All the Qing businessmen were surprised when they suddenly heard their own language.
Lao Huang heard that this man's accent was from the Yangzhou area, so he smiled and clasped his fists, bowed and asked, "May I ask where you are from?"
Lu Shoushan had not met anyone from his hometown for many years. When he heard that the other person had a Yangzhou accent, he was very excited, so he raised his hands and returned the greeting: "I used to be from Taizhou. But because of some lawsuits, I followed my master to Beihai, and now I am from Beihai."
After saying that, he straightened up and waved his hand, motioning for everyone to sit down under the shed.
The businessmen walked to the shed full of doubts and saw Zhao and Liu getting up. They were surprised at the tallness of each other and quickly asked Lu Shoushan: "Who are these two?"
"This is my master, Master Zhao, and this is his deputy, Master Liu."
When everyone heard that these two were the captains and deputy leaders of the Thor ship, they quickly bowed and saluted with clasped fists, and announced their place of origin and name.
"I am a businessman from Yangzhou, Huang Maocai. I have met the two leaders."
"I am Shen Jingdan, a businessman from Suzhou..."
"My Excellency Cheng Tingmei, a businessman from Nanjing..."
Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng also smiled and bowed to these businessmen. When the last young businessman signed up, Zhao Xin was stunned.
"Why does this man's voice sound like a woman?" He raised his head and looked at the Nanjing businessman in front of him who called himself "Cheng Tingmei". He saw that this man had a dark face, a high nose, and a disgusting mustache at the corner of his mouth.
"Eh~~! It's so disgusting!" Zhao Xin scolded himself in his heart for being short-sighted and insisting on looking at the other person carefully.
Wait a minute, these eyes are quite pretty, but they are a waste on this person’s face. God doesn’t have eyes.
"Everyone, please take a seat. My surname is Zhao, and I have a new name. Today is the first time I meet you. I hope you will forgive me for my rudeness."
"Liu Sheng. Hello everyone."
As soon as Zhao Xin said these words, a group of Qing businessmen were stunned. The deck became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Lao Huang looked at Zhao Xin, opened and closed his mouth, went back and forth several times, and finally couldn't help but asked: "Da, Da, Sir, are you a bannerman?"
He had taken care of his family in the capital a few years ago and was very familiar with the Beijing dialect.
Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng looked at each other and laughed: "Mr. Huang, you see we don't even have braids, how can you say we are bannermen?"
Lao Huang was the fattest among the businessmen, so Zhao Xin remembered him immediately when he heard his registration number.
After everyone heard this and saw Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng's monk-like short hair, they were immediately relieved.
Yes, if you don’t do well as a bannerman, how can you cut off your pigtails and go to sea?
Shen Jingdan stood up and raised his hands and asked: "I wonder where the two leaders came from, why did they ask to see me by name?"
Zhao Xin waved his hand and asked Shen Jingdan to sit down, and then asked: "Are you Boss Shen? Sit down quickly, you're welcome. Let me make it clear first that we don't have flagmen on this ship, so please relax. I and this person Both brothers Liu are from the Tang Dynasty, but they are not subjects of your Qing Dynasty. They came from the northern mainland."
"Yes. Our place is called Beihai." Liu Sheng added.
"As for why I invite you here, I still want to chat with you and see if there is any chance to make a fortune together. We have rich leather products in Beihai. I wonder if you are willing to cooperate?"
"How far is it from Beihai to here?" A businessman asked with his hands raised.
Zhao Xin thought for a moment and then replied: "This is more than three thousand miles north."
"What kind of goods do you produce?"
Liu Sheng replied confidently: "Otter skins, deer skins, bear skins, fox skins of various colors. There are also sugar, salt, silks of various colors, glass, and porcelain."
"You still have white sugar there?!"
"Tch! Don't worry about the strong wind flashing your tongue. Who doesn't know that the most exquisite silk comes from Suzhou and Hangzhou in my country. Isn't the silk in your country smuggled from Hangzhou?"
"That's right. The exquisiteness of our country's porcelain is all due to the ingenuity of nature. As the saying goes, 'the color when viewed is like emerald glass, and the sound when struck is like chime jade.' How can it be compared to other places?"
"This leader Zhao, I am Wang Tongfeng, a businessman from Hangzhou. I don't know whether I should say something or not."
"Boss Wang, there's no need to be polite. Please speak frankly."
"Okay. All of you here are businessmen, and they have come all the way across the sea for a profit. I am very grateful to you, Mr. Zhao, for taking care of us. But you shouldn't have come! You guys yesterday
Forcibly entering the port and stopping at will without listening to the orders of port officials has violated the royal law here. If the officers and soldiers of the shogunate navy launch a forceful boarding, their lives will be hard to save!"
"Yes. Leader Zhao, we are all honest businessmen. Since we have received the letter from the government here, we should abide by the laws of this place. If we cooperate with you in business, how can we come to Nagasaki to trade in the future?
You are putting us on the fire to roast us."
"Yes, yes. We are all honest businessmen, so please let me go."
"You!" Liu Sheng slapped the table and stood up, glaring at these businessmen.
The interpreter from the Tang Dynasty and several officials from the execution office who were accompanying Zhao Xin and who were responsible for monitoring and recording saw that the Qing businessmen were accusing them before Zhao and Xin said a few words, so they wrote the records quickly with a look of pride on their faces.
.
Zhao Xin looked at the group of people in front of him and couldn't help but slowly narrowed his eyes, scanning them coldly.
