Chapter 357
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 357
Chapter 357. In Shandong (3)
We left Jinxie Lou, banging on the boat we had called.
I don't know who the master is here, but I want to find out.
I'll have to come back here with my parents.
Except for Jin-yu, whom I had given a separate mission, everyone else headed toward our original destination.
Our destination was the ferry crossing in Jinan.
Jinan was the most developed city in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and had the ferry crossing closest to the sea.
Therefore, it was rich in seafood.
It was fun to walk around the market and see the seafood piled high.
“Why did you come here?”
I smiled and replied to Seo Woo's question.
“Actually, this was our real destination for today. Let's see...”
I looked around the ferry landing and pointed to an inn.
“Let's go there.”
When Pal-gap saw it, he was shocked and asked me.
“Are you really going there?”
“Yes.”
“You know where that is, right?”
“I know.”
I smiled.
“That's the inn where sailors stay.”
“You know that and you still want to go? Can't you just not go?”
The inns that sailors stayed at were mostly fixed. This was because the inns that sailors stayed at had to be cheap.
Whether traveling by sea or river, the tide is important when traveling by boat.
If the tide was wrong, they would have to stay at the inn for several days.
In addition, most sailors are short-term employees.
When their contract ends, they have to stay at the inn until they find their next job.
Naturally, due to their financial situation, they have no choice but to stay at very cheap inns. So, the facilities and food are not good.
Furthermore, when you spend several weeks on a ship, you can't even dream of taking a bath.
The Yangtze River is a little better, but the Yellow River is full of muddy water, and there are many sailors who work at sea.
That's why not only the luggage they carry to the inns, but also their bodies reek of a foul odor.
Some people use sachets to cover up the smell, but when that mixes with the scent of the sachets...
That's one reason why Pal-gap hates it, but it's also dangerous.
Working on a ship is extremely hard and dangerous work.
That's why many sailors live for today, spending all the money they earn that day.
Of course, there are also those who save their money to become ship owners or find other jobs.
Anyway, because of that, fights often broke out, and they were very violent.
In other words, Pal-gap is trying to keep me safe.
But is there anywhere in this world that is safe?
Besides, sitting still is not my style.
“Don't worry. They have their own rules. Unless you're a sailor, they won't talk to you unless you talk to them first.”
“What?”
“People who aren't sailors aren't considered colleagues. It's like that.”
“That's a strange rule.”
At first glance, they seem like a bunch of rough sailors, but they are actually very loyal to each other.
That makes sense. It would be difficult to survive in a place surrounded by water if they didn't rely on each other.
Of course, as always, there are exceptions.
“You don't have to go if you don't want to.”
“No, I'm going.”
Pal-gap clenched his fist.
There's no need to be so determined...
Just in case, I also told the bodyguards.
“And don't draw your swords there.”
“Yes, sir.”
We entered the nameless inn.
A moment later, a foul odor hit our noses.
I could feel everyone's eyes on us.
However, those glances quickly dispersed.
They realized that we were not sailors.
That was why I had deliberately dressed up.
I looked around and my gaze stopped at one spot.
There he is.
A man was eating noodles eagerly in a corner.
The noodles here are nothing more than broth with no meat flavor and a couple of pieces of meat the size of fingernails.
I pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down.
Only then did he notice me.
He was skinny, but his eyes were bright.
He had a face that could be considered handsome.
I ordered tea, and he just looked at me without saying a word.
Soon, the waiter brought the tea, and I dipped my finger in the tea and wrote a word on the table.
“...!”
When he saw it, his eyes widened as if they were about to pop out of his head.
“I'll pay for it. And this may be your last chance.”
He bit his lip.
“I'll help you. So you help me too.”
“....”
“If you've made up your mind, come to the Cheongsan Inn and look for me in five days.”
“...What is your name?”
His pronunciation was slightly slurred, but better than I expected.
“Eun Seo-ho. That is my name.”
I put the money for the tea on the table and got up. Then I left the inn.
Had I walked about half a block?
Seo Woo asked me.
“Are you a martial artist?”
Seo Woo seemed to have recognized the man's identity.
“Did you sense that?”
“Yes. When we saw you wearing swords, he subtly raised his energy. However, his energy was slightly different from that of the martial artists of the empire.”
He continued.
“Furthermore, his hands are those of someone who has practiced martial arts since childhood. Also, when he realized that we were martial artists, he instinctively looked for an escape route.”
I nodded.
“You are correct. However, he is more accurately described as a warrior than a martial artist.”
“What?”
“Did you not notice it in his accent? He is not a citizen of this country.”
A connection I know about thanks to my memories of my previous life.
He is from Daewook.
He is a foreigner working as a sailor here in Shandong Province to earn money.
He had to earn money to rescue his family, who had been enslaved.
He was originally the son of a noble family in Daewook.
However, he was falsely accused of treason, and his family fell into ruin.
According to the law, women and boys under the age of fifteen from families accused of treason were enslaved.
He and his older brother were under the age of fifteen at the time, so they were spared from being killed.
He was forced into slavery as a warrior and was fighting in a battle at sea when he fell into the ocean.
When he came to, he found himself on a remote island.
He was rescued by a passing ship.
This was his chance.
A chance to escape and live as a free man.
However, he was concerned about his family, so he decided to earn money to buy his freedom and free his family.
Even if he became a slave for treason, he could become a free man if he paid a ransom.
Of course, it was a huge amount of money, and slaves could not earn money, so it was a futile attempt.
