Today's Dinghai County is a thriving scene.
After fading the shadow of the disaster, it exudes a positive vitality.
The recruitment of Minzhuang went very smoothly. It may be the hidden worry that the Japanese pirates will attack again, or it may be the generous remuneration offered to the county government. Many Minzhuang responded in the county. Strong group.
A total of more than 500 people were recruited by the Min Zhuang Group, all of whom were young and middle-aged men.
In addition to the most basic land drills, they will also be trained on board and on the water. They are all from coastal areas, and even because many people’s ancestors were fishing for a living, these strong people have a natural sense of familiarity with boats and water, so they can get twice the result with half the effort.
At the same time, the shipbuilding is also proceeding in an orderly manner.
There are shipyards in Dinghai County. Although they are not as famous as those in Changle, Fujian and Taicang, Jiangsu, they are also old shipyards that have built many ships. It's just that in recent years, the sea ban has become more and more strict, coupled with several internal relocations, so the shipyard has gradually been abandoned, but there are still old craftsmen with craftsmanship, and they can still build ships.
It's just that the shipbuilding process is too complicated, and the ships used on the sea are different from others, and the shortest construction period is several months. These are also small and medium-sized warships, such as rushing boats, sand boats and Wubei boats that are abundant in Dinghai. These three kinds of ships are suitable for use in the offshore, which can be used as warships or cargo ships.
Such a large-scale lucky boat cannot be built without a year and a half.
Dinghai County is temporarily unable to use long-distance boats, so the most suitable local Wubei boats are mainly used. Due to limited funds, only five boats were built. Two of the five ships were funded by Xue Tingxiang himself, and all the money he got from Dinghai County has now fallen on these two ships.
But if a worker wants to do good things, he must first sharpen his tools. Everyone understands this principle, and he will naturally not put the cart before the horse.
It takes time to train people and build ships. During this period, it is naturally impossible for these firms headed by the Xie family to stop their business all the time. After several discussions and setbacks, they decided to take the risk and try, and they couldn't stop eating because of choking.
Fortunately, the Red Gang did not attack again this time, and Geng Qianhu also took someone to cruise nearby.
It is worth mentioning that Xie San actually came to Dinghai County and lived here.
Every day seems to be very idle, either staying in the thousands of households, or going to the shipyard to see the man-made ships.
After a few days like this, Xue Tingxiang became curious and asked Geng Qianhu casually.
Unexpectedly, these words seem to have hit a certain nerve in Geng Qianhu. Recently, due to the group training, the two inevitably intersected, and they have always been very harmonious, but this time Geng Qianhu gave Xue Tingxiang a face.
Later, Xue Tingxiang knew why, it turned out that Xie San was punished by the Xie family.
The reasons for this are very complicated. There are the reasons why the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Pei Kejian, returned to Beijing, and the reason why Xie San usually offends too many people. 100,000 taels of silver were given to Yuan County to fund the recruitment of people and shipbuilding.
Xie San was originally a concubine of the side branch of the Xie family. Because he was quite talented in business, and he was good at communication with long sleeves, he had been running business for the clan since he was an adult.
But what really changed his fate was his idea of digging up Shuangyu Port.
At that time, the situation of the Xie family was not good. On the surface, it was a family that had been passed down for hundreds of years, but in fact, it was only a superficial light.
There are too many people in the family, and the Xie family pays attention to face and ostentation, and has long been sitting on the mountain. Although there is a lot of business, the most important thing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is the people who do business. There is no unique business, and the money earned cannot support the huge annual expenses of the Xie family.
Xie San couldn't help but think of Shuangyu Island. Back then, the Xie family fell down on this Shuangyu Island before they could not recover. How prestigious the Xie family was back then, with money, they had power, and with power, they had more money. These were complementary.
In the same way, there is no power without money, and it gradually declines.
The idea of digging up Shuangyu Port seemed like a fantasy to everyone at the time, but Xie San made it happen, and even used it to unite a lot of forces, and used this as a springboard to join forces with many. The rich and powerful hang on to the relationship. Since then, the Xie family has changed its previous decline and has become the leading family in Zhejiang.
But along with Xie San's beauty, naturally many people don't like him.
Not to mention the people outside, there are quite a few Xie family members, including the descendants of the family head.
Someone in the Xie family wanted to deal with Xie San for a long time, but this time it just happened to be an opportunity. Pei Kejian's departure made Xie San lose a barrier to falsify tiger power. First, a large number of goods were robbed and suffered heavy losses in the Xie family, followed by Xie San. San made his own decisions, and several things added up to cause Xie San to be idle at home now.
The Xie family didn't care much about him, that is to say, he had worked hard for many years and let him take a break. In fact, this is to snatch away all the rights in his hands, which is why Geng Qianhu is angry with Xue Tingxiang.
Geng Qianhu and Xie San have an unusual relationship. They are both members of the Xie family and friends of Xie San's father. In those days, Geng Qianhu only guarded a poor and miserable broken county town, and it was also because of Xie San that he was able to have today's momentum.
But Xue Tingxiang didn't know all this, he actually only knew some superficial things.
The reason why he would move his mind on Xie San also came from that dream.
In that dream, Xie San was regarded as his disciple, and there was never a lot of filial piety in the three festivals and six rituals every year. Let him see, this person is interesting, understands interest, and can do things. And in that dream, there were not many stupid people who could walk in front of him.
