Zhangzhou, the Golden Triangle of southern Fujian, is the famous hometown of fish, rice, flowers and fruits, the middle and lower reaches of the Jiulong River is the largest plain in Fujian, in the land without three points of flat, the sky is not three days of fine Fujian, it is really a treasure land. Of course, this is also one of the areas where Fujian Observation makes Rong Hong focus on business.

Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Zhangzhou can be regarded as the foundation of Rong Hong's rule in Fujian, no more than Quanzhou was infiltrated by the Tang Dynasty using maritime reasons, here, his rule is still stable. And the prefect of Zhangzhou is Rong Hong's brother Rong Wei. There were also more than 20,000 troops stationed in Zhangzhou.

However, because of the existence of the Tang Naval Division, the garrison of the 20,000 garrisons is far away from the coastline, and the nearest one is about fifty miles away, after all, no one wants to be subjected to the fierce firepower of the Tang Naval Division from the sea, Lingnan has suffered enough in this regard, and now Lingnan and Fujian have adopted the basically same model, that is, by the sea for fifty miles, not giving the Tang army any opportunity to take advantage of. Far from the coastline, a large number of fortresses were arranged, and as long as the troops of the Tang Army's naval division dared to go ashore, they would try to make them have no chance to return to the sea.

Officers and soldiers can stay away from the coastline, but civilians cannot.

Rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, rely on the water to eat the water. The fishermen still have to beg for a living. Even if he was afraid of the Tang Army and the pirates in his heart, he could only row his own boat to go out to sea to fish. For these fishermen, there is not much difference between starving to death and being forced to die by government taxes, and dying in the sea in the wind and waves, encountering pirates and being killed by the Tang army.

What if you're lucky?

The original plan of the Fujian Observation Mission was to evacuate all the inhabitants of the 50 miles of Linhai to the interior, but it could not solve the livelihood of these people, and the forced relocation provoked several popular uprisings, and finally let it go. Anyway, the government is leaving, if you want to stay here and fend for yourself, then it's up to you.

Of course, you still have to pay taxes.

It is in this situation that many power vacuums have been created in the coastal zone. It has become a natural gathering place for many lawless people.

The government, on the other hand, will only bring people to collect taxes on a fixed few days every month. As long as the taxes are paid in full, they don't care what these people are doing here.

Muyu Town is one of those places.

The foothold of Gao Xiangsheng is also here.

For intelligence officers, such a place is their paradise. In these places, not only are they easy to hide, but they are also unable to gather a myriad of valuable intelligence. The vacuum of power does not represent the vacuum of interests, it is precisely these places that seem to be poor, but in private, there are countless riches flowing in the dark.

How could those powerful people in Fujian give up such a wonderful land?

Pirates, smugglers, and even the heroes of the green forest all occupy a piece of territory here, sometimes cooperating, sometimes fizzling, and in the end, it is nothing more than two words.

Of course, Datang also has its own stronghold here.

Smuggler Yang Shuo.

Yang Shuo is a native of Zhangzhou and originally engaged in business. When the north and the south were still in the honeymoon period, he dared to take risks, hired a ship to go to the north, brought back countless cheap goods from the north, sold them, made a huge profit, and embarked on a business road of reversing goods from the north to the south.

Later, the trade policy between the two sides in the south gradually tightened, and his income began to narrow, but the corresponding expenses were naturally indispensable. So Yang Shuo began to mix prohibited items with normal goods.

Because these are not allowed to trade, they are often the most profitable.

It was at this stage that Yang Shuo was successfully rebelled by the internal guards and became a spy of the internal guards in Fujian.

Of course, as a well-informed businessman, and a businessman who is quite bold and daring to take risks, Yang Shuo can be rebelled by the internal guard, which also comes from the fact that he has traveled to the north many times, and has seen the prosperity of the north with his own eyes, and has seen the government of the north is clean, the army is brave, and the people are rich, so he believes that the defeat of the south by the north will be the trend of the times, and it is an irreversible thing.

Later, after the trade between the two sides in the south was completely banned by Xiang Zhen, Yang Shuo became a hot figure in Zhangzhou because he could get many northern items that the south could not produce. Even more profitable. Although everyone knows that there must be something wrong with the source of Yang Shuo's things, and there can be no other channel than smuggling, what does it matter?

Good things are what everyone wants.

Who wouldn't want to make more money?

