As if he had sensed what Kang Lin was thinking, Qiao Si stroked his short beard under his chin and said nothing. He just smiled and pointed towards the Shuicheng dock area! There, there are at least ten Chinese-style hard sailing ships of different sizes and shapes, flying the golden dragon, sun and moon flags, anchored along the pier, with guns and cannons on them and flags fluttering. Even the sailors lying lazily on the deck blowing the sea breeze, Most of the flag soldiers also look a bit brave and daring to fight. They have strong soldiers and horses, and they are not easy to mess with! At this thought, the Kangda leader's eyes towards the merchant ship quietly changed from greedy to gentle!
However, there are far more things that can make people afraid of Donghai Weiqian Shanshui Village than that!
Cannon fort! Yes, it is an earth-and-rock structure fort with artillery! As the most effective means of coastal defense, the Ming army built various numbers of artillery forts at various commanding heights throughout Shuicheng. The large and small muzzles protruding from them made one's scalp tingle at the sight! You must know that most of the Fuchuan, Shachuan and even Guangzhou ships operated by the pirates and merchants of the Ming Dynasty had shortcomings such as thin skin, few muskets, and poor structural strength. If they were hit by a few bowl-mouth cannons from a long distance, the cannonballs of the Folan machine It's not that important, but if it is hit by a general cannon or a red cannon at close range, it will be a big problem! A 5-pound or 10-pound iron cannonball, propelled by gunpowder gas, is absolutely capable of tearing apart the thin planks of most ships on the East Asian sea!
"Holy shit!" Conlin only had to think of the scene of a black bowling ball with a hot breath, jumping forward on his ship, breaking a lot of arms, legs and feet, and breaking one or two masts. A chill ran down his back, but he couldn't admit that he was scared, so he could only change the subject and talk to Qiao Si about other things.
"Brother Qiao, when we get to the dock later, will someone come to check our identities? Also, while we are waiting for you to come back, can we go ashore for a walk first? After all, Uncle Six's injury can no longer be delayed. , if there is a medical clinic in the dock area, we would like to go and see it first..."
"No, Qiao's answer is no! There is a mixture of fish and dragons on the Shuizhai Pier, and there are people from all walks of life. Generally, government officials and flag soldiers will not come here to check the identities of merchants, unless you kill people on the Pier Street. Or maybe you set a fire, otherwise no one will care about where you come from or where you are going. The big shots in Wei will only care about how much tax money you can bring to them, and will not care about what you do. !
As for you wanting to get off the ship and go shopping in the dock area, Qiao has no objection. You have nothing to do on the ship for the time being. You might as well go down for a walk first, and you might be able to find one or two doctors with real skills. The red wound on Mr. Liu's body has been cured..." Seeing that the overestimating fat man finally gave in in the face of his absolute strength, Qiao Si, who felt that he had managed to win back the game invisibly, did not say anything this time. To attack his own allies, on the contrary, in order to prevent these guys from offending some people or forces that they shouldn't offend, he even sent one of his cronies to guide them around!
"Master Chief, Shopkeeper Qiao, the guide ship is here. They asked us to follow them and park the ship at berth No. 33 of the Renzihao Pier!" Suddenly, the report of the officer on duty sounded outside the cabin door, which made both sides The pleasant conversation between them came to an end temporarily. The two people who walked out of the cabin one after another found that the sand ship had already turned to declare customs and enter the port according to the order! Because in front of them, there was a small boat carrying two officials and four or five flag troops approaching them quickly. And these people are none other than the tax collectors from the Shanshui Village and the officials from the Shipping Department!
"Stop, stop, you bunch of bird-bearing hozens didn't hurry up and pull the old man up. Are you trying to evade taxes, or is there something shady hidden on the boat?!" The sound was heard before anyone arrived! Before the sailor of the sand boat could throw down the rope to pick up the people on board, an arrogant and rude voice rang in everyone's ears! The next moment, Kang Lin's personal guards, whose faces turned red, all reached for the Yan Ling knife at their waists. As soon as their leader gave the order, they chopped this rude bullshit tax collector into pieces. However, the reaction of the person involved was It exceeded everyone’s expectations! I saw the leader of Kangda, who was wearing a gray cloth monk's robe, a pointed bamboo hat, and holding a wooden staff with a ring, lowering his head at the moment, clasping his hands together, and seemed to be chanting the name of the Buddha, asking them to calm down. , everything depends on Qiao Si’s arrangement.
"Amitabha, everyone Tan Yue, don't get angry, don't get angry, everything is at the discretion of shopkeeper Qiao!"
"Pfft, pfft!" Although they tried their best to suppress it, laughter still rang out from the sailors and soldiers on the ship. They really didn't expect that their boss would appear in such an identity and appearance among the officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. In front of the soldiers. Unexpectedly, their laughter was heard by the Ming Dynasty officials who had just boarded the ship, and they mistakenly thought it was disrespectful to him. His face suddenly changed, and he was about to explode on the spot!
