Sun Lin and his brother-in-law Fang Qiyi each held a first-class ticket and took more than a dozen servants holding third-class tickets to board the Weaver Girl Star Climbing Boat at the Xiaguan Wharf in Nanjing. Their destination was Qiongzhou. This time they went to Qiongzhou. This time they were going to form the Luzon Development Group of the Ming Dynasty and were preparing to go to Luzon Island to hunt for gold.

The two of them carried large bills of exchange of 3 million yuan in silver dollars. Half of the money was raised by the Fang family in Tongcheng, and the remaining half was the silver loaned from the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty. In order to establish the Luzon Development Group of the Ming Dynasty, many of the Fang family members emptied their family's assets and supported Sun Lin and Fang Qiyi.

Fang Yizhi of the Fang family in Tongcheng was a member of the Donglin Party and the grandson of Fang Dazhen, the minister of Dali Temple during the Wanli period. Fang Yizhi, known as one of the four princes of Fushe, was a younger generation in the Donglin Party.

Zhao Peng had different attitudes towards the fourth prince of Fushe. Fang Yizhi and Chen Zilong were both people respected by Zhao Peng; while Hou Fangyu and Mao Pijiang were despised.

Although Sun Lin and Fang Qiyi are also from the scholarly family, these two people are not literary scholars, but are people who like martial arts and heroes.

I had long heard that Zhongyonghou encouraged Jiangnan gentry to form the Ming Overseas Development Group, and heard that there were many gold and silver mountains overseas, so Sun Lin and Fang Qiyi scrambled to sign up for the Ming Overseas Development Group.

The gentry in Jiangnan wanted to form a private overseas development group. In fact, the approval procedures were very simple. As long as you had money, you could afford mercenaries and even if you had money, you could afford weapons from the court, you could form an overseas development group.

The weapons of the overseas pioneer regiment are not limited. As long as there is silver, cannons and even warships can be purchased, not to mention individual weapons such as armor, crossbows, and muskets. You can buy them at will if you have silver. The only requirement is that the weapons purchased cannot be used in the Ming Dynasty and must go overseas to deal with overseas indigenous people.

Arrived on the Vega Star Mail Ship, a flying scissors fast sailboat with a displacement of 1,500 tons. Although the hull structure is similar to that of the Yuefei-class battleship, the shipbuilding materials used for this kind of merchant ship are different. This is a merchant ship built of fir wood, and the materials used for battleships and frigates are all ironwood.

The Vega Star Mail Ship is a luxury mail ship. The cabins on the ship include four levels: first-class cabin, second-class cabin, third-class cabin and fourth-class cabin. The first-class cabin is a luxurious cabin with independent bathrooms. There are two beds in the cabin, located below the captain's room at the stern, with windows opening backwards; the second-class cabin is located in front of the first-class cabin, with two upper and lower bunks in the cabin, and there are also independent bathrooms, with windows opening to the side of the boat; the third-class cabin is located in front of the second-class cabin, with four upper and lower bunks in the cabin, with windows opening to the side of the boat, and a public bathroom using third-class cabin; the fourth-class cabin is a unified cabin, with dozens of upper and lower bunks in a large room, without windows, and is the cabin located at the bottom floor.

There are not many first-class cabins on this ship, with only four rooms in total, and eight people; there are sixteen rooms in second-class cabins, which can accommodate 64 people; there are thirty-two rooms in third-class cabins, which can accommodate 256 people; there are three large rooms in fourth-class cabins, which can accommodate 120 people in each, which can accommodate 360 ​​people, and the entire ship can carry a total of 688 passengers.

If there are many passengers, you can add a bedding, which can carry up to more than 1,000 passengers.

Although the Vega is a passenger ship, it is also equipped with two 64-pound short-barrel cannons, eight 24-pound long-barrel cannons and twelve eight-pound cannons, using self-defense. With such fierce firepower and a high speed of up to 18 knots, ordinary pirate ships really dare not approach this ship.

