When Huang Taiji was imagining his grand plan, Li Mingxun was preparing to go to Jiangnan at Budai Port, but the most suitable Tiger Shark could not go.

In the dock of Budai Harbor, thick ropes tied the mast and the side of the Tiger Shark. Under the action of the winch, they pulled and rolled the fat part and the bottom of the ship to the air. A group of sailors were busy covering the water-soaked canvas on the hull, while others used mops and brushes to brush the bottom of the barnacles and aquatic creatures with oil. When a fire was lit, the barnacles, Minghe and other vine-foot creatures attached to the bottom of the ship were burned out. The sailors were using the most vicious language and the most sinister moves to deal with the thin and long shipworms - this thing would drill into the wood of the ship, turning the bottom of the ship into a honeycomb shape, causing the sailboat to leak and sink without realizing it.

When Lee Mingxun arrived, he saw this situation. He saw Simmons wearing leather pants directing sailors to make something black in an iron pot. He walked over and asked, "Simmons, what is this?"

"Black material! My priest." Simmons bent down and replied.

Li Mingxun frowned slightly: "Did you apply this thing to the bottom of the boat? I remember the bottom of my Tiger Shark is white!"

Simmons smiled and said, "It is true. It is made of seal fat, lime, and sulfur. After applying it, it looks elegant and neat! But that is just the Spanish people's care. White materials are expensive and not as good as black materials. The white materials are very rough, which will reduce the ship's degree. The black materials are different. They are made of pine gum, sulfur and tar. If applied while it is hot, they will become very smooth, but they are not so pleasing to the eye!"

Lee Mingxun nodded slightly and asked, "How long can this thing last?"

Simmons said: "If you are not in Taiwan, you can use it for three years, but the water temperature here is too high, and there are abominable shipworms, and you can only use it for one year, my Excellency."

"Is there any way to support it for longer?" Li Mingxun asked.

Simmons grinned: "Of course, the British tried to lay copper on the bottom of the ship, but the price..."

"When I haven't asked!" Li Mingxun shook his head helplessly. In today's East Asia, copper is used for coins, so where can it be used as ship material?

"How long does it take for the Tiger Shark to be cleaned?" Ah Hai was always thinking about the trip to Jiangnan, fearing that it would delay time, so he asked quickly.

Simmons said: "It will take at least half a month. This ship is too big, and not only needs to be applied to the bottom of the ship, but all the hulls must be maintained, as well as sail ropes. Fortunately, the Yongjin has been properly repaired during your expedition to the Alpine Barbarians. You can use it. I believe that Simmons, this ship is the best Jung ship except that it cannot be equipped with artillery."

Two days later, the Yongjin hut left Budai Port and headed straight for Jiangnan. In its cabin, it was full of furs, ginseng and antlers and other Chinese herbs produced in Nuergandusi. Li Mingxun stood on the deck and looked at the blue sea. As the hull rose and fell, the sound of waves squeaking, and the sound of masts and cables squeaking one after another. However, his heart was not so calm, because this trip to Jiangnan was a long way to go.

Li Mingxun hopes to obtain silk, raw silk, porcelain and tea from Jiangnan as much as possible. These commodities are in short supply in Southeast Asia and Japan. At least he needs to obtain the same bulk trade in order to fully establish the triangular trade between Vladivostok and Jiangnan and Japan. In addition, he also wants to obtain more population, especially talents in shipbuilding, and the most urgent thing is grain. Now there are pirates in the name of the trader, with more than 4,000 slaves from the East and the Gaoshan Barbarians, as well as guards, craftsmen and sailors to support them. However, Taiwan produces serious shortage of food. Li Mingxun must bring back enough food to allow the trader to exhibit smoothly.

"Master, you're at the estuary of the Yangtze River in front of you." Ah Hai's excited voice disturbed Li Mingxun's thoughts. Li Mingxun came to his senses and saw the dividing line between the sea and the river from afar. He asked the old sailor around him, "How long will it take to arrive in Nanjing?"

The sailor grinned and said, "Big shopkeeper, the sea breeze is good now, it's only one day, but... there are canal transportation and Governor Caojiang's patrol ships on the river. If we are inspected..."

Li Mingxun was not worried about this at all. He had a post about Chen Youlong. Don’t mention an ordinary boat patrol official. Even if it was Admiral Cao Jiang and the noble uncle came, he would have to give Chen Youlong three points of shame.

