Chapter 257 Da Yuan Dao Fang
Ruolan took Su Ze to two more shops, but the problems in these two shops were not big. After beating the shopkeeper and the waiter, the two returned to the house.
. . .
When Fang Ruolan woke up again the next day, it was already three o'clock in the morning.
After being served by the maid Cuiping, she got up. Seeing the suppressed smile on her face, Miss Fang, who had been upgraded to Mrs. Su, twisted her face towel hard. Her body was still crispy now.
"Where is your husband?"
"My uncle has already gone out. He said he wanted to see some engraving drawings."
Fang Ruolan felt relieved when she heard that Su Ze had gone out, but she was also a little disappointed.
But she also knows that it is impossible for a man to stay at home every day. Just like her father Fang Wanghai, after he became a scholar from Zhongzhong and became an official, the family moved around with him. When he was an official before, he was busy with official duties until midnight every day. .
"Miss, do you miss your uncle?"
Fang Ruolan blushed and said, "Who misses him? I have to do business while he is not at home!"
Cuiping covered the smile at the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. Now everyone in the house Knowing that my uncle and the young lady were in love, gossip spread all over the place.
As a personal maid Cuiping, I just feel that those gossips are not exaggerated! But Cuiping kept her mouth tight to keep the secret.
Fang Ruolan now looks prosperous and resplendent, and her movements are a bit more like a woman's. This is naturally due to her uncle.
"Why are you so dazed? Go get the map of the house."
Su Ze bought this house from a wealthy businessman in Nanping for the purpose of getting married.
Although the house is not small, because it is a businessman's house, it is always a bit stingy inside and out.
This is not because wealthy businessmen have no money to build houses, but because the Ming Dynasty also has strict regulations on the style and specifications of houses. Although businessmen have money, their houses cannot exceed the regulations.
After all, houses and clothes are different. If someone reports that the clothes are over the limit, the worst they can do is take them off and burn them.
But if the house exceeds the limit, you can't smash it on the spot.
Su Ze has already been elected, and he is also a member of the province. Naturally, the front door of this house needs to be renovated.
Fang Ruolan picked up the pen, drew a few strokes on the map and said:
"Take your husband's post and ask Uncle Xianyang of the county government to take a look at it. Ask the county government office to send a big worker to come up with a drawing."
This kind of thing is not It is the privilege of officials, but in the Ming Dynasty when the income of officials was insufficient, most officials would work part-time.
Although exploiting the people is the easiest thing to do, not all officials are qualified to exploit the people.
There are not many opportunities for building owners such as workshops to make money. On the contrary, there are more extra income from drawings.
Cuiping quickly agreed, and Fang Ruolan looked at the garden in front of the main house and frowned.
The original owner of this house also invested money, and the garden in front of the main house was somewhat designed, but the landscaping was really too vulgar.
Fang Ruolan thought of the loquat tree in her ancestral home in Quanzhou, and said to Cuiping:
"Send someone to buy a loquat sapling on the street. I will plant a tree here."
When Su Ze returned home, Fang Ruolan was personally Shoveling the soil, Su Ze saw the loquat sapling supported by Cuiping. Su Ze immediately walked over and said,
"Why did you plant the tree?"
"I remembered that there was also a loquat tree at home in Quanzhou. I often ate the fruit from it when I was a child, so I also I want to plant one at home."
Su Ze held on to the tree trunk and said, "Don't plant it, it's unlucky."
Fang Ruolan said doubtfully, "I've never heard that there's anything unlucky about planting a loquat tree?"
Su Ze said immediately: "It's just unlucky. If my wife wants to plant it, we can just plant it on a hill in the tea garden." "
Fang Aizhu, send this pipa tree to the tea house to plant it."
After saying this, Su Ze picked up Fang Ruolan without any explanation and said :
"You can plant whatever tree you want, just don't plant this loquat tree."
Seeing Su Ze's serious look, Fang Ruolan had to say, "If you don't want to plant it, don't plant it. Cuiping can buy a laurel tree and come back tomorrow."
Seeing that Fang Ruolan finally changed her mind, Su Ze carried her towards the bedroom.
Fang Ruolan saw that the situation was not good, but was hugged tightly by Su Ze.
Cuiping and Fang Aizhu looked at each other and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.
