On the swaying carriage, Zhou Zhong sat there quietly. In the bag next to him were the clothes Huo'er prepared for him. Zhou Zhong's letter to Xie Lingyun two days ago was quickly responded to. The other party arranged the ship in the shortest possible time, and even

Even the carriage he was riding in was arranged by the Xie family.

Regarding his trip to Shuangyu Port, Zhou Zhong did not tell Aunt Wang and Zhuo'er. Instead, he lied to them that Li Zheng and Zheng Jing had arranged to go out to visit friends and needed to leave home for a few days. Zhou Zhong also often

He went out to play with Li Zheng and others, so Aunt Wang and the others were not suspicious. In addition, Zhou Zhong also greeted Li Zheng and others, asking them not to come to him in the past two days to avoid being exposed.

After the last conversation with Xie Lingyun, Zhou Zhong thought a lot in the next few days. His plan at the beginning was very simple. It was nothing more than to accumulate the first pot of gold by writing books, and then use the knowledge from his previous life to do something.

Make fortunes with these new inventions.

But later Xie Lingyun bluntly pointed out that his idea was too naive. If he really followed his plan, no matter how many new inventions he made, he would end up giving others an advantage, because there were so many people around him who could use them.

Too few and it cannot solve the confidentiality problem at all.

In fact, this is not all Zhou Chong's fault. Although he had tried his best to adapt to the Ming Dynasty as a person from later generations, after all, the time was too short, and some of his thoughts in his mind were still in later generations. He did not consider that he was in a legal situation and was very unlucky.

In a sound ancient society, there were no patent rights in this era, and the new inventions you made were not protected by law. Maybe others only needed to spend a little money to buy the new invention's production method from the workers you recruited.

.

After understanding the above, Zhou Zhong found that in addition to money, what he lacked most now also needed a group of loyal subordinates. Otherwise, no matter how hard he worked on his own, he would probably be able to make ends meet.

If I get into any trouble, I can't even find anyone to help me.

It was precisely with these considerations in mind that Zhou Zhong agreed to Xie Lingyun's proposal. Since there were manpower left by his cheap father at Shuangyu Port, although he didn't know why they didn't come to him, since those people could follow Zhou Hai before, now

He can also follow his own example. As long as he has this group of people, he will have the confidence to act.

The carriage carried Zhou Zhong all the way south, and soon he was out of the south gate. Then the coachman let go of the horse's legs and drove all the way east. Soon he arrived at a thousand-household village called Qingcun on the east coast of Songjiang Prefecture.

Zhongqian Station, generally called Qingcun Station, is affiliated to Jinshan Guard and is a relatively important coastal defense fortress.

According to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, several prefectures were equipped with guards, and there were stations under the guards. One of the guards had 5,600 people. Each guard was divided into five thousand-household stations, and each thousand-household station was divided into ten hundred-household stations.

The Qingcun station where he came was one of the five thousand-household stations under Jinshan Guards.

The maritime ban policy in the early Ming Dynasty was actually very strict. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang not only closed the three shipping companies of Quanzhou, Mingzhou, and Guangzhou, but also banned the manufacture of large ships with three masts or more. Later, it became even more severe. Not only did merchant ships not be allowed to go to sea, but even

Fishing boats were not allowed to enter the sea, and people in coastal areas were moved inward. This caused countless people who relied on the sea to complain and even finally rose up in resistance, causing chaos in the coastal areas in the early Ming Dynasty.

Songjiang Prefecture is surrounded by the sea on both sides, and it was also a victim of the sea ban at the beginning. For example, the Qingcun Qianhu Station that Zhou Zhong came to blocked a considerable length of coastline. During the original sea ban, no one was allowed to approach the coast.

However, after so many years, the government has long turned a blind eye to smuggling. The Qianhu adults in Qingcun Qianhu Office are not stupid. Seeing so many people participating in smuggling, he can't control it even if he wants to.

, and finally joined in to provide shelter for the smuggling merchants. Within the coastline under the jurisdiction of Qianhu, as long as the smugglers paid a prescribed tribute to Mr. Qianhu according to the size of the ship, then no matter what you transported on the ship,

Whatever it is, you can come and go freely on the sea.

Zhou Zhong had heard Xie Lingyun introduce the situation of Qingcun Qianhu House before. Now that the carriage came here, he couldn't help but be a little curious, so he opened the window on the carriage and looked out.

But to Zhou Zhong's surprise, what he saw was a building similar to a village. Thatched roofs loomed among the trees. Occasionally, one or two dogs barking and roosters could be heard. The only indication was that this was a Ming Dynasty garrison.

The symbol of Qianhusuo is a rammed earth fortress in the center of those thatched roofs. Compared with those thatched houses, it is indeed very tall, but in fact it is only about ten feet tall. It seems that that place should be Qianhusuo.

The real residence is just that this thousand-household residence is built with rammed earth and has been in disrepair for a long time. It is not only covered with weeds, but also has four or five gaps washed out by rain.

