Tianjin Port is the largest port in the north of Ming Dynasty.
It is backed by the capital, connects North China, Liaodong, radiates to the northwest and south of Mongolia. The jade shafts are connected with each other, and hundreds of boats compete for water; colorful flags stretch to the sky, and thousands of sails cover the sea.
Unlike Shanghai's private port, which has many ports, Tianjin's private port has only one name, Jinghua Tianjin Port.
In Tianjin Port, the most powerful force is naturally the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance Fleet with the Beijing Beiyang Fleet as its core. In addition, there are also many ships from other forces that call this port, not only the imperial court's
Ships, merchant ships from Jiangnan, and fleets from Liaodong, Shandong and other places.
Even after last year, a small number of foreign ships with longitudinal soft sails occasionally appeared in Tianjin Port. Although the sailors and other people on board were only allowed to move in the private port, the fact that these foreign ships were allowed to temporarily berth was already a big problem.
progress.
Even though Jinghua is backed by Gao Pragmatism, it is not easy for Jinghua to obtain this concession from the imperial court. For this reason, Jinghua needs to fully bear all the responsibilities for these foreigners "if they cause trouble."
For this reason, Jinghua Private Port has formulated a strict management system to restrict these merchant ships from Europe. Before entering the port, merchant ships must undergo boarding inspection by Jinghua outside the port and temporarily surrender the on-board artillery, gunpowder, and firearms.
, knives and other standard weapons.
According to Jinghua's regulations, all types of weapons temporarily confiscated will be written on the list with the captain or fleet command of the other party and signed by the leaders of both parties. Jinghua will charge a certain storage fee for this, but at the same time ensure that these weapons -
—including gunpowder—are properly stored.
At the same time, Jinghua has further strengthened the deployment of armed servants at the seaport and established a more professional port guard than in the past. In Tianjin Port alone, Jinghua's port guard has as many as 800 people. Of course, these guards are not
It is not just for foreigners, all security matters in Tianjin Port depend on their work.
There are not many honest sailors who dare to go out to sea these days. Although Jinghua owns more ships than anyone else in Tianjin Port and naturally has the most sailors, we cannot rely on sailors to maintain public order. A dedicated "port military police"
It is still necessary - otherwise, if Jinghua's own sailors have conflicts with each other, will anyone be able to take care of it?
Because of this series of measures, the security atmosphere in Tianjin Port is still quite good. Especially under the threat of Gao Pragmatic, the "number one literary commander in the world", together with a group of noble cronies belonging to the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, even if
They are used to showing off their power in other places, but once they enter Tianjin Port, they unconsciously become more honest, and very few dare to cause trouble.
However, Tianjin Port encountered a little trouble today: someone on an armed transport ship flying Jinghua's own "Book and Sword" flag clearly refused to search the room.
What made Tianjin Port Director Sun Weifeng look even more gloomy was that these people declared that "no one can enter the house to search unless Gao Situ comes in person."
Sun Weifeng is not a servant of the Gao family, let alone a son of the family, but is of a general nature as a "employed shopkeeper". Starting from his father's generation, several brothers from the Sun family have been employed shopkeepers of the Gao family, and most of them have outstanding abilities. In his generation, the cousins
He even passed the exam for two talented people, one of whom was him.
However, he realized that he had no hope of taking the imperial examination again, so he still worked for the Gao family. After more than ten years of hard work, he became the director of Tianjin Port at the age of thirty-one. He was considered young and promising.
He relied on his ability to become the director of Tianjin Port and dealt with various problems. But when the other party was so arrogant that he said such words, he couldn't help but feel a little angry.
"Who is the other party? Have you figured it out?" Sun Weifeng, who rushed to the berth with his people, asked the captain of the port guard squadron who was blocked from leading the inspection.
The squadron leader replied: "I asked the captain of this ship and he said it was a delegation from the Ye He tribe in Liaodong coming to Beijing to pay tribute."
"Are they here?" Sun Weifeng had obviously heard about this, but it seemed that he didn't know the details, because he went on to say: "These barbarians really don't understand the rules. It is a special matter for the imperial court to allow them to pay tribute by sea.
Special Agent, they actually think they are so outrageous that they even dare to refuse to abide by Jinghua’s rules.”
The squadron leader nodded repeatedly and asked: "Director, what should we do now? Do we want to forcibly disarm? Well, the younger one said, they are a mission after all, and they are going to pay tribute to the emperor..."
