Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 282 Sweet Hong Kong Situation - Silver in Guangzhou

Arrived at the villa.Chu Yu took off his coir raincoat and hung it on the porch, then hurried over to unbutton his raincoat.Wu De saw that the green cloth dress inside her was completely wet, and there was still a lot of mud on it. Her legs and feet were bare, but they were black and turned into a pair of muddy feet.His hair was wet in strands, his lips were black and blue from the cold, his body was shivering, but he was carrying a package on his back.

"What are you doing here? I told you I'm going on a business trip! Mother-in-law!" Wu De couldn't help scolding her when he saw her embarrassed appearance. "Come out on a rainy day to seek medical treatment?" There was already affection in the words.

"I was born as a slave, so I'm so delicate?" Chu Yu didn't care, and she didn't care that her clothes were still wet, she unwrapped the package from her back, "I saw that the master didn't bring this, since he was on a business trip, he had to go It is the site of the government, so I sent it quickly."

When he opened it, he found a black stab-proof vest inside.In the past, when Wu De went to the countryside or quarantine camps, he would wear this as a preparation as long as the weather allowed. Recently, as the situation has improved and the weather is getting hotter, he has rarely worn it.

"Master wears this body armor every time he is on a business trip. I saw that you forgot, so I rushed here." Chu Yu said excitedly, "I thought I couldn't make it in time, but I didn't expect that the master has not set off yet, so let's put it on."

"This——" Wu De didn't know whether to laugh or cry, it doesn't matter if he wears this thing today, as soon as the sun comes out, he won't be hot to death.Chu Yu's heart to him still moved him very much.

"Okay, I'll take the clothes with me."

"Remember to put on—"

"I will remember." Wu De decided to do good things to the end, and agreed to everything, "You should go back quickly. I'm leaving soon."

"Master," Chu Yu wiped dry her wet hair, flicked it back lightly, burrowed into Wu De's arms, and said in a low voice, "Master, you want your wife to come back peacefully—"

There was warmth in Wu De's heart, there is no woman who can rely on you wholeheartedly to make a man feel more happy.Even if she is not beautiful.

"I'm going to Guangzhou to do business, not a mountain of swords and seas of fire, what are you afraid of!" Wu De scolded in a low voice.

"Master is doing rebellious business." Chu Yu raised his head, a pair of small eyes were clear and bright, "Guangzhou is not like Lingao, it is under the rule of the government, master is careful in everything. Chu Yu will serve master for the rest of his life. "

Wu De originally wanted to say a few words of comfort, saying that he was not rebellious, but then he thought why should he deceive himself and others.He nodded solemnly.

……

"Dengyingzhou" left the port and headed northwest towards Guangzhou Bay. One hour later, Bopu Port had disappeared on the horizon.Only the lights of the lighthouse at Lingaojiao can still be seen faintly.

As dusk approached, the wind became more violent, and it was also mixed with raindrops. Wu De looked at his watch. It was 17:05, but the sky was already as dark as evening, and the sea was choppy. The "Dengyingzhou" with a displacement of only 70 tons was at this time. Like a leaf, it appears and disappears in the waves.

Wu De sat in the captain's cabin, staring at the sea outside the glass window. Dengyingzhou was rebuilt from a fishing boat, and the living facilities were not very comfortable in all aspects. Naturally, there was no leather high-back chair in the so-called captain's cabin, but only a rattan chair. It's just a chair, fixed on the deck, which is considered the captain's throne.

"Chief, it's raining too much, it's dark, and I can't see anything. Shall we dock first?" The first officer walked into the cabin and reported to Wu Dede.The coir raincoat and bamboo hat he was wearing were all soaked, and his lips were black and blue from the cold.

The first mate was promoted from among the captured pirates. His surname was Wang. Because of his bushy beard, he was called Wang Dazi.Wang Dabeard was originally a small ship owner, and he owned a brig for coastal trade and transportation.Until one day when he was robbed by the red hair at sea, he became a pirate because he had nothing left. Unlucky, he was wiped out by the traversers for the first time following the leader to rob. After being picked up from the sea, he was already out of breath, and was thrown on the beach to die. A sailor from the navy saw that he was in good shape, and he was a good material for coolies. order.

