Although Emperor Chongzhen didn't know where Liugong Island was, with the name of the place, it was not difficult to check, and he soon knew that it was in Weihaiwei.

This Wu Zhong, has he betrayed in the end? For this point, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to figure it out.

If there had been no renegade, he would have been the leader of the two Manchu ships this time, and it would have been much easier for him to do things; If he betrayed, it would be more troublesome!

Thinking so, he sent an edict to Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, asking him to prepare to leave Beijing.

It didn't take long for another decree to rush to the Wuying Hall to meet him immediately.

In this regard, Li Ruolian is actually a little puzzled, if the matter of the civil uprising in the south is not settled, he estimates that the emperor is likely to send him to deal with the civil uprising. However, logically speaking, it seems that it would be more appropriate for Wang Chengen, the governor of Dongchang, to go, after all, it was the people from Dongchang who were killed.

However, now that the civil uprising in the south has long been subsided, more than 100 officials have taken off their black hats in one go, which has made the entire officialdom in the south know the emperor's attitude and determination, and there is a law as the premise, and there is a great righteousness for the people to prevent disasters.

waited until he rushed to the front of Wuying Palace, Li Ruolian suddenly came back to his senses and guessed whether the emperor should let him investigate the cause of Wu Changshi's death. Because of Wu Changshi's death, although on the surface it was said that he died of illness. If you can connect the various events, it seems that there is more to it than just illness and death. It's just that he fell into the water and contracted the wind and cold, why did he die in less than a month!

This is indeed a suspicious point, but from the perspective of an emperor of a country, this kind of thing can't be done so much, let him be a commander of a brocade guard, right?

With these doubts, he entered the hall to greet Emperor Chongzhen, waiting for the mystery to be revealed.

To his surprise, there was a map of the Ming Dynasty hanging on the screen in the hall, with lines drawn and marked with red brushes.

Li Ruolian immediately realized that the emperor's summons must have something to do with this map. But this made him even more confused.

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen with a smile on his face, after asking him to excuse himself, he got up from the throne, walked to the screen, motioned for him to move forward, and then pointed to the map and said to him: "Wu Zhong is back, he is still here, Liu Gongdao, scheduled to leave here tonight, Haizhou, and rest there for ten days and a half months, I Yaoqing immediately went south and rushed to meet Wu Zhong." ”

Haizhou is under the jurisdiction of Huai'an Prefecture. Emperor Chongzhen was not familiar with this, but after asking, he knew that this Haizhou was called Lianyungang in later generations, so it was much clearer. Of course, Li Ruolian must know Haizhou.

When he heard Emperor Chongzhen say this, he was immediately overjoyed.

To be honest, he was not optimistic about letting Wu Zhong out at the beginning. This kind of thing of a hidden spy is basically a life and death. But what he didn't expect was that Wu Zhong actually sent back the news and saved people back. But after the customs clearance, there was no more news. It's been a year since then, and he thinks that Wu Zhong is probably dead.

Unexpectedly, he was overjoyed to hear that Wu Zhong had actually returned, and Wu Zhong was his former henchman.

But immediately, he reacted again, how did the emperor know? That Liu Gongdao is so far away from Jingshi, unless the news is sent to the emperor in advance, otherwise it is impossible for the emperor to know about this distance, and it is not a tailwind!

Thinking like this, he was once again sure that the emperor still had another force, or a factory guard, and his ability to spy on news was at least much better than what he Li Ruolian knew. What's more, the means of delivering the message are strange and impossible to detect.

Thinking of this, Li Ruolian's heart was even more awe-inspiring, and his awe of the emperor was one more point.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't think that he thought so much in his heart, but just said to him with a smile: "Wu Zhong, this person, hard work and high merit, even if he is bought by Jianyu, but he insists on integrity, I am very relieved!" Qing's understanding of people, I am also pleased. ”

Li Ruolian was confused again, just like Wu Zhong was plundered to Liaodong, could he still be bought by Jianyu?

However, he was puzzled in his heart, but he was very modest on the surface, and at the same time naturally happy.

Emperor Chongzhen stopped talking nonsense, and then began to assign tasks to him.

Needless to say, the reason why Emperor Chongzhen was able to learn about these news was, of course, by paying attention to the news transmitted back by the Grade A eavesdropping seed on Wu Zhong's body.

