Smuggling Daming

On September [-], the fifth year of Zhengde, Zhou Zhong left Shuangyu Port with a large-scale fleet. They will first go by sea, then disembark at Weihaiwei, and then cross the entire Jiaodong Peninsula to arrive by land. the capital.

Originally, if Zhou Zhong and his fleet could enter the Bohai Sea, they would be closer to the capital if they disembarked at Tianjin Wei. If a ship really dared to approach there, it might be immediately arrested by the army.

In contrast, Weihaiwei is much farther away from the capital, and the imperial court does not pay much attention to the supervision here. Therefore, Weihaiwei has already been bribed by some smugglers on the northern route, and some of them often go to North Korea or Japan. His ship docked at Weihaiwei, so Zhou Zhong chose to disembark here.

This time, Zhou Zhong was riding on the new Fu Chuan Nanyang which had just been launched. The entire Fu Chuan was fifteen feet long, and it was very stable after the previous trial voyage, so he was chosen by Zhou Zhong as his own ship. , and there are seven other large ships. Of course, it is impossible to carry all the gifts on these ships. In fact, including Nanyang, these ships are loaded with a considerable amount of goods. After Weihaiwei sent Zhou Zhong off the ship, they will continue to send North arrived in North Korea, and then contacted Kim Moon-hyun's Chungcheong Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking of which, this is the first time that Zhou Zhong has been sailing at sea for such a long time. Although he often traveled between Songjiang Mansion and Shuangyu Port before, each time he only took a boat for half a day, and the journey from Songjiang to Shuangyu The distance to the port is too close, almost just sticking to the coast.There was no danger at all, and it was no voyage.

But this time is different. According to previous estimates, Zhou Zhong and the others will sail at sea for nearly ten days, and they will stay on board for these ten days. A very special trip.

Zhou Zhong and Jin Xuan lived in the cabin on the top floor of the Nanyang, but at the beginning, Zhou Zhong was very worried.Because Xie Lingyun and Wang Jinxuan also lived here, this was the first time they met since they got married, Zhou Zhong was very worried that after the two women met, conflicts or cold wars would break out.

But Zhou Zhong was obviously worried too much, after Wang Jinxuan and Xie Lingyun met on the boat.Not only did there not have any conflicts, but they became very close. At least in Zhou Zhong's view, there was nothing unusual about them talking and laughing together, and they even took Zhou Zhong aside, which made him really unable to understand the two women What means?

The sea breeze is blowing.Although it is already early autumn in September, the weather is still very hot.Zhou Zhong asked someone to open a large silk umbrella on the top deck to block the sun. Under the umbrella, there was a rocking chair and a small table with various fruits on the table. Zhou Zhong was lying on the rocking chair wearing a light silk shirt, humming Xiao Qu tasted the sweet fruit, looking very relaxed.

Speaking of which, since Zhou Zhong traveled to Daming, he has been fighting for his family and career.There are few times when he is so leisurely as now, and sometimes he really wants to give up some things.Then lead Jinxuan and Lingyun to live a leisurely life, but this kind of thought just flashed in his mind. He has too many things to let go of now, and there are countless people relying on him for food. If he suddenly let go, God knows how many people will lose their jobs and starve.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong couldn't help sighing helplessly, shook his head and temporarily put these troublesome things behind him, and was ready to enjoy this rare leisure.

However, Zhou Zhong's leisurely leisure was soon broken. At this time, Zhuan'er came out of the cabin. When he saw Zhou Zhong under the parasol, he immediately came over and said, "Brother, let me go, my sister-in-law and the others are going to be on the deck. Playing mahjong, we have requisitioned tables and umbrellas!"

Hearing Bracelet's words, Zhou Zhong raised his body helplessly and said, "Why don't you play in the cabin, the sun is so bright on the deck, be careful to tan your skin."

"The light in the cabin is not good. Even with an ice basin, it is very stuffy. It is not as cool as on the deck, and the sun is even less scary. Didn't you say that sunbathing is good for your health? Let's take it as exercise. "Huan'er refuted Zhou Zhong one by one, and it seemed that she was determined to occupy Zhou Zhong's place to play mahjong.

"I've never heard that playing mahjong can also exercise your body!" Zhou Zhong muttered in a low voice with some dissatisfaction, but he didn't dare to offend Biao'er, so he had to sit up with his hands propped up.At this time, two little maids, Huamei and Suanzhu, also ran out of the cabin, and immediately helped Zhou Zhong clean up the fruits on the table, and then put the cloth bag containing mahjong on the table.

As soon as the mahjong was put on, I saw Jinxuan and Lingyun walking out of the room talking and laughing, followed by Bai Mengwan and Xila, the four girls first greeted Zhou Zhong, and then sat down with Zhuoer , because there are five people, so Biao'er and Xila are in a team of two.Zhou Zhong also had nothing to do, so he stood behind Jinxuan with a fruit plate and watched them play cards.

