"Yes, don't say anything else, after Zheng Zhilong dominates the sea, those who can't command the flag of the Zheng family can't travel to and from the East and the West. If you want to make a flag, you need to pay three thousand taels of silver per ship a year, how many taels of silver can you calculate for him? ”

"Three thousand taels?" Zhao Youcai was taken aback by the figures given by Lin Heshui, when he was in charge of the Lijin Bureau in Chaoyi, the amount of gold paid to Liu Cheng in a year was only seventy or eighty thousand taels of silver, of course, this is only a part of Liu Cheng's many incomes, but judging from the prosperity of the ports along the coast of Zhejiang, it is obvious that Liu Cheng and Zheng Zhilong are incomparable in terms of income!

"Then, what if someone doesn't pay for the flag?"

"If the Zheng family's fleet is encountered, people will die, and the cargo will not be in the official!" Lin Heshui's voice was not loud, but there was a cold breath, Zhao Youcai couldn't help but gasp, stood up and was about to go out: "This Zheng Zhilong colluded with foreign Yi to buy militaristic weapons privately, this is the opposite!" Go and tell Toji-sama! ”

"Master Zhao!" Lin Heshui hurriedly grabbed Zhao Youcai's arm: "Wait! ”

"Why are you pulling me?" Zhao Youcai paused and said: "Zheng Zhilong has done such a thing, if he doesn't hurry up to the court, I'm afraid it will be too late!" ”

"Master Zhao, according to what the villain can see, it's better for you not to make trouble!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Master Zhao, do you think that this Zheng Zhilong is doing the business of the Tong Domain, how can he not be connected with Waiyi? There is no royal law on this sea, saying that it is a serious businessman, but also to prepare some weapons to defend himself, he Zheng Zhilong is still an official of the imperial court, what is it to buy some weapons for Yiren? Besides, the governor of Fujian, Lord Xiong, relied on appeasing Zheng Zhilong, and made great contributions to the peace of the people by attacking thieves, he will definitely vouch for Zheng Zhilong, do you say that the imperial court believes in Lord Xiong or you? ”

"So, then we'll let it go?" Zhao Youcai was speechless when Lin Heshui's words were refuted, but he was unwilling: "There are so many cannons in that boat, it's not a joke." ”

Lin Heshui smiled: "Master Zhao." In my opinion, Zheng Zhilong didn't buy these weapons to deal with the imperial court. ”

"It's not against the imperial court, so who does he buy these against? Didn't you say that all the pirates on the southeast coast pacified him? ”

"If I'm not mistaken, Zheng Zhilong should buy these weapons against the Dutch!" Lin Heshui stood up, walked to the door to see that there was no one outside, and returned to Zhao Youcai's side and whispered: "Master, I learned from the sailors and soldiers that when they left Manila, everyone was paid a year's and a half's salary in advance for them to settle their families. If I'm not mistaken, this ship isn't just for sending weapons to Zheng Zhilong. Even the soldiers on the ship and the boat were sent together. This Dutch is the overlord of the South Seas, and it is a feud with the Spaniards, and the Spaniards sold people and ships to Zheng Zhilong, most likely to use Zheng Zhilong's power to contain the Dutch! ”

Zhao Youcai was overwhelmed by the huge amount of information in Lin Heshui's words, and he asked suspiciously: "How do you know that it is used against the Dutch, not for rebellion?" “

"Sir, you also saw it on the ship that time, how heavy the cannon was. If it is not loaded on a ship, it can only be placed at the head of the city for the purpose of defending the city. Then if Zheng Zhilong wants to rebel, he must attack the city, what is the use of such a huge cannon? Besides, Zheng Zhilong doesn't seem to be a person with such ambitions. After he recruited An, he spent a lot of money to build a mansion in his hometown of Anhai Town, poor and luxurious, looking like a rich man, how could anyone who intended to rebel spend his mind on these things since ancient times? ”

Hear here. Zhao Youcai has been persuaded by Lin Heshui: "What Mr. Lin said is very true, if he says so, this Zheng Zhilong really has no objection." ”

Lin Heshui had already finished what he was going to say. Then he got up and said goodbye: "Master, I came behind Lord Dusi's back, and now I want to go back!" ”

"Good, good!" Zhao Youcai got up and sent Lin Heshui out of the door, and said in a low voice: "Mr. Lin, come to me as soon as possible after this incident, and ask for advice day and night!" ”

"Don't dare!" Lin Heshui arched his hand and turned to leave. As soon as his figure disappeared into the night, Zhao Youcai shouted loudly: "Come on, invite Mr. Wang Qian quickly, I have something important to discuss with him!" ”

"Mr. Wang Qian went out before dinner and hasn't come back yet?" A sergeant replied.

