Chapter four hundred and ninety-eight sea dart ship
Cangzhou, which is known for its outstanding martial arts, has at least twenty or thirty escort agencies, many of which are headquartered in Cangzhou. In fact, the escort agencies have expanded to the north and south along the canal. However, among so many escort agencies, the one who is recognized as the most expert is
It’s the Cao Wu in front of me!
Fourth Master Hua has always believed that Confucianism uses literature to disrupt the law, and chivalrous people use martial arts to disrupt the prohibition. So when he learned that the strong man in front of him who was obviously hostile to him was Cao Wu, he immediately took two steps back subconsciously, and then
Thinking of this, he showed his timidity. However, he also reacted very quickly. After he stood firm, he immediately smiled bitterly and laughed at himself.
"When I and other businessmen from the Suzhou Guild Hall planned to sail out to sea from the future Cangzhou Pier, we thought about what to do if we encountered pirates. After much thought, we decided to hire a bodyguard to escort the ship just like the merchants who traveled north and south on the canal and land.
They all said that the Cangzhou Shunhe Escort Bureau was extremely powerful and that Mr. Cao was a powerful escort, so I sent someone to contact him."
"Now it seems that it's not that being famous is not as good as meeting you, but that meeting you is worse than being famous. Mr. Cao, you are so imposing, but I am intimidated by you as a weakling."
This was the first time for Cao Wu to meet Fourth Master Hua, the richest man in Suzhou. Unexpectedly, not only was he not strong, but he was also a bit weak. For a moment, he felt a bit contemptuous. But the next moment, he only saw Fourth Master Hua.
Suddenly his face straightened, and he asked directly: "But Mr. Cao, the bodyguard, has never given a clear answer before. Since we happened to meet today, I would like to ask you what you think?"
Seeing Zhang Shou but smiling, Cao Wu immediately asked stiffly: "Master Hua, have you ever been to the sea before? Do you know how the pirates at sea rob ships? Do you know what happened in Tianjin a few years ago?
In the Linhai camp robbery and murder incident that caused a lot of controversy, there were also experts from the escort agency who were on board the ship, but they made no achievements and were so angry on the spot?"
Fourth Master Hua was stunned. He glanced at Zhang Shou subconsciously, and then said hesitantly: "I have heard of pirates, but they are just those thieves who drive small sampans among the waves and do some business without capital.
That’s all. As for the Tianjin Linhai camp incident, didn’t the emperor send Mr. Liu Zhiyuan and Mr. Liu to kill them as a warning to others, and kill and exile all the soldiers involved?”
"I heard that after the riot in the Linhai camp, the emperor once again launched a heavy blow and severely punished. Not only Tianjin, but also all the military camps along the coast were said to have been suppressed. It should be that there should be no more big cases such as the robbery and murder of merchant ships that shocked the government and the public.
Already."
"That's all you know?"
Cao Wu's eyes widened in disbelief. Seeing that Fourth Master Hua finally showed a confused but alert expression this time, he simply told him all the maritime risks that Zhang Chen vividly told him. Sure enough, he
I saw Fourth Master Hua's face gradually changing color, and finally his brows twisted into the character "Sichuan".
Zhang Shou understood this scene as soon as he saw it. The richest man in Suzhou and the head of the Fahrenheit family, who was very familiar with shopping malls, once transferred his experience on land and canals to the sea. Just like Cao Wu, he completely ignored the sea and land.
and vastly different risks on the river.
Of course, this should not be the mistake of Fourth Master Hua alone, but it is likely that someone has been misleading them all along.
After understanding this, he smiled and said: "Fourth Master Hua, you helped me solve the trouble between Song Fang and Song Fang. I have nothing else to thank you. Apart from a dinner, I just treated Mr. Cao
The escort chief is here so that you two can have a chat face to face. Well, it’s already dinner time, so you can talk while eating if you have anything to say.”
Seeing the expression on Zhang Shou's face that he was just a matchmaker, let alone Mr. Hua, even Cao Wu... would never believe it!
However, Zhang Shou was willing to let them have this dinner. Of course they were not uninterested and they immediately agreed.
When Zhang Shou sat down and saw two apparently rough-and-tumble boys coming in to serve the food, not Ah Liu or Xiao Huahua, Cao Wu ran out of words and said, "If my brothers knew that I actually did this today,
I will definitely be envious of you if I have the honor of eating Dr. Zhang's meal. There are a bunch of rough guys in my escort agency. If you want to give me anything in the future, no matter where you are in the world, just let me know."
When Fourth Master Hua saw Cao Wu, he immediately flattered Cao Wu. Although he could give more and bigger promises, he started to experience the business in his teens. Now that he is in charge of Fahrenheit, of course he cannot be as explicit as Cao Wu.
