111
Lu Jian actually didn't care whether he could capture the ocean-going fleet or not. As long as the fleet could be weakened a little, it would be a good thing for him.
Of course, it would be better if it sank completely. Not to mention the treasures that were brought from thousands of miles away, the loss of the ship alone would be enough to make his kind stepmother furious, right?
However, seeing Cheng Xi swaggering over to visit with the captives, Lu Jian couldn't help but show surprise: "Brother, have you captured the treasure ship?"
It was a rare sight to see Lu Jian so moved that Cheng Xi curled his lips slightly. "Thanks to Brother Mingde's guidance, we were able to capture the treasure ship safely. But there are quite a few Lu family members on board, so it would be useless for me to keep them, so I brought them all to you."
He didn't say how he'd captured the treasure ship, but judging by what he said, the thousand-ton ship must have suffered no damage, otherwise how could he have captured so many Lu family members? And bringing these people before him, his underlying motive was not hard to guess: they were simply difficult to subjugate, so they were giving them to him as a favor.
Lu Jian turned his gaze slightly and looked at the man standing behind Cheng Xi with his head bowed. He chuckled and said, "My dear brother, you are joking. These people are all Madam Chen's subordinates. What use should I have here? Sending my head back might even help me relieve my boredom."
Lu Nan's legs went weak and he almost fell to his knees. How could this Lu Jian be even more vicious than the Cheng guy? He was still a member of the Lu family after all!
Cheng Xi smiled and said, "That's not the case. After all, we are all capable of sailing. Brother Mingde, don't you plan to form your own fleet?"
There was a strong hint of testing in these words. Lu Jian raised his eyebrows and said, "I do have some ships in Jiaozhi, but not everyone can use them..."
This sentence made Lu Nan kneel down. He said hurriedly, "I've been traveling around Southeast Asia for years, so I have some connections and know a lot about the Lu family's private affairs. Erlang is the eldest son of the Lu family and the rightful heir to the family business. I am willing to serve Erlang. If I tell a lie, I will be struck by lightning!"
He even hit his head on the ground, where is the dignity of “Boss Lu”?
Cheng Xi folded her arms and looked at Lu Jian with interest. Lu Jian's face turned cold and he asked, "Who said I want to inherit the family business?"
Lu Nan raised his head stupidly, and when he saw the coldness in the other person's eyes, his whole body began to tremble.
He didn't want to inherit the family business? Then why did he go against Madam Chen and even nearly ruin Lord Lu's future? Was he crazy?
Lu Jian glanced at the trembling man, then suddenly turned to Cheng Xi and said, "Since it's a gift from you, my dear brother, I'll accept it. You mentioned before that you wanted to do business in Panyu. Have you decided what kind of shop to open?"
Cheng Xi said casually: "I've thought about this a long time ago. Let's open a fish stall first."
A powerful gang that had just robbed an ocean-going fleet and possessed countless treasures was planning to open a fish stall instead of a jewelry store. Most people would have laughed at this, but Lu Jian nodded thoughtfully, "That's a good deal."
Is it really just a fish stall that he wants to open? I'm afraid not.
The Red Flag Gang has already seized seafood from several counties near Dongning. If they extend their influence a few more times, most of the seafood in the South China Sea will be in their hands. This is an entire market, which cannot be said to be small in any way.
There are also salt fields at the East Gate. Using pickled fish to sell salt is one of the most common means of smuggling sea salt. If this fish stall is really opened, the traffic will be enough to sweep across Panyu. By then, the reputation of the Red Flag Gang will have spread to merchants of all sizes, allowing it to truly gain a foothold.
Such means and courage are much more powerful than the Qingfeng Gang's small grocery store.
It seems that Cheng Xi is determined to manage Panyu. Lu Jian knows this, but he doesn't reject it.
He is now the Red Flag Gang's biggest ally. The stronger the Red Flag Gang is, the better it will be for him.
Cheng Xi didn't care whether his plan would be exposed or not. Lu Jian was a very thoughtful person, so showing off his muscles occasionally would make things simpler.
Unconcerned, she continued, "Besides the fish stall, I'm also thinking of taking over a glass workshop. The craftsmanship doesn't matter, as long as there are skilled craftsmen. I also need to buy some copper cannons. Does Brother Mingde have any connections? Oh, and by the way, you promised to send a winemaker over before, so you can't go back on your word."
These three things are completely unrelated. Brewing wine is not surprising. After all, the Red Flag Gang has the food supply, and wine is one of the best-selling goods at sea, so it is not surprising that they want to get involved.
But the colored glass workshop was a bit strange. When he was shopping earlier, he was very curious about the colored glass mirrors imported from the West. Could he be planning to try to imitate them? This was a bit too ambitious.
But the most surprising thing was the purchase of cannons. If I remembered correctly, the Lu family's treasure ship with a thousand tons of cannons should have had them, and quite a few of them.
As a gang, a few cannons are generally enough. More than that would be too much to manage, and there's a risk of them exploding. Unless you're going to war with the imperial court, why bother spending money and effort on this stuff? But Cheng Xi still asked, and he was quite anxious, which really made people concerned.
However, Lu Jian would not reveal these things publicly. He simply said, "Cannons can only be produced in government-run ironworks, so we need to smooth over some connections. If we don't care about quality, we might be able to get some from the Suoyi Gang."
