When Ma Wu returned to the Lin family's shochu shop outside Shuri Castle, he found that many people's doors were covered with white paper, wreaths were placed everywhere, and his regimental association was also in shambles.

As soon as one of his brothers saw Ma Wu, he hurriedly stepped forward and said emotionally: "Brother, I can look forward to you, it is really an unforeseen situation, one day, the officers and soldiers suddenly surrounded your home, saying that they wanted to arrest the Qin prisoners of the imperial court, and the first official was in a hurry to get angry, and he made a heart disease, which is gone......" Before he finished speaking, he began to cry bitterly.

Ma Wu hurriedly asked, "What is the reason for this?" Is there a funeral now? ”

"Fifth brother, it's hard to say! You know, last year there were two brocade guards to find trouble, the government secretly sent an envoy to Beijing to investigate, and finally verified the identity of a single official, confirmed that he was Yan Shifan, Luo Wenlong's sworn friend, Shang Yuan King learned that he was furious, sent Shuri Si Dai to lead the troops to surround the wine shop, a official wanted to come out and reason with them, was persuaded by the old shopkeeper, he was angry, was angry on the spot, and was buried the next day. ”

"I see, there's nothing else going on at home, is it?"

"Fifth brother, look at it, most of our regimental brothers who protect the family and the people were killed by the government, but fortunately, the dog official of Shuri did not dare to attack your winery."

Ma Wu was immediately furious and scolded: "Shuri Sidai, this wolf-hearted corrupt official, eats and drinks us, and is so ruthless, I'm not done with him!" ”

At this time, the Lin Mansion already knew that Ma Wu was back, and the old shopkeeper of the wine shop hurriedly sent the housekeeper to call him home.

From the expression on his father-in-law's face, it could be seen that Lin Yiguan should not be dead, so Ma Wu's hanging heart was put down.

The old shopkeeper of the wine shop called his son into the secret room and asked: "My son, as the adopted son of my Lin family for so many years, my father has not asked you to change your surname, nor has he interfered with your beliefs, let you engage in group training in the village, and does not let you do business, let alone participate in the family's business, do you have any complaints about your father?" ”

Ma Wu knelt down in front of his father-in-law and replied sincerely: "Daddy is as kind to me as a mountain, I can't repay it, only my father's life is obeyed in this life and this life, and there is no complaint!" ”

"Good boy, my father knows that you are very sensible, and I have to say something to you today, do you know that there are tens of thousands of shochu shops that run them, and only our Lin family shochu shop is the leader, what is the reason?"

Ma Wu shook his head and did not answer.

"Daddy told you today that it's because someone in the palace is secretly helping."

"Daddy, why is that man in the palace helping us?"

"He helped us because I have no children and no daughters, and in the future, people will want to take back this property, you know? That's why Daddy won't let you go into business and get involved in the family's business. If you are involved in these businesses, when people want to take it back, if you are reluctant, you will definitely incur death. ”

Ma Wu nodded seriously, pondered for a moment, and said: "Daddy, I finally understand, Brother Wenjun is wearing the waist card of Jinyiwei, but he does not dare to live in Ryukyu, every time he comes back, he will attract people from the imperial court to chase and kill, but the Ryukyu government never interferes in our family's business, it seems that the person in the palace is afraid that Brother Wenjun will inherit this property in the future." ”

With tears in his eyes, the old shopkeeper nodded and said, "Child, you are very smart. Originally, my father didn't want you to get involved in these bad things, but now, since you have been forced to do this job, you can do it well in the future, and I am determined to pass this wine shop into your hands. ”

Ma Wu was quite moved, and lay on the ground and kowtowed to his father-in-law three times in a row.

"Son, get up. Today, I will tell you some secrets: when I took over this shochu shop, I helped the man in the palace keep a secret. I had made a pact with him that after a hundred years of me and him, the brewery would be taken over by the woman he had secretly raised. Now, since he has repeatedly treated us so harshly, it means that he doesn't treat us as human beings at all, so I don't have to be polite to him. ”

"Daddy, the person you are talking about, but the legendary prince? What's the secret between you? ”

"Son, you just know it's him, don't talk nonsense outside, lest you get into trouble again. As for the agreement between me and him, I do have a duty to keep it a secret, and you don't need to know too much. ”

"Daddy, how did Brother Wen Jun escape this catastrophe?"

