Xia Xun learned the basic information about the two largest local pirates from Yu Ren, and wanted to ask more details, but Yu Ren didn't know. After a while, the food and drinks were served, and Yu Ren and his father-in-law ate wine with Xia Xun.
Ren asked: "Xiandi came to Haining this time, what kind of business do you want to do?"
Xia Xun said: "I want to buy a batch of folding fans and dozens of Japanese knives. These things are easy to sell and the greater the profit. It's a pity that I haven't been in business for a long time, and I don't have any connections in this area. I've been wandering here for a long time, but I don't know what to do."
I haven’t seen it in any store.”
After hearing this, Yu Ren said in embarrassment: "This... I'm afraid it's a little difficult. If you, dear brother, are here just to buy some parallel seafood or local specialties, I can help you. But the things you want are probably not available in the market.
It is difficult to buy. The imperial court stipulates that no Japanese merchant ships are allowed to dock for business without certificates of credence, no contract, and before the tribute period. Therefore, the only way to buy these things is through smugglers, but I don’t understand this.
people."
When Xia Xun heard what Yu Ren said, he knew that this upright gentleman really didn't know the relationship between these heretics. It was impossible to get a connection with the pirates from him. He couldn't help but be disappointed. Unexpectedly, Yu Ren's father-in-law, Old Man Huang, heard this and said:
"Brother Xia is my family's benefactor, let the old man figure this out."
Xia Xun was overjoyed: "Does the old man recognize them?"
The old man smiled and said: "The old man has a cousin who runs a shop locally and sells some Chinese and foreign lacquerware, some of which are Japanese goods. I guess there must be something to do with it. You are the old man's benefactor, so I must help you with this.
My dear son-in-law, after dinner and wine are finished later, you can accompany me there and tell him that Brother Xia is your brother and he will not be able to refuse."
Yu Ren nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Xia Xun was overjoyed and quickly raised his glass to express his thanks.
The three of them chatted happily, and after they had had enough wine and food, Yu Ren and Old Man Huang accompanied Xia Xun to his aunt's cousin's lacquer shop. The shopkeeper's surname was Li, and his name was Li Tang, an antique name.
It is a small shop. Inside the shop are antique antique shelves, on which there are some lacquerware such as gilded desks, gilded powder boxes, gilded handbags, gilded bronze handles, and gilded wooden horn washrooms.
There was only one boy in the shop, sitting there bored. He knew Mr. Huang. When he saw him coming, he hurriedly stood up to greet him. He asked why he came and ran to the backyard to find the shopkeeper. After a while, Li Tang came to greet him.
come out.
This Li Tang was forty-seven or eighteen years old. He was lean and his figure was like a slender bean sprout. He bowed his waist slightly. When he saw his cousin coming, a smile appeared on his thin face and he called out quickly.
He was served tea and asked why he was here. Huang Laozhang said that Xia Xun was his uncle's cousin and asked him to help buy some goods. When he heard that he was a relative of his, Li Tang immediately let down his guard.
At that time, Japanese folding fans and Japanese knives were very popular in the Central Plains. A Japanese knife was only worth 800 to 1,000 fen in Japan, but when shipped to the Ming Dynasty, it could be sold for a high price of 5,000 to 6,000 fen.
The same is true for shoulders. Japanese fans are exquisitely made and have great artistic value, so they are also very popular in the Central Plains. Of course, at this time, goods from the Central Plains are even more likely to be dumped in Japan. A Fujian fan is worth a thousand gold in Japan, bird*
** is also worth hundreds of gold, a "Bi Dian Tong Jian Abridged" is worth forty gold, "Yu Di Ji" is worth twenty gold, flame salt, iron, and gold are all twenty times more profitable, especially raw silk.
The supply exceeds the demand. Xia Xun pretends to be a small-time businessman. He only buys some Japanese knives and folding fans, which is consistent with his status.
Li Tang casually asked Xia Xun a few questions. Xia Xun had been in business for a while, and he barely answered correctly. Li Tang then knocked on the table and muttered: "From your tone, it sounds like you have been in business, but... I'm afraid I was running away before.
By land, have you never done this kind of business at sea? That little lacquered gold fan is just that, the Japanese sword... can you transport it?"
Xia Xun quickly smiled and said: "This is not a problem. I have a friend who is an errand in Yingtian Mansion. With his care in this regard, there will be no problems!"
Li Tang frowned: "That's it, let's do it. I'm going to buy a batch of goods tonight. You bring the money tonight. Come with me. Remember to prepare a car. When the goods are received, you will be there soon.
Transport it away. In normal times, whether it is street trading or in-store trading, it is all done openly and there is no need to be careful, but it has not been the case recently. The government is looking at it more closely, so you need to pay more attention."
Xia Xun's original intention was to gain his trust in the name of doing business, and then find an opportunity to leave him alone and contact the pirates alone. He was not willing to leave like this, but he couldn't think of anything else at the moment, so he had to agree temporarily.
After Xia Xun returned to the inn where he was staying, he first hid his waist badge, official defense and other important items that could identify his identity in the cabinet, and then went to get a donkey cart. He stayed there until evening and only took some treasure money with him.
and copper coins, and rushed to the small shop again. The shop owner Li Tang was waiting for him. When he arrived, he immediately set off on the road. Li Tang drove an ox cart, driven by a boy, and Xia Xun followed behind, and they went out together.
Yanguan Town.
Xia Xun didn't know where they were going, so he just followed them. When they turned, he turned, and when they went straight, he went straight. The road became cheaper and cheaper as he went. When it got completely dark, he heard the faint sound of waves, and Xia Xun felt secretly in his heart.
Nahan: "Could it be that we have already arrived at the riverside?"
