"Lord Admiral, please see, this high ground is next to the port, only two miles away from the port, and because of the high terrain, there is no need to worry about flooding, if there is an enemy from the sea, the soldiers in the fortress can rush to the port as quickly as possible, and even directly use the artillery in the fortress to support the port, it can be said that it is a good place to build a fortress!" Tang Bohu pointed to a high ground in front of him and introduced it to Zhou Chong.

Zhou Zhong looked at this highland and found that it had a wide field of vision, and the area of the highland was large enough, so it was indeed a good place to build a fortress, which made him nod and said: "Yes, this place is stronger than the first two places, if there is no better place, then choose to build a fortress here!" ”

Although the money for building the fortress is still a little lacking, but the preliminary preparations for building the fortress cannot be delayed, for example, some time ago, Zhou Chong handed over this matter to the city Bo Si and Shen Ying, and they jointly selected a suitable place to build the fortress, and as a result, they selected a total of three places, today Tang Bohu is taking Zhou Zhong to investigate, but unfortunately the first two places have such and such shortcomings, but this third is not bad.

"Yes, the subordinate obeys the order!" Tang Bohu heard Zhou Chong's words, and finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, since the city ship division belonged to the Yamen of the Four Seas, their city ship division has more and more affairs, and the power in their hands is getting bigger and bigger, and even now they are not only collecting taxes, but have begun to meddle in the construction and management of the port, although this is a good thing, but for Tang Bohu, who has just entered the officialdom, he feels more and more pressure, and he does not dare to have any relaxation.

After finishing his business, Zhou Chong also felt a sense of relief, and when he turned his head to see Tang Bohu's relieved expression. smiled at the moment: "Brother Tang." Your city has been busy lately. And I heard that Yang Tong also wants you to be in charge of the management of the port of Malacca, how about it, do you have the confidence to manage such a large port? ”

Hearing Zhou Chong chatting with himself in a relaxed tone, Tang Bohu smiled bitterly and said: "Thank you for your concern, Yang Tiju handed over such an important matter to me, I really didn't have much confidence at the beginning, but now the affairs of the city department are heavy, and each official has a lot of affairs to do." For example, Yang Tiju and Deputy Li Tiju, Ningbo Port and Shuangyu Port are inseparable from them at all, and I am the most idle one in the city, so the management of Malacca Port this time has also fallen on my head, just like Yang Tiju said, I must go up hard, otherwise the city will not be able to draw other manpower. ”

Hearing Tang Bohu's complaining words, Zhou Chong laughed and said after a while: "Brother Tang, this is just the beginning." In the future, your city will be managing more than just Shuangyu Port and Malacca, so you need to be prepared. Of course, the establishment of your city department is indeed a little too small, and when I go back, I will suggest to His Majesty that I strive to merge the city department of Guangzhou and Quanzhou with you, and then you will be able to have a few more subordinates to do things. ”

Although Tang Bohu complained that the pressure on his body was increasing, he actually liked this life very much, because it gave him a sense of fulfillment, and he also learned a lot from it, and now he saw some of his shortcomings, and most importantly, he finally realized his wish to serve the country and the people.

Just when Zhou Zhong and Tang Bohu were chatting, suddenly a brocade guard quickly came to report: "My lord, someone from Jinzhou on the other side of the strait came by boat, saying that he wanted to visit you on behalf of King Alik of Malacca!" ”

"People from the Huang family?" Zhou Chong was also happy when he heard this, he originally thought that after finishing this period of time, he would take people to Jinzhou opposite, and then find the people of the Huang family and persuade them to come back to live, but he didn't expect that he hadn't left yet, but the people of the Huang family had already come by themselves, which saved him a lot of effort.

Thinking of this mysterious Huang family, Zhou Chong couldn't help but show a smile on his face, and immediately asked, "Where are the people of the Huang family now, and how many people are there in total?" ”

"Lord Qiyu, the Huang family only sent one boat, except for the boatmen, there is only one person from the Huang family, according to him, his name is Huang Qionghai, he is the patriarch of the Huang family, there is no one else except him, and he is now waiting in the camp of the sailor." The brocade guard who reported the news replied again.

"Very good, let's go back immediately!" Zhou Chong heard that it was the patriarch of the Huang family who came in person, which made him feel refreshed, since the other party was the patriarch of the Huang family, he should know more about the secrets, and he could just solve the mystery in his heart.

Soon Zhou Zhong returned to the barracks, speaking of which the army of Malacca City had been lost in the previous war, in order to maintain order in the city, Zhou Zhong asked Shen Ying to take the Beijing camp to settle in the city, but the sailors were still stationed in the port, and because the original sailor camp in Malacca was destroyed, so the sailors of the Ming Dynasty could only temporarily live in tents.

