Chapter 516: The Fire

Jiang Lang had a trace of compulsory contract, Jin Zeshan, conveyed it to the merchants early the next morning, which shocked the merchants, but the shocked merchants were those merchants with small calculations in their hearts. They were still following the warships, but they didn't know that Jiang Lang was doing so well. Any merchant ships that were not allowed and did not pay commissions were treated as enemy ships and were wiped out.

These merchants have never seen the power of the Ming warship, but Shin Kanazawa has seen it. The cannons are fired, let alone merchant ships, even the Koji Army warships will be destroyed under such artillery, let alone merchant ships.

Of course, there are also merchants who protest against this method, but they can only protest against Kanazawa Shan. For Kanazawa Shan, they can only listen to protest. Now, there are no warships or naval commanders, so they have no ability to protect these merchant ships. The initiative is in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and others have very simply given two ways to choose. The first is to agree, and then the Ming navy will escort it. The second is to refuse, either go to sea or make money. Or try your luck. If you are lucky, you won’t meet the warships of the Komu Army. Even if you make it, if you are not lucky, you will not be able to blame others. As long as you follow others and be attacked, you can’t blame others. After all, others have the first words. And according to the temperament of the Ming navy, the so-called killing chickens for monkeys may really take action as a deterrent.

As for the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, Jiang Lang's attitude was treated equally and did not give any discounts at all.

Some merchants claim to be planning to boycott, but in Jiang Lang's eyes, this behavior is simply an idiot. Escorting merchant ships can be carried out or not for the Ming Dynasty. If it is carried out, it is impossible to make some money. If it is not carried out, there is no need to take this risk. In this case, even if it is resisted, there will be no loss to the Ming Dynasty. They are just themselves.

As soon as this policy was released, it caused a lot of shock in the harbor.

Of course, there were also merchants who were willing to pay the silver. The next day, the merchant who had plans in his mind went to the army to discuss the issue of going to sea, and also the issue of commissions paid in negotiations.

Jiang Lang also asked people to prepare, and as long as there were businessmen coming, they would be warmly welcomed.

After two days, about 30 of the more than 100 merchant ships agreed to the escort of the Ming warships, and the commission paid was 30% of the total value of the goods. Although it seemed to be high in the eyes of some merchants, the merchants would agree to it in a profitable way. Although they paid 30% of the total value of the goods, after careful calculation, there was still a lot of profit. So these merchants did not complain. After all, if there was no escort of the Ming warships, these goods could not be sold here. Even if they had to go to sea and encountered the Komu Army, not only would the goods be completely lost, but the people might have lost their lives.

Because of this reason, these merchants gradually became divided into two factions. One was the merchants who despised the high and hoped to reduce the price through boycotts, and the other was the merchants who paid the silver. As time went by, there were more and more conflicts between the two factions. In the eyes of those merchants who resisted, the merchants who paid the commissions completely betrayed them and did not stand on the united front with them. In the eyes of the merchants who paid the silver, these merchants who did not pay the silver were completely villains. How expensive their goods were and the profits were high. If they had to be like themselves and others, it would be unfair to bend them.

Jiang Lang gradually heard about the conflict between these businessmen, but this was normal in his eyes, so he didn't care.

On the fifth day, more than 60 merchants paid the commission. At the same time, Jiang Lang also ordered people to issue an ultimatum. The last two days, the warships that were ready after three days will escort the merchant ships to sea, and no overdue treatment will be accepted.

On the sixth day, the speed of the merchant ship was basically determined. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty warships were also replenished and were ready to set off.

But just that night, in the middle of the night, Jiang Lang was suddenly awakened by the noise outside. He was surprised and walked out in his clothes. Looking at the source of the sound, he saw that the sky near the sea was red, and the color clearly reflected by the fire.

Jiang Lang suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart and shouted: "Come here!"

The guard immediately ran over and said, "Sir, what are you going to give me?"

Jiang Lang frowned slightly and asked, "Where is Sun Yuanbiao?"

The guard immediately said, "Brother Sun went to the beach, but there seemed to be a fire!"

"Fire?"

