Lu Ming

Franji is in Taipei, so poor that he only has money left.

Due to the unstable foothold in the local area and the bad relationship with the natives, the Franji people do not have many goods that can be used for trade: pull a ship of goods out, and then bring some silver and the other party's special products back to the voyage. This is the most cost-effective sea trade. way of trading.

The Franji people have only silver in the castle in Taipei, but no goods-the Philippines itself is waiting for the Ming ship to deliver the goods every day.Therefore, Hokkien merchants seldom went to Taipei in the past two years. Even if Franji was exempted from tax, yellow silk would be calculated at the price of white silk, and everyone was reluctant to go.

As for the Dutch entrenched in Daguan, although Lin Baoan said that the information was not clear, if he shipped a cargo there, the Dutch would definitely welcome him, and he knew this very well.

……

Lin Baoquan nodded slightly after listening to Xiong Dao's words just now: 5 cents a catty of pig iron, this business is well done - the best pig iron in Fujian is only more than 1 cent a catty of silver.

It was he who once again began to meditate, mainly to estimate the risks involved: crossing the sea is one, the ocean is unstable, and the total price of iron materials is insufficient.

The first two can be avoided - take the northerly wind from Funing Prefecture, the northernmost tip of Fujian, cross the strait obliquely to the southeast, and then go south along the coastline of Taiwan. member.

The latter is a bit tricky: Iron materials, regardless of raw and wrought iron, are rough goods. The Lin family’s Xing’anping is a 600-material (72KG per material) Fuchuan, which can hold more than 8 catties of pig iron when fully loaded. This cargo, The total value of the goods is only more than 4000 taels of silver. Even if it is a high profit of 5 cents of silver and 1 catty of iron, it is still not worthwhile to go to sea. The Xing’an Ping ship sells groceries to the Sunrise Sea. The minimum value of the goods is 1 taels of silver. More than 5000 taels.

After thinking it over clearly, Lin Baoquan said in a deep voice at this moment: "The total price is not enough, and a batch of valuable goods is enough."

Liu He, Steward Liu, who had been silent by the side, suddenly said, "My master still has hundreds of loads of raw silk in the warehouse of the Liu family in Hou Chaomen. If Brother Lin wants to distribute the goods, the raw silk is the most It's just right."

……

Lin Baoquan glanced at Liu He in surprise, and what caught his eyes was the face of a treacherous minister with a grin full of yellow teeth, "My master told me that the business of Master Xiong is the business of the Liu family. Brother Lin should You can’t even trust my master, can you?”

"Hahaha..." Several people in the room started to look up to the sky and laugh awkwardly at the same time as if they had made an appointment, but the laughter of the Lin brothers was a little dry at the moment.

Lin Baoquan knew that this was called riding a tiger and getting off...Since Liu He talked about this point, he would never allow his family to shirk it. If he shirked it, the two brothers would offend the Liu family today.

"Since that's the case, the deal is done!" Lin Baoquan also knew that it would be useless to procrastinate any longer, so he stopped his laughter abruptly and made a final decision.

"Okay, okay, this will be a big help to my brother, Xian Kunzhong is a righteous person, this love Xiong has recorded!" At this point, Xiong Dao stopped talking, raised his hand and took three consecutive shots: "Come out... "

Two pretty maids with bright eyes and bright teeth, dressed in gold and emerald greens, came out of the back room.The former one held a large blue and white glazed porcelain plate in his hand. After the porcelain plate was gently placed on the table, the maidservant at the back took out a crystal clear crystal bowl with a coquettish smile. Just like a rain curtain, gently slide into the plate.

Looking at these dozens of flawless, ordinary-sized beads swimming in the porcelain plate, even the Lin brothers are well-informed, and they are also stunned by this scene at the moment.

"This is...?" After all, Lin Baoquan was old-fashioned, and after waking up from the aura of jewels, he asked inexplicably.

"Deposit." Xiong Dao said two words lightly.

"Master Xiong is so crafty!" Lin Baoquan had a clear idea at this moment, and he no longer had any worries about selling this ship of iron materials in bulk—this kind of method of paying a large deposit in advance can only be done by Westerners. He now fully understands Xiong Dao. He became Hongmao's loyal comprador.

