Hainan Island residents have rarely seen black people. The Zeng family looked at each other, but the black man stumbled towards the crowd.

"Heilan ghost!" someone screamed, and someone went to get the guy. Zeng Yue waved his hand: "He doesn't seem to have any ill intentions. Don't move, everyone. This black ghost gave me food and water when he was on the boat, and he was considered as one of my friends.

Be kind, don't hurt him..." Before he finished speaking, the black man saw them, suddenly became excited, and ran over quickly.

He ran straight to Yin Feng, knelt down with a plop, and talked for a few miles, talking at an extremely fast speed. Everyone was surprised and looked at Yin Feng and the black man in silence. Seeing Yin Feng's face was heavy, he said a few words

After saying a few words, he took out the revolver from his arms and handed it to the black man to see.

Zeng Jingshan, who knew the power of this gun, shouted "Ah", then covered his mouth, and was extremely surprised when he saw the black man holding the gun and crying loudly.

Yin Feng helped the black man up, took back his gun, walked to Zeng Yue and said, "I have to take a black man with me."

Zeng Yue rolled his eyes and sighed: "Brother Yin, what kind of play is this?"

This black man is called Magalo. He was originally a Bantu black man captured by the Portuguese in East Africa. After being resold several times, he learned the language from the Portuguese, was baptized into Christianity, and followed several masters to travel to East Africa and Southeast Asia. Half a year ago,

On the day when Yin Feng crossed over, he followed his master, Captain Francisco Baradas of the Portuguese Army, to Macau. Suddenly, he encountered a storm and the boat capsized and he died. With his good water properties, he floated on the broken wooden board and drifted on the sea for 5 years.

The Queen of Heaven was rescued by Zeng Erjiao's pirate ship.

Last night, he recognized Yin Feng's revolver: it was a relic of his master Francisco Baradas. Therefore, the loyal Magaro secretly went to the sea and came ashore to look for it as soon as the pirate ship left.

Yin Feng. His Portuguese was very standard, but he spoke very fast, and it took a lot of effort for Yin Feng to understand. He told Magaro that his master might have been buried in the sea.

Ma Jialuo cried for a while and said that his master also had a brother in Macau, a Jesuit missionary named Baradas, and he wanted to find this missionary. Yin Feng explained the reasons, and Zeng Yue said helplessly:

"So, this black ghost is still destined to you. Then you can take him with you. However, you cannot enter the city, otherwise the whole city will come to see him."

On the way back, Yin Feng suddenly thought that the ship of Master Magaro and the merchant ship Tomar might be related to the big storm he caused when he traveled through time and space. It seems that he is really a butterfly that disturbs time and space, but he doesn't

We know how much it can change. Looking at it now, the damage to a merchant ship due to wind is an insignificant change compared to the long history.

On the seventh day of January in the 28th year of Wanli, Xinhai; on February 20, 1600 AD, the merchant ship Tomar and another merchant ship Goa, a smaller size, secretly entered the Sanya Port at night. The local navy officers and soldiers used the excuse of a storm.

, stopped patrolling. In the next few days, merchants were busy transporting goods to the seaside.

"Why not stop at Big Egg Harbor?" Yin Feng asked Captain Barreto.

"The last time we docked, we found that the Big Egg Harbor was very congested, so we changed our dock here." Barreto looked at the vast Sanya Port: "This is a good port!"

Yin Feng felt a little uncomfortable: These Western adventurers regarded the coastlines of other countries as their own homes, without any scruples.

But the most important thing right now is doing business. There are two merchant ships this time, and the marketable goods from the whole island of Hainan cannot meet the needs of these two merchant ships. Therefore, Yin Feng brought a batch of goods from the Zeng family to be sold in Macau.

Ironware, plus 1,000 taels of silver, after completing the transaction in Macau, use the money earned to go to Fujian and other places to solicit goods; in this way, before the overseas season comes in September, one more transaction in Macau will make the Zeng family's business

Progress by leaps and bounds.

