Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 183

He Mingyu did have a wide range of contacts, and he quickly contacted the next family, but he didn't find out who moved the Wang family's goods.

But his next family said that they are willing to continue to wait until June.

This year and month travel to and from Japan relies on wind power, so we go to Japan every summer when the southwest monsoon rises, and return to China around the time of the northeast monsoon around Qingming next year. Therefore, sea merchants must collect all their goods before summer, otherwise they will miss the wind time.

This kind of trade only goes back and forth once a year, because the number of trades is small and the carrying capacity of ships is low, so the profits are extremely high, and some people are willing to take risks even if they are dangerous.

Coupled with the ban on the sea by the Ming government, it has reduced shipping and pushed up profits.

It's just that the biggest loss is probably not the maritime merchants, but the Ming court and the entire Ming economy.

If the Ming court set up tariffs and taxes, I dare not say if there are too many, there should still be tariffs of millions of taels of silver every year, and how much tax will the Ming court contribute to the economic development of the south of the Yangtze River driven by trade.

It is a pity that the Ming Dynasty reversed the history of the economic system. Not only did it disdain the business tax in the country, it always insisted on the low tax system of 10 taxes, and it was unable to stop the tax evasion of profiteers, tyrants, officials and businessmen, etc. Therefore, The annual business tax is only a few [-] taels of silver.

Even commercial taxes are hardly levied, so how can the court turn its attention to maritime trade tariffs.

Compared with the Song Dynasty, the commercial tax accounted for more than [-]% of the court's finances, while the commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was negligible, which was equivalent to giving up half of the tax revenue, but squeezed money from the poorest farmers, causing public resentment. It's really guarding the treasure house and begging for food.

Yang Chao insisted on lending Wang Xiao 2 taels of silver to prepare the goods. As long as the goods of 2 taels of silver were shipped to Susong, the maritime merchants were willing to pay double, which was indeed less than the three times last time, but Wang Xiao The goods are late, no wonder others.

What's more, what Wang Xiao faced was that he had to stock up as soon as possible, because he had to pay a high price if he was in a hurry, which further squeezed the profit margin.

However, as long as the goods arrive at 2 taels of silver, there will be at least a profit of more than 1 taels, which is enough for Wang Xiao to turn around.

He Mingyu also helped up and down, using his own business network to help Wang Xiao solve the largest source of goods.

Of course, the high price is still unavoidable. Originally, the goods only cost 5000 taels, but Wang Xiao finally asked for 2 taels, and the next buyer was willing to pay 3 taels, so the profit was exactly 1 taels.

But the risk involved is very high. If it is robbed again, the Wang family grocery store will have to close down and owe a foreign debt.

Yang Chao promised to deliver the goods. Compared with the risk of others going overseas, sailing on the Yangtze River by himself is no different from walking on flat land.

The only concern is timing.

It was already May, and there was only one month left before the other party's request.

It is six hundred miles from Nanjing to Susong, and it goes down the river. If the wind direction is right, it is no problem to travel hundreds of miles a day, but considering various accidents, naval inspections along the way, etc., and mooring at night, it is [-] miles a day. That only takes ten days.

But Wang Xiao was very urgent and urged him for days, but Yang Chao remained unmoved.

After waiting for another ten days, on May [-]th, we set sail.

This time Yang Chao brought 20 of his own soldiers, Li Wuliu's archers, and Lao Zhang's boatmen, for a total of 40 people.

They are all elite soldiers and generals, but considering that last time Wang Pu also invited more than ten fighters, the ship was robbed and people were killed in the end, so Yang Chao still took a big risk.

But this is a cargo ship, and there are too many people to pull the cargo. Because there are forty people on board, the big ship that could pull [-] loads of cargo is only loaded with [-] loads of cargo, plus emergency supplies. Diet, nothing more.

However, seeing the iron armor with 40 people per water, Yang Chao felt relieved. He waited for ten days more, and it was this batch of iron armor that he was waiting for.

Wang Xiao kept urging Yang Chao, and Yang Chao kept urging Feng Jian (Carpenter Feng), and finally let him build forty pairs of armor in just over ten days.

In addition to Yang Chao's own people on board, there was also He Mingyu's servant, who was the contact person.

The relationship is He Mingyu's, so the next family of sea merchants only recognizes members of the He family, and He Mingyu also believes in this next family.

He Mingyu explained that there is no possibility of problems with this next family, because they have had an old relationship with the He family for many years, and there is no need to break their friendship for one shipment, unless the other party does not plan to do sea trade in the future.

