Ji Qingwen waved his hand, interrupted Zheng Zhilong's words, and said, "Ship Master Zheng, we are all people who understand, you don't have to say this kind of thing in front of me." I might as well put it more thoroughly - there is no distinction between us between high and low, it's just a cooperative relationship, I use you, you use me, that's all, don't you say that's the truth? ”

This sentence touched Zheng Zhilong's heart.

However, Zheng Zhilong couldn't guess Ji Qingwen's true intentions, so he could only humble a few words: "Don't dare, don't dare." These few words of the adults made the villains sincerely afraid......"

"You don't have to panic. I'm going to put it on the bright side today. In two days, I will go to Beijing to do an urgent matter, and my elite soldiers will be dispatched, so there are two things that I ask you to help me do. ”

"The adults just commanded, what did they say 'begging' or 'begging', and they damaged the villain's forage for no reason." Zheng Zhilong listened to the topic and said very politely.

Ji Qingwen didn't eat this, and continued to follow his own train of thought and said: "First, I have purchased a large amount of grain and forage, and now it is piled up on the dock, you have to properly transport it to Dagukou for me." Second, General Chen Wenzhao will hand over a chariot to you, which is very expensive, and you will also transport it to Dagukou as it is. Thirdly, I have entrusted all the affairs of the dock to Father John Tong, but although he has the ability, he is always a foreigner, you have to blow the wind with the other shipowners, and ask them to cooperate with Father Tong's work, otherwise you will not be able to get along with me Ji Qingwen. ”

These things are not difficult, Zheng Zhilong nodded very happily and agreed.

Ji Qingwen saw it, and said: "We have words first, this time I went north to Beijing to handle military affairs; You helped me get this thing done, and I had military merits; According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, if you have military merits, you will have the foundation of becoming an official and becoming a knight. You have to think about it. ”

Zheng Chenggong nodded submissively.

Ji Qingwen didn't forget to remind again: "I know everything about what you have to do with Qian Qianyi, and you don't have to ask who leaked the news, my eyes and ears are more than one or two pairs." I just want to tell you that the people who can turn over the Zheng family, up and down the government and the opposition, except for me Ji Qingwen, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find a second person - if you follow Qian Qianyi, there is no way out. ”

After saying such a big set of words, Ji Qingwen was already dry and tired, and his drowsiness suddenly came up again.

When he saw Zheng Zhilong only nodding vigorously, he waved his hand, and finally said: "I still say the same sentence: 'I can live a comfortable life, and everyone has a comfortable life; I can't live a comfortable life, so you can't even live an awkward life.'" Think about it and go down and do something. ”

Zheng Zhilong, a sea overlord, was relieved when he heard Ji Qingwen's words, and quickly retreated.

Ji Qingwen was also relieved, hurriedly sat back in the chair, and was about to take a nap with his chin in his hand, but Li Yan entered the room again and said to him: "Brother Ji, I heard everything you said to Zheng Zhilong just now. Zheng Zhilong has been inexplicably arrogant recently, and it's good to beat him. ”

Ji Qingwen barely cheered up, and told Li Yan a little about Zheng Zhilong's collusion with Qian Qianyi, and said: "It's a pity that I can't leave Zheng Zhilong for the time being, otherwise I will just blast him out, why bother talking like this." ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "What Brother Ji said is true. It's just that since Zheng Zhilong has two hearts, it seems a little inappropriate to hand over such an important matter as transporting baggage and chariots to him, right? ”

"There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. He is a smart man, and since he still asks for me, he will naturally not betray me. Let's be a little more sincere, a little less routine, let's do 'use people without suspicion' first......" Speaking of this, another wave of sleepiness came up, causing Ji Qingwen to reach out and cover his mouth and yawn several times.

Li Yan listened to Ji Qingwen's words and understood half-understood, and saw that he was a little embarrassed, so he smiled and said: "Brother Ji, listen to your orders, the sergeant, food, grass, equipment, etc. are all ready." Shall we go right now? Or let Brother Ji sleep enough before leaving? ”

Ji Qingwen didn't think about it, so he said, "Without further ado, of course I'll leave now." Arrange a car, I sleep and walk in the car, and when I wake up, won't I arrive in Suzhou? ”

So Ji Qingwen and his entourage of more than 500 people and more than 30 big cars went to Suzhou.

