Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1494 Business in Xiamen

The goods had already been loaded, and Chen Huamin was about to order Jihai to set sail, when suddenly another group of porters hurriedly came to the pier, pushing the two-wheeled windmills sold here at Lingao, which were full of loads. straw bag.Coming up to the berth at Dongshanju.

"What is this?" Chen Huamin was wondering - all the goods to be carried on the Dongshan Residence had been loaded without any leaks, and supplies such as drinking water had also been loaded - but Liu Deshan was at the end of the line, panting and following over here.

When the porter arrived at the boat, Liu Deshan was already on board the boat first. He didn't bother to say hello, and told the sailors to open the cover of the cargo compartment and prepare to load the cargo.

"Cousin! What is this?" Chen Huamin couldn't figure it out, "Didn't we already pack everything?"

"Pile them up, pile them up." Liu Deshan instructed the porters to load the goods while gesticulating, "This is salt. I just made the goods."

"Salt? Who are you selling it to? We are going to the Nanzhi area. Without salt, how can the government allow the import..."

"Hehe, who said it was sold to the government." Liu Deshan took out a towel from his pocket and wiped his sweat, "This is shipped to Xiamen! It is the territory of the Zheng family, what do you want? I got the news, Fujian The price of salt over there is very high, and we dare not say that when we transport the salt, the cost of the round trip will be paid off.”

"Cousin, isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Chen Huamin knew that Fujian had always been a place for importing salt, but his family had bought the Australian sailing flag, so he went to sell salt in the territory of the Australian enemy. What would the Australians think? Can the Zheng family tolerate it?
"Don't worry, I've already made inquiries. All the families in Weitou Bay have said that no matter which ship ships, as long as they can transport the goods, they will guarantee the safety of the ship and fair trade - no need to buy a command flag. I heard that Not only are the prices of salt and grain high there, but there is also a backlog of foreign goods to be exported, and the prices are also very low, so we shipped them to Guangzhou and sold them to Master Qin, just to make a profit!"

"This..." Although Chen Huamin felt that his cousin's business was doing well, he still felt a little inappropriate.But for a while, I couldn't think of any reason to refute - the cargo on the ship was not full, and a trip was an expense. Naturally, the more cargo the better.

"In that case, let's get ready to sail."

Just as he was talking, a man with strong and dark muscles, a Han knife hanging on his waist and a wooden sign with the word "sub-gang" on his waist, and a thick beard came forward, clasped his fists at Chen Huamin and said: " Gangshou, the auspicious time has come!"

Chen Huamin murmured in a low voice: "Xiao Wang! How many times have you told me to call me the captain now!" Then he straightened his hat and gown seriously, picked up three sticks of incense from the incense table, lit them, and bowed respectfully Three worships and silent recitation: "Master Mazu, please bless the people who plow the sea to go to sea smoothly, without disaster and pain, and return home safely! Chen Huamin, Liu Deshan and all the crew members are respectful!" After offering incense, Chen Huamin put the incense on the table After setting out the fruits, he cut a piece of the suckling pig with a knife and placed it in front of the incense table, and finally filled the three small porcelain cups with wine.

Chen took the first glass of wine, raised his hand and sprinkled it to the sky, and said loudly: "God, lift the anchor!"

Wang Fugang next to him repeated loudly: "Yes, lift the anchor!" The anchorman who was standing by the anchor hole shouted at the winch: "Up—anchor—!"

The anchormen immediately turned the capstan vigorously to bring the anchor to the surface of the water, and at the same time they shouted loudly: "Lift the anchor—the goods—such as—the wheel—turn—! Yellow—gold—ten thousand—two——! "

Chen Huamin took the second glass of wine, waved his hand and poured it into the sea, and said loudly: "Toast the sea, untie the cable!"

"Yes, untie!" the cable captain shouted, "Untie—cable—!"

While untying the cables tied to the shore, the cable workers responded to the chant: "Untie the cable, Shun-shun-li-li-! One-road-ping-safe!"

After taking the third glass of wine, sprinkle it on the bow deck, "God, set sail!"

"Yes, sail!" the sailmaster shouted down the mast, "Sail-sail-!"

The sailors quickly pulled the sail ropes, raised the cloth sails on the three masts, and said in unison: "Sail, one-sail-wind-smooth-smooth! Sea-no-swell-waves!"

Chen Huamin saw that the sail had reached its top, and the sea breeze was blowing the cloth sails on three sides. He took a deep breath, and waved his hand towards the ocean outside the harbor, "Let's set sail——!"

Dongshan Residence exits the Pearl River Estuary, crosses Humen, crosses Lingdingyang, turns to the east at Tonggutan, enters Tuen Mun, circles Ma Wan and enters the Hong Kong Waterway.

Just a few years ago, Hong Kong was still a little-known and desolate place, with only a few scattered small fishing villages, except for the inland river boats that came to buy fragrant wood in fixed seasons, there were only some occasional sea boats passing by.

