Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 75 Dongjiang Mr. Shen

The Ganfu was discovered by a patrol ship of the Dongjiang Navy on Uncong Island, which is the largest island in northern Korea. It is just a few dozen miles east of Pi Island. There is a garrison of Dongjiang Town on the island.

The so-called Pi Island and Uncong Island are the names given by people in the Ming Dynasty in recent years. Koreans still call them Chudao and Shenmi Island.The person who renamed the two islands was Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang River. Among them, Pidao means "if the skin does not exist, how can the hair be attached", and Yuncong Island means "Yunconglong".

In the first year of Tianqi, when the situation in Liaodong was collapsing, Mao Wenlong, who was training guerrilla troops, led 190 seven warriors on four sand ships to surprise Zhenjiang from the sea. He captured and killed General Hou Jin and recovered hundreds of miles of lost territory behind enemy lines. This is known in history as Great victory in Zhenjiang.

A year later, Mao Wenlong, with the support of Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, opened a town on Pidao, which was called Dongjiang Town.His own official fortune has also soared like a rocket. Now he has accumulated to the rank of Zuo Dudu, a first-grade governor. He was given Shang Fang a sword and the seal of a former general who conquered captives.

Although the Jin Army was driven out of Zhenjiang and the interior of North Korea, Dongjiang Town relied on its naval superiority to defend a large number of islands in Liaodong and North Korea. It even once occupied Jinzhou, Lushun and other places at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. Jin's pet peeve.

Today, Marshal Mao is based in Pidao. On the one hand, he accommodates Liao people to establish farming on the islands. On the other hand, he carries out business orders and recruits merchants from Denglai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places to go north. He gradually builds this barren island into a western The maritime city of Korea Bay.

In this process, the role of a key figure cannot be ignored, that is Marshal Mao's cheap father-in-law, Shen Shikui, known as Mr. Shen of Dongjiang.

This Shen Shikui was originally just a tooth shop buyer in Liaoyang City. Liaoyang fell in March of the first year of Tianqi. He escaped when the city was destroyed and rolled to Zhenjiang. Soon after, Mao Wenlong's surprise attack on Zhenjiang happened.

Although Shen Shikui himself is not very good-looking, he has a beautiful goddaughter.This girl was originally a thin horse raised by Ya Xing. She had known Shen Shikui as her godfather since she was a child, and she fled with him when Liaoyang City was destroyed.

In order to gain the upper hand, Shen Shikui used his adopted daughter as a doorkeeper to knock on the door of Mao Wenlong's handsome mansion.Poor Marshal Mao has lived for more than 40 years and has never lived in the gentle countryside. How can he withstand his beauty trap?

It should be noted that Mao Wenlong did not do well in his early years and did not marry his wife until he was in his 30s. His wife, Zhang, has been staying in her hometown in Hangzhou.Marshal Mao didn't even have a warm bed outside the customs, so he married a concubine in Liaoyang. The second year after giving birth to his son, Liaoyang city broke out, and this new concubine died again.

And Shen Shikui's goddaughter is not only naturally charming, but has also learned various techniques to please men since she was a child. How can Marshal Mao stand this?He quickly fell under her pomegranate skirt.Shen Shikui also became a popular figure in Mao Wenlong's army, and all the generals and commanders had to call him "Mr. Shen" when they saw him.

However, the adopted daughter is just a stepping stone. Mr. Shen really relies on his own ability to gain Mao Wenlong's trust.

At the end of the second year of Tianqi, Mao Wenlong entered Pidao. Seeing that Dongjiang Town's finances were tight, Shen Shikui persuaded Marshal Mao to ask for trade.Mao Wenlong was also from a merchant family and thought this was a good idea. After the memorial was approved, he asked Shen Shikui to assist him in handling trade matters.

Mr. Shen is illiterate. He relies on his sharp tongue and an exquisite heart to make a purchase. He is an expert in the economics of merchants.

He assisted Mao Wenlong in setting up fences to collect taxes in Pidao and Shepu, opened a horse market in Tieshan, and single-handedly formulated the rules of Dongjiang trade. He also personally visited Denglai and North Korea many times to attract investment, and sent people to Suzhou and Hangzhou to attract businessmen. .In just a few years, Phidao became the hub of maritime trade in Northeast Asia and was connected to the huge global trade network through the Busan Waguan trade.With the benefits of trade, Mao Wenlong not only recruited 20 to [-] elite soldiers, but also provided a livelihood for nearly [-] Liaodong refugees under his command.

Mao Wenlong saw that his father-in-law was doing a good job, so he gave Shen Shikui the title of chief minister, specializing in trade matters.Mr. Shen took the opportunity to display his talents and became a good dancer in Dongjiang Town. He led the generals in Dongjiang to achieve common prosperity. He was not only trusted by Mao Wenlong as his confidant, but was also highly popular among the generals.

Nowadays, the stalls of Dongjiang Trading are getting bigger and bigger, and Marshal Mao is becoming more and more lazy to pay attention to the details. Mr. Shen has to deal with many things every day, and he is very busy, but he is content with it.Back then, he was just a philistine in Liaoyang City. How could he have imagined that one day he would be so prosperous?

On this day, after Shen Shikui reported his work to Marshal Mao, he returned to his mansion humming a ditty and just started soaking his feet under the service of a North Korean maid.

Suddenly, his nephew Shen Zhixiang ran over in a hurry and said with excitement: "A businessman named Lin came from Nagada, Yuncong Island, and wanted to see my uncle."

None of Shen Shikui's sons were good enough. They were all idle street kids in Liaoyang City back then, but this eldest nephew was the only one who was considered good.Therefore, Shen Shikui always treated him as his own son and asked him to help with trade matters in the past two years.

Today, for some reason, his eldest nephew was also irritable. Shen Shikui waved his hand in annoyance: "Dear mother, what am I doing now? It turns out that I am a Korean businessman. How serious is it? The two angels Wang and Hu are in Korea. , I’m about to come back, and the Marshal asked me to be responsible for the reception. Didn’t you see that your uncle has been so busy chasing flies these past few days?”

Before his nephew could speak, Shen Shikui said again: "These two are popular people around Eunuch Wei. This matter is important to us Dongjiang Town thieves. The commander-in-chief has to take care of it personally. Your uncle just left the commander-in-chief's mansion." Come back last time, you little brat is causing trouble again. Get out of here quickly, I still have to think about the gift list for the two father-in-laws."

Just as Shen Zhixiang was about to retreat, Shen Shikui suddenly felt that something was wrong. His eldest nephew had never been a reckless person, but for some reason he was acting out of character today.

Thinking of this, he waved to his nephew again: "Wait a minute, who is this Korean businessman?"

Shen Zhixiang shook his head and said: "Uncle, this man named Lin is not a North Korean businessman, but a businessman from our Ming Dynasty."

"Oh? Why did the merchants of the Ming Dynasty come from the east?" Shen Shikui frowned. Sea routes have fixed routes. The merchants of the Ming Dynasty all came from Cheniu Island in the west. Could it be that this man named Lin is a messenger? The merchants in the regiment came over in advance to fight in the front line?
But the mission also went north from Phi Island to Xuansapo, and then took the overland route to Seoul, North Korea. They should still take this road on their return trip and should not pass through Uncong Island.

Shen Shikui was full of doubts, but he heard his nephew reply: "Although this man named Lin is a Ming businessman, he came from Japan."

"Oh my God!" Shen Shikui slapped his thigh and stood up abruptly, startling the Korean maid who was washing his feet. "He came from Japan? Where is this guy now?"

(End of this chapter)