Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 66
Lin Hai kicked away the broken limbs in front of him, struggled to reach the poop door of the big sand boat, and shouted inside: "Who is on the boat? Below are Qianhu from Zhoushan Zhongzhongsuo."

"Are you from Zhongzhongsuo Qianhu? Do you have any credentials?" A trembling voice came from the poop.

"I am a subordinate of Hong Daozun. When I saw the flag on the boat, I came to the rescue immediately. Open the door. If I were a water bandit, I would have broken in."

After a while, the poop door opened, and a man in his thirties came out followed by two vigilant guards.

When Lin Hai saw the person coming, he was startled and said: "Master Shen!"

The person who came was none other than Shen Tingyang. He looked at Lin Hai with a pale face and a hesitant look on his face. He bent down and greeted him: "Thank you for saving me. I seem to be strangers to you. I don't know how you can recognize him." Shen?"

Lin Haidao: "I am a friend of Xu Yilong from Fujian. I was with Brother Xu Xian at Hong Daozun's mansion a few days ago. I met Brother Shen from a distance, but Brother Shen didn't see me at that time."

When Shen Tingyang heard him talking about Xu Yilong, he felt a little relieved, then bent down and bowed: "Thank you so much for saving me, may I ask your benefactor's name?"

Lin Hai stepped forward to help Shen Tingyang, cupped his fists and returned the greeting: "Young Master Shen is too polite. My surname is Lin, and my last name is the Chinese character "Hai"..."

He briefly introduced himself, using the same rhetoric as before Hong Chengchou, and then continued: "I was at Hong Daozun's house that day, and I heard Brother Xu Xian talking about Brother Shen. I wanted to make friends with Brother Shen, so I waited outside the door. I haven't seen Brother Shen come out for a long time, but I didn't expect to see you here today."

Shen Tingyang survived the disaster and saw the blood-stained deck full of corpses. At this time, his mind went blank, and he asked by mistake: "Brother Lin wants to discuss business with Shen?"

Seeing his frightened look, Lin Hai smiled and said: "The main thing is to make friends and do business. Today I wanted to go to Chongming to buy a sand boat from Brother Shen and learn about the market of Songjiang cotton. But also There’s no rush at this moment, I’m going to see the wounded and wounded men, please ask Brother Shen to wait a moment.”

Shen Tingyang realized that what he just said was not appropriate. In addition, there were more casualties on his side, and there were a lot of things to deal with at this moment. He handed over to Lin Hai and said: "Brother Lin, please, let's go together after you finish your work." Chongming, it’s not too late to talk about it when we get to Han’s house.”

Lin Hai then found the stone wall, pulled him aside and asked quietly: "Brother, how are the casualties among the brothers?"

Shibi had just finished counting the number of people and replied: "Fifteen of them are dead and eight are seriously injured. I'm afraid these eight won't be able to leave the sea."

Lin Haidao: "Does the dead brother have any family members?"

Shi Bi shook his head: "I can't find any. These brothers of mine all know each other from the sea. Most of them are from poor people in Guangdong and Guangxi. No one wants to mention things about their hometown."

Lin Hai asked again: "You guys used to do business without capital, how did you divide the property you robbed?"

Shi Bi was busy counting the number of people just now and did not hear the conversation between Lin Hai and Shen Tingyang. He said excitedly: "Why are you asking this? Is it possible that the people on the ship are not from Zhejiang Haidao?"

Lin Hai said quickly: "No, no, the man on the boat is kind to Hong Daozun, and we cannot seize the boat. But the brothers fought hard, and there were many casualties. We must show something."

Shi Bi was a little disappointed when he heard this: "If you didn't grab any property, what does that mean? There are no such rules."

Lin Hai shook his head and said: "It's my idea to save people, but I can't let my brothers' hearts go cold."

Shi Bi then said to Lin Hai: "Usually, [-]% of the property we grab goes to the father-in-law, and the remaining [-]% is divided equally among us heads and brothers."

Lin Haixin said that the [-]% returned to the public is not under your control, but public expenses such as ship repairs must also come from here. Generally speaking, their mechanism for distributing spoils is still based on the principle of equality, which is different from that in the West. Corsair is no different.

He then asked: "How much silver can the brothers share in a transaction?"

Shi Bi smiled and said: "It's hard to say. When the good times are good, how many taels can one person get? When the bad times are bad, there is not a penny. Let's drink the northwest wind together."

