Chapter 48: The Matter of Marriage

  Regarding the plan to expand their forces downstream along the Yangtze River, Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wang had discussed it many times before reaching an agreement. To motivate the sailors, Lin Chunhong decided that the Lin Group would provide all the ships and equipment, but only take 40% of the spoils of war, with the remaining 60% to be distributed by the ship captains. Furthermore, they guaranteed that if they were captured by government officials or other pirates, they would do their best to rescue them. To achieve the goal of accumulating experienced sailors, it was stipulated that one-quarter of the sailors on each ship would be rotated every three months, which also served to prevent the ship captains from forming private forces. Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wang also believed that when conditions were ripe, they would establish a powerful main fleet, so even if the ship captains formed private forces, it wouldn't matter. After all, they still controlled the gunpowder. This plan was not revealed to anyone by Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wang, as the most critical ships were still in the dockyard.

  As for Lin Chunhong being so confident that he could get enough gunpowder, it was because he had discovered a large amount of saltpeter in the caves upstream of Qingjiang River. Saltpeter is also a kind of medicinal material, which was brought by locals to trade at the warehouse. After Lin Chunhong found out, he kept buying it at high prices and now has stored quite a lot of saltpeter on Baili Island. The enthusiasm of the locals for finding saltpeter is getting higher and higher every day. As for sulfur, it's even simpler, as Guan Renmei developed the sulfur iron mine, which doesn't lack sulfur at all. What they lack most now is an experienced gunpowder maker, but this problem was also solved by Peng Xin, who found more than 20 experienced firework masters and brought them to Baili Island. Lin Chunhong couldn't help but cry and laugh, so he had to divide the more than 20 firework masters into three groups for gunpowder research and brought a small cannon from Datian. He set a rule: with the same cannonballs and equal amounts of gunpowder, whoever could make the gunpowder that made the cannonball fly the farthest would be rewarded with 500 silver taels per person in their group. This rule made the firework masters work day and night without paying attention to their bodies. For a time, the small island of Baili was filled with the sound of cannons every day, making the residents extremely frightened.

  After Zhang Zuo San and others saw the centipede boat, Lin Chunhong arranged for Lu Shi Yuan and Zhao He Hai to go to Guangzhou together. Lu Shi Yuan's responsibility was to investigate commercial information in Guangzhou to see if a warehouse could be set up there, while Zhao He Hai's task was to find a sea route to determine the future development path of the Lin Group at sea. Zhao He Hai had no idea of the significance of this task and just thought that being able to travel freely across the ocean was enough. To ensure the safety of the two men, Lin Chunhong sent his guards Ning Dian and Yu Ze to accompany them on their journey.

  At the same time, Lin Chunhong ordered Zedi and others to build a three-masted large cargo ship, which is suitable for navigation and transportation in the Yangtze River. According to Lin Chunhong's plan, this kind of ship is mainly used for long-distance transportation of goods and connecting Jiangnan. Now, the shipyard on Baili Island has expanded several times, divided into multiple parts such as wood processing, sail making, rope weaving, shipbuilding, painting... Most of the raw materials except wood are purchased, and no profit has been seen yet, with silver being spent like flowing water, which makes Lin Chunhong, who had a lot of cash in hand, feel heartbroken.

  What troubled Lin Chunhong the most was that the lack of iron had become a bottleneck hindering the development of various industries. Lin Chunhong racked his brains to think of famous iron mines within China's borders, and after much thought, he could only think of Daye, which was closest to Jingzhou Prefecture. The iron ore in Daye was of high quality, and it also contained copper deposits, making Lin Chunhong drool with desire.

  However, Lin Chunhong knew that the Great Ming Empire would never allow him to intervene in the mining affairs of Daye. Having no other choice, Lin Chunhong had to retreat and aim his sights at Huoshao Ping by the Qingjiang River instead.

  Huoshao Ping belongs to Yiling State, Changyang County. The ore quality is not bad, about 30 miles away from the Qingjiang River bank. There is currently a small-scale official mining site. How can we convert it from official to private? Lin Chunhong racked his brains for a solution.

  Yiling State City.

  "Alright, listen up! Lian Niang, you need to finish splitting all this firewood today. Xiao He, you need to tidy up every single room in the house! If I catch either of you slacking off, humph, watch out for your own skin!" Little Feng scolded with one hand on her hip and the other pointing at the two girls.

