The sky outside was dark and gloomy, and the north wind kept blowing. Zhou Zhong was wearing a blue cotton robe and a hooded cloak. He looked like an ordinary rich man. Because of consideration

Zhou Zhong had a headache when he thought about what happened between him and Xie Lingyun. He didn't want to stay in the study anymore, so he went out for a walk. Behind him, Wangcai and Fugui dressed up as two boys and followed him closely to serve him.

Wangcai and Fugui were originally servants of the Zhou Mansion. Zhou Zhong dismissed the servants of the Mansion before. No one wanted to hire them because they were ugly. In the end, they almost became beggars. Fortunately, they had gone to sea with Zhou Hai before and knew some things about it.

Due to the incident at Shuangyu Port, he went to sea and came to the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and was finally taken in by Sun Tong as a boatman.

After proving Zhou Zhong's identity before, due to confidentiality reasons, the two brothers Wangcai and Fugui stayed in the backyard of the Chamber of Commerce. Later, when the Jeolla Chamber of Commerce was destroyed, Zhou Zhong took them from Sun Tong to become his little brothers.

Sis, after all, the other party is a servant of the family, and has also gone to sea with Zhou Hai. From this, it can be seen that he should be trusted by Zhou Hai, and he can use it with confidence.

Originally, the headquarters of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce was right next to the port, so Zhou Zhong did not prepare the carriage. He walked out of the gate and quickly arrived at the port. At this time, Wangcai pointed to the lively port in front of him and introduced: "Master, look,

The large area in front is all the port of our Chamber of Commerce. The westernmost side is the pier used by our Chamber of Commerce, which only accounts for less than one-tenth. Any other ships can dock. Of course, we have to collect taxes."

Zhou Zhong looked in the direction of Wangcai's finger and saw cargo ships gathering at the port not far away. Ships of all sizes were docked densely together, and the cloud-like sails almost covered the entire sea surface.

Although the weather today is very bad, it does not affect the busyness of the port at all. There is a constant flow of people on the cargo ships in the port. Most of them are coolies at the port, sweating profusely unloading cargo, and the stewards on the cargo ships

They stood on the bow of the boat and shouted loudly, asking the coolies to handle it carefully and not to damage the cargo.

It is worth mentioning that the coolies at the port are actually members of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, but they are only peripheral members of the Chamber of Commerce. They are usually only responsible for working and getting money to eat. What is the more dangerous thing about the Chamber of Commerce, such as the previous destruction?

Things like this for the Jeolla Chamber of Commerce are usually done by formal members of the Chamber of Commerce. Wangcai and Fugui around Zhou Zhong are official members of the Chamber of Commerce.

From a security perspective, it seems that the peripheral members of the chamber of commerce are taking advantage. After all, they all work for the chamber of commerce, and they do not have to work hard for the chamber of commerce. But in fact, every peripheral member of the chamber of commerce dreams of becoming a full member. This is mainly because

The treatment is different. For example, peripheral members like coolies earn only enough money from hard work every day.

In comparison, although formal members of the Chamber of Commerce occasionally have to work hard for the Chamber of Commerce, their monthly remuneration is quite generous. Not only can they support themselves, but they can even enable their families to live a life of ample food and clothing. As the saying goes, people are dead to money, and generous remuneration

Most people ignore the dangers of formal members of the Chamber of Commerce, especially those peripheral members who work hard every day and try their best to become official members of the Chamber of Commerce.

However, a chamber of commerce is limited by its scale and financial resources. It is impossible to recruit unlimited formal members. Usually, a chamber of commerce only recruits people with special talents, such as experienced boatmen, good craftsmen, and even people who can read and write.

Wait, these people are the talents that the chamber of commerce needs, so generally as long as these people are willing, it is easy to become a formal member of a chamber of commerce. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, if a chamber of commerce suddenly loses a large number of people, it will urgently need some people to supplement it.

, the conditions for membership were naturally relaxed a lot.

Zhou Zhong walked to the port calmly, and then looked at the coolies in front of him who were only wearing single clothes in the winter. In the words of later generations, these coolies were the reserve team of the members of the Chamber of Commerce. The strength of the Chamber of Commerce had been greatly damaged some time ago, so it should be supplemented.

We have some manpower, but because the business has been greatly affected and financial resources are very scarce, we have not been able to replenish the manpower until now.

"Wangcai, the Chamber of Commerce needs boatmen now. If these coolies are recruited into the Chamber of Commerce, how long will it take to train them into qualified boatmen?" Zhou Zhong suddenly asked at this time.

If Zhou Zhong's plan to quickly revitalize the Chamber of Commerce is implemented, then the development speed of the Chamber of Commerce will definitely increase exponentially, especially the smuggling fleet will grow faster, and more boatmen will be needed, and these coolies are just right.

It is the main source of boat workers.

After hearing Zhou Zhong's question, Wangcai immediately stepped forward and replied: "Master, being a qualified boatman is easier said than done. For example, most of the coolies in front of us are fishermen, so there is no problem in operating the boat.

