Tianjin Port is the largest port in the north of Ming Dynasty.
It is backed by the capital, connects North China and Liaodong, and radiates to the northwest and south of Mongolia. The jade shafts are connected to each other, and hundreds of boats are vying for the current; colorful flags are stretching to the sky, and thousands of sails are covering the sea.
Unlike Shanghai’s private port, which has many ports, Tianjin’s private port has only one name, Jinghua Tianjin Port.
In Tianjin Port, the most powerful force is naturally the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance Fleet with the Beijing Beiyang Fleet as the core. In addition to this, there are also many ships from other forces stopping at this port, including not only the imperial court's watercraft, merchant ships from Jiangnan, but also fleets from Liaodong, Shandong and other places.
Even after last year, a small number of foreign ships with longitudinal soft sails occasionally appeared in Tianjin Port. Although the sailors and other people on board were only allowed to move in the private port, the fact that these foreign ships were allowed to dock temporarily was already a big problem. progress.
Even though Jinghua is backed by Gao Pragmatism, it is not easy for Jinghua to obtain this concession from the court. For this reason, Jinghua needs to fully bear all the responsibilities for these foreigners "if they cause trouble."
For this reason, Jinghua Private Port has formulated a strict management system to restrain these merchant ships from Europe. For example, before a merchant ship enters the port, it must undergo boarding inspection by Jinghua outside the port, and all standard weapons such as artillery, gunpowder, firearms, and knives on board must be temporarily surrendered.
According to Jinghua's regulations, all types of weapons temporarily confiscated will be written on the list with the captain or fleet command of the other party and signed by the person in charge of both parties. Jinghua will charge a certain storage fee for this, but at the same time ensure that these weapons-including gunpowder-are properly stored.
At the same time, Jinghua has further strengthened the deployment of armed servants at the seaport and established a more professional port guard than before. In Tianjin Port alone, Jinghua's port guard team numbered as many as 800 people. Of course, these escorts are not just for foreigners. All security matters in Tianjin Port depend on their work.
There are not many honest sailors who dare to go out to sea these days. Although Jinghua owns more ships than anyone else in Tianjin Port and naturally has the most sailors, we cannot rely on sailors to maintain public order. A dedicated "port military police" It is still necessary - otherwise, if Jinghua's own sailors have conflicts with each other, will anyone be able to take care of it?
Because of this series of measures, the security atmosphere in Tianjin Port is still quite good. Especially under the intimidation of Gao Pingshi, "the best literary commander in the world", together with a group of noble cronies belonging to the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, even if they are used to showing off their power in other places, they will not realize it once they enter Tianjin Port. The land has become more honest, and few dare to cause trouble.
However, Tianjin Port encountered a little trouble today: someone on an armed transport ship flying Jinghua's own "Book and Sword" flag clearly refused to search the room.
What made Sun Weifeng, the director of Tianjin Port, look even more gloomy was that these people declared that "no one can enter the room to search unless Gao Situ comes in person."
Sun Weifeng was not a servant of the Gao family, let alone a son of the family, but was of the same nature as a "employed shopkeeper". Starting from his father's generation, the Sun brothers have been the hired shopkeepers of the Gao family, and most of them have outstanding abilities. In his generation, two of his cousins even passed the examination, and one of them was him.
However, he thought that he had no hope of taking the imperial examination again, so he still worked for the Gao family. After more than ten years of hard work, he became the director of Tianjin Port at the age of thirty-one. He was considered young and promising.
He relied on his ability to become the director of Tianjin Port and dealt with various problems. But the fact that the other party was so arrogant that he said such words still made him a little angry.
"Have you figured out who the other party is?" Sun Weifeng, who rushed to the berth with his people, asked the captain of the port guard squadron who was blocked from leading the inspection.
The squadron leader replied: "I asked the captain of this ship and he said it was a delegation from the Ye He tribe in Liaodong coming to Beijing to pay tribute."
"Are they here?" Sun Weifeng had obviously heard about this, but it seemed that he didn't know the details, because he went on to say: "These barbarians really don't understand the rules. It is a special matter for the imperial court to allow them to pay tribute by sea. Special Agent, they actually think they are so outrageous that they even dare to refuse to abide by Jinghua’s rules.”
The squadron leader nodded repeatedly and asked: "Director, what should we do now? Do we want to forcibly disarm? Well, I mean, they are a mission after all, and they are going to pay tribute to the emperor..."
