Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 358
The days in the capital passed by in a flash, and the time to go to Kunzhou gradually arrived. This afternoon, Fan Ning and his wife Zhu Pei arrived in Jiangdu City on the Qianshi passenger ship. The third grandson Zhu Sheng and Gao Shilin, the son of Gao Zunfu, will go to Kunzhou together.

Zhu Sheng is the eldest son of Zhu Pei's second uncle Zhu Xiaolin. He is the same age as Fan Ning. He is tall and thin. Well, this time he will be in charge of the Zhu family's gold mining, while Gao Shilin will be in charge of the Gao family's gold mining.

In addition, the Zhang Yaozuo family also got a mining quota. The Zhang family went to Liuqiu Mansion to open a silver mine. The nephew of Empress Dowager Liu also got the right to open a silver mine in Liuqiu Mansion. In addition, there are seven or eight powerful families who are also applying. Kunzhou is too far away to go to Liuqiu Mansion to mine silver. The dignitaries prefer Liuqiu Mansion close to Fuzhou. There is no need to build a thousand-stone ship, a thousand-stone ship is enough, and the cost is much lower.

But it is precisely because the rich and powerful are involved in overseas mining, and under their joint efforts, the Imperial Salt and Iron Department decided to postpone the supervision of overseas private mining for another year, which means that overseas private mining does not need to turn over the mining share for one year, and gold There is no need for silver and copper to be bought by Yantiesi at a low price. Except for the annual five thousand guan tooth deed to the local government, everything else falls into his own pocket.

Of course, this kind of good deed is not available to everyone, only the dignitaries in the court have the opportunity, and the indicators are very few. The Kunzhou court only allocated five places, and the Liuqiu government slightly more, thirteen places.

"Yesterday, I went to Yantie Sitie to handle the formalities. I heard that the remaining two mining quotas in Kunzhou have been released. It seems to be the Yang family and the Pang family."

It was Gao Shilin who spoke, and Fan Ning found that he was not dull, but he was very low-key in the capital, and as he left the capital, he became more active, as if there was a huge magnetic field in the capital that bound him, and now he gradually Break free from the shackles of the capital.

After crossing the Huaihe River, he became a chatterbox, talking all the way. Fan Ning now believes in Mingren's judgment. Gao Shilin will be an active person after he goes to Kunzhou. As for Mingren, he left five days ago, He is going to Pingjiang Mansion to pick up the goods. He bought a large amount of honey and rouge powder, ready to ship to the Japanese market. He also bought hundreds of barrels of shochu, and planned to use these wines to replace the sea pearls of the Kun people. Men in Kunzhou are generally good. For wine, Fan Ning has to admire Ming Ren's business acumen, which can always grasp the weakness of the Kun people.

"A-Ning, will you approve?" Gao Shilin asked Fan Ning again. Everyone called Fan Ning "A-Ning", and he followed suit.

Fan Ning was a little distracted, didn't hear what he was saying clearly, and looked at him a little blankly.

"I mean, the Yantie Division has approved the Pang family and the Yang family to go to Kunzhou to mine. Will Kunzhou approve it?"

Fan Ning laughed, how could Kunzhou not approve it!The Pang family was originally hinted at by him, so Pang Ji acted quickly, just like when he bought Tian Huangshi ore field. As for the Yang family, it was Yang Wenguang who asked to come to the door, and Fan Ning agreed. The approval was handled by the Pang family and the Yang family themselves.

It's just that there are only five private mining rights in Kunzhou, which were approved by the emperor. Now the quota is full, and other families who want to make a fortune overseas can only use Liuqiufu's idea.

"Have Pang Ji and the Yang family's children come over?" Zhu Sheng asked next to him.

"Should have come here ahead of time, we must take our group of boats to Kunzhou, otherwise we will have to wait a few more months, the imperial court only approved a one-year extension, time is running out!"

Gao Shilin let out a long sigh, his eyes were full of anticipation for gold.

On May 26, five hundred thousand-stone ships set off from the Yangtze River in Jiangdu and headed for the East China Sea.

In the early morning, the sea is full of golden light and the waves are as flat as a mirror. Although it is early summer, the cool breeze on the sea is particularly refreshing.

Standing on the side of the boat, Zhu Pei looked at the sunset in the distance. This trip to sea may be due to the company of her husband. Zhu Pei did not have the embarrassment she had when she first went to sea. A storm happened two days ago, and the boat Up and down, she survived.

Not far from her, the tall Jianmeizi was lying on a soft chair, enjoying the cool breeze in the morning. In the afternoon, the sea was getting hotter. Jianmeizi squinted her eyes, her face was as cold as ever, Zhu Pei got married , which means that her original employment contract has ended, but she still follows Zhu Pei, and even she herself does not know what her current identity is.

