Fenghou

In the past two years, in order to build a navy, the imperial court has requisitioned a large number of private large-scale seagoing ships, making fewer and fewer merchants going south, and the life of the pirates is also difficult. It is so easy to encounter a single ship, how can the pirates let it go?

The pirate ship speeded up and was gradually catching up with the cargo ship. The people on the cargo ship were terrified and shouted.

At this moment, a fleet of ten large ships suddenly appeared more than ten miles to the east. The large ships were all equipped with wooden paddles and sailed by manpower. They did not need sails and were not affected by the wind. quick.

The merchants on the cargo ship cheered together when they saw this fleet. The pirates turned pale with fright and turned around to run away. This fleet with wooden wheels has been famous in the South China Sea in recent months and has been easily killed. There are more than a dozen pirate gangs.

Needless to say, this fleet is exactly the Nanyang expedition team led by Liu Dajiang. His appearance made the small Nanyang countries suffering from pirate attacks overjoyed, and they provided them with pirate information. With accurate information, within a few months, Liu Dajiang led his men to exterminate fourteen pirates, maintained the safety of the business road, and made a lot of money himself.

This time, Liu Dajiang led the fleet to return to Quanzhou. Unexpectedly, they encountered a pirate ship near the Luzon Islands.

How could the pirate ship escape, it was surrounded by Liu Dajiang's fleet in just a moment, a dozen burning oil tanks were thrown over, the pirate ship immediately caught fire, dozens of pirates had to jump into the sea to escape, but they couldn't escape the soldiers Their crossbow arrows shot down like a rainstorm. In just a moment, all the pirates were shot to death, and none of them survived.

The Western army has become a tactical routine to deal with pirates. First, use fire to force the pirates to jump into the sea, then shoot them to death with arrows, and finally clear the ship. , Sell the goods cheaply, spend the money on wine and wine, put the valuables on the boat, hide them on the deserted island, it is better to put them on the boat to be safer.

"There are no more lives left!" shouted the soldier.

Commander Han Xiaowu waved his hand, "Clear the ship!"

The soldiers hooked the pirate ship over, and fifty soldiers in iron armor, holding shields and short spears boarded the ship. Although the deck was on fire, it would be at least a few hours before it was completely burned down, and the bottom cargo hold did not catch fire.

Fifty soldiers entered the hold, and after a while, several pirates hiding in the hold were found out, stabbed to death with a spear without any explanation, and thrown directly into the sea.

Soon, five disheveled women were found. They were all women who were ravaged by pirates to vent their anger. After the five were rescued, they couldn't help crying. They were picked up on the big ship, and the treatment was simple. A sum of money for each person, and then handed over to the rescued cargo ship, and ordered the cargo ship to send them home when it returned.

Liu Dajiang will also ask the ship owner to write down a written statement. If these women are killed by them, then the ship owner and crew should stop messing around in the South China Sea.

Not long after, the inspection team found the secret warehouse where the treasures were kept, and quickly sent a large box of large boxes to the big ship. Every soldier smiled when he saw these big boxes. Everyone is the same, including himself and commander Han Xiaowu, which makes all the soldiers feel grateful and work extra hard.

An hour later, the five women were sent to the merchant ship, and the merchant ship followed Liu Dajiang's fleet to Quanzhou. The pirate ship was burned by the fire and gradually sank.

……

After half a month of sailing, the fleet arrived in Quanzhou. This is Chen Qing's second visit to Quanzhou. The last time he inspected Quanzhou and Ryukyu Island, this time he will inspect the entire Fujian Road.

When the big ship arrived at the wharf, Hu Yantong, the military envoy of Fujian Road, Wang Feng, the governor of Quanzhou, Chao Kun, the order of the Overseas Trade Administration, Zhang Jing, the order of the Municipal Shipping Administration, and other civil and military officials welcomed His Highness King Yong on the wharf.

After seeing the ceremony, Hu Yantong arranged for Sima to send the [-] guards to the barracks to rest. Chen Qing immediately took everyone to stay in the expensive hotel near the pier. The expensive hotel was built on a low mountain with a panoramic view of the sea and the port. In the blue sea, flocks of seagulls are flying in the sky, making crisp calls, and the sea breeze is blowing on the face, which makes people feel refreshed.

