Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 575

In the early morning of the third day of February, the Quanzhou wharf was crowded with people. Today is an auspicious day for going to sea. Fan Ning led the officials to pay homage to Lin's Mazu, and officially went to sea.

There are more than 1000 people going to sea today. In addition to the more than 4 people who went to the New World and various islands to investigate, there are nearly [-] immigrants who went to Baozhou, and [-] craftsmen who went to Luzon and Baozhou. Yu people.

A huge fleet of more than 180 large ships is waiting on the sea of ​​Quanzhou, including about [-] Wanshi sailboats, [-] Wanshifu boats and paddle boats.

Now the north wind is still blowing on the sea, which is very suitable for going south.

Tens of thousands of people are boarding the ship one after another. Immigrants and craftsmen take the Wanshi sailboat. In addition to transporting people, they will also transport a large amount of luggage. , is also fully loaded with food and fresh water, and there are another two thousand elite soldiers.

In addition to the immigrants who boarded the ship, there were many family members of the crew and soldiers who came to see him off at the port. Fanning's family members also came to deliver letters to him. They sat on a three-thousand-stone painting boat.

Fan Ning boarded the boat in a small boat, picked up his precious daughter Fan Zhen'er, and said, "Daddy is going to sea, and he will be back in a few months. You must be obedient at home and read and write. Daddy will take an exam when he comes back."

Fan Zhener nodded obediently, and she took out a roll of paintings and handed them to her father, "This is drawn by Zhener, one for each of my mother, aunt, third mother, fourth mother, uncle and several younger siblings, father misses us, Just look at the painting."

"Okay! Daddy must see Zhen'er's paintings every day."

Fan Ning kissed his daughter's cheeks, hugged several wives and children one by one, and said to them: "This trip to the south, because many islands have to be carefully inspected, it is estimated that it will take a long time, but it will be half a year at most. I will definitely come back."

Except for Cao Xiu, the others are used to her husband going out to sea. Zhu Pei smiled and said, "I remind you again, don't go into battle with the natives. I heard that they have poisonous arrows. If you take one arrow, you will die. You have to be alive and kicking." return."

"Don't worry! I will be careful, everyone take care!"

Fan Ning waved to his family, got on the boat, and the boat sailed towards the [-]-stone paddle boat in the distance. Everyone also walked to the bow and waved goodbye to Fan Ning. Cao Xiu couldn't hold it anymore, tears streaming down her face .

Ouyang Qian put her arms around her shoulders and said with a smile: "A man always has to do big things, let him do it!"

Cao Xiu wiped away the tears on his face, nodded, and followed the crowd back to the cabin. The boat turned around and sailed towards the city along the Jinjiang River.

The fleet finally set sail. Thirty lucky boats and paddle boats came to the front, and the mighty sailboats followed behind. The magnificent fleet sailed to the first stop, Luzon Mansion.

The expedition team consisted of ten wooden paddle boats and [-] lucky boats. The vehicles and boats were all over [-] shi, and the lucky boats were over [-] shi. The largest flagship ship Quanzhou has a load capacity of [-] tons.

There are a total of more than [-] expedition members and [-] soldiers. On average, a ship carries about [-] people. In addition, each ship has [-] crew members and more than [-] oarsmen. In fact, the number of people loaded is already quite a lot. , not to mention a lot of fresh water and food.

Therefore, it is unrealistic for such large paddle boats and Fuchuan to be used as merchant ships. There are too many people and they cannot carry much cargo. They are mainly used as escort ships to protect merchant ships.

Fan Ning was on board the flagship of the Quanzhou, a 33 stone super paddle boat, and representatives of [-] dignitaries were on board this ship.

The straight line from Quanzhou to Luzon is only about [-] nautical miles. If the wind is favorable, it will take eight days. The journey is not too tiring.

Fan Ning stood at the bow of the boat, gazing silently at the blue distance. At this moment, Mingren and Mingli stepped forward, standing beside him, and Mingli asked, "Will the imperial court approve our Fan family's purchase of the island?" ?”

Fan Ning nodded, "This is the deal I reached with the Queen Mother Cao. Fan Cao is married, and she will approve the Fan family's purchase of the island."

Akihito sighed, "How much will it cost to buy an island like Luzon?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "It won't be too expensive at first, and the island I want to buy is relatively remote, and considering my contribution, I estimate that at most 8 taels of gold can be won."

The imperial court has initially set the price before. The overseas purchase of the island is about one tael of silver per hectare. An island as large as Luzon Island costs 150 million taels of silver, which is equivalent to 15 taels of gold. Considering Fan Ning’s contribution, it can be A 8% discount, and then considering the remote factors, another [-]% discount, the final estimate is [-] taels of gold.

