Yan Siqi raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not object. He just said to her: "Wear a wetsuit."
"No, it's a burden."
Zheng Haizhu refused without hesitation. It is now noon, the sea water has been heated by the sun, and shark repellent has been scattered everywhere. There is no risk of insulation and bite prevention. The shark skin water diving depends on this primitive and clumsy method.
Yes, she doesn't need it.
What she is wearing at the moment is a short coarse cloth shirt and trousers that Wen Yuelan asked for. They are the same as the attire of a seaside salt worker, light and convenient.
She handed the chisel and wire to the strong man in the water, jumped off the fishing boat, swam with him to the entrance of the cave, and then asked: "Brothers, I would like to ask, who of you can hold your breath in the water the longest?"
A swarthy and thin man said: "I, my family used to be a pearl diver."
"Okay, you put this semicircle upright, first stuff it through the underwater gap in the stone door, then use the gap between the stone bar and the stone slab, turn the chisel, let the wire slowly cover the stone bar, and then use your second
Put your fingers into the cracks in the stone slabs, pinch the wire, pull it out, and tighten it in the round hole of the chisel."
The thin man listened and looked at the tools carefully. Finally, his eyes lit up, and he seemed to suddenly realize: "Miss Zheng, do you want to lift the stone strips through the stone slabs?"
Zheng Haizhu said with a smile: "Exactly, this chisel is slender and can just go through the cracks in the stone, and it can also allow us to use its strength to poke the stone strips."
The thin man said "I understand", gripped the chisel tightly, and plunged it in with a sharp thrust.
Zheng Haizhu and two others also immersed themselves in the water from time to time to observe his underwater operations.
Due to the buoyancy of the water, it was not easy to maneuver the wire after it was inserted. Fortunately, this descendant of a family who collected shellfish had very dexterous fingers. After tinkering for a while, he finally pulled out the head of the wire from the crack in the door and matched it with the round chisel.
The wires at the hole were twisted together.
With a "crash", he emerged from the water, and the sound of wires rubbing against each other was heard from behind the stone gate.
"Ms. Zheng, it's stuck." The thin man felt it and reported confidently.
"Okay, you two go up and pull the rope."
Zheng Haizhu pointed to a small protruding rock half a body height away from everyone.
The two men rushed up, caught the hemp rope thrown by the thin man's companion, and began to exert force. While they were pulling the rope, the thin man pushed one of the small stone doors. After seven or eight rounds, the thin man retrieved the steel chisel, and the pulling force became
When pushing, he said with joy on his face: "It's moving, it's moving! That stone bar has moved."
Zheng Haizhu grinned: "Cut it with a chisel."
"Okay."
Everyone was pulling, pushing, and chiseling like this. Finally, today's high tide flooded the front of the stone gate, and the stone bars behind the door became loose.
With a few muffled sounds, the stone door was pushed open by the thin man. Zheng Haizhu sank into the water and stretched out his hand to touch. Sure enough, there was a groove near the door.
The principle of blocking the door of this cave is the same as that of using "tap stone" to block the door of the emperor's tomb. It cannot be pushed open by brute force, so you have to find a way to get the stone bar out of the slot.
The thin man who had made great achievements couldn't help being happy. He hurriedly went to the crevice of the rock to pull out the fire plug and shined it into the cave...
After a while, Yan Siqi and Mao Wenlong, who were on the fishing boat three feet away, saw several people swimming back from the entrance of the cave like cheerful ducks.
"Master Yan, boxes! Several boxes!"
…
In the evening, the Mazu Temple not far from Xu Futing was filled with green smoke.
Mao Wenlong sat on the stone steps at the door with a happy face, looking at the red sun gradually sinking into the sea, his big mouth opened several times without knowing it.
A Liaodong soldier walked out of the temple and asked Mao Wenlong with a smile: "Guardian, who is this Mazu empress? Why did Master Yan and that little lady have to go to this Bodhisattva temple to sign a contract when they gave us money?"
