Lu Ming

Chapter 231: The Completion of All Talents ([-])

For the rest of the day, Du Dewei and Hu Ba's fleet did not go to the middle left to join the crew, but took a big circle around Xiamen Island.In the evening, the fleet had rested on the coast of the mainland across the sea from Xiamen Island.

Early the next morning, the fleet began to travel south along the coast of the mainland, passing through the strait between Gulangyu Island and the mainland along the way, bypassing the Elephant Trunk Reef, entering the Jiulong River, and berthed in the private port of Haimen Island.

Haimen Island, located at the mouth of the Jiulong River, was originally a gathering place for private businessmen.As a transit point between Yuegang and Xiamen, there were commercial buildings on Haimen Island at this time: private ports, warehouses, inns, taverns, and kilns.

After the fleet anchored, Du Dewei gave some more instructions to his deputy, and then Hu Ba took care of the house, while he himself sailed to Yuegang along the south bank of the Jiulong River in a light bird boat.

From the middle of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, with the emergence of the historical event of "Longqing switch", as the only legal starting port of maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty, Yuegang in Haicheng County, Fujian Province once became a "sea ship scale gathering, The No. [-] foreign trade port in the world where merchants gather together.

But now Yuegang is desolate, and the prosperity of the past is no longer there.

With Zheng Zhilong defeating the government army and occupying the Zhongzuo, the days of Yuegang haven’t happened in the past few days—Xiamen Island is stuck in the sea off the Jiulong River, where thousands of pirates gather and completely seal it off. Moonport Gate.

After Zheng Zhilong occupied Xiamen, his original strategic intention was to transfer the South China Sea Trade Center there, so Yuegang became a thorn in his side.Not long after occupying Zhongzuo, Zheng Zhilong personally led an army into the Jiulong River, looted Yuegang, set fire to it, and hunted down Haiphong General/Yuegang Comprador Group spokesperson/Xu Xinsu everywhere.

To be honest, Zheng Zhilong and his predecessor Xu Xinsu have no personal enmity.The only motivation to support Zheng Zhilong's continuous pursuit of Xu Xinsu is Yuegang.

Xu Xinsu is the spokesperson of Yuegang, including the merchant comprador group in Zhangquan area.If Zheng Zhilong wants to complete his strategic plan and replace Yuegang's strategic position with Xiamen, he must kill Xu Xinsu and destroy Yuegang.

So, it's vendetta.The rest of the reasons for chasing and killing Xu Bazong are all excuses.

The bird boat that Du Dewei took departed from Haimen Island and traveled upstream along the south bank of the Jiulong River. After a short distance of 20 miles, he turned into the destination port: this place is connected to the sea tide outside and the mountain stream inside. It is shaped like a crescent moon. So it was named Yuegang.

Moon Harbor has seven piers on the almost one-kilometer-long coast.From east to west, they are Xiangguan Wharf, Lutouwei Wharf, Zhonggu Wharf, Rongchuan Wharf, Dianziwei Wharf, Agebo Wharf, and Xiwei Wharf.

These piers are all built with strips of stone and are very strong. There is a temple behind each pier dedicated to different gods.The functions of the seven piers are different, and Du Dewei, who has come to Yuegang many times to sell stolen goods, now swaggers and parks the boat at the official pier with only two or three small shrimps.

In the formerly bustling wharf area, now there are only a few fishing boats in and out, and there is no such thing as a forest of masts and oars on both sides.

After getting off the boat, Du Dewei took only two followers and walked towards Fan Lane.

The original Yuegang Merchant Market covers an area of ​​about 5 square kilometers, and there are jewelry stores, medicinal materials stores, cotton cloth stores, silk stores, grocery stores, hoop stores, casting tripod stores, sugar stores, silk thread stores, fish stores, paper stores, and wood stores. , tea shop and many other shops.

The seven major commercial markets are all surrounded by water networks, so people call Moonport "sea country".

It's just that Du Dewei walked all the way today and found that most of the shops have been overheated, there are many ruins, there are few pedestrians, the streets are deserted, and even beggars are gone.
"Ah..." After shaking his head, Du Dewei and his party quickened their pace, and not long after, they came to a big stone house in Fan Lane.This stone house is large in scale, and even though it is obvious that it has been burned, it still looks magnificent.

And this house is probably the only lively place in Yuegang right now.

A large number of craftsmen were climbing on the roof to replace the damaged parts, and there were many well-dressed men standing outside the house. After seeing Du Dewei and his party coming, at least three of them greeted Lao Du at the same time.

"Shopkeeper Du, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing?"

"TOEFL TOEFL, passable passable"

Du Dewei entered the house smoothly while exchanging greetings all the way.Since the plaque on the gate of the house has been burned and has not had time to be remade, outsiders really do not know who the owner of this house is.

Guided by a man in green with a short knife in his waist and hips, Du Dewei passed through the dilapidated front yard where many people stayed, leaving his followers there by the way.By this time, he had already figured it out - among the attendants left in the front yard, he saw a familiar face.

After coming to the atrium, which was not much better than the front yard, Du Dewei was ushered into the flower hall of the side yard.The flower hall was still in good condition, at least the overhead porch was still there, so the guests were all brought here, and as expected, Du Dewei saw the big-eared, simple-minded Cao Hu at first sight.

