The goods had been loaded, and Chen Huamin was about to order Jihai to set sail. Suddenly, a group of porters hurriedly came to the pier, pushing the gale-style two-wheeled windmill that Lingao had sold here. It was packed with many goods. Straw bag. [Full text reading] Coming up to the berth of Dongshanju.
"What is this?" Chen Huamin was wondering - all the cargo to be carried by the Dongshanju had been loaded with no leaks, and supplies such as drinking water had also been packed - but he saw Liu Deshan at the end of the team, panting and following Come over.
When the porter arrived at the boat, Liu Deshan got on the boat first. He didn't bother to say hello and asked the sailors to open the cargo hold cover in preparation for loading.
"Cousin! What is this?" Chen Huamin couldn't figure it out, "Aren't we already equipped with all the goods?"
"Pile it all, pile it up." Liu Deshan said while gesticulating and directing the porters to load the goods, "This is salt, I just got it."
"Salt? Who are you selling it to? We are going to the Nanzhi area. Without salt, how can the government allow the entrance..."
"Haha, who said it was sold to the government." Liu Deshan took out a towel from his pocket and wiped his sweat, "This is shipped to Xiamen! That is the Zheng family's territory, what kind of salt do you want? I got the news that Fujian The price of salt over there is very high. We can't say how much we transport the salt, but the cost of this round trip is all earned."
"Cousin, isn't there something wrong with this?" Chen Huamin knew that Fujian has always been a salt importer, but he bought the Australian flying flag, so he went to sell salt in the territory of the Australian's enemies. What do Australians think? Can the Zheng family tolerate it?
"Don't worry, I've already made inquiries. Everyone in Weitou Bay has said so. No matter which ship they own, as long as it can transport cargo, they will ensure safe cargo and fair trade - no need to buy a flag. I heard that Not only are the prices of salt and grain very high there, but there is also a backlog of foreign goods for export, and the prices are also very low. We transport them to Guangzhou and sell them to Mr. Qin, just in time to make a profit!"
"This..." Although Chen Huamin felt that his cousin's business was good, he still felt something was wrong. But I couldn't think of any reason to refute it at the moment - the cargo on the ship was not completely full, and one trip was the cost of one trip, so naturally the more cargo the better.
"In that case, let's get ready to sail."
Just saying. A big man with strong and dark muscles, a Chinese sword hanging on his waist and a wooden sign with the word "Deputy Outline" written on it, and a thick beard walked up to Chen Huamin, clasped his fists at Chen Huamin and said: "The leader of the Outline, Ji The time has come!”
Chen Huamin muttered in a low voice: "Little Wang! How many times have I said it. Now you have to call me captain!" Then he straightened his hat and gown seriously, picked up three sticks of incense from the incense table, lit them and bowed respectfully. Bow three times and recite silently: "Please Mazu, please bless me and other people who cultivate the sea to go to sea smoothly, without disaster and pain, and return home safely! Chen Huamin, Liu Deshan and all the crew members pay their respects!" After offering incense, Chen Huamin put the incense case on the table The fruits were arranged, and a piece of suckling pig was cut with a knife and placed in front of the incense table. Finally, three small porcelain cups were filled with wine.
Chen took the first glass of wine, raised his hand and sprinkled it to the sky, shouting: "Honor the sky! Weigh the anchor!"
Wang Fugang, who was next to him, repeated loudly: "Yes. Weigh the anchor!" Captain Ikari, who was standing next to the anchor hole, shouted towards the winch: "Weight - anchor -!"
The sailors immediately turned the winch hard and brought the anchor to the surface. At the same time, they shouted loudly: "Weigh the anchor! The cargo is like a wheel! Wan-liang of gold!" "
Chen Huamin took the second glass of wine, waved it to the sea, and said loudly: "Honor the sea, unmoor!"
"Yes. Untie the cable!" the cable leader shouted, "Untie the cable---!"
The cablemen untied the cables tied to the shore. At the same time, he responded to the call: "Let's untie the cable--smooth-smooth-li-li-li-! Have a safe journey!"
Got the third glass of wine. Sprinkle it on the bow deck, "Holy God, raise the sails!"
"Yes, raise the sail!" the sailmaster shouted towards the mast, "raise the sail!"
The sailors quickly pulled the rigging ropes, raised the sails on the three masts, and responded: "Sail! The wind is smooth! The sea is not rising!"
Chen Huamin saw that the sail had reached its top and the sea breeze was blowing all three sails. He took a deep breath and waved to the ocean outside the harbor, "--!"
The Tung Shan Ju departed from the Pearl River Estuary, crossed Humen, crossed Lingding Ocean, turned due east at Tonggu Beach, entered Tuen Mun, went around Ma Wan and entered the Hong Kong waterway.
Just a few years ago, Hong Kong was a little-known and desolate place with only a few scattered small fishing villages. Apart from the river boats that came to buy fragrant wood in regular seasons, there were only some occasional sea-going ships passing by.
