If you go normally, it will take about six or seven days from Zhongjing to Yongle Port in Jinzhou, Daliao.

In order to cover up their identities and whereabouts, Yang Huairen and his entourage turned around all the way and walked to Yongle Port Yongle for half a month.

It's not without its benefits, at least I didn't notice that someone was chasing after me, and it was worth the delay for some time.

The ports of this year are very different from the ports that later generations called, and now the entire coastline of China can really be called a port according to the standards of later generations, and there are definitely no more than five.

Yongle Port, in fact, is just a fishing port, and the real development of maritime trade, whether it is the size of the port or the existing ships, is still a lot worse in terms of technical content.

When Yang Huairen arrived, Brother Hei Niu and Lu Jinyi had already arrived early, and the three teams converged from Xin, and scattered into several inns near the fishing port.

It may be easy to think that the Khitans are herders, but in recent decades there has been a trend of large-scale transformation into farmers, and there are absolutely no fishermen.

In fact, the Khitan people have long known how to obtain fish and other aquatic ingredients from the sea, rivers and lakes.

By the establishment of the Liao State, the Khitans occupied the north, and the Bohai Bay area in the Liao River basin gradually developed many fishing ports similar to Yongle Port.

The Khitan people also discovered the nutritional value of fish, which is not lower than the nutritional value of their traditional meat such as cattle and sheep, but because of the different tastes, it has won the love of many people.

Yongle Port is developed in this way. In fact, Yongle Port is not very large, and there are only 20,000 or 30,000 people in the city, but more than half of these people are engaged in industries related to marine fisheries.

The simplest is the fisherman. The Khitans are good at riding horses, but there are also many fishermen who are good at running boats.

Don't look at the fishing boats they are used to using are not too big, but it is not as easy as imagined to control such a fishing boat and catch fish.

The northern part of Bohai Bay has become a natural fishing moratorium due to the freezing of winter, and now in late spring and early summer, fishermen are also ushering in a busy season.

Yang Huairen was accompanied by the ghost sister and the brothers today, and came to a teahouse not far from the seaside.

The fishing port is crowded with fishing boats of all sizes, and roughly speaking, there are at least hundred.

Because today, unlike later generations, Bohai Bay is affected by industrial pollution from coastal cities, and fish resources are very abundant.

Fishermen go out to sea to fish, and they don't need to sail the fishing boat out of a long distance, about twenty or thirty miles, they can get a good catch, usually go to sea in the morning, catch a boatload of fish, and return with a full load at noon.

When Yang Huairen arrived, it was just after noon, and a large number of fishing boats sailed back to the port from the sea with hundreds of catties of fish, and they were immediately able to sell today's harvest to fish dealers from all walks of life, and exchanged it for a few pieces of silver.

The sale of marine fish in the inland areas is still very good, and the fishmongers pick the fish that they think are very fat, wrap them in straw mats, put them in ice-covered carts, and immediately transport and sell them inland.

Looking at the thriving scene on the port, Yang Huairen smiled.

The ghost sister couldn't laugh anymore, and said to Yang Huairen with a sad face, "Why are you still laughing?" You see, now is the busy season for people to fish, we want to buy a fishing boat to cross the sea back to the Song Dynasty, who is willing to sell the boat to us? ”

Yang Huairen raised his hand and patted Sister Ghost's hand, signaling her to calm down, "Don't panic, as long as the money is enough, are you afraid that these fishermen will not be willing to sell their boats?" ”

He pointed to a fisherman who was taking the money and said, "If you look closely, his catch in this boatload is at least three or four hundred catties, but the fishmonger bought it from him and only gave him a price of about four cents of silver." ”

Although Yang Huairen said this, Sister Ghost was still not at ease, and she couldn't understand why Yang Huairen was so calm, and she was still in the mood to care about how much money other fishermen made.

"That's what you say, too? Yes, other fishermen make money by fishing, so why do they sell their boats to us? ”

Yang Huairen smiled and shook his head, "You usually listen to a shrewd person, why can't you settle the account today?" ”

Sister Ghost was a little confused, and said with a puzzled face, "What do you want to say, don't sell it." ”

Yang Huairen continued to point in the direction just now, "Think about it, what is the price of the sea fish you usually eat in Zhongjing City, or in Xijin Mansion?" ”

Sister Ghost thought about it carefully, "It seems that it is rare to eat sea fish, but there are some fresh fish in the river." However, I have the impression that marine fish do not have such a fishy smell compared to river fish, and the price seems to be about twice as expensive. ”

"yes."

Yang Huairen said, "If you think about it again, although the river fish is not cheap, what is the price of the river fish?" What is the price of marine fish? You see how much money the fishmonger gave the fisherman to buy him a boatload of fish? ”

Sister Ghost seemed to understand a little, folded her fingers and calculated, and cried out with a "whoosh", "These fishmongers are too dark, right?"

Four hundred catties of sea fish, only to give less than four dollars of silver to the fishermen who worked hard to fish, and only one penny for a pound of fish?

When they transported these fish to the big towns, their value increased dozens of times, which was really profitable, no wonder I looked at them with such a happy smile on their faces. ”

The ghost sister paused, and was a little puzzled, "Something seems to be a little wrong, although the fishmongers charge a bit of a black heart for the price of fish, but these fishermen don't seem to be at a loss."

They don't have to be like herdsmen raising cattle and sheep, they don't have to raise cattle and sheep in captivity, they don't have to work every day like farmers, they have to sow seeds and weed, they have to sail the boat to the sea, and they can get dozens of catties of fish in one net, as if this money is not difficult to earn. ”

"Haha."

Yang Huairen couldn't help laughing, "You are a princess, and you haven't had much contact with folk suffering, so it's too simple to think about things."

It seems that when a fisherman has no input, it is easy to catch a boatload of fish by casually casting a net when he goes out to sea, but in fact they are not at all easier than grazing and farming.

You think, the price of such a big ship is not low, right? Whether it's their own boat or rented back from the owner, it's a high cost.

Smaller boats can't withstand the wind and waves at sea, so they can only catch some small fish and shrimp near the sea, and if you want to buy fish that are big enough to buy a price, you have to use big boats to catch fish far from the coast.

You see, a boat is not a single person can complete the work of driving and fishing, if you want to catch more fish and catch fish, at least seven or eight people need to be in a boat.

And don't forget, sailing out to sea is a very dangerous thing in itself, the wind and waves at sea are not as calm as ordinary rivers and lakes, and occasionally encounter a strong wind, or a whirlpool, a boatload of people is easy to explain in the sea.

Seeing that they don't have to farm and graze, they take a bigger risk when they fish. ”