Chapter 812

Government offices have always been painfully slow, especially with cases.

And cases involving many parties are even slower.

So after the imperial court reopened on the fourth day of the first month, Pan Yun did not rush to Ji'an to find County Magistrate Wu, but first went to Quanzhou Prefecture, leaving Wang Cong there.

During the New Year, Wang Cong sincerely prayed and cast a divination, which revealed an excellent omen for this sea voyage.

Seeing Miao Zhen then calculated the favorable dates for departure based on celestial patterns: between the twenty-first day of the first month and the second day of the second month.

Wang Cong planned to arrive early in Quanzhou Prefecture to make preparations.

Since he was going to sea, he naturally could not focus solely on the silver from Yinshan—Wang Cong aimed to carve out a place for himself in maritime trade.

During his six months in Japan, he conducted extensive research and found that the upper classes, such as regional daimyo and their family members, most favored Chinese books, exquisite silk, porcelain, and gold and silver ornaments.

Among these, books offered the highest value for money.

Yet they were not willing to pay high prices for just any book, for Japan was a vassal state of Great Ming, used Chinese characters, revered Tang and Song culture, and already had many Chinese texts within its borders.

To sell books at high prices, they must be either rare manuscripts or important printed editions, or else books entirely unavailable in Japan.

They paid for content, not just the object.

Since returning home, Wang Cong had been preparing—he had visited every bookstore in Quanzhou Prefecture and sifted through countless books while in Ji'an.

In this search, he uncovered many fine books: military strategy and tactics, which he could not take to Japan, but could show to his junior uncle;

Sigh, his junior uncle's heart was never warm to begin with—would reading these military strategies and psychological analyses make his heart even darker?

Medical texts and herbals, Wang Cong casually gave to Tao Yanbai and Sister Miaohé; any extras he packed for the old Japanese men—one book each, for rarity increases value, and too many books would make them seem commonplace.

For other craft-related books, he took one of each if possible.

For books on astronomy and geography, he first kept one each for Seeing Miao Zhen and his second junior brother in Jingcheng, then selected one of each remaining type to take to Japan.

After this entire search, he ended up selecting mostly Confucian texts.

Pan Yun flipped through them and nodded: "Confucian texts are good—they teach people to be good, instructing them in benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Excellent, excellent—take several more."

Wang Cong also felt he had chosen well: "I've been to Lord Sadata's study—they hold Confucian culture in high esteem."

Pan Yun nodded: "After all, we share the same origin—how could they not admire it? I think Japan ought to reform, reconsider its methods of selecting talent; our imperial examination system is well worth learning."

Pan Yun shoved all the books into Wang Cong's arms and said: "You can suggest this to Lord Sadata. In the future, we must maintain constant exchanges with Japan—the better Japan becomes, the better we will become. We hope they will enjoy peace and prosperity, and thrive alongside Great Ming."

Wang Cong agreed.

Wang Cong had put considerable thought into the books, but the silk and porcelain were easy to select—just choose the most popular styles currently in fashion.

Patterns that had become popular in Jiangnan were naturally the best; they would sell well in Japan too—simply claim they were the most fashionable silks of Great Ming this year, and they would fetch high prices.

The tastes of Japan's upper and middle classes were more complex: silk, cotton, linen, and tea were their favorites.

The lower and middle classes preferred cheap porcelain and cotton-linen cloth.

Beyond these, Great Ming copper coins were beloved by all levels of Japanese society.

But copper was a controlled substance in Great Ming—copper coins could be used domestically, but exporting them was impossible.

Before the maritime ban, when ships smuggled goods, many carried entire holds of copper coins; as long as they weren't caught by the naval forces, crossing the sea could bring back substantial silver.

That's why Japanese pirates loved to raid Great Ming merchant ships—if they could stop one, they made a fortune.

Before the maritime ban was lifted, Wang Cong's first encounter with a sea vessel was honest—he could never have hidden copper coins to smuggle them out.

Now that the ban is lifted, even to protect his junior uncle's and Mount Sanqing's reputation, he would never smuggle.

So upon arriving in Quanzhou, he had the clerks prepare detailed cargo manifests and eagerly took them to the Maritime Trade Office to file.

Just after the New Year, all levels of government offices were busy, except the Maritime Trade Office, which was so idle it seemed mushrooms might grow on the desks.

Wang Cong was the first to come file a manifest—not only did the clerks warmly welcome him, but even the head of the Maritime Trade Office, Cao Jixiang, came out personally to receive him.

Wang Cong was stunned and blurted: "My junior uncle isn't coming today."

Pan Yun had been whispering with Prefect Lu ever since arriving in Quanzhou; for the past two days, Wang Cong had only seen her right before bedtime.

Cao Jixiang smiled warmly: "Wang Daoist, you underestimate us. This is official business, unrelated to Pan Yun. Of course, your junior uncle made great contributions to lifting the maritime ban, and that lets our office know we're on the same side."

Cao Jixiang gave Wang Cong's shoulder a suggestive pat—everything was left unsaid.

Wang Cong understood.

With the maritime ban just lifted, many merchants were eager to act, but none dared be the first.

Or rather, everyone was busy preparing, but no one had yet come to the Maritime Trade Office to file.

So Wang Cong's arrival to file his manifest shook the Maritime Trade Office—and among all who watched Quanzhou's Maritime Trade Office, it exploded like water dropped into hot oil.

As soon as he stepped out of the office, people rushed up to him, pulling him off to a winehouse for drinks.

Those without ships, hoping to join his voyage, asked to ride along—Wang Cong agreed: anyone or anything, just pay the shipping fee.

He had three ships—one left in Japan as an escape route for his companions, two he brought with him; but he had little cash, and even with support from his junior uncle and others, he couldn't afford enough cargo for both ships.

He had been waiting for them to come to him.

Some merchants with ships also came to him, wanting to travel together.

Everyone knew Pan Yun had made great contributions in the bandit-suppression battle, not to mention Master Xuanmiao and Tao Ji killing Japanese pirates in Japan, making them howl like ghosts and wolves.

Since these were private actions involving foreign lands, the government merely collected information and made no official statement;

But the Jianghu was different.

In the Jianghu, Master Xuanmiao and Tao Ji's reputations were no weaker than Pan Yun's.

All three killers were from Mount Sanqing—so who would dare attack Wang Cong's fleet flying the Mount Sanqing banner?

From the Great Ming navy and Japanese official ships down to Great Ming pirates and Japanese pirates alike, when they saw the flags of "Great Ming" and "Sanqing" flying together, they all kept far away, didn't they?

So traveling with Wang Cong's fleet meant you only needed to be extra careful of sea storms—you could avoid eight out of ten human threats.

Merchants with ships came to him, willing to pay a protection fee.

If it were someone else, they might forgo the fee to win goodwill—but Wang Cong was a Daoist Priest.

Daoist Priests believe: there must be return for every payment.

On the main street, when he treated a poor patient, even if the patient only paid him a single blade of grass, he still had to take something — otherwise the karmic consequence would fall on himself.

If they offered it, Wang Cong would accept it.

Still, he didn't just charge at random — he drew up a set of standards: pay different amounts, and the position in the fleet differed, as did the protection each received.

Oh, right — Wang Cong's ships also carried cannons.

But at this moment the cannons had not yet been fired, so no one knew.

With just those few cannons, he could collect this protection fee with a clear conscience.

(End of this chapter)