Of course, Mr. Xiong's deposit is not that easy to get, Lin Baoquan knew in his heart, not to mention swallowing the deposit, even if this ship of iron was sunk, the Lin family would have to send another ship to the master.

Unless the boats of the Lin family don't come to the south of the Yangtze River in the future, they still have to do this - Liu Yaozu's business can reach the capital, and there are many backers behind it, which is not something that a little bully like the Lin family can shake.

In addition, Master Xiong is obviously not a good stubble.Lin Baoquan came to Tangzhuang today, saw those sea ships and sailors, and came into contact with this red-haired comprador with an inexplicable and weird behavior. Mr. Xiong, whose friend handed over a large amount of property, has the ability to get back his family. The Liu family seems to be eager to help their friends, but they are actually clinging to them!

……

It doesn't matter if you don't understand the inside story, Lin just needs to understand that Xiong Dao is a dick, and the two sides will soon negotiate specific matters: After the Lin brothers return to Fujian, they will send a ship of iron and raw silk after the year Go to the senior staff, the deposit given by Xiong Dao will be converted into silver price and will be settled with the senior staff at that time.

After the negotiation was completed, the servant girl presented her pen and ink, and Lin Baoquan and Xiong Dao signed a contract on the spot as proof, and a deal was considered complete!

After discussing the business, it happened to be noon, so Mr. Xiong ordered a family banquet to entertain the guests. During this period, Liu He, Liu He, who had already thrown his eyes into the pearl plate, finally started a second negotiation with the Lin family brothers——Pearl, the Lin family People cannot be taken away.

This bowl of round pearls is very good in appearance, the most rare thing is that it is about the size of a head. If it is made by a famous craftsman, it will be a treasure that can be worn on the chest of nobles in the palace!

Liu Yaozu is capable of operating this kind of political investment.Most of the pearls brought out one after another by the crossing forces before fell into the hands of Liu Yaozu, and most of the good things that Liu Yaozu called "sea pearls" in private were sent to the relationship between the two capitals by him. Supported the career development of several mid-level officials in the officialdom.

In the end, these bead strings will appear in a certain pavilion's hometown, a certain servant's home, or on the chest of a certain concubine in the harem, with a halo of light and pleasant pastels.

... As for the local turtle brothers from northern Fujian, such a fun thing, what can they do with a string of beads at a rather low level, and give it to the county magistrate?Isn't this spoiling the baby?

Fortunately, Brother Tubie also understood this truth. While eating lunch, they negotiated the deal of raw silk for pearls with Liu Guanshi.

Chapter 147

The Lin brothers were first tricked into going to Tangzhuang that day, and then they were negotiated a shipping business. After the contract was signed, the two brothers had to rush back to dispatch.The Xing'an Ping, which was already full of groceries and was just waiting to go on the road, quickly unloaded some bulky goods, and then stuffed 100 tans of raw silk into it.

Fortunately, in the Ming Dynasty, no one cared whether the ships were overloaded or not, so the Xing'an Ping took the north wind and swayed all the way back to his hometown in Funing Prefecture.

After celebrating the Lunar New Year in their hometown, the Lin brothers did not dare to delay, ignored the court's ban, swaggered and collected 7 catties of high-quality pig iron, a small part of wrought iron and 100 dans of raw silk, and gave Xing'an Pinghao Full.Seeing that it was already March in Yangchun, the Lin brothers found an auspicious day to pay homage to Mazu, set sail, and sailed to the other side of the strait.

Taking the north wind from northern Fujian to cross the sea, the Xing'an Ping is equivalent to drawing an uncontrollable diagonal line.

If luck is normal, as long as the wind direction remains the same, the lucky boat will be able to see the coastline of Taiwan after two or three days of floating on the sea surface; of course, at this time, the boat may be in Taipei or Taichung, and this lucky boat cannot be controlled.

If you are unlucky and encounter all kinds of strong winds and evil winds... then you can only resign yourself to fate. After five or six days, everyone will find out that they have come to Putuo Mountain. This is also a normal thing.

