After Zhou Bofu received the order from his wife, he took a servant and rented a boat and went east along the river. He arrived in Songjiang for only one day. After abandoning the boat, he rented a car and went to find Chen Zilong first, intending to stay at his house for two days. First, he came to contact Chen Zilong for a while, and second, he was more comfortable than staying in an inn.

Who knew that when he arrived at the door and handed over a prayer letter, he realized that Chen Zilong had already brought a few friends, juniors and servants to the capital to join the army to serve the king. Now there are only some women and children in his family, so it is natural that he is not convenient to stay overnight at a foreign guest. Zhou Bofu said goodbye and took the servant to the city to find a raft called "Yuelai Inn" and asked for a room to stay in.

This "Yuelai Inn" is also the industry of the Zheng family, and it is found in many cities around the south of the Yangtze River. It can also be regarded as a kind of chain hotel taste in later generations. Zhou Bofu and the Zheng family have a lot of contacts, so they naturally know the tricks here. After living there, he handed over his name to the shopkeeper of the inn and said, "Mr. Zheng Cai and I have been old friends for many years, but I want to visit Mr. Zheng Cai tomorrow, but I don't know that Mr. Zheng Cai will have free time tomorrow, so I bothered the shopkeeper first to report it."

The shopkeeper heard Zhou Bofu recognize the prince and immediately looked up to him. He carefully accepted Mingla, ordered someone to arrange Zhou Bofu to stay, and asked someone to temporarily take over his own affairs, so he went out. In the evening, the shopkeeper came back and saw Zhou Bofu and said, "Sir, Master Zheng Cai was overjoyed when he heard that the teacher was coming. He was about to come to visit him in person, but he had a lot of business these days, and he couldn't find time for a while. He had to ask the husband to go to his house to meet him tomorrow morning.

.” Speaking of this, the shopkeeper paused and added: "Sir, there have been many people visiting Mr. Zheng Cai recently, but the road in front of the door is quite narrow. If you enter the alley, you need to ask a car and sedan to wait outside the alley. Otherwise, you will go early, and whenever you come out, the car and horse and sedan will be blocked by the people who come out, and you cannot move forward and retreat. Sometimes, it is better to hike out for two or three quarters of an hour. If you go late, it will be even more difficult to get in."

After hearing this, Zhou Bofu smiled and said, "It's hard for the shopkeeper to be interested." Then he turned around and turned his eyes. His servant took out a silver dollar in his arms and handed it on him, "I'm working hard on the shopkeeper, I'm working hard on the shopkeeper, and I'm working hard on the shopkeeper. I'm working hard!"

Of course, a silver dollar was not used to call a sedan, and the silver dollar was more of a tip. The shopkeeper took the silver dollar, smiled, and bowed, "It was just a trivial matter of helping run errands, so he wrapped it on the villain." After saying that, he bowed again and then retreated.

The next morning, Zhou Bofu got up, ate a little, then got on the sedan chair prepared for him by the shopkeeper, and went to Zheng Cai's residence. When he arrived at the entrance of the alley, there were already many people at the entrance of the alley. Zhou Bofu said in his heart: "It is like this that human beings say that the door is full of people, and that's how it is." The sedan chair slowly arrived at Zheng Cai's door and stopped. Zhou Bofu got off the sedan chair, and the sedan chair went out of the alley and waited. Zhou Bofu looked at Zheng Cai's door, but saw that the door was about to be compared.

When I came last time, several servants with brocade clothes and flower hats were waiting there. The gate seemed to have been renovated, with a layer of vermilion paint on it, and a brass beast head was installed on the door, which seemed to be a little higher. Zhou Bofu sorted out his clothes and took the servant to the door to hand over the Mingla. The servant said, "My master is a friend of Master Zheng Cai and Prince Anping. I came to visit your master. I had made an appointment with Master Zheng Cai yesterday."

After hearing this, a slightly older servant in the doorman looked at Mingla again and said, "Yesterday, the master ordered that the gentleman was coming and asked me to wait here for a special wait. The gentleman waited for a moment, and Rong Xiaodi went inside to report." After that, the servant ordered a servant to go in and report, and asked Zhou Bofu to sit down in the doorman, and asked someone to bring in fragrant tea and melon seeds.

Zhou Bofu waited in the gatehouse for about a quarter of an hour, and a servant came in and said, "The master asked the young man to lead the way for Mr. Zhou. The master was waiting for Mr. Zhou in Wanghailou."

The Wanghai Tower is a two-story building, and the rooms in the building are arranged in the form of a sea boat cabin. There are two statements about this decoration style. One statement is that Zheng Cai started from the sea with Zheng Zhilong, and the current arrangement is to show that although he is rich, he knows not to forget his roots; the other statement is that Zheng Cai is used to staying at sea, but when he goes ashore, he is not used to it. But because business matters can no longer go to sea as usual, he built such a building to comfort him.

The servant took Zhou Bofu around a rockery at the main entrance, walked to the left through a small courtyard, and then arrived next to "Wanghailou". The three words "Wanghailou" were written by Hong Chengyan.

At this time, Zheng Cai was already waiting under the steps. When he saw Zhou Bofu, he walked up to greet him and said, "I haven't seen him for more than a year. Mr. Zhou looks two years younger. I don't know what the wind is today, so I brought a rare guest like Mr. Zhou to me. Please come inside, please." As he said that, he let Zhou Bofu in.

"Of course it's the sea breeze, which is what the Thais call the 'trade wind'." Zhou Bofu also replied jokingly.

After entering the small building, the two of them sat down separately, and the servant brought tea.

"I don't know if Mr. Zhou came to me personally. What can I do here to help Mr. Zhou last time?" Zheng Cai has a lot of things now, so he didn't go around in circles, but asked directly.

"I want to buy a batch of new ships from you," said Zhou Bofu, "a batch of ships used in the inland river."

"Mr. Zhou, if you want to buy a sea boat and find us, you have found the right person. But as far as I know, there are workshops for making such ships everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River. How could you think of buying my boat?" Zheng Cai asked.

"Because it is simple to build inland ships, it is not easy to build them well. I heard the prince talk about a word called 'standard box'. I heard that most of the sea ships used for trade in the mansion are now designed according to the number of standard boxes to be loaded. The size of this standard box is particularly suitable for lifting with a crane. After using this thing, the speed of loading and unloading of goods has been greatly improved. I think the same design should also be suitable for inland ships and ships that are common to inland to offshore. The gentleman also knows that no matter what cargo is transported, every time it loads and unloads on the dock, it will be more loss. So what I want most is actually a ship that can sail on the Yangtze River and its important tributaries, and can also sail along the coast, and load and unload cargo relatively faster."

"Is this kind of ship?" Zheng Cai shook his head and said, "We really don't have such a ship. At least there is no one for the time being. But if we really want to do it, there should be a way. But shipbuilding is not my responsibility. If you really want to build such a ship, it is best to go to Taiwan in person and discuss it with those shipyards by yourself."
Chapter completed!