Chapter 113: Sleeping
When they left the port of Massa, there were still 5,000 pieces of porcelain and 35,000 pieces of cloth left on the ship, and they had to sell all these goods before they could return.
Originally, Zhao Xiao planned to go directly to England, but there was a Venetian merchant named Lao Qiao on the ship, who planned to buy 10,000 pieces of cloth and 1,000 pieces of porcelain.
After hearing the number he reported, Zhao Xiao felt a little skeptical. Ten thousand pieces of cloth were worth one hundred thousand gold coins. Could he afford so much money?
Of course, Old Joe himself couldn't come up with so much money, but the Merchants' Union of Venice could definitely come up with so many gold coins.
He saw the value of silk. Women have no resistance to beautiful clothes. Once silk becomes popular, European ladies will scramble to buy this kind of cloth, and then these cloths can be sold at a high price!
When the Hope arrived at the port of Antôntepe, Old Joe got off the ship. This is where the Venetian merchants currently live and it is also one of the larger ports in Europe.
This place does not belong to the Papal States, nor to any other country. Since the disintegration of ancient Rome, it has become a lawless area. Merchants, pirates, and rangers all gather here to do business.
Old Joe's family is one of the people in charge here. There are also two other families, Andrew and Russell, who work together to maintain law and order.
The rule at Antontepu Port is that once you get ashore, no matter what previous grudges you had, you are not allowed to mention them here.
If you dare to cause trouble for others here, you will be fined a huge amount of money. If you cannot pay the money, you will be taken to the arena to fight with the bull. Only those who survive will be allowed to leave here.
Antonio on the boat was full of hostility towards Old Joe. He secretly found Song Yutang and said, "Venetian merchants are the most cunning foxes. You must be careful when doing business with them, otherwise you will lose everything you have invested."
Song Yutang nodded, thanked Antonio for his reminder, and translated the words to Zhao Xiao verbatim.
Old Joe got off the boat and saw a middle-aged man with a big beard walking towards them from a distance.
"Oh, my stupid brother, you are finally back!" The man hugged Old Joe and kissed him on both cheeks.
Old Joe pushed his brother aside uncomfortably and introduced the people next to him: "This is my brother Jerrod, and this is General Zhao and Lord Song from the Hope."
Jerrod pouted and looked up and down at Zhao Xiao and his group, and suddenly said in a loud voice: "Is this the famous Oriental? I have heard that you used lightning to blow Massa into ruins."
Old Joe quickly grabbed his brother and said, "Hey, please don't talk to my friends in that tone!"
Jerrod looked at these yellow-skinned Orientals with disdain. He didn't believe at all that these people could use lightning.
Zhao Xiao patted Song Yutang on the shoulder and asked him to translate what he said: "We are here to do business. If you welcome us, we will stay. If you don't welcome us..."
Before Song Yutang finished translating his words, Old Qiao was so scared that he kept apologizing: "I apologize for my brother's recklessness. We welcome you very much!" He had witnessed the power of artillery with his own eyes and was worried that Zhao Xiao would blow up this place in anger.
Zhao Xiao raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, "So this is how you greet guests?"
Old Joe had no choice but to walk to his brother and whisper a few words in his ear. Jerrod's face changed slightly, and he slowly smiled: "Dear guests from the East who have come from afar, welcome to Anton Tepu!"
Zhao Xiao looked at the two brothers in confusion. He didn't know what Lao Qiao had said to him that made his attitude change instantly.
They followed Old Joe to the manor where they lived. There was a castle built of stones, decorated with many gilded utensils. It looked magnificent and grand, but of course it could not be compared with the palace of Daqi.
Seeing that these people were not impressed by his castle, Old Joe guessed that they might have seen more luxurious houses than this one.
After entering the castle, Old Joe's brother left alone without any intention of greeting them.
Zhao Xiao said: "Let's talk about business."
Old Qiao wiped the sweat off his head and said, "General Zhao, please don't be anxious. You may as well stay here for a few days and try the local food. We can talk slowly."
"We don't have the time to hang out here. Since we want to do business, we should be sincere. You pay us and we ship the goods. After the payment and goods are settled, we have to hurry back."
