Chapter 917

"Young Master Xu, can you actually make the call on this?" Li Laohai asked unhurriedly. Xu Housheng stood up and said with certainty, "I can make the call!"

Nie Hei, however, narrowed his eyes and stared at Li Laohai — the way he was talking, it sounded like he meant to fleece acquaintances and hold them for ransom. Li Laohai set down his wine cup and walked over, saying in a leisurely drawl, "This old man is getting on in years and has no wish to board a ship and drift about anymore. I want to live out a few years in peace and quiet. I'll help you with this matter and earn myself some retirement silver. Thirty thousand taels — this old man will figure out a way."

Hearing that figure, Xu Housheng froze for a moment. Nie Hei and Yu Ou both sucked in a sharp breath. For an inland county seat with tens of thousands of people, could its annual tax revenue even reach thirty thousand taels? And these few men were asking for that price — this was far more profitable than outright robbery!

Before the two of them could speak, Xu Housheng agreed again: "Fine. As long as the men really are craftsmen from the cannon foundry, I'll pay you that silver, Uncle Li. But we didn't bring enough ready silver this trip. Once we get back, we can settle the full amount."

Nie Hei and Yu Ou were both frantic. You couldn't speak carelessly in front of men like these who lived by the sea. Looking at this man's prestige and connections in Macau, if you rashly agreed like that, what if he detained you and demanded payment? Granted, the dozen-plus men from Xuzhou and Songjiang in the room could easily handle this one-armed old man, but after that, no one would be walking out of this building or leaving Macau.

Li Laohai spoke as if discussing a trivial matter, smiling easily. "A business deal worth tens of thousands of taels — just saying it like that won't do."

"Uncle Li, I can still scrape together a few thousand taels on hand. If that's not enough, that ship can be valued as well. If you don't trust me, I can stay here as a hostage." Xu Housheng's words rang with firm resolve.

The room fell silent. Everyone looked at Xu Housheng. For a moment, Nie Hei and Yu Ou didn't know what to say either. Li Laohai, however, smiled and nodded. At that moment, Nie Hei reacted as well, hurriedly forcing a dry laugh as he stood and said, "Brother Li, my family's uncle-in-law..."

"I'm the one calling the shots on this trip!" Xu Housheng suddenly raised his voice. It was extremely rare for Xu Housheng to act this way. The sudden outburst caught Nie Hei off guard, and then, no longer caring about decorum, he said coldly, "Uncle-in-law, if you can produce that much silver, why would anyone bother working for you? Wouldn't tying you up for ransom be even better?"

Hearing this, Li Laohai chuckled but made no move to refute it. Xu Housheng slammed the table and said through gritted teeth, "What's there to fear? Then my brother-in-law would just kill every last one of them. At least someone would avenge me!"

With words taken to that extreme, Nie Hei was stunned. The men accompanying them were all visibly shaken. No one had imagined that this introverted young master and uncle-in-law could say something like that. Yet, thinking it over carefully, he wasn't wrong. Nie Hei said nothing further and simply sat down in silence. Yu Ou gave a couple of dry laughs and offered no comment either.

Li Laohai shook his head as he walked over and said with a smile, "No point hiding it from you — this old man's home is in Zhangzhou, Fujian. You talk as if it's all real, but could you really fight your way over from that far away to kill people? This old man just wants to earn some retirement silver. Why would I deceive you? And kidnapping? This old man has a name and reputation to keep."

"We really could come over." Nie Hei muttered a single sentence, then said no more.

This time, Li Laohai was the one stunned. Because over the course of the voyage, he could tell that Nie Hei was not a man who lied or boasted. And the way he'd just spoken sounded more like he was stating some self-evident truth. But with the distance between Jiangbei in South Zhili and Fujian being as far apart as heaven and earth, how could they fight their way over to kill anyone? Wasn't that a joke?

Still, Li Laohai could see that Xu Housheng was serious, and could also see that Xu Housheng truly could make the decisions. He stood by the table and said, "None of you are the type to spin tall tales, and this old man isn't afraid of you running off either. With a business as big as the Yu family of Songjiang, thirty thousand taels is a small matter. But if you really want to do this, tomorrow you'll give this old man whatever silver you can scrape together. Then all of you stay on the ship, buy enough provisions, and be ready to hoist sail and leave at any moment. When the time comes, this old man will go with you. How about that?"

This time, neither Nie Hei nor Yu Ou made a sound. They merely exchanged a bitter smile. There really was no controlling this anymore.

That night they slept in the guest rooms prepared by the trading house. Li Laohai went off on his own to make arrangements. Xu Housheng and the others had no idea of the details and simply slept through the night. Nie Hei even went to Xu Housheng to try to talk him out of it. Xu Housheng's answer was simple: "If my brother-in-law were here, he'd gladly spend a hundred thousand taels."

Nie Hei thought about Zhao Jin's attitude toward firearms, then thought again about the sum of thirty thousand taels, and in the end, he remained silent.

The next day, everyone followed Li Laohai's instructions. After purchasing provisions, they all returned to the ship. Having set aside enough funds for the cannons, they still had quite a bit of gold left — roughly equivalent to six thousand taels of silver. Xu Housheng gave it all to Li Laohai.

Nie Hei and the Xuzhou men said nothing. Yu Ou, in private, told the Yu family men that this silver was all money thrown into the water — truly a case of a rich family's child not knowing the cost of firewood and rice. It was lucky that, all along the journey, he'd seemed like a reliable sort.

