"Oh, I'll be there right away."
How did she get in touch with Sheyang Lake? How many days have they been logged in? Zhao Xin was a little irritable. When he arrived at the communication room, he happened to hear a familiar voice on the intercom asking urgently: "Is the master here? Please urge me again."
Zhao Xin was stunned for a moment before he realized that it was Xu Dayong who was shouting from the other side. He walked to the table, picked up the intercom and said, "Xu Dayong, are you itchy? Are you having fun with me?!"
Xu Dayong at the other end of the line seemed stunned. After a while, he asked excitedly: "Sir, is it really you? Sir, are you really okay?"
Zhao Xin was feeling troubled, so he said angrily: "What? I can't die! If you need anything, tell me immediately!"
"Sir! Don't be angry. Listen to me first. Well, Mr. Shen, Miss Shen, and Brother Shoushan brought more than twenty men. They took a boat south to Guangzhou overnight yesterday!"
"Ah?!" Zhao Xin was shocked and asked quickly: "What happened?"
At this time, I only heard the other side whispering for a while, and then Xu Dayong's voice came: "Sir, is there anyone with you? Brother Shoushan explained this before leaving, and let me talk to you alone."
As soon as these words were said, the two correspondents in the room couldn't sit still and quickly stood up and said goodbye to Zhao Xin. After the two of them went out and closed the cabin door, Zhao Xin said: "There is no one here now, you can tell me."
Xu Dayong then told Zhao Xin what happened.
Yesterday afternoon, Shen Jingdan and Shen Xuan suddenly arrived at Zhuangzi in Sheyang Lake, which surprised Lu Shoushan and Xu Dayong. How many days have you been gone? Why are the Shen family’s father and daughter back again!
Unexpectedly, as soon as Shen Jingdan saw Lu Shoushan, he said that something might have happened to Zhao Xin and asked him to immediately take Zhuangzi's experts with him to Guangzhou to find Zhao Xin. When Lu Shoushan and Xu Dayong heard this, they were frightened on the spot! He quickly asked what happened.
Shen Jingdan couldn't talk nonsense about such a big matter, so he talked about what Shen Xuan had been feeling a few days ago.
Lu Shoushan and Xu Dayong looked confused. How could such a thing be used as an excuse? If nothing happens to Zhao Xin's side, the whole trip will be in vain, and we will have to eat a meal just for making the decision without permission.
Just when the two were hesitant, Shen Xuan, disguised as a man, knelt down for them, which scared Lu Shoushan and Xu Dayong half to death. Both of them knew about the engagement between Zhao Xin and Shen Xuan. The future mistress begged both of them to stop talking and just go ahead and do it!
After the two of them worked together, Lu Shoushan decided to take his own people to accompany the Shen family and his daughter south to Guangzhou, while Xu Dayong took charge of Sheyang Lake. In addition to the two of them's original subordinates, Lu Shoushan also brought along the Chen Jishan brothers and sisters and more than a dozen good players recruited by Zhuangzi. The reason why I brought Chen Jishan's sister with me was to serve Shen Xuan on the road.
The Shen family's father and daughter were anxious, so Lu Shoushan gathered some good people and left immediately. They boarded a sand boat that night and were estimated to be almost in Shanghai County by now.
When Zhao Xin heard Xu Dayong talk about Shen Xuan's feelings, he was very surprised. If something happened to her, how could Shen Xuan react? Besides, the jade pendant should have nothing to do with Shen Xuan. This is so weird!
Although taking a boat is faster than traveling by land, according to the speed of sand ships in this era, it will definitely not be reached in less than ten days and a half.
It is said that in ancient China, navigation was not measured by speed, but by "time". This was true even in the Qing Dynasty. According to the "updated" algorithm, the speed is 6.75 knots. Ancient nautical charts tell you which direction to walk and how many times you need to get there, and then change directions and how many times you need to go to get there. As for the speed of the boat, it all depends on the weather and whether the bow (captain) is experienced.
