"Wenda, is the situation really going to get so bad, and I see that the attitude of the imperial court now doesn't seem to care much about the sea ban, so it shouldn't suddenly strengthen the sea ban, right?" At this time, Li Zheng also said with a pale face, although nearly two hundred years have passed since the Japanese Rebellion, it is still a nightmare that cannot be forgotten in the hearts of the people in the coastal areas.

"Who can say exactly what is going on in the court? Moreover, in the eyes of those bigwigs, the sea ban is just an excuse that can be used to attack political opponents at any time, don't look at the fact that smuggling is so prosperous now, and many officials also secretly support smuggling, but the more officials involved in smuggling, the more likely it is to be used by the big people in the court in the future. ”

Zhou Zhong suddenly paused when he said this, and then said: "Besides, even if the imperial court has been relaxing the sea ban, but smuggling is attracting more and more Japanese and Koreans to join it, which is bound to compete with the smuggling merchants of the Ming Dynasty. The number of Japanese and Koreans has not decreased, and if this situation is allowed to develop again, those foreign chambers of commerce that have eaten up their old capital will definitely look for other ways to survive, and may even become pirates completely, and will still pose a threat to the Ming coast. ”

After listening to Zhou Chong's analysis of the overseas situation, Zheng Jing and Zhang Jing could no longer care about blaming Zhou Chong's methods of doing things, and they all showed distress at the moment, and Songjiang was surrounded by the sea on both sides. And they are also very aware of the situation at the seaside guard. Zhilu Dao, those so-called thousand households, have long been the private residences of the officers. The military household has no combat effectiveness, and if there are really pirates crossing the sea to attack, I am afraid that the entire Songjiang Mansion will have to fall into the hands of pirates.

Thinking of this, Li Zheng, who was the most anxious, was the first to ask Zhou Chong: "Wenda, since you have analyzed the overseas situation so thoroughly, and you are also involved in smuggling, what solution do you have for this?" ”

Hearing Li Zheng's words, Zheng Jing and Zhang Jing also turned their gazes to Zhou Chong. I saw Zhou Zhong smiled lightly: "Actually, there are many ways to solve this problem." But we all need the support of the imperial court, but unfortunately we can't influence the attitude of the imperial court at all, so in the end, we can only use our own methods to solve the problem. ”

Zhou Zhong paused here when he said this, and then spoke: "In my plan, I want to unify the smuggling power of the entire Shuangyu Port and form a strong smuggling alliance, and I have already started to do this, and now the other two major chambers of commerce in Shuangyu Port have also agreed, and then our three chambers of commerce will take the lead and form an organization called 'Haimeng'." This organization will establish a set of rules for the smuggling industry, and whoever is involved in smuggling will be involved in the future. will all act under the rules of the Strait Alliance, so that the entire smuggling industry will be the world of our Strait Alliance, and when the time comes, it will be excluded or divided, and it will be easy to solve the problems of those aliens! ”

When Zhou Zhong talked about the most reluctant, his eyes also showed an ambitious gaze, of course, he established the Strait Alliance not only to solve those Japanese and North Koreans, the most important thing is to have a power of his own, when the time comes, with the Strait Alliance, no matter who wants to move him, it is no longer an easy task, and even the great tomorrow has to think twice.

After listening to Zhou Chong's words, Zheng Jing and the three of them all looked at each other a little, they always thought that after Zhou Chong took over the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, he would at most use this to restore the wealth of the original Zhou family, but they never thought that Zhou Chong would have such lofty ambitions.

But at this time, I saw Zheng Jing think for a moment, and suddenly asked: "Wenda, maybe it's really like you said, after the establishment of the Haimeng, you can completely eliminate the hidden dangers of foreign races in the coastal areas, but this is not an easy task, do you really have the confidence to establish the Haimeng?" ”

"Hehe, how can there be such an easy thing to succeed in this world, in the process of the establishment of the Haimeng, there will definitely be many difficulties, but I believe in my own ability, not to mention that the establishment of the Haimeng is not only my business, there are other people involved, as long as we follow the plan step by step, we can succeed one day!" Zhou Chong replied with a smile, in fact, he really wanted to invite Zheng Jing and a few people to be his assistants, but unfortunately everyone was famous, and they were about to participate in the imperial examination, so it was impossible for him to come to his own chamber of commerce to do things.

Seeing that although Zhou Zhong was very relaxed when he spoke, the determination in his tone could not be shaken in any way, which made Zheng Jing and the three of them admire it in their hearts, and at the same time, Zheng Jing and Zhang Jing's disagreement against Zhou Chong in their hearts finally dissipated, and they were also a lot more affectionate in their tones, and they felt the changes in each other, which made Zhou Chong feel relieved.

The misunderstanding was resolved, Zheng Jing immediately asked people to prepare wine and food, and the four of them were chatting while eating, speaking of which this year is the year of the Autumn Festival, Zheng Jing and Zhang Guo and Li Zheng are all actively preparing for the examination, so the content of their conversation is naturally inseparable from the imperial examination, especially after talking about Liu Jin's eunuch party being eradicated, they are all very excited, because in their opinion, now the court is in ruins, if they can emerge in this imperial examination, then maybe they will be favored by the big men in the court, so as to lay a solid foundation for their careers.

