Chapter 38: Change of Boss

  "Ah-choo!" Chen Xin let out a loud sneeze at the bow of the boat, "Could it be that Liu Min is thinking of me again?!"

  "Brother Chen, we're finally home." Lu Zizi stood beside Chen Xin, gazing at the distant black coastline of Shandong Province, his tone revealing a joyful emotion. He had naturally come to regard that courtyard in Tianjin as his own home.

  "Uh-huh." Chen Xin glanced at the cargo ship sailing ahead, a professional smile spreading across his face again. On the second day after unloading the goods, Han Bin heard that the goods on Zhu Yin's ship had sold for 60,000 taels of silver and felt somewhat suspicious, questioning it twice. Chen Xin pulled out Song Wenxian as a witness, along with two sailors from Han Bin's crew who were still dazed from being drunk the night before. The two men vaguely remembered something about it, and after Song Wenxian added some convincing details, Han Bin didn't dare ask any more questions. He went to Zhu Yin's ship and took a look around, only seeing the 60,000 taels of silver on the second floor, but couldn't find anywhere else that could be hiding more silver. He had no choice but to accept this number.

  Finally, Song Xian called an enlarged meeting to discuss how to distribute the money. Originally, Zhao had promised to give each person 100 taels of silver from his profits when he set out, but now that he was gone and there were more earnings, everyone decided not to take this basic salary anymore. They took 15,000 taels out of the 60,000 taels to give to the family of the head of the household, and gave 5,000 taels to the family of Danyong.

  In addition to the 40,000 taels of silver, there were also 3,700 taels of silver left on Zhu Yin's ship. In total, they had more than 43,000 taels of silver. Song Wenxian, Han Bin, Hei Pao, Ba Zi, and Chen Xin, the five standing committee members, each took 3,000 taels. The two most seriously injured men died that night, and their families could not be found. In total, there were only 37 people left. Excluding the few standing committee members, there were 32 people, with each person getting 900 taels. There were still 1,600 taels left over. Chen Xin suggested giving an additional 300 taels to each of the two seriously injured men, and giving the remaining 1,000 taels to the family of a martyr from Wang Zugui's village. Everyone agreed with this plan, except for Han Bin, who was not very happy, as he had only received more than 3,000 taels in total on this trip.

  When boarding the ship, Song Wenxian arranged for Lu Zizi, Zhu Guobin, and Wang Fugui to board the Zhu Yin ship with a man named Wang Yong. Wang Yong could read the celestial navigation chart, which would help navigate and avoid getting lost from the Fu ship. Chen Xin noticed that he had exchanged glances with Song Wenxian twice, and should be one of his men. However, Chen didn't think much of it and didn't need to bother with him. Finally, Chen Xin brought two other seriously injured men who had lost their hands and legs onto his Zhu Yin ship in order to win people over. On the deck, he used saltwater to clean the wounds of the two men, changed the gauze on their wounds, and the people on the Fu ship looked on with extreme admiration for this accountant, not only could he calculate accounts and write, but also kill people, and was extremely good to his brothers.

  After the ship set sail, Chen Xin felt at ease. As long as Song Wenxian didn't have any ill intentions and didn't make any moves near Dengzhou, the 15,000 taels in the hold were as good as his. He thought that Song wouldn't be so short-sighted, and since he had cooperated with him and gained Li Guozhu's appreciation, there would be plenty of opportunities for them to make money together in the future.

  Thinking of this, he couldn't help but take a look at Wang Yong, who was steering the ship at the stern. He could now confirm that Wang Yong was Song Wenxian's mole. When he wasn't on the deck, he must be staying in the second layer, and in the compartment closest to the hatch of the hold. In fact, Song Wenxian was only worried that he would get rid of him, after all, 30,000 taels of silver were on the Zhu Yin ship.

  Two men with severed limbs, one named Qin Lüfang, just over twenty years old, had his left hand cut off at the wrist, the wound was very neat, and the cruelty of the Japanese sword in this type of sea battle can be seen. The other was called Ning Cheng, probably close to thirty, who had a section of his left leg cut off, also by a Japanese sword. They were treated for several days in Li's private harbor, and Chen Xin used boiling water to disinfect the cotton every time, personally changing it for them each time. The wounds had scabbed over, their lives were saved, but they still didn't feel well due to excessive blood loss on that day, and could only help with simple tasks. Chen Xin was worried they would get sepsis, so he insisted they chew tea leaves every day. These two men knew Chen Xin had helped them gain an extra three hundred taels of silver, and took care of them all along the way, and were already tearfully grateful to him.

