Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 243 Everything goes smoothly!
After a good night's sleep, Yang Yuan was fully recovered.

Yesterday he simply settled down and sent the "petition" to Lin'an, and then he fell into a deep sleep.

As soon as he opened his eyes today, he received good news: the Shuangyu victory.

The raid was successful.

However, it takes time to clean up the battlefield, collect the spoils, destroy the stronghold, and tie up the prisoners.

Moreover, during this process, Lin Dujian and Liu Shangqiu actually encountered a smuggling ship that stupidly broke into the port.

The smuggling ship realized something was wrong after entering the port. It was too late to escape and was caught red-handed.

This smuggling ship came from Luzon. Liu Shangqiu was questioning them with great interest when another smuggling ship from Goryeo sailed into Shuangyu Port.

At this point, both Lin Dujian and Liu Shangqiu were reluctant to leave.

After they interrogated the pirate leader Zheng Daliang, they learned that robbing merchant ships was no longer the main livelihood of the Shuangyu pirates.

They are now more like a group of underground businessmen.

Shuangyu Island is the distribution center and transit point for smuggling merchant ships from various countries.

Smuggling merchant ships from various countries trade and make transactions here, and Shuangyu Island naturally makes a fortune from it.

If they had not gotten involved in the secret war between Song and Jin, they would not have ended up like this.

After Lin Dujian learned the news, he decided to wait here and capture more smuggling ships before the news of the destruction of Shuangyu Island spread.

Yang Yuan was relieved to know that they were safe.

Yang Yuan had rested for a night and recovered his strength.

Yesterday he only gave some hasty instructions to the returning fleet. The prisoners were directly locked up in the bottom hold of the ship and guarded by people. Even interrogation, statistics and registration had not been done yet.

Naturally, we have to get these things done today.

As the interrogation records of the captives were sent to Yang Yuan one by one, Yang Yuan found out that Pu Yama's corrupt targets also included Wadiye, with whom he had cooperated for many years.

Yang Yuan was also horrified by Old Man Pu's greed and cruelty.

Many servants of the Pu family were captured. The direct descendants of the Pu family knew that they had committed serious sins and resisted most fiercely, so many of them were hacked to death in the battle.

Now, the only surviving adult males in the Pu family are Pu Yama’s second son and a nephew, both of whom are covered in wounds.

The women, elderly and underage children of the Pu family, all added up, there were dozens of people.

By the Southern Song Dynasty, there was no longer a practice of demoting criminal officials and their families to official slaves, but confiscation of property and exile were punishments they could not escape.

This is called the method of collective punishment.

Yang Yuan did not think that this Pu family was the same Pu family that had dominated Quanzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty in history.

The Pu family had occupied the important position of "Supervisor of Quanzhou Maritime Customs" since the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, and had been in charge of overseas trade for more than 30 years, accumulating huge capital.

Later, they massacred the Song Dynasty royal family and voluntarily pledged allegiance to the Yuan Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, they were in charge of overseas trade in the entire southeast.

In the original history, the maritime governor that Pu Yama had fantasized about was actually realized by his descendants.

However, now that Pu Yama has died at sea, the survivors of his family will be exiled to remote areas to do menial labor. It is impossible for this huge family that has prospered for more than 200 years during two dynasties to exist again.

Yang Yuan was dealing with various complicated aftermath matters when Xiao Luo floated in front of him like a ghost.

"Deputy Manager, there are seventeen of them. Do you think we should take them back to Lin'an or deal with them here?"

"Who is it?"

Yang Yuan took the list and looked at it: "Aytula, Lali, Mandana, Niosa, Helen, Afaf..."

Yang Yuan frowned and asked, "Why are they all women's names?"

Leng Yuchan, who was writing at her desk and organizing books, immediately pricked up her ears.

Luo Tingxia said: "They are female slaves bought by Pu Yama. There is no slave law in the Song Dynasty. We cannot treat them as private property. According to the law, they should be released as free people."

"Slaves and lowly servants, treated like livestock."

"Since slaves share the same wealth, they should be managed by their masters."

This system, which has existed since ancient times, was completely abolished during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Of course, there was a return flow during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, but that was a later event.

Since then, the Song Dynasty abolished the slave system legally, and the court strictly prohibited the buying and selling of them as private property.

The imperial court also cracked down severely on criminals who abducted or sold innocent people as slaves or for other purposes, and the buyers were also punished, thus blocking the source of the crime.

The slaves of the Song Dynasty were essentially no longer the same as the slaves of previous dynasties.

For example, for a slave like Chen Erniang who sold herself, Li Shishi only bought out her ten-year employment period.

