Four hundred and seventieth chapter three table seats
The grass finches flying from Siberia feasted on the rice that was about to be harvested in the Pearl River Delta. They were covered in oil and were at their most plump. It was the first time for Cummins to eat this "Guangdong delicacy", and he also ate it with gusto.
I ate about ten of them, chewing the meat and bones to pieces.
"We can get tens of thousands of yuan for this meal... which is worth the circulation coupons." Thorpe said, in another time and space, each bird would be sold for 200 yuan in a hotel.
"Is it so expensive?" Xie Peng was a little skeptical after hearing from Lin Baihu that there were grass sparrows everywhere, and each one in the market only costs a few dozen cents."
Lin Ming just laughed a few times and didn't say anything. He just spread out the dishes and said, "Come on, this is stewed eggs with grass worms. They are the most delicious."
However, the maggot-like insects solidified in this stewed egg were enough to scare Xie Peng and Cummins away. Thorpe did not hesitate and ate a few spoonfuls: there was a little pepper in it, which was delicious and juicy, better than what he had eaten in another time and space.
It tasted much better when it arrived: at least it was a lot more in terms of quantity.
"It's a pity that there are no dragon fleas." Lin Ming felt a little pity, "Now is the time to eat dragon fleas."
"You shouldn't scare them to death if you take this thing out." Thorp smiled, "I think the county magistrate is very polite to you."
"When we Jin Yiwei go out to do business, we always have to give this little face. It's just spending the county's money to buy a favor." Lin Ming was quite proud.
Thorpe nodded. The Jinyiwei brand was indeed of great use along the way. He was originally a little worried about his ostentatious staff trip, but the people from the Foreign Intelligence Service said that when traveling long distances in this time and space, nothing is better than the official brand.
A safer cover.
As they were talking, a bodyguard suddenly came in and said that someone had brought another banquet.
"Which master gave it to me?" Lin Ming asked.
"The person who came didn't want to say anything, so he put down the food box and left." The escort asked, "Do you want to carry it in?"
"Of course we have to bring it in," Thorpe said. "Let's see what good thing it is first."
The bodyguard immediately brought in the food box and opened it to see that it was in the format of eight large bowls. Lin Ming's eyelids twitched as he said: Government officials generally do not use this kind of noodles.
"Damn, why is there still a bowl of cockroaches!" Cummins shouted.
"This is the dragon flea," Thorpe said. "You can eat it by dipping it in soy sauce and twisting the head off. It's also a unique thing in Guangdong."
"I still won't eat this thing of unknown origin." Xie Peng was very cautious.
Lin Ming picked up a reed in the food box, looked at it, and said with a smile: "It's not that the origin is unknown, just now we had a banquet for an 'official', now it's a banquet for a 'thief'
.”
"thief?"
"Yes. This reed is the mark of Tian Biao, a water bandit in Gaoyao County upstream." Lin Ming said, "His shed is thirty miles upstream."
"Why do you want to give us a banquet?" Thorpe asked.
"It's nothing more than selling a favor to ask for future favors." Lin Ming put down the reed, "The stolen goods he robbed on the Xijiang River cannot be sold locally. They have to be transported to Foshan to be turned into money. Sooner or later, if you don't see the temple burning incense, it will be taken away.
Just chop off the head."
What Lin Ming didn't say was that he had a "friend" relationship with Master Tian.
"It's really a family of officials and bandits." Cummins said contemptuously.
Although this was a good thing, Lin Ming felt a little uncomfortable when he heard it. He just smiled and said: "It has always been like this. If you accept some incense and close your eyes like us, you have no conscience. In the yamen, you collude with water bandits to get money.
It’s not like there aren’t those who add two to one and make five…”
Thorpe thought that the social environment here is really complicated. It seems that the Guangdong strategy is far from being solved by simple military means...
"Can this banquet be eaten? Will it be poisoned?" Cummins recalled the lesson of the work team that was wiped out.
"No." Lin Ming said, "Just eat it with confidence. Unless he gets crazy, there is nothing he can do to poison us."
Because everyone had already eaten. Except for Thorpe who left the dragon fleas as snacks, the others took care of carrying the banquet out to the bodyguards and boatmen as a tooth sacrifice. Unexpectedly, as soon as the banquet was carried out, the bodyguard came to report again: There are three
Chen Hongyi, a boatman from Shuixian County, sent a banquet.
"Who is this again?" Looking at the steaming grass sparrows, grass worm stewed eggs and dragon fleas in the food box, Cummins already felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach.
"Shopkeeper Chen also sent a gift." The escort presented a red greeting card and a gift list.
Lin Ming picked up the big red greeting card and said, "This is shopkeeper Chen from the shipping company. His ships ply the Xijiang River all year round, and they always visit the temple to burn incense."
Cummins leaned over and took a look. The items on the gift list were very simple: ten stones of white rice, two jars of the best Lanling wine, some smoked roasted duck, and a load of snow pear and melon.
"Rice is also used as a gift?" Cummins was very curious. "Where can I find this thing? Isn't it too heavy to move around?"
"This is the incision for giving gifts." Thorpe said, "Ten stones of white rice means ten taels of silver. Right, Lin Baihu."
"Yes. The chief is right." Lin Ming laughed a few times, and now the ten taels of silver could only be paid to the public.
He seemed to be very familiar with Mr. Chen. He asked, "Do you have any message from Mr. Chen?"