"Of course it is a big deal to pay tribute to the emperor, but when you come to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, you must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty. The laws of Tianjin Port are also the laws of the Ming Dynasty, don't you need to abide by them?" Sun Weifeng looked very calm, and waved his hand slightly: "Just follow it. I will go on board to negotiate. If they are still stubborn, those who should be disarmed will have to disarm, and those who should be searched will naturally have to be searched."
Then he paused again, with a trace of disdain flashing in his eyes, and sneered: "How dare you say that I need the master to come in person to search? What a joke, even if Nalin Bulu and Bu Zhai came, with their two pieces of information, they are worthy of the master. Coming in person?"
"Hahahaha!" The squadron leader and the surrounding port guard members laughed together.
"If our master were here, the two Jurchen Yi people would have crawled over on their knees to lick the soles of my master's shoes!"
"Haha, when you say that, I can imagine what it looks like!"
Everyone looked at each other and started laughing and taunting each other.
Sun Weifeng just smiled slightly, and Shi Shiran boarded the ship under the guidance of the escort. As soon as he got on the ship, he found that the sailors on the ship and a group of Jurchens dressed in completely different clothes stood in two distinct groups, but there was no hostility between them.
As for the other group of port guards who arrived first, they stood directly opposite a group of Jurchens, seemingly in a confrontation.
The Yanling knives in the hands of these escorts have been unsheathed, but the Jurchens opposite have no weapons in their hands, but I don't know whether they are not carrying weapons, or they are aware of their situation and dare not take them out.
Sun Weifeng stepped forward, and the escorts gave him a way with a clear look, so he quickly walked to the front and faced the Jurchen envoys directly.
The leader of the Jurchen mission at this time is a young man with a rather burly physique. Although his triangular eyes are not big, there is clearly a coldness and sophistication tempered on the battlefield, which is quite inconsistent with his age.
"May I ask who is here?" the young Jurchen man asked in standard Chinese but with a distinct Liaodong accent. When he asked this question, he imitated Han etiquette and clasped his fists.
Sun Weifeng did not expect such a scene, but since a foreigner could take the initiative to show courtesy, he had no choice but to bow his hand slightly and replied: "I am the manager of Jinghua Tianjin Port, my surname is Sun, and you are the envoy of Tarum Guards? "
As mentioned earlier, Tarumuwei was the official name of the Yehe tribe by the Ming court.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the young man seemed to have a trace of embarrassment on his face, but he quickly nodded and replied: "As it is my father, I am only responsible for the safety of the mission."
Sun Weifeng thought that the reason why he was embarrassed was because he regarded him as his envoy, so he didn't think much about it. He nodded lightly and asked, "In that case, where is your father?"
Before the young man had time to reply, a Jurchen in his early forties came out of the cabin and saluted Sun Weifeng with a fist in his hand and said, "The Tarum Guards envoy and the Hulun Savage Sorguo have met Director Sun."
Sun Weifeng looked at him with slight surprise, then looked at the young man before, and asked: "Is this your son?"
Sorgo seemed to be asked this question often. He smiled and said, "It's Quanzi." Judging from his appearance, he should be quite satisfied with his son, even proud of him.
Sun Weifeng nodded and said: "He was born majestic." It turned out that the reason why he asked this question just now was because this young man was more than half a head taller than his father.
The Jurchens at this time were not known for their tallness, and should not be viewed with the customary thinking of "Northeastern Hans" of later generations. In fact, the Jurchens' physiques generally tend to be stocky - not tall but strong.
Sorguo's figure is slightly taller among the Jurchens, and his son is more than half a head taller than him. Compared with other Jurchens near the hatch, he is almost a head taller. So Sun Weifeng Only then was he surprised, and he praised Thorgo slightly after he answered in the affirmative.
But that was all. Sun Weifeng only paused for a moment after saying this, and then asked again: "I heard that your envoy refused our search according to regulations. I wonder if this is the case."
Sorgo admitted frankly: "It is true."
Sun Weifeng narrowed his eyes slightly, with a hint of chill in his tone: "If your envoy refuses to inspect Tianjin Port on the basis of tribute, according to the imperial edict issued by the emperor last year, our port guard has the right to identify your envoy and his entourage. Invading the territory of the Ming Dynasty... I wonder if the two ministers Nalinbulu and Buzhai have allowed your envoy to act like this, and as for all the consequences, is Tarum Guard ready to bear it?"
Unexpectedly, Solguo shook his head and said, "Director Sun misunderstood. Our inability to accept inspection has nothing to do with paying tribute."
