Chapter 127 Joy
Wu Pi asked his son Wu Ya to escort the fleet loaded with food and various supplies and sailed up the river back to Daning. He left behind the strongest ship and about twenty of his most capable men. In Aunt Du's shop.
A few days later, a general in leather armor and two followers swaggered into Liuchenpu. Aunt Du, who was sitting at the counter, had a flash in her eyes, and quickly stood up to greet her: "I'm here to please Mr. General."
The general's retinue shouted in a pretentious manner: "My general is General Dai from the Fubiao Camp under Lord Fu Zun!"
Hearing this, Aunt Du made a show of kneeling down. Dai Shan waved his hands carelessly: "Boss Du, don't be polite. We have common friends and are considered family members."
Aunt Du bowed her head deeply as if she hadn't heard anything. "I don't dare. I have seen General Dai before."
Dai Shan nodded: "Thank you, Boss Du. I am going to buy some pickled wax lamps, incense candles and the like for military use. I heard that you have a complete range of goods here, so I came here to take a look."
Aunt Du hurriedly bowed her waist and stretched out her hand in a "please" gesture and said: "Thanks to Mr. Dai for looking down on me, I would like to thank you in advance! General, please have some tea inside first. Please take your time with the goods. Don't be in a hurry."
Daishan said "Yes", turned to the two guards and said, "You guys wait here." He followed Aunt Du into the back house.
After taking a seat and taking a sip of tea, Dai Shan took out an envelope from his arms: "This is the list, Boss Du, please read it."
Aunt Du took it with both hands respectfully, opened it and glanced inside, without taking out the letter, and apologized: "Please wait a moment, Mr. Dai." Dai Shan nodded, and Aunt Du took the envelope and walked out of the room.
After returning to her bedroom, Aunt Du took out a bunch of keys, picked one up, and opened the lock of the cabinet embedded beside the bed. There are dozens of fifty taels of large ingots in the cabinet, about a thousand taels. Aunt Du took out all the money, then dug at the wall of the cabinet a few times, and then pressed down somewhere. With a snap, the bottom of the cabinet popped open to reveal a hidden compartment, which contained a small iron box. , there is an iron chain as thick as a thumb attached to the bottom of the iron box, which is firmly connected to a large piece of iron ingot buried deep in the foundation of the house - the iron ingot weighs four to five hundred kilograms. If someone enters the house, Thieves, ordinary people who steal those taels of silver will never think that there is a mechanism in the cabinet. Even if they find out, unless the government inspects it in a big way, no one can steal the iron cabinet silently on their own.
The iron box was not big, but it was very heavy. It was a little difficult for Aunt Du to lift it out. It looked like it was made of a solid piece of iron. Except for a gap on one side of the box, there is no opening mechanism visible. If someone who doesn't know what's going on wants to open the box, it is almost impossible. Aunt Du turned the iron box upside down and carried the iron chain towards the bed. Then she pushed it on the side and slid the thick cover open by an inch - there was a groove in the cover, and a small stone was embedded in it. iron ball. When the iron box is placed, the iron ball will fall on the connection between the bottom and the side wall under the action of gravity. There is also a groove of the right size there, and the iron ball will lock the cover plate firmly to the box body, no matter how hard you try, Even the gods cannot be turned on. Turn it upside down and buckle it again, the iron ball will fall into the groove of the cover under inertia to complete the unlocking, and the cover can be pushed open.
Aunt Du took out half of the letter Wupi had brought with her from the box and spread it on the table, then took out the other half from Daishan's envelope - this was a piece of paper, which Du Duan deliberately tore open in two. The canine teeth at the two torn half pages were perfectly closed. Aunt Du then separated them and turned them upside down. Then she brought the two neat straight edges together and pieced together a bright red seal with the word "Du". The several ink marks outlined also match together: the identity of the visitor has been verified*.
Aunt Du, who returned to the living room again, raised her hand to Dai Shanyi and said, "General Dai has been waiting for a long time. This is your first time dealing with him. General, don't blame him for being careless."
Dai Shan, who had already stood up when he saw Aunt Du coming back, changed his smile and returned the greeting: "Second Master Du, you are so polite! When we meet for the first time, Dai has to put on a show in front of outsiders. Second Master, please don't blame me."
Aunt Du smiled and said: "I know, I know, General Dai has thought everything through. Don't say anything about my family! The goods are ready-made, when will General Dai come to pick them up?"