Sun Lin and Fang Qiyi walked into their first-class cabin and saw a red carpet in the cabin, lit the whale oil lamp hanging on the wall, and a faint fragrance emitting from the room.

The Weaver Girl Star Departs from Nanjing. When the ship passed by the Wusong River Estuary near the Yangtze River Estuary, Sun Lin and Fang Qiyi saw a busy scene on the shore. You can see that the Wusong River Estuary is busy, with construction sites everywhere, and the government seems to be doing some major projects here.

Fang Qiyi asked: "Brother-in-law, what big project is being done here?"

Sun Lin had long seen the news from the newspaper that Songjiang Prefecture would build a new city on the banks of the Wusong River. It is said that it will become the largest city in the world in the future. So he said: "Although there is a desolate place now, it may become a big city more prosperous than the capital in the future. I heard from the Marquis that the mouth of the Wusong River is the location of the maritime transportation hub."

Building a new city in the Wusong River in Songjiang Prefecture is of great significance in the future, because the Wusong River is very important. It is located at a sea intersection. You can cross the ocean to the east to reach the other side, go directly to Sichuan to the west, and go south to north to the north, and you can reach Japan and South Korea to the north, and go south to Guangdong to the south to Southeast Asia.

It is precisely because this location is very important and the transportation is very convenient that Shanghai, the world-famous international city in Asia, is located in this location in the future.

After five days and five nights of long voyage, the Vega finally arrived at the dock on the seaside of Qiongzhou Prefecture. During the five days and five nights of voyage, the passengers on the ship did not feel much fatigue because the space on the ship was large. In addition to the restaurant, there were also libraries and chess and card rooms. There were also drama performances in the restaurant at night, which added many entertainment activities to people who traveled long distances.

The ship arrived at the dock of Qiongzhou Fucheng Wharf. Sun Lin and Fang Qiyi got off the ship, held the letter Zhao Peng wrote to them in their hands, and went to Shilu Iron Mine to recruit soldiers and horses.

According to the newly established Immigration Agency under the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty, all privately recruited mercenaries were recruited from prisoners of war in Qiongzhou. The recruitment of candidates, Green Camp soldiers, Eight Banners soldiers, Mongolian soldiers from the outer vassals and Koreans were not limited. As long as you pay the money, you can recruit soldiers.

The two of them brought eighteen servants to the Shilu Iron Mine Mining Area. When they arrived outside the mining area, they saw a busy scene. The coolies pushed the mine cart back and forth, and went between the wharf and the mine area. Trucks of iron ore were sent to the wharf, and the coolies pushed the empty mine cart back to the mine area.

With the Green Camp soldiers, Eight Banners soldiers, Mongolian soldiers and Korean soldiers in the mining area, they were about to leave in batches. Zhang Yuanwai, who had already gone to Annan, sent back a batch of Annan coolies from Annan and joined the mining area coolies.

"You lazy Jiaozhi people dare to be lazy when working!" Sun Lin heard a familiar voice. However, although this voice was very familiar, the voice was much sharper than before.

He quickly looked up and looked in the direction where the sound came. He saw an old acquaintance of his own wearing the clothes of Junyu, holding a whip in his hand, whipping a dark-skinned Annan man.

"Young Master Hou!" Sun Lin shouted.

The man slowly turned his head. Who else was this person not Hou Fangyu? It turned out that after a group of Green Camp, Eight Banners, Mongolian and Korean prisoners were selected as mercenaries by Zhang Yuanwai and other gentry, the veteran Hou Fangyu naturally upgraded from a coolie to a supervisor.

Originally, Hou Fangyu's fair skin had been tanned, but there was no beard on his face, it was clean and his voice was sharp, which was the consequence of his castration.

Hou Fangyu smiled bitterly: "I am not a prince Hou, I am a person who is waiting for sin. I have been a coolie here for three years to atone for my sins."
Chapter completed!