The luck of the Lin family brothers was barely normal. The wind weakened the first night after crossing the strait, and the speed of the boat dropped sharply. Fortunately, the two brothers and the helmsman had been sailing for many years, and they had rich experience, so they kept the course without any danger.As the wind weakened, the Xing'an Ping was delayed in the strait for a long time. It was not until the evening of the third day that the men in Wangdouli saw land.

Lin Baoquan, who had been watching the sea from the stern tower anxiously for the past two days, finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the land, and hurriedly ordered to slow down. Towards the Big Island, it is easy to hit the rocks.

In the early morning of the next day, the Xing'an Ping, which was blown to the mouth of the Hsinchu River by the north wind and anchored overnight, finally set sail again, heading south along the coastline, heading straight for Dayuan.

……

When the Xing'an Ping came to Dayuanwaihai, it was already the end of March in 1628. At this time, the traveler had settled down the Madou natives, and was in the process of opening salt fields, making steel and planting soybeans.

A small boat greeted Fu Chuan from a distance when it first arrived at the open sea.

Lin Baoquan knew that it was the red-haired man's patrol boat, so he ordered the sail to be lowered, and soon the boat came close to Fu Chuan, and a patrolman flipped onto the boat with the help of a ladder.Looking closely at this patrolman, the people on the blessing boat couldn't help being slightly taken aback, this is a shaggy man!Take a closer look at the boat, and the people on it also have short hair.

... The visitor was in his twenties, black and thin, with a layer of short black hair covering his scalp, and no ring scars were visible. His upper body was a tight indigo double-breasted jacket, with four in a row in the middle. Black wooden buttons, calf trousers with exposed calves on the lower body, and a pair of weird-looking straw sandals on the feet.

This person's appearance is a bit out of the way, but when he opened his mouth, he revealed a Hokkien accent. Although Lin Baoquan was kind, he was not surprised: he knew that the Dutch had Fujian and Guangdong boat people under their command, but he didn't expect that these people even had hair. Being shaved, it seems that it is really not easy for the brothers to work under the red-haired man.

The watchman spoke a few words with Lin Baoquan in a Hokkien dialect. After learning about Lin's intention, he measured the draft of the Fuchuan on the spot, and then the watchman clearly told Lin that the draft of the Fuchuan was too deep to enter the port. Boat barge.

This is not surprising to Lin Baoquan: the Xing'anping itself is a sharp-bottomed blessing ship, and this trip is full of iron materials, so a deep draft is a must.After informing the Xing'an Ping to move the ship to the entrance of the channel, the patrolmen disembarked and returned to the port. Waiting for the Xing'an Ping to start slowly, after moving the ship to the side of the Dayuan channel, a series of five or six small ships The boat has jumped out of the Taijiang Inner Sea.

This time, after the patrol turned over to the boat, what he took out was actually a copy of the contract signed by Lin Baoquan and Xiong Dao in Hangzhou.After seeing the copy, Lin Baoquan ordered to open the hatch without any doubts, and the sailors began to transfer iron materials to the boat in a slow hoisting way.

Five or six small boats used their oars at the same time, taking turns to turn off the cargo and return it to the officers. They were busy from morning to afternoon, and barely unloaded one-third of Xing'anping's inventory.But this was enough. After measuring the draft in the afternoon, the patrolman told Lin Baoquan that he could enter the waterway now... So the Xing'an Ping immediately raised half of its sails, and led by two small boats, it slowly sailed into the Taijiang waterway.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Lin Baoquan searched for the memories of his youth while looking at the Dayuan Island on his right, which he once visited when he was young.

Back then, Dayuan Island was a land of luxuriant weeds. Like Beixianwei Island on the left, there were some wild people's grass dwellings scattered here and there.Lin Baoquan clearly remembered that when their small lucky boat was advancing in the channel under their feet, on the sandy shores on both sides, there were savages running and roaring along with the boat.

But today the same thing happened again and again, but Lin Baoquan could no longer see the savages. Instead, Dayuan Island was full of people's voices and a noisy construction site.

Looking from the bow, the weeds on the sandy land on both sides of the channel have long disappeared, but some people are planting some kind of saplings; the plants are neatly divided into three rows, someone digs a hole in front, and someone pushes a cart behind to water.Looking farther away, you can see a large number of people busy on the construction site, raising shovels and carts, as if they are leveling the sand dunes.