Moreover, he vaguely felt that Zhang Shou brought him and Cao Wu together today for more than just matchmaking. In addition, he had just vaguely noticed some problems, so he said sincerely: "Dr. Zhang, Su Shang
Although you are rich in the southeast, if you don’t go to sea, you will inevitably make a fool of yourself in the maritime affairs. To tell you the truth..."
He paused and said bluntly: "Please ask the escort to serve as a guard on the ship. This is what Mr. Song's uncle suggested to me. There are many children of the Hua family in Suzhou, and marriages are not limited to the southeast. Apart from Dr. Zhang, you know
In addition to the Jiang family in Cangzhou, the same goes for the Song family in Guangdong. One of Mr. Song’s aunts is my aunt, and one of my sisters-in-law is Mr. Song’s elder sister.”
"It's just that it's too far from Suzhou to Guangzhou, and the rivers and waterways are impassable, so borrowing the Guangzhou port to go to sea is undoubtedly a far-off water that cannot quench the thirst of the nearer. Since we are in-laws, and there is no conflict, Song Huishou gave me, a layman in shipping, an idea
, I naturally approached Mr. Cao, the head escort."
There are many marriages among the martial arts community in Cangzhou, so Cao Wu is no stranger to what Fourth Master Hua said. At this moment, he quickly thought in his mind whether Fourth Master Hua's words were a hint that the Song family in Guangdong was secretly doing something.
Misleading, but then I heard Zhang Shou laugh.
"Actually, I think there is nothing wrong with the suggestion that Ah Liu made to Mr. Cao's bodyguard before. Zhang Chen said that the two former bodyguards not only failed to protect the merchant ship, but also died at sea, but
We can’t blame them, after all, no one thought that Tianjin Linhai Camp would dare to risk the disapproval of the world.”
He paused for a moment, and then said with a smile: "But I also agree with Zhang Chen. If you just accompany the ship as a guard, even if you are a master of water skills, you can still fight on the bumpy sea as if you are on the ground. How can you really fight against it?"
When danger comes, we still can’t say that we are completely sure. Because the pirate ship is full of pirates, but how many escort masters can be carried on one ship?”
Cao Wu suddenly became speechless. But Fourth Master Hua keenly heard Zhang Shou's overtones and asked quickly: "Dr. Zhang, what do you mean..."
"The escort bureau has cavalry to accompany the escort carriage on land. Why can't it have its own escort boat to accompany the escort carriage on the sea?"
As soon as these words came out, Fourth Master Hua was horrified and moved, and Cao Wu was happy, but immediately after, both of them frowned at the same time.
Compared with Cao Wu, who was just worried that he had no money to buy a ship and no such manpower, Fourth Master Hua obviously thought more deeply. He sighed and then shook his head.
"Dr. Zhang, you are right. If there are real armed ships directly following the merchant ships as escorts, then of course it will be the safest, but the court will not allow it. After all, even if the escort agency is a civilian, not a soldier, they usually carry swords.
If you have a stick and a lot of weapons, then you just turn a blind eye, but if you even have a escort ship...are you going to rebel?"
"Yes, many people in North Korea and China would indeed say that. But what if we change the name? For example, militia? For example, reserve?"
Zhang Shou casually threw out two pure concepts, and then said with a smile: "After Emperor Taizu, at first there were regular official ships from the imperial court sailing in Southeast Asia, the East, and the West. But for many years after that, because some people always
I think the cost is too high, and looking at overseas countries, we are all small countries, so except for the occasional envoy ship, the official ships of the imperial court have not gone out for many years."
"However, this is contrary to the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu. Emperor Taizu once dreamed of the Emperor of Heaven and made a ball. After that, his official ships went to sea, and most of the things he saw were consistent with the ball. Today, the ball is still hidden in the army.
Organ Bureau."
Having said this, Zhang Shou paused for a moment, seeing that Cao Wu was obviously confused, and although Fourth Master Hua looked surprised, he felt that the surprise was a bit fake no matter how he looked at it, so he couldn't help secretly guessing that Uncle Weinan
The secret identified by Zhang Kang has actually been spread over time.
Even if a maritime merchant family like the Song Family in Guangdong had a corresponding physical object as a navigation map, it is not necessarily true.
"Since the official ships of the imperial court are not going out, and we don't want to spend such a large sum of money, then why not give a name to the dynamic social organizations among the people, and then as long as the imperial court is well-planned, it can win a decisive victory thousands of miles away and accept the other party's inquiries.
information?"
As soon as Zhang Shou's words came out of his mouth, he realized that he had brought out the ridiculing terms he used when talking to Ah Liu in the past, but he simply didn't bother to change them. Moreover, he had already said it, so he went straight to explain it clearly.
