Chapter 140: The Pirate Who Snatched the Yellow Croaker
Chapter 140 The Pirates Who Steal the Yellow Croaker
Ten days later, Fukang'an finally set foot on the road back to Beijing from the south.
When he came, he had 364 people, including himself, but now there were only fifty people left around him. When he came, the entire city of Jilin Ula, both civil and military, went out to kneel down to greet him.
"Commander, do you have any other instructions?"
"Oh, don't mention the commander-in-chief." Fukang'an gave a decadent wry smile, and then told Jilin General Duerjia: "Remember, don't attack easily! Send Feiyaka and Kurkaqi mountain people to die.
Keep an eye on the Sira River and don't alert the snake! These people have already planted the land there and will not leave easily. The shipyard must build a big ship and the firepower must be fierce. The Yaksa ship is too small; I will send people there
Guangdong seeks help from the English."
"Commander, will you come back?"
"How could you not come back? Haigong's body has not been found yet!" Thinking of Hailancha, Fukangan's eyes instantly turned red.
From Wula City in Jilin to Shengjing, it is 820 miles; from Shengjing to the capital, it is more than 1,470 miles. Fukang'an did not ride a horse for a long time, and his mental state was extremely poor. He fell ill just after arriving in Shengjing three days later.
Yes, a high fever broke out.
At the same time, on the sea outside Ishinomaki Port of Sendai Domain, several special guests came aboard the Thor.
It is said that Katsuyama Denzo and Murata Jiroemon returned from Nagasaki and reported Zhao Xin's plan to reduce the "Zashi debt" through Shibata Kakuzo, which caused an uproar among the Sendai Domain retainers!
It has always been the samurai and the feudal lords who borrowed money from merchants. When they could no longer repay the loan, the feudal lords or the shogunate, who were overwhelmed by the debt, could only issue an order to forcibly reduce the debt or pay interest.
.
Now a businessman actually proposes to set up an "Ishinomaki Fund", and use one-third of each profit to help the feudal lords repay their debts. This is the first time in history!
Although there was a donation from merchants in the town of Yoshioka-juku Station back then, the purpose of those merchants was just to reduce the town's heavy horse-raising tax burden, and the domain still had to pay interest. (If you are interested, you can watch the movie "Your Highness"
,Give me some interest!》)
When Denzo Katsuyama and Jiroemon Murata were called into the secret room of Ninomaru in Aoba Castle and revealed all their plans, the old fox Morinobu Endo immediately smelled something different.
As an old man who has been in charge of the "Entry and Exit Department" of this domain for many years and has been in charge of finance, he knows these businessmen very well. This idea is not something that these two people in front of him can come up with!
Sure enough, after some questioning, Katsuyama Denzo and Murata Jiroemon finally hesitantly mentioned that the idea of this "fund" was proposed by Tang Yi. It sounded good, but this Tang Yi picture
what?
After Shibata Kakuzo came back and told the story of Tang Yi's battle with Saga Domain in detail, several important ministers in Sendai Domain were frightened. Fortunately, this domain did not torture and persecute the Tang Dynasty drifters. Up.
The 50,000 koku of polished rice he bought with Tang Yi for the first time greatly alleviated the famine in Sendai Domain. However, the financial tightness dilemma still could not be solved.
Several core family elders discussed it for several days, and finally decided to talk to Tang Yi first to see what the other party's purpose was.
Therefore, Zhao Xin could only ask Shen Jingdan and Lao Huang to wait. After transporting two batches of refugees to Beihai Town, the negotiators of the Sendai Domain finally arrived.
"This is the representative of the head of the family, Date Toda Morimura Tsune-sama." This Date Muratsune is actually the ninth son of the Tsunoda Ishikawa family, and is the half-brother of the Sendai feudal clan's elder Ishikawa Murafumi.
Urine was adopted into the Wudatani Date family and took over as the family governor.
"This is my host, Endo Morinobu." The old fox came again.
"This is the representative of the old Ishikawa Murafumi of our pen family, Ren Ishikawamura."
"This is the big leader of Beihai Town, Mr. Zhao Xinzhao."
Zhao Xin shook hands with the representatives sent by the Sendai clan very politely. He didn't care whether the people of the island country were suitable or not. However, for the sake of his planned strategy for the island country, Zhao Xin still had to put on a smile.
"Shibata-dono, these clothes are newly made, right? They look very energetic."
"Thanks to Mr. Zhao, I have been valued by the family head and have been promoted to the position of chief minister of this domain." Shibata Kakuzo has been promoted from a small secret agent to the chief of secret agents, with an annual salary of three hundred dan. However, his mission is not to go there.
Supervise the officials in various places, but are specifically responsible for connecting with Tang Yi.
After everyone in the conference room exchanged polite greetings, Endo Morinobu got straight to the point and directly raised his question.
"Excuse me, Mr. Zhao, what is the purpose of your 'Ishinomaki Fund'?"
