1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 877 Zhoushan Merchants Association ([-])
Hai Han has a better understanding of the profit-seeking mentality of businessmen than people of this era, and he is also better at making use of this human nature.On the one hand, it uses the method of sending invitations to local leaders to show that it attaches great importance to investment promotion activities. On the other hand, it publicizes among the people that even if they do not receive invitations, they can still have the opportunity to participate in the island, through a method similar to hunger and thirst marketing Attract the attention of more merchants.Those who were undecided about whether to go or not will naturally have a herd mentality when they see so many colleagues in the market scrambling for the qualification to participate in the conference.According to word of mouth among businessmen, the Zhoushan Merchants Association quickly became a hot topic after dinner in Ningbo Prefecture.

Of course, those who are interested in the Zhoushan Investment Promotion Association are not only profit-seeking businessmen. Some people pay attention to this matter for other reasons, such as those whose interests have been seriously damaged due to Zhoushan's change of ownership.To them, Haihan is not a God of Wealth who fell from the sky, but an enemy who destroys their family and steals their wealth. It seems that the China Merchants Association is a place with many people and eyes, and it seems to be used for revenge.

Twenty miles east of Ningbo City, under Huading Peak at the foot of Taibai Mountain, there is an Ashoka Temple built in the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Jin Dynasty. By this time, it has a history of more than 1300 years.During this period, the Ashoka Temple was destroyed by fire many times, and it was rebuilt on the original site many times.In the 15th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang bestowed the name "Ashoka Temple", which was listed as the fifth of the five Zen mountains in the world.During the Wanli period of Shenzong, the stupa hall, corridors, meditation halls, monk's rooms, etc. were rebuilt here, and the scale of the building expanded.

Due to the large number of believers and wandering monks visiting here from other places, there is a manor covering an area of ​​more than 1000 mu outside the Ashoka Temple to receive these people, named "Guanglizhuang".This place is open to all believers and provides free board and lodging. Of course, the free board and lodging conditions are very poor, just have a mouthful of porridge to hang your life, and a piece of roof to cover your body.And some wealthy believers can also rent the upper room or even the entire courtyard here by donating incense and fire money, and enjoy the vegetarian feast made by the monks in the temple every day.

At the beginning of the month, a wealthy customer rented the largest courtyard in Guanglizhuang, and directly gave the money for three months first, and also donated 5000 taels of incense money to the temple.However, the high-ranking guests who rented out this yard seldom go out for activities, and they don't go to the temple to pay homage. It seems that they just want to live here to get some Buddhist spirit.However, the abbot of the temple is not surprised by this at all. In the thousands of years of history of Ashoka Temple, there are many situations where various dignitaries who do not want to show up in public live outside the temple for a period of time like this.As long as they are willing to donate incense money to the temple, the temple will not care about the identities of these wealthy customers.

But if the abbot of the Ashoka Temple knew the real identity of this high-profile guest, he probably would not have accepted the money to let him stay, because the trouble that this may bring to the temple is far beyond what this small amount of money can settle.

The tycoons living in this courtyard are Wang Jialin and other backbone members of the boat gang who just escaped from Zhoushan Island.Wang Jialin had arranged this foothold in advance before the fall of Zhoushan. After the Haihan people captured Dinghaibao that day, he led his cronies to escape. After entering the mountainous area, he turned westward and spent a day fleeing to a place on the west coast of Zhoushan Island. Secret port to sail out to sea.

Wang Jialin believes that Haihan's next attack target is likely to be the Daishan Island, Qushan Island, Shengsi Islands and other areas north of Zhoushan, and the previous actions of the Haihan people have always been to occupy the islands, so he chose a counter-attack. The escape route that followed the right way, entered Ningbo Mansion and hid.

Hiding in the Ashoka Temple is undoubtedly an excellent choice. There are a lot of floating population here, and the vigilance of the people around is also low. No one will pay special attention to the identity and behavior of others.Even if the Haihan people wanted to track down the whereabouts of Wang Jialin and others in Ningbo Mansion, it would probably be hard for them to think of a place like Ashoka Temple.And this place is not far from Ningbo City, so it is more convenient to inquire about various news.Wang Jialin, who is hiding here, has also heard about the Zhoushan Merchants Association that has been rumored in Ningbo Mansion recently.

Wang Jialin was not willing to give up the territory he had worked so hard for many years to the Haihan people who fell from the sky. Although he also knew that the power in his hands was far behind that of the Haihan people, he still believed that he still had a chance to come back— —For example, find an opportunity to kill the leader of the Haihan fleet.

