Things happened suddenly, and after more than a month of hard work, Shandong suffered drastic changes.

This made the Lianghuai, the coastal areas of Fujian, and the salt merchants who were under the control of the new salt law of the imperial court in addition to Shandong not know what to do for a while.

But the matter has come to this point, even the Zheng family does not dare to be too arrogant.

Today's Emperor of the Apocalypse is too aggressive, even if there is a civil uprising in Shandong, he still responds calmly and does not retreat in the slightest.

This also makes many people clearly realize that perhaps the implementation of the new salt law is something that cannot be stopped.

Haibo Chengcheng, Zhangzhou Moon Port, Fujian.

Since Zheng Yiguan broke with the maritime merchant Li Dan in the first year of the Apocalypse and was recruited by the governor of Fujian, Nanjuyi, Yuegang has become the coastal base of the Zheng family's fleet.

Zheng Yiguan was named the Zhangzhou Maritime Garrison, and the coastal garrison was different from the inland garrison, which was a position with a low official position but great authority.

However, Zheng Yiguan rarely stayed in the garrison of Zhangzhou City, and compared to the time he spent in the old Galen ship in Yuegang.

The Galen ship, the main warship commonly used in Western countries today, is equipped with large-caliber cannons, which can fire accurately at intervals of miles, and the firepower is extremely strong.

At present, there is no naval division in the Ming Dynasty that owns the Galen battleship, not that he cherishes money.

It's just that when Yuan Keli developed the naval division in Denglai, he abandoned the consideration of introducing the main warships of the West and turned to develop himself.

The advent and popularization of the Zhenyu cannon has greatly improved the problem of insufficient firepower of the Daming Naval Division.

Today, the Daifuku ship converted by the Denglai Navy Division is also equipped with a large number of captivity guns, although the firepower is slightly inferior to the Galen ship, but it has a huge advantage in terms of crew.

If there is no real fight, it cannot be said that the Daifuku ship and the Galen ship are superior or inferior.

"One official..."

Zheng Hongkui didn't find Zheng Yiguan in the garrison mansion, so he didn't have to think about it, he must have come to the deck of the Galen ship in Yuegang again.

He rushed here, and when he really saw Zheng Yiguan, he opened his mouth and called out, and slowly approached.

Zheng Yiguan only knew who was coming by listening to the voice, and did not reply, he stood on the deck with his hands in his hands, looked at the rippling sea, and said quietly:

"Second uncle, can I ask you something."

Zheng Hongkui seemed to be taken aback.

"Yiguan, why do you say this?"

"This year is the fourth year of the Apocalypse, and I'm twenty years old, can I... Can you stop calling me by my nickname in front of others? ”

Zheng Yiguan said, turned around, and said:

"Second uncle, call me Zheng Zhilong, okay?"

"I heard that the current emperor is only in his early twenties, and he is similar to me, is that so?"

Zheng Hongkui was stunned for a moment, then smiled, patted him on the shoulder, sat on the big box containing stones on the side, and sighed:

"yes, I'm only in my early twenties."

"I've grown up, and I'm twenty years old this year..."

Although Zheng Zhilong has just reached the age of 20 this year, he has always been very old, and he will not hesitate to be decisive.

Although Zheng Hongkui is his elder, he actually considers himself a subordinate most of the time, and in terms of personal ability, he is even more embarrassed.

For a long time, the two were silent.

Zheng Hongkui patted his buttocks and got up, raised his voice, and said in a voice that could be heard by those "Zheng family officers and soldiers" on the deck:

"Zheng Hongkui, meet the Zhangzhou garrison and Zheng Zhilong!"

Suddenly, such a loud voice attracted the attention of most of the officers and men on deck.

Zheng Zhilong finally heard this, his heart was relieved, and he was very happy, and quickly bent down to help him up, laughed and replied: "It's all a family, the second uncle doesn't need to be polite!" ”

After Zheng Hongkui got up, he stood behind Zheng Zhilong and said worriedly:

"The salt patrol department of the imperial court has come to Yuegang, and in the past few days, a large number of people have been expanded to inspect the salt industry in various places."