"Ten days ago, the two brocade guards who had come to trouble us, accompanied by Shuri Shodai, with hundreds of officers and soldiers, surrounded the entire village, and the regimental training brothers clashed with the officers and soldiers, and many people were killed in the battle.

"Daddy, when I entered the village just now, I saw the destroyed regimental joint camp."

The old shopkeeper of the brewery continued: "Fortunately, Shuri Si Dai this bastard did not collect our money in vain, and he secretly sent someone to send a packet of medicine to let Wen Jun cheat to death. ”

"Aren't you afraid it's really poison?" Ma Wu hurriedly asked.

"At that time, Wen Jun couldn't escape no matter what. He judged that Shuri Sodai would not want his life, and as long as he did not come back in the future, the prince would not trouble him again, so he took the medicine and passed out at that time. ”

"Daddy, it's that simple?"

"How can it be so easy? The two Jinyi guards were about to carry Wen Jun away at that time, and the family and the officers and soldiers almost fought again, and the Shuri Institute came forward to mediate, asking us to go out for the funeral the next day, and the coffin was opened for an autopsy after the first seven days, and the Jinyi guard was counted as a stop. In this way, Wen Jun passed out for more than three hours before he woke up, and I hurriedly sent someone to North Korea to deliver a letter to you; The next day, we found a leper who was about the same size, fat and thin, put him in a coffin, and the first seven autopsies were also passed, and Jinyiwei obtained a document from King Shang Yong, proving that Lin Yiguan was dead, and then left the Ryukyus. ”

After listening to this thrilling experience, Ma Wu then asked, "Where have Brother Wen Jun and Sister Luo gone now?" ”

"Wen Jun will not come back in the future, the whole Ryukyu know that he died of a sudden serious illness, I secretly sent someone to send them to Ningbo, Wen Jun said before leaving: 'Finally liberated, reborn in the future, reborn as a man, the prince will Xiangning have a kind, Zhu Chongba, who wants to eat, has become the emperor, why can't I!' Hearing that the Ming Dynasty was going to lift the ban on the sea, he changed his name to Lin Feng and prepared to form a merchant group along the coast of the mainland, and he would do a good job in the future. ”

Just when Ma Wu returned to Ryukyu, Lin Yiguan, who had changed his name to Lin Feng, took the Luo sisters to Ningbo and stayed in their stronghold, the Longmen Inn.

Lin Yiguan was entrusted by the monkey Hideyoshi to spend a lot of money to set up dozens of strongholds in the mainland and North Korea, among which Ningbo was particularly important.

After a long selection of choices, Lin Yiguan originally planned to send Tang Jing here, and after learning more about his situation, he decisively left him in Korea, but chose Chen Yuanhua, a retainer of Matsuura Takanobu, to open this Longmen Inn in Ningbo, and at the same time, prepared to start trade with Hirado.

Chen Yuanhua, the shopkeeper of the Longmen Inn, is an old businessman, before coming to Ningbo, he had a detailed discussion with Lin Yiguan, and now after the opening of the customs in the Longqing Dynasty, he is ready to use Ningbo as a base and trade as a link to form a business group to monopolize the business with Dongyang, Nanyang and other places.

When he arrived in Ningbo this time, Lin Feng found that although Chen Yuanhua was very good at management and managed the Longmen Inn in an orderly manner, there was no progress in trade with Japan, which made him quite annoyed.

For this reason, Chen Yuanhua gave an explanation: it turned out that Matsuura Takashin converted to Christianity, and now he only pays attention to doing business with Westerners, and does not buy his account as a "retainer" very much, and he can't get the merchant ship ticket from the City Shipping Division, and he has no capital in his hands, so many plans have to be stranded.

Although he has changed his name, he and Luo Amin are both prisoners of the imperial court after all, and they have the intention of staying in Ningbo to lead the business of the merchant group, but they are worried about being reported, and in a short period of time, Chen Yuanhua can not get through the joints of Matsuura Takannobu, therefore, Lin Feng is very nostalgic for the years in Akimeura, and he is ready to go back to Satsuma to find a place to settle, and secretly has the idea of Shimazu Yoshihisa.

