The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

After Shen Jue and the boatman were talking, they suddenly heard a noise in front of them, and saw two pink plaques representing the official status on the river bank in the distance. There were several long squads standing below, and several soldiers were protecting and surrounding them. There is a tall scholar in the middle.

Shen Jue looked carefully at the pink card and saw that it bore the banner of "Fujian Zuobuzheng".

At this time, I heard the boatman beside me say with a smile: "Is it such a coincidence? The official asked Duke Jianyang before, isn't it the one standing in front now?"

Shen Jue couldn't help but look carefully at the tall young man among the crowd. Even Shen Yixiu couldn't help but lift the door curtain and take a peek.

Shen Jue arrived in Fuzhou before he could notify the local officials. Wang Wenlong naturally did not welcome him today.

The father and daughter were wondering who Wang Wenlong was greeting when they saw several small boats rowing over from a distance. The boats were full of people. The leading guard had a shotgun on his back and a green leather sheath hanging on his waist. The man behind Man Dao who is protecting him looks like a wealthy businessman.

The people on this small boat were obviously very powerful in Fuzhou. The sound of the golden drums on the boat could be heard in the distance before they even got close.

Several small boats were in the front group, followed by many sampans, and many guards stood on the sampans, all of them looking fierce.

A large number of their ships passed by the Minjiang River, and the ships on both sides all docked spontaneously to make way for the main channel in the middle. After a while, the small boat carrying the wealthy businessman stopped at the pier.

The businessman's guard was obviously very skilled. Before the boat could reach the shore, he jumped directly to the shore with his legs, and then made a gesture to invite Wang Wenlong to get on the boat.

The businessman stood calmly on the bow of the boat, looking at Wang Wenlong with a smile on his face, without any intention of going to the shore to talk to Wang Wenlong.

Wang Wenlong also smiled and did not want to get on the boat.

The boatman looked at Shen Jue to see if they were going to have a rest nearby. Shen Jue thought about it and said to the boatman: "Paddle up."

The boatman hesitated a little, so he had no choice but to swing his oar to pull their big boat up.

Shen Jue walked to the bow of the boat and got closer. He heard the people in the boat opposite say: "Many of our brothers cannot go ashore. If Duke Jianyang wants to talk about things, it is better to talk on the water."

On Wang Wenlong's side, the guards protecting him said: "The banquet has been served on the shore, so please come ashore."

Shen Jue saw that both sides were trying to manipulate each other, and both Wang Wenlong and the wealthy businessman had a look of indignity on their faces. Shen Jue suddenly invited loudly and said: "My ship is quite spacious. Why don't you two come on my ship to talk?"

Wang Wenlong and the wealthy businessman's men all looked over.

Seeing Shen Jue's leisurely demeanor, the wealthy businessman raised his hands and asked, "May I ask who you are, sir?"

"I am a guest traveling south to Fuzhou. I just want to go with you two for a convenient trip. Don't worry, I have nothing to do with this matter and will not delay your discussion. I'm here to watch the fun, and it's okay for you to come. Make way for this waterway."

Wang Wenlong was a little surprised how such a character could appear, but this solved the problem. He nodded and asked the other party: "What do you think, Master Yang Hai?"

The wealthy businessman surnamed Yang thought for a while, nodded and hugged Shen Jue.

Shen Jue asked the boatman to dock, and Shen Yixiu hid in the inner room, quietly opened the corner of the door curtain and looked outside.

As he got closer, Shen Jue could see Wang Wenlong's face clearly: he was quite tall, with a white face and no beard, sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, a broad chest like a fan bone and a thin waist, and he was wearing a Confucian shirt.

When Wang Wenlong put down the gangplank, he walked onto the boat in three or two steps. Seeing him standing tall and holding his chest high, Shen Jue couldn't help but cheer in her heart: What a handsome scholar!

And Shen Yixiu, who was peeking behind the curtain, was stunned when he saw Wang Wenlong for the first time. Wang Wenlong was not at all the frail scholar she originally imagined. He was tall, handsome, and even more impressive than the young men on the stage.

After Wang Wenlong got on the boat, he smiled with Shen Jue and said, "Mr. Thank you for providing the venue. May I ask your name?"

He smiled kindly and spoke sharply. Shen Yixiu's face suddenly turned red and he quickly lowered the curtain.

Shen Jue just wanted to observe Wang Wenlong's character up close. When faced with Wang Wenlong's question, Shen Jue said vaguely: "A rich family in Suzhou, surnamed Shen."

There were many people named Shen in Suzhou. Wang Wenlong didn't notice anything wrong and just said a few words of thanks.

After a while, the wealthy businessman also got on the boat, taking two guards with him. Wang Wenlong pointed at the wealthy businessman and introduced to Shen Jue: "This is Yang Tiansheng, the master of the sea in Jinjiang."

Yang Tiansheng and Shen Jue handed over their hands, and Shen Jue invited them into the cabin to sit down and talk. The two did not avoid anything in their conversation.

Yang Tiansheng sat down and asked: "Does Duke Jianyang say he can solve the refugee problem?"

Wang Wenlong smiled and nodded: "You have come up with a way?"

Many people who know the history of Taiwan's development have heard the name of Yang Tiansheng. He was also a member of the "Eighteen Zhi" in the original history. He was one of the Eighteenth Route Maritime Owners who cooperated with Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong and others to develop Taiwan.

The only thing Wang Wenlong didn't expect was that Yang Tiansheng was already famous at this time. Yang Tiansheng was the representative of Jinjiang Sea Lord and had already begun to engage in ocean trade. He and Putian Hong Sheng, Haicheng Chen Zhongji, Tongan Linfu and other later " The members of Shibazhi are now masters of the sea with more than a dozen ships.

They all need to export goods from Fujian to the West and RB to make money. This year's food shortage in their hometown in Fujian has made Fujian's roads unstable and even threatened Fujian's handicraft production, directly affecting the business of these sea owners.

Yang Tiansheng was the leader elected by the sea masters. After hearing Wang Wenlong's words, he hurriedly asked: "But can we get food?"

The reason why Yang Tiansheng came is because they sea masters really have no solution to this problem.

Transporting grain is nonsense.

In fact, if you understand it carefully, you will know that the grain trade in the Age of Discovery was not that simple.

The unit price of food is low. If there are no channels for importing and exporting food, the food can simply be sent to a certain port for concentration, and then transported thousands of miles back to the Ming Dynasty by sea. It is very likely that the freight consumed on the road will be more expensive than the price of the food itself. .

Historically, the Ming and Qing dynasties also had various policies to encourage merchants to transport food to China to solve famine problems, but in practice it was simply not feasible.

Just look at the numbers.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Fujian's annual grain import amount was only 2,300 shi. After more than a hundred years, on the one hand, the Qing government issued various tax exemptions and exemptions for grain support, and the British and Dutch colonists also developed India, Southeast Asia, Siam, etc. for grain exports. Exporting grain production bases and corresponding port facilities, it was not until the late Qing Dynasty that the amount of imported grain entering Fujian gradually increased to 120,000 shi.

And even an import amount of 5 shi can feed to people. Now Fujian has a population of at least million. This amount of food cannot even meet % of the required food. And the food production reduction caused by famine years , which is often to %. Imported grain can only be said to be a small supplement.

What's more, 120,000 shi was already a figure in the late Qing Dynasty, and the population of Fujian in the late Qing Dynasty had already reached tens of millions.

Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, most of the food that Fujian people ate had to be grown by themselves. In the late Ming Dynasty, it was impossible to solve the food shortage by importing food.

(End of this chapter)