Old Joe stood up and said, "General, please wait a moment. I will go and discuss it with my brother." In fact, he was only the youngest son in the family, and the youngest son had no inheritance rights here, so he left his hometown and went to the Papal States to do business.
This time when I came back, I thought I could persuade my brother to buy silk and make a fortune, but at the moment, it seems that my brother does not want to spend the money on silk, and he also has his eyes on the ship.
Old Joe walked to the study next door and said, "Jerrod, please lend me 100,000 gold coins. I will pay you back 150,000 gold coins in a month."
Jerrod laughed as if he had heard something funny. He then spread his hands and said, "Oh, my poor brother, do you think these Orientals are so powerful? Why don't we just rob the ship?"
"Don't dream on that ship. There are very powerful firearms on that ship. They can blow up the entire port!"
A greedy smile appeared on Jerrod's face. "That's even better. If we get this ship, we can conquer the entire Papal States and make it our territory."
Old Joe had nothing to say to this arrogant brother. He originally wanted to borrow money from his friends, but borrowing money takes time and those Oriental people may not wait for him.
It seems that the only way is to persuade Russell or Andrew's family to buy the goods and earn some commission from it.
Jerrod seemed to guess his brother's thoughts and sneered, "Give it up, the Andrews and Russells won't spend money to buy those fabrics."
"I have to give it a try."
"Brother, I have one last piece of advice for you. Don't provoke these Orientals. They are far more powerful than you think." After saying this, Old Joe left with a complicated look in his eyes.
When he returned to the front hall and was about to ask Zhao Xiao and the others to leave, dozens of rangers suddenly rushed in from outside. These people surrounded them with daggers and short knives in their hands. Jerrod actually forcefully detained these Orientals.
"Old Qiao!" Song Yutang called him angrily.
Old Joe put his hands together, looked embarrassed and said, "I'm very sorry, my brother didn't listen to my advice."
Jerrod came out of the side door and sneered, "Foolish brother, why are you apologizing to these fat fish?"
"Now, I'm only giving you one chance. Either you give me the boat and I'll take you away from here, or you die here and become fertilizer for my flowers."
Song Yutang translated his words to Zhao Xiao with a serious face. The dozen or so soldiers who accompanied him instantly drew their swords, surrounded the city and prepared for battle.
Zhao Xiao said with some regret: "It seems that this deal cannot be done."
As he spoke, he rushed to Jerrod at an extremely fast speed. The rangers were dazzled and couldn't even see how he got there!
Zhao Xiao controlled Jerrod with one hand, and locked his throat with his other finger like an eagle's claw: "Do you think we only have artillery?"
Jerrod showed a horrified expression: "If you kill me, you won't be able to leave Antontepu!"
Zhao Xiao knew what he was talking about without the need for translation, and punched him in the face, causing blood to spurt from his nose.
“There’s no place to keep me.”
"Oh! Damn...you can't do this." Jerrod didn't expect him to attack suddenly and gasped in pain.
The ranger next to him was holding a knife, ready to come up and rescue Jerrod.
"Bang, bang, bang!" After several consecutive punches, Jerrod finally couldn't help begging for mercy. He kept calling out to Old Joe, hoping that his brother could help him beg these people.
Old Qiao knelt on the ground and begged Song Yutang: "My brother was just confused for a moment, please let him go."
Song Yutang asked Zhao Xiao: "General, should we release him?"
Zhao Xiao wiped the blood off his hands on Jerrod: "Tell him that if he wants to eat fish, he has to see if his teeth can handle it."
Jerrod had a lot of teeth knocked out, and he rolled his eyes in anger after listening to the translation.
Zhao Xiao left him and said, "Since you don't want to do business, I won't bother you anymore." Then he waved his hand and left with his subordinates.
Old Joe quickly helped his brother up: "Are you okay?"
Jerrod pushed his brother away and shouted angrily: "Go, kill these yellow monkeys!"
The rangers chased after him, but no one came back after waiting for a long time. Jerrod limped out of the castle and walked to the gate, where he saw that none of the forty or so rangers he had recruited were left. They had all been killed with one blow...
