At first, Ruan Xiaoer thought that the Southern Dynasty had sent troops to call, but when he heard the accent, he didn't feel like it, and when he saw these people's strange outfits and the guys in his hands, he became more and more frightened, kneeling on the ground and trembling, unable to stand up.

Ruan Xiaoer can speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty, Lin Xiao comforted them gently, telling them not to kneel, but just asking the account room to donate the account books, and instructed the soap subordinates to go separately to invite the shopkeepers of the major businesses, Ruan Xiaoer and his group did not dare to disobey.

……

When Gong Zhenhao was invited to the courtyard of the merchant hall, he met his nephew He Shouxin.

The tall He Shouxin stood in the panicked crowd, wearing a light blue gauze round-necked waist-tuned straight-body wide-sleeved civilian suit, a black mesh scarf on his head, no crowned hat, a miscellaneous waist tie, and a sword in his hand, with a calm expression. Behind him were two young men in tight and short clothes, also holding swords, but with solemn expressions.

He Shouxin, the word Hongyi, nineteen years old, he was born in a martial arts family when he was very young but because of his frail illness was a reclusive in Qinzhou Yunyou Lao Tao accepted as a disciple to learn martial arts, when the art was completed, but when the master died, the master entrusted the disciples to him on his deathbed, and then took a few disciples home to join the dart line, and his father He Yi let them start from a dart master and slowly cultivate.

Lin Xiao also noticed He Shouxin and others, the locals of Annan are generally short and thin, and He Shouxin, who is nearly one meter eight tall, stands in the crowd and gives people a feeling of standing out from the crowd.

Lin Xiao ordered someone to bring the chief manager Soap Li and others down first, and summoned this person into the hall first.

He Shouxin, who was standing in the hall, shook his fists at everyone present, in fact, he was also a little uneasy in his heart, but the experience of practicing martial arts all year round made him develop a calm and calm temperament.

Lin Xiaoyun looked at this person, but saw that this person was about twenty years old, with a long body, fair skin, sword eyebrows, a nose and a square mouth, and a beautiful son with a jade tree in the wind. I saw that his eyes were like cold stars, and he was holding a sharp sword, unhurried, and he looked heroic, not comparable to ordinary gentlemen.

"Do you know how to speak?" Lin Xiao admired in his heart and asked at the moment.

"Back to the words of the adult, how to keep the promise, he is a Ming person, he is the dart master of the Yixing Dart Bureau, but he just came here with a dart."

"Oh, where is Daming?"

"If you go back to your lordship, you are from Qinzhou, Guangxi, and my father opened a dart bureau to make a living."

"Oh." Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly, and asked kindly, "The current domestic situation is good, you come from the truth." ”

"If you go back to your lordship, the domestic situation is very bad, Li Chengdong was defeated and died, Guangzhou and Zhaoqing have fallen, and the Tartar army is close to today's holy line."

The domestic situation has been out of control, He Shouxin made this trip to Haiphong to escort his bodyguards, in fact, another purpose was to come to Annam to explore the way at the order of his father, and prepare to take refuge in the sea with his family as a last resort.

At that time, the Chinese nation, the people were still quite virtuous, and they would rather flee than be slaves of the country unless they had to, and those who did not have integrity were precisely those officials and gentry and military towns who usually rode on the heads of the people to make a fortune.

"Is the situation in the country so rotten?" Lin Xiao was stunned when he heard this.

"My lord? Isn't the adult also a Ming person? ”

"To tell you the truth, we are not Ming officials and soldiers, let alone Annan. Below is the Ming Old Port Propaganda Department under the command of a hundred households Lin Xiao, we are all wanderers living overseas, shocked to hear that the Manchu Tartars want to destroy my China, so they organized the righteous army to return to China to resist the Qing Dynasty. ”

Lin Xiao learned that He Shouxin was a dart master, and saw that he was a talent, so he was interested in recruiting him, so he decided to tell the truth. "Today, our righteous army passed through Annam, just to raise food."

"Raising food?" He Shouxin was stunned when he heard this, and said: "If you want to raise food from Annan, I'm afraid it won't be easy." However, there is a way to do it, and I don't know if it is feasible. ”

He Shouxin thought that Lin Xiao was here to buy grain, so he wanted to recommend Gong Zhenhao.