It turned out that after Wu Zhong landed on Liugong Island, he first prevented his subordinates from slaughtering the people of Liugong Island, on the grounds that the Qing Dynasty and the merchants of the Ming Jiangnan traded trade, and they might often settle here in the future.

That's it, Emperor Chongzhen felt that Wu Zhong would basically not defect, and he had confidence in Wu Zhong, and then continued to watch.

Subsequently, under Wu Zhong's arrangement, the navigation necessities of the two ships were supplied at a high price. At the same time, under the pretext of fading out of the bird, he ate a big meal at a high price at the patriarch's house surnamed Liu on the island. In the middle of this, he found an opportunity to talk to the patriarch alone, and clearly explained to the patriarch, as soon as they left, he immediately went to the official mansion and asked them to convey it to the commander of Jinyiwei, saying that Wu Zhong had returned and would rest in Haizhou for a while.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, which made the patriarch surnamed Liu look confused, Emperor Chongzhen knew that Wu Zhong did not defect at all, but as soon as he returned to the land, he was trying his best to contact the commander of Jinyiwei, which was enough to prove this.

After getting this key information, Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed, so he immediately summoned Li Ruolian secretly.

It didn't take long for Li Ruolian to leave Wuying Hall in a hurry with excitement, rush back to the Jinyi Wei Yamen, gather a group of Jinyi Wei elites who had already been named, and immediately leave the Beijing Division, and hurry up to Haizhou.

…………

Haizhou, at this time is not big, nor is it prosperous, after all, the Ming Dynasty is to open the sea route, from the south to the north, whether it is goods or people, they all take the canal.

After Wu Zhong and his entourage arrived at the two boats, one boat stopped at Zhudao outside, but the ship with gold, silver and jewelry was just in Haizhou.

As the ship slowly approached the dock, listening to the noisy country voice on the dock, well, although the accents are different, they are all official dialects, and the eyes are all Ming costumes, and there is no more dazzling money rat tail. Wu Zhong's mind flashed through the scenes of struggling to survive in Liaodong, and he saw his compatriots who were skinny and numb, but in front of him were in full swing, with different expressions, laughter, and sad faces, no matter what, they all looked so kind.

Suddenly, he wanted to shout out loud: I'm finally back!

However, this cannot be done. If he behaved so happily, these subordinates behind him would definitely doubt their loyalty to Jianyu. These people, who knows how many of them will not want to be slaves? After all, they are different from themselves, they are secret agents sent by the emperor to Liaodong.

He was thinking about it, when suddenly, a flattering voice came from the shore and said, "This master, do you want to hire a helper, or do you want to find a deal?" ”

Looking closely, I naturally know the identity of this person, he should be a tooth man, robbing business here.

In fact, in Wu Zhong's heart at this time, he didn't think about any business at all, but he was just worried.

Although he took a certain risk and asked the patriarch surnamed Liu of Liugong Island to report to the government, he was at a loss in his heart whether the message could reach the Jinyi Guard Yamen and the commander.

In fact, Wu Zhong actually didn't hope to contact Jinyiwei here. After all, in terms of time, even if everything goes well with that message, the commander is in Beijing, and after hearing it, he will come to Haizhou to find him, and it will take a lot of time.

After dispelling this unrealistic idea again, Wu Zhong returned to reality and said to the tooth man on the shore: "There is a good inn, take me to the master, and give a reward!" ”

The tooth man was about to respond, when suddenly, someone rushed over from behind and hurriedly responded loudly: "This master, I'll take you, I'll take you, I know a very good inn ......"

Hearing that there was a business robbery, the tooth man immediately became angry, turned his head to look, and found that it was indeed a tooth man dressed up, but he was a stranger, at least he had no impression, so he immediately shouted: "On that road? Didn't you see that I was the first to greet you? ”

"What's the use of you saying hello first? That old man hasn't gotten off the ship yet, and he hasn't made a deal with you! The later person said disdainfully, "The key is to look at this master, shop around, I have the best attitude, I can make this master satisfied, you know?" ”

When this toothed man heard this, it seemed that this person was not a broken rule. However, when this person spoke, he faintly felt a little uncomfortable, as if he usually called people.