Daishan replied: "Let's do it tomorrow. The goods in the river were just distributed the day before yesterday. Let the brothers rest for the night."
Aunt Du said hello, and Dai Shan joked again: "The money will be prepared tomorrow. The second master must be more careful. If something goes wrong, Dai will not be able to afford the compensation even if he has ten heads!"
Aunt Du smiled: "Don't worry, General Dai! Tomorrow we will give the general a certificate. Even if something goes wrong, the general has nothing to do with it. We also need to trouble the general to help get a notice for the silver ship. Friends on the road will sell Du My family doesn't have much respect for me, but I'm afraid of being troubled by the officials patrolling the river."
Dai Shan said with a smile on his face: "You have to get it, you don't need to tell me. The official flag and documents of Fubiao will be delivered to the second master tomorrow together with the silver. Let's send two more brothers to catch a boat and go together!"
Aunt Du was also sincerely happy: it used to take four or five months to sell the millions of kilograms of secretly stored salt, but now it's okay. It's packaged in the name of military supplies and sent to various places by Fubiao, in the blink of an eye. It will be marketed throughout the province... I have to urge my brother to expand production as soon as possible!
Dai Shan carried a heavy load of two fifty taels of silver ingots, and said goodbye to Aunt Du happily. The two guards were also secretly stuffed with two taels of silver ingots by the accountant of Liuchenpu, and everyone was very happy.
In the early morning of the next day, more than a hundred civil servants sent by Guizhou Yamen filed out of Liuchenpu carrying salt baskets and went straight to Guandu in Guizhou. There were already more than twenty ships arriving at Yiling, Yidu, Jingzhou, etc. Official ships carrying the flags of various prefectures, states, and counties are waiting there.
Soon after, Wupi led two bearers out of the city and walked to the huge red-painted boulder a few days ago, where they joined the sixty or seventy temporary porters waiting there. As a pacesetter, before noon, more than 100,000 taels of silver were smoothly delivered to Boss Wu's ship.
Almost at the same time, on the river thousands of miles away from Guizhou, more than 40 large ships lined up in a long queue, raising huge hard sails and slowly sailing upstream driven by the river wind, winding four or five kilometers. Miles away. There are three or so escort ships at the head and tail of the fleet with the flag of Huainan Shuiying. Oh, there are more than twenty such escort ships, scattered in the middle of the fleet, but compared with the big ships on the side, they don't look so big. It's just eye-catching. When the civilian boats and fishing boats in the river saw this formation, they all stayed away - everyone knew that these Lianghuai salt boats couldn't be offended. If they were knocked over, you deserved it. Not to mention, you would be slapped with a "robbery officer" If the "Salt" gangster is branded as a pirate, no one in the whole family will be able to survive!
Putting a blanket on his knees to block the wind, Lan Zhongbin crossed his eyes with half-closed eyes and crossed his legs. He lay comfortably on a brocade-covered lounge chair in the cabin, and the folding fan in his hand beat up and down with the sound of silk and bamboo. , someone was singing babbling in the spacious warehouse - there was actually a troupe on this boat!
Lan Zhongbin is the younger brother of Lan Bofeng, a giant businessman in Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers, and the second head of the Lan family in Yangzhou. This was a relaxing trip that I was already familiar with. In addition to the imported official salt, Mr. Lan also brought 20% of his private goods - the rituals of the official circles of the Huaihe River and the Huaihe River, the blending of the prefectures along the Yangtze River, and the goods of the Hanyang Prefecture of Huguang. In terms of management, all these things can only be settled by relying on the official salt price alone. Who cares about expending such effort? In addition to the more than 5 million kilograms of Huai salt, there were nearly 6,000 kilograms of private goods in the cabin, including lacquerware, ironware, especially the four treasures of the study, Hu brushes, Hui ink and rice paper, all of which were in short supply in Huguang. About half of it belongs to the Lan family, and the other half is a favor from the officials in Lianghuai - excluding the expense of long-distance transportation of people to feed horses and enjoying the interest rate difference, since no one will inspect the salt ship, then All kinds of gold that are several times higher than the freight, as well as the exploitation along the way that makes ordinary merchants cry, will naturally turn into profits for adults.