Resisting the tempting thought of stabbing the annoying chrysanthemum with a dagger at his waist, Du Dewei greeted Cao Hu with a half-smile: "Brother Cao, is it true that the mountains and rivers meet again?"

"Coincidentally."

After a few words of politeness, Du Dewei went to sit aside, and someone brought a teacup later.While drinking tea with his head down, Du Dewei looked up and found that besides the two small shopkeepers, Cao Hu and himself, there were five or six businessmen sitting in the flower hall at the moment.

He didn't make him wait long, after a cup of tea, a man in Tsing Yi walked into the flower hall with a smile on his face, accused the others, and then led Du Dewei into the back house.

There are still many craftsmen working on renovation projects in the back house. Du Dewei followed behind the man in Tsing Yi and turned into a door with hanging flowers. Finally, he saw a complete house. The master - Xu Xinsu.

Xu Xinsu is Du Dewei's last retreat.There were great changes in his family back then, and the first boat that Du Dewei sailed to sea at the age of 15 was Xu Xinsu's merchant ship.

It was on Xu Xinsu's merchant ship that Du Dewei gradually grew into a qualified captain.In the end, even after Du Dewei raised his flag to stand on his own, he still couldn't do without Xu Xinsu's support in the dark, and he could be regarded as a secret confidant.So to this day, after seeing Xu Xinsu, Du Dewei still uses the old name of "Dongjia".

"Wait until you have time." Xu Xinsu pulled Du Dewei into the room as he supported Du Dewei who was about to cup his fists in front of him.

After the two sat down, there was a look of admiration on their faces.

"Boss, this time I've lost my money! Dewei is single and weak, so I can't help much. I hope my boss will forgive me."

"Hehe, tens of thousands of people are fighting, what are you doing?" Xu Xinsu shook his head with a smile, and then said: "Burn down my house, burn down my shop, and kill my shopkeeper and buddy. This trip is also retribution!"

Du Dewei naturally didn't know that Xu Xinsu was referring to Zheng Zhilong being ambushed, he took it for granted that he was talking about a shipwreck: "Oh, it's a pity that Yuegang is a great foundation."

"It's okay."

As soon as this aspect was mentioned, Xu Xinsu's aura of a big businessman suddenly emerged: "The business will eventually be moved to Xiamen, and this place will just be an ordinary sea market in the future, so don't feel bad."

"Xiamen?" Du Dewei couldn't help being startled when he heard this: "Currently, Zhongzuo is in the hands of the shopkeeper Li Kuiqi, so the owner has discussed it with the shopkeeper Li Kuiqi?"

"Hahaha" Xu Xinsu looked up and laughed twice when he heard this: "Dewei, you're thinking about it. Then Li Kuiqi has no business skills, and he only wants to rob. It's not that I underestimate him, he doesn't have the ability to manage hair. "

Xu Xinsu paused and then said: "A few days ago, Kuiqi sent someone to negotiate, and asked me to Xingyuegang again, so that he can 'do business' in the future."

When Xu Xinsu said this, he couldn't help but sneer: "It's really a long-term vision."

At this moment, Du Dewei was confused by someone's attitude towards Li Kuiqi: "Boss, Dewei came here today to ask the boss for guidance. Is it convenient for Dewei to go to Li Kuiqi?"

"It's convenient, but it's not convenient." Xu Xinsu nodded first, and then shook his head.

Du Dewei was completely confused now.

Xu Xinsu did not explain further, but first picked up the tea bowl on the table and signaled Du Dewei to drink tea.After the two of them drank, Xu Xinsu picked up a glossy black, strange-looking short pipe on the table, and squeezed out a pinch of shredded tobacco from the porcelain bottle.

After a long metallic sound of "ding", Du Dewei watched in amazement as his boss lit his pipe with a silver-white square fire sickle, and smoked beautifully.

After taking two puffs of cigarettes, Xu Xinsu opened his mouth and asked, "Where's your good brother?"

Du Dewei hurriedly replied: "Oh, Hu Ba is looking after the house on Haimen Island."

"I knew it earlier." Xu Xinsu nodded: "You have always been inseparable, but this time I'm afraid you will have to split things up. This is convenience and inconvenience."

Just when Du Dewei seemed to understand, Xu Xinsu took out an official document from the desk bucket and put it in front of him: "I know you are proficient in writing and ink, so read it yourself."

Du Dewei couldn't help but open his eyes wide after reading the official document a few times: "Boss, the court ordered you to help with recruiting? But Zheng Yiguan is dead!"

"Hehe, who told you that the imperial court will stop recruiting after Zheng Yiguan died?" Xu Xinsu Xu Xinsu looked at him playfully: "The imperial court is not run by Zheng's family. Without butcher Zheng, you still have to eat hairy pigs?"

A certain person understood everything at this moment, and then he became excited: "Boss, who does the court want to recruit? Let's tell Dewei, so I can lead my brothers to go there earlier and get a lottery!"

At this time, Xu Xinsu played with mystery, and he slowly shook his head while puffing out a cigarette: "Don't say it, don't say it."

After finishing speaking, looking at Du Dewei who was eagerly waiting for the next article, Xu Xinsu laughed silently: "I will write a book for you here, and you can take your brothers to Fuzhou. Hu Ba will stay for me, I will be useful."

(End of this chapter)