At this time, the expeditionary fleet had already followed Jishui, passed Qizhou, and entered Laizhou Bay.

After the fleet entered the sea, the queue turned into a long snake formation, and on the masts of each warship, eye-catching red lanterns were hung. Ships of war, day or night, meander south along the coastline with the guidance of the red lanterns ahead.

On Li Zhongyi's handsome ship, the close relatives and guards gathered on the spacious bow deck, and a vivid martial arts competition was in progress.

It is a matter of course that a large army sails on the sea, no more than a land march, and it is boring.

In order to boost morale, Li Zhongyi simply launched a pilot, and in front of his relatives and guards, he took out an ancient jade as a color head to encourage everyone to participate in the martial arts competition.

The rules of the tournament are not complicated, and they are divided into two groups: weapons and bows and crossbows. On the side of the weapon group, each side can use the wooden weapon that each side is good at, and you can hold a shield and a knife, and the one who hits the opponent first wins. On the crossbow side, the number of shots in the bull's-eye is the winner, and the five-shot system is adopted.

Li Zhongyi put his hands on the wooden railing and enjoyed the competition of his subordinates with relish.

On weekdays, the basic training of the imperial forbidden army emphasizes team spirit, but this time, it is individual martial arts that is competing.

For a time, there were a cloud of applicants, and almost all of Li Zhongyi's relatives and guards signed up.

Anyway, being idle is also idle, if you win, show your face in front of Li Zhongyi, and let Li Zhongyi remember his name, it will definitely be a very pleasant thing.

After all, there were a large number of relatives and guards around Li Zhongyi, and it was impossible for him to be familiar with everyone.

Because in the outline of the infantry army, the long-term requirement is to be fast, accurate, and ruthless, and the pursuit is to kill the enemy with one hit. Therefore, whether it is a sword and a shield against a spear, or a sword and a shield against a sword and shield, it is basically in three or five rounds, and the winner is decided.

The victor raised his gun in celebration, and the crowd cheered on the sidelines, while the loser bowed his head in shame.

Although Li Zhongyi said that friendship is the first and the competition is second, the benefits of the final winner are too great, and everyone will inevitably show their real skills and do their best to compete.

If there is a competition, there will be wins and losses, and if there are wins and losses, there will be joys and sorrows, which is the normal situation of the world.

As time passed, with the momentum of the southeast wind, the huge fleet sailed faster and faster, gradually approaching the coastline of Nantang and Wuyue.

According to the military order issued by Zhao Laoqi, the large and small merchant ships of Wu Yue or Southern Tang Dynasty that they met along the way were all temporarily detained, and after the war subsided, they were released to their respective families.

"Your Majesty, a total of five merchant ships have been arrested today, and the owner of one of the large merchant ships is said to have close business dealings with Li Ji Bookstore......

Every evening, Zhao Laoqi had to report the situation he encountered that day to Li Zhongyi one by one.

Li Zhongyi thought for a while and asked Zhao Laoqi: "Could it be the big proprietor of Jinling Zhiwenzhai, Liu Chunhe?" ”

Zhao Laoqi arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, it is this person, no wonder he said vigorously that he wanted to see the third envoy Huang Gong." ”

Li Zhongyi smiled slightly and said: "This Liu Chunhe is a big businessman, and their family's old foundation is a big salt merchant, taking care of silk, paper, and other grocery business. ”

Zhao Laoqi doesn't know how to do business, so he naturally doesn't know that the most powerful business in the Southern Tang Dynasty is to be a salt merchant.

Like the Qiang Han Dynasty, the Southern Tang Dynasty also adopted a salt and iron monopoly, in which the bulk of the profits went to the Southern Tang government, and the salt merchants were all fat.

As far as Li Zhongyi knew, this Liu Chunhe was not only engaged in a serious salt merchant business, but also secretly colluded with the Southern Tang Dynasty Navy to engage in the profiteering business of selling illicit salt.

"Hehe, Liu Chunhe's fleet is hiding private salt, right?" Li Zhongyi touched his chin and asked Zhao Laoyi.

Zhao Laoqi hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, this Liu Chunhe is very cunning, and his merchant ships have many sails and sailors, and the speed of the ship is extremely fast. ”

Li Zhongyi's heart moved slightly, he was worried that he would not be able to continue to increase the speed of the sailor's warship, Liu Chunhe's ship was fast, obviously he should have some experience.

"Zhijian, you ordered someone to bring Liu Chunhe to me, I want to meet him in person." Li Zhongyi ordered to come down, and Zhao Laoqi hurriedly surrendered and went out to mention Liu Chunhe.

After a short time, Liu Chunhe was escorted into Li Zhongyi's handsome cabin, perhaps because he was flustered, he knelt on the ground as soon as he entered the door, and said in a trembling voice: "Cheap businessman Liu Chunhe, knock to see His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty." There were three knocks on the head.

The Son of Heaven caress the four people, Shinong industry and commerce, among them, the businessman is the cheapest, so Liu Chunhe calls himself a cheap businessman, and he has a reason.

However, although Liu Chunhe often colluded with officials in the Southern Tang Dynasty, he had never met the emperor in person, so he was naturally a little unscrupulous.

The so-called His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, in fact, no one called Li Zhongyi so in the Qiang Han Dynasty, and all the ministers of all sizes were called the emperor.

Li Zhongyi, who was sitting in the center, couldn't help but smile slightly when he saw Liu Chunhe's flustered appearance. I think that at the beginning, when Li Zhongyi came to Nantang to sell white paper, Liu Chunhe asked for a price that was really not low.

Of course, at that time, Li Zhongyi was just an ordinary petty official in Da Zhou, and Liu Chunhe had the strength and confidence to pinch Li Zhongyi, so it was inevitable that the asking price would be too high.

Now, Li Zhongyi is the supreme ruler of the Han Dynasty, whether Liu Chunhe's life can be saved is all in Li Zhongyi's thoughts, and he can't pull it anymore.

In layman's terms, who dares not to bow their heads when people are under the eaves?

"Hehe, Liu Gong, let's meet again!" Li Zhongyi smiled softly, and did not reprimand Liu Chunhe harshly.

"Yes...... Oh, yes...... Again, meet again......"

Liu Chunhe was frightened, who told him that the profit he wanted was too much? Now, he has fallen into the palm of Li Zhongyi's hand, and the killing is at Li Zhongyi's will, how can he not be afraid?

"Gong Liu, I heard that your fleet is carrying a lot of treasures?" Li Zhongyi smiled slightly, and his tone was ridiculous.

Liu Chunhe subconsciously raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead, and said in a trembling voice: "The villain deserves to die, the villain deserves to die...... just confessed his guilt, but he didn't dare to say it in person.

Whether it was in the Qiang Han Kingdom or in the Southern Tang Dynasty, salt was a very tightly controlled official property. The fate of selling illicit salt is miserable in most cases, can Liu Chun and Yan not be afraid?

"Liu Gong, don't be too afraid, I'm not a man-eating tiger, why be afraid?" Li Zhongyi got up from the throne, slowly paced in front of Liu Chunhe, and asked him with a smile, "I heard that you have a close relationship with the guards from all over the Southern Tang Dynasty?" ”

Liu Chunhe's heart was miserable, but he had to calm down and said in a trembling voice: "Villain...... Small...... The people and the guards of Jinling also have some personal friendship......"

Li Zhongyi was waiting for this sentence, and he couldn't help laughing softly: "I know that Liu Gong, you are a sincere businessman. Let's put it this way, as long as you are wholeheartedly good, Liu Gong, not only do I not want your money and life, but I will be rewarded heavily. ”