There were a total of twenty-one wounds, and the wounds that were beaten were not as many as imagined, and after careful examination, it was found that the injuries were not as serious as imagined.

After all, he was just an ordinary person who had never even killed a chicken, and the edict was a place specially set up to torture people, make people feel frightened and afraid, destroy people's minds and bodies, and then get what they wanted. A person caught unsuspectingly in that kind of place cannot be expected to behave better.

When he returned to his residence after midnight, Ji Yan applied some of the wound medicine he had gotten to his wound, and lay on his back on the bed, unable to sleep.

Who the hell is the Black Shadow?

Judging from his casual appearance in the Imperial Prison, he should be a high-ranking official of the Jinyi Guard, but it is just a guess, besides, there are the Zuo Du Governor and the Commander in the Jinyi Guard, and there are the Beizhen Fu Division who is in charge of the Imperial Prison, and the Nanzhen Fu Division who is in charge of intelligence matters, and the chief officials in charge of these yamen can theoretically do this.

Thinking about it, he didn't have a clue, but Ji Yan had decided not to act rashly first, because with his current situation, he had no power, no power, and no one to rely on, even if he was lucky enough to really find out who was behind the scenes, he had nothing to do, to tell Zheng He? Not to mention that he has no evidence at present, why should Zheng He believe in himself, even if Zheng He believes the words, Jinyiwei monitors the words and deeds of the ministers of the court, which is not a secret at all in the Ming Dynasty, this is the purpose of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to set up Jinyiwei, even if he knows that he is monitored and recorded by Jinyiwei's secret agents, what can Zheng He do.

Rash action will only put oneself in a very dangerous situation, which is like a person walking in a fog, unable to see the direction clearly, unable to find the goal, at this time should do one step at a time, see as many roads as far as possible, little by little forward, instead of recklessly running around. Only in this way can we have a chance to break through the layers of fog and reach the final destination.

I thought about it for a long time, until the east turned white, and Ji Yan fell asleep groggily, and when he woke up, it was already past noon.

Ji Yan checked the wounds on his body, and the lighter wounds had begun to form dark red blood scabs, and the more serious injuries had stopped oozing blood.

Ji Yan said in his heart, fortunately, the foundation of this body is very good, and he recovers very quickly, otherwise he would have suffered even more.

After eating some dry food, bringing a few clothes and all the money, and after packing up his things, he set off for Taohuadu, Ningbo Prefecture.

Ningbo Mansion is nearly a thousand miles away from Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, although the black shadow gave a few dollars of broken silver, but the sum of that money and Ji Yan's own money is not enough for him to rent a horse, so Ji Yan can only rely on his own feet to hurry.

Fortunately, the Jinyi Wei waist card allowed him to go all the way unimpeded, and he could also live in the post station along the way, so in addition to the first few days, because of the rush to cause some wounds to recur and delay the trip, the body basically recovered in the next few days, plus the weather is getting warmer and warmer, and the scenery along the way is not bad, and the whole journey is not a chore.

After traveling all the way for more than ten days, Ji Yan finally arrived in Ningbo. The city asked about the specific direction of Zheng He's fleet, and Ji Yan didn't delay any longer, and went straight to Taohuadu Wharf.

With Taohuadu Wharf as the center of the circle, an area within a radius of dozens of miles can now be regarded as the territory of Zheng He's fleet, and the sea is naturally the large and small ships to which the fleet belongs, and the land has become as lively as a market because of the stationing of Zheng He's fleet personnel.

And as Ji Yan got closer and closer to the dock, the clearer he felt that this place was significantly different from that in Nanjing and Ningbo.

First of all, there are people who come and go in various dialects and foreign languages, and they communicate with each other hand and foot, and you can often see people with luggage on the street, people from all over the world, and even people from different countries and nationalities, people of all kinds of clothes and appearances gather here.

In addition, craftsmen of various professions also gathered, including shipwrights and pyrotechnologists required by the fleet, as well as officials, soldiers, and clerks in the army, as well as doctors, merchants, and some foreign envoys who wanted to go to sea together.

In addition, there are a variety of commodities and goods, not to mention some local products of Zhejiang, all kinds of fish, shrimp and seafood are also readily available, in addition to some Korean, Ryukyu, Japanese and other foreign goods can also be found here.

Ji Yan didn't have much effort to find the registration office, everything went smoothly, his name had already been registered, and after checking in and checking his body, he was assigned to other interpreters' associations and the fleet camp that lived with him outside the dock.

And then there was no then.

The days didn't change so dramatically.

He began to send and receive official documents and telegrams day after day, but he was transferred to Zheng He's fleet. He didn't know how long he would have to wait here, he didn't know where the preparations for going to sea had progressed, and he didn't know what Zheng He was doing, and even because of the merchants and envoys from Korea, Ryukyu, and Japan who kept coming in and out of the camp, he even had great doubts about whether the destination was Western.

However, Ji Yan is a thoughtful personality who can always think about problems from a positive side. Although it is only an ordinary translation here, it is still very different from the experience in Jinyiwei.

First, it is a great blessing in life to have the opportunity to experience this mighty sailing operation, and when he thinks that he can participate in the most famous sea operation in the history of the Chinese nation, Ji Yan often can't help but laugh secretly, after all, he is only an unknown person in modern times.

The second is that although he can't see Zheng He himself, he has no chance to perform, but at the same time, he is also exempted from the contradictions in Ji Yan's heart, and the task assigned by the black shadow in the edict can be justified and left behind without thinking about it.

