Early the next morning, the Portuguese consulate in Macau, Philips and Luzon businessmen stayed up all night, still thinking about countermeasures, the kerosene lamps had already burned out, and at this moment it coincided with the dawn, the golden rooster reported the dawn, and the sky was gray and bright. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Overnight, the Luzon merchant seemed to be much older, his sideburns were gray, the wrinkles on his forehead were looming, his face exuded a faint sense of vicissitudes, and the whole person exuded a sense of haggardness.

Philips is also in a bad mood, frowning, although he is wearing a tuxedo, but he is not as wonderful as before, that kind of chic state, like a down-and-out gentleman at the moment.

At this moment, there were bursts of hurried footsteps outside the door, which attracted the two of them to look up, and their eyes flashed with impatience, not wanting to be disturbed.

Soon, led by a Portuguese guard, a man dressed as a sailor walked in, and the Luzon merchant got up from his chair and walked quickly, and couldn't wait to walk up to the sailor, holding the man's shoulders tightly with both hands, and his voice was so full of expectation, and he asked urgently: "How is it?" Is the first mate back? Is there any news of him? ”

The sailor's gloomy head shook slightly, and he stood there without a scream of pain, despite the stinging pain in his shoulder.

Needless to say, the sailors had nothing to say, and all of a sudden, the temperature in the air dropped below freezing, and a sense of gloom permeated.

The captain felt the heavens and the earth spinning, a feeling of dizziness lingering in his mind, and the heavy heart became even more haggard, and there was a feeling of lack of breath suppressing him.

Hands grasped twice again, slowly released, slowly backwards, sat down on the chair in a dejected manner, eyes blank and dull, as if the whole world was eclipsed, life became boring, meaningless.

Philips's feelings were not as strong as the captain's, not as uncomfortable as he was, so hard to breathe, as if he was suffocating. At this moment, although Philips was full of sadness and unhappiness, it still remained calm and rational.

"Captain, what you have to do now is not to give up on yourself here, but to recover the losses as much as possible, find the first mate as soon as possible, and find out what happened?"

"If you can't find the first mate, you can also ask the Chinese court for help, just say that you have encountered pirates, the goods and ships have been robbed, and you are the only one who escapes, penniless, and I hope they can give some entanglement as a way home."

Listening to it, the captain's eyes lit up, as if he had grasped the last straw, and rekindled hope, his voice trembled a little, and his words contained hope.

"Lord Philips, you said that I should report to the official and let the Chinese court file a case for investigation, and maybe I can recover my merchant ships and goods!"

Philips frowned, displeased, and shouted, "You don't want to live anymore, crazy?" If the Chinese officials really help you find the merchant ship, if the nitrate is still on board, you will die faster, and you will never want to go back to Luzon! ”

The captain's eyes lost their luster again, became dull, and his whole body exuded an air of decadence, and Philips's next words taught him a tacit fact, something that foreign businessmen who often traveled to and from Guangzhou Mansion knew.

"What's more, some of these officials of the Qing Dynasty were in collusion with pirates and hooligans, even if there was solid evidence, those officials were sloppy and would not take it seriously at all, which is also the reason why piracy prevailed on the southeast coast, and they could collect protection fees for passing merchant ships."

Philips thought for a while, calmed down for a while, seemed to think of something, and said again: "However, the official still wants it, and it is of some use." If you do this, you can dispel Feng Zhuogan's covetousness, let him know that the nitrate has been robbed, and there is no point in looking for you again, let alone sue the official to expose you, secretly hiding the nitrate, and saving you a lot of trouble. ”

Although his eyes were blank and his head was empty, the captain still listened to what Philips said, and it can only be like this at present, maybe the Qing Dynasty government will give him some money to go home, isn't this the case for most of those robbed foreigners in the past?

The yamen gave a little silver tael, and returned to China on the ships of other foreigners, and the province was reduced to the coastal cities and rural streets, causing trouble and making trouble.

The captain felt that his whole body had no strength, as if he had been drained all of a sudden. The sailor, who was still standing on the side, saw the captain's situation, and immediately stepped forward to help him, and the two walked side by side, slowly walking away from the Portuguese consulate.

Philips also stood up, yawned long, and after talking to himself, walked to the bedroom.

"Forget it, as long as the people are still there, I am still the consul of the Great Portuguese Empire, and there will be a chance to get money in the future."

Time is very fast, but for some people, it is very long, very long and difficult, and when the sun is about to set, Hongmen and the Green Gang have already smelled a trace of unusual breath, as a deaf and dumb hall specializing in intelligence gathering, of course, they also feel it.

In the world, not only does paper not contain fire, but there are also no impermeable walls, and this is especially true of gangs. Whether it is a big gang or a small faction, in the process of getting along to achieve balance, it is also in the process of mutual integration, continuous infiltration, you have me, I have you, no one can be very sure who is the spy in the gang, who is the undercover agent in the faction?

