Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1656 Three Tables
The sparrows that flew from Siberia ate the rice that was about to be harvested in the Pearl River Delta. They were covered with fat, and it was the fattest time. It was the first time for Cummins to eat this "Guangdong delicacy", and he also ate it with relish. After a dozen or so of them went down, the flesh and bones were chewed to pieces.

"We can get tens of thousands of...circulation coupons for this meal." Thorpe said that in another time and space, each sparrow would be sold in a hotel for 200 yuan.

"Is it so expensive?" Xie Peng said a little skeptically, "I heard from Lin Baihu that the sparrows are everywhere, and each one costs only a few dozen yuan in the market."

Lin Ming just laughed dryly a few times and didn't reply.Just stretching out the cloth vegetables: "Come here, this is stewed eggs with worms, the most delicious."

However, the maggot-like worms coagulated in the stewed eggs were enough to make Xie Peng and Cummins flinch.Thorpe didn't hesitate, and ate a few spoonfuls: a little pepper was added in it, which was delicious and smooth, much more delicious than what he ate in another time and space: at least in terms of quantity, it was much more.

"It's a pity that there are no dragon fleas." Lin Ming felt a little regretful, "Now is also the time to eat dragon fleas."

"It's not enough to scare them to death." Thorpe smiled, "I think the county magistrate treats you very politely."

"When Jin Yiwei goes out to do errands, we always have to give this little face. It's just spending the county's money, so it's good to buy a favor." Lin Ming was quite proud.

Thorpe nodded, the brand of Jinyiwei along the way was indeed of great use.He had some concerns about his ostentatious staff trip, but the people from the Foreign Intelligence Service said that there is no better and safer cover than an official card for long-distance travel in this time and space.

While talking, suddenly a bodyguard came in and said that someone brought a table of banquets.

"Which master gave it to you?" Lin Ming asked.

"The visitor refused to say anything, so he put down the food box and left." The bodyguard asked, "Do you want to carry it in?"

"Of course it will be brought in," said Thorpe. "Let's see what a good thing it is."

The bodyguard immediately brought in the food box, opened it and saw that it was in the format of eight bowls, Lin Ming's eyelids twitched: Official dishes generally don't use this kind of noodles.

"Damn, why is there still a bowl of cockroaches!" Cummins yelled.

"This is the dragon flea," Thorpe said. "Dip it in soy sauce and twist the head off to eat. It's also a unique dish in Guangdong."

"I don't think we should eat something of unknown origin." Xie Peng was very cautious.

However, Lin Ming picked up a reed in the food box, looked at it carefully, and said with a smile, "It's not that the origin is unknown, just now we had an 'official' banquet, and now it's a 'thief' banquet .”

"thief?"

"That's right, this reed is the mark of Tian Biao, a water bandit in Gaoyao County upstream." Lin Ming said, "His shed is thirty miles upstream."

"Why give us a banquet?" Thorpe asked.

"It's nothing more than selling personal favors and begging for future care." Lin Ming put down the reed, "The stolen goods he got from looting on the Xijiang River cannot be sold locally, they have to be transported to Foshan to be exchanged for money. If you don't see the temple burning incense, you will be seized sooner or later. Chop off your head."

What Lin Ming didn't say was that he and Master Tian still had a "friend" relationship.

"It's really a family of officials and bandits." Cummins said contemptuously.

Although this was not bad, Lin Ming felt a little uncomfortable when he heard it, and he just smiled and said, "It has always been like this. People like us who receive incense like this, open their eyes and close their eyes, are already unconscionable. The yamen colluded with water bandits to get money It's not like there are no ones who add two to one to make five..."

Thorpe thought to himself that the social environment here is really complicated.It seems that the Guangdong strategy is far from being solved by simple military means...

"Is this banquet edible? Will it be poisoned?" Cummins recalled the lesson from the complete annihilation of the work team.

"No. Lin Ming said, "You just need to eat with confidence and boldness.Unless he is insane, what else can he do to poison us. "

Because everyone had already eaten, except for Thorpe who left the dragon fleas as snacks, the rest took care of carrying the banquet out to the bodyguards and boatmen for tooth offerings.Unexpectedly, as soon as the banquet was carried out, the bodyguard came to report again: Chen Hongyi, a boatman from Sanshui County, brought the banquet.

"Who is this?" Looking at the steaming sparrows, stewed eggs and dragon fleas in the food box, Cummins' stomach was already a little uncomfortable.

"The shopkeeper Chen also sent a gift." The bodyguard presented the red card and gift list.

Lin Ming picked up the big red greeting card: "This is shopkeeper Chen who sails the boat. His boat travels on this West River all the year round, and he also visits temples to burn incense."

Cummins went over to have a look, and the items on the gift list were very simple: ten stones of white rice, two altars of top-quality Lanling wine, some smoked roast duck, and a load of Sydney melon.

"Rice is also a gift?" Cummins was very curious, "Where is this thing? It's not too heavy to carry around?"

"This is the incision for gift-giving." Thorpe said, "Ten shi of rice is ten taels of silver. Right, Lin Baihu."

"Yes, what the chief said is true." Lin Ming laughed a few times, and now he can only pay the public with the ten taels of silver.

He seemed to be very familiar with this Master Chen, and asked, "Does Master Chen have any message?"

