"Lao Luo, let's talk about it first, what does the imperial court think of our suggestion?" Luo Youde came back with this information, when Hong Tao read the letter, he and Wen Nan had been passing the information in private, looking at the expressions on their faces, there were both worries and relief, and it was not difficult for Hong Tao to guess their intentions.

"However, Zheng Xiang personally met with me and asked about the ins and outs of the Strait Company, and I said everything...... I didn't say what I shouldn't have said! Although Luo Youde seemed a little tired after the tiring journey, he was very energetic, especially when he talked about Zheng Qingzhi's reception of him, his eyes lit up.

"You're an official fan! I don't have anything to say here, you can say anything you know. Let's get to the point, I just came back a few days ago, and I went to Java Island again. If there is no serious matter, I will go home and pick up the child! Hong Tao understands Luo Youde's current mood very well, and if he can be personally received by the prime minister of a country, he must be appeased and encouraged, and his heart is high.

"Sir, wait, Zheng Xiang agreed to the Strait Company's assistance in transporting grain, but he must be accompanied by the Great Song Sailor. He also wanted Mr. to go to Lin'an to discuss many matters in person, I don't know if Mr. would like to? Wen Nan hurriedly grabbed Hong Tao, who was about to leave, and Luo Youde, who was excited for the country, explained the truth of the matter in the simplest words. Talking to Hong Tao, it's best to have one thing to say, don't go around in circles, otherwise he really dares not to listen, whoever is in a hurry knows.

"I don't want to! This matter is not negotiable, let alone Lin'an, even if he comes to Guangzhou, I will not leave the deck one step! The reason is very simple, I can't trust you officials of the Great Song Dynasty, you have been with me for several years, and I still don't fully believe you, let alone them. Their butts are so unclean, I don't want to be the second father-in-law. After listening to Wen Nan's words, Hong Tao's little eyes immediately became triangular. If it was not Wen Nan standing in front of him, but a Great Song official, Hong Tao would immediately arrange for someone to kill him at sea. Who is playing with Nima? Go to Lin'an to chat, why don't you say go to the prison to chat! Now everyone's identities have been clarified, and the relationship between the two armed groups has not yet been determined, and you let someone else's leader go to your house as a guest. I really think of myself as a pirate leader who can't read big characters!

"Students can use their lives as a guarantee, Zheng Xiang ......" Wen Nan didn't expect Hong Tao to react so much, and wanted to further convince him, patting his chest to be a guarantor.

"Lao Wen, we have been together for a few years, I don't suspect that you want to harm me, but you don't have that much ability to be this guarantor. There is no one in this world who can, I value my own life more than God, and no one will guarantee that I will go. But I can't embarrass you and Brother Luo too much. You can go back and talk to Zheng Qingzhi that you can chat anywhere you want, there is no need to go to Lin'an. I will start preparing tomorrow, today is October 20, next month 11, I am waiting for him at the mouth of the Qiantang River, come to my boat to talk. If he is afraid of death and does not dare to come, he can send one of his men. I guess he's 100% afraid to come! In fact, it's the same for whoever comes, just bring the words to it. This matter is not something he can decide alone, and even if he comes, he will have to go back and discuss it with your emperor, so it is the same with whoever he talks to. It's decided, whether he comes or not, I'll wait for him for a day. You and Brother Luo will go back to Guangzhou now. The ten ships have been back for half a month, and they have been parked in the harbor like this, and the hearts of those maritime merchants have shed a drop of blood in the hearts of those maritime merchants for a day. It's not easy for people, the market is so good this year, one more ship goes to sea. It is tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. In order to contribute to the imperial court, people don't even earn money, what's the matter! Such a Great Song Dynasty is not a good people? "Hong Tao is very annoying, because he is going to take the children of Jinhewan on an adventure, and the lives of thousands of people are pinched in his hands, and there may be no bones in a thought, can the pressure not be great!

"Brother Wen, don't say it, what Brother Hong said is that if we were us, we wouldn't be able to organize so many sea ships to serve the imperial court. As for the meeting, I was a little reckless before, but now that I think about it, he will definitely not go, and he has repeatedly refused, and he has only been there once so far, even if he wants to invite him ashore for a drink. Now Brother Hong's identity is different, he is the leader of thousands of people here, and he has to be more careful. The two of us set off as soon as possible and went to Guangzhou to gather the fleet and set off first. Brother Hong's boat is fast, just assemble at the mouth of the Qiantang River. Brother Wen took the clipper back to Lin'an for me and conveyed Brother Hong's meaning to Zheng Xiang, and I believe he can understand. Luo Youde interjected at this time, he first did some self-examination, and then set the itinerary, because Wen Nan was not familiar with navigation, the matter of leading the fleet could only be done by him personally, and Wen Nan had to come to see Zheng Qingzhi to pass the word.

