Chapter 1111: The Prosperous Dengzhou Docks

Liu Yong clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward the timber, several men at his side hurrying to keep up. Despite his short stature, years in high position had cultivated an imposing presence. With a little dressing up, any outsider would take him for a man of a great house and suspect nothing else.

There were guards at the lumber yard. Seeing Liu Yong and his group examining every log with serious attention, a manager-type figure promptly came over with a smile to solicit business. His accent was not local to Dengzhou, but sounded more like the official dialect of Liaodong: "Is the honored customer looking to buy timber?"

"My household is building a new residence, but timber is hard to come by these days — we're short on ridgepole and pillar stock. We heard you have some here, but I never expected so much?" Liu Yong now spoke with a Huainan accent, the accent of the wealthy merchants of Qingjiangpu and Yangzhou.

At those words, the manager's smile deepened. Any house needed a ridgepole, but needing pillars meant a rich and noble household. And anyone who could travel outside Shandong Province to make purchases had to be a steward from a great clan — which meant far more profit. Watching Liu Yong reach out and run his hand over one of the timbers, the manager said with an ingratiating smile, "The honored customer's timing is unfortunate. All this timber has already been reserved and is being shipped out as we speak."

Liu Yong gave a noncommittal "Oh," and said indifferently, "Then I'll go look at the other yards."

The yard manager, seeing a big customer about to walk away, hurried forward to explain: "Honored customer, don't be fooled by the mountains of timber on these docks — it's all already sold. Where in our Great Ming can you still find large timber these days? When the Jiajing Emperor built his palaces, he had to search for wood in Liaodong and Sichuan. But now both regions are torn by war — where's the timber going to come from? The whole realm is desperate for it. Every shipload that arrives gets bought up immediately. If you want some, honored customer, you can put down a deposit and wait for our next shipment."

Seeing Liu Yong's skeptical look, the manager swore an oath: "If you don't believe me, honored customer, go ask around. No one has stock on hand. Our outfit has connections going back many years — that's the only reason we can get timber at all. And these are great trees from the deep mountain forests!"

"Aren't those deep mountain forests all Tatar territory? With the fighting so fierce right now, you can still get timber out?"

"The Tatars have to do business too. They're short on grain, short on iron, and short on medicine. So long as you smuggle those things over to them, you can buy anything — not just timber, even people!" The manager was not particularly guarded about it.

Liu Yong merely nodded and said, "Then I'll take your word for it. I'll go look around elsewhere. If it's as you say, I'll come back and see you."

That was how business worked — no one could force a deal to close on the spot. The manager agreed with a grin and gave Liu Yong a few eager pointers before returning to his work. Liu Yong made the rounds of the dock lumber yards, and just as that first manager had said, every yard's timber was already sold. Some told Liu Yong to wait for the next wave of ships; others could not even be bothered to answer. The trade was clearly thriving.

In the end, Liu Yong went back to the first yard. He simply said he would send over the required dimensions later, and if they could confirm supply, he would pay to secure the order. The managers watching the docks all earned a commission on every deal they closed, and Liu Yong's business looked like a major transaction, so the man agreed with great delight — never imagining that when Liu Yong returned, he would have two men from the shipping broker with him, there solely to identify faces.

Back at the inn inside the city, Liu Yong summoned local contacts from both the open and covert lines to make inquiries. Only then did he learn that the timber trade had boomed just within the last half-year. But neither the Cloud Mountain Trading House nor the Internal Guard had considered it worth much attention, so no report had been sent up. They also confirmed another matter: there had indeed been human trafficking in bulk recently.

This bulk trafficking was different from the influx of refugees. The slave markets had seen a surge of exceptionally attractive young women, as well as boys and girls of suitable age and looks. Such high-quality merchandise almost never appeared in batches like this. Hearing this, Li Yuliang recalled several wealthy and powerful figures in Linqing Prefecture boasting that they could get their hands on fine goods. The Li family had strict principles and had never shown any interest in such things — he had never imagined it connected back to this.

Back at their lodgings, Li Yuliang, who had been holding it in for a long time, burst out in fury: "Utterly shameless! This is colluding with the enemy — this is supplying the enemy!"

"No wonder Big Brother always says: for three hundred percent profit, even the king's law and the death penalty can't scare people off. They'd sell their own parents." Liu Yong offered a few sneering remarks.

The moment Li Yuliang had spat out those angry words, he felt a twinge of regret. He knew the choice he had made, but some things he truly could not stomach. The timber on the docks, the supplies being loaded nonstop, the people being sold off in lots — thinking through the chain of cause and effect enraged him. Yet Liu Yong's comment surprised him. Only then did it dawn on him: Liu Yong was only condemning their shamelessness, paying no mind at all to the charge of colluding with the enemy.

That very night, the Internal Guard commander in Penglai, the seat of Dengzhou Prefecture, received a dressing-down from Liu Yong. By the next day, everyone was in motion. Beyond the routine recruitment of Liaodong refugees, they also began gathering large amounts of intelligence on the Penglai naval port. Liu Yong did not wait idly; he dispatched men to the docks to purchase a seagoing vessel outright at a high price, then had it fully stocked with supplies.

Li Yuliang assisted in handling all these matters. What gave him pause for thought was this: once the ship was bought, they retained only the two oldest crewmen. All the rest would have to be hired from outside — and not at Penglai Harbor either. The Xuzhou men stationed in the prefectural seat of Penglai were sent to scour the ports across Laizhou and Dengzhou Prefectures. Under no circumstances would they take men who had previously served on the same ship together.