Zhao Xin and the others traveled all the way south from Sheyang Lake, not including the stop at Flower and Bird Island, a total of nearly 1,100 nautical miles. The Thor relied on navigation radar and traveled for more than three days at a speed of 20 knots. If this were replaced by the speed of a sand boat, it would be fast for ten days!
Do I have to wait here for half a month? But if you take the initiative to look for it, the sea is vast. Who knows that Shen Xuan and the others are sitting on that boat? Should you go over to check if you see a sand boat?
Thinking of this, Zhao Xin couldn't help complaining to Shen Xuan, it would be great to buy a dowry in Yangzhou honestly, why are you messing around!
Besides, the watermelon boat Liu Sheng and the others were on departed from Tanzai Island in the morning, and it was almost around five o'clock in the afternoon when the boat sailed into Macau.
"Mr. Liu, Captain Ding, we will be arriving at Nanwan Pier soon." Matos introduced Liu Sheng and the others with a smile on his face.
The area of the Macau Peninsula in this era was 2.78 square kilometers, which was much smaller than Macau in later generations. The mountains on the entire peninsula are not high, and the highest one, Mount Guia, is only 91 meters above sea level.
In the Qing Dynasty, Macau was still called Haojing'ao among the Chinese; while among the Portuguese and other Westerners, it was called "China's Majiao God's Name Port", or "Majiao Port" for short. As for the word Macau in later generations, it comes from the homophonic pronunciation of the Mazu Temple on the island.
Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng walked out of the cabin and stood on the deck looking at Macau. They saw beautiful houses that looked like a later Italian style. The coast is protected by a wide grassland, and the outside of the grassland is surrounded by a breakwater with a low wall. The scenery is very beautiful. Looking north from the direction of the pier, the famous Ruins of St. Paul's is clearly visible (St. Paul's Cathedral, Sanba is the transliteration). The hill next to the Ruins of St. Paul's Temple is where the Ruins of St. Paul's Fort is located.
In addition to the fort in the center of the peninsula, on the way here, Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng also noticed that there were some forts in other seaside locations on the Macau Peninsula.
"Da Liu, do you think there is a casino at this time?" Ding Guofeng asked Liu Sheng beside him.
"Maybe, I've been here once before."
Liu Sheng came to Macau in another time and space, when he was working as a bodyguard for rich people. Although his salary was high at that time, most of the money was sent home to his ex-wife, while he lived frugally. At that time, he had the impression that eating in Macau was too expensive, and an order of mapo tofu cost 70 yuan.
"Haha, Liu, if you want to eat Mapo Tofu in Macau now, you still can't." Ding Guofeng is right. Mapo Tofu was not available until the Tongzhi period, almost ninety years later.
"At worst, we can invent it in advance. I'll ask Chef Hu to make it when we get back. From now on, it will be called Beihai Tofu!"
While the two were talking and laughing, the watermelon boat docked.
Nanwan is called Nanhuan by locals. The reason for docking here is that according to the requirements of the Guangdong Customs of the Qing Dynasty, all foreigners coming to Macao must disembark here and undergo inspection at the Nanhuan Customs Office of the "Macao Customs Department" before entering.
The tax collection hall is located next to Nanwan Pier, just a few steps away from the shore. This place is a small house. The door is surrounded by a wooden fence and there is a porch with a sunshade roof. Under the wall on the west side of the tax hall, a dozen guys were sitting, looking at Liu Sheng and his group and pointing.
As soon as the watermelon boat docked, a middle-aged man wearing a green cloth gown came out of the house. Liu Sheng had met this man. He was the man named Zhou who had boarded the ship to have a secret conversation with Wang Ping.
Following the man surnamed Zhou, two patrolmen came out, with the words "Macau Customs Department Xingtai" written on their chests.
The man surnamed Zhou saw Wang Ping walking onto the pier and winked at him. Wang Ping, who was dressed as a Beihai Town soldier and wore a thunder hat, nodded inconspicuously. The man surnamed Zhou saw it and turned back to the house.