, it can be said that you are a boatman when you get on the ship. However, they used to fish in the near sea, but they had to go to the far sea to transport the goods, and the goods may have to stay on the ship for several months. Not everyone can bear this feeling.

, Fugui and I stayed at sea for two months when we were transporting goods with our master. Thinking about it now, we don’t know how we survived. If we had not been helpless, we would not have come back to find Boss Sun as shipwrights.

"

"Yes, yes! As a boatman, the ability to operate a ship is secondary. The key is whether you can bear to stay at sea for several months. I heard some old boatmen said that some new boatmen stayed on the ship for a long time, and finally

They went crazy, jumped into the sea, and killed people. Although we have never encountered them, they sound really scary!" At this time, Fugui next to him also spoke in agreement.

Although the words "wangcai" and "wealth" are a little confusing, Zhou Zhong also understood it. Translated to later generations, it means that most of the coolies on the dock already have the basic skills to become a boatman, but most of them do not have the psychological quality of a boatman.

.This is mainly because in the Ming Dynasty, the speed of sea-going ships was very slow. It took a long time to transport goods once, and shipwrights naturally had to stay at sea for a long time. Think about staying in such a small space as a sea-going ship.

For several months, they sometimes had to eat moldy dry food and drink smelly water. This kind of life is not something everyone can endure.

It is precisely for this reason that if you want to become a real boatman, you must not only learn the basic skills of operating a ship, but also have a strong psychological quality. However, psychological quality is invisible and intangible. The only thing that can be guaranteed is

, those new boatmen will gradually enhance their psychological quality in the process of transporting goods again and again. Therefore, if you want to become a real boatman, there is no shortcut. You have to go to sea at least a few times, and wait until you adapt to the boring life of the sea.

After living, he will naturally become a qualified boatman.

"I see, I didn't expect being a shipwright to be so particular!" Zhou Zhong nodded at this time. He had also participated in smuggling in his previous life and was no stranger to maritime life, but maritime transportation at that time was many times better than it is now.

For example, for smuggling in the Southeast area, it usually takes a few days to arrive. How can it take several months to travel with the help of wind like now?

Zhou Zhong walked around the port and did some calculations along the way. He found that there were nearly two hundred cargo ships loading and unloading goods at the same time in the port under the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, these cargo ships would immediately give up their berths after loading and unloading the goods.

The ships behind, plus the fact that this is one-third of the port in the North Port area, show how amazing the daily cargo throughput of the entire North Port is.

It happened to be noon at this time, and many coolies were almost done with their work. After the leader greeted the ship owner, groups of coolies began to go to the port to eat. Zhou Zhong also felt a little cold at this time.

, just about to turn around and go back, but was stopped by Wangcai and Fugui with a smile: "Master, since we have come to the port, there is one place we must go. That is the place where people of your status should go."

"Oh, where should I go with my status?" Zhou Zhong was a little surprised when he heard this, but then he thought of something. He pointed at the two brothers with a smile and said, "What are you two planning?

You don’t want to take this young master to a place that harbors filth and evil, do you?”

Shuangyu Port is the same as the Zhoushan Port he passed before. The port is full of restaurants and brothels. Moreover, the port here is larger and more prosperous. Naturally, there are more wine shops and brothels on the port than Zhoushan Port. For example, based on their location

Take Beigang District as an example, there are twenty or thirty brothels alone.

Speaking of which, not all of these brothels were opened by merchants from the Ming Dynasty. In fact, most of them were opened by Japanese and Koreans. They transported domestic women here, and these exotic women really attracted a lot of people.

Men who are trying new things, every dusk, a hazy pink light shines from the doors and windows of the brothels on the port, and drunk men linger among these exotic prostitutes. It has become a scene in the entire Shuangyu Port, not to mention those who control behind the scenes.

The foreign chambers of commerce in these brothels also make a lot of money.

It was also the case that the port was full of brothels, so Wangcai and Fugui said they would take Zhou Zhong to a place that suited his status. They immediately made him think that they wanted to take him to visit the brothels. After all, the Ming Dynasty was a **

In the legal era, for men, going to a brothel was actually not much different from going to a restaurant. Even if the man's wife knew about it, she wouldn't say anything.

But what Zhou Chong didn't expect was that after hearing this, the two brothers Wangcai and Fugui hurriedly denied it and said: "No no~, Master, you misunderstood. What bothered me the most at the beginning was places like brothels. How could we dare to take you with me, Master?"

Go to that kind of place, otherwise if Uncle Xu finds out, why don’t you break our brother’s legs?”

When he heard that he was not going to a brothel, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but feel a little curious and asked: "Then where do you want to take me?"

Although Wangcai and Fugui had bad eyesight, they could still see the curiosity on Zhou Zhong's face, but at this time they pretended to be secretive and said: "Hey, Master, you will know when you go there, don't look at how busy the port is in front of us.
Chapter completed!