Lin He came over and said sternly: "Just just drive the boat. When you encounter a patrol boat from the government, there will naturally be our shopkeeper talking about it. There are posts from the Shen family. Let's see which bastard dares to be presumptuous!"

Lin He spoke like this because he knew that the posts of the gentry master were great. This guy was originally a maritime merchant in Fujian. He made a lot of money in tea business. He bought 100 acres of land in his hometown Quanzhou. He was about to build a house to marry, but because the local juren wanted to build a villa for his concubine, the land was taken away at a low price. Lin He went to ask for it. The juren's post came to the yamen. Not only did the land disappear, Lin He even got dozens of bans, and finally became a senior official who translated the Dutch.

As they were talking, an explosion suddenly came from the fog in the distance, and the sailors on the Yongjin River immediately tensed up. In fact, they were more worried about meeting the Dutch, but only the explosion came and no shells fell. Li Mingxun pulled out the monocular lens and took a look. It was a patrol ship with the sun and moon flag hanging on the ship, driving a large ship with the bowl gun on the ship.

"Master, it's the Garen ship!" Ah Hai shouted loudly from the mast.

Li Mingxun looked at it quickly. He couldn't help but rub his eyes, and took out his telescope to confirm that he was not wrong. The morning mist had subsided. On the other side of the low sand bar, he could clearly see the bow splint, the foremast and the main mast, the rear mast, the main mast and the foremast, and the rear mast was a spinnaker that was used as the "air rudder" to assist in the steering. There was only one layer of artillery deck, but the gun doors were all closed.

"Enter the combat state!" Li Mingxun issued an order.

Since secretly exploring under the Dutch's nose, Li Mingxun dreamed of meeting the Dutch by chance countless times, and the Dutch discovered his identity, and then the two sides fought together. If his ship was the Tiger Shark, he would definitely have to pounce on it, but his ship was the almost unarmed Yongjin, so he could only escape.

"The big shopkeeper, the situation is wrong. It seems to be a British ship." Lin He said carefully in Li Mingxun's ear. Following the direction of his finger, Li Mingxun saw a British rice-shaped flag standing on the top of the main mast.

Now Li Mingxun felt a little relieved, at least not worried about being bombarded, but his heart was full of questions, how could the British ship be at the estuary of the Yangtze River?

This is not the 19th century. Although Britain in the 17th century had a glorious history of defeating the Invincible Armada, it still could not replace the dominant position of the Dutch. The British East India Company had been established and actively explored the East, but its main energy was to India, not the Ming Dynasty in East Asia. In fact, in 1637, after reaching an agreement with Portugal, the British sent armed ships to Guangdong, but were slandered as the Dutch by the Portuguese in Macau. They clashed with the Ming army in Humen and took advantage at first, but they soon defeated and left in disappointment. Since then, Britain has focused on developing India, and it was not until the 18th century that it had contact with the later Qing Dynasty.

But one thing is certain, a ship is definitely not here to fight.

As the fog dissipated, Li Mingxun clearly saw three or four government ships surrounding the British armed merchant ship, setting fire to drive them away, which looked like a puppy provoking a tiger, but the British were always very restrained and did not fire, and even the gun door was closed.

"Where did you come from the ship?" A patrol boat leaned to the port side of the Yongjin. A steer in a fat jacket walked up and shouted at the sailors.

Lin He asked lightly: "Who are you?"

The general pointed to the flag on his boat and shouted, "Look clearly with your dog's eyes wide, this is the patrol boat of the Admiral Caojiang's yamen. I am the King of Ming Dynasty, under the command of Master Chengyi!"

Lin He walked forward, slapped the general in the face, and cursed: "I know, what kind of shit do you think you are, dare to stop our ship?"

There were two small flags who wanted to step forward, but were kicked down by Lin He. The one who was always beaten, but he didn't dare to get up and asked with a grin: "This shopkeeper is so stupid. I wonder which master's boat is from?"

Lin He slapped again and shouted, "I can only know the name of my master if you kill me?"

Lin He looked at this arrogant look and Ah Hai was stunned. He never expected that Lin He, a cowardly and weak scholar, would dare to be so domineering to the Ming Dynasty, and would beat and insult him at any time. Ah Hai was stunned. Li Mingxun walked out of the stern of the boat and shouted: "Lin He, stop!"