Lin Hai nodded. What Shi Bi said was basically similar to what he thought.These days, a small merchant ship can only cost a thousand taels of silver, and some are even worth only a few hundred taels. This is the average amount. Moreover, the robbery may not be successful, and sometimes the hard work is just in vain.He had limited cash in hand at this time, and after listening to Shi Bi's words, he had a rough idea in his mind.He walked to the sailors of the Bowang who were still on the deck of the big sand ship, clasped his fists at everyone and said: "Brothers, today we are all fighting to the death for Lin. I can't let my brothers work in vain."

"The dead brothers can only be buried nearby after arriving in Chongming. At that time, a few monks and Taoist priests will be invited to perform rituals. The disabled brothers will be given 50 taels each and will be placed in Chongming first. Those who are willing to work with me will wait until I return to Zhoushan. We can arrange things later, and if you don’t want to, you can go to Zhoushan to do some small business.”

"Each of the remaining brothers who participated in the battle will be given fifty taels. Each person killed or captured will also receive five taels, as evidenced by the prisoners or corpses on this ship."

As soon as Lin Hai finished speaking, the ship was boiling with excitement. These habitual bandits had all come from the sea of ​​blood and corpses. The battle just now was not a difficult one for them, but the rewards were quite generous.

Especially when many people saw Lin Hai and Shen Tingyang chatting happily, they secretly thought it was bad luck, and it was an unexpected joy to be able to make a fortune in the end.

Waizui was one of them. After hearing what Lin Hai said, he immediately raised his thumb and shouted loudly: "Uncle Lin, you are so brave!"

Viper, being a good-natured person, used his wits and shouted loudly: "My boss is benevolent and righteous! We have all received wages, and it is right for us to work hard for our boss."

Many people followed the Viper and started making noises. Lin Hai saw that Shi Bi's face looked a little bad. He raised his hands and pressed them in the air: "Brothers, be quiet, be quiet. Let's go back to the Bowang first."

So everyone carried the wounded, those who carried the wounded, and those who escorted the captives, chatting happily while walking back.

The thin monkey chased after Waizui's butt and asked, "Brother Waizui, how many have you killed?"

Crooked Mouth and Scarface were escorting the strong man together. Hearing this, he stopped and turned around: "It's none of your business as a bird-bearing hozen."

The thin monkey ran to him with a playful smile: "I'll calculate how many top players you can sleep with."

He held out two fingers with a crooked mouth and grinned: "I killed two, totaling 15 taels. Sleeping with three top players should be enough."

The thin monkey shook his head, with an enigmatic smile on his face: "Not enough. Five taels is the price at the Pearl River Estuary. I just asked someone to find out. The top one in Chongming costs ten taels."

Waizui was startled when he heard the words, and then cursed: "You idiot, why is the top brand so expensive?"

"Brother, why do you call me a dog?" Shouhou had just finished speaking and was kicked. He didn't hide this time and followed Waizui with a shy face. "Brother, you only have room for one person anyway, can you?" Lend me five taels from my brother? Let me try what it’s like to have the first prize of ten taels of silver.”

"Fuck you, I'm going to sleep with a few cheap ones after I've slept with the top one."

Crooked Mouth and Scarface escorted the strong man back to the Bowang.At this time, except for Miguel's gang of foreign devils who were still staying on the gun deck, the other sailors who had not participated in the war went to the open deck to watch the excitement.

The new gang leader Ruan was also in the crowd. Suddenly he heard his son Ruan Mei beside him exclaim: "Dad, could that man be my brother?"

Old Ruan was surprised. Ruan Mei had an older brother named Ruan Jin. His eldest son was impatient to memorize needlework formulas. He had been working as a helmsman on a sea-going ship and rarely left home many times throughout the year.

Old Ruan stood up on tiptoes, stretched his neck and looked in the direction Ruan Mei was pointing. He saw a big man tied up with a hemp rope and covered in blood and being held by two sailors. His figure did look a bit like Ruan Jin.

"Quick, let's go over there and have a look." Lao Ruan squeezed hard for a long time, and finally came to the front of the big man with Ruan Mei. When they saw the man's face clearly, the father and son were stunned.

~~~Note~~~
Ruan Jin, Dang Huhou of the Southern Ming Dynasty, was the most adept at water warfare in King Lu's regime. He died heroically in Zhoushan in the sixth year of Lu Jianguo's reign. His younger brother Ruan Mei once went to Japan to beg for help.Ruan Jin was a helmsman by background and had been a pirate. He was promoted from a group of bandits to a general by Zhang Mingzhen, the Marquis of Dingxi. His native place was Fujian and Kuaiji, Zhejiang, which will be mentioned later in this book.

(End of this chapter)