In a pavilion, Chen Qing and Zhou Kuan sat and drank tea, Zhou Kuan said with a smile: "I heard from the Crown Prince yesterday that Your Highness has learned quite a lot in the past two days, what have you gained?"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Actually, it's not really a feeling. It's just that I didn't experience it personally before, so I couldn't understand it. I've always been very surprised. Since the Tang Dynasty, our sea transportation has been very developed. We went to Nanyang, Tianzhu, and Dashi. There are large tracts of land overseas that are unclaimed, with dense forests and abundant resources, why don’t we occupy and expand the territory?”

"Does Your Highness understand the reason?"

"I couldn't figure it out before, but now I understand."

"Your Highness, tell me why?"

"We went all the way south from the coast of Wenzhou, and there were basically no people in sight. When we arrived at the coast of Fujian Road, it was even more sparsely populated. On Guangnan East Road and Guangnan West Road, there were even large areas of land uninhabited, and our own land was empty. There is no one to live in, and you can’t even live in your own land, so how can you consider overseas?”

"Your Highness is right. We do have a large area of ​​land that is vacant and uninhabited. In this case, overseas land will not be considered. The key is insufficient population!"

Chen Qing shook his head and said, "I don't think about it now, but what about 300 or 500 years later! Population overgrowth, land scarcity, and dynasties changing in history, except for foreign invasions, are all due to land annexation, and the people cannot survive. Finally, peasant uprisings broke out and were Ambitious people use it to seize the country, but if we have a large piece of land overseas, the peasants can't survive in the country, so they can migrate overseas and own their own land. I can even seal the overseas land to heroes and let them go overseas to become vassals , so that many difficult problems that cannot be solved in the past dynasties can be solved.”

Zhou Kuan pondered for a while and said, "I feel that Your Highness's idea is very good. It is easy to occupy the land, but it is difficult to move the people. However, we can divide it into two steps. First, occupy the unclaimed land, arrange for the army to be stationed, and migrate the criminals to develop it. First build a county, wait for the population to grow in the future, and then move out the population who are willing to live overseas. In a hundred years, there may be millions of people living overseas.”

The reason why Chen Qing brought Zhou Kuan together for inspection was that Zhou Kuan had a broad mind, could understand himself, and would support him in the court. He needed to use this inspection to reach some consensus with Zhou Kuan.

There is also his son Chen Ji. He also needs to cultivate his son's overseas awareness. After he inherits his own business, he can continue to expand outward and strive for more land for his descendants.

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "In two days, I will go to the big island of Ryukyu for patrol first, so you can go and see it with me!"

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

After resting overnight, Chen Qing began to listen to the reports of the main officials in the morning of the next day. After a busy day, he was really dizzy, so he simply took his wife and children for a walk in the streets.

Of course, their stroll was not walking, but sightseeing in a carriage. The carriage slowly entered the county town. The county town was full of hustle and bustle just like the wharf.

After the Song Dynasty government plundered the maritime merchants' finances, it severely hit the maritime merchants from all over the world. Only the maritime merchants in Quanzhou flourished, and the maritime merchants from all over the country moved to Quanzhou, which further promoted the development of Quanzhou's overseas trade.

Like Jingzhao, Quanzhou has now become an international metropolis, and businessmen from overseas countries are everywhere, and they can hear various languages.

"Father, some merchants sit in the store and some carry backpacks. How do you tell them apart?" Chen Ji couldn't help asking.

Chen Qing said with a slight smile: "The one who opened the shop is called Zuo Shang, who specializes in purchasing overseas goods, and then transports them to the inland market for sale. The profit is not high, but fortunately it is relatively stable, backpacks are merchants, and they go overseas to trade, and they also go out and in, and the profit is relatively high, usually five times the profit."

"I saw a lot of merchants, do they all have their own ships?"

Chen Qing laughed, "Do you think it's possible?"

Chen Ji blushed and said, "It's really impossible!"

Chen Qing said slowly: "Now there are two kinds of ships going to Nanyang for trade, one is private ships, there are about [-] ships, most of them are five thousand stone ships, and there are also ten thousand stone sea ships, which are relatively few. I went to Nanyang twice, but more than a dozen Wanshi ships have to go to Dashi. All private Wanshi ships only go to sea once a year, and it takes half a year; the other is official ships. There are [-] ships that go to sea every year Twice, I only went to Nanyang, regardless of whether the official ship or the private ship sold tickets to the outside world, and the merchant just took the ship to go to sea, go to sea on time, and come back on time."