It must have been very difficult for a proud warrior to do menial work.
But he had no choice.
Daewook and the Empire were close, so if anyone found out that he was a slave and reported him for the reward, his chance to buy his freedom would be gone forever.
Therefore, he had no choice but to hide his martial arts skills, which would reveal his origins.
That was why he was working in Shandong, which was relatively far from Daewook.
Then, an opportunity came his way.
He saved a member of the imperial family who had been swept away by a storm.
The imperial family took pity on him and helped him secure a quick escape, and he returned to Daewook, but his dream was not fulfilled.
Everyone was already dead.
His older brother had died fighting as a slave, and his mother and younger sister had died of overwork.
What was even more tragic was that it had been less than a year since his family had died.
In other words, if he had returned just one year earlier, he could have prevented this tragedy.
Yoo-eung-am asked, “So you called him here to make him a martial artist?”
“No, that's not it.”
“What? Didn't you say martial artist?”
“He is indeed a warrior, but I intend to assign him to a different task. His physiognomy tells me that he has the makings of a trade magnate.”
“What?”
Pal-gap asked with a look of disbelief.
“You know how to read physiognomy?”
“Yes.”
“Then what does my physiognomy tell you?”
“You will meet a good master, eat well, live well, and live a long life.”
Pal-gap tilted his head at my words.
“Hmm, that seems about right.”
I like how simple he is at times like this.
As I chuckled, the Myeongjong warrior said with concern, “I heard that the sea route to Daewook is very dangerous.”
“As far as I know, the sea route to Daewook is very dangerous.”
“That's right.”
Chang-woon tilted his head.
“Huh? Isn't Daewook connected to Yunnan and Guangxi? Then why don't you just go there? Do you really have to go by sea?”
Seo Woo explained Chang-woon's question.
“Going by land is even more dangerous... It's much more dangerous.”
As expected, Seo Woo, who was a Head Escort specializing in Yunnan, knew well.
“Carrying goods through those dangerous jungles and high cliffs is an ordeal in itself.”
“I see.”
“That's why you...”
I nodded.
“But,”
Yoo-eung-am asked me.
“Wouldn't it be better to recruit or hire people who are already active in the area?”
Trade with Daewook is still going strong.
“Until now, trade with Daewook has been conducted by them visiting the empire.”
Why?
Because there is no need to go to the empire.
It is much more profitable to trade with Daewook people visiting the empire than to take goods to Daewook.
“But now we need to take a slightly different approach.”
Until now, it was possible because we only traded luxury goods, but the situation has changed.
Both the merchants of the empire and those of Daewook want to make a profit without suffering a loss.
If we try to buy food from Daewook merchants who have come to the empire, they will sell it to us at several times the local price.
Therefore, it is cheaper for us to go directly to Daewook and purchase food.
“And the sea route is the source of income for the shipowners. Do you think they will readily reveal it? Moreover, it is difficult to find shipowners who know the sea route to Daewook in the empire right now. They haven't been to Daewook for a long time. He is an important person who can solve this difficult problem.”
He knows the sea route connecting the empire and Daewook well.
Thanks to that, he was able to save the imperial family in a storm and establish trade between the empire and Daewook.
Anyway, when he found out about his family's death, he gave up on life and tried to kill himself, but he couldn't bear to see other members of his clan who had become slaves.
So he used his savings as capital and started trading.
He wanted to earn more money to free his clan members who had been enslaved.
He didn't know it, but he had a talent for trading, and in just a few years, he became a renowned merchant.
By the time I died, he was known as the Trade King of Dao.
“By the way, will he come in five days?”
“Yes, he will definitely come.”
I said with confidence.
“He is a proud warrior who loves his family.”
I returned to the inn.
“You are late.”
I bowed my head in response to my father's words.
“I am sorry. Things took longer than I expected.”
“It's okay. Looking at your face, I can tell that everything went well.”
“Yes. And I have something important to tell you.”
My father looked at my face and nodded.
“Let's go to my room.”
“Yes.”
A moment later.
I entered my father's room.
“Come to think of it, I don't see Mother. Where did she go?”
“She went to meet the wife of the head of the Kwangjoon Trading Company. She arrived yesterday.”
“I see.”
That means Captain Bok-Yoon is here too.
My father brewed some tea and poured it into my cup.
“Thank you.”
I drank the tea.
As expected, my father's tea was excellent.
It wasn't so much the skill of a trading company captain who specialized in tea, but rather the skill I had acquired from listening to my grandfather's nagging.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“Father, our trading company needs to build a ship.”
“A ship, all of a sudden?”
My father tilted his head.
“Don't we already have many ships in our trading company?”
“We don't need ships that travel up and down the river, we need large trading ships that can reach Daewook.”
“...”
My father was silent for a moment, then nodded calmly.
“All right, let's try building one.”
Huh?
To be honest, I thought my father would be surprised and ask me what I was talking about.
But what was his reaction?
Why was he so calm?
In my previous life, large-scale trade with Daewook began a little later.
The emperor's ministers thought that it would be a loss of face for the emperor to trade directly with Daewook, so the emperor came up with another plan.
He hired several trading companies and instructed them to conduct trade.
The trading companies that began trade at that time were quite successful.
Hearing that news, I remembered my father's unusually bitter expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What?”
I quickly cleared my mind and said.
“You seem so calm... It's as if you knew this would happen.”
“Ah...”
My father nodded.
“Seoho.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Do you know why our trading company is called Eunhae Trading Company?”