Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 264, this is the whale

On the spacious concrete road leading from Tianjin to the capital, there is a constant flow of people.

Since this concrete road was repaired, and Tianjin became the first city in the Ming Dynasty to open the sea ban, there are many industries in Tianjin Port, and the development is extremely prosperous.

This also caused the cement road to be extremely busy.

The amount of marine fish transported from Tianjin to the capital every day is extremely huge. The four-wheeled carriages are running on the concrete road at an extremely fast speed, and it takes less than two hours to transport fresh marine fish from Tianjin to the capital.

Except for marine fish, buckets of cement are the most shipped to Beijing. There are a large number of cement factories in Tianjin and their output is large, which can not only meet the local needs of Tianjin, but also start large-scale foreign sales. Beijing is currently the largest one. client area.

And there are also a lot of people going to and from Tianjin in the capital, and the dignitaries, officials, businessmen, etc. in the capital have more or less industries in Tianjin.

Such as fishing boats going out to sea, and currently relatively simple merchant ships heading to North Korea, these are all profitable transactions, and naturally they have attracted these predators in the capital early on.

And after Zhang Mao, Xu Yongning, and the Zhang brothers made a lot of money, more and more people began to invest in Tianjin.

Every day, there are dozens of carriages followed by luxurious carriages, as well as heavily armed bodyguards or some strong domestic servants escorting them to Tianjin.

These convoys are carrying a lot of money to invest in Tianjin, or buy fishing boats to go fishing, or buy sea boats, and plan to do business in North Korea, or invest in some other things in Tianjin. industry.

In short, Tianjin is now becoming more and more a cornucopia, where wealth is continuously gathered here, and more wealth is also beginning to be continuously delivered.

Silver is only silver if it is circulated, otherwise it will be buried in pieces of metal on the cellar floor, and it has no value at all.

At this time, Tianjin is constantly interpreting this famous saying of Liu Jin.

The cement road is very spacious and very busy. There are even people who have built sheds or thatched cottages beside the cement road. They sell tea, food and the like here. The business is also very hot, because the people who come and go It's just too much.

Aunt Fan is one of the many people who do business on this concrete road.

She is from a village near the cement road, and her home is not far from the cement road, so she also took a fancy to the business on the cement road early.

She is also quite intelligent, and another piece of land beside the road belongs to her family, so the family worked hard for ten days to level the land, and then paved it with cement from Tianjin, right on the side of the road. A tea shed was built, and while selling tea, they also sold some noodles, buns and the like.

"Boss, here are ten steamed stuffed buns, a pot of tea, and a bowl of noodles, the one with soup."

"Okay~ Wait a minute, sir."

"Boss, here is a pot of tea, I want Longjing~"

"Okay~"

Aunt Fan's small shop is very busy, and from time to time, there are passing customers who stop to drink tea, eat something to rest, and rest. Aunt Fan can't handle it alone, so she also brings her whole family here.

Aunt Fan’s son became the waiter in the shop and was in charge of doing chores. Her boss became the shop owner and was in charge of settling accounts and collecting money. As for the daughter-in-law and unmarried daughter, she was in the back kitchen to help make buns, heat the fire and make tea, etc. , the whole family has to be busy from morning to night, and the business is extremely hot.

"You don't know, a few days ago, a fishing boat in Tianjin caught a whale."

"This whale is as big as a house over there, and it is several feet long. I was here in Tianjin Port at the time, and more than ten butchers were dismembering this big whale together."

"This whale's whale oil is cut in barrels. The whale oil on a whale can almost have the fat of thousands of fat pigs. And the meat of this whale is like beef, bright red, bright red. The body of this whale The meat is equivalent to the meat of hundreds of cows..."

In Mrs. Fan's tea shed, there was a guest who was talking vividly about the big whale he saw in Tianjin port. His voice was so loud that everyone in the tea shed could hear it.

Hearing that there was such a huge whale, it immediately became the focus of dozens of people in the tea shed. Everyone couldn't help but looked over and listened carefully with their ears up.

"The oil of this whale is equivalent to the oil of a thousand fat pigs?"

"Is this meat equivalent to the meat of hundreds of cows?"

"Just brag, how could there be such a big fish in the world?"

Anyone who has ever seen a whale expressed their doubts. Everyone has seen a lot of this sea fish. Many of the four-wheeled carriages that come and go are dedicated to transporting sea fish to Beijing.

