Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1496 Buying and Selling on Jinmen Island

"Then I have to regret to inform you that according to the order of the Senate, a trade blockade is currently being implemented on the surrounding areas of Weitou Bay in Xiamen, Jinmen, Anping, etc., and all trading ships are prohibited from entering the area. If you don't know the order, this Go to another port immediately without penalty. Otherwise, the second interception will confiscate the cargo.” He looked at the navigation certificate, “It’s been a long time since you received the navigation certificate, and there is no bad record. You should know that the old man Court rules."

Liu Deshan had no choice but to say well, the hope of making a small fortune in Weitouwan was shattered, but selling salt is also a matter of the way, it's good if you can do it, and it's not a hindrance if you can't.

The officer of the patrol ship ordered a few more words, and returned to the deck of the patrol ship. The sailors on board were about to withdraw the cables when suddenly an officer in gray uniform came out from the cabin and whispered a few words in the ear of the officer of the Australian Navy. , the officer nodded, went back to the deck of Dongshanju, and took them to the tail cabin.

"You can go to Weitouwan for trade." The officer said to Liu Deshan and Chen Huamin who were suspicious, "but—"

"The little ones don't dare, the young ones don't dare..." Liu Deshan quickly distinguished, "Don't dare to go against the will of the Senate..."

The officer laughed and said, "If you're told to go, go, what are you afraid of? It's just that after you go, you have to go to the Maritime Trade Bureau in Hong Kong to report what you've seen and heard."

Liu Deshan's legs softened, he wanted to be a spy himself!He secretly hated himself for not being greedy for small profits, and thought of going to Xiamen to sell salt and buy foreign goods.If the Zheng family found out about this, not only would he not be able to keep the cargo, but he would not even be able to save his own life—maybe it would harm his cousin and his stewards and sailors.That is really a big sin.

He was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, and he couldn't speak coherently: "This, this, I won't go... I won't go..."

"Not going?" the officer said, "It's a pity, as long as you are willing to go, your sailing license will be extended for [-] months or upgraded to a Class A license for free."

At present, the Dongshan Residence is applying for a Type B certificate, which can only be used for navigation and trade at various ports along the coast of China. The farthest is Dayuan, Kaohsiung, and Jeju Island. If you want to go to Japan, Ryukyu, Manila, etc., you need to apply for an A certificate. Naturally The usage fee is also much higher.

When Liu Deshan heard that he could upgrade to the first-class certificate for free, he suddenly regained his energy, and his words became clear: "Since it is the order of the Senate, the younger ones must serve it wholeheartedly, and they will die!"

Guanshi Liu was secretly anxious, how could this kind of spy thing get involved!He was about to speak out to stop the evasion, but was pulled by Chen Huamin.

Chen Huamin saw that the two had finished talking, so he asked: "If the Zheng family asks about the various deeds of the Australians..."

"Just say what you see, you don't have to hide it," said the officer.

After watching the inspection ship sail away, heading south, Dongshanju hoisted its three mainsails again and continued to sail north.

Manager Liu kept complaining in the cabin: How do you do this kind of thing?Liu Deshan also felt that he disliked Meng Lang a little, but Chen Huamin disagreed:
"The Zheng family is falling apart now, and it's not clear whether the situation in Weitou Bay will last until next year. Let's do business, and we don't need to inquire about anything, just listen and watch. The free upgrade is a small matter, and now we help Australians With a little help, the sea business will be even better in the future.”

"That's right, Australians are the most honest in their dealings with others!" Liu Deshan nodded repeatedly, "Serving the Senate, you will definitely not suffer."

Guanshi Liu was worried, so he discussed with Wang Chengti and told his buddy and sailor to keep it strictly confidential.

The Dongshanju sailed north for more than two hours, and the Dongshanju finally arrived at Weitou Bay.

Chen Huamin stood beside the boat, staring blankly at Weitou Bay, speechless.

In the past, ships came and went here frequently, sail shadows can be seen everywhere, and there are many masts and sculls in various ports.Now there is only an empty sea, except for a few fishing boats still fishing, after sailing for a long time, there is no big boat coming in or out.There are no boats moored on the shore.

Wang Chengti asked, "Gang...captain, where should we anchor?"

This is a question to Chen Huamin. In the past, the ships engaged in coastal trade all sailed to Zhongzuo or Anping.But the situation is completely different now. He has already learned from the Australian "Boat Bow Paper" that the original Zheng family's power in Weitou Bay is torn apart. They didn't communicate with each other. Although they didn't attack and kill each other at the critical moment, it was obvious that their relationship was not harmonious.

On the contrary, Liu Deshan was confident that he would fly directly to Jinmen Island - he was going to do business with Zheng Zhifeng.

Zheng Zhifeng is still the most powerful faction of the Zheng family, much stronger than Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian brothers, and even stronger than Zheng Sen.However, Zheng Sen has the support of the government, Zheng Lian and Zheng Cai brothers sit on Xiamen Island and control the Jiulong River estuary area, so they can easily obtain various goods supplied by the inland, compared with Zheng Zhifeng who only controls the big and small Kinmen Islands It is quite difficult to obtain goods: in order to expand financial resources and suppress opponents, all parties in the bay have not blocked each other's trade roads, but they have set up checkpoints on the main traffic roads in the areas under their control. What is bought and sold is only the goods that pass by. Likin is collected.