"Out? When will you be back? ”

"I don't know, sir, what's the matter? Qian always invited Ke Dusi to go to the house for dinner, and I don't know when I will be back! ”

"What? Going to drink again? Zhao Youcai was suddenly annoyed: "How many times have you been to Kedusi this month?" ”

"Fourth!"

"Fourth, it seems that only seven days have passed this month, why doesn't he just live in Lord Dusi's mansion!" Zhao Youcai paused in annoyance, and the sergeant couldn't help but hide his mouth and snicker when he saw this. Zhao Youcai was even angrier when he saw it, and shouted: "What are you laughing at!" Lord Dusi is also really, it's just a banquet once or twice, why invite him every day, he must be drunk when he comes back, but there is no one to discuss! ”

Seeing Zhao Youcai like this, the sergeant hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "Mr. Zhao, the villain has a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not!" “

Zhao Youcai replied angrily: "Let's talk about it, there are just you and me in the courtyard, what else should not be said!" ”

"Mr. Zhao, I think that Ke Dusi seems to be trying to win over our Qianzong!"

"Joke!" Zhao Youcai sneered: "Lord Dusi is a second-class member of the imperial court, why do you want to win him over a thousand generals?" Nursing home? Speaking of this, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed in his mind, and the words and subtle expressions that Ke Congwen had said in the past few days came to mind, and the guess that the sergeant had just said was like a red thread, connecting these. A smile suddenly appeared on Zhao Youcai's face, he walked up to the sergeant, patted the other party's shoulder, and said with a smile: "Well said, well said!" If you don't say it, how can I guess! Speaking of this, Zhao Youcai laughed and walked into the house. Only the sergeant and the second monk were left confused, and couldn't help but say to themselves: "It's really strange, since winning this group of red-haired pirates, these two people have been drinking all day long, and the other is nervous, didn't they fall for that gang of Yidi's demon magic?" Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder, and decided to find a nearby temple and Taoist temple early tomorrow morning and ask for a talisman, so as not to fall for those demonic spells. Killed his own family.

The sergeant was making calculations, only to hear a bang, he looked up, and saw Zhao Youcai rushing out of the door, holding a letter in his hand.

"You set off tomorrow morning, go to the Jingshi, and hand over this letter to the chief soldier!"

"Lord Commander? Isn't he in Ningxia? The soldier looked at Zhao Youcai dumbfounded, and secretly thought that this demon method was really powerful, and such a shrewd person as Mr. Zhao ended up like this, so pitiful!

"The chief soldier is going to Beijing on an errand. Count it should have arrived in Beijing by now, you go to the post house and the military department to look for it, you should be able to find it, tomorrow morning I will ask Lord Dusi for a copy of the document, along the way to change horses and not people, you must rush to Beijing as soon as possible! “

"Yes, Mr. Zhao!" The sergeant saw that Zhao Youcai didn't look like he was insane, so he had to bow down to receive the order, and he was about to turn around and leave. was stopped by Zhao Youcai.

"Later, you will go to the account office and get fifty taels of silver, and spend it on the road!"

"Thank you, sir!" The sergeant was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly kowtowed to Zhao Youcai, got up and took a few steps backwards before turning around and leaving. I thought to myself: "The demon methods of these red-haired thieves are really powerful, if you can learn it, you won't have to worry about running out of money!" ”

Since the messenger left, Zhao Youcai had been counting the date of his return trip with his fingers all day long, knocking on Ke Congwen's side. He was just pretending to be confused, and in the matter of this group of red-haired pirates, he also tried his best to make things drag on. Fortunately, it is extremely difficult to make Ke Congwen resolute, and if you want to delay it, it is just a smooth sailing. More than 20 days have passed, and the gang of Hongmaoyi is still in prison, while Zhao Youcai has obtained a lot of useful information from Lin Heshui, and he sees that everything is ready, and he only owes Dongfeng.