They had already entered the port. Ashore there was wine and women. After enduring so long at sea, before they'd even had a chance to enjoy themselves, they had to stay cooped up on the ship again. The Yu family sailors were deeply resentful. Xu Housheng, however, made a swift decision: first, pay out a month's wages in advance, and then double the wages for the return voyage — but no one was to leave the ship. Once the sailors got their money, they quieted down somewhat. But then Xu Housheng gave Nie Hei another order: if anyone disobeyed and left the ship without permission, kill them on the spot. Once that order was given, no one dared make a fuss. No one had expected such an introverted young master to suddenly become so ruthless.

They boarded the ship in the morning. By the afternoon, the cannons from that shop were delivered. Judging by their condition and design, they had indeed all been dismantled from seagoing vessels. The clever part was that the shop's assistant pointed out to Xu Housheng and the others right there on the deck exactly which ship each cannon had been taken from. Foreigners' eyes light up at the sight of money — that was no empty saying.

"Maybe back on those foreign devils' own soil, there are some honest and simple ones. But when they follow a ship out to sea, spending months or a year on the water, who knows when their life might be snuffed out? If they don't worship money, what else would they worship?" The shop man spoke with blunt honesty.

They had cannons in stock: one-catty, three-catty, six-catty, and twelve-catty. But loading and unloading the six-catty and twelve-catty ones was extremely troublesome. After the ship drew near the dock, they had to use oxen, horses, and a great deal of manpower just to load the twelve-catty cannon onto the ship. It already weighed over two thousand catties. To transport this cannon, Xu Housheng's ship even had its deck and hold structure modified, only then could the vessel maintain stability.

Quite a few people in Macau bought cannons, but they rarely saw anyone buy like this, and with such a huge commotion. It drew the Folangji port officials over to inspect. Inevitably, another sum of silver had to be paid as a sweetener, and only then was no further inquiry made.

After receiving full payment, the shop assistant was warm and attentive, saying with considerable regret that they had no eighteen-catty cannon this time. If the honored customer was interested, they could certainly get one next time, and there were even ones that could fire heavier cannonballs. The shop manager also probed with a few questions, asking what they intended to do with so many cannons. Xu Housheng's answer was very straightforward: they were bought to defend their village stronghold. As for whether they believed him, that was up to them.

They waited in the port like this for two days. Though the time wasn't long, everyone on the ship grew restless. So much silver had been handed over — could they have been swindled? Or was this whole thing a setup? The An Kebao that the Yu family had found wasn't reliable to begin with — could this guarantor also have been tempted by the sight of the silver?

Nie Hei's expression remained grim the whole time. If something went wrong on Xu Housheng's end, he, as the bodyguard, would certainly be blamed. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

But on the evening of the third day, the lookout on deck spotted a four-wheeled cart unloading bundles onto a sampan. This kind of scene was hardly rare at the port — except this sampan was heading toward their ship.

Li Laohai was on that sampan. Five burlap sacks, some large, some small, all quite heavy. The moment Nie Hei and Yu Ou lent a hand, they knew what was inside. The sacks contained people.

"If you want to question them, do it in the hold. Don't alert anyone else," Li Laohai instructed curtly.

Once the sacks were brought below deck and the ropes binding them were cut, two sturdy men, one sturdy woman, and two boys were revealed — all Folangji people. Surprisingly, the sampan had also brought along an interpreter. This left Xu Housheng and the others somewhat stunned. They thought, how could he be so careless with something this secret? But there was no helping it; without an interpreter, there was no way to verify their identities.

The questions Xu Housheng asked were very difficult for the interpreter to translate. The two sturdy men were still in shock and not yet calm. Seeing the sturdy woman and the boys with their mouths gagged made them even angrier. But looking at the opponents holding sharp blades, they didn't dare act rashly and could only obediently answer the questions.

The interpreter exhausted his words and kept gesticulating with his hands. The two Folangji men finally grasped the general idea. The other party was actually asking about things related to casting and blacksmithing. They also knew that refusing to answer would likely mean suffering, so they answered each question one by one.

Xu Housheng had specifically brought paper and brush. Using a charcoal stick, he made rough sketches on it — two similar drawings, one correct and one wrong — and had the other party choose. He also drew various designs and asked whether they had seen them before or not.

Nie Hei and Yu Ou, watching from the side, both nodded. This Young Master Xu might be rash and impulsive in his actions, and ignorant of the dangers of the jianghu, but when it came to proper business, he was very meticulous.

As for Li Laohai nearby, he showed no anger at this obvious distrust and simply stood there grinning as he waited.

They went back and forth questioning like this for the better part of an hour. To those around them, all they heard was this business of forging and blacksmithing — dull and boring. Everyone grew restless, and when Xu Housheng finally finished his questions, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hoist the sails! Set sail!" Xu Housheng ordered. Nie Hei and Yu Ou instinctively froze for a moment. Was it really settled, just like that?

"There's no mistake. They understand the blacksmith's trade, and they've seen the kind of cannon my elder brother wants to make. And it's not the interpreter deceiving us — several phrases, ones I asked that Louis to teach me, were all correct," Xu Housheng said.

The look Nie Hei gave Xu Housheng now held a bit more admiration. This uncle-in-law of his was truly meticulous in his thinking. If Li Laohai were setting a trap, the likelihood of him colluding with the foreigners wasn't high, but the interpreter could easily be bribed. After all, whatever was said came through the interpreter — how would you know if it was true or false?

Thanks to Chuangshi's "Wu Liulang, User Light in the Darkness, Yuan Heng Li Zhen" and Qidian's "Drunk Smelling the Wild Swan, Ming*Martial Man, Xiao Qi Civilization Miracle" and several other new and old friends for the tips. Thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Who registered the book title...