Jiang Lang's heart sank immediately. The battleships and merchant ships docked by the sea were all made of wooden ships. If the most threatening was the fire, he immediately shouted: "Prepare the horse!"

The guard nodded quickly and hurriedly went to prepare the horse, while Jiang Lang immediately returned to the house and began to wear clothes.

Zi Yu also got up at this time and helped Jiang Lang dress, and asked, "So that? Is something wrong?"

“There is a fire!”

Jiang Lang said while dressing, "It should be the location where the merchant ship is docked. The warship is guarded, and there are soldiers on the boat every day. No one has the courage to rush to set fires. So it is very likely that it should be a merchant ship, and there is a weak place for protection. And it is also a place with very complex personnel."

"Is that a big loss?"

Zi Yu asked quickly.

Jiang Lang shook his head and said, "I don't know yet, so it's hard to confirm, so I plan to go and see it myself, just stay at home!"

Zi Yu nodded and agreed quickly.

Jiang Lang then left the door, rode his horse, took the guards, and ran towards the place where the flames appeared.

As they got closer and closer to the accident site, there were more and more people. As they slowly approached, they also saw the scene in front of them. It was indeed a merchant ship that caught fire. There were five merchant ships burned by the fire. Now the fire has spread to the entire ship. Although many people, including soldiers, are working hard to put out the fire, for the fire, the water cannot play a big role at all, and the fire has lost control.

The merchant ships that did not catch fire hurriedly avoided outside at this time, and you hit me and I hit you, and the scene was in chaos.

Jiang Lang's face slightly sank and said to the soldiers: "Transfer my order, no merchant ship is allowed to leave. I will order the warships. If a merchant ship is forced to leave, he will be killed without mercy. At the same time, he will immediately send troops to the city gate. No one is allowed to enter or exit the city gate at present. If anyone leaves forcibly, arrest me!"

From the fire in front of you, it can be seen that the fire was the middle ship. Because the ship had the largest fire and the most powerful fire, it has not been investigated yet, so it cannot be ruled out that it was arson by man. And now there are only two roads left. The first is waterway, so the warships do not allow any ships to enter and exit. In addition, there is a dry road, and there is only one city gate.

The soldiers immediately conveyed Jiang Lang's order. Soon, the warships immediately took action and set off outside these merchant ships. These merchant ships could move to avoid the fire, but were not allowed to leave the military port.

At the same time, the city gate also began to be on guard.

The blazing fire burned and knew it was extinguished until dawn. The blazing fire reflected the sky red, and the cargo on several cargo ships was basically not left at all.

Jiang Lang didn't rest all night. As soon as it dawned, Jiang Lang immediately asked Sun Yuanbiao to investigate the situation of the ship that was in trouble.

This is easy to investigate. After all, these ships have been registered. The investigation was soon sent to Jiang Lang. After taking the situation, Jiang Lang looked at it and found that the fired ships had paid commissions and planned to go to sea under the escort of the Ming warship. At the same time, there was another situation. Among the fired ships, there were three merchants belonging to the same merchants. At the same time, they were also the one with the most cargo among these merchants who had given commissions. At the same time, this person was vaguely the head of these people who paid commissions.

There is also another situation: among the five ships on fire, two of them caught fire at the same time.

Jiang Lang pondered for a moment, and the situation was clear. This was completely artificial arson. If an accident occurred, it would be impossible for two ships to catch fire at the same time. At the same time, even at night, if it was an accident, the fire would definitely not spread so quickly. It seems that someone was deliberately revenge. Combined with the recent struggle between the merchants who were divided into two factions, and now it is time to go out to sea, it can be seen that it is very likely that the opposite merchants sent people to do a good thing.

Now this military port can be regarded as the land of the Ming Dynasty. This happened under his nose, which made Jiang Lang particularly angry. He was completely despising himself and others.

So he immediately ordered the person to interrogate the ship owner as quickly as possible, and sent someone to secretly start investigating these merchants. At the same time, he strictly prohibited these merchants from going to sea. If there are disobedients, they will be killed without mercy.
Chapter completed!