Before traveling, Yin Feng persuaded all the merchants in the Yazhou Fujian Chamber of Commerce to raise funds together, and then sent representatives to Fujian and Zhejiang to collect the goods. They boarded the ships of the Folangjifan people and would not be attacked by pirates or the government (the two families were sometimes one and the same).

), which would completely change the passive position of Hainan merchants in overseas trade. He suggested operating in the form of a joint-stock system, and the profits would be distributed according to shares. This approach, which was relatively new to the business community at the time, made

Many people were suspicious and backed down. However, because he recruited additional ships, this time he brought profits to the merchants several times that of previous years. In the end, 5 merchants still contributed funds. A total of about 3,000 taels of cash was raised, led by Yin Feng

, Zeng Jingshan took him to collect goods.

Only then did Yin Feng notice: Chinese businessmen in this era are still accustomed to scattered family investment businesses, and partnership business is limited to within the family or very close friends. Although there are regional business gangs, there is also mutual aid within the business gangs.

, but each business firm was independent and not affiliated with each other, and there was no phenomenon of raising funds to jointly work on a major project. At the same time, East India companies in Western countries were being established one after another.

In any case, this overseas trade meant that from January to September of the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, Yin Feng almost had to travel on the sea and trek on land.

On this day, Magaro, a black man who had been living in a riverside house five miles away from the city, also came to the seaside. Yin Feng took him, Zeng Jingshan and several others as cargo owners, boarded the merchant ship Tomar, and left at the end of January

After leaving Yazhou, we headed to Macau, which was the center of Sino-Western trade at that time.

The cabins of Portuguese ships were generally short and the sanitary conditions were notoriously poor in the world of navigation at that time. The cabins with better living conditions were Dutch ships or British ships. Yin Feng had not had a chance to sit on them yet. He almost stepped on the sewage into the distribution room.

Zeng Jingshan also pinched his nose and came in. The black man Magaro seemed to be very adaptable to his own cabin. Yin Feng sighed: His maritime business career began on this smelly Portuguese ship.

Watching the two ships disappear on the horizon, Zeng Qi, who was seeing him off, said to Zeng Yue: "Yin Feng, this son has not been a slave to others for a long time!"

Zeng Yue frowned unconsciously, carefully looking for the right words to say: "Second uncle, I don't think there is any need to worry about this."

Zeng Qi looked at him, and Zeng Yue continued: "Yin Feng went to Erjiao to redeem people, but he actually didn't know the relationship between our family and Erjiao. He didn't know the details of the pirates, but he still took the risk to redeem people and was willing to do it for me.

Risking his life shows that this person values ​​love and justice. If he were to be independent, he would definitely not be detrimental to my Zeng family. I trust him."

Zeng Qi nodded: "I hope so." He was thinking: Is there any way to keep this person's heart?

The sea breeze blew slowly in the South China Sea, and the Tomar and the Goa arrived off the coast of Macau five days later. Yin Feng stood on the bow of the ship and looked at the whole port of "Oyster Mirror Macau"; the weather was very good that day, and he looked east from the highest point in the city The monastery on the top of the Yangtze Mountain is very conspicuous, and the later Guia Fortress on the top of the mountain has not yet been built at this time; the middle of the peninsula is a continuous European-style building, with neoclassical buildings mixed with Gothic-style churches; during this period, close to the inner harbor There are a large number of Chinese-style Lingnan-style houses, and the best boat berthing place is the bay from Sha Li Tou to Niang Ma Pavilion, which is called the inner harbor.

The Tomar and the Goa entered the port one after another. At this time, nearly a hundred ships from various countries were parked in the port: Chinese merchant ships, fishing boats, Portuguese Karak-type merchant ships, and Southeast Asian imitation Chinese-style sailing ships. The port The city is full of Chinese, Portuguese, merchants and adventurers from all over Europe, various black slaves, merchants from various Southeast Asian countries, and a large number of Japanese. It is bustling with people. It is a typical international commercial city.

Among the permanent population of Macau at that time, in addition to nearly 6,000 Chinese, according to the Ming Dynasty government statistics, there were 400 Portuguese male household heads and 2,400 black slaves. Most of the current population of 30,000 to 40,000 come here to do business and make a living. , the floating population from various countries who work as coolies to support their families.

