Chapter 115: End
The storm at sea seemed to have no intention of stopping, and the huge waves were tossing the Hope up and down.
In order to avoid casualties caused by the strong wind overturning the boat, Zhao Xiao decided to let everyone go to the island for refuge.
After the big ship dropped anchor, everyone rowed their boats to the shore. Several small boats were overturned by the waves on the way, but they all arrived at the island safely.
This is a deserted island with many bushes that have just sprouted in this season. A few dozen meters ahead, there is a natural arc-shaped stone cave that is just right for sheltering from the rain.
The soldiers collected some dry branches, lit them up, and gathered together to dry their clothes.
Song Yutang sniffed his nose and hugged his arms, shivering. It was really too cold. He didn't feel it because he was busy draining water on the boat just now, but now he was shivering with cold when he took a break.
Zhao Xiao took the wine jug from his waist and handed it to him: "Drink some to warm yourself up."
"Thank you, General." Song Yutang picked up the wine jug and took a sip. The hot wine flowed down his throat and burned into his lungs, and his body instantly felt much warmer.
"You're welcome." Because of Song Yuzhu, Zhao Xiao took good care of his cousin.
Song Yutang looked up at the raindrops that formed a beaded curtain at the cave entrance and couldn't help but sigh: "It's raining so hard, I don't know when it will stop. Fortunately, we sold 20,000 pieces of silk in Andon Tepu, otherwise it would have all been ruined by the rain."
Old John was an honest businessman and more far-sighted than Jerrod. He saw the value of the silk, so both parties made the transaction happily.
At first he only wanted 10,000 rolls of silk, but he couldn't resist Old Joe's soft and hard persuasion. He even planned to borrow money at high interest to buy more.
No one knows when these Orientals will come again. If they don’t come, silk will be out of print, and they can raise the price and make a fortune!
In the end, Old John spent 180,000 gold coins to buy the 20,000 pieces of silk. Because he bought a lot, Zhao Xiao readily gave him a 10% discount.
There were still 15,000 rolls of silk and 5,000 pieces of porcelain left on the ship. The porcelain was not afraid of rain, but I wondered if half of the silk could be preserved.
Seeing that Song Yutang was still shivering, Zhao Xiao said, "If you feel cold, go inside and warm yourself by the fire to avoid catching typhoid fever."
It’s not that Song Yutang didn’t want to go in, but that group of young men were too crowded and he couldn’t squeeze in with his small body.
Zhao Xiao saw his predicament and shouted, pushing Song Yutang inside to warm himself by the fire.
The wind was still blowing outside. Zhao Xiao squatted at the entrance of the cave and reached out to catch some water. Antonio came over and squatted beside him: "Respected General Zhao, I want to ask you a favor."
"What's up?"
Antonio blushed and scratched his head: "Can you sell us some of those rain-soaked fabrics at a low price..."
They did not buy much goods when they returned from Shangjing, because they did not have much money. The little silver coins they had were not used to buy silk, but some cheap tea and spices.
These days, seeing Zhao Xiao making so much money selling silk, they felt itchy.
Just now he heard the soldiers on the ship say that silk became worthless after being soaked by rain, so he began to think about it. He planned to buy these silks at a low price and sell them to the less wealthy nobles in the city. Those people would definitely be willing to spend money on these defective products in order to save face.
Zhao Xiao said, "Wait until the rain stops and then see. If it's badly soaked, I'll sell it to you at a low price."
Antonio was so happy that he raised his hands to hug him: "You are such a kind person!"
"Oh! Forget about the hug." The smell of these barbarians was too strong, and Zhao Xiao really couldn't bear it.
*
The heavy rain continued for two hours, and it gradually subsided when it was getting dark. The wind and waves on the sea also became much smaller. Everyone decided to spend the night on the island and board the ship again when it was daybreak.
In the middle of the night, Zhao Xiao suddenly woke up. He seemed to hear the sound of the anchor being pulled up.
"Wake up, get up and go to the shore!"
The soldiers were well-trained and immediately ran to the shore after being awakened. With the light of the torch, they saw a figure flashing on the boat!