When the Xing'an Ping sailed through the middle of the channel, the trading house in the upper right corner of Dayuan Island became more and more clear. Compared with the dilapidated trading house, what attracted Lin Baoquan's attention more was a striking red building near the trading house. abutment-style building.

This is a strange red brick building, square and square, with a big bottom and a small end. It has been built to be about two feet high. At this moment, from Lin Baoquan's perspective, he can see the craftsmen around the pier busy on the bamboo and wooden scaffolding.

"These red-haired people are really rich and powerful!" Lin Baoquan thought: Red bricks are the material used by rich people to build houses in Fujian, but they don't want Dutch people to use them to build piers.

While Lin Baoquan was trying to observe the Dutch business houses, forts, and docks, the Xing'an Ping was standing on the bow of the sailors, but he let out a cry of surprise. Before Lin Baoquan understood the situation, his sleeve suddenly Being pulled violently, the clan brother shouted in surprise: "Fifth brother, look, Haidilao!"

After Lin Baoquan heard the sound, he subconsciously turned his gaze to the front left. At this moment, the Xing'an Ping was gradually approaching the waterway entrance and was about to enter the Taijiang River. At this moment, Lin Baoquan saw a scene that he will never forget.

Chapter 148 Haidilao

What caught the eyes of the crew of Xing'anping was a large wooden raft.

The workmanship of the wooden raft is very fine: the thick wood of the thigh is cut into a square prism, and there are grooves between the head and the tail for easy binding.

At the front of the raft, there is a large bright yellow metal boom protruding obliquely from the bow, with the words "Sany Heavy Industry" written in italics. Below the boom, a large iron wire is suspended folder.

Tie Jia was slowly opening his mouth wide at this moment, and then, while the aborigines on the blessing boat were tongue-tied, he slammed into the calm water of the Taijiang River with a "plop", splashing a large amount of seawater.Behind the boom, two people were busy among some strange iron objects. At the same time, rumbling sounds continued to be heard from the wooden raft.

Some bright silver pipes passed through these iron objects and connected to a cloth tent behind the wooden raft. There were two upright silver-white iron cylinders. This object was probably a stove. From time to time the square logs underfoot were thrown into the furnace.

All the people on the Fuchuan held their breath and stared at the sea, for fear of missing the next program. Not long after, as the rumbling sound became more piercing, after a loud "crash", it seemed as if a giant turtle went out to sea. , the big iron clip suddenly jumped out from the bottom of the sea.

At this moment, sand, gravel, mud, water and seaweed kept flowing down from the gaps in the iron clip, and a ball of yellow mud suddenly appeared on the blue sea surface. The iron clip full of sediment did not stop. Swinging, the iron clip was brought to the top of a small boat next to the raft. The next moment, the iron clip was suddenly released, and a large pile of sand fell into the boat.

The Lin brothers stood at the bow of the boat with their mouths wide open, their faces full of wonder, and they almost shouted: "It's so terrifying!"...It's a pity that the two of you have never read fantasy, so their vocabulary is relatively poor, so we only Can whisper several times: "Unbelievable, unbelievable..."

……

Just as the Xing'an Ping passed by the big wooden raft, and the Ming people on the ship were yelling, at the same time, on the fort in the northeast corner of the Dayuan Commercial Building, there was also an acceptance team pointing at the dredger for trial operation.

With the completion of some residences on the other side of the Taijiang River, many cross-travelers have begun to divert them. The Dayuan Commercial Building is becoming more and more quiet now. Together with the "observation deck" with the best view in the northeast corner, it is facing the fate of being demolished - the supermarket, Oh no, the imperial city is already under construction.

Today, many departments came to see the first show of dredgers: industry, navy, infrastructure, shipyards, including the officials in the big office, a total of more than 10 people are on the viewing platform at the moment.

Speaking of this wooden row dredger, the cause is still the electric tractor on the farm.Originally, the big office had already agreed to the two farmers to import this thing, and they didn't want to be messed up afterwards.