One of the leading officials came over and asked the boatman driving the watermelon boat, "How many people are here?"
The boatman looked back at Liu Sheng and others, bowed and replied: "Not counting the director and his entourage, there are a total of seventeen foreigners. They are all here."
"Yeah. Let them all come in, we're going to check the luggage."
Liu Sheng frowned after hearing this, and just as he was about to speak, his sleeve was pulled. He turned around and saw that it was Wang Ping. When he saw the other person winking at him and nodding, he stopped talking and strode toward the tax house. Ding Guofeng waved to his subordinates, and they all arrived at the entrance of the tax hall.
The man surnamed Zhou was sitting behind a desk in the house. When he saw Liu Sheng and a group of people trying to go in, he quickly shouted: "Come in one by one, what a shame!"
At this time, Liu Sheng and Wang Ping had already entered, while two patrolmen were standing guard outside the door.
"Three days? Not enough?" The man surnamed Zhou seemed to be uneasy about the previous secret conversation on the ship, so he asked again in a low voice.
Wang Ping nodded and whispered: "Don't worry!"
The man named Zhou stopped talking, picked up the brush, lowered his head and started writing on the book on the desk. Liu Sheng took a closer look at what the other party had written on the booklet, and almost didn't laugh out loud. He thought to himself, is this okay?
"Today, sixteen American sailors have landed, and their ship is anchored at the wharf on the outer island. The name of the ship is the Clayton. The barbarians did not bring any cargo, and each of them only had a backpack with him. The luggage tax was one to two and a half cents per person. .....”
The man named Zhou finished writing on the book and said to Liu Sheng with a straight face: "Pay the money!"
Just after landing, more than 20 taels of silver were gone. This made Liu Sheng very unhappy, thinking that this was too expensive!
Seeing Liu Sheng's expression of concern, Wang Ping whispered: "Mr. Liu, this is the rule. Guangzhou charges more than Macau."
Liu Sheng took a silver bar from Beihai Town from his bag and gave it to the man named Zhou. When he was issuing the receipt, he said to Wang Ping: "Manager Wang, are you going to come with us later or not?"
Wang Ping said quickly: "Don't worry about it, Mr. Liu, I will leave with you in a moment."
Liu Sheng nodded and said nothing. He took the tax payment certificate issued by Zhou, turned around and went out. At this time, Wang Ping quickly entered a small room in the tax hall. After changing his clothes, he could leave with Zhou.
When Liu Sheng walked out of the tax hall, he was about to talk to Ding Guofeng when suddenly several guys in green cloth gowns gathered around him. They hunched over and muttered a lot to Liu Sheng. Liu and Ding were stunned. Roll your eyes.
"I'll go! What are these guys talking about!"
At this time, a person who gathered around suddenly showed surprise and said in a poor Mandarin: "Master, I really didn't expect you to speak our Mandarin! We are all general officers of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Sir, you There are so many people, let’s find a few more.”
Liu Sheng asked: "We have to stay in Macau for more than two days, how do you calculate the money?"
Another clerk quickly replied: "It's not expensive, five cents a day, plus two cents for fire expenses."
"It's a waste of money to hire someone?" Ding Guofeng couldn't laugh or cry after hearing this.
"Ah! This master can also speak Mandarin." Several laymen asked why these foreigners can speak Mandarin better than me. "This is the rule of the court, and there is nothing we can do about it."
At this time, Matos on the side said to Liu Sheng in Cantonese: "Liu, you can only invite them. There are no Chinese in Macau except the people from the customs."
"Oh, thank you very much." Liu Sheng said to several generals: "We all can speak Mandarin. Two people are paired with one. We need to invite eight people. You don't have enough people."
"Enough is enough!" As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a few more guys standing up under the wall of the tax hall. Their clothes were not as good as the ones in front of Liu Sheng, and their clothes were all patched.
Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng looked at each other, and then nodded, which means that's it...