Moreover, the relationship between this pair of master and servant during the past ten years was no longer the kind of master-slave relationship in the past where people could fight and kill at will.

If the master and servant get along happily and do not want to separate, the contract must be terminated after the expiration of the term and the two parties must sign a new contract.

This is to prevent the emergence of lifelong domestic slaves in disguise.

There was a time when the Song Dynasty court even used government funds to redeem children who had to be sold into slavery due to famine and other reasons and send them back to their families.

Therefore, the slave status of these female slaves of Puyama should naturally be freed immediately.

After Yang Yuan heard what happened, he said, "If that's the case, just release them according to the laws of the Great Song Dynasty. Why ask more questions?"

Xiao Luo smiled bitterly and said, "But they... only know a few simple Song dialects. What's your name? Have you eaten?
That’s probably it. The rest… I don’t understand. Where should we put them? If we put them here, they will either starve to death or be kidnapped by evil people…”

Yang Yuan couldn't help but frown when he heard this. This was really a big problem: "Can't even the language be understood?"

Xiao Luo said: "One of them has golden hair and seems to be able to speak our Song dialect."

Yang Yuan asked doubtfully, "What does it mean?"

Xiao Luo laughed dryly: "I did ask, but she..."

Xiao Luo pointed to his head and said, "She seems to have some problems here. When I asked her a question, she almost bit me. But... when she scolded me, she spoke in the official language of the Great Song Dynasty."

Yang Yuanxi said happily: "Can you speak our language? That's easy. Yaya, go and bring that golden retriever here."

Leng Yuchan said sarcastically, "Why don't you be kind enough, Deputy Headmaster Yang, and take them in directly? However, with your salary... is it enough to support seventeen women?"

Yang Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said to Xiao Luo, "Yes! I have a solution. Xiao Luo, you don't have to let them go yet. Take them with you when you return to Lin'an."

Yang Yuan thought of "Song Family Flavor House" and "Shuiyunjian Restaurant", as well as the Enping County Prince Zhao Yu.

The women that Pu Yama bought as gifts all had graceful figures and beautiful faces.

If she were to be a singer or dancer in a restaurant, or a Hu Ji who sells wine, or a doorman who greets guests, wouldn't that be more classy than Murong Yan'er in "Zhiweitang"?

Otherwise, you can find an interpreter from the Fanfang to ask them whether they are willing to follow a king.

King Zhao is a man who cherishes women, if they are willing, then they will have a good home. Xiao Luo listened to Yang Yuan's instructions, agreed and went out.

Yang Yuan then turned around and glared at Leng Yuchan, picked up a pile of messy books from his desk, and put them heavily on her desk: "You have quite some free time, don't you? These property and personnel registration books, sort them out for me."

Leng Yuchan rolled her eyes at him: "So what are you going to do with them? You don't... really want to keep them by yourself, do you?"

As she spoke, she looked Yang Yuan up and down with a strange look on her face.

Yang Yuan asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Leng Yuchan rubbed the tip of her nose with the back of her palm and whispered, "Seventeen, can you afford to support them?"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "The pattern is open! They are all good at singing and dancing, can't they support me?"

"Eh? Deputy Headmaster Yang's vision... I'm in awe of him!"

At this time, Brother Ya rushed in and shouted, "Second Master, we are leaving!"

"Oh? Are you leaving? I'll see you off."

After hearing this, Yang Yuan stopped joking with Leng Yuchan and followed Ya Ge out.

Leng Yuchan immediately stood up and pulled the list from Yang Yuan's desk. As she read it, she muttered:
"You don't really want to enrich yourself, do you? No way? If you really dare to do this, don't blame me for reporting you. You asked for it..."

……

At the dock, various supplies were being transported to the ship.

From here, all the way to Southeast Asia, there are still many supply points, so not much food is shipped.

Hojo Daisho, leaning on a crutch, stood at the bow of a large ship, directing porters to carry food and cargo onto the ship.

The fleet was seriously short of manpower, so the injured Hojo Daisho had no choice but to go ahead.

Ya Ge used deception to get six large sea ships, and exchanged his small offshore boats for five large sea ships. Together with the three medium-sized sea ships and seven small sea ships that he already owned, such as the "Shabai", he now has a huge fleet of twenty-one sea ships.

Even the two great sea merchants, Pu Ya Ma and Wadiye, each had a fleet of no more than twenty ships at their peak.

The eleven large sea-going ships are all high-quality large sea-going ships built by the Lin'an Shipyard.

Among them, Wadiye's main ship was not as luxurious as the "Balekai", but its hull size was just as good, and it was a large ship of 7,500 tons.

In this era, it has become a giant that stands out from the crowd.

In addition, there are ten large sea-going ships, all of which weigh about 5,000 tons.