Hongmen, the Green Gang and the Elders' Association are like this, each other, each has its own eyeline, in order to obtain each other's confidential affairs, some unknown actions.

At this moment, the disappearance of Zhou Wenlong's second head of the Elders' Association has been known by the two major forces, and the deaf and dumb hall, who is engaged in intelligence gathering, has of course also learned about it, and Zhai Dakun learned about it for the first time. What is still a secret is that these forces still don't know why Zhou Wenlong disappeared? Why not?

Was it assassinated? Or do you not want to continue to be involved in gang battles and abscond alone?

However, according to the various performances of the Elders, all parties secretly made a series of big moves, which also denied the possibility of the latter rule, and began to pay attention to the next actions of the Elders' Association at any time, which is comparable to the replacement of the old and new owners of the deaf and dumb church.

The turbid backwater of the underground world of Guangzhou Mansion began to be slowly stirred up with a series of actions of the Elder Brother's Association during this sensitive time period, and a trace of haze began to appear in the sky above Guangzhou Mansion.

Of course, all these changes are relative to the various gang forces in Guangzhou Prefecture, or some rich and powerful people, because they know more about some things that ordinary people in Guangzhou Mansion do not know.

Hongshuntang of Hongmen, Fang Huicheng sat upright, exuding a bit of domineering, a little strong, at a glance, it was cultivated for a long time, at this time, his eyes were blazing at the people in the hall, and he issued a series of orders.

"Inform the brothers who have infiltrated the Brotherhood, and let them pay close attention to the movements of Lin Dajiang, the helmsman, and report to me at any time. Of course, remind them that unless there is a very urgent message, everything is carried out in a safe and unexposed situation, and it is not easy for everyone to break into the Brotherhood, and it costs Hongmen a lot of resources. ”

"Yes, big brother, I'll go and order, let the brothers be cautious and inquire about the information, and try their identities not to be revealed!"

Although there is no seniority in Hongmen, they are all called brothers. However, Fang Huicheng still regards people whose status is inferior to his own as subordinates, and in normal times, it is only a superficial article, so that the brothers are commensurate.

After his subordinates retreated, Fang Huicheng couldn't help but frown, he was very curious and puzzled about the sudden big action of the Elders' Association, and he wanted to find out what was going on.

"What kind of moth is this Lin Dajiang making trouble, two days ago, he still contacted Elder Xu enthusiastically, wanting to get the big fat of the Deaf and Dumb Hall, but now it's good, suddenly making such a big move, coming to such a show, what are you going to do? I don't understand, I don't understand. ”

At the same time, as the second largest force, the only Qing Gang that can compete with Hongmen for a long time, is also happening similar things, and begins to activate the chess pieces buried in the Elders' Association, and pay close attention to Lin Dajiang's every move, after all, the large-scale actions of the third major force must involve unusual things.

Zhai Mansion, in the study, Zhai Dakun's brows were tightly locked, and the thick melancholy on his face showed how worried and apprehensive he was at this time. Ah Sheng stood aside, silent.

After receiving the news from the intelligence officers who were planted in the Elders' Association, Ah Sheng immediately reported the matter to Zhai Dakun without concealment, so this is the current situation.

As the minutes passed, Ah Sheng began to become anxious, worried about Zhai Dakun's body. Since it was confirmed that Yang Lin had taken over the Deaf and Dumb Hall and the date of the ceremony had been set, his old hall master, Zhai Dakun, had not slept well for several days.

"Hall Master, maybe it's not as bad as you think, the matter of the Elders' Association has nothing to do with Yang Lin, it happened at this time, but it's just a coincidence."

Zhai Dakun didn't react, his brows were still tightened, he was constantly worried, his face was ugly and terrible, Ah Sheng was extremely worried, and persuaded again.

"Hall Master, I swear to you, whether it is the people in the hall or the one hundred and twenty-five people brought by Yang Lin, they have been under my nose for the past few days, and no one has acted or concealed it!"

Hearing this, Zhai Dakun's face was slightly better, he was still worried, he couldn't rest assured, sighed, and said weakly: "It's useless to discuss these now, let's let Yang Lin come tomorrow, and after confronting him, I can rest assured that he really hasn't done anything to my brother." ”

Ah Sheng nodded yes, and then asked, "Hall Master, now that the city of Guangzhou is in turmoil, other forces are paying attention to our residence. Yang Lin still doesn't want to be noticed, did he activate the secret passage and let him come to the house? ”

Zhai Dakun only thought about it for a moment, and then replied in sign language: "Let's start, it's okay, Elder Xu of the province suspected Yang Lin and guessed that he was the new deaf and dumb hall master, so that Yang Lin would not be affected by Elder Xu's evil heart." ”

Then, Ah Sheng picked up Zhai Dakun, left the study, and walked towards the hall to prepare for dinner. (To be continued.) )