These people were Vikings who were taking shelter on the island. They arrived at the island first and landed on the other side to take shelter from the rain.
Soon they found the Hope was also heading towards the island, so they quickly hid themselves, intending to wait for the people to leave before coming out. But when they saw everyone on the ship getting off to avoid the rain, the captain simply took his men down to steal the ship.
Unfortunately, they didn't know how to drive a steam-powered boat, and after working for a long time they still couldn't get the boat away.
Zhao Xiao licked his back teeth and said, "The boat has been stolen and it has come to my head. Capture these people for me!"
"Yes!" The soldiers jumped into the sea one after another and rowed towards the Hope on wooden boats.
"Hurry up." A man with long hair and a full beard on the Hope roared in a low voice.
The first mate was sweating profusely. What the hell, how on earth was this boat sailing? There were no sails or oars, and it didn't move at all even when the anchor was raised.
"Get out of the way, I'll do it!" The captain pushed the first mate away, fumbled around in the cockpit, and fiddled with it, but the ship remained motionless.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Seeing such a huge ship right in front of them but unable to drive it away, they got so angry that they picked up the stools next to them and smashed it.
The first mate swallowed and said, "Captain, why don't we search the ship for some things and leave."
The crew member on the lookout said, "Captain, those people are back!"
The captain drew his scimitar from his waist and said, "I won't leave. I want to fight them!"
Seeing that he couldn't stop the incident, the first mate immediately jumped off the boat and ran away.
Soon the soldiers returned to the ship and surrounded the pirates. The pirate captain shouted angrily: "Call out your captain to duel with me. I want to kill him!"
After Song Yutang finished translating, Zhao Xiao pushed through the crowd and walked out, saying, "I'm the captain of this ship, and I'm happy to accompany you."
The pirate captain looked Zhao Xiao up and down. Although he didn't understand what he said, he could guess most of it.
Seeing that Zhao Xiao was unarmed, he dropped his knife and said, "I won't bully you."
Zhao Xiao raised his eyebrows. This pirate did have some chivalrous spirit. Maybe he could leave his body intact.
The others scattered, leaving the empty space on the deck to the two of them. The pirate captain was eight feet tall, with golden hair like a lion's mane, muscular body, and rushed towards Zhao Xiao with his sandbag-sized fist raised.
Antonio said in surprise, "Vikings."
Song Yutang asked: "What are Vikings?"
Antonio explained to him: "The Vikings are a people north of England, and most of them make a living by fishing and piracy. These Vikings are a bit pitiful, because they were not born to be pirates. Similar to the merchants of Venice, they have no land of their own and have always lived on the sea. However, the surrounding countries were not friendly to them, which made it difficult for the Vikings to survive for a time, so they had to embark on the road of piracy."
However, it is not scary to meet Vikings at sea, because most of them will not kill people, and they will choose to duel with people on the ship very fairly. If the other party gives up the duel, they have to give them the ship, and if they choose to duel, they will fight to the death, so these Vikings have a nickname called Berserker in the West.
Although Zhao Xiao is very good at kung fu, he is smaller than his opponent. He is afraid that he will not be able to gain the upper hand if they fight with bare hands.
Seeing that the pirate captain was about to rush over, Zhao Xiao stood there motionless. Antonio and his group covered their eyes in fear.
As a result, before the Viking could touch Zhao Xiao's body, he was knocked away by Zhao Xiao with a powerful move, and fell heavily on the deck with a "bang!"
"Great!" The soldiers on the deck clapped and cheered, not worrying about their general at all.
"Wow!" Antonio and the pirates exclaimed at the same time. They didn't see how the man flew out!
Zhao Xiao hooked his finger at him: "Continue."
The pirate captain was enraged and rushed forward again with a roar, only to be thrown out in the same posture again.
He got up unwillingly and kept hitting Zhao Xiao with his fists.
Zhao Xiao dodged with his hands behind his back, and when he saw the opponent's weakness, he kicked him on the acupoint of the knee, causing him to roll on the ground holding his legs.
"Ah! This isn't fair. If you can, have a physical fight with me!"
