Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 19 Seeking common ground while reserving differences
The Beibu Gulf along the coast of Guangxi was a haven for pirates in the Ming Dynasty. The Hepu area, with its seven pearl ponds designated by the imperial court, was the main source of southern pearls during the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it has always been a paradise for Chinese pearl thieves.

On the west coast of the Beibu Gulf is the Annan Kingdom, which is an important stop for Chinese merchants' Western trade and Japanese red seal ship trade. In addition, Annan's political situation is unstable and wars are frequent. Countless displaced people have fled to the sea, resulting in a large number of local Annan pirates.

Shi Bi and others had been hanging out in the Beibu Gulf for two years, and they had made a name for themselves.Of the dozen or so brothers who originally went to Guangxi, there are now only four left, and they have become brothers with different surnames. Shi Bi is the oldest and has become the eldest brother.

The four brothers have been in a foreign land for a long time. At the end of last year, they accidentally heard that the original eldest brother Li Zhongguo was not dead and was still prospering in the Pearl River Estuary. He had the potential to replace Xie Tianyou back then.

The four brothers discussed it and returned to their hometown with two hundred men, a two-masted boat and several large sampans, hoping to return to Li Zhongguo's command.

As early as half a month ago, Shi Bi returned to his home by the river in Shenzhen.Hearing that his family was forced to run away, he killed Chief Gou and Lao Wang without saying a word. Now he is wanted by the Xin'an County Government.This morning, he found out through Aunt Chunhua that his family had come to Haojing, so he came looking for them.

After listening to Shi Bi's story, Lin Hai suddenly took out an emerald ring from his arms and asked Shi Bi, "Brother, do you recognize what this is?"

This is of course Li Guozhu's ring finger. The silk goods were recognized by both the ticket and the person. The goods could not be withdrawn with the mulberry paper ticket alone.Therefore, Li Guozhu lent the ring finger to Lin Hai. In his words, the ring ring was equal to him, and all his friends on the road knew him.

Shi Bi shook his head: "I don't recognize him."

Sure enough, it is unlikely that a gang of 200 people had ever dealt with Li Guozhu.Lin Hai said again: "Then have you ever heard of Li Guozhu?"

If you don't hear this again, then Shibi will not be considered as someone who has been on the sea.These days, maritime trade all follows fixed routes. To use a lingo of later generations of escort agencies and bandits, that is, maritime merchants eat one line and pirates eat one piece. The relationship between the two is very close.

What maritime merchants pursue is maximizing profits and minimizing risks. It is impossible to send a large fleet to do business every time. The cost is too high and there is no profit. If there is a hurricane, it is more likely to lose all the money.Compared with shipwrecks, pirates can only be considered a minor threat to navigation safety.

For example, Li Dan has hundreds of large and small ships under his command, but Li Guozhu only runs two or three large ships on the Western route every year. This is more than enough to deal with small groups of pirates, but it is still not enough to deal with large pirates who dominate one area.After all, strong dragons cannot overwhelm local snakes. No matter how well-equipped you are, you can't stand up to a large number of people, and you are more familiar with the local hydrology.

Therefore, for small maritime merchants, pirates are like natural disasters, and they are considered unlucky when they encounter them.For large merchants, navigation safety mainly depends on reputation and friendship, which is the same as the survival of later generations of escort agencies.

Li Guozhu was in charge of running the Western route and passed through the Pearl River Estuary and Beibu Gulf every year. Shibi had been in these two places at least, so he was naturally familiar with this name. He asked doubtfully: "Do you recognize Mr. Li?"

Lin Hai smiled and said, "More than recognition? I am the benefactor who saved his life! It's a coincidence that he happened to meet me when he came to Haojing last time. Seeing that my family business was in decline, he wanted to repay his kindness, so he gave me this ring. , and presented a three-masted ship to express my gratitude."

He didn't talk about Zheng Zhilong's conspiracy, nor about the silk goods. At this time, he couldn't trust Shi Bi, but he vaguely revealed a little bit about his friendship with Li Guozhu.

This was enough to shock Shibi, and he quickly asked: "Where is the ship now?"

Lin Haidao: "It's at Chen Kee Shipyard where I work as a bookkeeper. It can be sailed with a little repair."