"Oh, I want to hear about it."

"My lord, among the shopkeepers of the merchants in the courtyard, one of them is the next uncle, who is the owner of the "Longsheng Commercial Company", who has been a merchant in Annan for more than 20 years, and has a wide range of connections. ”

"Oh, then please."

At that moment, He Shouxin went out to see Gong Zhenhao, and as soon as he told Gong Zhenhao about the situation, Gong Zhenhao came in with the shopkeepers of several Chinese firms, and several of them were old rivers and lakes who had seen the world.

"Xiaomin and others have seen adults."

"Seniors don't have to be polite, please take a seat." Lin Xiao waved his hand at Gong Zhenhao and the others, who were trembling, and said with a smile. "Someone, tea."

The people who sat down were still walking on thin ice, their buttocks were only on the side of the chair, and He Shouxin had already told them the general situation, but these people were too strange and scary.

"The adults sent righteous soldiers to serve the king, this is a righteous act, and the small people admire it to the fullest. Xiaomin is willing to donate 10,000 stone of military rations as a reward for the army. Gong Zhenhao was the most powerful one, and when he saw that others were looking at him with eyes, he spoke first.

Lin Xiao picked up the teacup and smiled without saying a word.

10,000 stones? Are you kidding!

According to the measurement method at the end of the Ming Dynasty, 1 stone is 120 city catties, and 10,000 stones is 600 tons.

"I don't know how many troops have been sent by adults? How much rations are needed? Gong Zhenhao was worried when he saw this.

"To tell you the truth, there are only a thousand soldiers in our righteous army, but what we need is not military rations." Lin Xiao said slowly: "In this great turmoil in the country, there have been famines for many years, and there are tens of millions of homeless hungry people. ”

"Could it be that my predecessors thought that if we only brought a little military rations back to China, we could save the people from fire and water?"

Belch! ……

Gong Zhenhao and the others were sweating on their backs, and they didn't know how to respond.

"Don't panic, seniors. I invite you to come today, I have no other meaning, but I just want to ask you to tell all the merchants and residents not to panic, to keep their duty, to do business as usual, and we will not be disturbed. ”

Just don't run!

"As for the matter of raising food, I will go to the king of Annam to ask for it, so you don't have to worry about it." Lin Xiao continued to say lightly.

"Of course, if you can do your best to resettle the nearby refugee compatriots, it will be great, and I will not be disadvantaged in the future."

There are not many large sea boats on the Haiphong pier, and most of the hungry people who fled were on small fishing boats.

Lin Xiao was interested in the hundreds of inland river cargo ships moored at the Wharf of the Yangtze River, and he didn't want to rob them, so he had to make this decision! In the future, they will have to rely on these ships to transport grain.

Most of these ships are small flat-bottomed sand ships that can only load a few tons, and there are also dozens of large ships with more than 400 materials, which can carry dozens of tons of cargo.

"It is true that there are not many soldiers such as us, but it is more than enough to deal with the officers and soldiers of Annan, and the seniors don't have to worry. As for whether I have said anything big or not, we will find out in five days, and you will wait for the result. ”

After Lin Xiao finished speaking, he picked up the teacup and sent off the guests.

In five days at most, the nearby officers and soldiers who got the news would definitely come to encircle and suppress, which Lin Xiao was very confident about, after all, this place was only 200 miles away from Hanoi.

"We will resettle the refugees well and wait for the good news from the adults." Everyone hurriedly took their leave.

"I heard that the business name of Gong's predecessors has been giving porridge, which shows that the seniors are anxious and generous. Thank you for your righteous deeds on behalf of the people, and you will be rewarded in the future. Lin Xiao kept Gong Zhenhao and made a serious gesture.

"Don't dare to be, don't dare to be! The adult praised it falsely," Gong Zhenhao hurriedly returned the salute, and said with a positive color, "It is the duty of people to save the needy." ”

In the end, Lin Xiao left He Shouxin to inquire about the situation in China again, and the two talked for a long time before He Shouxin left.