Old Joe made the sign of the cross on his chest and said, "I warned you not to provoke those Orientals, but you didn't listen."
Jerrod covered his mouth, his face in terrible pain. He had no idea those people were so powerful.
"So what...what should we do now?"
Old Joe: "Pray that they don't blow this place up." Then he walked out.
*
Zhao Xiao has no plans to blow up this place for the time being, because there are limited bombs on the ship and they cannot be used indiscriminately.
"General, shall we go back to the ship?" asked the soldier next to him.
Zhao Xiao shook his head: "There are still so many goods on the ship, we have to sell them all before we can go home."
"Please wait!"
Old Joe chased them closely and finally caught up with them.
The group stopped and looked at him warily.
Old Joe stopped, swallowed, and waved his hands nervously: "I have no ill intentions."
Song Yutang asked, "What are you doing here?"
Old Joe said helplessly, "I'm very sorry about what happened just now. I didn't expect him to do such a thing. In order to make up for Jerrod's mistake, I am willing to introduce the Russell family to do this business with you. The Russell family is the most honest businessman in Anton Port."
Zhao Xiao knew that Lao Qiao didn't have the courage to lie to him again, so he readily agreed.
Old Joe brought them to the Russell family's manor. Not long after the message was delivered, John Russell came out in person to greet them as they entered the castle.
John was a thin old man with a white beard. Although he was quite old, he looked in good spirits and was very polite to Old Joe.
"Thank you for bringing them here. I was just about to send someone to look for these merchants from the East."
John said, "I heard that you brought exquisite porcelain and beautiful silk. Can I discuss a business deal with you?"
Zhao Xiao smiled slightly: "It's an honor."
*
"Crackle, crackle..." The bright red firecrackers rang out, and with a burst of warm cheers, the first normal university in Beijing officially began recruiting students.
This is the third university opened after Shangjing Medical College and Shangjing Institute of Technology. In addition to the famous teachers from the Imperial College, there are also lecturers from the Imperial Academy. Qin Fengtu and others serve as honorary tutors who come here to give lectures every month.
As the name suggests, the purpose of a normal university is to train new all-round teaching talents. Students who graduate from this university will be assigned to work in the education industry all over the country in the future.
This year, Song Yuzhu not only established several universities, he also opened advanced institutions of learning in 18 states across the country, recruiting outstanding students to continue their studies and take the national college entrance examination.
Song Yuzhu planned to abolish the selection model of the imperial examination system because the talents selected by the imperial examination system were too homogeneous and not conducive to national development.
However, abolishing the imperial examination was not an easy task. There were so many scholars in the country whose lifelong wish was to pass the imperial examination and become an official. Cutting off their path to the imperial examination would undoubtedly cut off their future. These scholars would criticize him to death.
Song Yuzhu could only influence people subtly by selecting talents from higher education institutions to make the imperial examination less important.
This is a long process. Fortunately, not many scholars are opposed to it at the moment. I believe that when Yutong ascends the throne, I will be able to help her through this stage.
"Your Majesty, it's time to rest." Li Dehai said in a low voice.
Song Yuzhu closed the memorial and pinched her brows: "What time is it?"
"It's already the twilight hour."
"It's getting late, let's go back to the bedroom."
"Yes." Li Dehai walked in front with the Fengsifeng lamp lit. This lamp was developed by the Ministry of Military Industry some time ago.
They extracted kerosene from petroleum, which is more easily burned, and made glass lamps, which are much brighter than the original tallow candle lamps and burn more durable. Now the palace has been replaced with this style of palace lanterns, which are much brighter than before.
After returning to the bedroom, Song Yuzhu took off her hair crown and outer shirt. Just as she was about to wash up, she suddenly heard a noise coming from the bed.
He stopped vigilantly and vaguely saw someone lying on the bed. He immediately blew the whistle hanging around his neck.
This whistle is specifically used to summon the secret guards. As soon as the whistle sounded, the secret guards hidden in the palace rushed in instantly.
"There's someone on the bed, get him down for me!"
"Yes!" The secret guard picked up his knife and killed him. The bed curtain shook and a shrill scream came from inside.
"Your Majesty, spare my life!"
(End of this chapter)
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