The transaction went smoothly. All the Zeng family's iron pots were sold for one and a half taels of silver, making twice as much money. The rest of the goods were also sold smoothly through the Bernardo family's business network, and Yin Feng carried them privately. The little pearl was sold for a high price of 500 taels of silver.

After this round of business, including the small pearl business and the Zeng family business, Yin Feng already has a net worth of 1,000 taels.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty government at that time, Portuguese people living in Macau were not allowed to enter Guangzhou for trade. Only Portuguese ships from India could enter Guangzhou. Therefore, after completing the transaction, Bernardo boarded the merchant ship Goa to trade in Guangzhou. , their family brought a lot of goods from Europe and India, including tobacco, which was imported to China as medicinal materials. Yin Feng became the general manager and temporary agent of the Bernardo family and went to Guangzhou together.

Zeng Jingshan was busy transporting the money he earned back to Quanzhou, the home base of the Zeng family, and stepped up contact to travel north to Fujian and Zhejiang to purchase raw silk and other goods.

Before leaving Macau, Yin Feng and the black man Magaro visited several churches in succession to inquire about the whereabouts of the missionary Baradas. The result was disappointing, as no one seemed to know. Finally, they were directed to St. Paul's College. After entering the magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral, I learned from several Jesuit missionaries that Missionary Baradas had followed Father Matteo Ricci to preach in Nanjing.

When Yin Feng heard the name of Matteo Ricci (Matteo Ricci's original name), he was shocked and almost screamed. He didn't expect that the brother who was looking for the owner of Magalo would be the first person to communicate with Chinese and Western cultures. We have a relationship with Matteo Ricci. However, this year Matteo Ricci will go north to the capital, so he may not have the opportunity to interact with him.

When Yin Feng left St. Paul's Cathedral, he looked back at this magnificent Baroque-style church and felt regretful: Next year, in 1601, this magnificent cathedral will be destroyed by fire, and the entire college will be burned to nothing. Although it was later rebuilt However, in Yin Feng's era, it was no longer possible to reproduce the grandeur and glory of that year.

The business trip to Guangzhou was not smooth. If the Goa wanted to trade in Guangzhou, it had to pay taxes to the Chinese authorities in Macau. The coastal defense magistrate, the city ship lifter and the Xiangshan County Magistrate jointly measured the length and width of the ship, and then based on the size of the ship

The draft is used to calculate the weight and quantity of the cargo on the ship and determine the amount of tax payable. It would have been possible to leave a lot of tax money by bribing the officials, but this time the tax collection process was very serious and meticulous, and the government collected it.

After receiving the red envelope, Yin Feng told him: After Li Feng, the tax supervisor, arrived in Guangzhou, he increased the annual tax collection amount to 200,000 taels, which was originally only 60,000 taels; therefore, the taxes were allocated to the Guangdong Shipping Department.

The amount of silver has also increased to 40,000 taels per year. Therefore, the tax collection work for ships coming to Guangzhou for trading cannot be relaxed. The official of the Municipal Shipping Department said while putting Bernardo's red envelope sent by Yin Feng into his arms.

The subordinate staff who directed the measurement work conscientiously.

After paying twice as much tax and bribes as in previous years, the Goa was able to dock in Guangzhou. Officials from the Municipal Shipping Department explicitly ordered that foreigners were not allowed to disembark at will, and only general translators were allowed to disembark and trade. Fortunately, after many visits,

Under the guidance of Bernardo, who had passed through Guangzhou, Yin Feng secretly stuffed a lot of gold into a Shipping Department official named Wang, so the subsequent transaction was relatively smooth. The Shipping Department did not make things difficult for the cargo of the Goa and returned the goods.

He bought a chiming clock at a high price and said it was dedicated to the tax superintendent Li Feng.

