The Rise of the European Emperor

After teaching the strong men in Jilong Village how to use arquebuses and how to build simple earth and stone walls, Kong Tai urged Columbus to turn back. After all, Marin was still waiting for their news. Before leaving, Kong Tai also specially left a batch of silver coins for Liu Laogen to use for purchasing supplies.

Although Liu Laogen took the villagers from Jilong Village to Keelung to reclaim the wasteland, there was no basic living materials on Taidao, not even needles and threads, let alone iron farm implements. Therefore, sometimes, Liu Laogen and others would secretly drive small fishing boats and go to the coast of Daming to purchase supplies.

However, there is a Pinghaiwei along the coast of Putian County, which is specially prepared to guard against threats at sea. Therefore, the fishing boats in Jilong Village must avoid the cruise of Pinghaiwei warships. Otherwise, if they are caught, the officers and soldiers of Pinghaiwei will not be polite to them.

Therefore, even if they secretly drive fishing boats back to the mainland to purchase, the fishing boats in Jilong Village will not be able to get close to the land, nor will they be able to return to the original place of Xiaoliuzhuang, although there are many acquaintances there.

Later, the people of Jilong Village discovered an important phenomenon - that is, Pinghaiwei's cruise fleet usually does not go to sea during major festivals. For example, during Chinese New Year, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang Festival and other festivals, Pinghaiwei's patrol boats generally do not go to sea. After all, those soldiers also have a festival.

In this way, fishing boats in Jilong Village have the opportunity to purchase. However, they did not dare to get close to the land, so they could only choose coastal islands that are also islands to dock and then trade with the locals.

Of course, the villagers of Jilong Village didn't have any goods to exchange for money before. Jilong Village mainly makes a living by farming and fishing. In addition, they can cook a little private salt. If you want to cook private salt in Daming mainland, you will be imprisoned. After all, the Ming Dynasty monopolized the trade in salt, and private individuals dared to intervene and seized decisively...

But on Sheliao Island in Keelung, it was different. There are no officers and soldiers here, and everyone can cook salt freely without worrying about a lawsuit. Moreover, the people of Jilong Village used to cook salt to trade with the people on the main island. The aborigines on Taiwan Island do not know how to cook salt, so they naturally welcome the salt cooked by the villagers of Jilong Village. The commodities exchanged by the people on the island are mainly deerskin, venison and wood.

When sneaking back to the islands on the edge of the mainland to trade, the people of Jilong Village also used the deerskins exchanged from the Fanmin. As for salt, they dare not use it for trade. Because, once found, it is definitely a felony. Even if they dare to sell, the people on those islands may not dare to buy.

And Jilong Village chose to trade with fishermen on Meizhou Island, Putian County...

Speaking of which, although the Ming Dynasty did not practice moving to the sea as perverted as in the early Qing Dynasty, it generally prohibited fishermen from going out to sea to fish. However, the Ming court prohibited sailing boats from sailing to sea, but not small fishing boats with human oars. Because this small fishing boat can't go out to sea. Even if you go out to sea, it will be a life-and-death experience. Therefore, the fishermen along the coast,

Basically, small fishing boats are used to fish along the coastline. Meizhou Island is one of the islands where fishermen are concentrated.

Moreover, Meizhou Island has a great history. Because this is the hometown of Mazu. On the island, there is also the Tianhou Palace specially built for Mazu.

Mazu is the patron saint of Hu Jian along the coast of Guangdong. Therefore, although Meizhou Island is small, it is a relatively popular island along the coast. Because every year, many people from outside the island come to Meizhou Island to pay homage to Mazu. This has also led to more exchanges between Meizhou Island and the outside world, and it is easier to obtain goods from the outside world. And Nanri Island, which is also an island, is not far from Meizhou Island and is bigger, but because it is not very popular, even businessmen are reluctant to go. Therefore, if you want to purchase goods, you have to go to a popular island like Meizhou Island.

Before, the strong men of Jilong Village used to drive a dhow to Nanri Island to purchase. Although he avoided Ping Haiwei's ship, he didn't buy anything. Moreover, the deerskins they brought were also not collected.

Later, when the villagers of Jilong Island went to Meizhou Island, they finally found a businessman who was willing to buy deerskins. From the businessman, they also purchased agricultural tools and various living materials.

However, in order to avoid the defenders of Ping Haiwei, such opportunities are only held several times a year, and they are all carried out on major festivals. If you are caught by Ping Haiwei's sea patrol boat, the confiscated goods will be light, and people may be thrown into prison...

However, because only the merchants on Meizhou Island were willing to buy their goods and sell them to them. Therefore, their deerskins cannot be sold for a price, while the goods provided by the merchants are more expensive.

For example, a piece of deerskin costs more than 400 yuan in Daming. However, the black-hearted tycoon of Meizhou Island, Lin Wanwan, was only willing to pay the purchase price of 40 yuan per piece, which is so black to the grandmother's house...

On the other hand, when Lin Wanwan sold things to the villagers of Jilong Village, the price was double. For example, an iron pot costs only 80 yuan in Daming, but Lin Wanwan sold them for 160 yuan. A piece of white cloth sells for 200 yuan in Daming, but Lin Wanwan dares to sell them for 400 yuan... But the people in Jilong Village can only recognize it... Because no one wants to trade with them...

