Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng returned to the Thor and began to greet the men who were preparing to land to start shaving their heads.
Liu Siting looked at the bald guys for a long time, and then suddenly asked: "What should I do?"
have to! The group of people had been busy for a long time, but they really forgot about her. Director Liu Da originally had short shoulder-length hair. After coming to Beihai Town, he cut his hair even shorter because of work considerations. Normally he looks really cool, but now.
Zhao Xin thought for a while and then said: "It's my fault. You'd better find a piece of cloth to wrap your head before boarding the sand ship. If I buy you a Qing Dynasty woman's wig, there won't be enough time!"
A group of men struggled for a long time wearing fake braids. Fortunately, Lu Shoushan and three people helped, so they didn't make a fool of themselves. Liu Sheng touched the rat-tail braid on the back of his head and tried to imitate the way in movies and TV shows to throw it around his neck. How can such a short braid be wound up?
He couldn't help but angrily cursed: "They're all such a lie!"
Zhao Xin said with a smile: "Aren't you cheating? Look at "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" and "Bu Bu Jing Xin", if the brothers, Erkang, Ertai and the like all have a money rat's tail, the audience will not like it. look."
"That's right, when the domineering music starts, the emperor played by Zheng Shaoqiu comes out with a pigtail swinging from the back of his head. That scene... tsk tsk!"
Everyone laughed after hearing Wu Siyu's words.
Xu Dayong on the side couldn't help but feel frightened when he listened to the words "emperor", "elder brother", "pig tail" and the like said by the lords of Beihai Town.
Three days later in the morning, Shen Jingdan's sand ship "Shen Yihe" arrived. He and Lao Huang carried several large bags full of clothes, shoes, and socks onto the Thor, allowing everyone to change into them.
As for everyone's identity, everyone has already thought about it. Because Zhao Xin was fluent in Beijing movies, he pretended to be a businessman from the capital who purchased cigarettes; Liu Sheng, Wang Yuanfang, Ding Guofeng, and Wu Siyu pretended to be the guys he hired from the escort agency; Liu Zheng pretended to be Zhao New personal attendant. As for Director Liu Da, he had to pretend to be Zhao Xin's wife. Lu Shoushan, Pan Xiucheng and Xu Dayong pretended to be Zhao Xin's local helpers in Shanghai.
Deng Fei couldn't get off the ship, so he wanted to drive the Thor back to Beihai Town. The next time we pick up Liu Sheng and the others will be thirty days later.
After Shen Jingdan received Liu Sheng's explanation three days ago, he prepared the corresponding clothing and accessories according to his identity. Everyone then found clothes and changed into them according to their proposed identities.
Zhao Xin's clothes are a brand new blue satin jacket, a brown lake silk double-breasted mandarin jacket, white cotton socks, and black satin shoes. In addition, there is a small black satin hat with coral knots. This was specially made by Shen Jingdan based on Zhao Xin's figure, and it fits perfectly.
As for Liu Sheng and the others, they were all dressed in bunts; Liu Zheng was wearing a half-worn black jacket with a dark blue cotton mandarin jacket.
But when Liu Siting changed her clothes and came out of the ship building, everyone on the deck was stunned.
A collarless sapphire blue top decorated with black edges, covered with a light-colored satin vest with big cloud head; the lower body is a dark skirt with black embroidered rails, which makes her figure very graceful. However, the shoes on her feet were hidden in the wide skirt, and only a corner of red could be seen. But when Liu Siting took out a blue cotton scarf from behind and wrapped it around her head, everyone felt that it was really a disgrace.
After everyone was properly dressed, Shen Jingdan and Lao Huang explained the words and deeds of each person's disguised identity, including how to salute and how to reply. It took Zhao Xin and his gang a long time to learn how to clasp their fists in salute, how to beat Qian'er to kneel down, how to greet people when meeting others, and so on.
As for the weapons everyone carried with them, except for Xu Dayong, who was given nothing, everyone else had a SIG P226 hidden in their bodies.
After everyone said goodbye to Deng Fei and all the soldiers and sailors, they boarded the sand ship. Before sailing the ship, Shen Jingdan repeatedly warned that if necessary, he must go into the cargo hold to avoid being exposed when the patrolling Qing troops boarded the ship.
Zhao Xin and others noticed that the sailors on the sand ship had indifferent expressions when they saw them boarding the ship. They were not curious and no one was staring. He couldn't help but secretly think that these people were either his own people who had followed Shen Jingdan for many years, or they had been bribed by Shen Jingdan with money.
Sure enough, when Zhao Xin asked Shen Jingdan in a low voice, Shen Jingdan smiled slightly and said: "To be honest, these people on the sand boat are all old people who have been with me for more than ten years. I have also taken them to do smuggling in the past. Pass."
