Yuehualou is the largest restaurant in Tongquanfu City, and it is a landmark building in the words of Chen Xiaoting in his previous life.

The arrangement to meet here is also to facilitate the search for a place, otherwise in this era of backward communication, Chen Xiaoting does not know how much time it will take to meet Liu Kui.

It was not yet noon when I entered Yuehua Building, and there were not many guests inside, only a few tables were occupied.

As soon as he saw Chen Xiaoting's style, the junior second runner immediately greeted him, and greeted him very warmly: "Guest officer, please come in!" ”

"Is there a private room?" Chen Xiaoting asked casually.

Xiao Er replied with a smile: "Yes...... Guest officer, please go up to the second floor! ”

Then, Chen Xiaoting and his entourage went up to the second floor, which was quiet at the moment, obviously not yet in business.

Looking around, except for seven or eight tables in the middle, the second floor is surrounded by private rooms.

"Just the one down the street!" Chen Xiaoting pointed casually.

"Okay, guest officer, please ......," Xiao Er said with a smile on his face.

I saw Chen Xiaoting turn around and say to Yang Kai and the others: "You just find two tables outside, and you can order your own dishes, but you can't drink!" ”

The lieutenants love to hear this, which is also the reason why they like to come out with Chen Xiaoting, a good meal and drink are indispensable, and Lord Chen is very generous!

"Yes!" Yang Kai agreed.

Subsequently, Chen Xiaoting, under the guidance of Xiao Er, took Liang Jiahui into the box.

Xiao Er then asked, "Two distinguished guests, I don't know what you want to eat?" ”

"Serve seven or eight of your signature dishes here, and serve a good pot of tea!" Chen Xiaoting said indifferently.

After a while, Xiao Er came up with a pot of tea, but the meal had to be prepared for a while.

After the little two left, Liang Jiahui, who was wearing a veil, stood up and lifted the teapot to pour tea for Chen Xiaoting.

Chen Xiaoting sat by the window and looked at the street below.

Compared with Nan'an City, the streets here are much narrower, and the flow of people is not much, but it is still more lively than those in the northwest.

After a while, the dishes began to be served one after another, no more, no less, exactly eight dishes.

"Guest officer, please use it slowly!" Xiao Er lowered his eyebrows and said.

After waving his hand to let the little two retreat, Chen Xiaoting said to Liang Jiahui: "Take off the veil and eat something first!" ”

Not to mention, it is almost noon at the moment, and there are more customers in the restaurant, and it is time to eat.

Liang Jiahui also felt a little hungry at the moment, so she carefully took off the veil, and then waited for Chen Xiaoting.

From entering the restaurant to the end of Chen Xiaoting's meal, he had been here for most of the hour, but Liu Kui still did not arrive.

This is actually not surprising, after all, Liu Kui and these people are scattered inside and outside the city, and it is not easy to find people.

Liang Jiahui put on the veil again, and Chen Xiaoting still sat back by the window, and the waiting time became extraordinarily long.

Bang bang bang...... There was a sudden knock on the door.

I only heard Yang Kai's voice outside: "Master, Steward Liu asks to see!" ”

Finally arrived, Chen Xiaoting sighed secretly in his heart and said, "Come in!" ”

Immediately, the door was opened, and Liu Kui, who was dressed in a gray robe, walked inside very respectfully, and when he came in, Yang Kai closed them outside.

Just as Liu Kui was about to salute, Chen Xiaoting waved his hand to stop him.

"Calling you over is to ask you a few words, no need to be polite!" Chen Xiaoting said calmly.

"Yes!" Liu Kui replied.

"It's been nearly ten days since I've been here, how are you going?" Chen Xiaoting asked.

"There has been progress and is being prepared to report to the ...... Master! Liu Kui lowered his voice and said.

Chen Xiaoting nodded, and said, "You didn't disappoint me, let's talk about it first...... How did you find out? ”

Liu Kui replied: "Back to the old man, after the villain brought people over, he scattered them to the dock and the city respectively!" ”

"There are people who do hard labor at the wharf, people who buy firewood and meat and vegetables in the city, people who listen to news in the restaurant, and people from all sides!"

