Chapter 985: The Nanhui Mouth Market
Gao Family Village's cargo ships began their arduous journey toward Zhoushan.
Food supplies, gold, silver, tools, materials...
Since Li Daoxuan couldn't directly deliver supplies to Zhoushan Island, all materials had to be transported by the villagers themselves. This was no easy feat; in fact, it was quite strenuous.
Furthermore, most of Gao Family Village's sailors only had experience navigating rivers, not the open sea. Even coastal waters were extremely dangerous for them.
A slight deviation in the maritime route could lead to a difference of hundreds of thousands of miles.
This was where the captured pirates proved invaluable.
Jiang Cheng used ships to transport the labor-reform pirates to Nanhui Mouth, in what would one day be modern Shanghai. There, they awaited the ships arriving from Gao Family Village, boarding them to act as navigators. This arrangement not only ensured that later cargo vessels from Gao Family Village could find Zhoushan Island, but also allowed the sailors to learn maritime navigation techniques from these labor-reform pirates.
As a result of this arrangement, something interesting began to happen.
Originally, Nanhui Mouth featured only a dilapidated fort, standing like an abandoned ruin. However, after Gao Family Village's ships began frequently passing through, the area around the fort began to develop rapidly, day by day.
A team was assigned to remain stationed there permanently.
The Ming soldiers in the fort, having received instructions from the Suzhou-Songjiang Military Preparations Commissioner, treated them as allies and naturally did not interfere, allowing the people of Gao Family Village to do as they pleased.
Soon, this place became a crucial transit hub for Gao Family Village.
With people living here, large ships transferring goods, and sailors occasionally stationed, there was a definite need for various supplies. The people from Gao Family Village and the labor-reform pirates would occasionally pay local fishermen and farmers for goods.
Their generous spending naturally made them popular with the local populace.
Whenever the common folk had something good to sell, they would simply bring it to Nanhui Mouth to display and sell.
Whenever Gao Family Village's large ships briefly stopped here, a great number of common folk would shoulder their bamboo baskets, filled with their homemade products, flocking to the shore and shouting loudly to sell their wares.
The originally stern and rather somber Nanhui Mouth fort had now transformed entirely into a bustling market.
One afternoon...
The Ming garrison soldiers at Nanhui Mouth fort were nodding off when they spotted ten more transport ships approaching from the northern sea, visibly laden with supplies.
One soldier couldn't help but sigh, "The Emperor is being incredibly generous this time. Supplies are being shipped as if they cost nothing, boat after boat, all heading southeast."
Another soldier remarked, "As soon as these ships arrive, this place will turn into a market again."
True enough, no sooner had he spoken than the villagers from the coastal fishing communities rushed out. These folk were more professional than the soldiers, having already learned to calculate the ships' round-trip times.
They even prepared their goods a day in advance.
A crowd of villagers surged to the shore, frantically waving at Gao Family Village's cargo ships. "Over here! Over here!"
The cargo ship slowly approached the shore, reaching the shallowest point before it would run aground, before finally deploying small boats to row to the beach.
The labor-reform pirates, who were already prepared, would take these small boats to board the cargo ships and guide them.
Their transfer time was also the best time for trading goods.
This time, a young gentleman in white robes, around twenty years old, unexpectedly disembarked from a small boat. His attire, though not particularly lavish, exuded an air of cultured refinement, a true 'gentleman'.
However, the young gentleman's athletic ability was clearly lacking, as he swayed precariously on the small boat, looking as if he might fall at any moment. A nearby sailor quickly moved to support him, exclaiming, "Young Master Bai, be careful! We can't have anything happen to you."
Young Master Bai sighed, "I am truly leagues behind my father. I can barely stand steady on this boat; I've shamed the Horseshoe Lake that birthed and raised me."
His retainer quickly said, "Young Master, you spend all your time researching in the laboratory, making significant contributions to Gao Family Village's scientific technology. It's only natural for other areas to be neglected.”
Young Master Bai hummed in acknowledgment and dropped the subject. He turned to look at the Nanhui Mouth fort and the villagers below, who were enthusiastically hawking their goods.
"They're selling all sorts of fresh seafood—fish, shellfish, crabs,” Young Master Bai observed. "They're all still alive. I really want to buy some seafood for my mother to take back; she'd love a taste.”
It would have been better if he hadn't said anything; the moment he did, the sharp-eared villagers nearby heard him clearly and instantly swarmed around him. "Young Master, buy from me! Buy from me!"
"Take some big crabs back for the Madam!"
"My clams are all fresh and plump, and they're delicious stir-fried.”
Young Master Bai, overwhelmed and feeling too embarrassed not to buy anything after such a clamor, decided to make a grand sweep. With a flourish, he bought every last piece of seafood from the baskets of the surrounding crowd.
Meanwhile...
The Gao Family Village "administrators" who had arrived with the ship were pondering a different problem.
"There are quite a few common folk here, a valuable human resource,” a middle school graduate stated. “Zhoushan Island cannot be developed solely by a group of labor-reform pirates; there simply aren't enough people. We should recruit a batch of workers from the mainland and take them to the island.”
Another person countered, "That won't be easy. They are respectable citizens living comfortably on the mainland. For them, moving to a small island would be akin to becoming pirates and living outside the law; they're bound to have some reservations.”
"Of course they'll have reservations, but whether we can alleviate them depends on our abilities,” the middle school graduate who spoke earlier responded. “We'll leverage the Imperial Merchant's endorsement. Additionally, we'll offer high wages, excellent welfare benefits, and guarantee their personal safety. We must also promise them the right to return to the mainland at any time. With all this, we should be able to persuade them to go.”
After a brief discussion, the administrators finalized their basic plan.
There's no time like the present, so let's start recruiting today!
The sailors immediately began to shout out, "Anyone willing to work for the Imperial Merchant on the island? The work mainly involves constructing ports, docks, houses, and factories... Excellent wages, holidays, full benefits, and the right to return to the mainland with a cargo ship at any time...”
As the saying goes, 'Generous rewards attract courageous men.'
With their enthusiastic calls, a few courageous common folk were indeed swayed.
Life was hard, and poverty was rampant.
Barely scraping by selling shellfish and crabs meant a slow death by poverty. But what if they took a chance? Perhaps they could turn their fortunes around! These people were good; everyone had done business with them many times. They never bullied anyone, and their transactions were always honest and fair. Working for them, they might actually get rich.
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