The two of them performed their duties and dismissed the servants near the bedroom.
Cuiping also wanted to prepare drinks and fruit cakes for the two of them to have a "truce", so Fang Aizhu called the maid to guard the door.
. . .
In this way, November came, and Fang Ruolan finally waited for the day of "truce". She pushed Su Ze away triumphantly, which made Su Ze very depressed.
Rather than being able to see, touch and eat, being hugged and unable to move.
Su Ze decided to get down to business.
Fang Aizhu received news from the printing shop. It was obvious that Father Pierre's realistic painting style was so shocking that several engraving workers were so scared that they did not dare to use their engraving knives for fear of being arrested by the government for being "indecent." .
However, the character of the old priest was still too Western. Su Ze could only ask the master to do engraving printing first, and then bind the original illustration and send it to Wang Daokun. The original author still had to decide on the illustration.
Hearing that there were embroiderers in the Jiangnan area who were proficient in embroidery and could embroider lifelike images on silk, Su Ze planned to go to Jiangnan and find a way to make a more exquisite version.
Good news also came from Eunuch Tao's side. After being contacted by the Ryukyu envoy, Shibo Company actually contacted the Folangji people. Unexpectedly, Fo Langji really had a "Kirin" on his hands!
It turned out that the Portuguese had transported it from Africa to India, and they were originally going to donate it to Humayun the Great of the Warmor Empire.
However, Emperor Humayun died suddenly this year, and the throne was passed to his thirteen-year-old son.
The Womor Empire entered a period of power and power, and its foreign policy became more conservative. It rejected the Portuguese's request to visit and offer auspiciousness, so this poor giraffe stayed in the Governor's Palace Zoo in Goa.
Today's Ryukyu people are an important window for the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade. All kinds of foreign goods can be sent to the Ming Dynasty for trade as Ryukyu goods as long as they are labeled in Ryukyu.
The Portuguese also dreamed of legal trade with the Ming Dynasty. When the Ryukyu envoy mentioned the "Kilin", the Portuguese shipowner in Langbaisha immediately patted his chest and said that he would definitely bring the "Kilin" safely from Goala to Fuzhou Port!
However, Eunuch Tao was also a prudent person, and he said in his letter that he would wait until "Qilin" arrived in Hong Kong for recuperation before reporting this auspicious event to the emperor.
The mortality rate of livestock transported by sea is extremely high these days. If the "Kilin" dies on the way, it will not be auspicious but rather ominous.
Su Ze naturally agreed with Eunuch Tao's stability.
Eunuch Tao mentioned another thing in his letter. The first batch of grain merchants who set off from Fuzhou and headed north to Shanghai sold grain at high prices in Jiangnan, and returned to Fuzhou Port in exchange for silk from Suzhou.
Eunuch Tao saw business opportunities, purchased the silk from these merchants, and "sold" the silk to the Ryukyu people, making a huge profit!
Eunuch Tao, who had made a fortune from maritime trade, was no longer satisfied with buying from merchants. He directly asked the Fuzhou Shipping Department to dispatch merchant ships to prepare for this business himself.
I have to say that Eunuch Tao was still honest. He wrote to Su Ze to ask him if he wanted to buy shares. He also asked Su Ze to provide some advice on maritime trade, mainly how to avoid the risk of being impeached by the official.
Su Ze couldn't help but sigh. He didn't expect Eunuch Tao to have such talent in economics, and discovered the most profitable route in East Asia without any teacher.
Su Ze picked up his pen again and wrote a letter to Eunuch Tao, encouraging him to explore this route. He also talked about the situation in Jiangnan. Jiangnan, the prosperous land of fish and rice, lacked food. Transporting cheap Nanyang grain to Jiangnan would definitely make a lot of money.
It was already November before he knew it, and the Chinese New Year was about to begin. This year, Su Ze needed to give gifts to more people. Looking at the list of gifts, his head grew bigger.
These matters can also be left to Fang Ruolan.
But thinking about taking Fang Ruolan back to Changningwei during the New Year, Su Ze thought of the figure in Baihu Mansion again, and felt guilty again for no reason.
However, Lin Mojun's recent letter mentioned the immigration development matter, and Su Ze had to return to Changningwei in advance.
At the same time, Lin Mojun was also making final preparations before the New Year.
