Daming Yinghua

Chapter 125

At noon this day, the boat finally arrived at Chaoguan, Jining.

This place is only forty or fifty miles away from Yanzhou City where the Prince Lu's Mansion is located. It is also a large wharf on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal where merchants gather.

According to Zheng Haizhu's plan, the new rice brought in from Hangzhou would be sold in Jining for money, because later on, if you go to Dengzhou by land and then go to Liaodong by sea, rice will be a heavy burden compared with brocade and tea.

"Besides, these rice are the best products in Liangzhu area. The high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the capital can afford the price. If they are pulled to places like Liaodong where there is a shortage of food and wages, they are easy to be looted by hungry people and deserters. They don't care about Hang Jin who can't eat and drink to save his life I’m not interested in tea. This time I’ll take you for a walk. After you return to Hangzhou, you have to tell Mr. Mao. All kinds of goods along the way, especially fine porcelain, furniture, yellow croaker maw, etc. Write down the price of the expensive goods that we haven't touched, and report them to Mr. Mao."

During the process of the ship docking, Zheng Haizhu kept giving Xu San'er orders.

At the end, he wiped his serious face and joked to him: "Work hard, I will go to Uncle Mao to be your matchmaker, maybe next year you will be the son-in-law of the Mao family."

Xu San was confused, and when he finally heard that teasing sentence, he understood that Miss Zheng was referring to the scene of her subordinates vying to be Mao Wenlong's son-in-law at Nanhui Beach, so she couldn't help but giggled.

During this journey, Zheng Haizhu is quite satisfied with Xu San, whom Mao Wenlong sent to his son to do business.

Xu San is literate and numerative. He was a soldier, so he has good skills and acuity. He dares to speak up when dealing with officials. He is not mean to trackers, sailors, and peddlers.

"Now, go ashore and find Yaman to take a look." Zheng Haizhu told Xu Sandao.

Mu Zaohua came over and asked, "Miss Zheng, why don't you unload the goods for now? Don't let those jerks think that we only want to make a move in Jining, and might help the rice shop to lower the price."

Zheng Haizhu stared at her and said with a smile, "Yes."

He said again: "You speak Shandong dialect, you go and talk to them. You intelligence agents, people from all walks of life, you have to act like them."

Not long after, Xu San returned to the boat with a white-faced and neatly dressed dental man.

The man from Yaya went straight to Wu Bangde, held up the dental plaque on his waist, and said politely: "Boss Ankang, my surname is Ding, and my single name is the word Lu in this Lu land."

Wu Bangde pointed to Mu Zaohua: "My cousin is in charge of the business, she will talk to you."

Ding Yaren was stunned, and Mu Zaohua had already said, "Brother Lao, take me ashore and ask the price everywhere."

Hearing that she spoke with a local accent, Ding Yaren pursed his lips with a half-smile and said, "Please, girl."

Mu Zaohua and Xu San, just got on the pier with the Yaren, when a man with ragged trousers and jacket rushed out from the sideways and grabbed Ding Yaren by the back collar.

"You son of a bitch, the third grandson of Wang Bali, stole my wife!"

Ding Ya's back was facing the man, before he could turn his head, his right elbow pushed back and up, hitting the man's jaw.

This seemed to be a very small burst, but in an instant, the man backed away several steps, clutching his chin, the tiger's mouth was soon stained with blood from his mouth.

Ding Yaren folded his body, looked at the man intently, and said angrily, "What are you talking about? I don't know you! It's broad daylight staining my name."

The man also recognized the face on the opposite side, realized that he had identified the wrong person, bowed his head to accuse him, turned around and ran away.

Ding Yaren shook his head and sighed, and said to Mu Zaohua and Xu San: "It's a little bad luck, it's nothing to worry about. Let's go to the rice shop."

Mu Zaohua continued to walk along with a blank face, while Xu San asked the Ya people a lot of questions about the tax on banknotes, transaction turnover tax, and price fluctuations of goods from north to south, and Ding Ya people answered them politely and fluently.

……

Zheng Haizhu stood at the bow of the boat with her arms folded, watching Wu Bangde negotiate the price with the man who came to do land transportation business.

As he was listening, he saw Mu Zaohua and Xu San hurried back, but the Dingya man was not together.

Zheng Haizhu was surprised: "So fast?"

Wu Bangde also temporarily dismissed the land transportation guy, walked back to the boat, and asked: "What? Is that Yaman cheating?"

Mu Zaohua looked at Wu Bangde and said, "Young Master, just now when we went ashore, the Yaman was sought for revenge. Although it was a misunderstanding, but during the entanglement, I saw the back of the Yaman's neck exposed, with tattoos on it. The fox and the lotus."

Wu Bangde's eyes flashed: "Wen Xiang taught?"

Mu Zaohua was delighted.

She saw that when Miss Zheng heard what she said, her eyes were still ignorant, but Mr. Wu had already realized it in an instant.

This made her feel that the son is indeed closer to her, just like a master leading an apprentice, and Miss Zheng is just a somewhat distant and layman's boss.