Zhou Chong came to the handsome tent of the sailor camp, and saw a middle-aged man sitting there, sipping tea with a leisurely face, and when he saw Zhou Chong coming in, the middle-aged man immediately stood up and saluted: "Villain Huang Qionghai See Lord Admiral!" ”

Zhou Chong came in and sat down to look at the patriarch of the Huang family, only to see that the other party looked to be in his forties, with big ears and good facial features, and he was neither humble nor arrogant when he saluted him.

"Patriarch Huang doesn't have to be polite, before the Governor went to Sanbaoshan to visit the Han merchants who were there, I heard a lot of things about the Huang family from them, and I also admired the Huang family for being able to stand up and maintain the monarchy of Malacca, and I was also very curious about the Huang family, and it was really an honor to finally be able to meet the Huang patriarch today!" Zhou Zhong said politely with a smile.

"The Huang family is just an overseas outcast, where did the Admiral praise him so much?" Huang Qionghai saw that Zhou Zhong was so enthusiastic, which made him a little flattered. However, he couldn't help but be a little surprised that Zhou Zhong actually agreed with them to support Alec, and at the same time he was a little excited in his heart. Mahmoud left, Malacca City fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty, if Zhou Chongneng agreed to Alek to take over Malacca City, it would be really good.

"By the way, I don't know what is the important thing for Patriarch Huang to come this time?" Zhou Zhong asked straight to the point at this time, although he really wanted to ask what the relationship between the Huang family and Princess Han Baoli was, and what was the true identity of Princess Han Baoli, but the other party obviously had important things to do when he came to meet him, so it was not suitable to talk about these things now.

Hearing Zhou Chong's initiative to ask, Huang Qionghai immediately bowed down and replied: "Lord Admiral Qiqi, the villain came this time to visit you on behalf of King Alik of Malacca, and I hope you can uphold justice for His Royal Highness the King on behalf of Daming!" ”

"Oh, I see." Zhou Chong looked at Huang Qionghai with a smile, originally he was also guessing the Huang family's intention to come to see him on the way, and he also guessed that the other party was likely to take advantage of the Sultan. Mahmoud escaped and took over the city of Malacca, and now it seems that it did.

Seeing that Zhou Zhong understood his intentions so quickly, Huang Qionghai was also shocked, and secretly praised the other party for being a very smart character, otherwise it would be impossible to become the admiral of the Ming Dynasty at a young age.

"Lord Admiral, you must have heard that my king Alek is the real king of the Kingdom of Malacca, but later Mahmoud colluded with the Tamils to launch a coup d'état, which forced us to retreat to Jinzhou, fortunately, now the Admiral has rushed to Malacca City, hoping that your lord can represent the Ming Dynasty to administer justice for my king!" Huang Qionghai pleaded again at this time.

Legally speaking, Alec is indeed the orthodox king of the Kingdom of Malacca, and that Mahmoud is just a usurper, so Huang Qionghai came so confidently to ask Zhou Zhong to uphold justice.

However, Zhou Chong smiled slightly when he heard this: "Patriarch Huang, Admiral Ben has already known what happened to your Huang family and King Alec before, and I personally admire your Huang family for being able to stand up and support King Alec in times of crisis, but after all, this is an internal matter of your Malacca Kingdom, although our Ming Dynasty is your suzerain, but Daming has always been not involved in the internal affairs of the subject country, so for your matter, although Admiral Ben hopes that you can regain the throne, But he didn't dare to go against Daming's policy towards the subject country, so Daming won't get involved in this matter, at most I can only find that Mahmoud, and then you both solve it yourself! ”

The port of Malacca has fallen into Zhouzhong, and it is naturally impossible for him to hand over the port again, so whether it is Alik or Mahmood, it is useless for any of them to come, at most Zhou Chong will announce the nominal ownership of the entire port, but in fact, it must be in the hands of Daming, and no one wants to take it back, so he will naturally not agree to Huang Qionghai's request.

Hearing that Zhou Zhong was unwilling to take care of his own affairs, Huang Qionghai was also anxious and sweating for a while, and after thinking about it for a while, he pleaded again: "Lord Admiral, although the Ming Dynasty does not interfere in the internal affairs of the subject country, but now the city of Malacca has been broken by the Portuguese, fortunately it was saved by the rescue of the adults, but Mahmoud fled with people, and now his life and death are unknown, and my king Alik is in Jinzhou, if the Admiral supports our king, then we will come forward, The port of Malacca can be settled as soon as possible, and whatever the Admiral asks for can be raised. ”

In order to achieve his goal, Huang Qionghai almost paid a bribe to Zhou Zhong in the end. However, Zhou Zhong was unmoved, and at first he just shirked his lack of authority to deal with Malacca's internal affairs, but Huang Qionghai was an indomitable character and still pleaded bitterly.

It was almost time for Zhou Zhong to take a look, and suddenly the topic changed: "Patriarch Huang, after Admiral Ben came to Malacca, he heard about a legendary thing, and this matter is also related to the Huang family, but I don't know if this matter is true or false?" If it were true, then Admiral Ben could have made an exception to administer justice to King Alec! (To be continued......)