"
Mao Wenlong said: "Mazu was originally a woman from a fishing village in Fujian. She received guidance from an expert when she was young. She was proficient in the mysterious secrets and could predict wind, rain, thunder and lightning, good and bad luck, and good fortune."
The Liaodong soldiers curled their lips and said, "Isn't that just a dancing master, just like the Jurchen shamans?"
Mao Wenlong pretended to be embarrassed and scolded: "Bah, you are talking nonsense, how can you compare the empress with the witch who built slaves? When Mazu was still in the mortal world, she saved many villagers who fell into the sea, and in the end she died to save people.
Die. After accumulating great fortune, you went to the fairy world to become a concubine, and you also protected all the people on the sea. You stinky boy, kowtow to the Empress Mazu quickly, and beg the empress not to care about your buck teeth and gaping mouth."
The Liaodong soldiers hurriedly stuck out their tongues, knelt down and kowtowed several times to the statues in the temple.
Another soldier said flatteringly: "When the guard said this, I understood that the Yan family is from Fujian and believes in Mazu, so he occupied a hilltop and built a Mazu temple. Then... we can rest assured, the Yan family
I will never go back on the promise I made in Mazu Temple."
Mao Wenlong nodded, took out the banknotes from his arms, looked left and right, and smiled at the Liaodong soldiers surrounding him: "Damn it, why am I so lucky when I go south this time? In just a few days,
With five hundred taels of gold in hand, we can buy it, we can buy it..."
One of the subordinates who was quick to settle accounts quickly responded: "It's just over 5,000 taels of silver. In Liaodong, it can buy 7,000 shi of grain. Or we can buy 3,000 shi of grain, and for the rest, we can ask the Mongols to buy 30 good horses."
, fifty mules. We are getting rich in our fort! Mr. Guard’s ancestral home is Hangzhou. This Jiangnan is really a blessed place for you.”
The Liaodong soldiers who had previously kowtowed to Mazu stood up and continued to joke with each other: "Guardian, that little girl named Zheng is more energetic than Mazu. This big sum of money can be given to us as long as it is given to us."
"Yeah, she doesn't hold grudges. I'm a rough guy, and I didn't coax her much all the way." Mao Wenlong muttered, and slapped the Liaodong soldier on the head again: "Don't be a little bitch, you're a bitch.
But the God of Wealth will change his name to Miss Zheng from now on."
"Ah? Guard, shouldn't you call her Mrs. Yan?"
"I don't know what's going on. Look at those two people, they are obviously flirting with each other, but the head of the Yan family said that the two of them will be like brothers and sisters from now on, and asked me to send her back to the Han family in Songjiang."
…
At night, the cool breeze blows and the autumn insects chirp.
Zheng Haizhu leaned on the desk, held the gold coin in his hand, and played with it carefully.
On the front of the gold coin are the four characters "Yongle Tongbao", and on the back is the pattern of a five-petal plum blossom.
There are several flat gold ingots in the shape of a wish placed on the table, and there are also five-petal plum blossoms on the back.
In the stone cave that was opened during the day, eight iron boxes were hoisted out. Although the boxes were not big, they were full of gold coins and gold ingots, and they were of high quality.
Yan Siqi's men counted it on the spot and found that there were nearly three thousand taels of gold, even if the fineness was estimated to be eighty-five percent.
Zheng Haizhu was ecstatic when he saw that many of the gold coins were engraved with "Yongle Tongbao", but he was stunned because the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty was more than a hundred years earlier than the Jiajing period when Wang Zhi was rampaging across the sea.
After she escaped from the shark's mouth, she decided to fully trust Yan Siqi, so she compiled a story about how she found her ancestors working for Wang Zhi in the study of her hometown in Longxi, recording the treasure spot.
No, the actual gold coins dug out seem to be of the wrong year.
Yan Siqi, on the other hand, pointed to the plum blossom pattern and told her that it was the family emblem of Japan's previous hegemon, Oda Nobunaga. When Oda Nobunaga dominated Japan, he minted many copper coins with the words "Yongle Tongbao" and embroidered these four characters.
On the military flag.