"Then did the private ship organize warriors to protect the ship? My child just saw a dozen warriors walking past."

Chen Qing shook his head, "Those warriors are only responsible for maintaining the order on board, not dealing with pirates, which is our navy, every time an official ship goes out, there will be two navy warships accompanying it, and private cargo ships will also follow, they go to the big The cargo ship for food will also come back before October, and follow our last batch of official ships back to Quanzhou."

"Boy, I just heard from a businessman that there are no merchant ships from Guangzhou, and all of them have come to Quanzhou."

Chen Qing said indifferently: "In recent years, the imperial court has killed chickens to extract eggs, forcing sea merchants to buy clubs, sea ships have been confiscated without compensation, all chickens have been killed, how can there be eggs?"

"The child understands!"

At this moment, Yu Lian pointed out the window and asked curiously, "Officer, where are those dozen or so women from? They are so weirdly dressed!"

Chen Qing glanced at it, and saw a group of Japanese women, about a dozen of them, all of them were painted white, wearing bamboo hats, and Tang-style kimonos. After the flight to Japan opened, many Japanese prostitutes came to Quanzhou Earn a living, and even have Jingzhao.

Chen Qing smiled and said, "They are Japanese prostitutes, they came from Japan."

Yu Lian reads the newspaper every day and knows about Japanese prostitutes. When she heard that they were prostitutes, she curled her lips in contempt.

"Officer, those people are so dark!" Yao Mei also discovered something new.

Chen Qing also saw it, and said with a smile: "That's a black slave who followed his master from far away from Dashi. Look at the Dashi businessman in white robe in front of him, he is their master."

"Could they be the Kunlun slaves of the Tang Dynasty?" Yao Mei remembered an allusion she had heard.

"Even so!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Most of the Kunlun slaves in the Tang Dynasty were blacks from Tianzhu. They were not the same as them, but there were also some who were the same as them, called Kunlun slaves."

The carriage passed through the city and went to the pier again. The pier was still unloading. Thousands of people slowly walked down the sideboard with bags of heavy goods on their backs, and then pushed the goods to the warehouse with a unicycle deer cart. Chen Qing He frowned slightly. He didn't expect that Quanzhou's wharf was still so backward, and it was a waste of manpower.

At this time, he saw Zhang Jing, the order of the Municipal Bureau of Shipbuilding, and said, "I'll go and have a look, and I'll be right back. Wait a moment!"

Several personal soldiers followed Chen Qing and walked over. Zhang Jing turned around and saw His Highness King Yong, he was startled, and hurried over to greet him.

Chen Qing glanced at the civilian husband who was carrying supplies and said, "Do other cargo ships carry supplies like this?"

Zhang Jing was a little uneasy and said, "It's always been like this!"

"This is too laborious. You should go to Jingzhao to see how to unload the goods. It is much less laborious than yours."

"The next time I go to Jingzhao, I must study hard."

Chen Qing waved his hand, "There is no need to go to Jingzhao, I will tell you how to do it now!"

"Your Highness, please give instructions!"

Chen Qing said unhurriedly: "Do three things well, first, prepare a batch of loading and unloading boxes, each loading and unloading box is three feet square, there must be no error at all, and all materials are carried in the loading and unloading room. "

Zhang Jing was in a hurry, "Your Highness, the three-foot-square big box is too heavy to carry."

"Of course I know it's heavy, and then I'm going to say the second thing, be patient and listen carefully!"

Zhang Jing wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and dared not interrupt again.

"The second thing to put it simply is to erect the pole and pull the rope. An iron pole must be erected on the pier, and it must be inserted deep enough to make it strong enough. Then there must be a pole on each boat, and the two poles must be pulled together. Pick up the rope, hook the loading and unloading box on the rope, and slide directly off the boat, understand?"

"Xiaozhi understands that the iron must be very strong."

"The principle is very simple. You have to figure out how to do it yourself, then use large pulleys to load the goods, and use animal power to pull the goods onto the ship. Let me talk about the third thing. Donkeys should be used to pull carts to the warehouse instead of people pushing carts. In the warehouse, the bottom of that kind of car should be as low as possible, and it should be made into a flat plate, so that the loading and unloading boxes can be easily lifted off from the car. In addition, the ground to the warehouse should be leveled to make it easier for the donkey to pull the cart.”