The road was calm and calm, especially in recent days, the wind direction was very favorable and the wind force was moderate. Not far ahead was Huangzhou Mansion (today's Huanggang). Lan Zhongbin was in a very good mood: Once there, we will sail another hundred and fifty miles. This is the end of this journey - Hanyang Mansion. Starting from Huangzhou Prefecture, the river surface for more than a hundred miles is full of familiar people. Even Mr. Li and Mr. Teng of Wuchang Prefecture, the Lan family has helped carry goods, and officials from other prefectures have also helped The brotherhood of a pat on the shoulder.
It was already the afternoon when the fleet was anchored at the anchorage outside Huangzhou Prefecture. As usual, Lan Zhongbin planned to get off the ship to greet several old acquaintances such as Huangzhou Magistrate Li Yongnian (alias Yunjiu), Tongzhi Sun Qineng (alias Guodong) - they must have known the news of the fleet's arrival, no need Ask, the banquet in the government office is almost ready.
Mr. Lan walked to the stairs and was about to go down to the deck to change the boat to go ashore. He accidentally looked out of the window and saw hundreds of officers and soldiers in bright armor gathered on the shore. He was startled and couldn't help but smile: I think this is what happened. You two ran to the pier to meet us! After many years of dealing with each other, you still have to put up such a show. Needless to say, this is in the name of rewarding the officers and soldiers who protect the salt ships, so you can try to get more money...
When Mr. Lan raised his eyes and looked towards the river, he was surprised again: there were fifty or sixty official ships with various navy flags sailing towards the anchorage. After a while, they all parked outside the fleet. A tight protective circle was formed.
Lan Zhongbin smiled bitterly: In broad daylight, is there any need for you to put on this array? It's not just about money - ten taels per boat, then five or six hundred taels of silver have to be thrown out, plus those on the shore, you get, one thousand taels!
The escorting Huainan Shuiying registered guerrilla Gou Sheng was already on Lan Zhongbin's boat and was preparing to accompany Mr. Lan to the Huangzhou government office. Seeing Lan Zhongbin coming down, he came forward and said: "Second Master Lan, the Huangzhou Prefecture's river patrol only has a dozen or so boats that can sail. Why did so many appear all of a sudden? The general feels something is wrong. Look at that general The flag is also very narrow-minded."
While he was talking, several warships were approaching here. Lan Zhongbin squinted his eyes to identify them for a while, and smiled contemptuously: "Well, the character 'You' is written on the flag. It's a newcomer. No wonder. I don't know where it was pieced together. These boats, I think they have commandeered all the civilian boats along the river, and brought in all the people who could move to beg for money. That’s it, it’s the first time, let’s sell him to save face. Huh!”
Gou Sheng looked at the boats that were slowly approaching on the river, and said: "No! They are definitely not civilian boats! Second Master, look, the planks of these boats are all out of shape! From the looks of it, they still look good." They are all new boats. There is only one reason for the deformation of new boats: there is a big problem with the materials! This is the case with freshly cut wood that has not been dried. If it is a civilian boat, how can anyone on the water not understand this principle? It depends on the size of each boat. It can only carry thirty or forty people, but if you look at the deep draft, it seems that it has been loaded more than twice as much, and there must have been a lot of water in the cabin! The general can be sure that within two or three months, these The ship will fall apart!"
Hearing what Gou Sheng said, Lan Zhongbin also felt a little strange. However, I felt confident and simply stood on the boat waiting for them to come. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the great ancestor Taizu reduced the status of merchants to the lowest level. However, by this time it was already very different. There is a folk proverb in Feng Menglong's "Yu Shi Ming Yan" that goes: the first-grade official, the second-grade merchant. Not to mention there are so many friends in the officialdom, not to mention, Lan Zhongbin himself has a reputation as a civil servant.
*This is a very simple but almost perfect verification method used by the ancients. First, tear a piece of paper randomly to make interlaced canine teeth. Then turn the two halves upside down, bring the original left and right straight edges together, stamp or write a few random words on the seam, and hand them over to the two parties who need verification. Because rice paper fibers are criss-crossed, it is almost impossible to make the two halves that are randomly torn together perfectly. By piecing them together to restore the original seal and text that were sewn together on both sides, it can be foolproof.
Du Duan asked Aunt Du to hand over millions of kilograms of smuggled salt to an officer named Fubiao whom he had never met. In this way, Aunt Du wanted to verify the identity of the person who picked up the goods.