Because Zhou Zheng was busy with marriage, and he didn't have any interest in the imperial examination, he chatted with Zheng Jing for a while and then got up to say goodbye, and at the same time he invited Zheng Jing again, but Zheng Jing and Zhang Jing immediately said that they would definitely come to congratulate him on the day of his wedding.

However, just as Zhou Zhong stood up and was about to leave, he saw Li Zheng suddenly stand up and said, "Brother Minglun, Brother Fang Shi, it just so happens that I have a personal matter that I want to talk to Wenda, so I will leave first!" ”

After Li Zheng finished speaking, he and Zhou Zhong left the Zheng Mansion together, and when the two of them got into the carriage, Zhou Chong asked, "Berao, what do you have to tell me alone?" ”

At this time, I saw Li Zheng's face look embarrassed, and after hesitating for a moment, he said a little embarrassed: "Wenda, you also know that I have always had little to do with the family's business, and the elders in the family did not allow me to meddle in the family's business, but this time they asked me to talk to you about a business, although this business is nothing to you, but it is very important to our family!" ”

"Oh?" Zhou Chong seemed to have guessed something when he heard this, and immediately smiled and said, "Shrike, it can't be that the elders in your family also want to participate in smuggling, right?" ”

Hearing that Zhou Zhong suddenly guessed what he wanted to say, Li Zheng was also a little embarrassed and said: "That's right, Wenda, you also know that our family's business is concentrated in Suzhou and Hangzhou, mainly operating textiles and restaurants, of which restaurants don't need to be mentioned, but our family's textile workshops are all over Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the quality of the silk produced is excellent, but we generally sell it wholesale to others, but after a few elders in the family saw that the profits from smuggling were so huge, they wanted to smuggle overseas through the cooperation of your Chamber of Commerce. In this way, the intermediate links can be eliminated, and the profit is more than ten times that of the original, so I want to ask you, see if this business can be done? ”

Hearing Li Zheng's words, Zhou Chong patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said: "Shrike, what's so embarrassing about this, I have to say that several uncles of your Li family are really very discerning, my side has just started to cooperate in smuggling, and you can see the huge profits in it, so let's organize a batch of goods to be sent to Shuangyu Port, and then I will let people give you the highest discount, and definitely get more than half of the profit than other cargo owners!" ”

"Good! I'm relieved to have Wenda, I am relieved to say this, in fact, my family has long urged me to discuss this matter with you, but I am thin-skinned, and you are in Shuangyu Port, so I have not been embarrassed to go, and now I finally take this opportunity to say it, and now the elders in the family can finally rest assured! Li Zheng heard Zhou Chong's promise so refreshingly, and he also said with a smile.

After chatting about business, Li Zheng chatted with Zhou Chong for a few more gossips, and then got off the car to say goodbye, and then Zhou Chong took the carriage and went straight to the Zhou Mansion, and when he arrived in front of the Zhou Mansion, he saw two majestic brocade guards standing in front of the Mansion Gate, and when the pedestrians on the road saw them, they were all walking around the gate of the Zhou Mansion from a distance, and it can be said that there was no trace of people within twenty steps in front of the Mansion Gate.

Seeing those brocade guards in front of the gate, Zhou Chong couldn't help but sigh secretly, since Wu Shan took over this team of brocade guards, they have become Zhou Chong's personal bodyguards, almost wherever Zhou Chong goes, they will follow him, at first he still felt very majestic, but after a long time, he couldn't stand it, and finally let Wu Shan agree, when he was active in Songjiang City, he didn't have to let Jinyi Wei protect him, so he only brought a few people from Wangcai when he went out today.

However, it is not without benefit that these brocade guards followed Zhou Chong, for example, when Wang Lun just read out the holy decree of marriage, many people thought that the reason why Zhou Chong was given marriage by His Majesty was all for Wang Lun's face, but later people found that the brocade guards who came with Wang Lun suddenly became Zhou Chong's personal bodyguard, which made many shrewd people immediately understand that what His Majesty really valued was Zhou Chong, and even before Wang Lun was able to get away with his crimes, it was likely to be related to Zhou Chong.

After understanding this, many officials in Songjiang Prefecture immediately shifted their goals, changed the focus of the knot from Wang Lun to Zhou Chong, came to visit almost every day, and at the same time worked harder to prepare for Zhou Chong's wedding, which made Zhou Chong much easier.

After the carriage entered the Zhou Mansion from the corner gate, Zhou Chong got down from the carriage, and just now he spent a lot of words at Zheng Jing, plus he drank some wine, and was about to go back to the room to rest, but suddenly saw Sanniang with Bai Jun coming over with a smile and said: "Wenda, there are two special guests at home, and they are waiting for you in the hall now!" (To be continued......)