open sea

Chapter 773 Straw Mats
Wang Chaozuo was a businessman in Linqing, who made a living by weaving baskets and mats from bamboo strips. He didn't do much shopping, and he didn't have sea ships.

However, last year the business of launching sea-going ships and transforming river boats in the coastal provinces was booming. His shop took on a lot of mat-weaving work, and he worked hard to earn more than 200 taels of silver a year with his brothers and nephews of the same clan.

Generally good ships use sails, but there are also civilian ships that use mats as sails. In the early years, even military ships had a lot of mats. After all, although mats are bulky, they are cheaper in cost, much cheaper than thin and thick woven canvas. .

After doing this business, Wang Chaozuo also had the idea of ​​going to sea to see. His logic is very simple. These days, any business that relies on sea can make money, so why not just go to sea directly?

The Eastern Banner Army is so powerful, no matter where you go, you will be safe.

With such an idea in mind, he and the brothers of the same clan hired young men and nephews to build a sea-going ship, and did not pass the customs to issue a seal. Together with more than 30 young men from the same clan and village, he hired an old boat head from Fujian, and planned to go to sea up.

Just in time for the disaster year, many farmers lost their livelihoods, and they all took the same idea as him with their families, so they all boarded his boat-to be honest, it was like risking their lives.

"I was lucky. When I came to North Korea, it had nothing to do with him. He didn't dare to call me ashore, and he didn't dare to beat me away. He caught up with the Korean soldiers who went to the country of Japan and went back. He also helped transport a ship of wounded soldiers from Jeju. Their general listened. Said that I carried the mats, and said that I could make a fortune by selling them to the country of Wa, where people died every day regardless of whether it was north or south, east or west."

Wang Chaozuo just passed the age, and he was still wearing the winter clothes and thick jacket he used when he went out to sea, which made his already tall stature even bigger, but his words and expressions seemed honest, and he smiled at Chen Mu in the official hall: "I He didn’t dare to go, so he sold the two boats of mats and asked him to sell them.”

"Master, you can believe me, those Japanese soldiers' armors are really picked up, I don't know how far I have traveled from North Korea to the east, and I saw a small boat run aground on the shore, so we have the courage to dock to rescue people. It was a Japanese ship, the mast was broken, and the Japanese soldiers on board may have died for several months."

"Instead, there is a hut on the bank. Two Japanese were alive like savages. When they saw us drawing their knives, they chopped them up. I went ashore with a group of more than ten strong men. We couldn't ask him to kill them, so we beat them to death with sticks together. We found them in the house. When I got these armors, I took them on board for fear of being in danger at sea later.”

"Although I have nothing to do with defense, the guards I encountered along the way were interrogated, and they all told the truth obediently, and I never sneaked, raped or played tricks, so I arrived here safely."

As he said that, Wang Chaozuo showed a little fear, but still poised his neck and said, "Whether it's killing the Japanese or going to sea without printing, I will be the leader. If the master wants to kill, it's better to kill me than to implicate others."

Chen Mu nodded slowly, it wasn't that he trusted Wang Chaozuo, there was really nothing to doubt, the fact that the Japanese kingdom was at war everywhere, he knew it better than anyone else, not to mention the hairstyle, attire, and words were hard to fake.

As for the Japanese soldier, Chen Mu's personal soldiers inspected the armor and weapons on the ship, and found that they were all broken knives and rotten armour, and the iron cannon had no gunpowder and bullets, and the gun tubes were rusty due to lack of maintenance.

A dozen strong men met a well-equipped samurai who had practiced martial arts since childhood, and their morale would be wiped out if they met each other. It is not surprising that it was cleaned up.

Hearing Wang Chaozuo's last words, Chen Mu smiled and said: "You are so lucky to meet Chen, there are not many people who dare to speak in front of me, and officials from the Bureau of Commerce will register you later. Just ask the Bureau of Commerce to issue a certificate."

"I'm new here, I think you are responsible, you four boat people, I will take care of you, the east canyon and the sea are still fighting, don't go far if you have nothing to do, just settle here first, what do you think? "

"Chen Chen……"

Wang Chaozuo was stunned when he heard Chen Mu's claim. He didn't think about who the person in front of him was. He only knew that he was an official who was older than Qianxiong Baihu. He was called the commander in chief before, but he was only a general officer or something. generals.

But at this time, when Chen Mu heard that Chen Mu claimed to be Chen, and he was obviously in control of everything in words, his eyes straightened up, and he knelt down on the ground with a bang, and said, "I don't know if Chen Daojun is in charge. No, thanks to the expedition of the fleet, my business has improved, thank you Daojun, grass people!"

The sudden change made the corners of Chen Mu's mouth twitch. What is this... thanks to my expedition for creating tens of thousands of jobs for the Ming Dynasty?
"Okay, get up, if you don't have any objections, let you, more than 100 people, settle down in the county. Here, you pick a piece of idle land not far from the port, and each household is counted as Dingkou, and at least [-] acres of land can be reclaimed. If you want to reclaim [-] mu of land, you must pay attention to plowing and planting, and you don’t care about farming right now, so your people can weave some straw mats for me.”

The dynasty came just in time. Chen Mu needed straw mats to cover the fallen bannermen, and the local people also needed straw mats to sleep on. Spain’s predatory colonization did not bring a better life to the local people. On the contrary, it pushed the aborigines to to the brink of death.

In the past, almost all the Aztecs who advocated war were soldiers, and every adult man had to receive military training, but smallpox and war have separated their ethnic groups and education, and now they have nothing but pray to God.

"straw mat?"

As a practitioner, Wang Chaozuo could easily imagine the usefulness of these straw mats. He raised his head and looked at Chen Mu, and asked in disbelief: "The war between the government and the army... the grass people talk too much, how many straw mats does the Taoist Lord want?"

Chen Mu didn't know that his reputation had spread along the coast along with the merchants and navy from Fujian and Guangxi to the north for the annual Beijing transportation. Horn news, such as the title Dragon and Tiger Daojun.

Because the common people in the market really don’t know what to call him, his official title is not general soldier or governor, and the strategy of Asia has not spread all over the coast, people’s cognition of his official position is still in Nanyang minister, Dongyang minister, Beiyang important minister This kind of strange official title.

Minister Chen?
It feels like the emperor's exclusive title.

Therefore, people are more willing to call him by the title of Daojun, which sounds strange and chaotic.

"Our war is very smooth. The war on land will end within half a month. Keep your heart in your stomach. This is already the land of Ming Dynasty."

"But war will always kill people. I don't have enough life materials, and I don't have time to prepare. I can only prepare a straw mat and a pot of clay pot. You can do it according to a thousand. If you have anything, go find it." Magistrate Zou, he can help you."

Chen Mu got up as soon as he said that, because his personal soldiers told him in his ears that except for Fu Yuan who was on the front line, the rest of the generals had already rushed upstairs to the command room.

When he finally passed by Wang Chaozuo's side, he patted Wang Chaozuo on the shoulder, with an expression of joy and anger on his face, and said softly: "Protect your clan and fellow villagers, a new battle is about to begin."

(End of this chapter)