"Of course paying tribute to the emperor is a big deal, but when you go to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, you must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty. The laws of Tianjin Port are also the laws of the Ming Dynasty, don't you need to abide by them?" Sun Weifeng looked very calm, and waved his hand slightly: "Just follow it.
I will go on board to negotiate, and if they are still stubborn, those who should disarm will still have to disarm, and those who should be searched will naturally have to be searched."
Then he paused again, with a flash of disdain in his eyes, and sneered: "How dare you say that I need the master to come in person to search? What a joke, even if Nalin Bulu and Bu Zhai came, with their two pieces of information, they are worthy of the master.
Coming in person?"
"Hahahaha!" The squadron leader and the surrounding port guard members laughed together.
"If our master were here, the two Jurchen Yi people would have crawled over on their knees to lick the soles of my master's shoes!"
"Haha, when you say that, I can imagine what it looks like!"
Everyone looked at each other and started laughing and taunting each other.
Sun Weifeng just smiled slightly, and Shi Shiran boarded the ship under the guidance of the escort. As soon as he got on the ship, he found that the sailors on the ship and a group of Jurchens dressed in completely different clothes stood in two distinct groups, but they were not invincible to each other.
The meaning of sight.
As for the other group of port guards who arrived first, they were standing directly opposite a group of Jurchens, seemingly in a confrontation.
The Yanling knives in the hands of these escorts were already unsheathed, but the Jurchens opposite did not have weapons in their hands, but I don't know whether they did not carry weapons, or they were aware of their situation and did not dare to take them out.
Sun Weifeng stepped forward, and the escorts made way for him with a clear look, so he quickly walked to the front and faced the Jurchen envoys directly.
The leader of the Jurchen mission at this time was a young man with a rather burly physique. Although his triangular eyes were not big, there was clearly a coldness and sophistication honed on the battlefield that did not match his age.
"May I ask who is here?" the young Jurchen man asked in standard Chinese but with a distinct Liaodong accent. When he asked this question, he imitated the Han ritual and clasped his fists.
Sun Weifeng did not expect such a scene, but since a foreigner could take the initiative to show courtesy, he had no choice but to bow his hand slightly and replied: "I am the manager of Jinghua Tianjin Port, my surname is Sun, and you are the envoy of Tarum Guards?
"
As mentioned earlier, Tarumuwei was the official name of the Yehe tribe in the Ming Dynasty.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the young man seemed to have a flash of embarrassment on his face, but he quickly nodded and replied: "As for your father, I am only responsible for the safety of the mission."
Sun Weifeng thought that the reason why he was embarrassed was because he regarded him as his official envoy, so he didn't think much about it. He nodded lightly and asked, "In that case, where is your father?"
Before the young man could reply, a Jurchen in his early forties came out of the cabin and saluted Sun Weifeng with clasped fists and said: "The tribute envoy of the Tarum Guards, the Hulun wild man Sorguo has met Director Sun."
Sun Weifeng looked at him with slight surprise, then looked at the young man before, and asked: "Is this your son?"
This Sorgo seemed to be asked this question often, and he smiled and said: "It's Quanzi." Judging from his appearance, he should be quite satisfied with his son, and even proud of him.
Sun Weifeng nodded and said: "He was born majestic." It turned out that the reason why he asked this question just now was because this young man was more than half a head taller than his father.
The Jurchens at this time were not known for their tallness, and cannot be viewed with the customary thinking of "Northeastern Hans" of later generations. In fact, the Jurchens' physiques are generally stocky - not tall but strong.
Sorguo's figure is slightly taller among the Jurchens, and his son is more than half a head taller than him. Compared with other Jurchens near the hatch, he is almost a head taller. So Sun Weifeng
Only then was he surprised, and after Sorgo's affirmative reply, he praised him slightly.
But that didn't stop there. Sun Weifeng only paused for a moment after saying this, and then asked again: "I heard that your envoy refused our search according to regulations. I wonder if this is the case."
Sorgo admitted frankly: "It is true."
Sun Weifeng narrowed his eyes slightly, with a hint of chill in his tone: "If your envoy refuses our Tianjin Port inspection based on the tribute, according to the imperial edict issued by the emperor last year, our port guard has the right to identify your envoy and his entourage.
Invading the territory of the Ming Dynasty... I wonder if the two ministers Nalinbulu and Buzhai have allowed your envoy to act like this, and as for all the consequences, is Tarum Guard ready to bear it?"
Unexpectedly, Solguo shook his head and said: "Director Sun misunderstood. Our inability to accept inspection has nothing to do with paying tribute."
