"Xu San, where is our ship anchored?"
After leaving General Manager Cheng's room, Zheng Haizhu sat on the horse and asked Xu San, who was holding the reins of the horse.
Xu San pointed to a row of blessing boats in the eastern harbor in the distance: "It's one of the boats there. Miss Zheng will be able to see it clearly tomorrow. It's only seven or eight feet long, not big, but it's enough for our family to carry. There is a ship boss and three sailors, all of whom have worked for the Xunhai Road and run private goods on the Dengliao Road. The last time it was his family's luck."
Zheng Haizhu thought: "Today I will show the nepotism of Lu Fan. I will save two hundred taels, which is enough to buy half a lucky ship. If we can go back and do the business a few times, we still have to have our own ship."
Xu Sandao: "Of course I feel more at ease if I have my own boat. Although the boat we hired is a friend of Mao Shouwei, people are far apart from each other. Who knows that they have been looking at our good things for many years and one day they suddenly have evil thoughts." , looking for pirates to kill and steal goods."
Zheng Haizhu said happily: "You kid would think so, that's right. You must be on guard against others."
Xu San scratched his head and said, "But our own boat can't get in."
Zheng Haizhu looked at him: "So, we need to get in touch with that Cheng Xin. Although he is not in the right position, he is probably a puss in the war, but he is not stupid in business. Invite him to go to the old man who patrols the sea road and ask him where he is. Are there any merchants they are familiar with in the south? If not, we will rush in and help patrol the sea road to carry goods for resale. The sea road is so big, just collecting protection fees is useless. If the censor comes here a few more times, we will stop eating. Not to mention that if the gods above fight, he will become cannon fodder and his life will be gone, so why sell the flag? What he leaves to his descendants must be industry."
Xu San listened and agreed.
In his opinion, Miss Zheng has several faces.
Although every face is not fierce, some are straightforward, some are smooth, some are enthusiastic, some are cold, some are always willing to spend money, and some are willing to beat others and rub them.
Like today, I finally gave Mr. Cheng a hundred taels, which was what Zheng Haizhu had told Xu San in advance. Just like paying taxes at the canal banknotes, Ms. Zheng is not willing to teach others to take advantage of others, but she will not use her backstage to break the rules of the world.
Xu San felt that it was enough for him to learn this face.
There are people like Cheng Xin everywhere. In Ms. Zheng’s words, if you accuse him of cheating, even if it doesn’t work if you stuff him with money, you have to find a reason for him to explain to his superiors, and he has to make the superiors feel that he has neither If you offend someone, you will get more or less money.
Make it easy for him to do it, and it will always be smoother to deal with him again at home. After all, he has a tattoo on his chest and is in charge of a private port.
Xu San, following Miss Zheng on this trip, felt that it was more interesting than following Mao Wenlong to ambush the police. Mao Chengbei from Hangzhou, like his father Mao Wenlong, is not unkind to his subordinates, while Miss Zheng is not only not unkind, but also teaches some tricks like an old cat taking care of a kitten.
Xu San gradually gathered his energy and worked hard for "Haoming Trading Company".
He was seriously thinking about how he could establish friendship with Mr. Cheng, who was as handsome as an actor, when he returned from Liaodong next spring. Miss Zheng's voice came over his head again: "You rest by the roadside while I race." Go to the beach and look at the boats."
Without waiting for Xu San to answer, Zheng Haizhu took the reins from Xu San's hand, clamped the horse's belly and galloped towards the seaside.
…
Ever since he said goodbye to Yan Siqi in Taiwan, Zheng Haizhu hasn't seen the commercial harbor and all kinds of lucky boats and bird boats for more than half a year, and he feels very itchy.
In this era, no matter the bustling market life, no matter the exquisite utensils, or the interesting literature and art, in her eyes, they still belong to the ancient farming civilization.
Of course she also loves farming civilization, and understands that many of the honest and simple concepts in her blood are thanks to her diligent and solid farming ancestors.
But what really makes her feel connected to modern times and eliminates her loneliness as a visitor from another world is people's integration into marine activities.
The scene in front of us is typical of the turbulent officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty, which was characterized by the use of power for personal gain. However, the other side it presents is indeed the vitality that only black market sea trade can have.
Tomorrow, the Dengzhou porters hired by Xu San will load the goods, and the ship will have to sail out of the harbor. Time is very limited, and Zheng Haizhu wants to take advantage of the horses today to take a spin along this private harbor.
The closer he got to the harbor, the stronger the smell of fish carried by the sea breeze was. Even at a moderate speed, Zheng Haizhu saw people cleaning their catch or repairing fishing nets in front of countless dilapidated shacks on both sides.
Seeing that the dock where the lucky ships were gathered was a hundred steps away, the sound of "Peng, Peng" fire cannons was suddenly heard from under the cliff diagonally ahead.