  "Brother Chen, will you go out to sea again?" Qin Lüfang also saw the mainland's coastline and was delighted. He spoke with some strength in his voice.

  Chen Xin smiled and said: "Still don't know, Qin brothers are you willing to come out?"

  Qin Lü Fangdao said: "I also think so, even if I cut off my hand, it won't be of much help."

  Ning Cheng sat on a pile of silver, originally allocated 1,100 taels, later Chen Xin helped him get an additional 300 taels, totaling 1,400 taels. After getting the money, he always carried it with him, never leaving his sight, even using it as a pillow when sleeping. Others were similar to him, but Chen Xin was worried about how Ning Cheng would transport these 40-50 kilograms of silver back home. At this time, Ning Cheng lazily said: "You should be content with being able to save your life, why go out to sea again? You've already lost a hand, causing trouble for Brother Chen isn't it? This crippled old man only knows this much, not going out to lose face, this trip back will buy some land, buy a few servants and maids, serving me every day, no more going out."

  Qin Lü Fang felt a bit embarrassed and muttered: "Then... then I also..."

  "Qin brothers, don't worry about this matter. It's up to you, if you're willing to follow me, we can do other things without going out to sea. If you're willing to go out to sea, I also need brave warriors like the Qin brothers. Ning big brother, it's good that you're returning to your hometown, but in the future, if you have any difficulties, come find me Chen Xin, and I will not decline. We are all brothers who have been through life and death together, don't be polite."

  "I, Lao Ning, only acknowledge two people: Da Dang Jia and you, Chen Account House. Da Dang Jia is a hero, I acknowledge him because of that. As for you, Chen Account House, you are both literary and martial, fair in your dealings, and don't look down on others, so I acknowledge you too. If my leg hadn't been broken, I would have definitely followed you. For now, I won't trouble you anymore. My hometown is Linqing, when we disembark, I'll give you my address, come find me if you ever go to Linqing."

  "Alright, then where is your hometown, Qin?" Chen Xin turned around and asked Qin Lüfang.

  He didn't wait for Qin Lu to finish, and hastily replied: "What old home does he have? His old home in Fenghuang City, Liaodong has already become a nest of Tartars."

  Chen Xing said curiously: "It turns out that Brother Qin is also from Liaodong, I have a few younger brothers who are all in Tianjin, you can get close to each other."

  Qin Lüfang looked a bit wronged, glanced northward, then at Zhu Guobin who was adjusting the sail, and said to both of them: "That wasn't me who lost it to the Tartars either. Brother Zhu also escaped from Liaodong, we both made our own rafts and floated out to sea, and were rescued by Zhao's family. We used to think about fighting back home, but then Guangning was lost, and even Liaoxi almost fell too, everyone was scattered. This year I heard that Korea has also been defeated, it seems like the old home really can't be returned to."

  Ning Cheng disdainfully said: "I don't believe those Tartars are that powerful, if I, Ning, hadn't broken my leg, I would have gone to chop off a Tartar's head and brought it back to show you. You several million Han people in Liaodong can't even defeat the few tens of thousands of Tartars, how did you fight?"

  "I, I..." Qin Lüfang couldn't get the words out for half a day. These hundreds of millions of people didn't belong to him anyway, so Ning Cheng just vented his anger on himself.

  Chen Xin looked at Qin Lüfang's wronged expression, patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: "Brother Qin, don't think too much about it. Ning is also a straightforward person, we'll have our chance to fight back one day. If you don't have anywhere else to go, come with me to Tianjin. You can use your silver to buy a house near my place and live there. Or you can stay at my place, I have some fellow villagers from your hometown who will take care of you."

  Qin Lü Fang listened and soon forgot the unpleasantness of just now, happily saying: "Then I'll follow Brother Chen, I trust you, you're a good person. I still have one hand, I can work, no need for anyone to take care of me."

  "Good guy, yes, I'm a good guy." Chen Xin smiled warmly.