"The Suoyi Gang can even get a cannon?" Cheng Xi was surprised when he heard this. After thinking about it, he smiled and said, "Yeah, if they have it, they will just melt it down and make coins. I'll have to ask someone about it later."
For a rebel army like the Suoyi Gang that has spread across several provinces, robbing armories is not a routine operation.
The cannon is difficult to use and transport, and it may be a burden to them. It should not be difficult to buy it.
The two of them were talking casually, but Lu Nan, who was kneeling beside them, began to tremble.
Why was he talking about such private matters again? Was he really going to kill him to silence him? Why was he so confused...
Lu Nan was shaking non-stop, but the two of them didn't even look at him. Cheng Xi knew what Lu Jian was thinking. If he really wanted to kill him, he could just drag him out. Leaving him here was just to intimidate him into surrendering.
She had no interest in asking about the Lu family's affairs. After briefly discussing the workshop, she said directly, "The Red Flag Gang doesn't have much money in its account right now. We only have some fragrant wood and medicinal herbs. We need Brother Mingde to help sell them. I'll give you three-tenths of them as a thank you gift. Please don't hesitate."
Lu Jian had said before that he would not take a penny of the goods after robbing this fleet. Now Cheng Xi offered to buy it on his behalf and gave him a three-point commission, which was actually a disguised profit-sharing.
But there must be more things on the ship than these. Are they going to go through other channels or store them in the warehouse?
Lu Jian smiled and said, "Don't worry, my dear brother, bring the things over and I will not let you lose anything."
It's so refreshing, it really feels like we are close friends.
Probably because he was in high spirits due to good news, Lu Jian was in a very good mood. After finishing the business, he invited Cheng Xi to stay at his home for a few days.
Cheng Xi smiled and declined, as she had somewhere else to go.
In the Qingfeng Gang's grocery store, when Yang Qing learned that the evil star was coming, he really didn't want to go out to meet him, but how could he dare to leave him outside now?
Yang Qing came out to greet him with a forced smile: "It's been a long time since I last saw Boss Cheng. What's the matter? Well, let me make it clear first, I'm alone and weak, and I may not be able to help you..."
Seeing how scared the boy was, Cheng Xi smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Yang, why are you being so polite? I just got some pepper and wanted to ask you for help to sell it."
When Yang Qing heard about this, he relaxed a little. It was normal to buy and sell goods when sailing at sea.
The Red Flag Gang was so large now, so what was the big deal about selling them some pepper? It was only a few dozen kilograms, so if I offered a slightly higher price, I could still make a good relationship with them.
Feeling a little relieved, Yang Qing said with an apologetic smile, "If it's pepper, I can still help. I wonder how much Boss Cheng wants for it?"
"About twenty or thirty stones." Cheng Xi said casually.
Yang Qing nearly choked to death on his saliva. Twenty or thirty dan? Could it be that they had robbed the Changjing Gang's merchant ship? Where could they get so much pepper from Hepu?
After swallowing a few times, Yang Qing asked carefully, "Boss Cheng, where does our pepper come from?"
"Don't worry, we didn't steal it from the Changjing Gang. We just made a small fortune." Cheng Xi finished explaining and suddenly changed the subject, "It's the Changjing Gang. I heard they're planning to seize Qiongzhou soon. They might move eastward in the future."
Yang Qing's expression really changed, and he said hesitantly: "The Changjing Gang is definitely not a good group. Gang Leader Cheng should be careful."
It's not hard to guess what this means. The Qingfeng Gang doesn't really want to get involved in this matter.
Cheng Xi smiled and nodded, "Of course I know that. But we still have to buy the pepper we got. Will Shopkeeper Yang take it?"
Yang Qing hesitated again, and after a while he said, "I wonder how much it costs?"
Cheng Xi was straightforward: "One catty and eight ounces, how about the goods first and the payment later?"
Yang Qing was immediately tempted. The pepper shipped from Hepu had never been priced at this price, and it was definitely impossible to import so much.
Gritting his teeth, he said, "As long as it's not from the Long Whale Gang, I'll take it."
It seems that as long as the profit is sufficient, the Qingfeng Gang doesn't mind extending its influence into other people's territory.
Cheng Xi smiled and said, "Then I'll have it delivered later. By the way, the Red Flag Gang is going to open a fish stall in Panyu in a few days. We'll be neighbors then. Manager Yang, please take good care of us."
Yang Qing's heart, which had just been at ease, suddenly began to hang in the air again. Others opened fish stalls just to make money, but would a gang like the Red Flag Gang simply open a fish stall to sell fish? He knew the Red Flag Gang's methods of buying seafood on credit, and he was afraid that even the area around Panyu would be taken over by them.
Seizing the seafood and winning over the fishermen, what difference was there between that and dominating the area? He had originally thought that the Red Flag Gang was growing too fast, but now it seemed that he had underestimated them.
This matter must be reported to the boss as soon as possible. If I want to develop in Panyu in the future, I may have to depend on the Red Flag Gang's attitude.
Alas, why is he so unlucky to have such a boss?
Cheng Xi didn't care what this kid thought. He just did the transaction and notified everyone that needed to be notified. A big deal was finally concluded in two rounds.
Cheng Xi didn't stay long and took the boat back again. After that, he transported goods, opened a shop and set up a factory.
There are so many complicated things that she cannot handle them all by herself. Fortunately, Dongning still has a reliable aide, so it’s time to give him some more responsibilities.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