  Two young girls with slender figures, even in their simple blue servant clothes, could not hide their stunning curves. One of them, Lian Niang, had an oval face and a pair of big eyes that sparkled with emotion, looking sweet beyond measure without any makeup. Xiao He Sheng was petite and delicate, like a lotus flower rising out of the water, untainted and fresh, elegant and refined, making people adore her endlessly. The two young girls were lowering their heads, their faces filled with tears, quietly listening to Zhou Feng's orders. After Zhou Feng gave the command, they walked towards the house, swaying gently like lilies in the wind, full of charm and poise.

  Zhou Feng saw it and scolded: "Walk properly, you're born with a cheap bone! Showing off while working!"

  Tears as big as beans rolled down the faces of Lotus and Little He, ever since they arrived in Yiling, they had been ordered around by Zhou Feng to do this and that, without a moment's rest. Originally, they were good at singing and dancing, skilled in playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but now they could only do rough work, their delicate hands already showing thick calluses, which made them feel humiliated. It turned out that Peng Xin had originally planned to select two women from his clan to give to Lin Chunhong, but after becoming the manager of a warehouse in Yuezhou, his vision broadened, and he heard that the thin horses of Yangzhou were famous throughout the land, so he sent a trusted aide to Yangzhou to spend 2,500 taels of silver to buy two top-quality horses, which were then sent to Yiling. Lin Chunhong had not yet returned to Yiling and was still unaware of this matter. Li Shi could do nothing but raise the two girls at home, quietly waiting for Lin Chunhong's return to deal with it.

  After seeing the two girls, Zhou Feng's heart was like an overturned five-flavor bottle, and her mood was bad for several days. Zhou Feng asked Li Shi to have the two girls serve her, and Li Shi didn't say a word, instructing the two girls to take good care of Zhou Feng. However, when the two girls arrived at Zhou Feng's place, they were in for a disaster. Zhou Feng's anger had found an outlet, and she constantly made them do rough chores, tormenting them through this. Li Shi and her mother saw everything Zhou Feng did, but couldn't intervene, so they just let her be. On the other hand, Chen Jixing saw that the two new sisters were gentle and beautiful, skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and he constantly criticized Zhou Feng, making her even more resentful, to the point where she gave Chen Jixing several severe scoldings.

  It wasn't until Chen Jixing reported the matter to Lin Chunhong in a letter that Lin Chunhong learned that Peng Xin had sent him two Yangzhou thin horses. Considering it would be impolite to return the gifts, and he was short of people who could write and keep accounts, he ordered the two men to be sent to Li Chongde in Bailizhou, instructing him to arrange for them to live in a separate courtyard and to entrust them with some tasks related to documents.

  After hearing Lin Chunhong's arrangement, Xiao Feng directly threw the Yiling warehouse to Taohua. Fortunately, the warehouse had been operating in an orderly manner for a long time and did not cause any major chaos. However, Zhou Feng stayed indoors and did not go out to show her face, which suited her mother's intentions. Every day, she took good care of Zhou Feng's daily life with meticulous care.

  Zhou Feng was a wild and unruly young girl, how could she bear to stay at home every day? On the third day, early in the morning, she took her little maid Xiuji out for a stroll. Xiuji was only thirteen or fourteen years old, but under Zhou Feng's influence, she also had a lively and fiery personality. Wherever Zhou Feng said to go, Xiuji naturally followed closely behind. Unbeknownst to them, the two of them soon found themselves at a cosmetics shop. In the past, Zhou Feng never came to these kinds of shops; usually, it was Li who sent her these things and taught her how to use them. But since Lian Niang and Xiao He had come, they would talk about cosmetics and makeup, applying them to their faces, making their skin look smooth and rosy, and emitting a seductive fragrance that made Zhou Feng's heart skip a beat. So, she felt a little ashamed of herself; now, she had come to the cosmetics shop for two reasons: one was to buy some good things, and the other was to gain some experience.

  As soon as I entered the rice noodle shop, a woman came up to me with a big smile on her face and said: "Ah, Miss Zhou has arrived at our humble shop, what would you like to buy?"

  Zhou Feng was surprised and asked: "How did you know my surname is Zhou? Do you know me?"

  The woman smiled and said: "Who in Yiling City doesn't know Miss Zhou? She's got a neat appearance, speaks straightforwardly, and does things that make people give her a big thumbs up."

  Zhou Feng's face turned red with embarrassment, and she said with a smile: "There's no such thing, Auntie, you're too eloquent." Although she was humble in her words, she was secretly pleased with herself.

  "Miss Zhou, what do you need? Our cosmetics here are all top-notch goods. We don't even sell to ordinary families." The woman didn't forget her duty and took the opportunity to promote her merchandise.