Later, after the court navy cut it, and several nearby islands became water villages of "heroes" on the water, few merchant ships passed by.Everyone would rather take a longer detour and pass through the waterway outside Hong Kong.

But now, the entire Virgin Bay channel is very lively.The Australians rehabilitated the inland rivers and overseas waterways from Hong Kong Island to Guangzhou, cleared water bandits, set up beacon lights, built lighthouses, and marked the hidden reefs and dark sands one by one, which greatly improved the safety of navigation.

Most of the ships here are owned by Australians.Whether these boats are small boats or big boats, they are much faster than Dongshanju, and they are also very agile.From time to time, there were ships that quickly passed the "Dongshanju" and sailed towards the east, or rushed towards the "Dongshanju" head-on, only passing by at the last moment, leaving behind a good-natured chuckle.

Bulky local ships: Cantonese Ships and Fuzhou Ships also appeared among them. The Australians' own fleet capacity is seriously insufficient, and many freight services are outsourced to ship owners. Have to avoid their tracks.

In such a complicated sailing state, Wang Chengti, the deputy leader, had to stay at the bow of the ship and watch the situation at any time to issue orders to the helmsman and foreman at the stern to avoid passing ships at any time.

On both sides of the harbor, all kinds of warships and merchant ships are moored, and many docks, warehouses, boat sheds and cranes have been newly built. Occasionally, there are one or two Australian-style large stone houses and large stone buildings, which are particularly conspicuous.The most conspicuous among them is the large fort near the Central Pier, which stands majestically, with the Australian flag flying from the turret.Chen Huamin once went there to go through the navigation formalities, and he was deeply impressed by this fortress.

"Look, that's where the 'Dongshanju' was built!" Looking along Chen Huamin's hand, Liu Deshan saw a large shipbuilding factory on the east beach of Hong Kong Island.Wooden boats with different degrees of completion lined up one after another, and densely packed workers lay on the boats, working hard to complete their works.

"When I first saw this boat here, I immediately fell in love with her; I felt that both the smooth shape and the strong body were very suitable for me, as if it was specially built for me; so She must be my boat. Although she only had a hull at that time, and the mast hadn’t even landed yet!” Chen Huamin slowly recalled while stroking the wooden handrail along the boat.

"It's ridiculous that at that time, because this ship type was changed too much from the traditional Guangzhou Shipyard and Fuzhou Shipyard, no businessman dared to buy this ship, and she stopped working on the berth for half a year. Until I saw When I immediately decided to buy this boat, I didn’t have enough silver with me, eh!”

"I remember that time when you came back and asked me to give you four-fifths of the silver in the treasury. I was so scared that I thought something big had happened. That was our profit for almost a year!"

"'If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools'! And now that you use a new ship, you can earn back by running two more trips." Chen Huamin smiled, and said seriously: "And many big merchants have several The profits from the operation of sea-going ships are not as good as those of a barbarian sea-going ship. They carry a lot of cargo and have cannons to protect the ships. They are fast and can go in and out of the ocean, so the barbarian ships are getting bigger and bigger. Big, but we are lagging behind. We need to learn how to make boats from the barbarians. I heard that Australians are better at building ships than the barbarians. They can actually use iron as the backbone. Brother, I can’t figure it out. This iron is the backbone of the ship. , the boat has a lot of weight for no reason, how can it be fast?"

"Fortunately, it seems that the business of this shipyard is doing well now. More and more merchants understand the importance of a good ship." Liu Deshan said, "When it comes to iron frames, it is said that only their warships use iron frames. But I went to I sailed past the shipyard for the first time, and saw the patrol boats they built, all made of iron frames, but they were nimble and fast, it’s incredible!"

"It is said that the Australian merchant ships also use iron frames." Chen Huamin pointed to the hull of a huge T800 on the beach, "It's a pity that this ship is too big, and it is inconvenient to transfer at the port. Otherwise, brothers would also like to try something new."

"Hehe, cousin, you really like the new and dislike the old. It's only been a few days since I got the Dongshanju, and I'm looking at the new ship again."

"We travel at sea. Ships are the ones that make money. Naturally, we have to prepare a few good ships. I have heard Westerners say that as long as a well-built ship is properly maintained, it will not be a problem to use it for 100 years. Here, on the contrary, Love building disposable firewood boats."

"Cousin, don't you sound like a scholar? Your family is also a maritime merchant, and you don't know that this boat is maintained, and there are expenses every day. It's really better to build a new one at a time."

"This is an old business experience," Chen Huamin said enthusiastically, "I don't think the sea business in the future will be the same as our parents and grandparents. The ship has changed, and the rules of the sea have also begun to change, and the business experience will naturally change."

During the chat between the two, "Dongshan Residence" has briskly passed the waterway of Hong Kong, turned to the northeast and continued sailing.

Exit Leiyumen, go to Yueguozhou, cross Dapeng Bay, turn east-northeast, and sail towards Xiamen.

(End of this chapter)