Knowledgeable people on the forum quickly pointed out that electric tractors are a big pit: with a charging power of up to 150kw, a dedicated charging station is required, and the charging station cannot be too far away from the farm, which means that it is necessary to build transmission lines and even build upgrades at both ends. Step-down transformer.

Well, with the expansion of the farm in the future, it will be necessary to build such a set every few miles... Otherwise, the tractor will never return!

This can't be tolerated - no one cares about the low efficiency of electric tractors. Anyway, electricity is free, but if the supporting facilities are like this, who can stand it?So the tall electric tractor was rejected.

Some time-travelers who have been unable to get the equipment they want, finally found a chance to retaliate this time: the officials in the big office who knew nothing about the shit and knew how to make decisions did not run away, and all of them were sprayed. ... The people in the big office are also very wronged. Who knows that this shit needs a fixed investment like a charging station?Isn't it enough to just throw a plug? Brother Yuantong charges it like this!

The two leaders on the farm were even more frantic: the agreed tractor just disappeared. Is this the legendary fudge?Very good, then we will start hoeing at noon. From today on, no one will give me any more grain production...

A black pot flew back and forth in the sky, and finally, it landed on the head of the person who started the chrysalis——Zou Guoqing.

Since he came to Dayuan, Zou Guoqing, as the core figure who advocated coming to Taiwan to open up wasteland, basically whenever there is a quarrel about power issues, he is the one who takes over the pot in the end: Who told you to say that diesel is developing fast, go The queen's house has no diesel now, so who can I turn to if I don't want you?

In fact, people also know that it's not his fault, it's just that the senior officials don't have the ability at the moment, but there must be someone to bear the anger of the crowd...

Zou Guoqing has long been used to this kind of situation, spray it, brother will listen to it as a hymn.

In the end, there was a problem with the tractor, and the big office commissioned some former purchasing manager to come up with an alternative.

Comrade Yao Zhesheng has lived a very fulfilling life since he crossed, because there are always a few people who are extremely adaptable to every environment, and Yao Zhesheng is one of them.Ever since he was reading miscellaneous books in college, he had dreamed of time travel one day, and now that his wish has come true, Yao Zhesheng joined the revolutionary work amidst laughter.

Yao Zhesheng, who has become the deputy general manager of the kiln area, immediately came up with a solution after receiving the entrustment from the big office: wood gas tractors.

Humans have long used wood gas to drive locomotives. During World War II, due to the lack of oil in Desan, a total of nearly 50 cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, ships and trains...all used wood gas.

In the 50s, the buses with rabbits running all over the street also had dangling gas bags on their heads.At that time, gas compression technology was not yet popular, so the gas bag was big and soft, and the gas leaked from time to time, leaving passengers halfway... It was not until the technological advancement of later generations that LNG ships filled with compressed natural gas could travel around the world, and cities were everywhere. Oil-to-gas taxis.

The tractor in Yao Zhesheng’s design does not require compression technology—compressed gas requires various high-pressure equipment including compressors. Just look at the gas filling stations of later generations and you will know that it is not something that Ming operators can play at all. Turned, dangerous, and unnecessary.

A tractor is not a taxi. The platform of the former is large enough, and it doesn’t care about speed, so it can be directly connected to a small gas furnace: order a dual-fuel tractor, and then install a detachable retort system at the rear.This system is very simple, with two retorts and some pipeline valves, the operator only needs to add firewood at intervals.

Of course, based on the good and poor tradition of a certain force, in Yao Zhesheng’s design, the entire gas generation system is a high-end product: all pipeline valves and furnace bodies are actually industrial pressure equipment. Once diesel oil is available in the future, these equipment will It is dismantled and used in the production of various chemicals that require high temperature corrosion resistance-this is called eating two fish.

In this way, the problem of the tractor was solved in a scapegoating manner. At the same time, another set of similar equipment with minor differences was also ordered——the dredger is now on the verge of being ready and has to be built.

Chapter 149 Taijiang Defense Plan

As time goes by, the news that a certain force occupies the big staff will continue to spread, and the communication between the traversing crowd and the outside world will become more and more frequent-in 1628, there will inevitably be some medium and large ships coming to the big staff. The dredging project of the crew channel and the entire Taijiang River has become more and more urgent.