Zheng Zhilong didn't seem surprised, nodded and said lightly:

"Well, I know it all."

Zheng Hongkui held on to the railing, leaned on the side and looked at Wang Yang, and said:

"It is said that the Nanzhao Institute, the Tongshan Institute, and more than a dozen salt factories in Zhenhaiwei have all been taken over by the local salt patrol department."

"The imperial court moved quickly, and the new inspector of the salt patrol department is also a ruthless character, I heard that he was transferred from the East Factory, and he handled the case of Donglin, and as soon as he arrived, he took out the ironclad evidence that Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang had hoarded a large amount of private salt."

"Speaking of which..., these four are unlucky enough!"

"On weekdays, the power of these four families is not small, but how can they fight against the imperial court?"

"When the Salt Patrol Division started, Wang Mengxiong also sent troops to maintain order around him, in order to deter the rest of the heroes who were about to move."

"The inspection was very simple, and directly copied the four families of Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang, and all the family wealth accumulated over several generations went to the emperor's internal funds."

"Now that the situation is serious, you should have an idea, we can't put it off any longer..."

"Wang Mengxiong..."Zheng Zhilong muttered when he heard this, and said:

"I know this person well, he is the general of Fujian South Road, when he was recruiting in Zhao'an that year, it was this Wang Mengxiong who came on behalf of Fujian Governor Nanjuyi."

"After all, at that time, I was just a pirate who had just broken away from Li Dan and had a small capital..."

Speaking of this, Zheng Zhilong was quite self-deprecating, he was not as excited as he was when he received the holy decree at the beginning of the year, he also leaned on the railing and said to Zheng Hongkui:

"This time the new salt law of the imperial court, what does the second uncle think?"

Zheng Hongkui thought about it and sighed:

"It's difficult, the salt industry is very profitable, and it has always been thirty percent or even more of our Zheng family's income, and the new salt law of the imperial court has taken back the salt farms in various places and rectified the salt industry, and I think I am also eyeing this huge profit."

Zheng Zhilong nodded and said:

"What the second uncle said is right, I have read the new salt law of the imperial court, and the coastal people have been settled, and the main content is to recover the national salt farms, sort out the salt fields, and select new salt merchants to issue salt introductions."

"The implementation of the new salt law has become unstoppable, even if it is our Zheng family, it is also an arm twisting thigh, an errand on land, let it go if you can..."

Hearing this, Zheng Hongkui was a little surprised.

"Yiguan, what do you mean?"

Zheng Zhilong smiled and said:

"Our Zheng family is not good at land trading, and now there is no need to tear up with the court because of this, we still have to rely on the court."

Speaking of this, Zheng Zhilong looked at the sea again, and there was a little light in his eyes.

"In this day and age, the real profiteering is not on land, but on the sea, in the depths of the distant sea! What kind of tea, horse, salt and iron, compared with the profits at sea, is not a huge profit at all. ”

Zheng Hongkui understood that Zheng Zhilong had greater ambitions, but he didn't understand, there were many maritime merchants in the world, and as far as he knew, the biggest one was none other than Li Dan.

Doing business with those foreign merchants is not a stable profit, how can it be compared to the salt industry fast and stable?

Although he was puzzled, Zheng Hongkui didn't talk much, he has always been like this, don't ask more, don't say much, because this kind of relationship can last for a long time.

Zheng Zhilong looked at it for a while, suddenly got up, and said:

"If the court wants to accept it, let's release it, not just release it, we want to throw all the halls of the salt industry under our command to the court! Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang are examples of disobedience, and our Zheng family should simply be an example of obedience! ”

"Send someone to find Wang Mengxiong, just say that I, Zheng Zhilong, gave him a great military feat, and he will be prosperous in the future, don't forget to do it today."