Only Lin Wanwan from Meizhou Island, who is relatively wild, dares to buy their deerskins. If you change someone, you may not dare to accept it. Because the source of the deerskin is unclear...

It should be pointed out that in this era, Taiwan Island was full of sika deer, and the total number is estimated to be several million. Later, when the Dutch colonized Taiwan Island, the East India Company was able to buy 400,000 deerskins from the natives every year and sell them in Japan.

The indigenous people on the island, because there are more deer. Moreover, after killing a deer, you can get hundreds of pounds of meat, enough for many people to eat. Therefore, the aborigines are not very concerned about developing agriculture-since they can easily hunt and kill prey with hundreds of kilograms of meat, why do they work so hard to farm? Therefore, even if there is agriculture on the island, the Pingpu aborigines who engage in agriculture are only slash-and-burn. For them, venison is the staple food, as for the food, it is a change of taste...

In fact, the original Jilong Village villagers also expected to make a fortune by reselling the deerskins on Taiwan Island. But reality gave them a blow to the head - ordinary businessmen along the coast did not dare to buy their deerskins, because the origin was unclear... And the confident Lin Wanwan, who dared to buy their deerskins, was desperately trying to keep the price down...

Therefore, although they brought a lot of deerskins to Meizhou Island for trading every time, they couldn't exchange much goods...

In addition, the villagers of Jilong Village do not have big boats, nor do they have craftsmen who know how to build big boats...

Coincidentally, after Kong Tai helped them defeat the group of Japanese pirates this time, a Japanese boat that could carry dozens of people was left directly to them by Kong Tai.

After Columbus's fleet left, some people gathered around and said:

"Uncle Lao Gen, do we really want to take refuge in these ghosts? Now that we have this big ship, we can engage in even bigger trade, and there is no need to rely on ghosts!"

Indeed, before the fishermen from Jilong Village went to Meizhou Island to trade, they could only drive small boats with oars. Not to mention the danger, they could only carry hundreds of deerskins, and they were slaughtered by Lin Wanwan.

With this Japanese boat with a load of dozens of tons, the villagers of Jilong Village can drive this big boat and find a more suitable trading location for trade. At least, it was much stronger than being slaughtered by Lin Wanwan.

Liu Laogen shook his head and said:

"Boys, you think it's bad. It's true that we have a boat, and we can do bigger business. But, have you thought about it, is it safe? This time, a Japanese boat will almost wipe out our entire village. So, our village needs someone to protect it!"

"These ghosts have said that they will send people to occupy this island next year. When they come, we can't stop them!"

"Then what should we do? Shall we go back to Daming?" The people on the side were anxious.

"Go back?" Liu Laogen sneered and continued:

"A Rong, did you know that the land of our little Liuzhuang has been occupied long ago. And our household registration has been cancelled long ago. If we go back now, not only will we not be able to get the land back, but we will be arrested as fugitives. Yes. So, we can't go back. Unless, you're willing to go back to jail."

The household registration system of the Ming Dynasty was very strict, and it was strictly forbidden for people to leave the county without permission. If there is an emergency out of the county, there must be a guide issued by the county government. Otherwise, you will be put in jail. After the villagers of Jilong Village escaped from their hometown of Xiaoliuzhuang, their household registration and land must have been lost because they had not returned for several years. And it must be the local tyrants who annexed their land. Going back now, in order to keep the land, the local tyrants will definitely report them and put them in jail.

"Then we can only rely on those ghosts?"

"Yeah!" Liu Laogen nodded and said:

"Those ghosts look pretty good, at least they're reasonable. However, the ghosts are by no means a good person. I'm thinking, they keep us, they don't even charge rent, they probably want to use us to help them... …”

"Doing things? What can we do to help Fan Gui?" The villagers were very curious.

Liu Laogen pointed his hand to the south and said:

"Dealing with those Fan people! This old man knows the dialect of the Fan people, so it's the most suitable for dealing with those Fan people. I'm thinking, these Fan ghosts, I'm afraid they have the ambition to annex Dongfan Island, otherwise, they won't do anything. To win over a bunch of us... So, kids, if you want to get along well in the future, come and learn the dialect of Fanmin from this old man. As long as you learn the dialect of Fanmin well, there will be times when the ghosts will use it... "

"Can I live a good life after learning the dialect of Fanmin?" the young man in the village asked in disbelief.

"Of course, since those ghosts want to annex Dongfan Island, they must understand the interpreter of the local dialect. Otherwise, even if Dongfan Island is taken down, how will it be managed?"

"It turns out that..." Everyone suddenly realized. You must know that Liu Laogen is the only "cultural person" in Jilong Village who has read books, and his knowledge is naturally higher than everyone else.

In fact, when I was in Xiaoliuzhuang, there was not only Liu Laogen, a scholar, but also a scholar and a boy in the village. But when there was a flood, the two scholars both went to the county seat to marry, and did not follow the refugees to Jilong Village. Therefore, the only "brain" in the village is naturally Liu Laogen, and everyone is very convinced of him.

"Okay, let's go back if you have nothing to do. From tomorrow onwards, the smart kids in the village will all come to learn Mandarin and Fanmin dialect from the old man, so that they can be interpreters for those Fangui in the future..."

"Why do you still need to learn Mandarin?" A group of young people grimaced.

"What do you know? Those gangsters only know some Daming Mandarin. If you want to be their interpreter, you can't even understand what they say, right? So, you have to learn Mandarin too..."