Wu Bangde had already opened his mouth and explained to Zheng Haizhu: "Wenxiang Sect is a branch of the White Lotus Sect. The head of it earlier was Wang Sen. He said that he rescued a fox on the road of chopping firewood. The fox bit his tail to thank him. Come down and give it to him. The tail is fragrant and has the power to save the world. Wang Sen founded the Wenxiang religion based on this, and tricked the poor into joining the religion. Later, he wanted to attract some rich people, so he added the lotus pattern to it. .”

Zheng Haizhu was quite speechless.

Fox tail still smells good?Let’s just talk nonsense, who in modern times won’t think that your nose is wrong?
But the common people of the bottom society in ancient times would believe when they were suffering to the point of despair.

Zheng Haizhu said: "I remembered what you said. I brought the trackers back to Songjiang from Zhenjiang. Master Huang and Mrs. Gu's family both reminded me to pay attention to the words and deeds of the servants on weekdays. Shandong has been noisy in the past two years. The Fragrance Sect was in trouble, and there was a leader named Xu Hongru, so don’t recruit the congregation to Songjiang. Fortunately, I watched for a while, and the people who were recruited back were fine.”

Mu Zaohua said: "That's right, Miss Zheng, when I was running away from the famine, someone dragged me into the Wenxiang Sect, but I think it's a place where liars and fools gather, so I would rather go to Jiangnan to work as a coolie."

She was following Wu Bangde's contempt for Wenxiangjiao, but Wu Bangde interrupted her: "Tell me about that dental man, and how he behaved later. Wenxiangjiao's followers also do business and brokerage as usual, and even Teaching."

"Well, he took me and Xu San to a few rice shops, and said that the price was too low, so he came out and told me, let's take the boat to the small pier on Sanli Road from Chaoguan, where there are Jingshi and Tianjin. The rice merchants collected the rice and delivered it on board, and the rice merchants did not collect taxes, land rents, or bribes given to officials in Jining, so our new rice from Hangjiahu can be sold for more than two taels per shi."

Wu Bangde raised his eyebrows: "It sounds reasonable."

Mu Zaohua shook her head and said, "My lord, I escaped last year. It was the cargo ship that was picked up near Jining. I still remember the surrounding waterways. The three or four miles before and after Chaoguan were all wild reeds. Is it possible that within a year, it will become a mess?" Is there a lively black market? Besides, when I was going to the hut, I avoided the barbarians, and found a young tea shop boy to inquire about it. The barbers here make a deal, and the points are 200 points. Sell at the pier and go to the black market Selling, for us, if there is a difference of [-] taels of silver, it is only a difference of two taels of silver for this toothman. He is a local who has hung a toothpaste in the government. It doesn’t make much sense to go to the black market.”

When Mu Zaohua said this in a hurry, Xu Sancai who was beside him added: "Miss Zheng, Mr. Wu, I see that when the Yaman was attacked from behind, he fought back quickly and ruthlessly. He should be a practicing family boy. Therefore, Miss Zaohua murmured to me, but we still rejected the Yaman. What if the Wenxiang Sect really wants to trick us into the wilderness, rob us and kill us?"

Zheng Haizhu smiled happily.

Pointing to Mu Zaohua first, he said to Wu Bangde: "You are a good master, the apprentice you brought is out of the mountain."

Then he said to Xu San: "You're not bad, we run the rivers and lakes to do business, profit is the first priority, but when encountering such suspicious people, we should avoid them, and would rather earn less. In the future, when our business grows bigger, we must If you have aggressive partners, remember to remind them."

Xu San nodded in agreement.

Next, Wu Bangde went ashore to explore in person.

Not long after walking, I saw a man also wearing a toothman's robe, with disheveled hair, leading two tolerances, coming towards him.

At a glance, this man is somewhat similar to the Yaman who claims to be surnamed Ding.

Tolerance yelled along the pier to remind: "Ding Lu, Yaman, the tooth card was robbed by villains, so that you, ship owners and cargo owners, can learn that if you meet someone holding this tooth card, you must seize it and report it to the official."

After hearing this, Wu Bangde thought to himself, indeed he almost got hit.

He decided not to look for the dentist.

Dressed as a well-known Confucian businessman, Wu Bangde went directly to the public office where the business tax was collected, found a tax collector, and asked him to introduce him to the familiar Mihang.

In terms of the price of rice alone, the price of this rice shop is indeed not high. Even a fool can see that it is the best new Zhejiang rice, and the shopkeeper only pays one or two taels of silver per shi.

But because it was the shop opened by the tax collector's brother-in-law, the transaction tax, a local tax that is not included in the banknote system, the tax collectors just counted two taels of silver.

At the end, the tax collector did not forget to remind Wu Bangde: "Young master, three or four hundred shi of rice is not too little in the imperial court's grain boat. With your wealth, you are at the dock today. I am afraid that you have taught all kinds of people You can see it all. Let me remind you, if you want to take the remaining brocade tea leaves by land, even if you arrive in the next day, you should hire some bodyguards."