At this time, outside the Ruins of St. Paul's Church, a welcoming team headed by the Macau Municipal Committee had been waiting for a long time. These people were all dressed in gorgeous European formal clothes, and there were several women chatting nearby.
Behind them was a group of Portuguese soldiers with guns, gathered together in twos and threes; all the soldiers were wearing European-style military uniforms, and their heads were wrapped with a white cloth handkerchief.
When Matos led Liu Sheng and others over, the captain ordered the soldiers to beat the drums, and the others stood in line. At this time, a five-gun salute was fired from the Sanba Fort to show welcome.
When several Australian and Portuguese women saw Liu Sheng walking beside Matos, they couldn't help but turned their heads and exclaimed: "What a tall man!"
When Liu Sheng and others approached, these Macao-Portuguese people were stunned when they saw the guests in white uniforms and strange-style big-brimmed hats.
A leading municipal official stepped forward and said: "Gentlemen, on behalf of the Macau Municipal Council and all residents in Macau, I welcome you all!"
Liu Sheng and others were also startled by the formation in front of them, so he ordered his men to line up and salute to show their solemnity. Unexpectedly, this movement in Beihai Town shocked a group of Macao and Portuguese people.
Sixteen people were all dressed in snow-white navy uniforms. They lined up horizontally and vertically and saluted uniformly. The captain and his men, who were wearing bandanas, were so ashamed that they wished they could find a mouse hole to crawl in and settle the matter. The eight general officers in charge of translation stood aside, smiling and looking at Liu Sheng and the others as they lined up, pointing.
The tall Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng were wearing captain's uniforms with ribbons, and they looked even more tall and majestic, with extraordinary heroic looks, which made several Portuguese women jump on their nerves and keep ogling them.
After the welcome ceremony of the Municipal Committee, there was a grand welcome dinner. The banquet was held at the home of a wealthy municipal official. The long table was covered with white tablecloths and a variety of Portuguese dishes were served.
From fish to pork, beef, and mutton, they are all served with fresh vegetables, high-quality olive oil, and mellow red wine. However, because Liu Sheng had warned him before, the soldiers did not indulge in eating and drinking; and most of them were not used to drinking red wine at all.
The officials and women couldn't help but feel disappointed when they saw that Liu Sheng and the others only tasted many dishes. They put a lot of thought into this meal, but they didn't expect that the other party didn't like it.
Matos quickly said to Liu Sheng: "Your Excellency, I want to apologize for our poor greeting. I ignored that you are all Orientals."
Liu Sheng shook his head and said: "Don't mind. Because of the cold climate, my people are used to greasy and heavy-flavored food. They just think these Mediterranean-style dishes are a bit too bland."
After dinner, when Liu Sheng was about to say goodbye and go back to his residence to rest, Matos suddenly told him that the Governor of Macau, Sir Faria, would meet with Liu Sheng and the others tomorrow morning.
Because Zhao Xin didn't come, Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng were a little overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the Portuguese. They thought to themselves that this was just a simple business inspection and they didn't buy anything. Why are the Portuguese so enthusiastic? !
What he doesn't know is that the Portuguese in Macau are actually having a miserable time.
As the saying goes, "Those who are not of my race must have different minds." The Manchus seemed to take care of the Portuguese in Macau, but in fact they were very wary of them. In order to curb the power of the Portuguese, the Guangdong Customs stipulated that foreign merchants could not live in Macau for a long time, and Qing people could not live in Macau. The Portuguese were not allowed to go to Guangzhou for trade, etc. Moreover, foreign merchants coming to China could go directly to Guangzhou after completing inspections abroad. ; coupled with the increasing decline of Portugal itself, it has seriously affected Macao's foreign trade.
Therefore, the Portuguese authorities in Macao often condone smuggling, and some Portuguese have become opium smugglers. That's right, of the more than two thousand boxes of opium flowing into the Qing Dynasty every year, one thousand boxes are smuggled in from Macau.
If Zhao Xin knew about this, he would definitely blow up all the forts in Macau and the Ruins of St. Paul's Church.
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