Ming Ren and Ming Li were stunned, "That's 80 guan, not expensive? Half of our net worth."

Fan Ning glared at them, "The two of you got 10,000+ taels just from gold panning, and you have been in overseas trade for so many years, and you have hundreds of ships in light of Wanshi. You are ashamed to say that half of your net worth is only 8 taels of gold."

Mingren salivated and said, "We're only talking about cash, not including docks, warehouses, and ships."

"The cash is more than 16 taels of gold. It's just the gold you keep in Zhu's Money Shop. Do you think I don't know?"

Ming Li smiled bitterly and said, "But 8 taels of gold is still too expensive, Aning, why don't we buy a smaller island!"

Fan Ning shook his head, "There are only two islands over there, both of which are about the same size as Luzon Prefecture. There are no smaller islands. Or go to Nanyang, but I think it's too hot there."

"But it's too expensive, can you talk about the price again?"

Bargaining has been deeply rooted in the bones of the two brothers, 8 taels of gold is really nothing to these two wealthy bigwigs, but they still want to bargain.

Fan Ning refused to give in, "I think the imperial court has already reduced the contribution by [-]%, and considering the remoteness factor, it will be reduced by [-]%. How can you counter the price?"

After a pause, Fan Ning smiled and said, "But I have a way to let you take advantage."

"Speak quickly!"

"Now the court urgently needs 3 stone paddle boats, and is willing to pay a high price to buy them. You sell ten paddle boats to the court at a price of 20 taels of silver, so that you can earn 6 guan, which is equivalent to [-] taels of gold. I bought the island."

Akihito curled his lips, "We have to wait for the imperial court to take out the money. I don't know how long it will be until the year of the monkey. We sold a batch of fine hemp to the imperial court for export to Japan the year before last. It has been more than two years, and we haven't settled the bill yet. It's only 30 guan. The money, if it’s [-] guan, it’s estimated that my grandson will come to collect the money.”

Fan Ning said with a smile: "So I let you use ten large paddle boats to buy the island money at a discount, and directly offset 3 taels of gold. You only need to pay the imperial court 5 taels of gold, and for the 5 taels, Zhu The family still needs to pay 2 taels, and our Fan family only needs to pay 3 taels."

"no!"

The two brothers said in unison: "The boat to arrive at the island is ours. Why should the Zhu family take advantage? The Zhu family paid 3 taels of gold, and we paid 2 taels of gold."

Fan Ning rolled his eyes. The two brothers are too smart to take any losses.

The journey south was smooth and smooth, and eight days later, the fleet arrived in Luzon. The huge fleet parted ways here. Most of the ships carrying immigrants and some craftsmen had to rush to Baozhou before the southerly trade winds rose, so they did not arrive in Luzon. The Song Mansion stayed and continued south to Baozhou.

The survey fleet and some artisan ships sailed into Luzon Bay, and the survey fleet continued southward after a three-day rest in Luzon.

Fan Ning saw Cao Yi who came to meet the fleet on the pier in Luzon Port. Compared with three months ago, his fair complexion had been tanned to black charcoal, causing many powerful children to not recognize him. After leaving him, although Cao Yi lost a lot of weight, he was in good spirits.

"Third uncle!" Cao Ping ran off the boat to greet his uncle.

Only then did everyone recognize Cao Yu, and they gathered around to inquire about the situation.

At this time, Zhang Nan, the prefect, and Wei Yang, the commander of the capital, stepped forward to salute Fan Ning. Fan Ning returned the salute and asked, "Has the supply city in the south started?"

As early as last summer, Fan Ning asked Zhang Nan to build a supply city at the southernmost tip of Mindanao after returning from his first trip to the south, where he stationed [-] soldiers to supply the immigrant ships in the future.

"Construction started last year, and there are currently [-] Japanese laborers building the city. On the southernmost peninsula, this time the envoy leads the expedition south, and you should be able to see the supply city under construction. It is expected to be completed next month. "

Wei Yang also bowed and said: "Once the supply city is completed, a hundred soldiers will immediately enter the supply city, and all kinds of supplies will be sent one after another."

"You two have worked hard!"

At this time, Cao Yi stepped forward and smiled at Fan Ning: "Except for a little heat here, everything else is perfect. I plan to spend my whole life in Luzon Mansion in the future."

Everyone scratched their heads, but Fan Ning said with a smile: "What if traces of immortals are found in the Southern Continent?"

"This...Let's talk about this!"

Cao Bi laughed, changed the subject and asked, "When are we going to leave?"

"Take three days off and set off the day after tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)