Smuggling Daming

Zhou Zhong followed the bald man onto the largest ship docked at the port. The ship was loading cargo. Although it was packed tightly, it could be seen from some gaps that the cargo was all bundled together Silk, and several other ships are also loading goods. If these goods are all silk, then the volume of goods shipped this time is really amazing.

The ship that Zhou Zhong boarded should be the largest ship in the entire port. The hull is about ten feet long, tall and strong, and the upper deck looks like a basketball court.Follow the bald man to the entrance of a relatively independent cabin at the stern. There are two large cabins inside. It seems that they should be used by people with more status on board.

I saw the bald-headed man walk to the cabin door on the left, and then reached out and knocked on the door to report: "Miss, Mr. Zhou has come!"

"Please come in, sir!" Following a familiar voice from a woman in the cabin, Zhou Zhong walked over and opened the door to enter, only to find that there were three people in the cabin, among them Xie Lingyun was sitting on a short table. In the back, she was making tea leisurely, but behind her stood two women, one of them was naturally the little maid who counted beads, and the other was an ordinary-looking middle-aged woman, standing there with slight eyes. closed, as if he didn't care about the outside world at all.

Seeing Zhou Zhong coming in, Xie Lingyun raised her eyes and pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, please sit down. The little girl has just learned tea art from her mother. I don't know if you would like to appreciate it. How about trying the little girl's tea making skills?"

Hearing Xie Lingyun's invitation, Zhou Zhong was not polite. He strode to sit opposite her and sat down, "Miss Lingyun has a sweet heart, and the tea she brewed is definitely not wrong. It's a pity that Zhou doesn't know how to taste tea. I'm afraid It will only waste the tea carefully brewed by Miss Xie."

Xie Lingyun couldn't help being a little surprised when Zhou Zhong, who had always been indifferent to her, suddenly praised her, and then smiled and handed the teacup to Zhou Zhong and said, "Mr. I like to drink tea, in my opinion, tea is nothing more than to quench one's thirst, the taste is secondary, this cup of tea is given to young master to quench one's thirst!"

After Zhou Zhong heard this, he was not polite anymore. He reached out to take the teacup and drank it down without any gesture of "tasting". You are still a talented scholar, so I didn't expect that you don't even know how to taste tea."

"I don't know why Miss Xie went to Shuangyu Port this time. Does Miss Xie need to be in charge of such a small matter as escorting a boat?" Zhou Zhong immediately said after putting down his teacup.Generally, big smugglers like the Xie family have a large number of trustworthy stewards under their command. When the smuggling ships are sailing at sea, these stewards are usually responsible for escorting them. Xie Lingyun only needs to dispatch at home, and only those small smugglers Only merchants will escort the boat in person.

Regarding Zhou Zhong's question, Xie Lingyun thought for a while and replied: "Actually, there is nothing wrong with it. It's just that there is a problem with the transaction between our Xie family and the country of Wa. The other party asked me to go to Shuangyu Port to discuss. So the little girl took the liberty to arrange you on my boat."

"Waguo?" Zhou Zhong couldn't help frowning when he heard this name. He came from later generations and had an instinctive aversion to this country, and then he couldn't help asking curiously, "I don't know what the Xie family is doing with Waguo?" Business?"

I saw Xie Lingyun chuckled after hearing this, and replied casually: "The Wa country is now in a state of war, coupled with the narrowness of the country and poverty, almost everything is needed in the country, porcelain, cloth, and even food are what the people of the Wa country need most. The Wa country itself also produces silver and sulfur, plus some handicrafts unique to the Wa country, the annual transaction volume is very large, and it is not even an exaggeration, the money of the Wa people is actually the best money!"

"Oh, it seems that Miss Lingyun knows the Wa Kingdom very well. I just heard that the Wa Kingdom is now controlled by the shogun, and the king's power has been left behind. I wonder if this is the case?" Zhou Zhong asked intentionally.Thanks to the vigorous publicity of the Japanese in later generations, especially the influence of some Japanese games and animations, Zhou Zhong has a relatively good understanding of the history of the Warring States Period in Japan, but he wants to hear it now, as the representative of the Ming smugglers. How much does the Xie family know about the Wa Kingdom?

When Xie Lingyun heard Zhou Zhong's question, she showed a faint smile and said, "The situation in Wa Kingdom is indeed complicated. It is very rare for Mr. Zhou to know about the shogun."

Speaking of this, Xie Lingyun gave Zhou Zhong an appreciative look. After all, as a scholar, it is extremely rare for Zhou Zhong to know some situations overseas.

Then I saw Xie Lingyun introduce again: "However, it was decades ago that the shogun took control of the Japanese government. Since the Mingying Rebellion, the prestige of the shogun has not been as good as before. He led an army to crusade against the Hosokawa Clan, but was dismissed by the Hosokawa Clan, and since then, the shogun has lost all prestige, and has become a puppet for daimyos to control the government."