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  Two days later, the two ships arrived near Dengzhou (now Yantai). The last time they passed by without stopping, but this time they had to return the silver and had to stop.

  Dengzhou is located in the northernmost part of Shandong, and since the early Ming dynasty, it has been an important port for transporting military supplies to Liaodong. Due to its strategic location, it was upgraded from a state to a prefecture. The city wall of Dengzhou is 9 li long, 3.5 zhang high, and 2 zhang thick, with four gates and three water gates. All four gates have watchtowers, the largest difference being that there is a water castle in the north of the city, known as the "Knife Fish Fortress" during the Song dynasty. After the establishment of the Dengzhou Guard in the ninth year of Hongwu, a new wall was built in the north of the city to facilitate the transportation of military supplies by sea to Liaodong. During the Japanese invasion, it was renamed the "Preparatory Castle against the Japanese". In the first year of Tianqi, in response to the rise of the Later Jin, the Deng-Lai Governor was established in June to oversee the military affairs of the Eastern Expedition, with its headquarters located in Dengzhou. The first governor was Tao Langxian. After the establishment of the East River Garrison, the governor's jurisdiction was expanded to include the East River. It is an important hub for the Ming court to control Liaohai and maintain the East River Garrison.

  There were many naval vessels near Dengzhou, and soon they encountered a bird ship of the Ming army. The Fuship was flying the official flag of the Dengzhou Sea Defense Command, while the bird ship simply approached slowly without any hostile movements.

  Chen Xin saw the Fu ship drop anchor, and immediately launched a small boat to go to the Bird ship. On board seemed to be Song Wenxian. After a while, the small boat returned, but this time it was heading towards Zhu Yin's ship. Chen Xin saw from afar that Song Wenxian's face was gloomy, and his heart couldn't help but feel anxious.

  "Brother Chen, Lord Li has stepped down and been transferred to Nanjing as the Right Vice Minister of Revenue. The current Governor is Sun Guozhen."

  Song Wenxian pulled Chen Xin aside as soon as he boarded the ship and whispered the news to him. Chen Xin looked at Song Wenxian's mournful face and guessed that he was probably Li Daren's confidant, now that the boss had changed, this high-ranking white-collar worker was naturally in a bit of danger. It was already May 15th when they set sail, and it was estimated that Li Daren hadn't had time to inform Song Wenxian, otherwise he would have sold off the goods immediately and wouldn't have dragged on for over a month.

  Chen Xin was completely in the dark about these two adults, but since he didn't know, he definitely wouldn't be a big shot later on. He tentatively said: "How about we take the silver from this lucky ship and run away with it?"

  "How can that be? This bird boat is right next to us, and they are all under Lord Zhong's command. Moreover, my whole family is in Dengzhou, how can we escape?"

  Chen Xin rubbed his nose and suppressed the greedy thoughts in his heart, asking: "Has Lord Li left yet?"

  "He's gone, leaving a few family members behind, still waiting to collect the silver. He's actually quite good, leaving and collecting silver, but I'm not willing to go with him to Nanjing. As for Sun Gong, I don't know him either. Oh well, with this profit, I'll just become a rich man."

  Chen Xin looked at him and thought he was still keen on power, otherwise with his income of nearly 20,000 taels this time, he would have been a rich and leisurely gentleman. He glanced at the bird boat and said, "Whose is that bird boat?"

  "Mr. Zhong's."

  "Who is Master Zhong listening to now?"

  "Of course it's the new Governor Sun."

  "How much is Mr. Li's bill?"

  Song Wenxian weakly replied: "Director Li is Mr. Jia on the account book, you all know his goods."

  "Now it's 35,000 taels. Mr. Song, what do you think? Return the principal of 17,000 taels to Lord Li and make a profit of 18,000 taels."

  Song Wenxian's eyes lit up "The silver earned will be given to Governor Sun, and it won't offend Governor Li too much. This way, Governor Sun also has a chance to advance."

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  Note 1: Li Song was appointed as the Governor of Dengzhou in December of the fifth year of Tianqi (1625) and transferred to be the Right Vice Minister of Revenue in Nanjing in May of the seventh year of Tianqi (1627). He was succeeded by Sun Guozhen.