Fujian has many mountains and little land, and the roads that can pass bulk goods are limited, and land transportation is stuck. Zheng Zhifeng's trade commodity costs are much higher than others.

Now that his current strength is limited, and the Australians outside are staring at each other, it is not a good strategy to fight each other. Zheng Zhifeng focuses on the coastal trade in obtaining goods, and for this reason, he does not hesitate to send people to various places to promote: willing to attract high prices to ship owners engaged in coastal trade Sail to Golden Gate.

As Dongshanju got closer to Jinmen, the desolate and depressed atmosphere in Weitou Bay became more and more obvious. The small islands we passed were inhabited in the past, but now they are all rubble, and the houses are only burnt black ruins. , The trestle bridge was almost completely burned, leaving only charred wooden piles standing alone in the undulating sea water.

The tragic situation in Luowan is even more shocking. This was originally the main berth of the Zheng family fleet. It was attacked by the fleet during the Battle of Weitouwan. The fire burned for 48 hours before it was extinguished. Hundreds of ships moored here All ships, large and small, were burned.Although nearly half a year has passed, the wreckage of the burned and sunk ships on the beach can still be seen on the surface of the water, countless scorched black and twisted.

Several people witnessed the scene in front of them, and couldn't help feeling awed in their hearts: This is really devastating.

While sighing, I saw a small boat flying the flag of Zheng Zhifeng sailing out from one side of the island to divert water to berth.The Dongshanju lowered most of its sails and sailed at a low speed until it anchored beside the newly built pier.

It can be seen that the pier is completely new, and both the houses and the trestle are built hastily.Zheng Zhifeng re-fortified and rebuilt Kinmen Island, but because there were too many shipwrecks in Luowan, it was inconvenient to clean up, so it was completely abandoned.

The wharf looked like a waste of time, with bricks, tiles and wood piled high, a row of warehouses under construction, and workers coming and going, which was very lively, adding a bit of vitality to this deserted and lonely bay.

It's just that there are not many ships in the harbor, only a dozen or so ships are moored.Most of the flags that were hung were not the flags of the Zheng family.It was only after chatting with the head of the Zheng family who came on the boat that in order to prevent the Australians from attacking suddenly, most of Zheng Zhifeng's ships were moored in the northern waters of Dajinmen Island, where only foreign merchant ships were allowed to moor.

"There are not many merchant ships coming..." Chen Huamin said intentionally.

"There used to be a lot of them, but recently the Kun bandits are trying to seal the sea, so one out of ten ships will come in." The leader said with a bitter face, "Have you encountered any of the Kun bandits' patrol boats?"

"I have met them before. We said to go to Shanghai for business, and they went."

"That's considered luck." The leader said, "If you can come to Jinmen, you can make a small fortune. You can earn something from the salt alone!"

After the war between the Australians and the Zheng family, the original salt trade had come to a complete standstill. Coupled with the recent maritime blockade, southern Fujian was originally an area lacking in salt and had to rely on imports from other places. As a result, the price of salt skyrocketed.

The price of salt offered by Zheng Zhifeng is quite good. Liu Deshan bought the salt from the Haibei salt field controlled by the Australians. It was originally cheap "private salt" that did not pay government taxes. When it was shipped here for sale, the gross profit increased by 400%. The unit price is very low, and the profit is limited, but the profit is enough to pay for the sailing expenses of this trip, and the next transaction will be a net profit.

Liu Deshan laughed so hard that his mouth was cracked to the base of his ears: This business is really worth it!At the moment, he said a lot of good things about the car, and in addition to the benefits that the leader should have, he also wrapped red envelopes to various related people on the pier as usual: "The Scale", "The Signer", "The Warehouse Level"...

After selling the salt, the head of the Zheng family inspected all the goods on Dongshanju: but seeing the various goods loaded on Dongshanju, the leader couldn't help showing disappointment: the main cargo on board was sugar, and Fujian was originally sugar. The place of origin, Zheng Zhifeng has a large amount of sugar in his hands, and there is no shortage.

When Liu Deshan knew about it, he immediately offered to buy the Fujian sugar goods here.The leader was overjoyed and immediately expressed his willingness to give a preferential price.The sugar products on Kinmen Island are mainly brown sugar, brown sugar and brown sugar, and the fine products such as white sugar and rock sugar are limited, but the price is not very cheap. The average price of raw sugar is similar to that of Leizhou white sugar, which is the lowest grade for Australians. .The price of white sugar and rock sugar is much higher, and the quality is far inferior to the Leizhou sugar sold by Australians.

But even at this price, it is still profitable to transport it to the south of the Yangtze River, and at the worst, it can make a fortune if it is transported to the big staff and sold to the red hair.The salt on Dongshanju had already been sold out, so it was just a matter of incident that the space was used to carry extra sugar.

(End of this chapter)