Smuggling Daming

On the swaying carriage, Zhou Zhong sat there quietly, with the clothes that Bracelet prepared for him in the bundle next to him.Zhou Zhong's letter to Xie Lingyun received a quick response two days ago, and the other party arranged the boat in the shortest possible time, even the carriage he was riding in was arranged by the Xie family.

Regarding his going to Shuangyu Port, Zhou Zhong did not tell Aunt Wang and Zhuan'er, but lied to them that Li Zheng and Zheng Jing asked him to go out to play and visit friends, and they needed to leave home for a few days. Going out with Li Zheng and the others, so Aunt Wang and the others did not suspect it.In addition, Zhou Zhong also greeted Li Zheng and others, telling them not to come to him these two days, so as not to be exposed.

After the conversation with Xie Lingyun last time, Zhou Zhong thought a lot in the next few days. At the beginning, his plan was very simple. Get rich with these new inventions.

But later Xie Lingyun unceremoniously pointed out that his idea was too naive. If he really followed his plan, no matter how many new inventions he came up with, it would be cheaper for others in the end, because the people around him who can be used are really good. Too little to solve the problem of secrecy at all.

In fact, Zhou Zhong cannot be entirely blamed for this. Although he has tried his best to adapt to the era of Ming Dynasty from later generations, after all, the time is too short, and some thoughts in his mind are still stuck in the later generations.I didn't even consider that I was in an ancient society where the laws were not perfect. In this era, there were no patent rights, and your new inventions were not protected by the law. Maybe others only need to spend a little money to recruit from you. The workers bought the newly invented method of making.

After understanding the above, Zhou Zhong found that besides money, what he lacked the most now was a group of loyal subordinates. What trouble, not even a helper can be found.

It was also in consideration of these that Zhou Zhong agreed to Xie Lingyun's proposal. Since there are people left by his cheap father at Shuangyu Port, although I don't know why they didn't come to him, but since those people could follow Zhou Hai in the past, now He can also follow himself, as long as he has this group of people, he will have the confidence to act.

The carriage carried Zhou Zhong all the way to the south, and soon left the south gate, then the driver let go of the horse's legs, and drove all the way east, and soon arrived at a thousand-household house on the east coast of Songjiang Prefecture, called Qingcun Zhongqian Institute, generally known as Qingcun Institute, belongs to Jinshanwei and is a relatively important coastal defense fortress.

According to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, guards were set up in several prefectures, and guards were set up under the guards. One guard had 600 people, and each guard was divided into five thousand households, and each thousand households was divided into ten hundred households. The Qingcunsuo he came to was one of the five thousand households under the Jinshan Guard.

The sea ban policy in the early Ming Dynasty was actually very strict. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang not only closed the three shipping departments of Quanzhou, Mingzhou, and Guangzhou, but also banned the manufacture of large ships with three masts or more. Fishing boats were not allowed to enter the sea, and the people in the coastal areas were moved inland. This made countless people who depended on the sea for their livelihood complain to the sky, and even rose up to resist at last, which made the coastal areas in chaos in the early Ming Dynasty.

Songjiang Mansion is surrounded by the sea on both sides, and it was also a victim of the sea ban. For example, Zhou Zhong came to Qingcun Qianhusuo. This Qianhusuo blocked a rather long coastline. When the sea ban was established, everyone was forbidden to approach the coast.

But so many years have passed, the government has long turned a blind eye to the smuggling matter, and the adults of Qianhu in Qingcun Qianhu Office are not stupid. Seeing so many people involved in smuggling, he can't control it , In the end, I simply participated in it and provided shelter for the smuggling merchants. Within the coastline under the jurisdiction of Qianhu, as long as the smuggling merchants give Mr. Qianhu a prescribed amount of tribute according to the size of the ship, then no matter what you transport on the ship Anything can come and go freely at sea.

Zhou Zhong had heard Xie Lingyun introduce the situation of the Qingcun Thousand Households Office before, and now that the carriage came here, he couldn't help being a little curious, so he opened the window on the carriage and looked out.

But unexpectedly, what he entered was a building similar to a village, with thatched roofs looming among the trees, and occasionally one or two dogs barking and chickens crowing, which only indicated that this was a Ming garrison. The symbol of Qianhusuo is a fortress made of rammed earth in the center of those thatched roofs. Compared with those thatched houses, it is indeed taller, but in fact it is only more than ten feet tall. It seems that there should be Qianhusuo The real resident, but because this thousand-house building was built with rammed earth, coupled with years of disrepair, it has already been dilapidated. Not only is it covered with weeds, but there are four or five gaps washed out by the rain. There is no protective performance at all.

