The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 186 Too Lack of Money

Shen Shikui's willingness to come this time has already represented an attitude, which is almost equivalent to taking refuge in Ding Yi.

Historically, he liked to rely on others.

When Mao Wenlong died, he took refuge in Chen Jisheng. After Chen died, he took refuge in Liu Xingzhi. After Liu Xingzhi died, he took refuge in Huanglong.

This time Liu Xingzhi and Chen are both dead, so of course he can only rely on Ding Yi.

Although Ding Yi is a junior official, even Xu Fuzuo depends on Ding Yi's face. He naturally knows how to choose. Of course, the key is Ding Yi's promise to him.

Marry his daughter and give him a grandson named Shen.

The two quickly discussed major issues of cooperation.

This time Ding Yi is going to Japan to make a good fortune.

This is his best chance, because Zheng Zhilong is also going.

Zheng Zhilong has connections and resources in Japan, and this is the best opportunity for him to take advantage of.

Without Zheng Zhilong, no matter how much cargo he brings, it is not only unsafe, but also easy to be slaughtered.

So Ding Yijue is his best chance.

He now has a total of 23 ships in his hands.

Originally there were ten ships, but Ruan Siqing took nine out and took away all 20 taels of silver from him.

They are going to Dengzhou, Songjiang, Zhejiang, and various coastal cities to purchase a large amount of raw silk, silk fabrics, cotton yarn, tea, and ceramics.

In fact, in Japan, the profits of raw silk and silk fabrics are the highest, which can be ten to twenty times higher.

According to Ding Yi's idea, it is best to buy all raw silk and silk products.

But it’s not that you can buy as much as you want. Each store has fixed customers and limited production. If you buy too much, you can easily tell others that you are going to Japan, and you will be easily robbed by pirates.

Moreover, if too much raw silk is dumped into Japan at once, it will easily impact the local market.

So Ding Yi asked Ruan Siqing to go to various cities along the coast and buy them in batches. How much he can buy is his ability.

Later, when Liu Xingzhi's incident happened, Ding Yi took the opportunity to discuss with Xu Fuzuo, and set up ten ships of the Pidao Navy under the pretext of arson by defeated soldiers.

Besides, apart from keeping the thousand-material merchant ship for Shen Shigui, Ding Yi bought all the larger-capacity merchant ships.

Now Ding Yi has twenty ships, while the Lushun Navy originally had three warships.

So he now has a total of 23 ships, nine of which have not returned.

This time he took the initiative to invite Shen Shikui to come over, and after Shen thought about it, he did come.

Shen Shikui has 25 ships in hand, and will mobilize [-] ships (five ships will be left on Phi Island).

Ding Yi will use [-] ships (leave three ships in Lushun.)
In this way, Ding Yi and Shen Shikui will form a super fleet of 45 ships and go to Japan with Zheng Zhilong in June.

He doesn't have much money now, and Ruan Siqing took it all away.

Shen Shikui will give 10 taels, Xu Fu will give 1 taels, and leave more than 30 boats at home, and then go for a run in Songjiang and other places and come back from shopping.

Ding Yi will send Ruan Wenyan to go with him. Ruan Wenyan will go to Dengzhou first, and go to Qin Nan's place, and go together with 5 taels.

That can be regarded as Ding Yi's private money.

On the first day of May, Shen Shikui and Ruan Wenyan set off with the silver and the boat. On the side of Lushun, Portuguese Anni and Seinfeld were also traveling with them.

On the eighth day of May, Liang Tingdong, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, recommended Sun Yuanhua, deputy envoy of Shandong Yacha, to be the governor of Denglai.

Sun Yuanhua searched for Western scholars everywhere in Dengzhou and recruited Western scholars. Portuguese Anduo, Boduolu, Fang Sigu, Sa Cong and others successively came to vote.

It was only later that Ding Yi found out that Ruan Siqing met these Portuguese from Zhejiang.

This group of Portuguese traveled north from Quanzhou and wanted to go to the capital.

Ruan Siqing met while shopping in Zhejiang, and knew that they could make and use cannons, so she immediately hired them with a lot of money.