From time to time, you can also see some big fish weighing hundreds of catties or even thousands of catties. Sometimes when you encounter some particularly big fish, you can even attract a microcosm.

"That's right, the leading pig here, hundreds of cows gathered together before could not see the side, you are bragging a bit too much."

Those who had never seen a whale also nodded and said.

"Huh~"

"I, Chen Laoshi, have honesty in my name. I never lie. If you go to Tianjin Port to inquire and inquire, I, Chen Laoshi, can brag and lie?"

Some people doubted him, and Chen Laoshi's eyes turned red anxiously, and he said again and again.

"Haha~"

When everyone saw it, they immediately laughed, not knowing whether they were laughing at Chen Laoshi or something else.

"Mr. Chen, I wonder if I can trouble you to continue talking about this whale. I am very interested."

At this time, a middle-aged man, wearing brocade clothes and wearing a jade pendant, came over with a few servants behind him, and said politely to Chen Laoshi.

After Chen Laoshi heard this, he looked at the other party, and quickly got up and said: "I don't dare to be a gentleman, you can call me Chen Laoshi."

"If you want to talk about this whale, it is said in Tianjin that it is the Kunpeng in the sea. There is a poem saying that there is a fish in the North, and its name is Kun. The size of the Kun is unknown. It turns into a bird. It is a Peng. The back of a Peng does not know how many thousands of miles it is; it flies in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. It is a bird, and the sea will migrate to Nanming. The one in Nanming is Tianchi.”

When Chen Laoshi saw that this nobleman was willing to listen to him talk about whales, he also regained his energy and began to talk about it slowly.

When the other people heard it, they immediately became quiet again. There are not many entertainment items in this era. Teahouses and restaurants in the city often invite storytellers to read stories for business. Often a good storyteller can make the business extremely changeable. Hot.

Naturally, Mrs. Fan's tea shed does not have a storyteller, and now that Chen is honestly telling the new story about this whale, everyone is naturally invigorated and listens seriously.

Hearing Chen Laoshi read out a passage from Zhuang Zhou's "Fish in the North Dark", everyone present couldn't help nodding their heads, it was really a bit of a storyteller.

As for the gentleman who just stepped forward to ask Chen Laoshi to hold the whale, he also sat down at the table next to him, listening quietly, nodding slightly from time to time, as if he was extremely interested in the matter of the whale.

"This whale is the kunpeng in the sea. It is naturally huge, with a spine like a neem, ribs like a rafter, a bun and a mane, its eyes are like two suns, its foam is like rain, and its breath is like clouds. , it’s the whale.”

Chen Laoshi vividly described the appearance of this whale to everyone, but the main point is that this whale is very big.

"When the whale returned to the port, because it was so big, hundreds of people used ropes to pull the whale from the sea to the shore at the port of Tianjin."

"More than a dozen butchers were hired at the port of Tianjin, and the whale was dismembered on the spot. The skin of this whale is completely different from ordinary fish skin. It has extremely fine fluff, and it feels more like the skin of an animal. Fur, this whale skin is extremely sought after, and the first whale skin was even bought for five hundred taels of silver."

When it came to this, everyone couldn't help being slightly surprised, five hundred taels of silver was a sky-high price, and only the middle-aged man in extraordinary clothes smiled slightly.

"The person who bought this whale skin said that this whale is a kunpeng. Sitting on the whale skin is like sitting on a kunpeng. Whether you are an official or doing business, you can skyrocket to ninety thousand miles. What about Geely?"

Hearing Chen Laoshi's words, everyone nodded again. In this era, everyone believes in these things.

"Guess, everyone, what is the most valuable thing about this whale?"

Chen Laoshi saw that everyone listened with gusto, even the waiter and shop owner of the tea shed were fascinated by it, so he smiled and asked.

"Is this whale oil?"

Someone thought about it and asked.

"No, although there is a lot of whale oil and the price is not bad, it is still very ordinary."

Chen Laoshi smiled and shook his head and replied.

"Then it must be this whale skin. It can be sold for five hundred taels of silver. It must be very valuable."

Another said.

"No, whale skin is very valuable. The whale skin that can be peeled off from this whale is very large and can be cut into many pieces. The skin of that whale has been sold for several thousand taels of silver."