The third is that there are all kinds of people coming and going here every day, although Ji Yan and everyone he comes into contact with may only have a simple exchange of words and two sentences, but everyone is here for a great cause, so everyone is in high spirits, the atmosphere is warm, and the Jinyi Wei Yamen, which is lifeless all day long, everyone talks and behaves cautiously, it is really two worlds.

There is nothing difficult in the world, as long as you are willing to give up and open your mind, nothing matters.

More than 20 days after reporting to Taohuadu, a herald eunuch came to the office of the interpreters and conveyed a message.

"Zheng and Lord Zheng are going to summon the interpreters in the camp after dinner tonight!"

The interpreters cheered, although the dozen or so interpreters, including Ji Yan, have been here for a long time, for more than a month, and for a few days, they have only been here for a few days, but one thing is the same, that is, they have never seen this famous Lord Zheng.

After dinner, Ji Yan followed the others and was led by a little eunuch, through the camp, to Zheng He's tent.

This is also the first time since Ji Yan's soul pierced that he has seen a real "historical figure". The candles inside and outside the big tent were bright, and Zheng He in front of him had a burly figure that did not fit this era, dressed in civilian clothes, and was facing away from everyone at the moment, constantly comparing and drawing on a map that recorded the situation in the East China Sea. And a eunuch who was shorter than Zheng He held a pen and paper in his hand and served beside Zheng He.

Zheng He was only thirty years old at the time, he was captured by the Ming army with his uncles at the age of twelve, and then most of his other clansmen were killed by the Ming army, he escaped because of his young age, and then at the age of thirteen he was selected by the court as a waiter and suffered a "palace punishment", at the age of fourteen was elected to the palace of the king of Yan in Beiping, and then followed the Yan king Zhu Di before and after the saddle, and even in the battle of Jingyan made great achievements and won the trust of the new emperor. Therefore, on the first day of the first month of the second year of Yongle, he was given the surname "Zheng" by the emperor and promoted to the eunuch of the four products, and then led the city to supervise the construction of treasure ships here, recruit attachés, and will represent the Ming Dynasty in the near future to envoy Fanbang.

After the interpreters entered the tent, they stood up one by one, bowing their heads and saying nothing, and everyone was silently waiting for Zheng He to speak.

The little eunuch who led the way signaled to the eunuch who was serving Zheng He that everyone had arrived, and the eunuch who was accompanying him approached Zheng He's ear and whispered a few words.

Zheng He turned around, faced everyone, swept over the faces of each interpreter with satisfaction, looking at this young and energetic face, although he was a little tired, he was still in a good mood, and smiled: "Today is the first time to meet with all the interpreters, you don't have to be so restrained. I believe that everyone has questions about the current situation of the fleet and the purpose of the mission, so I specially called Jinghong tonight. As he spoke, he pointed to the eunuch beside him.

"Jing Hong, who has followed me for many years, is also the deputy envoy of this trip, called everyone here and introduced the situation of this envoy to everyone."

Although he said it with a smile at this time, because Zheng He was full of energy, everyone in the hall could hear it clearly.

When Zheng He said this, he paused slightly, his eyes swept over each interpreter again, and seeing that no one asked any questions, he continued:

"Today, it has been decided that the emperor's grand plan is in all directions, and he wants to send his official to lead a fleet of men and horses to the Western Ocean to show the wealth and strength of China. However, recently, the Japanese have become more and more rampant, disturbing our coastal states and counties, making it difficult for my sailors to separate. I have played the emperor, and the fleet is complete, but if you want to go to the Western Ocean, you must first calm the Eastern Ocean. The Holy Lord has been allowed to play, and ordered me to lead the people to send out the division to the East in advance, to eliminate the scourge of the Japanese and the West. ”

"And I am in the open, the enemy is in the dark, and the rebellion of the Japanese invaders has been difficult to calm for a long time, firstly because they are elusive, and it is difficult to obtain effective information and intelligence from them, and secondly, because there have always been people in our country who have secretly communicated with the Japanese invaders. They have internal problems in our country and will not mention them for now, and effective intelligence information gathering is now imminent. Therefore, the official decided to send the advance personnel to the dens of several Japanese pirates to find out the situation, to verify their whereabouts, numbers, firearms and equipment, etc., and to be sure to know themselves and their opponents. After our army arrived in Japan, inform the Japanese king that he would sweep away the trouble of the Japanese in one fell swoop, and this battle could only be successful, otherwise the mighty naval division of our Ming Dynasty would be trapped in the East forever, tired of guarding the border and suppressing bandits, and no longer able to aspire to the West. ”

Inside and outside the big tent, the torches were burning, just like the blood boiling in Ji Yan's body at this moment. He came from modern times, and the grievances between China and Japan in modern times made him more eager to do this than anyone else present, and at this moment he really wanted to fly to Japan immediately, grab a few Japanese and throw them in front of the tent for Zheng He.

Zheng He's tone gradually softened, and while pacing back and forth, he slowed down his speech and continued: "However, this trip is also dangerous and abnormal, because the relationship between my Ming Dynasty and Japan today is as close as possible, so if there is an accident in the operation and you are arrested, the imperial court will not come forward to negotiate with Japan on your behalf, and you may have to ask for more blessings and cannot expect foreign aid." Of course, I will not only arrange for you to go alone, for each target, I will arrange for capable sergeants or Jinyi Guard captains to accompany you, and I will also contact merchants who are familiar with the place to provide you with cover. ”

"But these are just security measures, and this errand is still dangerous, so I hope that those of you who are willing to take this errand will sign up for it yourself."

After Zheng He said this, he didn't continue, he stopped and stood in the middle of the big tent, quietly looking at these interpreters.