Three hundred and fortieth eight chapters, the disaster of innocence
Yang Peng also brought 50,000 kilograms of crucible steel. Yang Peng's steel-making workshop can produce 20,000 kilograms of crucible steel every month. These steels can be sold for about 10,000 kilograms a month, but the price can only be sold for one to two and a half yuan.
.It is said that the Japanese country has a high demand for cheap steel from the Song Dynasty. Yang Peng took some to the Japanese country to test the water and see how much silver crucible steel could be sold in Yangpeng.
If the sales are good, Yang Peng can expand the production of crucible steel. Yang Peng also brings a lot of other glass and mirrors. These glass products are difficult to transport and need to be wrapped in a lot of paper. Fortunately, the unit price is expensive, and a little
It's worth a lot of money if you transport some.
Then came soap. Yang Peng loaded forty large boxes of soap onto the ship. Each box contained 8,000 pieces of soap, totaling 320,000 pieces of soap. Plus some miscellaneous products to test the market, Yang Peng loaded a ship full of goods.
Yang Peng's cargo is loaded from the Xincheng wharf in Tianjing New City. Tianjing Xincheng wharf is originally an important place for marine trade. Many southern goods are landed from Tianjing Xincheng wharf, and some are sent to Jiangnan.
Goods are also boarded from Tianjing New City Wharf and then transported to Jiangnan and Lingnan via sea-going ships. These sea-going ships transporting goods include both government ships and private ships, making Tianjing New City Wharf a lively seaport.
Yang Peng is now very powerful and the prefect of Cangzhou. No one dares to object to the maritime trade in Tianjing New City. Yang Peng goes out to purchase goods and loads goods on ships without anyone voicing any objections. In fact, speaking of the Song Dynasty now
The sea ban has been basically abolished. Although the steward only opened the sea ban in Fujian Province, since the Fujian sea ban was opened, it means that hundreds of officials in the Song Dynasty are no longer hostile to maritime merchants, and they will no longer force coastal water forts to exterminate smuggling merchants.
merchants, so maritime merchants from north to south of the Yangtze River came to sea semi-openly.
On July 10, Yang Peng's new crew members and sailors had been training for half a month. Yang Peng no longer waited and let the Tianjing go to sea. This time, Yang Peng personally led the team and led 150
A sailor and more than fifty boatmen drove the Tianjing to the Japanese country. In the early morning of this morning, the crew on the Tianjing used long oars to row the ship out of the Xincheng port. After leaving the port, the steam engine ran at full speed.
Horse power, black smoke generated by incomplete combustion of coal was sprayed from the chimney, chopping forward in the swaying sea. The ship left the Xincheng pier, getting further and further away from the departure port, crossing the Bohai Sea, and spent a day
The time has come for the Bohai Strait.
Under the guidance of experienced guides, the Tianjing avoided the rocks and passed through the islands in the Bohai Strait. Then it bypassed the Jiaodong Peninsula and headed south. On the third day at sea, the Tianjing had already reached the west side of the Koryo Peninsula.
At this time, the sky was high and the clouds were clear, and the midsummer sun shone directly on the sea, illuminating the undulating sea into a deep blue, which looked very beautiful. The sea breeze was extremely cool on the body, blowing away all the heat of summer.
In order to observe the reference objects on land and islands and understand their location, the Song Dynasty ships of this era sailed along the islands and coasts. At this time, the Tianjing was sailing on the west side of Goryeo, not far from the coast.
More than ten miles later, Yang Peng held up his telescope on the poop and looked at the scenery of the Korean Peninsula in the east, when he suddenly heard the lookout on the mast yelling:
"There is a ship to the south!" All the people on the ship raised their heads and looked to the south. Yang Peng also raised his telescope and looked to the south. Sure enough, at the end of the intersection between the sky and the sea, he saw a three-masted wooden sailboat heading this way.
