Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 277 North to Jiangnan
On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Jinhe welcomed the first New Year's Eve after the founding of the country amid the sound of continuous firecrackers.

The air was filled with a mixture of the smell of wine and gunpowder, and laughter and joy continued until late at night. The year-end dividends made everyone full of confidence in the future.

Lin Hai also took a rare day off and made time to spend with his family.

In the blink of an eye, Zhu'er is already one year old. He is at the stage of taking his first steps and babbling, and is the most lovable.

It’s a pity that Lin Hai rarely has the chance to play with his son. Even Zhu Niang, his mother, has little free time. The little guy is somewhat unfamiliar with his parents and is closer to his wet nurse.

After night fell, the little guy fell asleep first. Zhu Niang said to Lin Hai with some sadness: "What do you think we are doing? We are so busy every day, and Zhu'er doesn't even care about his own mother."

Lin Hai smiled and said, "It's okay. He's still young and doesn't remember anything. When he grows up, you can bring him with you and let him handle government affairs with you every day."

Zhu Niang asked again: "What about you? You just don't care about him?"

Lin Hai said: "As for me, I will naturally take him to fight."

"That won't do." Zhu Niang quickly rejected it. "I only have this one precious son. I absolutely cannot let him go to the battlefield."

"That's easy, just have another one." Lin Hai smiled and started to make moves.

"No, don't wake up Zhu'er." Zhu Niang grabbed Lin Hai's hand to stop him from doing anything wrong.

"Well, now that you have a son, you won't love your husband anymore." Lin Hai said, "Why didn't you get nervous when I went to the battlefield?"

"Go to hell, you're still jealous of your son, how can you be so ambitious." Zhu Niang rolled her eyes and said, "Besides, how do you know that he's not nervous? You went to Xiamen to fight, and I worshipped my mother every day!"

"Alright, you got away with it." Lin Hai said and started to attack again, "My dear, I have to leave for Jiangnan early tomorrow morning, let's get down to business."

"What business do you have? I won't serve you tonight." Zhu Niang still refused to give in. "You don't trust me anymore. You spent New Year's Eve in the barracks two years ago. You ran to Sijiao Mountain on the third day of the first lunar month last year. This year, you are even worse. You just spent the day of the New Year at home."

"Who said that? If I don't care about you, shouldn't I conserve my energy and go to the Qinhuai River to have a good time?" Lin Hai began to use his trump card, "You also know that I am going to Nanjing this time."

"Come here, call the nurse and take the pig away!"

……

After a long and arduous battle, with couples singing in harmony for several times, and the clouds clearing and the rain stopping for several times, the silver bottle suddenly broke and water splashed out, and suddenly the iron cavalry rushed out with swords and guns.

In the end, Zhu Niang threw away her weapons and armor, and Lin Hai ran out of ammunition and food. It was unclear who was the winner. In the darkness, only the sound of her delicate panting could be heard, mixed with the sound of her heavy breathing...

After a long time, there was an occasional snoring sound from Lin Hai. Zhu Niang said faintly, "My husband, when you go to Jiangnan, don't sleep with prostitutes. If it's really unbearable, just bring back a pure and innocent young lady..."

"Yeah, that's fine." Lin Hai responded vaguely. He was already very sleepy.

"What did you say? It's okay?" Zhu Niang's voice suddenly rose by eight decibels, and she twisted Lin Hai's arm hard. "Didn't you say that?" Lin Hai was completely awakened by the pain.

"You really heard it clearly, I thought you were asleep." Zhu Niang pouted and continued, "No, I regret it now!"

~~~
The next day, Lin Hai, who had originally planned to set out early in the morning, did not leave the White House until after noon. In the evening of the same day, he boarded the long-awaited frigate at the mouth of the Tamsui River.

It was still the north wind season, and the only way to travel from Jinhe to Jiangnan was against the wind. Fortunately, the frigate had a fast speed, and this time Lin Hai only took seven days to reach Sanshanso in Yuyao, while it took him twelve days to reach Sijiaoshan in the first month of last year.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Lin Hai went to the home of Xie Zhengqian of the Xie family in Simen to pay New Year's greetings and to place an order for this year's silk products.

In Huiyou Company's trade plan, Fujian silk products are mainly sold to Manila, while the Japanese market still relies on Zhejiang supplies. After all, Wu silk is better quality and cheaper than Fujian silk, and Lao Ruan has developed a direct flight route from eastern Zhejiang to Kyushu Island in Japan, so the transportation cost is also lower.

In view of the interruption of Japan-Dutch trade, Lin Hai decided to purchase 2,000 dan of raw silk from Zhejiang this year, an increase of one-third over last year.

Just like last year, Xie Zhengqian praised Lin Hai's efforts to rebel against Wei and destroy Zheng. His price was also fair as always. The only thing was that he only agreed to sell Lin Hai one thousand dan of raw silk.

"Xie Gong, last year we were able to buy 1,500 dan, why is it that this year we can only buy 1,000 dan?"

"It's not that Xie is unwilling to sell, the Han family really only has this much stock this year."

Lin Hai then asked the reason, but Xie Zhengqian immediately changed the subject, again praising Lin Hai as the number one person against Wei, and then once again expressed his respect for him.

Seeing that Xie Zhengqian was unwilling to talk further, Lin Hai had no choice but to give up. After booking a thousand dan of raw silk, he set off north to Chongming.

The Shen family of Chongming mainly operated the Beiyang route. Like Lin Hai, they also purchased raw silk from Zhejiang, so Lin Hai asked Shen Tingyang about this issue.

As a result, Shen Tingyang told Lin Hai that the reason why the supply of Xie family in Simen decreased this year was because a large part of the raw silk share in Zhejiang Province was seized by Zhoushan Wu family in Shanyin.

"The Wu family's bastard Wu Mengren joined the eunuch party and used the eunuch party's power to defeat the Xie family." Shen Tingyang said, "Fortunately, the current emperor has restored order, otherwise the Xie family would have been removed from the silk industry in Zhejiang Province."

"So that's how it is..." Lin Hai pondered for a moment and then said, "Now that the eunuch party has lost power, I guess the silk industry in Zhejiang Province will still be dominated by the Xie family in the future?"

"It's hard to say. It's difficult for the Xie family to overthrow the Wu family because the two legitimate sons of the Wu family did not join the eunuch party. Instead, they broke off their relationship with the fifth son of the Wu family at the first opportunity..."

Shen Tingyang then added, "Brother Deng Wan may not know this, but the eldest of the Wu family, Father Meng Ming, was once the deputy judge of the Northern Pacification Division of the Jinyiwei. He helped protect the Donglin Party members in the Seven Gentlemen's Prison. I heard that he has been very close to Mr. Yu Shan recently."

Lin Hai nodded silently after hearing this. It seemed that the Shanyin Wu family was well aware of the principle of not putting all their eggs in one basket. This could be considered a traditional skill of the aristocratic families, and was quite reminiscent of the legacy of the Langya Zhuge family during the Three Kingdoms period.

"Brother Wumei, I really don't want to have anything to do with the Wu family. I wonder if you can help me collect a thousand loads of raw silk?"

"I can't help you either. The Wu family also runs the Beiyang Shipping Line, so they are the rivals of the Han family. So the Han family, like you, mainly buys goods from the Xie family, and they have also been affected this year."

(End of this chapter)