  Zhou Feng was tongue-tied, she really didn't know what to buy, so she casually said: "Bring me your best rouge and powder to take a look."

  The woman said "good" and took out a porcelain box, handed it to Zhou Feng, saying: "Miss Zhou take a look, this is not lead powder, but purple jasmine flowers, ground into a fine powder mixed with high-quality spices."

  Zhou Feng received the porcelain box, opened it and saw that inside was arranged a row of ten jade hairpins. Zhou Feng took out one of the hairpins, stuck some powder on it, and looked at it there.

  The rice flour shop still had a few customers, the woman was busy taking care of other customers. At this time, a woman called out: "Boss, I want two boxes of Qingjiang's rouge." Zhou Feng hurriedly turned her head to look and saw a woman with a bun on her hair, wearing a red agate necklace around her neck, dressed in a large red jacket with a silver mouse fur trim, wearing a flower-patterned skirt, with a pair of eyebrows that seemed to be full of emotions, a face as sweet as a peach blossom, and lips as red as a peach flower.

  "Alas, Cui Niang, unfortunately, the lip balm from Qingjiang is all sold out. It might take three days for new stock to arrive!" The woman sighed with some regret.

  Cui Niang didn't think it was a pity, and smiled: "The rouge of Qingjiang is actually selling so well, I'm sure that Old Master Lin must have made a fortune."

  Another woman next to her said, "Not at all, this Qingjiang rouge is not made from rose flowers, but from the finest rouge that has been pressed out of water and impurities, and then steamed with floral extracts. I heard that in the past, the local women of Qingjiang used this to apply on their faces, and they looked as beautiful as peonies. This Old Master Lin is really something, he's actually managed to get his hands on this local product to sell."

  "Speaking of Boss Lin, not only is he good at making money, but he also became a governor and led troops to eliminate over 5,000 bandits last year! It's said that he hasn't settled down yet, Little Dream, you have a chance!"

  The woman giggled and said, "Look, I won't tear your mouth apart, nonsense, every day in front of my sisters saying you want to marry Lin Laoban, is that you?" After finishing speaking, she made a gesture as if to go tear Xiao Meng's mouth.

  Xiao Meng dodged the woman's hand and cried out, "How could Boss Lin look down on us? I heard he's already engaged to the daughter of the garrison commander in Jingzhou and is about to send over the betrothal gifts."

  Zhou Fengyi's ears perked up as soon as he heard Lin Laoban, and now that he had heard that Lin Chunhong was engaged to the daughter of the garrison commander, a surge of unnamed anger rose in his chest. With a "pa" sound, he put the porcelain box on the table and asked Xiaomeng: "Who did you hear it from? Is Lin Chunhong really going to marry the garrison commander's daughter?"

  Xiao Meng and the woman from earlier laughed with their heads thrown back, saying: "So little sister also wants to marry Boss Lin? Too late, too late!"

  Zhou Feng's face turned bright red, clenching her fist, about to erupt. Cui Yu'er, who had just seen this, couldn't help but find it amusing. She knew Zhou Feng and quickly grabbed her hand, saying: "Little sister, don't listen to their nonsense. Come, let me take a look at this rouge box. This jasmine powder only needs a tiny bit, just put it in the palm of your hand..."

  Xiao Meng'er and another woman were originally songstresses in a brothel. With nothing to do, they thought of teasing Zhou Feng. Seeing that Zhou Feng was blocked by Cui Yu'er, they found it uninteresting and bought some water powder before leaving. Cui Yu'er was a Qing Nu of the Yiling Chunxiang Tower, only 18 or 19 years old, and was the tower's top-ranked courtesan. She had attracted the admiration of many scholars in Yiling and Jingzhou, and her reputation spread far and wide. Today, seeing Zhou Feng being impulsive and almost causing trouble, she helped her.

  Zhou Feng was also grateful to Cui Yuer, and after bidding farewell, she took Hidetsugu on the street, looking around, thinking about Lin Chunhong's engagement, and couldn't help but feel resentful: wait for Lin Chunhong to come back and give him a good look. Who would have thought that she had been stared at by someone in the water powder shop earlier, and that person was Bai Jingzhou, the thousand households of Yiling. Bai Jingzhou took over as the thousand households of Yiling State during the Tianqi period, married six concubines one after another, and spent years indulging in brothels, losing interest in ordinary women's flattery. Today, seeing Zhou Feng's every smile and anger, he had a different idea from ordinary women, and decided to marry Zhou Feng as his seventh concubine. Bai Jingzhou followed Zhou Feng all the way, looking more and more delighted, and couldn't help but ask around, knowing that Zhou Feng was an ordinary woman, so he entrusted a matchmaker to propose marriage.

