Blood from Daming

Chapter 273 Islanders
After hearing Master Jiang's words, Yan Sanniang asked, "Master Jiang, where can I get the materials for shipbuilding?"

Mr. Jiang: "Master Yan, it is very difficult to find timber for building ships of more than [-] materials along the coast of Daming. There may be some in Fujian, but there are many shipyards there, and it is estimated that the consumption of timber is also very large. Those who can build large ships now Timber is only found in Nanyang and Taiwan Island.”

Yan Sanniang could only shake her head when she heard this. Places like Fujian, Nanyang, and Taiwan Island are not something she can go to if she wants, but Yan Sanniang can't seem to lose confidence in front of Mr. Jiang, so she said to Mr. Jiang: "Mr. Jiang You can rest assured that everything will be fine, we will have more and bigger sea ships, rippling on this green water and blue waves, and establish my Great Ming's ten thousand li sea frontier."

Master Jiang looked at Yan Sanniang and didn't know what it was like. What Yan Sanniang said was exactly what he dreamed of, but Master Jiang believed that it was a fantasy that could never be realized, and Master Jiang didn't want to argue with Yan Sanniang. After staying in Changtu Island for a while, Yan Sanniang will understand how unrealistic her ideas are.

It happened that the fleet of Yan Sanniang and Master Jiang was docking at this time. After the boatman lowered the gangway and tied the ropes, Yan Sanniang and Master Jiang slowly got off the ship. Thousands of people gathered on the pier. Sanniang smiled and said, "Master Jiang, are these all your people?"

Mr. Jiang: "These people are just working with subordinate officials. No one among them knows anything else."

Yan Sanniang said: "It seems that there are quite a few people on this island, it's rare that you have worked hard for so many years."

Mr. Jiang said: "This is almost the majority of the people on the island. If there are more people, they will not be able to support them."

It turns out that there are more than 2000 people on Changtu Island, among whom Mr. Jiang has about 1000 people, and hundreds of islanders often work part-time under Mr. Jiang. In the past two years, Mr. Jiang’s sea passage has almost been cut off. The economic support of the country is getting weaker and weaker, relying entirely on road trade to subsidize Changtu Island, which makes Mr. Jiang bear a heavy financial burden. A bottomless pit of money.

In addition to the 1000 people under Mr. Jiang’s command, Changtu Island also has more than 1000 fishermen who also grow some food and vegetables, but they are not completely self-sufficient. Many production and daily necessities such as food, cloth, and cast iron need to be trafficked to the island from the mainland. , but since Changtu Island cut off the trade routes to Nanyang, Fujian, and Guangdong, the main export commodity is fishermen's dried sea fish. There are many kinds of dried sea fish in Changtu Island, but they are also sold in the mainland. Can't afford the price.

Yan Sanniang knew a little about the situation on Changtu Island, but seeing thousands of men, women and children surrounded by the excitement of her boat, Yan Sanniang felt like she had fallen into a hunter's trap. Under the protection of the soldiers, she struggled to squeeze through the welcoming crowd, and Yan Sanniang nodded and waved to these islanders who would become her subordinates in the future with a very happy look.

It took a lot of time for Yan Sanniang and Master Jiang to finally squeeze through the crowd and arrive at a high platform. Yan Sanniang looked at the dark crowd of islanders below the high platform, and could hardly see many young and middle-aged people, all of them were old and weak women and children. The clothes are very tattered, and some women are almost naked. This is not the ambush of the legal system descended from the restoration of Jianwen that Mr. Jiang said. They are clearly a group of refugees fleeing famine and begging for food.

Yan Sanniang looked at Mr. Jiang angrily. Perhaps Mr. Jiang himself felt that he was not stubborn and kept his head down. Yan Sanniang asked, "Mr. Jiang, this is very different from what you told me."

Mr. Jiang said in shame: "Mr. Yan, I am really incompetent as an official. In recent years, the financial revenue has been declining, and it has reached the point of desperation. I don't want Mr. Yan's money. I just hope that Mr. Yan will give them a way out. "

Yan Sanniang: "Master Jiang, how long have you not sent supplies to the island?"

Master Jiang said: "A batch of supplies were transported to the island last October, and some New Year's goods were brought in before the Chinese New Year. The officials have tried their best."

Yan Sanniang sighed and said, "Master Jiang, let's go tomorrow, tell your subordinates yourself."

Master Jiang took a few deep breaths and said to the islanders in the audience: "Everyone be quiet."

After Mr. Jiang shouted to the islanders, the people gradually became quiet. Mr. Jiang pointed to Yan Sanniang and said to everyone in the audience: "Mr. Yan is the head arrester of Shuntian Mansion, the young wife of the Xue family, the richest man in the capital. Somebody's subordinates and boatmen, now I have found a new master for everyone, I hope you can work well with the new master, and you don't have to live a poor life with someone like Jiang Mou who has no skills."