It really overwhelms the brave to death and starves the timid to death. Zhao Xin didn't expect that Shen Jingdan would do such a thing.
"It seems that Boss Shen has done many illegal things before!" Wu Siyu, who was listening on the sidelines, whispered to Wang Yuanfang.
Two hours later, the sand ship entered the ocean on the south side of Chongming Island. Three Susong Town Zuoying sentry ships patrolling here soon appeared in the distance.
Shen Jingdan ordered the sailors to slow down the speed of the sand ship, and the three sentinel ships quickly approached. However, after the other party saw the three characters "Shen Yihe" on the bow of the ship, he turned around and left in the distance.
Because the smell in the cabin was really unpleasant, everyone in Beihai Town stayed close to the cabin door. When the sentinel ship arrived, everyone entered the cabin, and Wang Yuanfang and others put their hands on their lower backs to prepare for emergencies.
When the sentinel ship went away, Zhao Xin and others came out of the cabin. He smiled and asked Shen and Huang who were standing on the deck: "How much silver were given?"
Shen Jingdan shook his head and said: "Mr. Zhao, you don't know something. Everyone in Su Song's navy knows my boat, and they pay two thousand taels of silver to the navy admiral every year. But when we enter Wusongkou, there will be a lot of sand ships coming and going. If there are many, please stay in the cabin when the time comes; if the ship does not dock, please don’t show your head first.”
Zhao Xin nodded and suddenly asked out of curiosity: "Boss Shen, Boss Huang, did you do this before when you came back from Nagasaki?"
Shen Jingdan smiled and said: "Yes, and no."
After he finished speaking, he started to explain. It turns out that when sea trading ships returned to China in the Qing Dynasty, the inspection procedures after entering the inner ocean were still very strict.
When the patrol ship discovers a merchant ship returning home, it will immediately return to Shuiying and notify the big boat to intercept it so that it can be boarded and inspected.
The content of the inspection includes whether there are prohibited goods, or whether Japanese or other foreigners are hidden. If everything is normal, then the officer on the sentinel ship will issue a customs business license, which needs to fill in the name of the ship, the size of the ship, the load, and indicate that the goods contained are free of contraband, and then it will be stamped with permission to enter the customs. Big seal. The sea trade ship must take this business license to Jianghai Gate in Shanghai County to pay customs duties. After paying the tax and getting the receipt, it can find a dental bank to sell the goods on its behalf.
Liu Sheng, who had been a seaman, said with a look of enlightenment: "Oh. It turns out that you can enter Wusongkou with a business license."
"Not yet, we still need this." After Shen Jingdan finished speaking, he raised his hand and pointed to a khaki pennant on the top of the mainmast. There seemed to be a red flame-like border on the edge of the flag.
"With the stamped customs business photo and this flag, the ship carrying goods back to China can enter the inland waters and then enter Wusongkou."
After Shen Jingdan explained, he asked Zhao Xin: "Mr. Zhao?"
"Boss Shen, just call me Dong Zhao. From now on, my identity is a businessman. As for them, you can call them by their pseudonyms."
"Zhao, Mr. Zhao, where do you want to visit after you arrive in Shanghai this time?"
Zhao Xin already knew that Lao Huang had bought a set of yards in Jiangning, Suzhou and Yangzhou. He thought for a while and said, "Let's check out several places. As for where to go first, it depends on your arrangements, Boss Shen."
Shen Jingdan thought for a while and said: "Then I and Boss Huang will accompany you to Suzhou first, then to Yangzhou, and finally to Jiangning."
Afterwards, everyone chatted with Shen and Huang. When Zhao Xin learned that Lao Huang's largest cigarette customer in Shanghai County and Suzhou Prefecture was actually a brothel, he couldn't help but be shocked. No one expected that the brothel channel would sell so well.
Shen Jingdan talked about the sales situation in Yangzhou. The largest customer group of cigarettes in Yangzhou is actually a group of literati! Since Shen Jingdan brought cigarettes to Ma's poetry club meeting, he has won praise from scholars. As poems praising cigarettes spread, cigarettes became popular among the upper class gentry in Yangzhou.
In the evening, the sand boat docked at the dock outside Chongming County for the night. In order to reduce trouble, Zhao Xin and others lived on the ship without getting off the ship.
Although the accommodation conditions were very poor, everyone knew that they would land in Shanghai County in the 18th century tomorrow, and their inner expectations and excitement took over, so they endured the discomfort for the whole night.
Early the next morning, the sand boat left the Chongming County pier. Since there was no cargo carried this time, there was no need to evade tax and smuggle, so the ship entered the Huangpu River from Wusongkou.
During the Qianlong period, the Huangpu River was also called "Huangpu". Although the river is very wide, in the understanding of ordinary people, the Huangpu River at this time is just a fork of the Wusong River.