Wang Zhi's maritime business and piracy career had many intersections with Japan. Therefore, although gold in Japan was a hundred times rarer than that in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Zhi could still exchange for gold ingots and gold coins as long as he could afford silver.
While Zheng Haizhu was lost in thought, Yan Siqi walked into the room.
Before he sat down, he asked: "How is the wound on your leg?"
"It's much better, and there is no pus. The doctor called by my elder brother had already prepared the medicine in the evening, and Yuelan helped me apply it."
"Well, that's good. Mr. Shao has excellent medical skills and has treated many Ming Dynasty merchants at Hirado Port. Now that he is old and does not want to live in the Japanese country, I will place him in Daishan to be closer to the Ming Dynasty.
"
Yan Siqi took a sip of the tea brought by Zheng Haizhu and said: "Everything has been loaded on the lucky ship. Tomorrow I will transport it back to Hirado with Kunsuke, so as not to have a long night and a lot of dreams, and let the fleet on the East China Sea know about it, and they are afraid that they will come to snatch it.
.You and Mao Wenlong and the others will still take the bird boat back to Songjiang."
Zheng Haizhu thought for a while and asked bluntly: "Brother Yan, I want to give General Mao five hundred taels of gold. Will there be any trouble when you return to Hirado?"
Yan Siqi understood that, being as thoughtful and intelligent as she was, she must have noticed in the afternoon that Li Dan's son Li Guozhu was quite dissatisfied with the distribution of the treasure.
Yan Siqi's eyes flashed with the arrogance of a murderer, and he said in a deep voice: "Daishan Mountain was occupied by me and Master Li to reclaim the wasteland. For the past few years, I have been in charge of all affairs on the island. Today I will explore the cave to hunt for treasures.
When I let Guozhu be present, I thought I was aboveboard and would not deceive his father. When I return to Hirado, I will make it clear to Mr. Li that although Daishan is occupied by us, without you, we will
How do we know that there is all this gold hidden on the island? If General Mao hadn't dragged you here, this wouldn't have been possible. You offered to let our Hirado fleet take 1,500 taels, you take 800 taels, and Mao Wenlong takes
Five hundred taels, you are a woman but you are magnanimous, what else do the men of the Li family have to say about you?"
When Yan Siqi said this, he paused and changed his tone: "However, I really didn't expect that Mao Wenlong robbed you so recklessly, but you ignored the past and offered to share so much gold with him. Is it just to express your gratitude to him?"
Is it Daishan Island that accidentally sent you to Daishan Island?"
Zheng Haizhu smiled: "Then let me ask my brother first, Mao Shoubei is a frontier warrior, but now he is not even a guerrilla, so why do you want to make friends with him?"
Yan Siqi did not show off, and said frankly: "Although Mao Wenlong is still a low-level military officer, he was able to travel from Aiyang to Shemi Island to sell private goods to Li Rubai the year before last. This time, he relied on Zhang Chengyin to communicate with the Ministry of War and was able to work as an errand."
The famous man left Liaodong, which shows that he is not only good at fighting, but also has many connections, and his business acumen is even more vivid. I want to connect the trade routes from Japan to Korea and southern Liaoning with him."
Zhang Chengyin is the current commander-in-chief of Liaodong. Li Rubai's background is even greater. He is the second son of the famous Liaodong warlord Li Chengliang. After the death of his father and eldest brother, in the late Wanli years, although Li Rubai was unemployed due to the struggle in the Ming Dynasty, the Li family was still in power.
The foundation of the Northeast cannot be compared to the small-scale military commanders in the pass.
Zheng Haizhu stared at Yan Siqi, put away his faint smile, and said seriously: "Brother Yan did not steal the gold behind Li Dan and Mao Wenlong's back, both out of morality and long-term considerations.
In fact, my thoughts are the same as yours. This year, the Jurchen Nurhachi established the Jin Kingdom, which reminds people of the Jurchen leader Wanyan Aguda during the Song Dynasty.
I took my nephew to leave Longxi and go north to the south of the Yangtze River. Along the way, I saw all the prefectures and prefectures in the Ming Dynasty. To say that the guards were empty and the official system was broken is not a serious statement.