Seeing that he was still unconvinced, Zhao Xiao took off his shirt to reveal his muscular body and said, "Come again!"
"Oh!!!" The soldiers shouted and cheered, and the atmosphere was instantly ignited. In the past, they always heard the old soldiers in the barracks say that the general was good at kung fu, but this was the first time in such a long time that they saw the general fighting with others. Everyone was rubbing their hands with excitement and their cheeks were flushed.
The pirate got up from the ship and attacked Zhao Xiao again. This time Zhao Xiao did not dodge, but took his punch head-on, and the two engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
The Vikings were very strong, and Zhao Xiao was also very strong, and he used his strength skillfully, making his hits hurt terribly.
The wind from their fists whistled as they hit the opponent's body, making bang bang sounds. Soon the Vikings could not bear it anymore. This oriental captain looked thin and small, but how could he be so strong!
He was beaten so hard that he had no power to fight back and lay on the ground with his head in his hands to avoid the attack.
Originally, Zhao Xiao wanted to beat him to death, but after thinking about it, he realized that this man had neither stolen the boat nor gotten any advantage from him, so he simply ordered the soldiers to throw them all into the sea.
The pirate captain did not expect the other party to let him go, and he felt a little complicated. He swam back to the island with his crew, looked at the Hope, and said, "In the future, we will not rob Oriental ships at sea."
Zhao Xiao didn't know yet that because of his momentary soft-heartedness, the Vikings never robbed Oriental ships in the next three hundred years.
This little episode passed quickly and everyone hurried back to the cabin to start cleaning up the water on the boat.
There was less water in the cabin than Zhao Xiao had expected. Only the bottom layer of cloth in the cabin was soaked, while the upper layer of cloth was not wet because it was covered with oilcloth.
There was also a small amount of water accumulated in the second-floor cabin, which was the soldiers' dormitory, so the impact was not significant.
There was no water in the lower cabin, where fuel and engines were stored. The crew lit the fire, the engine started working, and the Hope continued to sail.
The next day, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up. The sky was as clear as a piece of jade, reflecting the sea clearly and brightly.
The soldiers carried the silk soaked by rain to the deck to dry. A total of more than 1,300 pieces of cloth were soaked, and Zhao Xiao sold them to Antonio at a low price of 3,000 gold coins.
However, he has no money at the moment, and his uncle will help him pay the money after arriving in England.
Although these cloths had been soaked in water, their colors were still beautiful and they felt much better than wool felt. Antonio stroked these cloths with great joy, and he could sell them for at least twice the price.
Suddenly someone shouted, "What is that!"
Antonio looked up and his eyes widened instantly: "Ah... It's Bristol! We are home, we are home!"
All the Yi people had tears in their eyes. They set out from here four years ago and finally returned after a long journey.
They cheered, shouted, and even danced on the boat.
The soldiers of Daqi were also infected by them, and looking at the port in the distance, some young soldiers had already secretly wiped away their tears, and they also thought of their hometown.
At the nearby dock, a large group of fishermen also saw the Hope. They were talking to each other and looking at the big ship with great curiosity, wondering where it came from.
As the Hope got closer, everyone was so scared that they ran back. The dozens of meters high ship was like a towering giant, covering the entire port.
The arrival of the Hope alarmed the local noble dukes, who came to the port in carriages, including Antonio's stepfather and his uncle.
When Antonio walked down from the boat, they were all stunned!
Uncle Layton ran over and hugged him, choking with sobs and saying, "My child, I thought you had died at sea..."
Antonio also hugged his uncle and burst into tears. It took him a long time to calm down: "Uncle, this is a ship from the East. On board are generals from the Great Qi Kingdom. They are carrying silk and porcelain here, hoping to trade."
Leighton was just a viscount and had no right to agree, so he turned to the Duke of Campbell and asked if he could allow the people on the ship to land for the transaction.
Before the Duke could say anything, the Duchess's wife beside him exclaimed in surprise: "Ah! Is that the silk they brought? I can't buy it anywhere else. I didn't expect it to be delivered here!"
(End of this chapter)
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