After several months of honestly smashing rocks and digging soil in the labor reform team, he passed the preliminary political review.The appraisal concluded that: Wang Dabeard belonged to the type of "useable and transformable" person who had not been a pirate for a long time, had no deep habit of banditry, and had little contact with pirate networks. He was more familiar with coastal routes, so he was recruited by the navy.After serving in the navy for several months, he passed the second secret political review of the Political Security Administration, his trust level was raised to IIB, and he was appointed as the first officer on board the Dengyingzhou.

"Drink a sip of wine to warm up your body first." Wu De took off the water bottle on his body and handed it over, asking, "What's the speed of the boat?"

The first officer took the wine, raised his head and took a big gulp, then said, "7-8.5 knots."

This speed is the speed of driving the diesel engine. In such sea conditions, the power provided by the diesel engine is very useful for effectively manipulating the ship.

"How strong is the wind?"

"20 verses."

In this way, the rain was heavy, but the wind did not strengthen.This made Wu De a little relieved, but the barometer showed that the weather did not show signs of improvement.

"We can't stop the ship. We have to travel day and night to make it in time." Wu De said, "You divide the sailors and sailors into two shifts to sleep and take turns to be on duty."

"Yes, I'll arrange it right away!" Da bearded Wang wiped his mouth, and hurried out again.

After arranging the affairs, Wu De put on his sailor cap, fastened his raincoat, and boarded the rear poop.The six cadets who were sailing for the first time curled up on the poop deck and vomited, and some of them were already pale.

Seeing the officer coming, these students struggled to stand up, Wu De stopped them: "Grab the cable and stand up! Learn to stand on the deck first!"

"Yes, sir!" The leader reluctantly saluted.

"You are divided into two squads. The first squad pays attention to the nearby sea surface, and the second squad goes to the deck to help pump water!" He gave orders to the students.

He walked to the front railing of the poop by himself, wanting to observe the situation in the distance.The wind seemed to have increased, and the rain was so heavy that he could barely open his eyes. The raindrops fell on his face densely, and the water slanted down on his face.Wu De wiped his face, stood firm on the deck, and observed the sea surface with a telescope——On the dim sea surface, only some light and shadows could be seen indistinctly.

The cold rain quickly made his skin numb, the cold accelerated his fatigue, and he became a little confused.Wu De quickly shook his head to wake himself up.Back in the captain's cabin, he studied the charts under the shaking lantern.

It should be said that in this time and space where there are almost no navigation facilities, it is quite dangerous to sail at night with such a ship without radar, GPS, and gyrocompass.Wood chose the safest route on the chart and the least likely to encounter reefs and dark sands, but the danger of running aground on rocks still accompanied the ship.

"Chief! The wind is too strong, and the sails are almost unbearable. The rain is too heavy, and the flooding speed of the bilge is accelerating! The weather may be worse later." Wang Dahu walked into the cabin and reported to Wu Dede.His coir raincoat has been torn in the wind and rain.

"Sea conditions?"

"The wind speed is 25 knots, and the wave height is 3.3 meters!"

"Order! Lower the sail! Tighten the rope! The course remains unchanged!" Wu De ordered.

"Lower the sail! Tighten the rope! The course remains the same! Yes, sir." The first mate turned and left after saluting.

"Marine Captain! Let the team members form a team of five, and turn on all the pumps to help drain water!! All irrelevant personnel get out of the cabin!" Wu De threw down the rules in his hand and ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

Wood walked out of the cabin, and the deck was full of busy scenes at this time. The sailors in shorts and barefoot were lowering the sails, tightening the ropes, and covering the cargo; the marines in long trousers and blue sleeves on their left arms were busy drain.

At this time, a swell lifted the bow of the ship high, and Wu De immediately shouted: "Hurry up!!! Hurry up!!!!"

Before the words fell, the boat plunged into the bottom of the valley, and the sea swept across the entire deck.

Wu De was also washed down on the deck by the waves. He quickly grabbed a rope, struggled to get up, and shouted: "Count the number of people! Report the loss!!!"

"No casualties to sailors!!!" "No casualties to marines!!!" "The front deck is damaged!! Water has entered!!!" "The middle cabin has entered water!!!"

"The front cabin is plugged, the middle cabin is drained!!" Wu De ordered loudly.The sea breeze mixed with the rain made Wu De's voice a little hoarse.

"Someone fell into the water!!!" Accompanied by a sharp whistle, the sailor at the stern called the police.

It's broken, and Wu De saw that there was only one student soldier left on the deck.