When the businessmen saw the big leader's appearance, their voices slowly lowered, and finally fell into silence.
Zhao Xin said slowly: "Since you are worried about your long-term financial future, I can't force you. But as the saying goes, after passing this village, there will be no such store. If you miss this opportunity, I will take the initiative to find it next time.
Oh my, don’t blame us for not warning you beforehand.”
"Chief Zhao, please do it for your convenience and let me wait until I get back. My cargo is waiting for delivery. If this offends the local government, my whole family will suffer from the northwest wind."
"Yeah yeah."
Zhao Xin didn't intend to talk nonsense to these people anymore. He and Liu Sheng looked at each other and stood up to leave the table together.
"Lu Shoushan, send them away."
When all the merchants heard this, they all wanted to leave quickly. If they were caught by the officials of the execution office, even the letter plaques would be confiscated if they were not kept safe.
When Zhao Xin was making opening remarks with the businessmen, Shen Xuan kept staring at Lu Shoushan so hard that Lu Shoushan thought he had something growing on his face and unconsciously touched it with his hands a few times.
When everyone complained to Zhao Xin, Shen Xuan seemed to be sure of something. She then turned around and whispered to Shen Jingdan beside her for a while. After hearing this, Shen Jingdan immediately opened her eyes and looked at Shen Xuan, seeing that she was serious about herself.
After nodding his head, he fell into thinking again.
At this time, Zhao Xin issued an order to expel guests, and the Qing merchants stood up one after another, bowed their hands casually to Zhao and Liu to say goodbye, and followed Lu Shoushan to the gangway.
Shen Jingdan was still sitting on the chair, stroking his forehead and thinking deeply. At this time, he heard Lao Huang shouting from behind: "Boss Shen, are you leaving?"
"Ah? Let's go."
Shen Jingdan, who was being pondered by Lao Huang, agreed casually. Just as he was about to get up and take his daughter off the boat, he turned around and saw Shen Xuan looking at him with red eyes. Big tears were rolling in her eyes and they were about to fall.
He thought of his daughter's depression in the past three months; of how he abandoned his family and took his daughter to a foreign land to avoid harassment from the Wang family; he thought of Shen Xuan's father's life-saving grace for him...
"Leader Zhao, please stay!" Shen Jingdan ignored the looks of the island officials behind him, stood up and walked towards Zhao Xin, shouting.
"Oh?" Zhao Xin turned around and saw that it was Boss Shen from Suzhou, followed by that ugly young businessman. Then he asked lightly: "Boss Shen, is there anything else?"
Shen Jingdan bowed his hands and said in salute: "I have something I want to say to you, the senior attendant."
"Huh?" Zhao Xin was stunned. "Do you know each other?"
"Oh. It's Boss Cheng next to me who wants to ask him some old stories."
"Old things?" Zhao Xin rolled his eyes, recalled Lu Shoushan's past situations, and then shouted to Lu Shoushan: "Shoushan, come here."
"Master, do you have anything to say?" Lu Shoushan jogged a few steps, came over and bowed and asked.
"Boss Shen has something to ask you."
"Boss Shen, what do you want to ask me?"
Shen Jingdan turned around and glanced at the island officials not far away, and whispered to Zhao Xin: "Chief Zhao, there are so many people here, I wonder if you can find a secluded place on the ship?"
Got it. Zhao Xin snapped his fingers. "Shoushan, take these two to the conference room on the second floor. I'll come find you in a minute."
After hearing this, Lu Shoushan made an invitation gesture to Shen Jingdan and Boss Cheng, and led them into the poop.
The Qing merchants who were about to get off the ship saw Shen Jingdan and a young man whispering to Zhao Xin for a while, then followed the servant into the ship building and shouted quickly: "Boss Shen! You can't do it! You This is a liaison with foreign barbarians."
When they saw the two figures of Shen Jingdan gradually disappearing, everyone stamped their feet and sighed, but there was nothing they could do.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Zhao Xin saw the two island officials rushing to follow them into the ship building, and immediately shouted.
The two officials had just seen Zhao Xin being refuted by Qing businessmen. They were proud and said with a sneer: "All Tang people who go out to Tang people's houses must be placed under the supervision of the shogunate. Please get out of the way!"
"What are they going to do?" Liu Sheng was upset after being scolded by those people. After listening to Zhao Xin's explanation, his heart suddenly became angry and he raised his hand. That official has a lot of posts!
"Get out!"
The officials of the island nation did not expect that these people would dare to take action suddenly. Unprepared, Liu Sheng, a tall man, slapped him hard and slapped him away. He was spanked twice and sat down on the deck.
It's over! This guy has lost his temper again. Zhao Xin covered his forehead with a look of helplessness.
"You bastard! You are looking for death!" When another official saw his companion being humiliated, he drew out his sword angrily and was about to slash at Liu Sheng.
"Bang!" Ding Guofeng on the compass deck fired.
The official felt that the samurai sword in his hand was hit hard by someone with a giant hammer. Before he could let go, it was knocked to the ground by the huge impact. When he struggled to get up dizzy, he looked at his hand.
When I picked up the sword, I realized that only a short section of the katana was left, and the other half flew away to someone unknown.
The official's face turned pale immediately. The opponent had an iron cannon, and its accuracy was excellent!
"If you dare to use the knife again, you will be killed immediately! Huji, watch them and don't allow them to wander around on the ship." Zhao Xin looked at the two island officials at his feet with contempt and said word by word.