"The people who came said that Mr. Chen didn't dare to come here because he was afraid of disturbing the official business. He also said that as long as Lin Baihu had any orders, he would just let the people come and tell them."

Just as Lin Ming was about to say something, Thorpe said, "This shopkeeper Chen has a lot of money, he seems to be a big boatman."

"Yes, he is a big boat owner on the West River. From Sanshui, his boat will go all the way to Nanning, Guangxi."

"A lot of boats?"

"There are probably more than 100 ships, big or small." Lin Ming said, "I don't know the exact number. Guangzhou and Zhaoqing have the most boat households in this province. Shopkeeper Chen's business is very large, and the management of both public and private parties is indispensable. .”

Thorpe thought to himself that Lin Baihu, the Jinyi guard, is a real person: officials, bandits, and merchants all sell his face, and they all want to curry favor with him.Is this Jinyiwei's skin so valuable?

"Since he gave the gift sincerely, it doesn't hurt to invite you to meet." Thorpe thought that since this person is a boat owner, he must be very familiar with the situation of water transportation on the Xijiang River. Talk to him personally, and see what materials you can get along the way. more informative.

"Yes, yes, since the chief said so, I'll ask him to come over and talk about it." Lin Ming said hastily.

When the servant went back and told Lin Baihu to "see you on board", Chen Hongyi had already gone to bed with the sixth concubine in his arms.This evening, when he heard from his men on the pier that an official ship had arrived, it belonged to Linbaihu in Foshan, he immediately asked someone to prepare a banquet and presents for delivery—as usual, he would show such filial piety to officials of the province who were passing through the border.As a boat owner on the Xijiang River, with hundreds of boats of various sizes and thousands of boatmen and helmsmen, in the eyes of the government, he is an "unstable factor", so transportation is very important to the government, not to mention that he had some contacts with Lin Baihu. A rice boat was seized, which was also managed by Lin Baihu.That's how the relationship ended.

However, the friendship between them has not reached the point where Lin Baihu will come to invite him when he sees the greeting card.So there is no preparation for departure at all.He didn't get up until the servant knocked on the door in a panic, saying that Lin Baihu invited him to see him.I can't help but feel up and down.

Chen Hongyi is more than 50 years old, with a bronze complexion and tendons all over his body. Even wearing silk and satin, he can't hide his background as a boatman.It's just that his hair is all white, and his back is a little bent -- these are the traces left by years of begging for life on the water.At the age of 14, he got on a boat and rowed the oars, and went through the ups and downs of the Xijiang River, going through life and death.It was hard to earn this family business.

It is even more difficult to maintain this family business. Over the years, shopkeeper Chen transported rice grains from Guangxi and salt from Guangdong, making a lot of money.Having money will inevitably become "fat meat".To do business on this vast and soupy Xijiang River, it is not enough to just make money—that way, sooner or later, it will be turned into a floating corpse in Huishui Bay of Sixianjiao—and it must have the ability to traffic all forces.

Lin Ming can't be counted as his backer: he doesn't have the qualifications yet, but as a "friend", Lin Ming is still very useful when he needs help with anything - he has a lot of friends and familiar faces, and he has such a Pi, who can talk everywhere, so he tries his best to flatter him on weekdays.

"Quickly, bring me the guest's clothes!" He warned, "Ask people to prepare more lanterns!"

His family lives outside Sanshui County, just a stone's throw away from the pier.At that moment, more than a dozen servants lit up lanterns and torches, escorting Chen Hongyi all the way.

But seeing Lin Baihu greeted him at the bow of the boat, he was surprised again.He knew that Lin Ming had a lot of habits in the officialdom, and he was used to flattering his superiors and inferiors. Although a businessman like him, although he was more polite on the face because of his interests, he still looked down on him in his heart.The few times the two met, they never saw him come to greet them.

The so-called abnormality is a demon, and Chen Hongyi became more and more uneasy.When the two met Li, Lin Baihu whispered: "There is a master inside who wants to see you, please speak carefully."

Chen Hongyi hurriedly said: "I understand, little one!" But his heart was pounding secretly.Who is this "master"?Lin Baihu actually came out to take care of him in person, could it be his superior?
Chen Hongyi groaned secretly in his heart: since ancient times, when an official wanted to see a businessman, it was nothing more than "asking for money".

However, when things came to an end, there was absolutely no reason why he couldn't get in, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and get into the cabin.

Australian kerosene lamps were lit in the cabin, shining brightly.Chen Hongyi saw a young man in his thirties sitting on the chief seat in the cabin. He was white and beardless, wearing a black crepe scarf and wearing a black crepe scarf. He behaved calmly and gracefully.Feeling suspicious, he quickly took a step forward and bowed to the end: "Chen Hongyi, a boatman in Sanshui County, Xiaomin, is being polite."

"You don't need to be too polite, please sit down." The young man spoke Guangzhou vernacular, "This is Chen Hongyi, shopkeeper Chen?"

"Yes, Xiaomin is right." Although Chen Hongyi didn't know the identity of the other party, but seeing Thorpe's demeanor and demeanor, he was by no means an idle person, and he was able to make Lin Ming like a brother. He was probably a nobleman from the provincial capital or the capital.

(End of this chapter)