Come over. It was summer at this time, and there was a steady south wind blowing on the sea, so the incoming ship sailed very fast. Not long after, the sailing ship sailed more than ten miles away. Yang Peng was holding a telescope to observe the incoming ship, but he heard
Watchman Abban, who was on the mast, shouted: "The incoming ship is sailing in shallow water and has no cargo. I'm afraid it's a pirate ship!"
Everyone on the ship was stunned when they heard this, and all looked at Yang Peng. The steward on the ship ran to Yang Peng and said: "Lord City Lord, our ship is fast, why don't we avoid this pirate ship!" Yang Peng
Use the telescope to observe the ship on the opposite side.
That pirate ship is not as big as the Tianjing, but it is not small either. It looks a bit like a lucky ship, but it does not have a low bow like a lucky ship. The hull is Song-style, curved like
Crescent moon, but the sail on the ship's mast is a Western-style soft sail. At this time, the jib, horizontal sail and foresight sail on the ship were all swollen by the wind, and they were pressing towards Yang Peng with force. Yang Peng took a closer look,
It was discovered that there were two machine crossbows installed on the ship, but it was unclear what crossbows they were.
Yang Peng put down the telescope and thought for a while. Yang Peng's manager saw the ship on the opposite side getting closer and closer. He was a little nervous and asked: "Lord City Lord, what should I do?" Yang Peng put down the telescope and shouted loudly: "Take this ship."
Practice your skills on the pirate ship! Sink him!" The steward was stunned, gritted his teeth, ran down the poop and shouted: "Enter combat status! The whole ship is in combat status!"
Hearing the words of the steward, the atmosphere on the ship suddenly changed, and the sailors began to prepare for battle. They either ran to the crossbow stations on the second deck and manipulated the crossbows, or they raised their rifles and stood on the upper deck with grenades hanging, ready to fight.
During the boarding battle, the boatmen ran to the boiler of the steam engine to help the boilerman add coal to increase the speed of the Tianjing.
Yang Peng walked to the helmsman and said: "Go around and drive around the pirate ship! Take advantage of our ship's speed and always keep a distance of two hundred steps from the pirate ship, so that the crossbows on the left and right sides can take turns firing!"
The helmsman is an experienced veteran, and it was Cha Yunke who supported Yang Peng. He nodded when he heard Yang Peng's words, and said: "Don't worry, city lord, I will control the position well and let the strong crossbow shoot these pirate ships."
rotten!"
Yang Peng nodded and said: "It's up to you!" The two ships gradually approached, five miles, three miles, two miles. Yang Peng looked at the pirate ship opposite with his telescope, and sure enough he saw more than two hundred pirates holding swords standing there.
On the deck, everyone with red eyes was ready to join forces and jump into a gang fight.
Yang Peng cursed: "You are so brave, you dare to rob me, the Tianjing!" When it was more than a mile away, the Tianjing suddenly turned the rudder and headed west, aiming its port side at the rough sea.
On the second deck of the pirate ship, eighty crossbowmen were already waiting on the port side. They quickly shook the rotating rod on the gun carriage and adjusted the crossbows. When all the crossbows were aimed, the crossbowman commander shouted loudly:
"shooting"
The nine powerful crossbows fired from front to back, one after another. The nine long arrows drew nine straight lines in the air and shot toward the enemy ships three or four hundred meters away. The eight long arrows missed.
, hit the water, causing a splash of several meters high. A long arrow hit the bow of the pirate ship, instantly piercing the old-fashioned hull with no ribs or only a few ribs. Only a roar was heard.
With a loud sound, the pirate ship's bow was blasted with flying sawdust like fireworks, and the wooden planks of the ship's bow burst into pieces like paper.
When the sawdust gradually dispersed, a large hole one foot long and wide was exposed on the bow of the pirate ship. Fortunately, the waves were small at this time, and the bow did not enter the water. If there was a big wave, the bow of the ship would continue to penetrate the big waves to break the waves, so big
The hole allowed the pirate ship to enter the water and sink. The pirate ship was hit by a shot. The pirates were shocked by the firepower of the Tianjing, and their faces turned pale. But they quickly reacted. The pirates
Howling, they took out the long oars on the ship, rowed the long oars on the deck to speed up the ship, and continued to rush towards the Nova.