After the cargo ship passed Laohezui (Hianhaitang), it was only 40 miles away from Shanghai County Daguan Pier. At this time, a long queue of sand boats heading north to the sea formed.
Liu Sheng stood at the hatch of the ship and looked at the densely packed two-masted and even three-masted sand ships on the river. He asked in surprise: "Where are these ships going?"
"Shandong and Guandong." Lao Huang explained with a smile.
"Are you going to Guandong now?" Liu Siting suddenly asked.
Shen Jingdan explained: "You don't know. In Shanghai and Jiaxing's Zhapu Port, there are almost five to six thousand sand ships traveling from Shandong and Guandong every year, and each ship can carry between two and three thousand stones. These ship owners are He is a local man with a rich net worth, worth hundreds of thousands. He carries oil, wine, bean cakes and other goods between the two places almost three or four times a year."
"cake?"
"soy?"
"Soybean oil?"
The group of people were stunned when they heard this. They did not expect that the maritime trade between the north and the south was so prosperous during the Qianlong period.
Lao Huang also agreed: "Yes, it's soybeans. This is a good thing. After the oil is squeezed out, the soybean cake can also be used as fertilizer. To be honest, these Guandong sea trade merchants have shops in Guandong and Shanghai. "
Zhao Xin thought for a while and asked: "Where are the places in the north that produce soybeans?"
Old Huang said: "That's a lot. For example, in Shandong, there are mainly three prefectures: Qing, Lai, and Deng. In the coastal areas of these three places, due to the thin soil, the locals have to grow beans to make a living. "
When Zhao Xin heard the word "skinny", he didn't quite understand it. According to his estimation, it is a saline-alkali land.
Just listen to Lao Huang continue: "As for Guandong, the main production area is Jinzhou, but the shops are all in Niuzhuang."
Zhao Xin did not expect that the bean trade would be so prosperous under the Qing Dynasty. He originally wanted to plant soybeans on a large scale in Beihai Town for trade, but it seemed that this road was unworkable.
Historically, before the Opium War, the richest sand boat owner in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had more than a hundred sand boats under his command. Sometimes more than a dozen can go out to sea at the same time. When going to sea, they were backed by officers and soldiers of Su Song Navy and protected by green battalion ships. The division of labor on the ship is very detailed, and there are many people; there are stewards, cooks, treasurers, bowmen, and sellers, all performing their duties.
After a few people chatted for a while, the boat had passed the Taiping Temple area, and there were more and more sand boats on the river. From the Wusong River in the northwest, to Shanghaipu, Yangjing, and Xigou in the south, long queues of sand boats were forming; at this time, the city walls of Shanghai County were already faintly visible.
"It's almost here. Please go back to the cabin and take shelter for a while." Lao Huang reminded.
At this time, there were too many sand boats going south and north on the river, and the sailing speed suddenly slowed down. It was almost noon before we docked at the Xiaodongmen Pier in the northeast corner of Shanghai County.
After the ship stopped, Shen Jingdan came over specially to tell Zhao Xin and others to wait a while and someone had already been sent to call the carriage.
Zhao Xin and others were eager to rush out of the cabin and go to the deck to take a look, but they were afraid of causing trouble to Shen and Huang, so they kept holding back.
Almost half an hour later, there was a sound of horse hooves and the sound of shouting animals outside the cabin; everyone guessed that the carriage had arrived. Sure enough, not long after, Shen Jingdan greeted at the hatch: "Everyone, please get off the boat. The carriage has arrived."
Zhao Xin and his group came out of the cabin, facing the city wall of Shanghai County. On a city gate not far away, there were four characters written in big words, "Bao Dai Yan Hai".
Shen Jingdan said as he walked: "The wall of Shanghai County is two feet and four feet high, and there are seven gates in total. The place we stopped at is the Yanhai Gate in the northeast, but we usually call it the Little East Gate. "
Liu Sheng and others had already entered the role at this time, so they bowed and asked Shen Jingdan: "Master Shen, are we going to the city?"
"I'm really sorry about this, because time is short, and the new courtyard still needs to be cleaned before people can live in it. Please go and rest in my humble house first, and go to the newly purchased courtyard later."
Zhao Xin nodded without saying a word, and walked towards the carriage in the middle as Shen Jingdan pointed out. Liu Siting wrapped her hair with a cloth handkerchief, lowered her head and said nothing, followed Zhao Xin to the carriage.
As a result, before Zhao Xin could say anything, Director Liu crossed over to Zhao Xin, stepped on the bench prepared by the driver, got on the carriage, and got into the carriage shed.
This made the hired driver on the side look dumbfounded. Everyone can see clearly that the woman just now is a natural! In these days, the only people in the Jiangnan area who dare not bind their feet are the bannermen, apart from the boat girls.
(End of chapter)