Zhao Xin had expected that the other party would ask this, and said with a smile: "Maintain the rule of your shogunate, protect the authority of the generals and lords, and promote peace in the island country."
Bah!!! The four negotiators of the Sendai clan sitting opposite me cursed Zhao Xin in their hearts, this man actually had the nerve to say the word "peace".
Who bombarded more than 300 samurai of the feudal clan in Matsushima Town?! Who forced the clan to sign a secret agreement?! And who went to Nagasaki, the place under the direct control of the general, to blackmail?! Not to mention
Killed the Saga clan's army until it shed a river of blood!
Thinking of this, Endo Morinobu said with a serious face: "Let's not talk about the situation. Using one-third of the business profits to help the feudal lords pay off their debts sounds like a good thing. But Mr. Zhao, I am facing you here.
what is the benefit?"
"Everyone, how is the business of various companies on the market now?"
Shibata Kakuzo said: "Well... to be honest, among the shops in various towns now, except for rice shops, the others are not very good."
"That's because your taxes are too heavy! Let me tell you something you don't like to hear, how much does it cost to pay for each duty? If the money is not enough, taxes will be increased. Not to mention ordinary people, even businessmen can't bear it."
The young Ishikawamura listened to this and couldn't help but retort: "It is like this in every domain and Edo now! What can we do?"
Zhao Xin smiled and said: "That's why we need to increase tax revenue by stimulating consumption, instead of just increasing the tax burden. All businessmen and civilians have fled, and the feudal lords are in debt. It can only be a vicious cycle."
Endo Morinobu asked curiously: "Excuse me, what is stimulating consumption?"
This question was too big to explain in a few words. So Zhao Xin took out the whiteboard he had prepared long ago and gave an introductory class on market economy to the four people present, talking and drawing.
More than an hour later, Ishikawamura Ren looked at the schematic diagram on the whiteboard and exclaimed: "The feudal lords have reduced their debts, and the money in their hands can drive consumption; and consumption stimulates merchants and drives market prosperity. Even if the tax burden is reduced,
, as long as the scale increases, the income will naturally increase..."
Endo Morinobu raised his hand and interrupted Ishikawamura Ren, saying: "Mr. Zhao, I understand what you mean. However, if this domain does this, we will not be able to explain it to Edo! So the 'Ishinomaki Fund'
This is a voluntary act by merchants, and the feudal lord will not interfere with it."
He changed the topic and continued: "When I come here this time, I hope to continue to purchase a batch of rice."
"Oh? How much do you want?"
"One hundred thousand stones."
"Okay, pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other."
Before disembarking, Endo Morinobu and three other people were given a tour of the Thor by Deng Fei and Liu Sheng. Shibata Kakuzo took advantage of this time to express his apology to Zhao Xin in private.
Zhao Xin smiled and said: "Shibata-kun, you're worrying too much, it's okay."
Early the next morning, Katsuyama Denzo and Murata Jiroemon, who had heard the news about the negotiations, came again. As soon as they met, they anxiously asked Zhao Xin: "Sir, what should I do? The domain does not agree!"
"It doesn't matter, we can just do it in private. Didn't the old man Endo say yesterday that this is a voluntary act by the businessman? He acquiesced!"
"Ah? That's actually the case!"
"The old guy is very arrogant and won't let go at all. But I heard the meaning behind his words. He quietly entered the village and didn't want to shoot anyone!"
"Master Zhao! The two of us are on the same boat with you now, and our lives and wealth depend on it!"
"Don't worry, each of you will find two or three smart and powerful confidants and send them to Beihai Town for training for a period of time. A dozen or so people will not be able to get close to you."
After the two island businessmen expressed their thanks, Zhao Xindao said: "I have made arrangements for the Ezo land. You two can now send people to the Shazhou tribe to attack the front line. Remember what I said, don't bully the Ainu people.
!”
Two days later, two Benzai ships carrying a large amount of treason, animal skins and cigarettes were towed behind the Thor and slowly left the sea outside Ishinomaki Port. Katsuyama Denzo's service was very reliable, and he not only helped buy
Ship, promised a lot of money, and secretly hired a group of sailors.
Fifteen days later, the Thor finally arrived at the ocean east of the Shengsi Islands. Once here, the Thor could no longer go west.
In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Chongming Island and its three waters to the south, north and west were usually divided into the inner ocean. Referring to later maps, we can see that it is located in the south of Liaojiaozui at the mouth of the Yangtze River and west of the eastern end of Chongming Island (Shiliang).
The waters to the east are all classified into the inner ocean, and the east side is classified into the outer ocean. The Shengsi Islands and their nearby ocean waters are all classified into the outer ocean.
If you go further west from the Shengsi Islands, you will encounter a large number of merchant ships traveling from north to south, the Susong Town navy patrolling the sea, and pirates!
From the late Qianlong Dynasty, especially after the resignation of Yin Jishan, the governor of Liangjiang, Susong Town's naval force was weakened and its ships were decayed. The funniest thing is that one of the Susong Town's commander-in-chiefs actually got seasick!