Hearing that Xie Lingyun introduced the situation of Wa Kingdom in such detail, Zhou Zhong was also surprised. The other party seemed to have no less understanding of Wa Kingdom than he did. Even because of business needs, Xie Lingyun must have a comprehensive understanding of Wa Kingdom. He couldn't compare with her at all, at most he knew the development direction of the situation in Japan better than Xie Lingyun.

When talking about the Wa country, Xie Lingyun seemed to think of another thing. She frowned slightly, and then said solemnly to Zhou, "Since we are talking about the Wa country, we have to mention the Japanese pirates. About the Japanese pirates, little The woman has one thing to warn Mr. Zhou!"

"Japanese pirates?" Zhou Zhong frowned when he heard the name, and then asked in a puzzled way, "I was deeply troubled by Japanese pirates at the beginning of my dynasty, but the Japanese pirates disappeared later, why are there still Japanese pirates now?"

Hearing Zhou Zhong's question, Xie Lingyun sneered and said: "The war in the Wa country is in turmoil. The warriors and common people in the country have gone bankrupt. In order to survive, these people can only go to sea to become pirates. The war in the Wa country has not stopped these years, but has intensified. Therefore, the number of people going out to sea for piracy has not decreased, and there is even a tendency to increase. It's just that these Japanese people have learned to be smart now. They form groups of large and small forces, and make huge profits by smuggling between Daming and the Japanese country. , but pirates are pirates, even if they do business, they still maintain the habit of pirates, among other things, there are forces composed of these pirates at Shuangyu Port."

Hearing that the Japanese pirates' power had penetrated into the coast of Daming, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but frowned even more, and said in a heavy voice: "Why, are those Japanese pirates very powerful, how is it better than your Xie family?"

Hearing that Zhou Zhong was testing the influence of her family again, Xie Lingyun couldn't help but give him a blank look, then turned a corner and replied: "Those Japanese pirates are indeed very powerful, and there are five or six Japanese pirates in the entire Shuangyu Port. The most powerful one is called the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce. Although it is called the Chamber of Commerce, it is actually a group of brave and ruthless pirates. If they can’t do business with others, they will fight with each other. Father Zhou Hai's power is the same, and he is also one of the four top powers in Shuangyu Port!"

Hearing that a group of small Japanese pirates dared to rule the coast of Daming, Zhou Zhong couldn't help being furious, wishing to drive these people out of the Chinese land immediately, but soon he calmed down, and now it is Daming , doesn't pay much attention to the coastal areas, and he is alone, there is nothing he can do, the most important thing now is to make himself stronger.

But Zhou Zhong didn't notice that when he was angry with the Japanese pirates, Xie Lingyun had been quietly observing his reaction. When she saw Zhou Zhong's anger, this scheming woman nodded slightly , and a few imperceptible smiles hung on the corners of his mouth.

Next, Xie Lingyun explained to Zhou Zhong the distribution of Japanese people on Shuangyu Island. Speaking of which, these Japanese people are not monolithic, and some forces are even incompatible with each other, such as the most powerful Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce, the leader of the Chamber of Commerce It was a member of the Ashikaga family of the shogun who fled to the sea to become a thief because he was unwilling to be bullied by the daimyo in Wa country, and it is said that he still maintains contact with the Ashikaga family.

The other Japanese chambers of commerce are also not simple, and they are backed by daimyos within the country, either explicitly or secretly. It is precisely because of this that the relationship between the Ashikaga chamber of commerce and several other Japanese chambers of commerce is extremely bad, and there will be fights from time to time.In addition, there are also some Japanese who are unwilling to join the chamber of commerce in their own country, and instead will take refuge in the hands of the merchants of the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, Xie Lingyun added that there are not only Japanese in Shuangyu Port, but also Koreans. Their situation is similar to that of the Japanese, and they also rely on smuggling between Daming and their own country to make a living.Due to some historical reasons between the two countries, there are also constant conflicts between the Japanese and Korean chambers of commerce, but the Koreans are fewer than the Japanese and their power is relatively weak, so they have been suppressed by the Japanese, if not for some Han chambers of commerce from time to time If you help the Koreans, I am afraid that they will be wiped out by the Japanese people long ago.

At the same time, in a carriage parked in a remote corner of the port, two thin and dirty figures sat in the carriage, and one of them said in an extremely crisp voice: "Sister, just now I met the one who saved us once. Mr. Zhou is gone, I wonder why he came here?"

The other person ignored the other party's words, but sighed softly: "Little sister, we have been in Songjiang for many days, these smuggling boats are not willing to let strangers like us board the boat, it seems that we have fled overseas It's impossible, and we don't have much money, so we can only find a way to settle down in Songjiang Mansion, and hope those people won't chase here again!"

ps: Please collect Sanjiang Tickets!

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