"How efficient is this ship? How long will it take to clear the channel?" Xia Xianze, who had been watching Haidilao for a long time, put down his binoculars and began to ask.

"The capacity of the grab bucket is not large, so the efficiency will not be very high." Yao Zhesheng, the designer of the dredger, came out to explain at this time.

Considering the counterweight of the metal boom and the bucket, the top-heavy wooden raft did not dare to use a large grab bucket, so the amount of sediment excavated each time was only 0.6 cubic meters.Coupled with the crude operating system and the difficulty of moving the raft itself, the efficiency is definitely not high.

Of course, when it comes to efficiency, compared with some frenzied island-building ships of later generations, the Haidilao of Chuanzhong is naturally weak, but in the 17th century, the efficiency of this ship was definitely ranked first in the world.

"If the main channel is dug to an average depth of two meters, it should take less than a month." At this time, Chen Dong from the infrastructure department opened his mouth and added.

The main channel in Chen Dong's mouth is actually the "South Waterway" where ships come and go daily.The "North Waterway", which is separated from the South Waterway by a slender sandbar, was almost connected to the Northern Line Wei Island at this time due to serious silting in the early years.

"If it's two meters long, don't you need to barge this kind of boat?" After hearing this, Xia Xianze pointed to the Xing'an Ping, which was sailing to the other side of the Taijiang River.

"No, all sharp-bottomed lucky boats below 800 materials can pass."

"It's still not enough, half a year. It takes half a year to completely deepen and widen the waterway. It's best to dig out the sandbar and connect the north and south waterways. The waterway should be prepared according to the draft of a gunboat above a thousand tons." Xia Xianze made the final decision at this time.

The people next to him didn't have any objections. It took half a year to clear the most important waterway.After finishing speaking, Xia Xianze raised his binoculars again: "Where did all the sand go?"

"Luermen." Liu Zhe, who is wearing a blue 07-style navy uniform and is currently the commander of the Coast Guard, replied.

Luermen is a waterway at the northern end of Weidao on the northern line.This waterway is extremely narrow, only small boats are allowed to pass through, and the water is fast-moving, the terrain is steep, and various accidents often occur.Because of sea tides, earthquakes, and the diversion of the Zengwen River on the other side of the Taijiang River, Luermen is often silted up and diverted, which is unpredictable.

Originally in history, 33 years later, the fleet led by Guo Xingye, led by the ghost translator He Bin, took advantage of the astronomical tide, rushed into the Taijiang River from Luermen, and exploded the chrysanthemums of the Dutch.

Traveling through the crowd does not need such uncertain factors, even if there is artillery blockade and radar exposure: the army instinctively needs to control this kind of management loopholes.So Liu Zhe asked the barge to transport all the sediment to Luermen from the very beginning, so as to completely fill up the waterway.

Not only the waterways are filled, but many places in the northern line of Oshima Island will be submerged when the tide is high. In the future, all these places will need to be filled and raised.

In the army's plan, the top of Wei Island on the Northern Line and the southern end of Dayuan Island will be filled with sea sand produced by dredgers in the future to form a sand embankment connecting Taiwan's main island.In this case, not only will the two islands have a direct connection to the land, but it will also be easy to defend.

The closed defense plan in the shape of "口" prevents the possibility of the fleet rushing into the Taijiang River from other places, and only the main channel left in the middle section on the left can enter and exit.Of course, if someone uses a small boat to refute people and plans to form a team to rush into the big island from the sand embankment, then the philosophical proposition of how many people can be penetrated by a 12.7MM machine gun bullet can get the correct answer...

... After listening to Liu Zhe's defense plan for the entire Taijiang Inner Sea, Xia Xianze glanced around and saw no objection, so he nodded, indicating that the plan was feasible.The next step is to go back to each house - Haidilao has passed the acceptance inspection, the on-site meeting has also been completed, and the 10 or so people suddenly dispersed.

……

Most of the people went back to work in the commercial building, except for Professor Luo, who came down from the fort and hurried to the pier: he is now in charge of the business activities in the Ming people's area, so he is going to receive Xing'an Ping and the Lin brothers.