"The people who came here said that Mr. Chen was afraid of disturbing official business, so he didn't dare to come over to say goodbye. He also said that if Lin Baihu has any instructions, he can just let the people here know."
When Lin Ming was about to say something, Thorpe said: "This shopkeeper Chen has a lot of money. He looks like a big boat owner."
"Yes, he is a big boat owner on the Xijiang River. His boats start from Sanshui and go all the way to Nanning, Guangxi."
"Are there many boats?"
"There are probably more than a hundred ships, large and small." Lin Ming said, "I don't know the exact number. Guangzhou and Zhaoqing have the largest number of ship owners in this province. Shopkeeper Chen's business is very large, and management by both public and private parties is indispensable.
of."
Thorpe thought to himself, Lin Baihu, the Jin Yiwei, was quite a figure: officials, bandits, and businessmen all sold off his face and all wanted to fawn over him. Is this Jin Yiwei's skin so valuable?
"Since he is sincere in giving gifts, it doesn't hurt to invite him to meet him." Thorpe thought that since this man is a ship owner, he must be very familiar with the situation of Xijiang water transportation. Talk to him personally and see what materials he can get along the way.
More informative.
"Yes, yes, since the chief said so, I will ask him to come over and talk about it." Lin Ming said hurriedly.
When the servant went back to report to Lin Baihu and asked him to "come aboard and see him," Chen Hongyi had already gone to bed and hugged his concubine in the sixth room to sleep. This evening, he heard from his men on the dock that an official ship had arrived, and it was Lin Baihu, Foshan.
Yes, he immediately asked people to prepare banquets and gifts to send - as usual, he had such filial piety for the officials of this province who passed through the border. He worked as a boat owner on the Xijiang River, with hundreds of large and small ships under his command, and thousands of boatmen and helmsmen. In the eyes of the government,
There are "unstable factors" here, so the transportation authorities are very important. Besides, he has some contacts with Lin Baihu. When one of his rice boats was impounded, it was Lin Baihu who helped run it. This is how the friendship was forged.
.
However, the friendship between them was not to the point where Lin Baihu would come to invite him when he saw the invitation. Therefore, they were not prepared to go out. When the servant hurriedly knocked on the door, saying that Lin Baihu invited him
When he saw it, he quickly got up. He couldn't help but feel anxious.
Chen Hongyi is in his fifties, with a bronze complexion and muscles all over his body. Even wearing silk and satin can't hide his background as a shipwright. But his hair has turned completely white and his back is a little rickety - all these years.
The traces left by the life on the water. At the age of fourteen, he boarded a boat and rowed, sailing in the wind and waves on the Xijiang River, through life and death. He finally earned this family fortune.
It is even more difficult to maintain this family business. Over the years, shopkeeper Chen has made a lot of money by transporting rice from Guangxi and salt from Guangdong. Having money will inevitably lead to "fat meat". In this vast soup
To do business on the Xijiang River, it is not enough to just be able to make money - sooner or later it will be turned into a floating corpse in Sixianjiao Huishui Bay - you must also have the ability to use transportation to disrupt the forces of all parties.
Lin Ming is not his backer: he is not qualified yet, but as a "friend", Lin Ming is still very useful when he needs help with something - he has many friends and acquaintances, and he has such a face.
Pi, I can talk to him everywhere, so I try my best to curry favor with him on weekdays.
"Quickly, bring me the guest's clothes!" He asked, "Tell people to prepare more lanterns!"
His family lived just outside Sanshui County, just a stone's throw from the dock. At that moment, more than a dozen servants lit lanterns and torches and escorted Chen Hongyi all the way.
But when he saw Lin Baihu greeting him at the bow of the boat, he was immediately surprised again. He had always known that Lin Ming had quite heavy officialdom habits and was used to flattering superiors and inferiors. A businessman like him, even though he had a good reputation because of his interests,
Although he was polite in person, he still looked down on him in his heart. The few times they met, he never came to greet him.
The so-called abnormal behavior made Chen Hongyi increasingly uneasy. After the two met, Lin Baihu whispered: "There is a master inside who wants to see you. Please speak carefully."
Chen Hongyi hurriedly said: "Young man, I understand!" But he was secretly beating in his heart. Who is this "master"? Lin Baihu actually came out to take care of him in person. Could it be his superior officer?
Chen Hongyi secretly complained in his heart: Since ancient times, when officials wanted to meet businessmen, they only asked for money.
However, when things came to a head, there was no reason why he couldn't go in, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and get into the cabin.
The cabin was lit with an Australian kerosene lamp, which illuminated it brightly. Chen Hongyi saw a young man in his thirties sitting in the main seat in the cabin. He was fair-skinned and beardless, wearing a Huluo t-shirt and a black crepe Confucian scarf. He behaved calmly and gracefully.
Yong Rong couldn't help but feel suspicious. He quickly took a step forward and bowed to the end: "Young man Chen Hongyi, a boat owner in Sanshui County, is polite."
"No need to be polite, please take a seat." The young man spoke in Guangzhou vernacular, "Is this the shopkeeper Chen Hongyi Chen?"
"Yes, that's right, Xiaomin." Although Chen Hongyi didn't know the identity of the other party yet, he saw that Thorpe's demeanor and demeanor showed that he was definitely not an ordinary person, and he could command Lin Ming like his brothers. He was probably a nobleman from the provincial capital or the capital. (Unfinished)