Unexpectedly, when they exchanged goods in Dengzhou, they saw Sun Yuanhua's appeal and felt that Sun Yuanhua was an official, so they went to Sun Yuanhua collectively.

This made Ding Yi angry.

But if he knew that Sun Yuanhua, a total of 27 Portuguese defected together with this group of people and Xi Laojing and others in history, he had already snatched [-] of them, he would definitely find it funny again.

On May 22, Ruan Siqing returned to Lushun with a full load.

When we returned, three of the nine boats were empty.

During this trip, they bought a total of [-] catties of raw silk, [-] catties of silk fabrics, [-] bolts of cotton cloth, a thousand pieces of ceramics, half a boatload of tea, and Sugang, and tens of thousands of catties of iron materials.

It turned out that Ding Yi didn't have much money, and he only gave Ruan Siqing 20 taels. After buying these goods, Ruan Siqing had no money.

So nine ships went, only six were loaded, and three came back empty. The largest thousand-material merchant ship was actually empty.

Because a thousand-material merchant ship can hold three to four million catties, these things can be loaded in one ship.

But Ruan Siqing was afraid that something would go wrong in the middle of the journey, and if the ship sank and his family would go bankrupt, so he divided them into several small boats.

When Ding Yi saw it, the corner of his mouth twitched, realizing that he still had too little money.

If you have 50 funds to go to Japan, you will be able to make a lot of money. Right now, it is only about 20, which may not be enough.

Because he also purchased a lot of Suzhou steel and iron materials, which are the goods he has accumulated all year round in Lushun, and they are needed by the craftsman bureau.

This caused him to have less money and more ships.

In fact, in history, Zheng Zhilong did not bring dozens or hundreds of ships to Japan for business.

Sometimes the goods of a ship can be worth more than a dozen or even tens of thousands of taels of silver, so there is no need to bring so many ships.

After Ruan Siqing came back, he took two boats to do some small business between Phi Islands in Dengzhou.

On the fourth day of June, news came from Xu Fuzuo that Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming had defected to Sun Yuanhua as in the original history.

On the same day, Ding Yi also moved his headquarters to Lushun Lane, where Xu Fuzuo was originally located.

Accompanied by Wang Weizhong's 6th Battalion, Xilao Jing's 10th Battalion, and among the rest of the battalions, Xu Wei's 8th Battalion moved to guard the Nanguankou Bastion.

The 3rd Battalion of Mao Xin still guarded Shuangdao, and the 1st Battalion of Zhang Jing was stationed five miles southeast of Lushun, which was also quite close to Ding Yi.

On June [-]th, Ruan Wenyan and Shen Shikui returned to Lushun. As Ding Yi expected, they brought twenty boats with them, but many of them were empty, because they didn't have so much money for shopping.

Ruan Wenyan also brought news that Zheng Zhilong would visit Ding Yi in Lushun three days later.

Ding Yi was overjoyed.
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In the spring of 1630, Zheng Zhilong built a luxurious mansion in his hometown in Anhai Town, Jinjiang. It took 3 years and 2 months to complete, covering an area of ​​138 mu. .

Right now, his prefecture has just started, and some goods will be purchased in Japan, so he wants to stop by to see his righteous brother Ding Yi.

On the sea, a fleet of six ships, four big and two small, came in a straight line to Lushun.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong was standing on the bow of the largest two thousand material blessing boat, blowing the sea breeze.

There are several trusted brothers beside him, Zheng Zhihu, Shi Yong, Yang Tiansheng and others.

At this time Zheng Zhihu approached Zheng Zhilong and shouted: "Brother, that Ding Yi is just a small guerrilla, and he lives in a poor place in Liaodong. Why do you need to come and visit him in person?"

Zheng Zhilong has been promoted to the rank of general this year, and in Fujian, even the commander of the Navy is polite when he sees Zheng Zhilong.

In Zheng Zhihu's eyes, Ding Yi could be seen.

And he knew that when Ding Yi suddenly proposed to be sworn brothers that day, Zheng Zhi had no choice but to agree.

Zheng Zhilong was thoughtful, but didn't make a sound.

　Voting for a monthly ticket today seems like a lottery draw, so ask everyone for some monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)