Gathering intelligence is not just the exclusive domain of Hai Han, Wang Jialin also has his own intelligence channels.The news he got said that there were very few Haihan people in the fleet that came to Zhejiang this time, but only a few people, and these Haihan people had a very high status internally. As long as someone had an accident, the Haihan expeditionary force would inevitably be in chaos.

Although the Zhoushan Ship Gang suffered heavy losses in the battle with Haihan, it has not yet reached the level of annihilation. Since Wang Jialin can think of transferring the property of the gang in advance, of course he still has other backups.When he was defeated and fled, he also arranged for some people to hide in various places. At present, there are at least nearly a thousand people who can be mobilized. It's just that these people are scattered everywhere, and it will take some time to gather them together for a unified command. Just make adjustments.

The Haihan people are so anxious to start re-making the rules of the game in the Zhoushan Islands. In Wang Jialin's view, this is an opportunity that can be used.If you can use this opportunity to let a certain number of subordinates sneak into the venue to wait for the opportunity to attack, if you can capture them, you will capture them, and if you can assassinate them, you will assassinate them. If he thinks it is so reliable, then maybe it can prevent some people from establishing a cooperative relationship with Haihan.If you are lucky and really succeed, when Haihan is in chaos, the opportunity to counterattack will come.If you can capture a few big ships of Haihan, who will dare to fight against the Zhoushan Ship Gang on the seas of Zhejiang in the future?

Of course, this dream is easy to realize, but it is not so simple to implement. Wang Jialin is also very clear about this.He had fought with the Haihan people face to face, so he naturally knew that apart from sharp weapons, these opponents were also extremely rigorous in their work, and they basically had no flaws in the process of attacking Zhoushan.Although the Merchants Association said that everyone can go, but after going there, they will inevitably face heavy investigations. How to attack the target under the heavily guarded situation also requires careful planning.

Compared with the Haihan people from outside, the Zhoushan Ship Gang has a great advantage in that they are well-versed on the ground. After the mobilization of various networks, it is not difficult for Wang Jialin to arrange some reasonable and legal identities for his subordinates.But whether Wang Jialin himself should go to Zhoushan Island or not, this question has always made it difficult for him to make a decision.

If Wang Jialin goes to the island by himself, there is no doubt that he will have greater confidence in the cohesion of people and command of operations. Once the operation is successful, he can also make more timely deployment and response in the first place.But the risk of doing so would be very high. The Haihan people had already offered him a reward of 1000 taels of silver outside, no matter whether he lived or died, as long as he provided information and caught someone, he could receive the money.Except for the few cronies who were close friends with him, Wang Jialin was not sure whether his subordinates would not be able to resist the temptation to betray him for the reward of 1000 taels of silver, which was a very likely and high-probability event.

Even if Wang Jialin had the courage to take this risk, he would definitely not be able to get together with his subordinates to act together, as the risk of revealing his identity would increase exponentially, but this would inevitably affect the command efficiency during the operation, and it would be difficult to achieve the best of both worlds .

After nightfall, Wang Jialin's subordinates sent outside to inquire about the news finally returned to the courtyard of Guangli Village, and the news brought back by his subordinates gave Wang Jialin another glimmer of hope.

"Master Wang, the boat companies on the Yongjiang River have been recruiting a lot of people these days. It is said that there are too many people going to Zhoushan Island at the end of the month, and the existing sailors are seriously insufficient. I arranged for people to go to several boat companies for trial work. , got in very easily." This subordinate didn't even bother to take a sip of tea, so he hurriedly reported the information he had collected to Wang Jialin: "It is said that the boatmen on the Yaojiang and Fenghua rivers saw oil and water, There are also many people who have come downstream to grab business.”

"What's the news from the Haihan people?" Wang Jialin asked with concern.

The subordinate replied: "It is said that the Haihan people have set up a registration office in the south of Jintang Island. All boats going to Zhoushan Island to participate in the Merchants Fair at the end of the month must first register and collect the pass flag issued by them, otherwise the time will come. You can’t dock at the port.”

Wang Jialin sneered and said, "What a Haihan man! In the name of registration, I'm afraid I've made a lot of money!"

The subordinate shook his head and said: "It's strange to say, I heard that Haihan people don't charge fees, so most of them don't care about such a small amount of money. Lord Wang, we can get a boat to register by ourselves. The pass flag issued by the Han people can be directly landed on the island."