Seeing such dilapidated Qianhusuo, Zhou Zhong recalled the soldiers guarding the city that he saw in Songjiang Mansion back then. Zhou Zhong couldn't help sighing. The entire Ming Dynasty had just passed halfway, and the military system was already so disorganized. How could such a force defend the country?

The carriage continued to move forward, but when it moved forward, there was a checkpoint set up by Qianhu privately on the road. Vehicles wanting to pass through here must pay a toll, but Zhou Zhong's driver just took out a side to thank the mansion. sign, the military household guarding the checkpoint immediately let it go with a flattering smile, not daring to stop it at all.

After the carriage passed the checkpoint, it went southeast for a short distance. In front of it was the junction of the outer sea of ​​Hangzhou Bay. As long as it left Hangzhou Bay, it was considered to be within the scope of Zhoushan Islands, and Shuangyu Port was at the southernmost tip of Zhoushan Islands.

As soon as he reached the coast, Zhou Zhong was shocked by the scenery in front of him. What appeared in front of him was an extremely lively port. Ships of all sizes were moored on the sea, relying on wooden trestles. Coolies loaded and unloaded the ship's heavy cargo.

In addition to these coolies and smuggling ships, there are also quite a few peddlers gathered in the port. These peddlers sell everything and are selling goods to the sailors who got off the ship. Knowing that this is a smuggling port, Zhou Zhong might really think that this is just an ordinary market.

"Mr. Zhou, the dozen or so berths on the easternmost side of the port belong to our Xie family. You can just walk over there, and there will be a special person to guide you on board!" The driver stopped the car at this time, and then pointed Facing the east side of the port, he opened his mouth to Zhou Zhong.The port was very busy, and there was a long queue of horse-drawn carriages waiting to board the pier. If the driver wanted to drive the carriage up, he didn't know how long he would have to wait, so it was better to let Zhou Zhong walk over.

Zhou Zhong looked up at the line of trucks in front of him, jumped out of the car and thanked the driver, then stepped onto the port wharf, and first looked up at the various ships on the sea, most of which were three-masted ships. Ships are generally small in size, and the captains are basically within ten feet. Compared with the big treasure ships of more than 40 feet when Zheng He went to Nanyang, it is simply far worse.

Zhou Zhong looked at the ships in the port while walking. In addition to the ships themselves, Zhou Zhong also found that the coolies who unloaded goods in the port already knew some equipment, such as pulleys built with wooden frames, which saved time and effort. Many merchants Most of the goods are loaded and unloaded by simple tools.

However, it may be that Zhou Zhongtai paid attention to the situation at the port, but didn't pay attention to the road ahead. As a result, he was accidentally bumped by someone, and only heard the other party "Ouch", and then backed away a few steps.

At this time, Zhou Zhong's attention was drawn back, and when he saw that he had bumped into someone, he immediately apologized and said, "Sorry, didn't it hurt you?"

After Zhou Zhong finished speaking, he saw the person he bumped into clearly, and found that the person was thin and thin, wearing a fat and big ripped cotton robe, and a dog fur hat. His messy hair hung down from the hat, and his Most of his face was covered, and even the exposed face was dirty, making it hard to see his true face.

The other party was walking well, and was bumped by Zhou Zhong for no reason, and immediately got a little angry, and just wanted to swear, but when he saw Zhou Zhong's appearance, he immediately covered his mouth, and then froze for a moment, Ignoring Zhou Zhong's apology, he turned around and left quickly.

"Strange?" Seeing the abnormal behavior of the other party, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but mutter to himself, but he didn't care too much. He patted the stains on his body and continued walking for nearly a hundred meters, finally reaching Xie's house. berth area.This berth is much neater and wider than the places that Zhou Zhong walked through just now. There are also special personnel to direct the merchant ships when loading and unloading cargo.

As soon as Zhou Zhong arrived here, he saw a tall and strong man with a bald head and a scarred face walking towards him. He had seen this man before. When Xie Lingyun first went to Zhou Mansion, it was this bald man who drove the carriage.I saw the other party walk up to Zhou Zhong, and then said in a low voice: "Young Master Zhou, please follow me, the lady is waiting for you on the boat!"

"Miss?" Zhou Zhong was taken aback when he heard it, and then he reacted, "Why, Miss Xie also wants to go to Shuangyu Port with me?"

Hearing Zhou Zhong's question, the bald man replied without turning his head: "Miss wants to send a batch of goods to Shuangyu Port, and I will send you off just by the way!"

Zhou Zhong couldn't help being a little annoyed when he heard the other party's answer so shameless, but seeing the other party's size and the evil spirit emanating from the other party's body, he could only wisely choose to keep his mouth shut, and followed the other party's footsteps towards a tall ship. The sea boat went away.

ps: It's the second day of Sanjiang, please collect Sanjiang tickets!

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