Wu De ran to the stern of the ship and looked in the direction pointed by the sailor who called the police. There were two people floating face down on the sea about 100 meters from the stern.

"Sir, do you want to be rescued?" said the first mate who heard the sound.

"How to save? There is such a big storm now, besides, those two children are finished! It's the first time to go to sea..." Wu De said angrily, "Go, put the remaining boys in the middle cabin !Hey……"

In the middle of the night, with strong wind and heavy rain, Wu De went down to the middle cabin, where the off-duty sailors and marines were having dinner together, while the four young men who survived the catastrophe were huddled aside and sobbing softly.

Wu De walked to them and sat down next to them, and asked, "You all know?"

The four of them didn't speak, but still buried their heads in tears.

"The sea is like this. What you usually see is her calm side. Today's storm is not the biggest."

"It's not the best, God..." A student soldier stopped crying and looked at Wu De.

"Yeah, look at them, they don't care at all," Wu De pointed to the sailors who were eating and fighting, "The sea can only be conquered by those of us who are not afraid of hardship and death. If you are real husbands, if you want to be a naval officer galloping at sea, you must endure such crimes."

"I don't want to be a naval officer anymore, woo woo woo." The crying child was about fourteen or fifteen years old, obviously frightened.

Wu De sighed, and said: "You guys take a break first, and continue to update in two hours! If you don't want to be a naval cadet, you will be expelled when you go back!"

After saying this, Wu De ignored the younger students and turned back to the captain's room.

Wood returned to the captain's cabin and began to eat dinner.

Dinner is very simple, only 4 pieces of rice cakes, 1 piece of dried fish, 1 grapefruit, 1 glass of water.Wu De took the dried fish between the rice cakes, and chewed hard with the water.The bloody grass dry food!

After a night of wind and rain, at dawn the next day, the sky gradually brightened, and the wind and rain eased a lot. Dengyingzhou finally resumed normal sailing, and arrived in Guangzhou Bay early in the morning of the third day.

The place of delivery is on the Guangzhou Wharf. People from Qiwei Escort escorted the whole process, using almost half of the entire Escort——Now Qiwei has almost become a subsidiary company of Guangzhou Station, with two-thirds of the business They all serve Guangzhou station.

Zhang Xin rushed to the pier and ordered the iron box containing 5 taels of silver to be loaded onto the ship.

"This is 5 taels. I am contacting Gao's family to raise more cash, but it is difficult to adjust the position now..." Zhang Xinhui reported.

"So nervous? Doesn't the Gao family owe us a payment of more than [-] yuan?"

"It's not just the Gao family. Our accounts receivable is close to 18 yuan." Zhang Xin said, "But according to the rules, the first settlement is not until the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. Most of the goods released by the merchants have not received the payment for the goods, and each family is the same. ——I can’t get much cash, and the dismantling interest in the Guangzhou market is very high now. Even if the Gao family can raise tens of thousands of silver, we still have to pay interest, just pay less.”

"How high?" Wu De knew that the executive committee was still worried about where the money would be.

"The outside market is two cents a month. The Gao family will agree to one cent five."

"20% monthly interest?!" Wu De almost yelled out, this usury is too high.The annual interest rate is 240%!

"Even at this interest rate, as long as we can complete the transfer of goods within a month, we can still make money. Both the British and the Portuguese are willing to pay cash on sugar. If you really get this step, you can consider such a short-term lending!" Zhang Xin took out a copy from his pocket, "This is another suggestion from the Guangzhou Station to the Executive Committee, but it is a big deal and it may be difficult to save the near thirsty, but if it can be implemented, the money in the future will It is much more relaxed. The telegram has been sent, and the executive committee should discuss it soon."

"Okay, let me take a look. If possible, I will directly recommend it to the Executive Committee."

Time was running out, and "Dengyingzhou" didn't stay long in Guangzhou. After loading the silver, he repaired the boat a bit, replenished the water, and immediately set off for Leizhou.

Wu De opened the copy on the boat.This is a document drafted by Guangzhou Station.In this document jointly drafted by the three main business leaders of Guangzhou Station, it is proposed that Guangzhou Station use its subordinate enterprises to absorb deposits from wealthy officials and officials in Guangzhou and even the entire Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian regions.

"Deposit?!" Wu De was taken aback, and stood up directly from the chair, only four words in his mind, "Whimsical!"

(End of this chapter)