"Xiaozhi fully understands, and must follow through."

Chen Qing said again: "What I want to remind you is that the size of the loading and unloading box is the same everywhere, and you are not allowed to change it without authorization. You can be smart and make the four sides of the loading and unloading box into traps, so that the goods can be taken out easily."

What Chen Qing was talking about was a container-like standard, except that there is no forklift now, so it can’t be made so big. Three feet long, wide and high is enough. Everyone can fully accept the same rules, and it will be transparent at one point.

Zhang Jing fully understood King Yong's instruction, and he immediately started to implement it. Three months later, all the goods were unloaded and loaded, using the four magic tools of loading and unloading boxes, unloading slide ropes, loading pulleys, and donkey-drawn box carts. There are still so many people on the dock, but the efficiency of unloading and loading has increased several times.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

Two days later, Chen Qing boarded the big ship and went to the big island of Ryukyu for inspection. He originally wanted to put Yu Lian and Yao Mei in Quanzhou, but both of them refused, so they must go with him, so Chen Qing had to agree.

But a group of officials did not go, they were to supplement officials from various prefectures along Fujian Road, some were governors, some were long officials, some were county magistrates, and the governor was called Cai Shu, who would be the governor of Zhangzhou and succeed Yue Fei. As a civilian, he was going to Mount Lu to move his mother's coffin back to his hometown of Tangyin County to be buried with his father, and then to honor his parents for three years. Chen Qing immediately approved his resignation.

The fleet first arrived at Penghu Island. Penghu Island was used as a transit to the Big Island of Ryukyu. The small town on the island has always been small, but a large transit warehouse was built, and then it was transported to the Big Island of Ryukyu by a ship of thousands of stones. Therefore, Penghu Island Almost all the people on the island are engaged in transportation and sugar extraction. Every household has a cargo ship to deliver supplies to Da Dao. Da Dao transports sugar cane, kapok and wood back to the warehouse. The sugar cane is initially processed on Penghu Island and squeezed into The syrup is then transported to Quanzhou for secondary processing to make frosting sugar and brown sugar.

Chen Qing only stayed on Penghu Island for half a day, inspected the warehouses and sugar mills on the island, and then continued his journey to the big island of Ryukyu.

In the living cabin, Chen Qing invited Zhou Kuan and Chao Kun to drink tea with him, as well as his son Chen Ji. Zhou Kuan smiled slightly at Chen Ji: "As early as the Three Kingdoms and Eastern Wu period, Sun Quan wanted to expand his territory. , and also sent ships to overseas to find land. Generals Wei Wenwen and Zhuge Zhizhi arrived at the big island of Ryukyu, which was called Yizhou at that time. In the Sui Dynasty, Ryukyu Island had been occupied by nobles from Funan Kingdom, and established a kingdom with the capital of Bo. In Luotan Cave, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty immediately sent Wu Benlang Chen Leng to lead an army of [-] to conquer Ryukyu, defeating the big and small Ryukyu kings. The doctor Zhang Zhenzhou led an army to destroy the capital Boluotan Cave, captured thousands of Ryukyu soldiers and civilians, and wiped out the Nanyang forces. Everything was cleaned up, and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty contributed a lot to maintaining the control of the Central Plains Dynasty on Ryukyu Island, as recorded in the "Sui Shu".

Chen Qing said to his son: "Have you heard that, even Emperor Sui Yang knew how to maintain the Central Plains Dynasty's control over Ryukyu Island, we should go one step further."

Chen Ji hurriedly asked: "Excuse me, father, how far have we reached in governing the big island of Ryukyu?"

"Let Chao Shuling speak! He has always been in charge of the management of Ryukyu Island."

Chao Kun quickly bowed and said: "Reporting to Your Highness and His Royal Highness, we have recruited [-] laborers from Japan since the beginning of last year, mainly for logging, building docks, and building cities. According to Your Highness's regulations, each laborer can only do at most It has been two years, and it has been a year now, and about [-] hectares of land have been opened up, the wharf has been built, the city is currently being built, and [-] miles of roads have been built."

Chen Qing pointed to the map and asked, "Where is the county seat built?"

Chao Kun pointed to a river: "This river is called Zhuo Shui by the natives. It is right next to the mouth of the Zhuo Shui. There is enough fresh water here. The land to be developed is on both sides of the Zhuo Shui. The north bank is where Japanese laborers built the city. The south bank is a village for the common people."