"From ancient times to the present, no matter which dynasty or generation, the most important thing is to have a just name. However, if the imperial court is willing to confer titles to the heads of small countries who are thousands of miles away and sometimes have never even heard of them, why not also give them a title?
A light and flamboyant name, so that the people of our country can truly have the confidence to explore the world?"
"You must know that this is not the time when the country was founded, recuperating and recuperating, with more people and less land. After a hundred years, the population of Ming Dynasty has always increased three or four times compared with before, and there are still many hermits who evade taxes and servitude.
Although there are still wastelands in the world today, if we don’t broaden our horizons, in a hundred years, the world will be peaceful and the population will be several times what it is now. What will we do then?”
The sudden increase in population is something that, as the leader of Suzhou merchants, Mr. Hua Si, who is right next to the canal, and the one who dominates Cangzhou, Cao Wu, naturally knows it well. If the land is not owned by the owner and there is no need for so many people to cultivate it, so what?
Will there be so many people doing various jobs in Suzhou city to survive?
And without the population that cannot be digested by the land, the Hua family would not be able to hire so many people to reel and weave silk, and Cao Wu would not be able to bring out so many apprentices to travel around and escort escorts to make a living. But if the population continues to double like this, then
I'm afraid something is really bad.
Cao Wu was still shocked by Zhang Shou's bold proposal, but Fourth Master Hua couldn't help but narrowed his eyes slightly and quickly summed up Zhang Shou's words.
Just like how he contacted many Suzhou officials and corresponding allies to promote the establishment of the Cangzhou port in the DPRK, did Zhang Shou also want him to create a certain momentum in the DPRK for this matter? Moreover, Zhao Guogong's Mansion
Neither the Duke of Qin nor the Lu family, as well as the families of Zhang Shou's students, seemed to have anything to do with maritime merchants, and there was no sign of Zhang Shou making any profit.
But to say that this was purely for the sake of the Hua family, he felt that people could not be so noble.
After being shocked, Cao Wu couldn't help but hesitantly said: "If Dr. Zhang said it, the court gave us the name, then we will undoubtedly have to raise the money to buy the ship ourselves. We Cangzhou escort agencies see
They seem famous, but they all have many mouths to eat. Even if we all put together, I'm afraid we can't afford half a boat."
"And if there is really business in the future, a merchant ship will need a escort ship to protect it. Isn't this cost too much?"
Zhang Shou then laughed and said calmly: "Your escort agencies together can't afford to buy half a boat, so you can use others to provide money and you contribute your efforts, and everyone can form a joint stock to form a maritime escort agency. And it's not you."
Can one ship protect a merchant ship? If several ships travel together, it will be enough for one of your escort ships to follow and provide protection. And..."
After a pause, Zhang Shou continued in an understated tone: "You know, when you are away from home and are not familiar with the place, it is easy for you to be bullied by the local natives. If there is a fleet of troops with sufficient force to accompany you, they will naturally be able to support my people and support them."
It promotes the prestige of the imperial court to the outside world. As for these teams that do not need royal pay, they can actually be under the banner of the Ministry of War."
Seeing that Fourth Master Hua was looking at him with wide eyes, Zhang Shou said with a smile but not a smile: "If the court is worried, it can send special civil and military officials to accompany him as supervisors, and they will be rotated every year or two."
At this point, he sighed as if talking to himself: "In the past, there were merchants and civilians in our country who were sailing abroad. They were made things difficult by small countries, and the court was beyond the reach of them. So many things had to be swallowed by the people involved. But this
This kind of thing happens again and again, and some small countries will inevitably become more and more courageous. If the method I mentioned is feasible, then maybe this situation can be changed."
"Just like how Emperor Taizu traveled on official ships and showed his prestige within the world, if there is no deterrent effect, then in the eyes of all the countries in the world, the Ming Dynasty may really be regarded as old and no longer famous."
As a businessman, Fourth Master Hua is not interested in opening up new territories, but he is very interested in intimidating foreign countries to open up markets. At this moment, he thought of the current day from Zhang Shou's words, so... he suddenly thought
Wrong. Could it be that the emperor wants to settle an old score?
When I came to the throne at a young age, not to mention that I was still young and had not yet taken charge of the throne, there were often all kinds of bizarre rumors. After I took charge of the throne, I even criticized some civil servants. It was not until the Yewang Rebellion that things stopped.
Come down.
But in recent years, with the eldest chief minister Jiangge Lao having retired from office, most of the civil servant leaders who were all-powerful in the early years of Yongchen have either died or retired. Most importantly, those who once gave the late emperor the temple name Ruizong
Although some civil servant leaders and nephews became officials in the court through favors or through imperial examinations, as far as he knew, no one had broken through to the fourth rank. This shows that the emperor today is the most grudge-minded!