Once the Jurchens enter the country, I think that given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, they may not be able to withstand it. The foreign tribes are attacking fiercely, the country is overturned and collapsed, and the misery of the grassroots people can be imagined.
I hope from the bottom of my heart that a warrior with a bloody spirit like General Mao can afford to buy horses and raise troops to guard the Hun River."
Yan Siqi listened and had to admit that Miss Azhu's reasons for "being optimistic" about Mao Wenlong were several levels higher than his.
The woman in front of me is no longer the childlike girl she was a few years ago.
Yan Siqi felt that the past dozen or so hours had been really ups and downs, and he had gone from feeling lost to having gained a lot.
Not only did he get the money he needed to go on a long voyage to trade, but he also realized that his and Miss Azhu's worlds were no longer limited to small town tailor shops and secluded boudoirs.
Yesterday, when she showed her the dresses she had sewn over the years, Miss Azhu did show a momentary expression of emotion, but after that, her words and actions no longer suggested the affection between men and women, but more like Hirado.
Negotiating business with those maritime merchants in Nanyang.
Zheng Haizhu did not say anything about Mao Wenlong anymore, but stood up, went to take out a few banknotes from his bag, and handed them back to Yan Siqi.
"Brother Yan, after I came back, I thought about it. These 800 taels of gold can be exchanged for silver from Dengzhou Bank in Shandong. I will find a way to get it. The remaining 600 taels of gold are in Haojing Macau.
, for me, it is very difficult to cash out, so I still put it in your hands as the principal and entrust you to travel by sea. How about you set up a small account and we share the profits? "
Yan Siqi was stunned for a moment, thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Since you trust me so much, I will plan it carefully. Six hundred taels of gold is neither too big nor too small, and it is enough to match it with some high-quality goods."
Zheng Haizhu immediately suggested: "There are many people in Songjiang Prefecture who are officials in the imperial court and are well-informed. Last month, I heard from the Han family that there was a fire in the inner storehouse of Dongyuan in the Forbidden City of the capital, and it was severely burned. If the things in Dongyuan were
Gold, silver and jades are just that, but those fragrant spices are almost like waste once exposed to the flames of open fire. During autumn and winter, each hall in the palace needs incense the most, and officials also need fragrant spices to reward officials during the festival. Brother Yan, do we want to go to Nanyang?
Bring in more fragrant medicine? The dental shop in Yuegang should be willing to accept it."
The Yuegang mentioned by Zheng Haizhu is exactly the port where the couple's hometown in Zhangzhou enters the sea.
The sea was banned for many years in the Ming Dynasty, and it was only in the Longqing period that it was forced to open and close due to the situation of all parties. By the Wanli period, tribute trade was no longer an official form of trade on the eastern coast. In Fujian, with Yuegang as the center, private sea ships could already carry cargo to the port.
, just need an official background company to change hands.
Yan Siqi pondered for a moment and then said with a smile: "Azhu, you have some good intentions for doing business. I was a little afraid of Yuegang because I was guilty of running away in the past. However, now I have more and more ships, and I only run to the Japanese country.
It is indeed a pity to give up the Ming Dynasty business with Nanyang. Well, this time I will try to transport spices to Yuegang."
The two of them were talking about future business, one was describing the storms at sea, and the other was preaching about the business opportunities on the road. Their long eye contact was no longer as awkward as it was yesterday.
After talking happily for half an hour, Yan Siqi stood up to leave and told Zheng Haizhu to take a rest early.
Zheng Haizhu also stood up, walked to the screen, stared at the paintings hanging on the wall, and asked: "Brother Yan, where are the scenery and pavilions in this painting? They are very beautiful."
Yan Siqi didn't take it seriously and said, "It's just a small courtyard with mountains, water, and water painted by a Japanese painter. If you like it, you can take it back to Songjiang."
"Then I'm welcome. The pictures of ladies in the bedroom are also of Japanese women, right? Can I take them away too?"
"Of course, let Yuelan wrap it up for you later."
Today’s first update, but it has 4,400 words, the same number as the second update