The red horse under Zheng Haizhu's crotch has always been the mount of Fan Bin, the commander of Zhu Yi's bodyguard. It is not a war horse that has been on the battlefield in the Ming Dynasty. Apart from the distant sound of firecrackers during the New Year, what Chi Ruyi was most accustomed to as an adult was the sound of bowstrings from hunters in the mountains and forests outside Yanzhou City.
At this moment, the sudden loud noise of the gun made the horse's overly sensitive hearing instantly convey catastrophic fear to the nerves.
Chi Ruyi hissed, his back trembled, and then everything from the horse's head to its neck began to shake violently.
Zheng Haizhu instinctively lowered his upper body, grabbed the horse's reins tightly with both hands, and pressed the stirrups with the soles of his feet to prevent himself, an inexperienced rider, from being thrown to the ground by the frightened horse.
She just felt Chi Ruyi shaking his neck less, and the sound of firecrackers sounded again behind the cliff.
This time, it was like several shots were fired in close succession, and the sound was louder than the thunder and sky fire.
Chi Ruyi went crazy again, throwing her neck around and running towards the left path.
Zheng Haizhu had never experienced such a speed before. His mind went blank for a moment, and the exclamations that came out of his mouth seemed to be reaching his ears from a very far away place.
In the wormwood in front, a figure suddenly appeared and quickly faced the galloping horse.
Before Zheng Haizhu could react, the man had already jumped on the horse, reached out from behind her, picked up part of the reins from both sides, stretched his arms to control it, and kept shouting.
Zheng Haizhu was pressed against the horse's neck. After a few breaths, she finally regained consciousness and heard clearly that the person controlling the horse was a woman.
Chi Ruyi was still in a frantic state, but the woman struggled to rein her in and seemed to change the direction of her running.
Zheng Haizhu glanced to the right out of the corner of his eyes, and suddenly felt a chill rushing straight to Tianling Gai, and at the same time, his heartbeat seemed to skip a few beats.
A cliff, a cliff!
Although the fields and shacks below can be seen at a glance, and the drop is not as big as the stone cliff near Penglai Pavilion, if the horses running at high speed fall from a height of two to three feet, the fate of both the man and the horse will be in danger. few.
The movements of the woman behind him were very skillful. Zheng Haizhu shrank down and lay on the horse's neck. He could also notice the different moments when she was pulling and pulling the reins. Her gestures were complex yet flexible.
Finally, Chi Ruyi was led to a field that was idle in winter.
The firecrackers rang out a few more times, but when they came from afar, their power was greatly reduced.
Chi Ruyi's ears moved rapidly, as if a person would blink continuously after recovering from a shock.
But it has slowed down significantly and started to snort.
The woman behind him pulled the reins little by little, and finally made Chi Ruyi stop in front of the field bank with a few "oh, oh" sounds.
As soon as the horse stood firm, the woman jumped off, walked to the horse's head, bowed her body towards Zheng Hai, and faced the mud.
Zheng Haizhu was looking down from a high position, and all he could see was a head with messy yellow hair, and a dirty linen jacket and pants whose original color could not be seen.
She quickly turned over and dismounted.
"Thank you for saving my life, fellow fellow. Is this fellow from Jindaotun?"
The woman wrung her chapped hands, still looking at the ground, and said "hmm" in a low voice.
The huddled and cowardly person in front of him was completely different from the brave and elegant female knight who was riding the frightened horse a moment ago.
Zheng Haizhu was a little puzzled.
Look at this woman, she is about the same age as him, and she wears her hair in a married woman's bun like him, but her clothes are ragged. She should be the daughter-in-law of a poor military household in the village.
Even a woman from a well-to-do family in Dengzhou City would not be able to get access to horses that only the rich and wealthy gentry could afford. How could this woman be so good at riding?
Zheng Haizhu saw that her clothes were thin and thought that she had sweated while riding the horse. Now the northwest wind would make things worse, so she took off the mink fur that Prince Lu had given her and stepped forward to put it on her.
The woman was so frightened that she waved her hands repeatedly.
Then he raised his head and said, "Father, you are a noble man, don't wear it, don't wear it."
It's not Dengzhou dialect, to be exact, the stiff grammar and weird accent are not like Han people.
Zheng Haizhu became more and more surprised and saw her face clearly. She had a broad face and slender eyes. She thought to herself, Dengzhou is very close to North Korea. Could it be that she is an immigrant from North Korea?
The woman refused to wear the mink fur, so Zheng Haizhu had no choice but to take off his Songjiang cloth cotton-padded jacket. After putting it back on the mink fur, he wrapped the woman in the cotton-padded jacket and said seriously: "If you catch a cold in the winter, you will die if you catch typhoid fever." "
The woman did not struggle this time. After letting Zheng Haizhu help her tie her belt, she looked up at Zheng Haizhu, then turned around and stroked Chi Ruyi's neck.
"Good horse, good horse."
Her eyes seemed to light up all of a sudden.