Later, after the imperial navy cut off the island and turned several nearby islands into water villages for water "heroes", there were even fewer merchant ships passing by. Everyone would rather take a longer detour and pass through the Hong Kong Outer Water Channel.
Now, the entire Sainte's Bay channel is very lively. The Australians renovated the inland and offshore waterways from Hong Kong Island to Guangzhou, eliminated water bandits, set up navigation lights, built lighthouses, and marked the reefs and sand one by one, greatly improving the safety of navigation.
Most of the ships here are Australian owned. Whether these boats are small boats or large ships, they are much faster than the Dongshanju and are also very agile. From time to time, ships either quickly passed the "Dongshanju" and headed east, or rushed towards the "Dongshanju" head-on, only passing by at the last moment, leaving a group of good-natured chuckles.
Bulky local ships: Guangzhou Shipyard and Fuzhou Shipyard were also seen among them. The Australians' own fleet capacity was seriously insufficient, and many freight operations were outsourced to ship owners. These ships sailed slowly, so that the Dongshanju was also Have to stay out of their path.
Such a complicated navigation situation forced the deputy chief officer Wang Chengqi to stay at the bow of the ship, watching the situation at any time and issuing orders to the helmsman and foreman at the stern to avoid ships passing by at any time.
On both sides of the harbor, various warships and merchant ships were anchored, and many new docks, warehouses, boat sheds and cranes were built. Here and there, there were one or two large Australian-style stone houses and buildings that stood out. The most conspicuous one is the large fortress near the Central Pier, which stands majestically with the Australian flag flying on the turret. Chen Huamin once went there to handle navigation procedures and was deeply impressed by this fortress.
"Look, that's where the Dongshanju was built!" Looking along Chen Huamin's hand, Liu Deshan saw that the eastern beach of Hong Kong Island had turned into a large shipbuilding workshop. Wooden boats with varying degrees of completion were lined up one after another, with densely packed workers lying on the hull, working hard to complete their works.
“When I first saw this ship here, I immediately fell in love with her; I felt that both the smooth shape and the strong body were very suitable for me, as if it was specially built for me; so She must be my boat. Although she only had a hull at that time, and even the mast had not yet been found!" Chen Huamin slowly recalled while gently stroking the wooden handrails along the side of the boat.
"The funny thing is that at that time, because this type of ship was so different from the traditional Guangzhou Shipbuilding and Fuzhou Shipbuilding Ships, no merchants dared to buy the ship, so she stopped working on the slipway for half a year. By the time I saw When I immediately decided to buy the boat, I didn’t bring enough silver with me, eh!”
"I remember that time when you came back, you asked me to give you four-fifths of the silver in the treasury. It scared me so much that I thought something big had happened. That was our profit for almost a year!"
"'If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools'! And now that I have used a new ship, I can make back the money by taking two extra trips." Chen Huamin smiled and then said seriously: "And many large-scale merchants have several The profit from operating a sea-going ship was less than that of a barbarian ship. Foreign ships carried a large cargo capacity, had cannons to protect the ships, were fast and could enter and exit the ocean, so the barbarian ships became more and more popular. Big, but we are lagging behind. We need to learn from the barbarians to make boats. I heard that Australian shipbuilding is even better than the barbarians. They can actually use iron to make ship bones. Brother, I can't figure it out. This iron can be used to make ship bones. , the boat has a lot of extra weight for no reason, how can it travel quickly?"
"Fortunately, it seems that the business of this shipyard is not bad now. More and more merchants understand the importance of good ships." Liu Deshan said, "Speaking of iron bones, it is said that only their warships use iron bones. But I went up I passed by the shipyard on my second voyage and saw that the cruise ships they built were all made of iron, yet they were so agile and fast in motion. It was really incredible!"
"It is said that the Australian merchant ships also use iron frames." Chen Huamin pointed to the hull of a huge T800 on the beach. "Unfortunately, this ship is too big and the port transshipment is very inconvenient. Otherwise, brothers would also like to try something new."
"Haha, cousin, you really like the new and hate the old. It has only been a few days since I got the Dongshanju, but I have already fallen in love with a new ship."
"We are merchants on the sea, and boats are what make us money, so we naturally have to prepare a few good boats. I have heard Westerners say before that if a large, well-built boat is properly maintained, it will not be a problem to use it for a hundred years. Here, on the contrary, it is I like building disposable firewood boats.”
"Cousin, don't you sound like a scholar? Your family is also a maritime businessman, and you don't know that maintaining this ship requires daily expenses. Calculating it, it's really not as good as building a new one every time you sail."
"This is an old business practice," Chen Huamin said with great interest. "I think that the maritime business in the future will not be the same as our fathers and grandfathers. Ships have changed, and the rules at sea have begun to change, so the business practice will naturally change."
While the two were chatting, "Dongshanju" had passed the Hong Kong waterway briskly, turned to the northeast and continued sailing.
Exit Lei Yue Mun, cross Guozhou, pass Dapeng Bay, turn northeast-east, and sail straight to Xiamen. (To be continued)