Speaking of which, Jinxuan and the others are really boring at home. Apart from reading and embroidery, they rarely have other recreational activities, so Zhou Zhong tried his best to come up with some recreational activities for later generations, such as backgammon, checkers and other chess games. There are also some common entertainments such as mahjong, but it may be due to nature. Jinxuan is particularly fond of mahjong, a game that has been transformed from the leaf play. Now not only Jinxuan and the others like to play, but even Xila, who has just arrived in Daming I am also obsessed with mahjong, and I must have her every time I play.

Zhou Zhong watched a few women playing mahjong, and felt really boring. There was only so much space on the deck, and when they played mahjong, they made a lot of "crackling" noises, and there was no way to calm down. Besides, he didn't want to go to the stuffy cabin. Zhou Zhong thought about it, but he had nowhere to go, which made him a little depressed.

But at this moment, the little maid beside Jinxuan, Huamei, came over and whispered in Zhou Zhong's ear, "Master, just now Captain Liu on the ship said that the Pinghai in front is going to test the guns, and asked if you want to go together?" have a look?"

"Great, go and prepare clothes for me, I'll go now!" Zhou Zhongzheng felt extremely bored, and immediately stood up when he heard Huamei's words.

Jinxuan and the others were taken aback by Zhou Zhong, and asked with a smile, "What are you doing, Mr. Xiang, why are you so surprised?"

"Hehe, the boat in front is going to test the guns. Be mentally prepared. Don't take the sound of the guns as thunder!" Zhou Zhong said with a smile. There was a sudden thunder on a sunny day, which made him laugh for a long time.

Hearing Zhou Zhong's teasing, Jinxuan and the others were just about to fight back, but Zhou Zhong turned around and entered the cabin. After changing his clothes, he immediately went to the lower floor to find the captain Liu Tao, without giving them a chance to speak.Since Liu Tao successfully returned from Nanyang last time, he has been paid more attention by Zhou Zhong, and Liu Tao was also named to command the entire fleet during this trip.

At this time, Liu Tao was already waiting for Zhou Zhong on the lower deck. After the two met, they immediately took a small boat to the Pinghai in front. This Pinghai is a sister ship of Nanyang, which was launched a few days later than Nanyang , the facilities on the two ships are almost exactly the same, and the two ships are also equipped with two newly cast Francois cannons. In order to test the power of the artillery, and also to train the gunners on the ship to shoot, so whenever the two ships have the opportunity, they will shoot Live ammunition training.

When Zhou Zhong and Liu Tao came to the Pinghai, the captain of the ship, Shi Ping, was already waiting for them. Shi Ping was about the same age as Liu Tao, and the experiences of the two were also very imaginable. They were also recruited by Zhou Zhong from other chambers of commerce. And because of his rich sailing experience, he soon gained Zhou Zhong's trust after entering the chamber of commerce, thus becoming the middle and high level of the chamber of commerce.

"Captain Shi, what are you going to fight this time?" Zhou Zhong boarded the Ping Hai, and immediately said with great interest, sea voyages are really boring, Jin Xuan and the others play together with a group of women, and Zhou Zhong can't get in at all. The only way he could pass the time with interest was to watch the test firing of the artillery.

"Master, please follow me!" Shi Ping smiled, and then led them to the right side of the boat, pointing to a huge reef out of the sea more than 200 meters away, "Master, please look, that reef is The target of this test firing, the two cannons on the ship are ready and can be fired at any time!"

"Then what are you waiting for, hurry up and let the gunners light the fire, the gunpowder and shells prepared on board this time are all for their practice!" Zhou Zhong said impatiently.In order to train a group of highly skilled gunners, Zhou Zhong really spent a lot of money. Although there are not many cannons on board, there are enough gunpowder and shells, and they are all used for gunner training. After all, this technology is backward In this era, a good gunner is definitely made of shells.

Hearing Zhou Zhong's words, Shi Ping immediately ordered the gunners below to prepare. After a while, he heard the artillery commander below shouting "ignite", and the two artillery pieces on the ship let out a roar almost simultaneously, followed by two shells. At the same time, it flew out from the gun emplacement below Zhou Zhong.

"Bah~" The two shells flew towards the target at an indistinguishable speed with the naked eye, but because the Ping Hai was bumping up and down while navigating at sea, it was very difficult to aim, so neither of the two shells hit the target, and one of them hit the target. The other shell did not miss, but the angle was wrong, and the shell flew directly from the top of the reef.

In this era, it is almost impossible for the first cannon to hit the target, so Zhou Zhong and the others were not surprised. Immediately after ten seconds later, the cannon adjusted the angle and fired again. This time it still missed, but two shells The landing points of the guns were all a little closer to the target, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth guns. At this time, the advantages of the Franc machine gun were displayed. A gun has five sub-cannons, which can be fired almost continuously. With five shots, this rate is a muzzle-loading nightmare. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)

ps: Update notice, because Lao Yu has something to go out this afternoon, so the evening chapter may be updated later, I hope everyone can understand.