Chen Yuanhua knew that the huge amount of property that Yan Shifan shipped overseas was all in Lin Feng's hands, so he took everyone to the market, dock and other places to see the market very diligently, and introduced what should be done in the future business.

Now, the imperial court has opened the sea ban, although they can't get the Ningbo City Bo Si ship, but Chen Yuanhua believes that cotton, cotton cloth, raw silk, silk, pen, ink, paper and inkstone and other items from Jiangsu and Zhejiang can be transported to Guangdong and Fujian and other places; The Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions need timber, dyes, sugar, flowers and fruits, iron goods, foreign goods and other things from Guangdong and Fujian, even if they only do trade with Guangdong and Fujian, they can earn at least one million taels of silver by running more than ten times a year. But the premise is that Lin Feng has to help him raise the capital of three million taels of silver.

To be honest, although Lin Feng was very tempted and satisfied with Chen Yuanhua, he was Matsuura Takannobu after all, and to do these businesses, he had to have a confidant to monitor him.

So, Lin Feng decided to cultivate Zhang Gou'er well, and left him by Chen Yuanhua's side in the future, and in the past few days, he has called him into his guest room every day and trained him seriously.

On this day, Lin Feng was assigning tasks to Zhang Gou'er, when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door, and the two stopped talking.

Luo Amin opened the door and found that it was her sister, and asked cautiously, "Ah Ping, is there something wrong with you?" ”

"Sister, I want to take a walk outside." Ah Ping replied in a low voice.

"My sister can't accompany you if she has something, you can't understand what the people here are saying, but don't go far." Luo Amin instructed.

When it was time for dinner, Ah Ping did not come back, Luo Amin was a little anxious, and asked Chen Yuanhua to send someone out to look for it.

has been found until it is dark, and there is no trace of Ah Ping, Luo Amin suddenly realized that she has been going out to play by herself every day in the past few days, and she has never come to greet herself like today, it seems that there must be something strange in it.

Chen Yuanhua had already prepared a sumptuous banquet, at this moment, how could Luo Amin still be in the mood to eat? Crying and begging Lin Feng to accompany her out to find someone.

Lin Feng didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that children like to play, maybe they should come back after a while.

At this moment, a stranger came to deliver a letter to them: "This afternoon, there is a little girl on the dock who said that her name is Ah Ping, and asked me to send you a letter when it is dark, she wants to go to Nanjing for a few days, and she has gone with a merchant ship, telling you not to worry, she will be back in a few days." ”

After hearing this, Luo Amin rushed out and asked in a panic, "How long has she been gone?" ”

"I don't know." The messenger replied.

After hearing this, Luo Amin ran out of the Dragon Gate Inn like crazy, and Lin Feng followed closely with a large group of bodyguards.

The group of people rushed all the way to the wharf, and Luo Amin went to inquire when he met people, how long had the merchant ship bound for Nanjing gone? However, there are so many boats to Nanjing that no one knows which one Ah Ping is taking?

At this time, Luo Amin was like a madman, Lin Feng and the others couldn't stop her at all, she went along the dock one by one to ask, there was a merchant ship was about to be sent to Nanjing, so she threw a silver ingot to the ship boss, and hurriedly boarded the merchant ship.

Finding that Lin Feng and others also followed, Luo Amin, who was full of tears, was very moved, threw herself into her husband's arms, and said emotionally: "Our family will never leave us, we must find my sister back!" ”

At this moment, on a Ningbo boat bound for Satsuma, Ah Ping was looking at the rolling sea, and said in her heart: Sister, I'm really sorry, as early as when I was in the Ryukyus, I wanted to run several times, but I couldn't run away, Sister Rong'er asked me to deliver a letter, since I agreed, I had to go. Sister, take care!

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Off topic

This conversation between Ma Wu and the old shopkeeper of the Lin family's shochu shop involves a secret history of the Ryukyu Kingdom. What is the secret between him and the old shopkeeper? It will be described in detail in "The Dark War of the Third Volume of the Tang Ship".