"Ship, ship, there is a ship coming from the sea."
Among the people working on the ice, some pointed in the distance to the sea and shouted loudly.
Many people who were cutting ice around were attracted by his shouts and looked in the direction of his finger.
On the sea in the distance, a tall mast appeared in front of everyone.
"This is..." Chen Zhong hesitated and said, "A ship sent by Denglai Navy?"
His tone was not so sure.
After all, Navy Denglai had just left and would not come to Phi Island so soon.
Mao Chenglu, who was standing next to him, said: "The ship of the Denglai Navy left Phi Island a few days ago. Unless the court has a decree for the adoptive father, he will not come to Phi Island so soon."
After speaking, he looked at Mao Wenlong.
Chen Zhong on the side also looked at Mao Wenlong.
At this time, Mao Wenlong looked at the big ship appearing on the sea and said: "It should be the ship with the Tiger Flag. The Denglai Navy does not have such a big ship."
Standing at a high place, you can already see the outlines of ships traveling on the sea.
"The people from the Tiger Flag just left the general's place a few days ago. I didn't expect to send a ship to Pi Island so soon." Chen Zhong said in a low voice.
Mao Wenlong stroked his beard and said: "In such a hurry to send a ship over, it seems that the Tiger Flag has a great demand for large timber, and the large timber given to them before was simply not enough."
"Father, please go to the dock to greet me. Two ships are coming this time, and they should bring a lot of things." Mao Chenglu said.
On the sea, two sea ships were sailing towards Pi Island.
Mao Wenlong nodded and said: "Go ahead. If the people who come are from the Tiger Flag, you will handle everything. Remember, you can give the big wood to them, but you can't sell it at such a low price."
"My child understands." Mao Chenglu saluted Mao Wenlong, turned around and walked towards the pier on the shore.
Chen Zhong, who was standing next to Mao Wenlong, said: "I didn't expect that Tiger Flag could dispatch two large ships at one time. It seems that their business in Nanyang is quite big."
Mao Wenlong raised the corner of his mouth and said: "They took away so many big trees from Dongjiang Town. If they are all used to build ships, they can build more than two sea ships."
"That's what the adults said." Chen Zhong agreed.
Even if you don't know how to build a ship, judging from the number of big trees taken away by the Tiger Flag, you know that it is enough to build several big ships.
Mao Wenlong added: "You are the guard of Tieshan. Most of the big trees required by the Tiger Flag come from Tieshan. You usually have a lot of contact with the people of the Tiger Flag. You should also accompany Chenglu to meet the people of the Tiger Flag. By the way, tell me The people of the Tiger Flag, they brought the same goods as before and used big wood to pay off their debts.”
"Yes." Chen Zhong clasped his fists and said immediately, "The total of the goods delivered by Tiger Flag these past few times has made Dongjiang Town owe them a lot. It will be difficult to repay them with Damu alone. What if they make new demands? what to do?"
Mao Wenlong twirled his beard and said: "It doesn't matter. As long as Tiger Flag still wants to build ships, they will ask us for logs. As for the goods they brought, Dongjiang Town can continue to owe it and repay it slowly with logs in the future."
Chen Zhong hesitated for a moment and then said: "We have some furs and Dongzhu ginseng stored in Dongjiang Town. Why not sell them some? We can set a higher price."
"Those things will have other uses." Mao Wenlong rejected Chen Zhong's suggestion, and then said, "You and Chenglu will receive the people from the Tiger Flag, and these merchants will not be seen."
After saying that, he turned around and walked towards his house.
A group of soldiers surrounded him and walked back.
Chen Zhong watched Mao Wenlong go away, and then walked quickly towards the pier on the shore.
In order to facilitate Denglai Navy's ships to dock, Mao Wenlong specially had a dock built near the shore.
Compared with other places, the ice around the pier has long been cut and is cleaned every now and then. Usually there is only a thin layer of floating ice on the water, and any small boat can break this thin layer of ice.
"Tell those people on the ice to cut the ice quickly and finish today's work. Each person will get a piece of cake."
When Mao Chenglu saw that many people on the ice had stopped what they were doing and just looked at the ships approaching in the distance, he told his men around him.
Soon, the sound of coaxing and rushing words sounded on the ice.
The people on the ice began to continue chipping away at the ice and doing their jobs.
The ship on the sea is getting closer and closer. At first, only the mast can be seen, and gradually the whole ship appears in sight.
Mao Chenglu led people to guard the dock.
Chen Zhong came over and said, "Your Excellency, please let me greet the people with the Tiger Flag together with you."
Mao Chenglu nodded, then pointed to the sea with his hand and said: "Such a large ship can only be compared with the flagship of Denglai Navy. However, a businessman can easily own these large ships that are comparable to flagships."
"I heard that building such a big ship costs a lot of money. How can the imperial court have so much money to build such a big ship." Chen Zhong sighed and shook his head. .
Mao Chenglu snorted coldly and said: "If it weren't for those corrupt officials and the money they saved from corruption, the imperial court wouldn't be able to build any big ship!"
Chen Zhong, who was standing on the dock, did not answer.
What is good at the top must be good at the bottom.
From top to bottom, the Ming Dynasty could not find a few officials who did not make money for themselves. Even the civil servants who were full of courtesy, justice, integrity, benevolence and morality still made money for themselves, even more ruthlessly than they, the military generals.
How much money the Ming Dynasty had was not enough for the officials to share it among themselves. It was impossible to build big ships. Otherwise, Denglai Navy would not have added a new ship for so many years.
"The boat is coming, and I don't know who is taking the lead this time." Mao Chenglu said.
Chen Zhong said: "If my prediction is correct, the person who comes should be the shopkeeper Xu."
"How did you know?" Mao Chenglu looked at Chen Zhong.
Chen Zhong smiled and said: "Recently, because of the incident with Damu, people from the Tiger-Character Banner have gone to Tieshan to look for me, but they were blocked by my people. If the people from the Tiger-Character Banner still want to get help from our Dongjiang Town, When we get to Damu, we will naturally send someone who can make the decision to come to Pi Island in person to discuss matters with us adults about Damu."
"Your Excellency will never see people with the Tiger Flag." Mao Chenglu said.
Chen Zhong nodded and said, "Before I came here, your Excellency had already gone back."
Both of them knew in their hearts that their masters had never looked down upon merchants. Otherwise, they would not have detained so many goods from merchants doing business with Pidao and asked these merchants to redeem them with more goods.
"Do you think the owner of the Tiger Flag will come in person this time? I heard that the owner of the Tiger Flag is not very old." Mao Chenglu said.
Chen Zhong curled his lips and said: "This has nothing to do with age. With the support of Wei Eun behind him, it is not surprising to create such a family fortune."
"To have such a big family fortune, I am willing to be scolded as a castrated dog behind my back. These days, only free money is the most real thing." Mao Chenglu chirped twice.
Chen Zhong sneered and said: "No matter how powerful the eunuchs were in the past dynasties, how many of them ended up with a good end? A business company like Huzi Banner that has close ties with Wei Wei will only become the talk of others when Wei Wei falls. Your life and death are at the mercy of others."
Mao Chenglu nodded in agreement.
