The sailors are stationed at sea, and the baggage is loaded at the wharf in Western Australia. Western Australia is also the most berthing terminal for merchant ships.

The wharf is lined with masts, and sea ships are parked densely. These ships were either loaded with silk, porcelain, and other Middle-earth goods ready to sail, or they were loaded with exotic curiosities such as incense, medicine, and agate. The shops and warehouses near the wharf are next to each other, and then to the north is the urban area that is connected together, looking at it from afar, only to see the pavilions one after another, there is a road that "the golden pillar root should move, the wind and thunder are about to come", "the head of the dragon brain shop, the ivory pile at the pass", a good trade prosperous Tongdu Dayi.

And in the south of the continuous market, several wide earthen ditches are intermittent, forming a long black line, which seems to be the Hanhai City being built in Guangzhou. Tens of thousands of people stood on the city of Hanhai, looking from afar like countless ants, digging up the sand mixed with mussel shells on the beach little by little, and then using clay and stones from a distance to tamp the foundation. Most of these people are workers who have lost their jobs due to the closure of the sea routes, porters on the docks, and so on. And the hard work of the construction site is not mentioned, and the income is even farther than before. Someone saw that the goods were piled up on the wharf in Western Australia again, and they couldn't help but pick up their hoes and point to the wharf.

"It's a big business, the sea route is open again!" Someone shouted excitedly.

"That's it, finally there's work to do!" Someone shouted happily.

The people all have dry lips and yellow muscles, and some of them have eyes as white as dead fish like old scholars, which is not because they have read too many books, but because they have been working overnight and their eyes have been damaged by smoke. They can be said to be the most miserable group of people in the whole Quang Nam, because there is no field, they have to work day and night in the workshop, and their fate depends on the owner, and when they meet the owner's meanness, it is like selling themselves into slavery. I thought there was nothing worse than this, but the sea route was cut off, the workshops closed down one after another, the workers suddenly lost their livelihoods, they had nothing to say, and there was a family waiting to be fed. Therefore, as soon as I heard that there was a city wall to build and recruit people, even the apprentices from hundreds of miles away heard the news, just to eat and receive some wages so that their families could barely survive.

"Let's do the work," the foreman Wang Anshun exclaimed impatiently, "those are not seafood, they are the grain and grass given to Lord Zhao by the imperial court." ”

"Huh?" The people could not hide their disappointment.

Some people bent down to continue working, while others asked, "Who is Lord Zhao?" Although some people are closed-minded, some people are short-sighted, but there are always some people who know, and some people ask, and some people paint their voices and say: "That's Lord Zhao of the South China Sea Naval Division, Lord Zhao is a first-class hero in the world, and his generals are like clouds, and the strategists are like rain, and there are thunderbolt iron cannons, and a chain of iron horses. The imperial court sent Lord Zhao south to pacify the sea frontier, and in my opinion, this sea route will soon be reopened. ”

"Thank goodness!" "A good man lives a long life!"

There was a sound of good lawsuits and good prayers among the people, and General Zhao was an almost god-like figure in the legend, even more ethereal than Chen Zhizhou and Chen Xianggong. Wang Anshun sneered in his heart, squinting at the foaming man, noncommittal. The workers on these wharves are not as easy to manage as the people in the countryside, and the Zhizhou Yamen has specially fought to appease them, and they are still mainly based on relief and appeasement. As long as the people are old and hard-working, foremen like Wang Anshun will not intervene, so as not to cause trouble and even provoke a civil uprising, and they will be harshly reprimanded by the officials. However, Wang Anshun knew more about the tension between the state government yamen and the sailors. The state government rushed to repair this sea defense city, half of it was to prevent sea bandits, and the other half was probably also to deal with the imperial court's sailors.

"Rejoice right here." Wang Anshun said secretly in his heart.

He stood on the pile of sand dug out, Wang Anshun looked back at Xicheng: "I haven't been out to sea for so many days, how many treasures should there be in the warehouse." "The state capital and the imperial court sailors don't like each other, and the sailors of the South China Sea should leave with interest when they get this batch of supplies, and at that time, it is time for the brothers at sea to get rich together. The continuous markets outside the western city were all south of the city wall, Wang Anshun swallowed his saliva, he squinted his eyes, looked over the city wall, and looked at it greedily, as if a man who had been hungry for ten days saw a table full of wine and meat.

While the other state capitals are all big and square, Guangzhou is strangely made up of three small cities. One was built by Zhao Tuo of Nanyue, one was built in the Southern Han Dynasty, and one was built in the Xining period. The people over the age of 50 in Fucheng are fortunate enough to live from the Xining period to the present, and they will relish the process of Fucheng's amazing expansion. During the Xining period, in order to deal with the rebellion of Nong Zhigao, the imperial court not only repaired the two ancient cities, but also built a city wall to connect the two small cities into one. Since then, the pattern of this city has been settled, the east city and the sub-city are where the yamen official office of the Guangzhou Prefecture is located, and the west city is where the city ship trade is located.

