Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 12 The shipyard funded by Li Dan

Lin Hai quickly became familiar with cross-dressing men through an action movie in an island country.It turns out that this boy is really the youngest son of the shipyard owner. His name is Chen Yaozu. He is 17 years old this year. He has a twin brother named Chen Guangzong.

The brothers' ancestral home is Quanzhou, Fujian, but their birthplace is Haojing. They have never left the Macau Peninsula when they grew up.The ancestors of the Chen family have been operating shipyards in Quanzhou since the Hongwu Dynasty of Taizu, and it has been passed down to more than ten generations. It was not until more than 20 years ago that his father, Chen Xu, suffered a catastrophe and had to live in Macau as a last resort.

That was still when Lord Wanli was in power, and the red-haired Yi Wei Malang invaded Fujian. The number of shipbuilding tasks assigned by the Yamen to the shipyards suddenly increased.The government procurement was euphemistically called Hemai, but the money given was too meager to even buy wood, and the subordinate officials who inspected the ships had to drink wine and collect black money before they could pay the bills.

At that time, the tax superintendent of Fujian was named Gao Cai. This damn eunuch had a very long hand and had to go through all local affairs.Usually, the government and businessmen pay attention to the smooth flow of money, but this eunuch has an even darker heart. He directly pushed the Chen family into deep debts, and his minions also took the opportunity to seize Chen Xu's beautiful daughter-in-law.

Chen Xu's son at the time couldn't stand the cowardice, so he killed the tax minions while drunk. He was jailed and condemned to death. His mother cried blindly and hung herself from a beam.Chen Xu owed a lot of debt and his family was ruined. In desperation, he left his hometown and came to Macau. 20 years later, he became one of the top shipyard owners on the peninsula.

After hearing the experience of the shipyard owner, Lin Hai sighed: "My father is really talented. He started from scratch and opened a huge shipyard in middle age."

Chen Yaozu said disdainfully: "He has a lot of abilities. If it weren't for the help of noble people, he would have been just an old shipwright who had a hard time until he died."

Lin Haiqi asked: "What do you mean by this?"

Chen Yaozu said: "Have you ever heard of Li Dan?"

Li Dan... isn't that Zheng Zhilong's adoptive father?Lin Hai's eyes flashed and he said: "Could it be that the great merchant Li Dan of Pinghu in the Japanese country is what my brother is talking about?"

Chen Yaozu smiled and said: "So you have also heard of the old captain's name."

Lin Hai only heard that foreigners respectfully addressed Li Dan as the Chinese captain, but it seemed that the Chinese maritime merchants called him the old captain. This title was the same as the great Japanese pirate Wang Zhi during the Jiajing period. It was probably an honorific title reserved for the most prestigious Chinese maritime merchants.

"The reputation of the old captain is spread all over the world. Naturally, I have admired his name for a long time." Hearing that this young man seemed to admire Li Dan, he flattered him casually, "From what you say, the reason why your father is able to make a comeback is all because of the old captain." ?”

"That's natural. The old ship owner is also from Quanzhou. He was a regular customer of my shipyard 30 years ago. My father lived behind the scenes. In his early years, he was just a shipwright. If he hadn't happened to meet the old ship owner, he would have run a shitty shipyard."

"Thirty years ago...at that time, the old ship owner must have been running the East-to-Eastern Luzon route, right?"

Lin Hai recalled Li Dan's experience. The earliest deeds he knew about this person were related to the Manila Massacre more than 20 years ago. At that time, Li Dan was a Chinese business leader living in the Philippines.

It was in the 31st year of Wanli that Gao Cai, the tax superintendent of Fujian, heard that there were gold and silver mountains in Luzon and reported the news to the wealthy emperor. The Ming Dynasty immediately sent people to the Philippines to investigate, which caused panic among the Spanish colonial authorities.

The Spanish thought that the Ming Dynasty wanted to capture the Philippines, so in order to prevent the Chinese from joining forces, they bloodbathed the Chinese community in Manila.These white people joined forces with the local indigenous Pampanga people to kill more than 2 overseas Chinese at one time and plundered a large amount of wealth. This was also the beginning of the anti-Chinese massacres in Southeast Asia for more than 300 years.