"How many permanent residents are there now?" Chen Qing asked again.

"A little more than [-] households, about [-] households, mainly grow sugar cane and kapok for a living. They also grow rice, which can guarantee basic rations, and then other materials have to be transported from Quanzhou."

"Are these more than 1000 households at ease?"

"It looks pretty good so far. Their income is high. Each family's annual income is about 50 guan, and they are tax-free for [-] years. Of course, they live very comfortably, that is..."

"What is it?"

Chao Kun sighed and said, "They are just afraid of being unsafe. There are many high mountain natives on the big island, and they are living in peace at present. They are afraid that conflicts will break out in the future. There are also pirates from Luzon Island, but I haven't seen them this year. , and worried that the Nanyang natives would come to compete with them for territory, they were worried a lot.”

Chen Ji was puzzled and asked, "Is there no garrison?"

"Have!"

Chao Kun nodded, "There are 1000 troops stationed."

"Since there is a garrison, what are you afraid of?"

"My lord, this is a kind of fear of being alone overseas. There will definitely be an inexplicable sense of insecurity. We can only wait for the population to increase in the future, reaching tens of thousands, before this sense of insecurity will gradually subside. "

At this time, a soldier shouted outside: "The big island of Ryukyu has arrived!"

Chen Qing stood up and took out a monocular from his bosom. This was a lens made of crystal. It wasn't Chen Qing's sudden whim. The main reason was that glasses had already appeared on the market. But only one side is convenient for reading newspapers.

After Chen Qing found out about monocular glasses, he found a craftsman who made glasses and asked him to grind a concave lens and a convex lens for himself, which were used as eyepieces and objective lenses, and made a monocular telescope that could clearly magnify twenty times.

He stood on the corridor and looked into the distance. Sure enough, he saw the dock, half of the city, densely packed laborers, and several villages on the other side of the river.

"Your Highness, what is this?" Chao Kun asked in surprise.

"Chao Shuling, this is called a telescope, and it is used to see distant things." Chen Ji introduced from the side.

Chen Qing handed the binoculars to Chao Kun and said with a smile, "Try it!"

Following Chen Qing's instructions, Chao Kun looked towards the shore with the binoculars, and suddenly he was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth, and said for a long time: "Your Highness, this thing is a treasure for sailing!"

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "This is not only a treasure for sailing, but also a treasure for war. I made one for Yang Zaixing before, but unfortunately it was crushed by his war horse. Unfortunately, the old craftsman who grinds the lenses died of illness. The skills of his apprentice and son are not enough, and it will take a few years to reach the level of the old craftsman. I heard that there are also high-level lens grinding craftsmen in Lin'an. I have sent someone to find them. When I find them, I will make more. , for your sailing as well.”

Not long after, Chen Qing's [-]-stone ship slowly docked at the pier, and the three [-]-stone ships behind it also docked at the pier, and a thousand guards disembarked one after another.

This is Chen Qing's second visit to the Big Island of Ryukyu. The first time there were only more than 100 households. Now he can see a large piece of flat land stretching as far as the eye can see. Eighty percent of the walls of a county town have been completed, and it will be completed in a few months. 1000 Many households will be able to move into the county to live, and the first county will be born.

The surrounding area of ​​the county town was full of busy people, full of short Japanese national husbands, most of them were barefoot, wearing uniform gray and black cloth clothes, shouting chants.Carrying a bamboo basket full of big bricks on his shoulders, he walked to the top of the city step by step.

"How much do these workers earn every month?" Chen Qing asked.

Chao Kun explained: "They are paid by the day, [-] Wen a day, including food and housing, and don't even have to pay for clothes. It is at least five times higher than their wages in their hometown, so they are rushing to come."

"What if you get sick or die?"

"Illness must be determined by a doctor. If it is confirmed that you are sick, you will be given three days off, and you will be paid at half the price. If you want to rest for two more days, you can, but you will lose your wages. You can give food. If you are sick for more than ten days , they will be sent back to the country, and if they die, they will be compensated ten pennies to their families, this is a signed contract."

"Is anyone dead?" Zhou Kuan asked next to him.

"Yes! When I first came here, some people were not acclimatized to the environment, and more than [-] people died, and each of them lost ten pennies."