After Xining, with the development of maritime trade, less than 50 years, the layout of the city was too narrow, and the people of Guangzhou Mansion extended and built a large number of houses and warehouses in the south of the city. Compared with Jiangning, Hangzhou and other southeastern cities, Guangzhou City seems to be chaotic, but full of vitality and vitality, and has a huge appetite to expand its territory.

However, these extended urban areas were not protected by city walls, and more than a month ago, the Haikou raided Dongguan and Panyu generations, and the merchants and people living in the south of the three cities of Guangzhou were shocked overnight. At this time, the Nanhai Navy and the Guangzhou Mansion confronted each other, and the gentry in the city were certainly uneasy, and the merchants outside the city were afraid of suffering from the pond fish. Therefore, in recent days, under the petition of the squire, Zhizhou Chen Gongju determined the strategy of cash-for-work, recruited unemployed apprentices, and prepared to build another city in the south of the city to defend the sea, and encircle most of the cities that were not within the walls of the three cities of Guangfu into the city walls.

Because Guangzhou is the first large port where sea ships docked in the Great Song Dynasty, the water surface is wide enough for sea ships to sail into, so the storage yard of the warehouse is completely built near the water, and the storage yard is also a trading place. Shipbuilding and ship repair are in Xinghua Lane, groceries are temporarily stored in Penny Lane, spices are in Baiwei Lane, jewelry treasures are in Ivory Street and Agate Lane, and the pharmacy, business and taxation, wine and vinegar business of the court are in Nanhao Street, Fanfang. There are places for buying and selling gold, silver, silk, ceramics, umbrellas, wine, sugar, etc. These neighborhoods are the most lively and prosperous places in Guangzhou Prefecture.

Next to the wharf in Western Australia, a tall restaurant stands out in the market. This restaurant faces the vast sea of smoke on the one hand, and overlooks the three cities of Guangzhou on the other, and has a panoramic view of the prosperity of the capital. This building is called "Gongle Building", the building is more than seven zhang high, and there are 24 pillars and three floors. Solemn and majestic, the four walls are empty, the eight sides are exquisite, and the end is the premier restaurant in Guangzhou.

On the plaque of the restaurant, there are two big characters of "Gongle", and on the wall on the third floor, the green yarn is framed with the inscription poem of Cheng Shimeng of the former Zhizhou. Among them, there are "thousands of sunshine pearl city, ten thousand households of smoke and jasper city." "You have to go to live by the fence, and you won't stop for the spring breeze." The phrase means that maritime trade is the foundation of the opening of Guangzhou, and the wealthy and wealthy often feast and enjoy here, either to bid farewell to old friends or to celebrate their safe return. Therefore, Chen Zhizhou invited the governor of the South China Sea Navy to banquet, and the venue was undoubtedly set in this Gongle Building.

In the past, this restaurant was overcrowded and could not close until late at night, but this year, due to the harassment of the trade routes by the seamen, there were many Diyi chiefs on the southwest side of the sea who listened to the instigation of the big food merchants and robbed the goods of the merchants of the Song Kingdom. As soon as the news came out that Chen Zhizhou intended to entertain Master Zhao, the sailor of the South China Sea, in Gongle Building, the owner of the restaurant immediately notified the shopkeeper to prepare all kinds of top-notch ingredients in advance.

When the merchants of Fucheng heard about this, they talked about it and tried their best to get an invitation to the meeting. On the one hand, the so-called harmony makes money, and Lord Zhizhou and Master Zhao of the Navy drink and talk happily, which is something that the vast majority of gentlemen and businessmen are happy to see. On the other hand, the merchant ships in the southeast followed the official army and sailors to the sea, which made the merchants of Guangnan also hot, so that many merchants did not want to let go of this banquet with the sailors of the South China Sea, and even donated a large amount of silver for it.

At this time, there were two guests in an elegant room on the third floor, one of them was puzzled, and the other had a slight sneer on the corner of his mouth.

Wang Zhi and Wang Hai, two brothers, are also quite famous among the merchants in Guangzhou City, it is rumored that they have hoarded a large number of incense, ivory, rhino horn, pearls and other sea treasures, which are rare and expensive, and when the sea road is not smooth, the price of treasure goods is rising every day, and these two people are even hotter. However, what others don't know is that the treasures that come out of their hands are all black goods. The two brothers are obviously doing legitimate business, but secretly they are the shopkeepers who sit on the ground and sell the stolen goods for Haikou. A few days ago, they even caught the line of Dashi Haikou, where Qiu Daguan promised that as long as the two of them did well, the treasure business in Guangzhou City in the future, the two of them could completely dominate it.

"The government and the sailor have joined forces again," Wang Hai hesitated: "Big brother, look at this rumor, won't it be ...... again"

"That's a lie." Wang Zhi shook his head, "I have news, Chen Zhizhou set up a banquet in this Gongle Building, but a ......" looked at no one on the left and right, and said in a low voice, "Hongmen banquet!" ”