Of course, it is impossible for a person like Yang Shuo to enter the inner circle of the inner guard, so it seems that his level among the inner guards is not low, but he can only wander above the edge of the inner guard's inner circle.

Even Wang Yikun, he has never seen it.

When the internal guards began to find out Wang Yikun's whereabouts, Yang Shuo also made great efforts, but found nothing, of course he was also flustered, because he didn't know Wang Yikun, but Wang Yikun must know him, you know, Wang Yikun was the head of the internal guards in Lingnan and Fujian.

With just a portrait of Wang Yikun, Yang Shuo mobilized the power he could, but he still found nothing, and when he was safe and sound, he didn't take this matter seriously.

In his opinion, that guy must have run away.

When he once again received that someone from the internal guard wanted to come to Zhangzhou to investigate this matter, he didn't expect that it would be a big man like Gao Xiangsheng.

For Yang Shuo, Wang Yikun is a big man enough, and people like Gao Xiangsheng, he has only heard people mention it occasionally, and he only knows that it is the kind of highest-level character.

So he thought that this time he came was just a false story, so he didn't come to Muyu Town at all, but just sent a henchman to Muyu Town to be responsible for the reception.

Yang Shuo has his own warehouse, warehouse, escort team, etc. in Muyu Town. Here, he can be regarded as a strong party.

Muyu Town was originally a small coastal town with only a few thousand people, but after the government retreated, it developed rapidly, gradually gathering tens of thousands of people, and the town was naturally overcrowded. Compared with the general county town, it is much more lively and prosperous.

Although this kind of liveliness and prosperity is just a kind of deformed prosperity, in any case, the original people here still live a worry-free life because of this.

The prices of all daily necessities here are much more expensive than in other places in Zhangzhou.

Gao Xiangsheng chose this place because Taksheng Trading Company has a ship repair yard here. Pirate ships, damage very quickly, whether it is with other pirates, or to escape the pursuit of the official army, it is indispensable, so regular ship repairs, it is inevitable.

And if Wang Yikun wants to escape, he must have a good ship.

According to the intelligence of the internal guard, in this shipyard of the Victorious Commercial Bank, there was actually a wheeled paddle boat of the Tang Dynasty Sailors, although it was a dilapidated one, but the main structure was not damaged at all, and it was repaired, not to mention that it could be restored to the best state at the beginning, but there was no problem with a seventy or eighty percent state.

And now this wheeled paddle boat has been almost repaired.

Gao Xiangsheng, whose face was covered and wrapped in a thick cloak with only two eyes exposed, sat in a loose corner, with a bag on the table, and there were several people dressed like him in this wine shop. And everyone is not surprised.

Such a person appeared in Muyu Town, and he had never seen it before, so there was only one kind of person, who made a fortune in other places, and came here to sell stolen goods. Not that anyone would come over and sit in front of Gao Xiangsheng and whisper a few words to him, and some even reached out to grope in the baggage, uncovering the baggage and taking a look.

But it is clear that no one is too interested. Either they don't like it, or the thing is too strong, or the other party's asking price is too high, and they can't negotiate anyway.

Gao Xiangsheng came every night, but he didn't seem to be in a hurry at all.

"The ship is almost finished." Another smiling businessman-like man sat down in front of Gao Xiangsheng, and whispered as he reached out and groped in his baggage.

"Hmm!"

"There are two guns on board!"

"What?"

"Artillery!" The person who came uncovered the furoshiki and put his face almost into the furoshiki, "It's confirmed." Two guns, forty shells, should have flowed from either side of the naval division. Therefore, you think that Wang Yikun must go to sea from Zhangzhou, and now it can be said to be undoubted. ”

"What about the money?"

"It should also be on this ship, but no traces have been found yet, and it is estimated that Wang Yikun should also appear." The man covered himself with a furoshiki and looked up. "Or when this person appears, it is the day when the money is on the boat, after all, Wang Yikun took risks, isn't it just for the money?"

"Mobilize the squad!" Gao Xiangsheng took a deep breath and said, "Just in case, in addition, inform the sailor Li Hao as quickly as possible, and now Li Hao is waiting for my news at sea a hundred miles away from Zhangzhou." ”

"You're going to capture him at sea?"

Gao Xiangsheng nodded: "Find a way, I want to get on this boat, and the team can get on as much as I want." I want to take the people, and I will take the money back to Chang'an. ”