Wu Bangde thought for a while, and said simply: "Let's recommend it together, let's go to Yanzhou City."

The tax collector happily agreed.Hey, I can earn another filial silver for the Escort.

……

The heavy rice was turned into a few thin banknotes, and the burden of land transportation was suddenly reduced.

They hired mule carts and bodyguards, loaded them with Hang Jin Hang Luo, tea and lanterns, and walked eastward in a relaxed mood.

However, after leaving Jiningzhou City, the scene in front of him pulled Zheng Haizhu into a heavy reality.

The new wind has risen, but both sides of the road are full of fledglings with thin clothes and skinny faces.

Some are still helping the old and the young to walk, while others have fallen on the grass, with only enough strength left to open their mouths to breathe.

When Zheng Haizhu was walking in the south, he saw many miserable scenes, but on both sides of the official road from Fujian to the south of the Yangtze River, he was not as hungry as in the north.

"Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, give my baby something to eat, please, Bodhisattva, please."

Someone called for help from behind the car.

Zheng Haizhu turned her head suddenly, and saw a young woman with disheveled hair, holding a baby in her arms, running after the mule cart.

Zheng Haizhu thought of Dong Erya and her daughter in an instant, and was about to tell the driver to stop.

Wu Bangde stopped her: "The bodyguard said that anyone who sees women and children asking for help on the road will ignore them. Among the refugees, there are young and strong men who lie in ambush nearby, releasing weak women or old people as bait, just to rob goods and rob money."

Zheng Haizhu waved Wu Bangde's hand away: "It's too pitiful, I can't help it."

Wu Bangde held her shoulders, and said in a serious tone: "Do you save tens of millions of starving people?"

Before he finished speaking, Mu Zaohua, who was sitting in front of the car, had crawled past the two, grabbed the dry food bag at Zheng Haizhu's feet, and jumped out of the car.

Mules are not as fast as horses, they have speed after all, Mu Zaohua has great strength, but he hasn't practiced skillful kung fu, so he fell to the ground and stumbled.

Fortunately, her body was strong, so she quickly got up, walked quickly to the woman with the baby in her arms, took out a pancake and stuffed it into her mouth.

Immediately, seven or eight men, young and old, gathered around to grab Mu Zaohua's dry food.

Mu Zaohua was outnumbered, and only had time to grab two pancakes, and the dry rations came off her hands.

The crowd of hungry people, like wild dogs tearing the bones of the dead, wrestled into a ball for the pancakes that fell in the dust.

Mu Zaohua tugged at the frightened young mother, picked up the child in her hands, stuffed the child's mouth with pancakes, and urged the mother, "Eat it quickly, or someone will pick it up and snatch it away. "

Sure enough, a man who couldn't beat a man immediately jumped over to find a way out of the woman.

Mu Zaohua hugged the strange child tightly, kicking and kicking.

The mother also rushed forward, grabbed the man, and shouted to Mu Zaohua: "Bodhisattva, please take my baby away."

More refugees ran over to grab food, and Mu Zaohua fell to the ground.

The child also rolled to the side, holding his head in his two dirty little hands, dodging the adult's trampling, but still holding the pancake in his mouth.

"Shua, Shua", several whips sounded.

Wu Bangde arrived on the bodyguard's mule and drove away the refugees with a whip.

Mu Zaohua struggled to get up, and Wu Bangde dragged her onto the mule's back.

Only the cursing of the refugees and the wailing of the miserable mother remained behind: "Female Bodhisattva, take my baby away, take me away."

Back on the van, Wu Bangde's face was gloomy.

The other male intelligence agent who accompanied Mu Zaohua had previously worked with Mu Zaohua on the insurance fraud case. Seeing his girlfriend's face stained and depressed, he couldn't bear it, so he took the water bag and handed it over.

Mu Zaohua shook her head, her eyes downcast in a daze.

Wu Bangde said coldly: "Today I am saving you for Miss Zheng's sake. Only this time. Next time, even if Miss Zheng begs me for help, I will not save you. My team does not need Bodhisattvas, especially myself. There is no guarantee that the mud bodhisattva will cross the river and cross people."

Zheng Haizhu sighed, took out his handkerchief, wiped the blood on Mu Zaohua's face, and said softly, "Young Master Wu is right."

"My subordinates will remember." Mu Zaohua choked up.

Through the curtain of tears, the figures of the refugees in the distance became more and more blurred.

　Thank you for your support. I really want to work hard to update 3-4 thousand words a day. I also tried my best to do the first 35 words. In the early 3 months, I published 35 words.But maybe because the subject matter is not enough traffic, or my writing level is not enough, and the platform share is very small (only about one-third of the share), so the current writing income is not enough to support me full-time.I will still have to rely on the main business of doing business to support my family in the future. Therefore, if there are only 2000 words of updates on a certain day, or even one or two days of interruption, please bear with me.After all, I don’t want to fool everyone’s subscription fees with random hydrology.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)