In fact, this matter was completely a mistake. The Ming Dynasty had no intention of expanding overseas.After learning the news of the Manila Massacre, Master Wanli calmly stated that these Chinese were all unruly people who had betrayed their ancestors and deserved to die.

As a leader of overseas Chinese, Li Dan had good relations with the West Philippine authorities in the past. Although he was not executed during this massacre, all his property in the Philippines was confiscated, and he himself was caught and raped on Galen's ship. A few years of hard work.

Later, Li Dan took advantage of the Spaniards' unpreparedness to escape to Japan, regrouped and broke into the world again.It must have been in the second spring of his career that he met Chen Xu, a fellow from Quanzhou, in Macau. Both of their experiences were brought about by the dead eunuch Gao Cai, so he felt sad that the rabbit died and the fox died, so Li Dan funded Chen Xu to open a restaurant. Small shipyard.

Chen Yaozu was surprised when he heard that Lin Hai was so familiar with Li Dan's early life and said, "Do you know the old ship owner?" "But no, I used to do business in the West. When I was young, I heard about it from a Thai sailor who ran away to Luzon." He spoke in a bold voice. Then he said, "Even if the old captain lends money to help, you have to rely on your own ability to get into such a big business. Otherwise, how can you be a young master?"

Lin Hai knew a little bit about the psychology of micro-expressions, and a conversation had roughly outlined his character.This boy is not a bad character, but his father has experienced the pain of losing a son once. He is very doting on his two sons born in Macau, and at the same time he is somewhat hopeful that his sons will succeed. This can be seen from the names of these two brothers.

However, this boy's brother is sensible and capable, so his father would inevitably criticize him often. Of course, Chen Xu was absolutely reluctant to beat his son. This is how Chen Yaozu became what he is today.His unconventional dress was, to put it bluntly, similar to the Sha Matt look of later generations, but it was just to express himself.

"That's true." Chen Yaozu did not deny this. He took two puffs of cigarette and then said, "But being a young master is boring."

Lin Hai thought to himself that you kid has never experienced the beatings from society, but what he said was: "In Brother Chen's opinion, what is considered interesting?"

"Of course he has traveled all over the world like the old captain, and he just took advantage of my heart. A young master like me can't be suffocated when he stays at home every day."

"Brother Chen, I am not boasting. I came here from the West and I have traveled around the world. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely take you to see overseas scenery."

"Brother Lin, Taixi?" Chen Yaozu was indeed very interested, so Lin Hai made up a bizarre sea experience. The boy was stunned for a while, and soon the distance between the two became closer.

Seeing that the conversation reached noon, Lin Hai asked: "Brother, what kind of ships can this shipyard build?"

Chen Yaozu held his pipe in his mouth and said: "Fu Chuan, Guang Chuan, Lao Zhong Chuan... except for Fan Gui's large plywood boat, which has no French style, if you name it, there is nothing my family can't build."

Lin Hai asked again: "Can you sew a soft sail?"

Chen Yaozu smiled and said: "What's the difficulty? Although my family can't build a plywood boat, I can also repair it."

Lin Hai felt excited after hearing this. The old lock ship has a Western-style hull and a Chinese-style sail. It relies on dense ribs to ensure lateral strength. However, it does not have Galen's double-layer hull. The hull structure is not essentially different from that of a North American schooner. In addition, the soft sails With sewing technology, Xinganghao can definitely make it.

"Brother Wei is interested in finding a job as an accountant in your shipyard. I wonder if Brother Chen can agree? As I said just now, brother Wei is a businessman and is an expert at writing and calculating accounts."

"You are from Taixi, can you recognize Suzhou code, do abacus, and remember the three-legged account?"

"Well... I'm not familiar with the abacus, and everything else is just a handful."

"Then you go back and practice first, then come back after the [-]th day of the first lunar month. Then I will give you a few nice words."

"The sixteenth day of the first lunar month? There's still more than half a month left. If someone else gets there first, wouldn't it mean that my brother's efforts are all in vain?"

"Tomorrow is the Lunar New Year. The shipyard will be closed and will open on the [-]th day of the first lunar month."

(End of this chapter)