The pirate ship was an empty ship and very light. With the help of the downwind sail and oar power, the pirate ship rushed very fast, at least seven or eight knots. Yang Peng's Tianjing
The ship ran faster. At this time, the boatmen fired up the steam engine boiler with all their strength, making the ship faster than usual, almost nine knots. After sailing to the west for a while, the Tianjing left the pirate ship behind
More than a mile behind him.
Seeing that the distance had been widened, the helmsman of the Tianjing used another full right rudder to turn to the north. The paddle wheel of the Tianjing also assisted in turning: if the ship wanted to turn right quickly, he stopped the transmission of the right paddle wheel.
device, and turn the rudder at the same time. In this way, the left paddle wheel and stern rudder can work together to quickly turn the ship to the right. The same goes for turning left. With the help of the paddle wheel, the Tianjing can turn much faster than a ship relying only on the stern rudder.
Already.
The second helmsman, that is, the deputy helmsman raised the flag next to the helmsman and directed the boatman next to the paddle wheel to operate the transmission device of the paddle wheel. The bow of the ship quickly turned to the north, pointing the starboard side of the Nova towards the pirate ship in the east. The starboard side
The nine-door crossbow took aim for a while, and then opened fire when the pirate ship caught up to two hundred steps, that is, three hundred meters.
The nine-door crossbow spit out tongues of fire and made a loud noise. Yang Peng felt the whole boat shake, tilted to the left, and accidentally fell onto the board.
The steward quickly came up and helped Yang Peng up. Ninety long arrows were fired at the pirate ship. This time, two long arrows hit the bow of the enemy ship, breaking the wood into pieces. The bow of the pirate ship was shot again.
A piece of sawdust was flying, as if it had exploded. When the sawdust gradually dispersed, Yang Peng discovered that the entire bow of the pirate ship was gone.
The entire bow of the ship was smashed by solid bullets and became tattered, and the inner deck of the pirate ship was exposed. As the waves rose and fell, seawater poured into the exposed bow from time to time. The pirates panicked.
They didn't dare to paddle and charge again. The pirate leader on the boat yelled, and more than a dozen pirates ran to the bow of the boat and used wooden basins to scoop water out of the boat, fearing that too much water would leak and the boat would sink.
Yang Peng believed that with just a few more shots, his powerful crossbow could sink the pirate ship. These pirates were all desperate desperadoes, relying on the fact that he had more than 200 people on board and the ship had a light sail.
Running fast, he wanted to rush to the Tianjing and join in a melee fight. But after being hit by a long arrow, the pirate leader finally discovered that the Tianjing was different and realized that he could not catch up with the Tianjing no matter what.
There is no way to rush up to engage in a battle.
The pirate leader didn't understand that this strange ship without sails, loaded with cargo, could run faster than the pirate ship that rowed with all its strength without cargo. Is this magic? But there was one thing that the pirate leader understood:
The powerful crossbows on both sides of the Tianjing can quickly sink this pirate ship.
The pirate ship did not dare to pursue the Tianjing anymore, so it turned around and tried to escape to the east. However, Yang Peng was not willing to let these pirates go, so the Tianjing also chased to the east. It didn't take long for the Tianjing to escape.
They chased the pirate ship three hundred meters behind again. The ship turned south and aimed its port crossbow at the pirate ship.
Ninety long arrows were shot out, and another shot hit the pirate ship, making a big hole in the stern of the escaping pirate ship. There was a panic on the pirate ship. Apparently someone was killed by the long arrow in the poop, or maybe
He was stabbed to death by the wood splinters exploded by the long arrow. The pirate leader ran to the poop to have a look, and when he returned to the deck, he decisively lowered the flag.
Lowering the flag means that these pirates have surrendered. The pirates knew that they could not escape the hands of Yang Peng, so they surrendered resolutely. Some pirates had already gone to the mast to trim the sails, preparing to stop the ship and surrender completely. They were so aggressive just now.