As soon as he thought of this, he was immediately overjoyed, and he rushed to this, and that old man would definitely not be happy to deal with such a person. At least in terms of humility, you definitely have the upper hand.

Thinking so, he didn't continue to get angry, but turned his head, a smile appeared on his face, and he bent down slightly and said, "This lord, if you choose a villain, you will definitely ......"

Before he finished his words, he heard Wu Zhong's voice interrupt him with a little surprise: "Needless to say, I'll go with you, but I must satisfy Master Ben!" ”

"Okay!" The tooth man agreed, but at the same time, he found that the old man pointed to the person who came from behind, and he was immediately stupid, what is the situation? How could he be chosen?

Of course, Wu Zhong didn't care about the feelings of this tooth man, and took five or six of his subordinates to get off the boat immediately, walked to the man's side, and tried to suppress the joy in his heart and said, "Lead the way!" ”

At this time, he still had doubts in his heart.

Because, this person is not a tooth man at all, but a Jinyi Wei Xiaoqi, or his right-hand man when he was the chief banner of Jinyi Wei in Beijing, called Wei Minghua.

It stands to reason that even if Wei Minghua is on business in Haizhou, he won't be a tooth man, right? Just rushing into this posture, as if he was waiting for himself here. But how is this possible?

This possibility, calculated from the perspective of time, was immediately ruled out by Wu Zhong.

At this time, he hid doubts in his heart, but he couldn't ask immediately, so he could only follow along, and turn around and find an opportunity to ask.

Not long after, Wei Minghua took them into Haizhou City and came to the largest inn in the local area, known as Tongfu Inn.

After entering, Wu Zhong of course expressed his satisfaction with this inn, and gave Wei Minghua a reward and asked for a good courtyard, showing that he was a rich businessman.

Wu Zhong could clearly feel that his subordinates were very happy, but he couldn't find a chance to talk to Wei Minghua alone, so he couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

Wei Minghua obviously knew what he was thinking, and took the initiative to say to him: "This lord, the wine in this inn is famous here......

As soon as he heard this, Wu Zhong would understand, and immediately ordered the shopkeeper to bring them good wine and food.

Next, needless to say, Wu Zhong personally began to pour wine.

He was the head of a group, at least nominally, with him. This is just ashore again, and no one will have any doubts. Everyone was tired from sitting on the boat, the beaks faded out of the birds, and as soon as the good wine and food were served, they naturally let go of eating.

As a result, within half an hour, a group of people were all drunk. Even Wu Zhong himself drank a lot, but he had something on his mind, so of course he wouldn't get drunk.

Having put down these men, he also pretended to go out of the house with a latrine.

As soon as he went out, he immediately rushed to the gate of the courtyard. Sure enough, as he expected, Wei Minghua was waiting there.

It's just that as soon as they met, Wu Zhong couldn't help but be happy, and wanted to ask Wei Minghua a question.

However, Wei Minghua turned around and left, and said at the same time: "You can't come out for too long, move quickly!" ”

Wu Zhong was stunned when he heard this, and he immediately understood that Wei Minghua was coming at him, and he seemed to know his own affairs. So where is he taking himself?

Puzzled, he followed a few steps, only to find that Wei Minghua had taken him to a courtyard next door.

Pushing open the courtyard door, Wu Zhong found that there were two people standing behind the door, although they were wearing ordinary clothes, he immediately felt that this was the elite of the army.

seemed to know that Wei Minghua would come and bring someone with him, so the two of them didn't ask at all, but they were vigilant there after closing the door.

In this way, Wu Zhong is even more curious, who does Wei Minghua take him to meet?

When he entered the door, he found a man sitting on the throne drinking tea. Just at a glance, Wu Zhong froze for a moment, because he was very familiar with this person, even if he didn't look at his face, even if he was wearing ordinary clothes, he knew who it was.

I don't know why, Wu Zhong felt a sour feeling in his heart, his tiger eyes were red, he immediately knelt down on one knee, hugged his fists and raised his head excitedly: "Wu Zhong of the Hundred Households of Jinyi Wei See the commander of the envoy!" ”

The person on the main throne is, of course, Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyi Guard. As soon as he saw it, he immediately put down the teacup, quickly stood up, stepped forward quickly, and personally helped Wu Zhong with both hands, and said excitedly: "I'm sorry for you!" ”