Moreover, although this voyage was ostensibly to recruit refugees, the ship's cargo capacity left no room for them. Everything aboard was their own personnel and supplies. Apart from the sailors, every other man was a martial fighter from Xuzhou.

Liu Yong compiled all the relevant details about Dengzhou's ports and the Liaodong trade into a written report and dispatched it by courier to Xuzhou. He made no mention of the Yu family's ships arriving late. He gave them four more days — conditions at sea were unpredictable, after all.

On the second day of waiting, the Yu family's four ships entered the harbor. The Yu people first went to the shipping broker to make contact as agreed, and the broker immediately sent an urgent report to Liu Yong.

"…It is truly an unforgivable offense. We should have arrived seven days ago, but then we considered how fierce the wind and waves are on the Liaodong seas. For absolute safety, the family steward ordered us to swap the sand ships for Guangdong ships, which is why we are only now rushing in…"

The man leading the Yu family party this time was named Yu Dajiang, forty-one years old, a lean, dark, and hardy man of the sea. In speech and manner he seemed simple and honest, and as he spoke these words, he was full of guilt and apology.

Yet Li Yuliang could not shake the feeling that something was off. He could see no flaw in the man's speech or bearing. He had dealt with merchants of every stripe in Linqing Prefecture and had seen plenty of shrewd operators; he had a vague sense that this Yu Dajiang was very much like those men.

Liu Yong seemed not to notice. He merely said with a smile, "The sea is unpredictable. It's only right that your side took thorough precautions. We'll rest for two days, then set out at once."

After seeing off the profusely grateful Yu Dajiang and his men, Li Yuliang was about to warn Liu Yong. But the moment they were gone, before he could even open his mouth, he saw a cold sneer surface on Liu Yong's face.

Whatever he thought in private, Liu Yong still led his men to the docks to inspect the ships. Everyone on this expedition, Liu Yong included, knew nothing of the sea or seagoing vessels. What swapping Guangdong ships for sand ships actually meant was beyond them. Liu Yong, however, had picked out one of the hired sailors to bring along.

Once they reached the harbor, Liu Yong's party did not rush to find the Yu family fleet. Instead, they first had the shipping broker's men take them to the berths to look around. Both sand ships and Guangdong ships were present there.

Sand ships had broad, flat hulls, while Guangdong ships sat considerably higher in the water. The hull planks of the sand ships also looked less finely finished than those of the Guangdong ships. To men like Liu Yong and Li Yuliang, who had no maritime experience, those were the only differences they could make out.

"…Sand ships carry more and ride steadier, but they can't handle heavy seas and they're slow. Anyone running the open ocean and deep-sea routes year-round uses these Guangdong ships — they're fast and sturdy. True, they don't carry as much as sand ships, but on the open ocean and deep-sea routes, the cargo is all high-profit, so no one minds loading a bit less…" The sailor they brought might not have been deeply learned, but he had spent enough years at sea to have some knowledge.

Liu Yong nodded, and the tension that had been on his face eased considerably. Li Yuliang wondered to himself whether he had been overthinking things. The Yu family had been thinking of everyone's safety. This trip to Liaodong was tantamount to entering enemy territory — the danger was extreme. Before undertaking the mission, one had to first consider self-preservation. That was only proper.

After getting the lay of the docks, Liu Yong brought his men back the next day. This time they went straight to meet the Yu family party and had them assemble all the sailors and crew from every ship. Then they inspected the ships one by one. The Yu family naturally complied with the request.

Once ashore, Liu Yong made an agreement with the leader, Yu Dajiang: he and his men would occupy only two ships. All supplies were to be topped off as fully as possible, and they would not reserve any cabin space for refugees on the return voyage. The priority was securing the full quantity of every supply item.

Yu Dajiang agreed to every one of Liu Yong's demands without hesitation and immediately assigned men to carry them out. Seeing this, Li Yuliang felt more and more that he had misjudged the Yu family — and that perhaps Liu Yong had misjudged them too. He even began thinking he should find a chance to say something…

The April weather in Dengzhou Prefecture was quite fine, but the sailors all said the winds along the Liaodong coast were fierce and that they must exercise extreme caution when sailing. Yu Dajiang asked whether they should delay departure by a few days. Liu Yong inquired, and both the Yu family sailors and their own hired hands said that with proper care there should be no major trouble. Liu Yong gave the order to set sail.

Every ship was fully stocked with supplies. Liu Yong brought a total of seventy men aboard: forty-five household troops from the Zhao Battalion, and twenty-five local martial fighters from Xuzhou and Pizhou with solid combat skills. The Yu family's ships were all large vessels; carrying two hundred men on each would not have been difficult. But Guangdong ships were easy to handle and required no more than twenty crewmen apiece.

Everyone had assumed Liu Yong would distribute those seventy men across the five ships. The vessels were packed with supplies, but that would not have hindered carrying extra people. Instead, Liu Yong divided his men into just two groups: one of twenty, placed on the ship they had purchased themselves, and the remaining fifty on the very ship Yu Dajiang was aboard.

Thanks to "Mu Ming," "Yuan Heng Lizhen," "Qi Sanwen," and "Feng Zhong Long Wang," old friends, for your gifts. Thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets — brothers, can you support even more? Thank you, everyone.