao Ming said: "I'm looking for Master Yilu, I don't know if the master is in the temple?" ”

Miaokong asked: "Can the donor and the master of Yilu know each other, Yilu is concentrating on writing Buddhist scriptures in this temple, if he doesn't know, I'm afraid he doesn't want to see guests!" ”

Xiao Ming said: "The old abbot is tired to ask, and he said that the visitor wants to ask some news about the Buddha Sari, and I believe that he will agree with my ......!" ”