Although Sun Weifeng was a little surprised when he heard this, his expression turned even worse, and he said coldly: "Oh? Does that mean that you personally don't allow us to search?" He snorted softly: "In that case, you are Are you planning to use force to resist inspection?"
Since it "has nothing to do with paying tribute", Sun Weifeng didn't even bother to say "your ambassador" and started directly with "you".
Sorguo frowned and said, "Director Sun doesn't know about this either?"
Sun Weifeng didn't know what he was talking about, and there was a look of doubt on his face for a moment. Sorgo glanced at the port guard beside him, with a troubled expression on his face, and hesitated: "Can Director Sun take a step to speak?"
The squadron leader of the escort team beside Sun Weifeng immediately became alert and reminded Sun Weifeng: "Supervisor, be careful of fraud."
Waving his hand, Sun Weifeng looked at Sorguo, then at his son, thought for a moment, and suddenly smiled: "Why not?"
Then he turned his head slightly and said to the squadron leader: "You know the rules, so you don't need me to say more. No matter what happens later, it won't affect your work. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand." The squadron leader lowered his head slightly, but his tone was firm.
Sun Weifeng stopped talking to him and said to Sorguo, "Go in and talk."
Thorgo nodded, but told his son: "It's still the original order: no one is allowed to enter unless you die."
The young man raised his chin slightly and replied, "Don't worry, Ama."
Sorguo said no more and extended his hand towards Sun Weifeng: "Director Sun, please."
Sun Weifeng didn't say much and walked towards the cabin. This cabin is not just one room, but connected to many rooms.
According to Sun Weifeng's advanced understanding of the Jinghua-style armed transport ship, this section of the cabin is the best cabin and cargo warehouse of the ship. Generally speaking, if there are no important guests, these cabins are used to store valuable goods and even gold and silver. Once the ship If there are distinguished guests on board, a special cabin will be temporarily built and replaced with high-end furniture and other items before departure from the port.
The current section of the cabin was obviously used as a special cabin, and as soon as Sun Weifeng entered, he found that the doors of the other cabins were open, except for the best cabin. The door was closed tightly and showed no signs of opening.
Sun Weifeng was moved in his heart and thought to himself: Could it be that the Jurchens wanted to pay tribute to some rare and exotic treasures but were worried that I would be interested in meeting Cai in Tianjin Port? What a joke. I have never seen any treasures in Tianjin Port, so how can I covet your little things!
But he immediately felt something was wrong. The Jurchens might not have seen much of the world, but since they were a tribute mission, they had to report in advance whatever they brought to pay tribute. In other words, the imperial court had long known what tribute they had brought. In this case, how could Tianjin Port dare to take advantage of Cai? This was tantamount to robbing the emperor, and wouldn't it be against his own head?
Sun Weifeng secretly thought: Could it be that they are planning to sell some private goods, but they don't dare to let us know? But what can the Jurchens do? The top of the sky is Dongzhu, ginseng, mink, etc. Unless there is a "Dongzhu King" of excellent quality and huge size, I am not even interested in taking a second look. As for So nagging?
However, what happened next made Sun Weifeng even more surprised. Sorguo walked to the closed cabin, knocked on the door gently, and said politely: "Gege, the person coming here is the director of Tianjin Port. Logically speaking, he should be Gao Situ's confidant."
This sentence itself is a bit weird, but Sun Weifeng is even more surprised by two points: First, the term "Gege". Isn't this a title only given to the sisters or daughters of Baylor from the Jurchen tribe? This Jurchen envoy is here to pay tribute, how come there is a Gege among them?
Secondly, Sorguo's attitude was rather strange. When he spoke to this Gege, his demeanor was "polite" rather than respectful. It's like... that's not his master.
Sun Weifeng was confused, but the situation was unclear at this time, so he had to remain calm, neither asking questions nor showing any surprise.
At this time, a beautiful female voice came from inside: "Thank you for your hard work, Sorgobele, but I heard that according to Han people's rules, a woman cannot meet his family before she leaves the cabinet. Since Manager Sun is his confidant, I must also If it is inconvenient to see him, please ask him to go back."
Sun Weifeng's expression suddenly changed.
----------
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Drinking a Pot of Burning Wine", "Sword Flying Peng Chonglou", "Sex Friends All the Way", and "Dongguan Bald King" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: The guest has just left, so I will check if I can leave early in the morning. If I am too sleepy, it may not be until tomorrow morning.