There is no protective performance at all.

Seeing such a dilapidated Qianhusuo, Zhou Zhong thought of the soldiers guarding the city he saw in Songjiang Mansion. Zhou Zhong couldn't help but sigh. The entire Ming Dynasty had only just passed halfway, and the military system was already so disorganized.

,How can such a military force defend the country?

The carriage continued to move forward, but when it went further, there was a checkpoint privately set up by Qianhu on the road. Vehicles that wanted to pass through had to pay a toll, but Zhou Zhong's coachman just took out a Xiefu

With the sign, the military guard guarding the checkpoint immediately let him go with a flattering smile on his face, not daring to stop him at all.

After the carriage passed the checkpoint, it went a short distance southeast. In front of it was the junction with the outer sea of ​​Hangzhou Bay. As long as it left Hangzhou Bay, it would enter the Zhoushan Islands, and Shuangyu Port was at the southernmost end of the Zhoushan Islands.

As soon as he arrived at the coast, Zhou Zhong was shocked by the scenery in front of him. What appeared in front of him was a very lively port. Ships of all sizes were docked on the sea, relying on wooden trestles.

Coolies load and unload the heavy cargo on the ship.

In addition to these working coolies and smuggling ships, there are also quite a few hawkers gathered at the port. These hawkers sell everything and are selling goods to the sailors who get off the ships. There are shouts and shouts. If you don't know in advance,

If he knew that this was a smuggling port, Zhou Zhong might really think that this was just an ordinary market.

"Mr. Zhou, the dozen or so berths at the eastern end of the port belong to our Xie family. You can just walk over there and someone will guide you to the ship!" The coachman stopped the car at this time and pointed.

He opened his mouth to Zhou Zhong on the east side of the port. The port was very busy. Long queues of carriages pulling goods were waiting to go to the dock. If the coachman wanted to drive the carriage up, he didn't know how long he would have to wait.

, so it’s better to let Zhou Zhong walk over.

Zhou Zhong looked up at the queue of trucks in front of him. After jumping out of the car and thanking the driver, he stepped onto the port pier. He first looked up at the various ships on the sea, most of which were three-masted ships.

Ships are generally small in size, and the captains are basically less than ten feet long. Compared with the large treasure ships of more than forty feet when Zheng He sailed to the South Seas, they are simply much different.

As Zhou Zhong walked, he looked at the ships in the port. In addition to the ships themselves, Zhou Zhong also found that the coolies who moved and unloaded goods at the port already used some equipment, such as pulleys built with some wooden frames, which saved time and effort. Many merchants

Most of the goods are loaded and unloaded using simple tools.

However, it may be that Zhou Zhongtai was paying attention to the situation at the port and did not pay attention to the road ahead. As a result, he was accidentally bumped into someone. He only heard the other person say "Ouch" and then took a few steps back.

Only then did Zhou Zhong's attention come back. After seeing that he bumped into someone, he immediately apologized and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't hurt you, did I?"

After Zhou Zhong finished speaking, he saw the person he bumped into clearly. He found that the person was thin and wearing a fat and big tattered cotton robe and a dog-skin hat. His messy hair hung down from the hat.

Most of his face was covered, and even the face that was exposed was dirty, making it difficult to see his true face.

The other party was walking well when he was bumped by Zhou Zhong for no reason. He became a little angry at the moment and was about to curse. However, when he saw Zhou Zhong's appearance clearly, he immediately covered his mouth and was stunned for a moment.

Ignoring Zhou Zhong's apology, he turned around and left quickly.

"Weird?" Seeing the other party's abnormal behavior, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but mutter to himself, but he didn't pay too much attention. He patted the stains on his body and continued walking forward for nearly a hundred meters, finally arriving at Xie's house.

Berth area. This berth is much neater and wider than the places Zhou Zhong walked through just now. There are also dedicated people to direct the merchant ships when loading and unloading goods. It looks very orderly. The Xie family can start out as a smuggling business. It is indeed better than other businesses.

As soon as Zhou Zhong arrived here, he saw a tall, strong man with a bald head and a scarred face walking towards him. He had seen this man before. When Xie Lingyun went to Zhou Mansion for the first time, it was this bald man who drove the carriage. He saw the man walking away.

He came to Zhou Zhong and said angrily: "Master Zhou, please come with me. The lady is waiting for you on the boat!"

"Miss?" Zhou Chong was stunned after hearing this, and then he reacted and said, "What, Miss Xie also wants to go to Shuangyu Port with me?"

Hearing Zhou Zhong's question, the bald man replied without looking back: "Miss, I want to escort a batch of goods to Shuangyu Port. It's just a way to send it to you!"

Zhou Zhong couldn't help but feel a little annoyed when he heard the other party's reply was so disrespectful. However, looking at the other party's size and the evil aura emanating from him, he could only wisely choose to keep silent and follow the other party's footsteps towards a tall ship.

The sea ship walked away.
Chapter completed!