These days, Lin Mojun has been shuttling between Dong'ao Island and Changning Wei.
According to Su Ze's instructions, Lin Mojun has been collecting immigrants who are willing to go to sea.
After the trade between Fuzhou and Ryukyu officially began, Lin Mojun also followed Su Ze's instructions and asked the Ming Dynasty to "display goods" in the Penghu area in the tone of an envoy from Ryukyu.
In today's Ming Dynasty territory, the Penghu region refers to an area in general, including the Penghu Islands and Damuan Island (a certain island).
The Ming Dynasty once established an inspection department in Quanzhou, which was responsible for patrolling the Taiyuan Strait and preventing people along the way from landing on the Penghu Islands and Taiyuan Island.
In fact, since the Song Dynasty, many people from the southeastern region have spontaneously landed on the Penghu Islands and Dayu Island. In the early Ming Dynasty, there were already tens of thousands of people on Dayu Island.
However, after the sea ban was implemented in the Hongwu Year, Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly moved the people who had pioneered the island back to Guangzhou, Fujian, and at the same time strictly ordered any people to go to sea.
Later, after the implementation of the sea ban, the Penghu Inspection Department was left idle.
However, during the Jiajing period, due to the invasion of Japanese pirates, the Penghu Inspection Department was re-established in the 20th year of Jiajing. This time, the Inspection Department was located on Kinmen Island and the Penghu Islands. Its main task was to guard against Japanese pirates and also to combat smuggling along the coast. .
When the Inspection Department was first established, it did achieve good results.
But today, more than ten years later, the functions of the Inspection Department are also declining rapidly. Especially for the people who go out to explore the sea, the Inspection Department basically turns a blind eye.
Many people who could not survive locally sneaked across the Penghu Islands and Taiyuan Island.
When Lin Mojun landed on the Penghu Islands for the first time, he unexpectedly discovered a small fishing village not far from the Penghu Inspection Department.
Because of the frequent Japanese pirates, the Penghu Inspection Department basically stopped patrolling the sea. After Lin Mojun got in touch with the fishermen on Penghu Island, he secretly landed on Dajuan Island under the leadership of the Penghu fishermen.
Most of the people who gather on Taiyu Island today are Fujian and Cantonese, and they gather in the southeastern area of Taiyu Island, which is today called "Tainan".
Lin Mojun, led by local fishermen, entered the harbor from a small seaport and soon discovered this natural harbor.
If Su Ze was here, he would definitely recognize the name of this port. This was the fortress city that was later established by the Dutch after they occupied Dayuang Island, and it was also the capital city that Zheng Chenggong later established after regaining Dayuang Island - Anping City, also called Relan Cover the city.
But now it is just a small port and fishing village built naturally by Fujian immigrants.
Lin Mojun asked the local guide for information. This small fishing port was called "Little Quanzhou". It should be named to commemorate the fact that they left their hometown from Quanzhou.
Lin Mojun inspected "Xiaoquanzhou" in detail. This fishing village has about 500 households and less than 3,000 people.
In addition to fishing at sea, they also pioneered and farmed near the port. Naturally, Xiaoquanzhou had no official government. The people on the island gathered in urban and rural communities and elected the patriarch of a large family named Shao to lead it.
Lin Mojun even saw a Fujian-style Mazu temple in Xiaoquanzhou. There was also a blind temple priest who was about the same age as the ninth aunt.
The people of Xiaoquanzhou were still quite wary of outsiders like Lin Mojun, but as a mature naval general, Lin Mojun could still see the unique conditions of this port.
The entrance to the sea is narrow, and only a fortress is needed to guard the fleet.
There are many reefs and cliffs along the coast, and it is not easy for a large fleet to land nearby, so it can protect the safety of deep areas.
The only drawback is probably that it is too hot here, which often causes diseases to occur here. In local terms, there is a lot of "miasma". The local people do not have doctors. When they encounter diseases, they can only seek treatment at the Blind Eye Temple of Mazu Temple.
Lin Mojun asked someone to bring a letter to Su Ze, telling what he had seen on Dajuan Island. As expected, Su Ze couldn't sit still after receiving Lin Mojun's letter. He bid farewell to the newlywed Fang Ruolan and returned to Changning Guard.
(End of chapter)