Li Mingxun clasped his fists and said to the boss: "Don't be upset, sir, I'll apologize to you for him."

"I don't know what to call this young master?" Seeing that Li Mingxun is really capable of being a good person, he is so arrogant that he dare not neglect his slightest, and asked carefully.

Li Mingxun took out Shen Youlong's post from his arms and handed it to the boss. He took it over and saw it, and immediately knelt on the ground: "Young eyes are so clumsy, you really have this trick to offend the young master."

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "No wonder you are loyal. You are a little loyal to me. But my subordinates are a little impatient. It happened that there was still some wine on the boat, so I gave it to the lord."

As he said that, a few sailors brought out several large jars and took off the seal. The wine was filled with fragrance. Li Mingxun took out a deer-skin pocket and threw it to the boss. After weighing the boss, the silver inside sounded crisp. He hurriedly put it away and said eagerly: "Young master, it's winter, and the Yangtze River is shallow. Why don't you give it to me to give you a ride? Where are you going?"

Li Mingxun said: "Will you go to Nanjing?"

The general said, "Oh, it's really good. The Admiral's Office is in Nanjing. The young man will go back to report his work."

"Okay, Mr. Li likes you so refreshingly the most. Come on, let's drink a few glasses of water and wine first." Li Mingxun asked the boss to sit down and chatted about it over and over again, and then he realized that his name was Qi Dazhi.

"Why did that foreign ship wander at the estuary of the Yangtze River?" After chatting too much, Li Mingxun naturally asked more questions.

Qi Dazhi smiled and said, "The foreign ship came last month and wanted to go ashore to buy raw silk, but there was no money. It was ridiculous to want to barter with goods."

In fact, this is the norm for maritime trade today. Generally, bulk trade is bartered, especially for the Dutch, and it is difficult to get cash silver. Most merchants from Thai countries obtained gold and silver and shipped to Europe. At today's trading ports in East Asia, only Nagasaki, Japan can obtain a large amount of gold and silver. The raw silk, silk and tea porcelain produced by the Ming Dynasty are all high-value bulk trade commodities, and the required pepper, spices and other things are indeed insufficient. Neither Thai merchants nor Japan can produce enough quantities and value commodities, so a large amount of gold and silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty. Until the Spanish and Japanese control, this trend slowed down.

Li Mingxun nodded slightly and asked casually: "What are the things he has on the boat?"

Qi Dazhi laughed and said mockingly: "Indian cotton cloth, hahaha."

Li Mingxun also laughed. There are not only raw silk in Jiangnan, but Songjiang cotton cloth is also famous and has better quality. It is known to be the world of clothes and quilts. It is ridiculous to transport Indian cotton cloth. Another general flag also laughed and said, "There are 20 taels of Folang Ji muskets, haha!"

This is also a complete joke. The Ming Dynasty's military system has been rotten to its roots, and the Ming Dynasty is a country with a large population. Neither the imperial court nor the generals of the generals would buy twenty taels of muskets for soldiers. With this money, five Ding Zhuang could be hired to join the army.

"How come these British people are so pedantic? Tell him the truth, they should leave," Ah Hai interrupted.

Qi Dazhi drank too much and obviously had a bit of talk. He lowered his voice and said, "The little shopkeeper doesn't know. In fact, there were a lot of Burmese gems on the British ship, which were really good goods, but we, our Chengyi Bo, made dozens of gems for nothing. This guy wanted to talk to our uncle, and he was blocked outside the Yangtze River by his brothers and a few of them. He couldn't even enter the estuary of the Yangtze River, hahaha."

At this time, Li Mingxun fully understood that love was a descendant of Liu Bowen, the descendant of Chengyi Bo, who gave a fairy jump to the British businessman and swept away high-value gems, so he was unwilling to leave.

However, Ah Hai was still scared of the strength of the Thai warships and asked in surprise: "Aren't you afraid that they will really take revenge?"

Qi Dazhi laughed: "The little shopkeeper said this badly. Our Ming and great country, the great country, and the country above the Celestial Empire, are still afraid that he is just a barbarian. If he dares to take action, the soldiers on the patrol boat at the estuary of the Yangtze River will drown these red-haired men if they spit."

A group of officers and soldiers drank a lot of vegetables and were helped to the patrol boat by their subordinates. However, Ah Hai came over and asked in a low voice: "Master, do you want that British ship?"

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "You ghost elf, you know a lot!"
Chapter completed!