The pirates completely surrendered under the power of steam engines and crossbows. Yang Peng was afraid that the pirates would be slippery, so he let the cannon fire another round.
Two long arrows hit the pirate ship again. One long arrow hit the poop and made a big hole two meters above the waterline. If this long arrow had gone lower, it would have destroyed the ship.
It sank. Another long arrow hit the rear mast of the pirate ship, breaking the mast. The huge sail was broken down, and I don't know how many pirates on the deck were killed.
The entire pirate ship was beaten to pieces. How could it still retain the majesty it had just now? The pirates were so frightened that no one dared to stand anymore. They knelt on the deck one by one and begged for a way out. They saw the pirates kneeling on the ground.
After surrendering, the sailors and boatmen on the Tianjing were jubilant. This was their first victory at sea. Although they only defeated a ship of pirates, it was of memorable significance.
Yang Peng thought for a while and said: "Aim the crossbow at the pirate ship to intimidate the pirates. The first platoon of sailors, the second class, and the third class went up on the small sampan to collect all the valuable things from the pirates.
Tie up all the pirates." The Tianjing slowly stopped more than 300 meters south of the pirate ship, and pointed the nine-door crossbow on the port side at the pirate ship. If the pirates were slipping, Yang Peng was ready to attack at any time.
The pirate ship was sunk. Fifteen sailors boarded the pirate ship in two small sampans and began to collect loot.
Yang Peng walked into the captain's room on the poop, poured two cups of tea, and brought it out. One cup was given to the helmsman who performed well, and he drank the other slowly while waiting for the fifteen sailors to finish their work on the pirate ship. "The helmsman performed well.
That's good. What's your name, and how many years have you been at the helm?" "City Lord, our name is Xiao Tong, and we have been at the helm for four years." Yang Peng nodded and said, "Xiao Tong, I will reward you three times for your good performance this time.
Ten taels of silver. In the past few days, you can teach more apprentices who learn to steer with you. If you teach two apprentices, I will reward you with another thirty taels of silver."
Xiao Tong was very happy and said: "Thank you City Lord!" "You deserve this." After waiting for an hour, two squads of soldiers finally searched the pirate ship, tied up all the pirates, and carried two
The big box was returned to the Tianjing. The small sampan stopped at the side of the Tianjing, tied the big box with a rope, and let the sailors on the Tianjing pull it up.
Yang Peng walked to the side of the ship and opened two large boxes. He saw that there were about a hundred taels of gold and several thousand taels of various kinds of silver inside. Yang Peng spat: "These pirates are really poor."
After thinking about it, Yang Peng turned around and shouted to the sailors: "Eighty crossbowmen, each of them will be rewarded with ten taels of silver!" The gunners were jubilant and high-fived each other. The squad leader of the second squad of the first row of sailors who climbed on board said to him
Li Zhi asked: "City Lord, these pirates are all Japanese pirates from the Japanese country. I can't understand a word when they are babbling. How should I deal with them?"
Yang Peng waved his hand and said: "If we had been defeated by these Japanese pirates just now, we would all be dead. We cannot be soft-hearted towards these Japanese pirates! Sink the Japanese pirate ships! Let them sink into the sea to feed the fish!"
The ship sailed for another three days and arrived at Hirado, a trading port in the northwest of Japan. Hirado is an island and the territory of a Japanese prince named Hirado. Before the Tenkyo entered the port, there were two small boats.
Driving out of the port, in addition to the boatman and sailor, there were three Japanese samurai and two Japanese translators on the small boat. The boat drove to the side of the Nova, and the Tianjin lowered the rope ladder, allowing the samurai and translators to climb up.
On board the ship were the inspectors and translators of the Japanese Hirado clan, who came to check the route of the ship. Yang Peng asked Zheng Kaida to take these samurai to inspect. The three Japanese samurai were very happy to see that all the people on the ship were from the Song Dynasty, and chatted with Zheng Kaida.