At this time, Fan Ning came out of the cabin, walked to his wife, put his hands on the side of the boat, looked at the sea in the distance and asked with a smile, "Have you noticed that the color of the sea has changed?"

Zhu Pei nodded. The sea water was still light blue yesterday, but it turned dark blue today. She asked curiously, "Husband, what's the reason for this?"

"The sea water is getting cold!"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Maybe we have entered the deep sea."

"Then how far are we from Kunzhou?"

This is what Jupe cares about. They have been sailing at sea for half a month, and she really misses the land.

"There are still about six days."

"There are still six days!" Jupe said with a disappointed look on his face.

Fan Ning said with a smile: "But today we can disembark and have a rest."

Jupe's eyes lit up, "Is there a harbor nearby?"

Fan Ning shook his head with a smile, "It's not a seaport, it's our supply transfer station, an island, the fleet needs fresh water, rest for half a day before setting off."

"Just now I saw a small island in the distance, is that coming?"

"If you see a small island, it's coming soon!"

As soon as Fan Ning finished speaking, a soldier on the mast shouted: "I saw Xindao ahead!"

Xindao is today Zhifu Island in the Oki Islands of Japan. Because it is also a transfer station for pigeons, it is named Xindao.

In the Heian period, this place belonged to the Izumo country, and it was the fourth largest island in the Izumo country, with an area of ​​about [-] square kilometers. The island was densely covered with forests, basically all mountains, no one lived, but there were more than a dozen small streams, It flows into the sea all year round and is rich in fresh water resources.

Last fall, Kunzhou bought the island with [-] shimi and [-] pieces of cloth, and used it as a fresh water supply and a transfer station for pigeons. Twenty soldiers are stationed here all year round, with an average rotation every six months.

Not long after, the fleet arrived at Xindao. There is also a fjord about ten miles long, where large ships can berth and take turns to replenish fresh water. The pier is very small, and only three large ships can dock at the same time.

Fan Ning and Zhu Pei got off the big boat, Jianmeizi and Aya followed behind them, Ming Ren, Zhu Sheng, Gao Shilin and others had already got off another big boat, and were doing stretching exercises on the shore. After sitting on the boat for too long, they suddenly returned When I got to the shore, my legs were a little bit floating.

Although Xindao is small and has few garrisons, its status is not low. The chief officer is a deputy commander, with [-] soldiers and four pigeon soldiers under him. Nearly a hundred wooden houses have been built on the island. Outside the barracks, most of the wooden houses are warehouses for storing supplies.

In addition, at the top of the mountain, there is a two-foot-high stone tower, which is the Pigeon Tower, where pigeons rest and transit every day.

At this time, a young civilian officer hurried forward, bowed and saluted: "Qiao Sheng, the humble commander of Xindao, has come to see Zhizhou!"

Fan Ning nodded, "Commander Joe has worked hard!"

"Humble job is not hard work, Zhizhou travels all the way is hard work, humble job arranges Zhizhou to wash up first."

Fan Ning looked back at the big ship. The big ship has already started to supply fresh water. It is also very interesting to supply fresh water to the island. There is a water pool at the foot of the mountain about [-] steps away from the pier. Several streams flow into the water pool at the same time. A waterwheel, and a wooden water tank with a length of two hundred steps was built.

When supplies are needed, two soldiers step on the water wheel and pour the stream water into the tank. Soon, a large amount of clean water will flow out from the outlet of the tank.

On a large ship, the crew will use a lifting wheel to lower an elevating wooden platform, and a large water tank will be conveniently placed on the pier using the elevating wooden platform. Hoisting the water tanks filled with clean water onto the ship, a large ship replenishes more than 100 large water tanks each time, and it takes a day and a night for all the ships to be replenished, and the fleet will not be able to set off until tomorrow morning.

When traveling at sea, fresh water is very precious and is mainly used for drinking. Senior officials can wash a little bit, but ordinary crew and soldiers don't count on it.

So every time the ship docks, the first thing everyone does is to take a bath. There are more than a dozen hot springs on Xindao Island, which are very convenient for bathing. There are also hot springs specially for female relatives. There were more than [-] female family members who came, all of whom were family members of officials and garrison generals, as well as maidservants. They were led to the big wooden house to take a bath in the hot spring, and Jianmeizi stood guard outside with a long sword in her hand.

The crew and soldiers were not so particular about it. There was a large hot spring pond one mile away, and the soldiers and crew all rushed there to wash.

Fan Ning and the others were directed to Qiao Sheng to lead them to another hot spring, which was specially reserved for high-ranking officials and generals. The hot spring was not big, but very comfortable. Fan Ning soaked in the boiling hot spring, and he felt that his body was full of water. All the pores seemed to be opened, and the fatigue of the journey slowly faded away. For a while, he felt like he was in heaven.

(End of this chapter)