"This officer, this officer, listen to what Qiao has to say, listen to what Qiao has to say!" He raised his head and glared at the sailor who was still grinning stupidly. He came out and bowed to the tax collector of the guard station as soon as he came up, "This official, don't be angry, don't be angry. Xiao Ke is Qiao Si, the shopkeeper of Donghai Chamber of Commerce. In recent years, he has often done business with you, Mr. Weng. As far as the official is concerned, he can still be regarded as half of his own people! As for what happened today, it was indeed Qiao's subordinates who did something wrong first, so I hope that the official can take care of Qiao and Weng. In the face of being acquainted with the officials, I raised my noble hand and let these lazy and blind people go..." There is a needle hidden in the cotton, and Qiao Si's words were not revealed, not only blocking the anger that the tax collector was about to spout back into his body, He also left this guy speechless, causing his fair face to turn red, and several of his three well-maintained beards torn off by himself.
"Feng Sheng, please step aside. I have an old relationship with you as a superior. It seems to me that today's humiliation can only be swallowed alive..." Unlike the angry official named Feng, who was one position behind him and dressed in Wearing light blue dark clothes and a square scarf, the elegant and elegant ship clerk looks very kind, but the words coming out of his mouth make people even more wary and unhappy! Compared to the arrogance of the officer surnamed Feng, this guy spoke in a more sinister and eccentric manner. He started to stir up dissension when he opened his mouth. He looked like he was just watching the fun and not afraid of big troubles. It really made people not have any good impression of him. Moreover, the attentive Qiao Si also discovered that this guy had fair skin and handsome features. He did not have the beard on his face and chin that men in the Ming Dynasty often wore. The smell of girliness...
This is a eunuch, or a eunuch! Qiao Si's mind was racing and he quickly figured out the identity of the official in front of him. He had no time to care about why an eunuch pretended to be a clerk in the Shibo Department. He endured the unspeakable smell faintly coming from the tip of his nose, and Qiao Si immediately saluted the blue-robed clerk in the Shibo Department again in a more respectful manner.
"I didn't know that a middle-class nobleman is coming. He is a capital offender. Come on, come here. The middle-class nobleman invites you to drink a cup of light tea in Qiao's cabin, so that Xiaoke can have a chance to show off to the middle-class nobleman!" As he spoke, Qiao Si and Kang Lin, who were smiling as if the Maitreya Buddha had come into the world, exchanged glances inadvertently, then bowed slightly and raised their hands to let the two clerks with different faces to the poop, where Kang Lin I prepared some yellow and white "no" and asked shopkeeper Qiao, who was cleaner than his face, to bribe these two arrogant and domineering clerks to prevent them from yelling and causing unnecessary trouble!
"You guys are waiting here. I and Brother Feng will go into the cabin with shopkeeper Qiao first to see if he has any good tea for us. It just so happens that after such a long errand, it's time to stop and take a rest. !" Upon hearing that there was something to be gained, the faces of the two clerks immediately showed a look of satisfaction. The next moment, amidst their shouts, the tax collectors temporarily served by the Banner Army hastily ended the inspection work. , quietly retreated to the side, while they themselves swayed, followed Qiao Si into the poop with steady square steps.
A quarter of an hour later.
"Mr. Qiao, thank you for your hospitality. I have official duties to attend to, so I'll take my leave!" Each of them had twenty taels of silver in his pocket, and the tax collector surnamed Feng and the clerk from the shipping department in blue quickly expressed their satisfaction. Smiles came out of the poop, and when they passed by Master Wuyuan who bowed his head and silently recited the "Buddhist Sutra" beside the main mast, these two well-fed and drunk bastards couldn't help but praise the monk, "Tsk, tsk, Mr. Qiao." , the great monk on your ship is really majestic, if one day he stops wearing monk clothes and wears Shanwen golden armor, the general generals of the imperial court will really not be as powerful and domineering as him!"
"Mr. Chu, Mr. Feng, he is an eminent monk who has attained Taoism and a good person who has been practicing since childhood. This time he came down the mountain to raise funds and rebuild the mountain gate. We can't make fun of him, otherwise the Buddha will find out and he will be lowered. If disaster comes to punish us, it will be very bad..." People in this era still believe in the theory of ghosts and gods, so when they heard what Qiao Si said, the small officials surnamed Chu and Feng immediately put away their words. With a frivolous expression, he clasped his hands together and began to chant the Buddha's name silently. Among them, the tax collector surnamed Feng, who was very devout in worshiping Buddha, took a step forward, put a bunch of copper coins in Kang Lin's hand, and then said to him in a low voice,
"To promote Buddhism and save all sentient beings, we also need to raise funds to rebuild the mountain gate. Master, thank you for your hard work. I only hate Feng for being so humble and being unable to share the worries of the master. Otherwise, I will spend a lot of money to help the master rebuild the temple as soon as possible..."
"Tan Yue, no matter how much money you have, it is all because of the Buddha. If you have such intention, it is enough. The Buddha will definitely bless you with a smooth career and a safe family..." The fake monk Kanglin reached out and put the heavy copper coins in He took it out of his waistband, bowed to the young official named Feng, and said something very Zen.
"Thank you, Master!" The young official surnamed Feng returned the greeting again, and then saw that his companion, the young official surnamed Chu, had an impatient look on his face, so he had no choice but to apologize and get on the rowing boat with him, and swayed away!