A few words, extremely enthusiastic. The three warriors checked and determined that the ship was from the Song Dynasty, so they took the boat back to the port. A quarter of an hour later, two more boats came out of the port. Each boat got on
There stood a samurai with a Tsukiyo head shaved and wearing regular Haori uniforms. The two samurai could speak the Song Dynasty Mandarin and shouted loudly in the Song Dynasty Mandarin, guiding the Tenkyo into Kawauchiura, the port of the Hirado Domain.
When the Tenkyo entered the port, it used a paddle wheel, which shocked the samurai who were guiding it. However, they all thought that the paddle wheel was turned by the sailors inside the ship, so they didn't ask much. When they entered the Hirado Domain
At the port of Hanoi, everyone saw a very prosperous trading city. There were about forty or fifty thousand residents in the town with a radius of more than ten miles. Hanoi was filled with shops, shops, and inns with black tiles and wooden walls.
, samurai houses and entertainment venues are lined up in rows. Compared with the simple civilian residences, the architectural structures in this port town pay attention to the appearance and appearance, and they look very prosperous.
People of various races walked among them, including people from the Song Dynasty wearing Tang Dynasty clothes, Japanese people with shaved hair and sideburns, and Dutch people with blond hair and blue eyes. The largest number of them were Song people, at least half of them were Song people. Yang Peng got off the boat.
, led everyone to walk in the market, and kept hearing people speaking the Song Dynasty Mandarin. It is now mid-July, and it is the time when the southern ships sail to the Japanese country with the wind. At this time, there are hundreds of ships of various colors moored on the pier.
There are thirty to forty multi-deck oceangoing ships, most of which are Chinese-style fortune ships with a low front and a high back, and there are also spacious and pot-bellied Dutch merchant ships.
There was a large amount of goods piled on the shore of the pier. The guys in various shops were busy sorting out the transportation, shouting and shouting one after another, and they were very busy. Yang Peng walked around the market, and then returned to the pier and found that there were already more than a dozen
Chinese and Japanese businessmen gathered around their ship. When they saw Yang Peng approaching in a crowd, the businessmen knew that the captain was back, and they crowded over to drum up business and asked Yang Peng to sell the goods to them.
Yang Peng looked at the general manager on the ship and asked: "How are these goods sold?" The general manager said: "It turns out that Mr. Cha has a business store in Hirado, and he sells the goods slowly in the business store. Sir, if in the future
If you want to do business in Hirado for a long time, it would be best to build a business store." Yang Peng thought for a while and said: "Find the lord of the Hirado clan and say that the hussar general of the Song Dynasty is here and wants to see him. Let's
Meet him on the boat."
The general manager nodded and said: "Okay City Lord, I will go find the Lord of the Hirado Domain right now." Yang Peng sent the general manager away and inquired with the merchants who gathered around him. Many of those merchants were from the Song Dynasty and understood Yang Peng.
Even Japanese businessmen can communicate with a translator.
Yang Peng first asked about the market for soap. He asked around and found that these merchants all knew the uses of soap. It seemed that some people had sold soap to Hirado before. Yang Peng tried to bargain with the merchants, and finally paid thirty-five cents a piece.
I sold two boxes of soap for the same price.
It seems that soap is a best-seller even in Japan. Calculating this, if a box of soap is shipped to Japan and sold, the profit is a hundred taels more than if sold domestically. A box of soap weighs a ton, and the Tianjin ship is full of soap.
It can hold more than 300 boxes. If Yang Peng ships all soaps to Japan in the future, the profit will be more than 30,000 taels per trip.
Yang Peng showed the Yang Jia Jing cloth to these merchants. The merchants touched it carefully, looked at it, and finally gave a price of one, two or three yuan. This price surprised Yang Peng. This Yang Jia Jing cloth
Cloth in Cangzhou and Bianjing only sells for one tael of silver, but when sold to Japan, there is a price difference of three taels of silver. Those merchants said that cotton cloth in Japan generally retails for about 1, 25, 1, 26, or 1, 26 taels. Yang Peng's fine cloth is of good quality.