"Have mercy, inform the captains of the ships, and begin to prepare for the voyage, and leave at the latest in ten days, fully manned. Go to your Uncle Qi and ask again, there are still no cannons, there are still a few cannons missing on two ships, bring them all, we are going to war, I don't know if we live or die, are you afraid? Seeing off Wen Nan and Luo Youde, Hong Tao happened to meet Mercy at the dock, where he was giving swimming lessons to the kindergarten children. After each officer on board returned to Jinhe Bay, he took turns to go to the kindergarten to teach the children, tell them stories about the sea from an early age, teach them how to tie sailors' knots, how to swim, and how to obey the rules of the ship.

Through this subtle influence, when these children are six or seven years old, they go to the nautical school for three or four years to become a qualified midshipman. The sailors, sailors, and gunners on the ship can all be directly converted from slaves, but the officers must come from the navigation school, and senior officers such as captains, first mates, navigators, and boatswains must have the qualifications of Jinhewan Kindergarten, which is the threshold for Hong Tao to select future assistants. Only a very few people can cross this rule, such as Kong Pei, Si Wan, and Chen Qihong. They are either coincidental and just in time for Hong Tao's urgent shortage of manpower, or they have no stake in Hong Tao, or they are simply Hong Tao's relatives.

"What are you afraid of in a war? In the first half of the year, I also shot two Javanese soldiers with my own hands, holding weapons! "Compassion belongs to the kind of newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, he has never seen large-scale battles, and thinks that the fleet that follows Hong Tao bullies people everywhere with cannons is a battle.

"Alas...... I won't say more, so as not to bother you, and be happy for a few more days if you can. By the way, tomorrow you and Swann will take a merchant ship to the port of Malacca, and ask Swan's father how many people he can lend me. This time I paid with steel weapons and horses, and I was in dire need of manpower here. Seeing the indifference on his face of mercy, Hong Tao held back his broken mouth, he had to go if he said it or not, so don't add to their psychological burden.

This time, Hong Tao planned to go out, and all seven battleships of the main fleet participated in the battle, and he had to bring three salmon-class cargo ships as supply ships, and in addition to the clippers and whaling ships in Jinhe Bay, he could only rely on the cannons on the batteries on both sides of the Jinhe estuary to defend, and not a single battleship was left. Less than 300 marines were all brought with them, and the rest depended on how many soldiers could be borrowed from the Mamluks.

Gu Hongtao understood that the Mamluks had now grown to more than 400 people, all of whom were carefully selected from slaves. Not only did they follow their fleet to Java to capture slaves, but they also traveled more than 100 kilometers north to wipe out several local tribes and Siamese. But they still kept the agreement with Hong Tao, and did not go to the little king of Penang Port, and they did not have the ability to compete with Hong Tao at present. Once the supplies of food, weapons, horses, medicine, and wine were cut off by the floods, they had to walk in the jungle with wooden sticks to fight the natives for living space, in which case, it is estimated that they would not survive for a few years.

"Swan, why is your father here too? That's how many people! A few days later, Mercy and Swan came back from the port of Malacca with two cargo ships, and it was very customary that none of the Mamluk soldiers and cargo ships entered the Golden River, but anchored at the mouth of the river, and only Swan and his father took a few small boats to the wharf of Golden River Bay. According to the flag sent back from the watchtower on the hill at the mouth of the Golden River, Hong Tao couldn't help but be a little puzzled when he knew that the two cargo ships outside were full of people and horses even on the deck, and the same was true for the ships of Mercy and Swan.

"Six hundred! All! I told my father that this was the first time that my husband had gone on an expedition to an enemy country, and my father said that you were the emperor of the Mamluks, so he brought all the soldiers and slave soldiers from the port of Malacca, but there were not enough horses, and more than 300 people were archers and axemen. Swan helped his father answer Hong Tao's question, his face full of expectation, he wanted Hong Tao's approval.

"Tell your father that this is a hard battle, there are many enemies, there are many cavalry, and many people may die." Hong Tao didn't give Swan what to expect, just patted him on the shoulder, they were too optimistic and had to pour some cold water.

"My father said that Mamluk soldiers were only there for hard fighting, and they were not needed in ordinary battles, and the battle would not end until the last man died." The more Siwan spoke, the more excited he became, as if he was afraid that Hong Tao would look down on them.

"Okay, you and your father talk more on the boat, let him understand our rules, when the time comes, not only to fight, but also to listen to the command, so that when you run, you must run immediately, just like going to Jawa Island, we are going to make trouble, not to attack the city. In a while, I'll ask the canteen to make more stews and send them to the boat, as well as wine, and drink as much as I want, but no fights! Hong Tao didn't know how to explain it to Swan, he didn't know what the battlefield was like, and he wasn't even sure where the battlefield was. (To be continued.) )