Wang Jialin thought for a while before saying, "It would be even better if we could find a foreign businessman who didn't know anything about it."

The subordinate replied: "It's not difficult. In recent days, there are more people in Ningbo than boats. Many people can't hire boats with their money. Some people even put out bids to buy boats on the spot. If we get a boat with a lot of people If the boat arrives on the Yongjiang River, it will take half a day to find an employer.”

Wang Jialin paced back and forth, and it took a long time before he made up his mind and said: "Well, you should find a suitable boat as soon as possible, and the old man will pretend to be the boatman, and the brothers will go to Zhoushan Island together to find the bad luck of the Haihan people!"

The influx of a large number of businessmen into Ningbo has brought a sudden prosperity to the shipping market here, and most of them are scheduled for a few days at the end of the month.Although the voyage from the estuary of the Yongjiang River to Dinghai Bay is only more than 20 nautical miles, and the fast boat will arrive in half a day, of course, merchants will not only rent a boat for half a day, but often directly book for three or four days, and almost all those who plan to go to Zhoushan Island He is a master who is not short of money, and the boat he ordered will not be shared with others.Some people have more thoughts and have specially booked a cargo ship, planning to buy some spot cargo from the Haihan people once the business is negotiated.

Although there are quite a few boats in Ningbo Prefecture, the supply seems to be in short supply under such crowded conditions.From the day before the Merchants Fair, together with the following seven or eight days, the price of the chartered boat has doubled or tripled in just a few days.

Wu Huanzhi was very distressed at this time. He really didn't expect the situation in Ningbo when he came here. Now he can't even rent a decent sea boat. If he had known earlier, he should have hired a boat from Suzhou, and it wouldn't cost much. silver.Now there are only two days before the China Merchants Association, and I haven't found a boat yet, so I have to hire a fishing boat to go to Zhoushan Island.

Wu Huanzhi had been wandering around the Yongjiang pier for almost an hour, but he still couldn't find a free boat. When he was in a hurry, a man came over and asked in a low voice, "Does the boss want to use a boat?"

"Isn't it a boat that made a special trip to jump into the river?" Wu Huanzhi said anxiously, "If you have a boat, you can quote the price. If you don't have a boat, you don't have to ask."

The man didn't care about Wu Huanzhi's rude attitude, he smiled and said, "The villain just came back from Wenzhou by boat, and he happened to have no new errands. I heard that many people hired boats, so I went ashore to have a look. This guy If the boss is not in a hurry to use the boat, the villain still wants to go back and see his family first."

Wu Huan was taken aback for a moment, and then asked with a happy face, "Then to Zhoushan Island?"

"I can go! It's just that the villain heard that Zhoushan Island seems to be not peaceful recently. If the boss wants to go to Zhoushan, the boat price will have to be added..."

Before the man finished speaking, Wu Huanzhi interrupted him yelling: "Jajiajia! Take me to see the boat right now, and pay your deposit immediately if it suits you!"

Soon Wu Huanzhi saw this lucky boat with about [-] materials on a wharf. There were more than [-] boatmen and sailors on board, old and young, and it seemed that there was nothing unusual.

"Okay, okay!" Wu Huanzhi took a rough look, and immediately asked his followers to take out five ingots of 20 taels of silver: "Boss of the boat, don't go home, I will hire this boat from now on, and the 100 taels is the deposit. Take me to Jintang Island! By the way, what's your name?"

"Little man Zhou Hai." The man took the silver with a smile, and responded happily.

"Okay, Zhou Hai, don't hire anyone else for this boat. After I finish my work in Jintang Island, you can go buy rice, grain, meat and vegetables after I come back. You need to stay there for a few days when you go to Zhoushan in two days. God." Wu Huanzhi was also in a good mood at this time, and it was luck to find such a suitable boat at the last moment.If you are lucky enough to negotiate a deal with the Haihan people, you can get back the money you spent on hiring a boat with just a word of mouth.

Immediately, Wu Huanzhi took this ship to Jintang Island and docked at Dapukou Port in the south of the island.Haihan set up a registration office here to handle the registration of participating maritime businessmen. When Wu Huanzhi arrived, there were still more than a dozen people in line in front of him.Fortunately, the Haihan people are very organized. You only need to get a number in line, and sit next to you and drink tea. When it is your turn, someone will call your number.After waiting for about half an hour, it was Wu Huanzhi's turn.

(End of this chapter)