The road was very fast, and before night, he entered the city through the Xiangmen on the east side of the city.

Ji Qingwen slept all day, and after waking up and having dinner, he felt full of energy, and he had inexhaustible spirit and strength.

So he didn't care whether others had the strength to fight him, and directly pulled the team to the treasury of the weaving mill, and transferred a full 100,000 taels of silver from the treasury as a salary and reward for this expedition.

With so many elite soldiers and strong generals escorting, there is naturally no need to worry about the silver taels being looted by gangsters.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen led the team to escort these silver taels to the canal wharf outside the north gate of Suzhou City by night. Seeing that a huge boat had been moored on the dock, Ji Qingwen simply ordered his sergeants to carry the silver to the boat overnight.

The 100,000 taels of silver were more than 6,000 catties, and the 500 men and horses each carried more than a dozen catties, but in the blink of an eye, so much silver was carried onto the boat.

Seeing that everything was ready, Ji Qingwen beckoned Li Yan, Chen Wenzhao, Huang Degong, Li Yuanyin, Xiao Duozi and other cronies to board the boat, and ordered the boatmen to hang the two military flags of "Ji" and "Qi" carried by him high on the mast, and then set off for the north and headed along the canal to Beijing.

As for Ji Qingwen Xinna's concubine Xing'er, she was left in Suzhou and temporarily served as the hostess of the yamen of the weaving mansion to take care of the affairs of the mansion.

Cao Yun went all the way to the north, and it was very smooth at first, but it was congested when it entered the territory of Shandong—and regardless of the transmission from south to north of the order to transport soldiers, horses, money and grain; It was the dignitaries and dignitaries in the capital who heard the rumors, and the ships that transported their family's possessions to the south jammed a large canal by two-thirds.

Seeing that Ji Qingwen's troop transport ship had been blocked in Shandong for five days and had only traveled less than 100 miles, Ji Qingwen was anxious and was discussing with Li Yan and Chen Wenzhao whether to get off the ship and take the land route instead, so as to save time and ensure that he could arrive in Beijing before 30 October.

When everyone was hesitating, one person saw the two big flags of "Ji" and "Qi" fluttering high on the boat, and specially got on the boat to find Ji Qingwen to catch up.

This person is none other than Sun Yuanhua, whom Ji Qingwen met through John Tang.

Sun Yuanhua was a student of Xu Guangqi, and was baptized into Christianity by John Tang, and learned a lot of Western scientific knowledge, especially very good at operating artillery - Jinzhou and Ningyuan in eastern Liaodong, and the artillery on the Jiancheng Pass, including Shanhaiguan, was set up by him; It was with these cannons that Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Jiliao, killed Nurhachi and repelled Huang Taiji, making immortal achievements.

Therefore, Xu Guangqi, who is currently the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, specially suggested that Emperor Chongzhen recall him to Beijing to help with the defense of the capital.

Therefore, after Sun Yuanhua received the emperor's will, he also planned to go north to Beijing through the canal, and then met Ji Qingwen on the side of the canal.

Sun Yuanhua saw that Ji Qingwen's boat was blocked in the canal, and heard that he was also ordered to go north to King Qin, so he took out his identity as the deputy envoy of Shandong and the counselor of the military road, and ordered all the ships blocking the canal to pull aside, make way for Ji Qingwen's boats to pass first.

In this way, Ji Qingwen and the others finally left Shandong through the canal, and blocked the border of Henan for a while before they reached the boundary of Jingshi.

When we arrived at the Jingshi section of the canal, the ships gathered from all over blocked the canal, and it was no longer possible to move a single inch, and the canal that could have been able to go all the way to the Chongwen Gate was blocked in the place where the Jingshi city wall was far from visible.

Seeing this, Ji Qingwen thought that the distance from the Beijing division was not far now, so he ordered the boat to pull over and lead the whole army to get off the boat and walk.

At this time, the official road was also crowded with rich people transporting gold and silver to the south, and Ji Qingwen personally found a few wealthy businessmen who were easy to talk to, and let them take the empty boat to the south. Then Ji Qingwen paid for the vacated carts and horses, which were specially used to transport the money, grain and weapons used by the army, and went all the way to Beijing along the official road.

And Sun Yuanhua had other urgent matters to handle, so he did not move with the army, but bought a fast horse and rushed to Beijing first.