Chen Laoshi smiled and shook his head.

"Chen Laoshi, don't be a fool, what the hell is it?"

Someone said impatiently.

"The most expensive thing on this whale is the baby of the whale~"

Chen Laoshi smiled and said.

"Hahaha~"

When everyone in the tea shed heard this, they couldn't help laughing immediately, and the middle-aged man in extraordinary clothes also smiled slightly.

"Ahem, don't laugh, everyone, don't laugh, I'm telling the truth."

"This whale is very big, and its baby is also huge. It is two or three feet long and as thick as a bucket. It is said that the baby of this whale can make a man look great, and it is even said that it can make the father-in-law in the palace feel very strong. Bringing the dead back to life, so this thing caused fierce competition on the spot, and finally sold for a sky-high price of [-] taels of silver."

Chen Laoshi looked at the faces of the crowd and kept gesticulating so that everyone could clearly know the size of the baby whale, and then even bragged about the magical effect of the baby whale.

"It may be true that this makes people feel great, but it brought all the eunuchs in the palace back to life, isn't it overblown?"

Someone thought for a while and said.

"Who knows, maybe it's really possible. No matter how big a baby is, this whale is probably the only one in the world. Maybe it can really bring the father-in-law in the palace back to life."

"Impossible, the father-in-law in this palace is said to have been cut off, can it be reproduced?"

"This is a whale, maybe it's okay."

"Do you think this baby whale can really boost people's spirits?"

"Do you need this thing?"

"Of course, men, naturally the more powerful the better, right?"

"Haha, yes~ yes, but this thing is very expensive, five thousand taels of silver, we ordinary people have no chance to enjoy it."

"Yes, too expensive."

After listening to it, everyone discussed with each other, and they all vaguely felt that it really seemed to have such a miraculous effect.

"Could it be that this whale's treasure really has such a miraculous effect? ​​The five thousand taels of silver is not expensive at all. I don't know how much silver it will sell for when it is transported to the capital."

"The father-in-law in the palace, as well as the dignitaries in the capital, will buy some at all costs."

The well-dressed middle-aged man thought the same when he heard this.

Then he thought about it and asked Chen Laoshi: "Mr. Chen, is this whale also caught by fishing boats?"

"Returning to the nobleman, this whaling must use a special whaling ship. Ordinary sea fish are caught with nets, but this whale is killed with a harpoon gun. There is no way for ordinary fishing boats to hunt this whale. Yes, the whale is too big."

Chen Laoshi asked with a smile, then looked at the carriage that the nobleman came with and said: "If the nobleman is going to invest in Tianjin, it would be a good deal to buy a few whaling ships and go out to sea to hunt whaling. The whale is said to be the last It was sold for thirty thousand silver."

"This is just a whaling ship, and hundreds of crew members have been out to sea for less than three days."

"Thank you, Mr. Chen, for your suggestion. I will consider it carefully."

The well-dressed middle-aged man nodded his thanks. He actually went to Tianjin this time to find opportunities to make a fortune, so he also brought a lot of money.

Because when Chen Laoshi talked about the whale, he also saw a business opportunity, so he kept listening.

"You're welcome, you're welcome. There are a lot of profitable businesses here in Tianjin. In fact, the most profitable business is to set up a fleet of ships to go to North Korea. It is said that one trip back and forth will cost one million taels of silver. Not enough for the boat to go to North Korea, which is also very expensive. , Tianjin Shipyard can only buy it here."

Seeing that the other party respected him, Chen Laoshi smiled and told the situation in Tianjin.

"Earn a million taels of silver by going back and forth?"

When everyone heard this, their eyes widened again, even this middle-aged man. Such a huge profit is really amazing, and it feels like the silver is like copper coins.

"Hey yo~ hey yo~"

At this moment, a burst of neat chant sounded from a distance. When everyone heard it, they immediately followed the sound and looked over.

In the direction from Tianjin to the capital, there was an extremely large team struggling forward on the road. There were hundreds of shirtless and sweaty people in front of them, struggling to drag a huge monster.

This behemoth is very big, like a house, and looks like a big fish from a distance.

"This is a whale, this is a whale~"

Chen Laoshi widened his eyes, and then said very excitedly to the people in the tea shed.

　I was too tired last night, so this chapter is to supplement yesterday’s update~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)