After Mr. Jiang finished speaking, there was a dead silence in the audience, and it took a while for shouts and noise to erupt, which was even mixed with crying, probably because they were infected with each other, and the crying became louder and louder until later. It became a large area, not only Master Jiang did not expect it, but Yan Sanniang was also a little shocked. Could it be that these people are so loyal to Master Jiang, then the side effects of taking these people in will be very serious in the future.

At this time, a few people who were probably the leaders walked out of the group under the stage, and came to the stage where Yan Sanniang and Lord Jiang were standing and knelt down. As soon as these people knelt, the dark group of people behind them knelt down one after another. Some of the subordinates and workers who were not Mr. Jiang ran quickly to both sides. Yan Sanniang estimated that about [-]% of the people left.

The people who took the lead in kneeling were all older, Yan Sanniang hurriedly stepped off the stage, walked up to the older kneeling people and said, "Everyone get up."

The kneeling people did not get up, but looked at Mr. Jiang who was behind Yan Sanniang. Mr. Jiang said very embarrassedly: "Get up, I am the one who is sorry for everyone. Mrs. Xue is a very good master. You will have a good life following her."

The kneeling people kowtowed three more times to Yan Sanniang after listening to Lord Jiang's words, and then they stood up unsteadily, and one of the old men said, "Young madam, now you are all of us They are the masters of people, but I don’t know if those lonely, old and weak masters can stay.”

Yan Sanniang came to pick up the fleet and the wharf, but she didn't expect to pick up a bunch of open-mouthed goods. She glanced at Mr. Jiang and felt angry. After all, it takes a lot of money to support these people. Although Xue's family has a lot of money, But it didn't come easily. Now that I have received this hot potato, I can't shake it off cruelly.

Yan Sanniang understands that Mr. Jiang has given her this dumb loss. Fortunately, her five 100-feed ships brought [-] million catties of ballast rice and four times the grain of cloth, dried meat, salt, and iron , refined carbon, shipbuilding nails, agricultural tools and other production and daily necessities. These things are the early resources that Yan Sanniang used to expand the shipyard and gradually immigrate to Changtu Island. It seems that they have to use these things to help refugees. newbies.

Yan Sanniang said: "Old man, don't worry, as long as you are willing to share weal and woe with the Xue family, the Xue family will not give up on anyone."

Mr. Jiang still had a thick skin and stepped forward to introduce to Yan Sanniang: "Master Yan, this is Uncle Wu. Our ancestors built large ships for the eunuch Sanbao in Yingtian Mansion, Nanjing. The two thousand ships now are also Wu Bo. Uncle's son and nephew are at the helm."

Yan Sanniang heard Mr. Jiang say that the old man in front of him has a lot of history, and this is exactly the talent Yan Sanniang needs, so Yan Sanniang said very kindly: "Old Man Wu, I will rely on you to steer the helm in the future."

Seeing that Yan Sanniang treated him very well, Uncle Wu felt that he had more face, but he added another sentence: "Young Madam, these orphans and widows are all the burdens left by our former sailors, it is really embarrassing. Ma'am, those of us who do things need less wages, and it doesn't matter if the food is poor."

Yan Sanniang said: "Uncle Wu, don't worry, as long as there is a mouthful of food from Xue's family, everyone will not be hungry. The younger generation will arrange for his subordinates to distribute food to everyone. How about Uncle Wu bringing some people to help. "

Yan Sanniang also became ruthless, and decided to take drastic measures against Mr. Jiang's power. The five sea ships she brought to Changtu Island had no more than 200 soldiers, and most of them were temporarily recruited in Hangzhou. It's an exaggeration. At best, they are people under their own control. Among these people, no more than 100 people will stay on Changtu Island, so Yan Sanniang doesn't care what Master Jiang thinks, this is the first time to buy people's hearts. In this case, he had to push another person out, and Uncle Wu happened to be the pawn that broke into his sight.

By doing this, Yan Sanniang not only showed her favor to Uncle Wu, but also suppressed Mr. Jiang's influence in Changtu Island. No matter what, she always drove a nail in among the thousands of people. Anyway, Mr. Jiang said it was a handover , Why should I be tender and affectionate, I should hurry up and straighten out the relationship between Changtu Island's new recruits, otherwise I will spend a lot of money and a lot of time, and Renhedao has not controlled it, so I am wronged.

Yan Sanniang squinted at Mr. Jiang and found no special expression. After a while, Uncle Wu called two or thirty men and women to come to Yan Sanniang. It's getting dark, and now everyone at the scene will take a bucket of rice back to eat, and tomorrow, according to the list provided by you, Mr. Wu, they will give each person five buckets of grain. There is also some time for the clothes of these workers' families. People will distribute a piece of cloth and make new clothes for everyone."

(End of this chapter)