, the sales will not be bad, merchants can buy it for one to two or three yuan, and resell it for one to two or four yuan to wholesale, which is profitable. Yang Peng sold 10,000 pieces of fine cloth to those merchants for one to two to three yuan, and those merchants
Extremely happy.
Cloth is very light. If the Tianjing is loaded with cloth, it can carry 100,000 pieces. In the future, if the Tianjing is loaded with cloth every time it goes to Japan, then the profit of each trip will be 30,000 taels of silver. Yang Peng asked again
For the price of raw silk, those merchants all quoted 200 taels, or at most 210 taels. It seems that the competition in the raw silk trade is too fierce, and there is no profit anymore. If Yang Peng's ship carries all raw silk to Japan, one ship will have two
A profit of ten thousand taels of silver.
Yang Peng showed the Yang family's fine steel to the merchants again. The merchants gathered around and looked at it with little interest. I don't know whether it was because these merchants didn't know the goods or because Japan's demand for fine steel was not high. The glass mirror was transparent.
Yang Peng also asked about luxury goods such as glassware, and found that the prices were similar to those in the Song Dynasty, and they could only be sold slowly, with limited sales. Yang Peng thought about it and felt that this should be the case. These luxury goods do not take up space.
If the price difference was large and the demand was strong, other maritime merchants would have already come to Japan to sell the goods.
Yang Peng and the merchants inquired about the price, then returned to the poop of the ship, waiting for the lord of the Hirado clan. After an hour, Yang Peng saw the crowds on the pier moving to both sides, including dozens of Japanese samurai.
Riding fast horses, we arrived at the port. The warriors all rode tall horses and wore silk feathers. Surrounded by these warriors, a middle-aged samurai with a shaved Tsukiro head rode to the side of the Tianjing ship and jumped off the horse.
.
The person who came was the Lord of the Hirado Domain. He walked skillfully onto the ship from the gangway and led two guards to the poop where Yang Peng was. When they arrived at the poop, the two guards stood outside the poop.
The Lord of the Todo Domain walked into the tail building alone. Yang Peng had changed into the official uniform of the Song Dynasty and was sitting there with the translator drinking tea. The Lord of the Hirado Domain was surprised to see Yang Peng so young. But he was very
He quickly regained his composure, bowed his hands like a Han Chinese, and shouted something in Japanese.
The translator said: "The Lord of the Hirado Domain, Matsuura Jinnobu, has met the Great General of the Song Dynasty. I heard that the General defeated the Khitan people. I admire him very much! I didn't expect to see the left governor in Hirado." The Great Song Maritime Merchant of the Hirado Domain
Very much, this Matsuura Jinshin often came into contact with the maritime merchants of the Song Dynasty, and basically knew about the major events of the Song Dynasty. When Yang Peng saw that Matsuura Zhenxin knew about him, he laughed loudly and said: "Okay, the feudal lord is seated!"
Matsuura Jinshin sat down on the chair, and Yang Peng said: "Lord, I will have several ships come to Hirado every month to do business, and the business will be more and more." Matsuura Jinshin was stunned and asked:
"Every month? How can the ship sail if the monsoons are different?" Yang Peng said: "My ship does not use wind, it is driven by a machine!"
Matsuura Jinshin thought for a while and didn't understand, but he didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, if Ming merchants came to Hirado, Matsuura Jinshin would be able to collect taxes and make money. He couldn't ask for it. Even if Yang Peng's boat was rowed there with an oar.
, he also welcomed. Yang Peng said straight to the point: "The purpose of my looking for you is to set up a business store in Hirado. Do you have a suitable place to sell to me?" Matsuura Zhenxin thought for a while and said: "Yes!
General Li Gong of the Tang Dynasty decided not to engage in sea trade. During this time, he has been looking for someone to sell his business building. His business building has more than fifty houses, two large warehouses, a large area and a good location. It is Hirado
The largest shopping mall.”
If you want to know what happens next, let’s look at the breakdown in the next chapter.