On this day, Zhao Youcai had breakfast, and was thinking about finding a reason to let Ke Congwen delay for a few more days, but he heard someone from outside report: "Sir, Jingshi is in a hurry!" ”

"Oh, quick, pass!" Zhao Youcai hurriedly urged, he walked out of the door quickly, only to see three men standing under the door dressed in trolling, a kind of casual clothes worn in archery in the Ming Dynasty, the first one was none other than Du Gu. He hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Lord Du, why are you here!" ”

"Mr. Zhao!" Du Gu lifted the hem of his coat and knelt down to Zhao Youcai, which frightened Zhao Youcai, but he knew that this Du Gu was Liu Cheng's most cronies, although he suffered a small setback in the last battle with the Khan, but Lu Boqi and Liu Cheng's joint performance was ranked third in the list, even Du Ruhu, Du Guoying and other heavy generals did not dare to treat them as subordinates, how could he dare to accept his bowing. He hurriedly jumped to the side, waved his hand again and again, and said, "Master Du, what are you doing here, tormenting Zhao!" “

"Mr. Zhao!" Du Gu didn't get up: "The military master told me before parting, everything in Hangzhou is up to you, and I came here to listen to your orders!" Speaking of this, he took out a letter from his bosom, untied the saber at his waist and presented it with both hands: "This is the saber of the military master, and the lord has already told him, whoever dares to disrespect the orders of the gentleman will be subject to military law!" “

Zhao Youcai was a little surprised to take the letter and saber presented by Du Gu, his fingertips touched the brass swallow of the saber, and a chill immediately rushed to his heart, and he couldn't help but shiver. Zhao Youcai clamped the saber under his armpit, opened the letter again, and saw that there were only eight big characters on it: "The matter of the southeast, Mr. let it go!" A wave of heat rushed to his heart, and his eyes suddenly blurred.

"Mr. Zhao, after reading your letter, the military master took half of the people from the guard and asked me to bring it, in addition to 10,000 taels of silver, all of which were handed over to Mr." Speaking of this, Du Gu got up and walked to Zhao Youcai's side, and whispered: "The military master said, as long as you can get the boat and people, and you can establish an alliance with Hongmaoyi instead of Zheng Zhilong, it is easy to say anything, it is a big leak, and he will bear it for you!" “

"Hmm!" When Zhao Youcai heard this, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and his heart also had complex emotions mixed with admiration and gratitude for Liu Cheng. In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Yuan once said to Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty: "In today's world, not only the king chooses the minister, but also the minister chooses the king." "Among them, the criteria for the monarch to choose the minister is ability and character, and the minister chooses the monarch is the measure and talent, like Liu Cheng, who is a person who has the responsibility to delegate power to his subordinates in trouble, is rare in the world, if he does not meet him, I am afraid that this life is just an ordinary gentleman who is rampant in the countryside in Dunzhou, leaning on the red and green.

"Master Du!" Zhao Youcai returned the saber to Du Gu and said with a smile: "I don't know about military affairs, so the saber of the chief soldier is still in your hands!" ”

Seeing that Zhao Youcai was so humble, Du Gu's face immediately showed joy, he hurriedly took the saber, and said with a smile: "It's okay, anyway, I'm here to follow Mr.'s orders, this knife is no different from Mr. here!" “

"I'm tired of Lord Du over there!" Speaking of this, Zhao Youcai bowed to Du Gu.

"Don't dare!" Du Gu also returned the salute, and the two looked at each other and smiled, their minds were already silent.

With Liu Cheng's authorization, and the addition of Du Gu and the new one hundred and fifty elite soldiers, Zhao Youcai already had a bottom in his heart, and he immediately took Du Gu to Ke Congwen's mansion to pay a visit. He was already a regular guest in Kefu, and the porter saw that it was a regular guest in the master's house, so he hurriedly sent two people to the flower hall to have tea, and sent someone to spread the word. Zhao Youcai had just taken two sips of tea when he heard Ke Congwen's voice outside.

"Mr. Zhao, why are you here today, you can't invite you on weekdays, you are really a rare guest!"

While speaking, Ke Congwen had already come up to the hall, and saw that he was wearing a soap gauze corner scarf; wearing a purple embroidered chest embroidered robe; Tie a delicate jade ring around his waist, wear a pair of gold thread green soap boots, and have a flower on his sideburns, not like a military attaché, but like a romantic figure who is about to travel. When he saw Du Gu beside Zhao Youcai, he couldn't help but be stunned, and then smiled: "Please forgive me for being clumsy, I haven't seen this before!" ”

Du Gu got up and knelt down and kowtowed to Ke Congwen: "The last general Ningxia Central Guard guards Du Gu, see Lord Dusi!" ”

"Ningxia Central Guard Garrison?" Ke Congwen was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then came back to his senses and said with a smile: "It turns out that he is also a tiger and wolf under the command of Master Lu, no wonder he is so majestic!" He stretched out his hand to help Du Gu up: "Du Shoubei doesn't have to be polite, Wang Qian is also in the backyard of my house, come, come, let's go and drink a few cups together!" ”

"Then it will be overstepped!" Du Gu replied respectfully.

"Hahaha!" Ke Congwen said with a smile while leading the way in front: "It's not in the public hall, take it easy, take it easy!" (To be continued.) )