It was that Xie San was older than him. When he died, Xie San had been dead for more than ten years, and the Xie family was in the hands of Xie San's son.
Based on these, Xue Tingxiang deliberately paid attention to Xie San, but he didn't expect that Xie San would be expelled from the family center.
But this is actually good. Xue Tingxiang was very short of manpower, so don't give it to your door for nothing.
Because of this, he always went to Xie San recently, and the two of them chatted about shipbuilding and trivial matters, but they got along well.
While Xue Tingxiang was busy with the county, Zhao'er was not idle.
The goods sold to those firms these times were all brought back from the outside under the control of Zhao'er. She couldn't leave, so she sent a letter to the capital and called Gao Sheng over to help. Not only Gao Sheng, but Xue Qinghuai and Jiang Wu also came out of Shanxi, and brought many people over.
Now that Wangji Caixing is developing well, not to mention Pingyang Mansion, with the power of Xue Tingxiang and Beilu Academy, there is no one to embarrass them. In addition, this vegetable trade was originally based on the route of encircling towns in the countryside, and it made small money like vegetable money, and no big businessman would take a fancy to this kind of business.
Big wealthy families don’t like this little money, and even if small families like it, they don’t dare to provoke them, so Wang Ji Caixing quickly opened throughout Shanxi and spread northward to Zhili.
No, Caixing spreads to North Zhili, and Huafang expands from North Zhili to other provinces. The two finally merged last year, and while they are even more powerful, both human and material resources have been greatly reduced.
Now in Shanxi, Xue Qingbai is watching with a group of Xue family members, Xue Qinghuai and Jiang Wu have both gone to the capital. Zhao’er delivered a letter to the capital saying that he needed help, and both of them and Gao Sheng came.
As for the stall in the capital, it was left to Xue Qiang and Xue Hu. The two were in charge of everything outside, Chen Xiulan was in charge of researching new tricks, and Xiaolan and Xiaozi were in charge of the shop and the account. In addition, when Zhao'er and the others hadn't left the capital, the group of guys they trained could be used, and there were more than enough people.
Now the three Gao Sheng are in charge of running the goods outside, which is not the same as making small troubles, it is all in large quantities. Generally, after a certain amount reaches a certain height, no one will sell it to you without any means and means.
Before winter, the ship in Dinghai County was finally built.
After the ship is built, it needs to test the water several times. After everything is normal, some special ceremonies will be held, and then it will be the maiden voyage.
On the day of the maiden voyage, Xue Tingxiang personally appeared.
Not only him, but also Xie San and Geng Qianhu.
The people who had been training for a long time were led by the veterans of the guardhouse. After a while, the horn sounded, and the boat left the Dinghai port.
The boat is a black beet, shaped like a trough, the hull is black, and there are eyes painted on both sides of the bow, so it is named after the black beet. This kind of Wubei boat is changed on the basis of fishing boat and is famous for its flexibility and maneuverability. It is not big in itself. The length of the boat is about fifteen meters, and the width is five or six meters. It is very suitable for offshore use.
Xue Tingxiang hadn't been to Shuangyu Island yet, but he just mentioned that the ship's maiden voyage was set at Shuangyu Island.
After leaving Dinghaikou, you will pass through Shuangyu Bay and you will find Shuangyu Island.
When entering Shuangyu Bay, Xue Tingyan saw that Geng Qianhu and others were taking things very seriously, and only then did he realize that the so-called excavation of the place where Shuangyu Bay was filled was not completely excavated. However, only one route has been dug, so be very careful when driving so as not to hit the rocks below. This is also the reason why there are very few foreign ships in Dinghai. If you are not familiar with the road conditions, you really can't get in.
Shuangyu Island arrived soon. It was different from what Xue Tingxiang imagined. This small island was very desolate. After arriving on the island, I came to the center of the island and saw a few very simple houses.
According to Xie San, these houses are only for temporary stay. Every time they made an appointment with the barbarians to make a deal, it was time to bring the goods, and the other party would wait in another channel on the outlying island, and the two sides would make a deal.
The so-called resurgence of Shuangyu Island is just a road, a road that can lead to overseas, and where is the scenery of the past. The blocked seaway seems to be the feng shui of Shuangyu Island, turning it from full of vitality to a pool of stagnant water.
Xue Tingxiang walked around Shuangyu Island for a long time, watching as he walked, and even asked a lot of details.
Xie San also knew everything, and since then Xue Tingxiang got out of his control and peeked at the leopard, and really learned the tip of the iceberg of maritime smuggling.
"So, if this sea is a big lake, you can only be regarded as one of the small shrimps, small shrimps?"
Xue Tingxiang made people laugh and cry every time he used an analogy, and Xie San could only nod helplessly.
The group soon set sail back to Dinghai, and Xue Tingxiang's eyes were full of disappointment.
Standing on the side of the ship, looking at the endless sea, he had an indescribable sense of tranquility deep in his heart.
In the distance, he seemed to see a blur of black.
"Hey, where is it? We came out before and didn't seem to see this place."
Xie San followed, and his eyes flashed: "There is a small island in the Zhoushan Archipelago."
"Can you go take a look?"
A soldier next to him interjected: "There is no way to go there, there are pirates there."
"pirate?"
Xue Tingxiang looked at Xie San, who nodded.
"Then why?"
He pointed to that place, and to the boat he was in. Seeing that Xie San seemed to have something to hide, he suddenly realized: "Could it be that that place is the same as here?"