Hearing this, Chen Xiaoting became more and more satisfied, Liu Kui is indeed a person who can be entrusted with important tasks.

"What did you find?" Then he asked.

Liu Kui said: "As of today, we have roughly figured out the situation of Zhou, Liu and Wei!" ”

"Tell me more!" Chen Xiaoting asked.

Although Qianhu has all the information about these three families, this is all superficial and can only be used as a certain reference, and it is difficult to be consistent with the real situation.

"Back to the old man, the only three remaining maritime merchants today are the Zhou family, the Liu family and the Wei family!"

"The Zhou family is the largest, and there are more than 30 big ships in the maritime business, and I went to the dock to take a look, and these big ships are even bigger than the warships built by the Ministry of Industry!"

Seeing that Chen Xiaoting listened carefully, Liu Kui continued: "Among the three families, the Wei family is the weakest, but there are also nearly twenty boats, and they go to sea more often!" ”

Isn't it convenient for these people's ships to be bigger than warships? Chen Xiaoting thought so.

"When I passed by the dock just now, I saw that it was very busy, and it was like that every day?" Chen Xiaoting asked again.

"It's almost like this, almost every day there are cargo ships going to sea and selling goods to the South and Western Oceans!"

"Haven't you ever met a widow?" Chen Xiaoting asked as he picked up his teacup.

If this is really the case, either these people are really lucky, or he is too lazy to act.

Liu Kui focused on this question, and only listened to him: "Back to the old man, according to the news I got from my humble position, almost every time I go to sea...... They'll all encounter pirates, and most of the time they'll be able to buy a road with silver, but they'll still be robbed sometimes! ”

Chen Xiaoting couldn't help laughing, and then said, "Do they make money like this?" ”

In the case of poor sea routes, in the case of repeated robberies, these sea merchants still take silver and throw it in, are their heads full of water?

"This ......" Liu Kui couldn't answer this question.

After taking a sip of tea, Chen Xiaoting asked again, "Where did their goods come from?" ”

After Chen Xiaoting put down the teacup, Liu Kui replied: "The goods are mostly silk tea and porcelain, and these Jiangnan wealthy families have them, so ......, this matter has to be investigated carefully!" ”

He said this very tactfully, which meant that almost all the wealthy families in Jiangnan were involved.

"Keep a close watch, and after you get the conclusive evidence, you can contact the Tongquan Hundred Households, and they will cooperate with you to arrest them!" Chen Xiaoting said indifferently.

No matter how deep the collusion between these maritime businessmen is, if the official achieves Chen Xiaoting's position, it can be said that he will take it.

At this moment, Chen Xiaoting couldn't help but recall the incident ten years ago, when he was still a little lieutenant, after learning the evidence that Chen Benxian was a thief of the White Lotus Sect, he could only kill Chen Benliang, because he couldn't move Chen Benxian at all.

If he had been a hundred or a thousand households at that time, he could have done it directly against these three major maritime merchants as he did today.

Thinking about it at this time, Chen Xiaoting couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion in his heart, there are too many things that power can change.

At this time, Liu Kui said: "My lord, each of these three families has hundreds of caretakers, plus the wharf coolies who rely on them to enjoy food and eat, I am afraid that they will not be able to take them with only the people of the hundred households in Tongquan!" ”

Each family has hundreds of nursing homes, so why can't it add up to nearly a thousand? It's a small army.

Sure enough, these maritime merchants have bad intentions, and it seems that this is still a hard bone.

"Well, when the time comes, don't act rashly, just report the situation!" Chen Xiaoting said solemnly.

"Yes!" Liu Kui replied.

Then Chen Xiaoting asked Liu Kui to step back, and he sat in the box for a while before leaving with Liang Jiahui.

The situation that should be understood is clear, the sea he wants to see has also been seen, and he should go back to Nan'an, where there are still big things waiting for him.