During this period, robberies occurred frequently outside Jiangsu, not only the cargo of merchant ships, but also the catches of fishermen. In order to avoid going to sea to arrest pirates, the naval attaché responsible for overseas patrols often used money to bribe the victims' families.
Conceal theft and report it to superiors.
In order to escort Shen and Huang to land smoothly, Zhao Xin and everyone decided to berth the Thunder God in the bay on the north side of Flower and Bird Island on the east side of the Shengsi Islands. Zhao Xin himself and Wu Siyu would lead a platoon of soldiers.
Escort Shen and Huang to Shanghai on the ship.
Flower and Bird Island is two hundred miles away from Chongming Island in a straight line. It is named because it is long from east to west and shaped like a seagull.
Historically, until the late Qing Dynasty, with the opening of Shanghai, Ningbo and Yangtze River inland ports, and the busyness of the Pacific route, the Flower and Bird Island, which was a must-pass for the route, was eventually funded by the British because there were many islands and reefs nearby. , a lighthouse was built in 1870.
Liu Sheng and Deng Fei were very familiar with the conditions of the islands and reefs near Flower and Bird Island because they had traveled on this route many times in another time and space. When the Thor slowly sailed into the harbor of Flower and Bird Island, several islands were on the shore. The dilapidated sand boat docked appeared in Zhao Xin's field of vision, and dozens of wooden houses on the shore farther away were also faintly discernible.
"Pirates!" Shen Jingdan blurted out.
Zhao Xin asked in surprise: "Boss Shen, are you sure they are pirates?"
Shen Jingdan quickly explained: "Mr. Zhao, the imperial court has issued an order that people are not allowed to live on overseas islands. Not only are they not allowed to build huts or tents here, they are not even allowed to set up nets for fishing."
Well, Zhao Xin turned to Jiuzang beside him and said: "Ask the soldiers to get on the deck and prepare!"
In a wooden house on Flower and Bird Island, pirate Xu Dayong was scolding several of his men.
"Mom! What do you think you should do to grab fish?"
"Brother, this time we robbed several thousand kilograms of big yellowtail in Sanjiangsha!"
With a sound of "Pah!", Xu Da slapped his subordinate on the face and cursed angrily: "You fucking stop chewing old rice from tomorrow on. I make you eat salted fish every day! I won't kill you!"
He was so angry that he sat back on the chair, pointed at a group of men in front of him and said: "You didn't rob so many cargo ships, but you robbed 7,000 kilograms of fish and killed people! How can I do this in the future?"
Wang Changsheng, the second boss on the side, advised: "Boss, we can't blame them for this. Who asked that boy from the Zhou family to use the knife? We even injured our brothers."
Xu Dayong said: "Then what do you think we should do? If we don't deal with the seven thousand catties of big yellowtail right away, it will all fucking stink in two days!"
The second master said: "Let everyone quickly pick up some salt. I will go to Sansha today to ask the people from the Shachuan Gang about their harvest."
While they were talking, they saw a subordinate running in panting.
"Big brother, it's not good!"
Xu Dayong was still angry and cursed angrily: "Straighten your fucking tongue before you speak! If you keep stammering like this, I will choke you to death with my fish!"
He cursed like this, and the subordinate who reported the news became even more nervous and spoke more awkwardly. "There is a big ship coming from the sea!"
"Big ship? Could it be that it was damaged by wind and waves?"
Xu Dayong thought of this, turned around and picked up a wild goose feather knife from the shelf, and said to everyone in the room with excitement: "Big business is coming! Everyone copy the guy!"
More than an hour later...
The knife in Xu Da's hand was gone. His legs softened and he knelt on the ground with a "pop".
"Master! Please spare me! I just drank a few cups of horse urine and lost my mind. I offended Master Tianwei!"
At this time, Zhao Xin was sitting on the Taishi chair in the room, squinting at the bearded pirate in front of him; around Xu Dayong, seven or eight Beihai Town soldiers were pointing guns at him.
On the sea outside the house, two dilapidated sand boats were set on fire by anti-aircraft guns from the Thor; a dozen pirates fell in a pool of blood on the beach.
"Lord, we caught another one!" Jiuzang walked in with a small pirate in his arms. He pushed and knelt beside Xu Dayong.
Xu Da glanced sideways and saw that it was over. The second boss, Wang Changsheng, didn't run away either.
After a while, Wu Siyu walked in and sat down next to Zhao Xin.
"How about it?"
"A bunch of poor guys! They just found a hundred taels of silver and a boatload of yellow croaker!"
Zhao Xin laughed, turned to look at the two pirate leaders kneeling in front of him, and said jokingly: "Being a pirate and doing as much as you two are, is pretty weird."
"Yes, sir, please spare the little one! The little ones can't survive anymore, so they went to sea to do some small business."
"Yes, the villain will never dare to do it again!"
Zhao Xin waved his hand to Jiuzang and said, "Take them down and lock them up first, and we'll talk about it later."