Three medium-sized sea vessels, each weighing about 3,500 tons.

The remaining seven are small sea vessels with a tonnage ranging from one thousand to two thousand tolls.

Even this kind of small sea vessel, if used only to carry people, can carry two to three hundred people on one ship.

Yang Yuan was shocked when he saw this huge fleet that had been upgraded overnight.

Originally, when Ya Ge only changed five ships and cheated six ships, Yang Yuan thought he was very restrained. But now he saw that... he was afraid that there might not be enough crew members and sailors.

Brother Ya laughed and said, "It's true that there aren't enough. I originally planned to let the people I recruited from Lin'an observe along the way. There was no place for them anyway, so now, they've all been replaced."

"Those who are responsible for armed protection like Hojo have also stepped up. But you don't have to worry, the Hojo people are good at using ships."

“Besides, sailors are supposed to be warriors, steering the ship in peacetime and fighting in times of distress.

Large merchant ships are used to carry cargo, so there is no space to store food to feed a group of idle people who don't work. Isn't it because we have more people than ships?"

Yang Yuan nodded. He didn’t want to interfere in matters that Ya Ge was more professional than him.

Brother Ya said, "I have also recruited some people at the Yanpu Wharf. When we get to the South China Sea, I can recruit some cheap and docile Kunlun slaves. Don't worry."

Yang Yuan said with emotion: "Well, I was not too worried about going to Nanyang. However, this is a test.

This time when you come back, you must seize the trade routes that Pu Ya Ma and Wadiye have just vacated. By then, you will have a hard time!"

Ocean voyage is by no means a romantic thing.

When sailing on the ocean, there is sometimes no supply point for several months.

The rice, flour and meat on the ship would soon become soft, moldy and infested with insects due to the humid sea breeze.

Rats and cockroaches swarm around, and even pickled meat that is very durable on land will slowly start to stink due to moisture and high temperatures.

Fresh water is precious at sea, and the crew can't even take a bath.

Frequent bathing in sea water can cause allergies and itching.

Food shortages, spoilage, rats and cockroaches infesting, and then disease.

If it is a disease like sepsis, it would be fine, but we are worried about infectious diseases.

With such a disease, the companions would throw the patient into the sea with tears in their eyes before he even dies, because only in this way could the entire crew be saved from harm.

As for raising pigs and sheep on ships, it is just a beautiful legend.

People need food, and animals need it too. If all the space on the ship is used to store food and feed, what is the point of ocean sailing?

In ocean-going ships, cargo is placed in the bottom of the hold and people sleep on top of the cargo. If the cargo can be nested, such as porcelain, the larger one is placed inside the smaller one, making full use of every inch of space.

Some people do bring live animals on board when they go out to sea, but that is not for feeding. Instead, they want to kill the animals as late as possible so that they can have a bite of fresh meat after going out to sea.

In comparison, natural disasters and pirates are not the biggest difficulties faced by ocean-going fleets.

However, although it is hard, the rewards are also really great!
When a ship loaded with spices arrived at Quanzhou Port, the customs duties alone could be as high as 300,000 strings of cash.

The "annual tribute" that the State of Song paid to the State of Jin was 300,000 strings of cash.

In other words, the tax paid by a ship on a one-way trip was equivalent to the annual tribute of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, the wealth of maritime merchants is incalculable, and the wages of seafarers must also be generous.

According to the most conservative calculation, those trendsetters who are willing to follow Brother Ya to sea can earn more than their entire family’s income in nearly ten years by paying for each trip.

This is enough to change the fate of the entire family through his hard work alone.

Seeing Yang Yuan's hesitation and reluctance, Ya Ge grinned and said to Yang Yuan: "Second brother, can you imagine me wearing an apron and a headscarf, hunched over, standing behind the counter, bowing and smiling as I arrange food and lodging for the guests staying at the hotel, and counting the "mener money" (deposit) for the rented mules and horses one by one?"

Yang Yuan was stunned. Ya Ge had already turned around, stepped on the pedal, and boarded the "Comfortable" car briskly.

He stood at the bow, turned around, and said in high spirits: "I chose this path myself! Only those who endure hardships can become successful people! Second brother, let's go!"

Brother Ya waved his arm to Yang Yuan in a cool manner, and the crew began to retract the pedals, raise the anchor and set sail.

Yang Yuan was also filled with pride by Ya Ge's words.

He waved to the big ship that was gradually leaving the dock, put his hands together like a trumpet, and shouted loudly: "Only after enduring hardships can you drive a Land Rover. Only after being hit by artillery fire can you drive a Jaguar! Brother Ya, have a safe trip!"

(End of this chapter)