Sure enough, if we go further, we will see the billowing Qiantang River. In the distance, there are lights everywhere, like stars on the beach. There are also many vehicles faintly. Xia Xun followed the shopkeeper to the nearby
At this point, I saw a large ship parked on the river, gloomy like a giant beast rising and falling with the waves. There were also many small boats running back and forth between the large ship and the river bank, unloading shiploads of cargo ashore.
There were people on the shore holding lists, and people holding torches next to them. They called out names one by one, and then people came forward to inspect the goods, hand over money or barter, and then load them into trucks and transport them away. So many people, each belonging to their own country.
The different shops are actually orderly, without any noise, and appear orderly.
Xia Xun was secretly stunned when he saw it, and then he believed that what Li Tang said was true in the past that he could trade directly with pirates on the streets or even in shops. If he hadn't been so unscrupulous on weekdays, how could there be so many shops trading directly on the riverside now? Look at this
This is obviously not the first time this happened. I didn’t expect that private business transactions in Yanguan Town were so developed.
Speaking of which, pirates have always existed, but the reason why pirates were so strong at this time was largely due to the maritime and commercial politics of the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, he implemented a restraint policy against Japan and allowed them to enter the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute.
, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not understand the national conditions of Japan, and mistakenly regarded Prince Huai Liang, the general who conquered the west, as the king of Japan. At that time, Prince Huai Liang of Japan was busy with the civil war and did not know much about the current situation in China. He thought that the Central Plains was still under the Yuan Dynasty, and both sides
There were some misunderstandings, and the tribute trade was finally established reluctantly, but by this time the suspicions had already been buried.
Later, Japanese rogues and Chinese pirates often harassed the border. Zhu Yuanzhang sent envoys to Japan to denounce Prince Huai Liang and ask him to tighten control. Prince Huai Liang was busy with the civil war between the north and the south and had no time to take care of the idle rogues. In fact, he wanted to control them.
He couldn't control it, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very dissatisfied, thinking that the Japanese government was deliberately perfunctory.
Immediately afterwards, Hu Weiyong's rebellion case broke out. After interrogation, it was discovered that the Japanese were among them. These Japanese planned to hide ambushes in the tribute ships and hide gunpowder and weapons in the giant tribute candles until they came to the palace to see him.
Inside and outside the time, they joined forces and acted together to kill Zhu Yuanzhang. Although these warriors were not necessarily sent by the Japanese rulers, they were probably mercenaries hired by Hu Weiyong with large sums of money. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious. At this time, he asked the prisoners and found out that Huai Liang
The prince was not the king of Japan, and he felt that he had been deceived. In anger, he simply canceled official ties with Japan.
From then on, Lao Zhu was tired of those little rasps on the island. Later, when the Ming Dynasty navy wiped out a group of Japanese pirates and presented him with a Japanese fan as a trophy, Lao Zhu became inspired by poetry and even mentioned
The pen wrote a poem on it: "The king is unruly and the people are thieves. He disturbs the lives of living beings. Gods and ghosts are resentful. How can you know the sky and sit in a well? It's easy to cut off your hair and striped clothes. The king and his ministers are barefoot, talking and frogs are croaking, and they are eager to jump into the beams of Tianxian."
." He mocked the files on the island as frogs sitting in a well and looked at the sky, and he despised them severely. This shows Lao Zhu's views on the Japanese.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang still allowed the Japanese to pay tribute, but he strengthened the control in this regard and stipulated the tribute period and the number of tribute ships for the Japanese. If the date was not met or the number was exceeded, they were not allowed to dock for business. Lao Zhu gave
The conditions set by the Japanese were too harsh. For example, tribute could only be paid once every five years or even ten years, and no more than three ships were allowed at one time.
This alone was unable to meet the trade needs of the two countries. Zhu Yuanzhang even stipulated that no trade was allowed without letters of credence and a contract. At that time, various feudal lords on the Japanese island were quarreling in circles, and their heads were almost turned into dog heads.
, how many princes can get the king's credentials? This is the only one approved by the Ming Dynasty, and there is no semicolon. Moreover, Lao Zhu also stipulated that tribute ships are not allowed to carry weapons, which is indeed a bit embarrassing. The vast sea
, there are pirates in both countries. How can we escort them without weapons?
As the saying goes, people who rely on mountains and rivers eat water. Coastal residents do not allow them to trade, and the amount of official trade is very small. How much money can they make just by fishing? So private business has begun to flourish. Private business is illegal, and it has to
Establishing one's own military escort team, without the constraints of laws and disciplines, most of them are no different from pirates, but what they do is actually very beneficial to the coastal people. With the support of the coastal people and acting as their eyes and ears, the imperial court cannot stop them.
, resulting in a huge scale.
Li Tang drove to the riverside and waited patiently. After about half an hour, the person holding the roster called his name. Li Tang hurriedly stepped forward. He did not take the call yet, but said to the leader.
Whispering, thinking he was helping Xia Xun contact the temporarily added goods, the man listened and said: "Japanese knives and fans? That's okay. Have you brought the money?"
"Bring it, bring it, eldest nephew, come here quickly, come see Leader Jia quickly."
Xia Xun hurriedly stepped forward. The bearded man looked him up and down, then turned and ordered: "He Tianyang, He Tianyang, go to the boat to get fifty Japanese swords and a thousand small fans."
A person next to him responded, turned his eyes to Xia Xun, and suddenly shouted: "Hey! I recognize him! Today, when the gang leader was accused and the officers and soldiers surrounded and suppressed him, he was present!"
Before he could finish his words, there was a series of "crack-crack-crack" sounds of swords being pulled out of their sheaths, which made people drop their teeth. Xia Xun was just stunned for a moment when six or seven sharp steel knives had already blocked his front, back, left and right.
.
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