But the other party is not an ordinary sea merchant, behind them is a local wealthy family in Songjiang Prefecture, who has been smuggling for many years, and it is impossible to cut off food and clothing easily.

So the last time Wang Xiao's goods were robbed, it could only be an accident, either by some unscrupulous Jiang bandit, or by his peers.

It's just that no one knows the specific situation. The next family is also investigating, but they haven't been found out. They suspect that several colleagues have no evidence.

He Mingyu said that this was a muddled account, and he couldn't figure it out. Since he dared to do this business, he dared to admit it.

Yang Chao didn't intend to avenge Wang Xiao either. The first purpose of this voyage was to help Wang Xiao, and the second was to develop his own business.

If a Yangtze River waterway is opened up, Yang Chao feels that he can't eat it all, and it will be enough for him to raise troops in the future. This is a big issue related to his future foundation, so he goes out in person and brings elite soldiers and generals.

"Master Yang, stop at Zhenjiang tonight."

The wind was smooth, the weather was beautiful, and the speed of the boat was much faster than Yang Chao expected. It was only in the evening and he arrived outside Zhenjiang. The servant of the He family suggested spending the night in Zhenjiang, otherwise he would have to stop temporarily if he couldn't find the next port. The risk was too high. big.

Considering that he traveled more than 100 miles today, which was double his plan, Yang Chao felt that he had plenty of time and could stop for a while.

Stopped for one night and set sail early the next morning. Zhenjiang headed towards the Dongjiang River, separated by the island in the center of the lake. The river flow changed. There are mountains and reefs here. The guide asked to lower the sail and slow down after passing this section.

So at noon, I went out for less than [-] miles, and not far from Jinshan Mountain was Jiaoshan Mountain, where I met the Jiangshui soldiers guarding it.

The guide is an old water ghost who often travels this section of the road. He reported his trade name and negotiated with the sailors.

Of course, if the sailors are unreasonable, Yang Chao also has a solution. It doesn't matter if he breaks through the barrier by force. He has the patrol papers given by Xiong Mingyu in his hand, so he is not afraid of lawsuits.

But one more thing is worse than one less thing. This time, it is for laying the foundation stone for the road, not for causing trouble. Of course, it is best if the guide can solve it.

There are many water camps near Zhenjiang, because this is an important place for water transportation, and the terrain is complex. Many places are easy to defend and difficult to attack. When Zheng Chenggong went up the river to attack Nanjing, he fought in this area. At that time, between Jinshan and Jiaoshan The Qing army connected them with iron cables, laying wooden boards on the floating battalion and erecting artillery to block the river.

Zheng Chenggong sent people to dive and cut off the iron chains, and set fire to the wooden floating battalion so that he could continue to go up the river.

Come to Jiaoshan and continue to the east, and go for another 300 miles. There is a hill, the height of which is higher than Jiaoshan, but it is still a hill. A certain Buddhist temple.

This mountain is called Yishan, and there is also a water camp, but it is not a big camp like Xinjiangkou, but a sub-camp guarded by the generals, which is under the jurisdiction of the Zhenjiang camp.

However, instead of embarrassing them, the Shanshui Camp arranged a berth for them to rest here for the whole night, because the general of Shanshui and the He family were old friends.

The next day, we set off from Yishan Mountain and passed through the waterway south of Yangzhong Island. We traveled more than 100 miles on this day and arrived at Ligang, Jiangyin County to rest.

After that, I wasted two days in Junshan and Xiangshan, which are close at hand, because of the sudden heavy rain and strong wind, the boat was in danger of capsizing.

On the sixth day, the weather returned to normal and we continued to set off. We crossed the sandbar very quickly, crossed the sandbar and saved the border of Jiangyin, and entered the territory of Suzhou, which is the water area between Sanzhangpu in Suzhou Prefecture and Langshan in Yangzhou Prefecture in the north of the Yangtze River.

I met a few small boats here, and followed Yang Chao's warship for several miles. Yang Chao had already asked all the soldiers to put on armor and prepare for battle, but the boat left by itself.

I dare not say whether the boat is a Jiang bandit, but it must have bad intentions.

Although it was still early in the morning, the guide still suggested to take a shelter in the nearby Fushan Mountain. The guide said that there are often river bandits nearby, because there are many uninhabited sandbars on the river in this area. The sandbar is a tall reed in summer and autumn, which is very convenient for the river. Bandits hide.

(End of this chapter)