Shibi slapped Lin Hai on the shoulder and laughed loudly: "Hello, you are very good! My younger sister has a good eye for it."

Lin Hai secretly cursed while continuing: "I plan to go to Dongfan some time later. The natives there have never seen the world. A piece of cotton cloth can be exchanged for a few deer skins. They go back and forth several times a year, which is a lot." Not a bad business.”

Shi Bi's smile gradually solidified: "So, you plan to do business on your own?" Lin Hai said: "My family has been traveling in the West for generations. Although I am not talented, I can be regarded as a general in the trading industry and a marshal in the business field. , naturally we cannot give up our ancestral business. There are deer all over the east side, and deer skins are a hot commodity in the Japanese country. With the help of Prince Li’s power in the Japanese country, I can think of doing this business."

Shibi remained silent. In his opinion, Lin Hai meant to seek refuge with Li Guozhu. After all, the Li family was doing the business between Dongfan and Japan, so there was no need for outsiders.It turned out that this boy was not joking, he really thought that his uncle was too young.

After all, if Li Guozhu is a giant ship, then Shibi is at best a small sampan.

Shibi was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and said with piercing eyes: "Sister-in-law, you and I now have two ships and more than 200 ready-made brothers. Why bother to seek refuge with outsiders? Wouldn't it be nice to be the eldest brother of your own?"

Lin Hai slapped his thigh: "Wow! That's what I meant. I really think the same thing as a hero. Don't look at Boss Li's current situation, but his inner bag is very empty. If he has more brothers in the future, he will be ashore sooner or later. If you want to rob a big business, the imperial court will invite a fleet of ghosts to come over. Could it be possible that you will go to Guangxi again?"

Lin Hai stood up as he spoke, waving his arms and encouraging: "Brother, come with me to Dongfan! We, our family, will create our own world!"

Shi Bi was confused: "So, you went to Dongfan to join Mr. Li?"

Only then did Lin Hai realize that he had made a mistake: "I just said that I want to do business on my own."

Shibi shook his head and said: "Sister-in-law, you have misunderstood this matter. Mr. Li is doing the business between Dongfan and Japan, how can you be allowed to interfere? Once or twice, people may still miss you. I will definitely fall out with you after three or four times."

Lin Haidao: "Brother, you don't know something. Dongfan is a big island. The Li family and Hongmao are on the south side of the island. The north side is still full of natives. In fact, the north side of Dongfan is a treasure. , gold sand can be found in the river, and there are also sulfur mines.”

Shi Bi said suspiciously: "You have always been in Taixi, how did you know about Dongfan?"

Lin Haili said confidently: "To tell you the truth, Mazu told me about Dongfan's situation. Did Zhu Niang tell you that Mazu gave me a dream?"

In order to let her brother recognize this family, Zhu Niang did tell Shi Bi, using the exact words Lin Hai used to deceive Aunt Chunhua: "My mother said that Brother Lin will have great fortunes after returning to his hometown, and there will always be noble people to help him. "

At that time, Shi Bi thought that it was all Lin Hai's nonsense, and that he was too deceptive.But now I think about it, Lin Hai met Li Guozhu when he came back. Didn't he just follow what Mazu said? Could it be that this kid really has Mazu's blessing?
However, Shibi was not so easily persuaded.He had never been to the territory of Dongpan. The deerskin, gold sand, and sulfur sounded suspicious, but it was more of a robbery.

He pulled Lin Hai to sit down and said: "Sister-in-law, why bother with the near and far? Let me bring your boat to join the crew, and I will guarantee you the seat of the leader. With two big boats in hand, the Pearl River Estuary is also ranked high, and we can recruit hundreds more Brothers are also ordinary. Mr. Li is old, and you and I rely on Mr. Li as our support. Are you afraid that the Pearl River Estuary will not be named Shi in the future? "

The two of them each talked about their own things, until their mouths were dry and they were still talking to each other.

In the spirit of seeking common ground while reserving differences, Lin Hai concluded his speech: "Brother, since you have recognized each other, from now on you and I are our own family members. Of course, our family members must work together, and we will discuss other matters later."

Shi Bi took a sip of wine to moisten his throat and replied: "That's right, these are not urgent for now, the most important thing now is to organize the happy event first."

(End of this chapter)