Although Sun Weifeng was a little surprised when he heard this, his expression turned even worse and he said coldly: "Oh? Does that mean that you personally don't allow us to search?" He snorted softly: "In that case, you are
Are you planning to use force to resist inspection?”
Since it "has nothing to do with paying tribute", Sun Weifeng didn't even bother to say "your envoy" and started directly with "you".
Sorguo frowned and said, "Director Sun doesn't know about this either?"
Sun Weifeng didn't know what he was talking about, and there was a look of doubt on his face for a moment. Sorguo glanced at the port guard beside him, with a troubled expression on his face, and hesitated: "Can Director Sun take a step to speak?"
The squadron leader of the escort team beside Sun Weifeng immediately became alert and reminded Sun Weifeng: "Supervisor, be careful of fraud."
Waving his hand, Sun Weifeng looked at Sorguo, then at his son, thought for a moment, and suddenly smiled: "Why not?"
Then he turned his head slightly and said to the squadron leader: "You know the rules, so you don't need me to say more. No matter what happens later, it won't affect your work. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand." The squadron leader lowered his head slightly, but his tone was very sure.
Sun Weifeng stopped talking to him and instead said to Sol Guo: "Go in and talk."
Thorgo nodded, but told his son: "It's still the original order: no one is allowed to enter unless you die."
The young man raised his chin slightly and replied, "Don't worry, Ama."
Sorguo said no more and extended his hand towards Sun Weifeng: "Director Sun, please."
Sun Weifeng didn't say much, and walked into the cabin. This cabin was not just one room, but connected to many rooms.
According to Sun Weifeng's advanced understanding of the Jinghua-style armed transport ship, this section of the cabin is the best cabin and cargo warehouse of the ship. Generally speaking, if there are no important guests, these cabins are used to store valuable goods and even gold and silver. Once the ship is
If there are distinguished guests on board, a special cabin will be temporarily built and replaced with high-end furniture and other items before departure from the port.
This section of the cabin is obviously used as a special cabin, and as soon as Sun Weifeng entered, he found that the doors of the other cabins were open, except for the best cabin, the door was tightly closed, and there was no sign of opening it.
Sun Weifeng's heart was moved and he thought to himself: Could it be that the Jurchens want to pay tribute to some rare and exotic treasures but are worried that I, Tianjin Port, will take advantage of Cai? What a joke, I have never seen any treasures in Tianjin Port, how can I covet your things?
But he immediately felt that something was wrong. The Jurchens might not have seen much of the world, but since they were a tribute mission, they had to report in advance whatever they brought to pay tribute. In other words, the court had known about it for a long time.
What kind of tribute did they bring? In this case, how could Tianjin Port dare to take advantage of Cai? This is tantamount to robbery on the emperor's head. Isn't it against his own head?
Sun Weifeng secretly thought: Could it be that they are planning to sell some private goods, but they don't dare to let us know? But what can the Jurchens sell? The top of the sky is Dongzhu, ginseng, mink, etc. Unless there is something of excellent quality and size.
The huge "King Dongzhu", otherwise I wouldn't even be interested in taking another look at it. As for being so talkative?
However, what happened next made Sun Weifeng even more surprised. Sorguo walked outside the closed cabin, knocked lightly, and said politely: "Gege, the person here is the director of Tianjin Port.
Logically speaking, he should be Gao Situ's confidant."
This sentence itself is a bit weird, but Sun Weifeng is even more surprised by two points: First, the term "Ge Ge". Isn't this a title only given to sisters or daughters of Baylor from various Jurchen tribes? This Jurchen envoy is here to pay tribute
Yes, how could there be a Ge Ge mixed in?
Secondly, Sorguo's attitude was also rather strange. When he spoke to this Gege, his expression was "polite" rather than respectful. It was as if... that person was not his master.
Sun Weifeng was confused, but the situation was unclear at this time, so he had to remain calm, neither asking questions nor showing any surprise.
At this time, a beautiful female voice came from inside: "Thank you for your hard work, Thorgo Baylor, but I heard that according to Han people's rules, a woman cannot meet his family before she leaves the cabinet. Since Manager Sun is his confidant, I must also
If it is inconvenient to see him, please ask him to go back."
Sun Weifeng's expression suddenly changed.
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Drinking a Pot of Burning Wine", "Sword Flying Peng Chonglou", "Sex Friend All the Way", and "Dongguan Bald King" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: The guest has just left, so I will check if I can leave early in the morning. If I am too sleepy, it may not be until tomorrow morning.