  Zhou Wang's wife heard the matchmaker say this, immediately drove the matchmaker out of the house and informed Zhou Wang. After receiving the letter, Zhou Wang rushed to Yiling City with Lin Chunhong from Baili Island. Zhou Wang's opinion was that he absolutely disagreed, and Lin Chunhong also strongly opposed it. Unfortunately, Zhou Feng is now hiding in her own room, not even opening the door, and does not allow anyone to enter.

  "Xiao Feng, don't be sad, how could Father agree to you becoming a concubine? He will definitely find a good family for you!" Zhou Wang said in a low and humble tone at the door of the room.

  "Just be a concubine then! You all don't care about me anyway, let me fend for myself!" Little Feng shouted in the room.

  "Who said don't care about you? Didn't we drive the matchmaker out of the door? You'd better come out and eat something, it's been a long day, and you're not even eating." Zhou Wang's wife was persuading him with a bitter tone.

  "I won't eat, I won't eat, let me starve to death!" As she said this, Xiaofeng burst into tears.

  "Look at what you've done! You've spoiled them rotten!"

  Zhou Wang helplessly spread out his hands, indicating that there was nothing he could do, and signaled to Lin Chunhong to comfort Xiao Feng'er.

  Lin Chunhong exclaimed: "Little Phoenix, think about it, your parents only have you as their daughter, how can they bear to let you become a concubine? At the very least, you should be carried in an eight-man sedan chair and marry into a noble family. Who knows, maybe you'll even be granted the title of 'Guifei'!"

  Others saw Lin Chunhong speaking as if joking, rolling their eyes. Lin Chunhong didn't care, picked up a bowl and chopsticks, and ate the noodles with a loud "slurp", making everyone feel sick. Lin Chunhong said while eating: "Xiaofeng, look at this noodle, it's so delicious! I want to eat three more bowls after finishing!"

  "Go ahead and eat, eat ten bowls, burst your belly, see how you'll marry a chaste daughter!" Little Feng was furious, and in the heat of the moment, she blurted out these words. As soon as she finished speaking, she regretted it and couldn't help but cry again.

  As soon as the words came out, Li's face lit up with joy and said "Auntie, I'll go prepare the betrothal gifts." She immediately went back to the house to arrange for the matchmaker to propose the marriage, not caring whether Lin Chunhong agreed or not. Zhou Wang and his wife exchanged a smile, also quietly walked away, leaving only Lin Chunhong standing there stupidly with a mouthful of noodles.

  Xiaofeng cried for a while, seeing that there was no movement outside, she quietly opened the door and peeked out through a slit. As a result, she saw Lin Chunhong's silly face and stomped her foot in anger: "It's all because of you, this fool, that I ended up like this!"

  "What's going on with your daughter? Where did you hear that from? How come I don't know?" Lin Chunhong asked, regaining his energy.

  "You're still thinking about someone else's daughter, and you say you don't know? I'd rather die than marry you!" After that, she lay down on the bed, covering her head with a quilt.

  This way, Lin Chunhong didn't dare to enter the house, standing outside and saying softly: "Among the three thousand weak waters, I only take one scoop to drink, holding your hand, and growing old with you!" Xiaofeng was suffocated under the quilt, her face flushed red, her heart beating violently, and she said shyly: "You leave, you leave, I won't see you again! Nor will I listen to your nonsense!"

  Lin Chunhong chuckled and said, "Parental orders, matchmaker's words, you can't refuse now!" After that, he went straight back to the house to see how Li was preparing.

  Just as Lin Chunhong and Li were busily preparing the betrothal gifts, Lin suddenly received a report that Bai Jingzhou had sent troops to surround the Yi Ling warehouse, claiming that the Yi Ling thousand households had lost a military strategic weapon and the Yi Ling warehouse was under suspicion, wanting to go in for an inspection. A clash broke out with the guards, and both sides were at a standoff.

  Originally, Bai Jingzhou was rejected with stern words and felt that he couldn't save face. Later, when he heard that Zhou Feng was going to marry Lin Chunhong, he found out that Zhou Wang and Lin Chunhong had partnered up to open a warehouse in Yiling. He became enraged and sent troops to surround the warehouse. Zhou Wang and Lin Chunhong had been paying close attention to Bai Jingzhou's movements over the past few days, but they didn't expect him to tear off his mask so quickly, turning it into a situation where one of them would have to die. Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wang immediately rushed to the warehouse to deal with Bai Jingzhou.