According to the rules at that time, crew members of foreign ships were not allowed to enter the city of Guangzhou and were only allowed to trade on the riverside. This year, the regulations were strictly enforced and even businessmen were not allowed to enter the city. Yin Feng, who hoped to see the city of Guangzhou, was disappointed.

Half a month later, Yin Feng, who was not allowed to enter Guangzhou City, obtained a large amount of raw silk through his connections with fellow merchants of the Zeng family. However, the quantity was far from enough to fill the cargo hold. The reason was that since last year, the mine supervisors and tax officials had traveled across the land of Lingnan.

Suddenly, there were many checkpoints, making it difficult for merchants to sell goods, which reduced the raw silk shipped by land. At the same time, the number of tax collection items in Guangzhou Port increased a lot, and eunuchs were rampant and lawless, which reduced the raw silk shipped by sea in previous years.

In March of the lunar calendar, there are already typhoons along the coast of Guangdong. At this time, the wind is already very strong and the wind is blowing to the northwest. At this time, the Goa is sailing against the wind with difficulty.

The Goa is much smaller than a Karak-type ship like the Tomar, only 400 tons, which makes it even weaker in the face of the power of nature. It has not yet rained, and the guide Lin Ashui hired from Guangzhou is on the boat.

He kept his head and watched nervously, and at the same time kept giving orders: "Okay, you can turn the steering wheel to the north, crosswind, and go in a zigzag pattern."

Yin Feng on the side translated his words word for word to Rodriguez, the captain of the Goa, while desperately grabbing the side of the ship to steady his body.

"Okay, Mr. Yin, you can go down now. Keep heading north until Yuegang. There is no need to adjust the direction."

Yin Feng raised his voice to drown out the wind: "Mr. Captain, I would rather stay on the deck!"

Captain Rodriguez laughed.

Because the ship is small, the cabin of the Goa is even lower, with only two steerage cabins; one for the crew and one for the cargo owner and passengers. Everyone sleeps in hammocks and eats almost rotten food. Because there is no ventilation, the cabin becomes stuffy.

It was difficult to breathe, everyone's clothes were soaked and never dried, and there was a lack of water; the water on the ship gave off a foul smell, and everyone had to twist their noses to drink.

It is said that tax supervisor Li Feng colluded with pirates to rob the coast, and in order to avoid possible patrols by the government, the Goa only stayed for one day after returning to Macau. After picking up the Tsang family, it sailed eastward and returned to Malacca.

After two days, we were far away from the coastline of Guangdong, and then we turned around and headed north for an adventurous voyage to Fujian and Zhejiang.

There are 30 crew members on board, as well as the employers Zeng family and Bernardo family, each with 5 to 8 accompanying servants. The Goa was built with money from another New Christian family, Duarte Gomez Solis.

Because they are often discriminated against by authentic Portuguese Catholics, the crew, except the captain, first mate, and second mate, are almost all Indians, blacks, and Southeast Asian Malays.

As the ship rocked, Zeng Jingshan kept vomiting, and so did several other Zeng family servants. The cabin was filled with a mixture of flowing vomit and sewage, and Yin Feng did not want to go back to the cabin to suffer.

Bernardo had the same idea. He could stay on the deck as long as he could. Yin Feng was not going to sea for the first time. Years of traveling made him quickly adapt to life on this classic sailing ship. But no matter what, he did not want to go down.

Smell the disgusting stench. However, soon the wind, waves and heavy rain rushed towards the Goa. Because it was traveling in a crosswind, the Goa was forced to furl half of the main sail, but the ship still tilted badly. Suddenly, the wind blew violently

Blowing to the north, the Goa was almost gliding on the water and heading north at a high speed, almost uncontrollable.

At this time, the sky was dark, there were rain and waves on all sides, and the guide Lin Ah Shui also lost his direction. Going further north would be through the Taiwan Strait, Yin Feng thought to himself, and asked loudly: "Boss Lin, is it possible to reach Penghu in this direction?"

"Absolutely?" Lin Asui said uncertainly: "In the past, ships encountered wind here and deviated from the route until they reached the Japanese country."

"Ah!" Yin Feng was surprised.
Chapter completed!