readx;?“ Thank you, Lord Lin! Taylor drank the wine in his glass with the boldness of a sailor, and said with a smile: "But I would like you to call me Lucky Taylor, for I, my father, and my grandfather were all raised by whales, and both of them died in bed, which is a remarkable achievement." Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"I'm sure you can do the same, Mr. Captain!" Lin Heshui took a sip of wine, and a plan came to his mind, but he was cautious by nature and decided that it would be better to test it first.

"Captain Taylor, can you tell me about your hometown?"

"Hometown?" Taylor had a look of surprise on his face: "What do you say? A fishy place where people were born on the shore and died in the sea, where the men were always drunk and spent the last copper coins in their pockets to starve their wives and children. ”

"Doesn't sound like a good place!"

"It's not a good place!" Taylor poured himself another glass of wine, which he drank so violently that he was already a little drunk: "You know what? When I have saved enough money, such as 10,000 gold ducats, I will buy a farmstead, a title, marry the daughter of a decent family, have a few children, and live a human life! ”

"Very good idea!" Lin Heshui saw the other party's drunkenness and decided to test the other party, he had already sensitively noticed that the legendary Liu Zongbing had an unusual interest in overseas, and he didn't care about the origin and origin of talents, himself, Major Silva, Yoshida Okiji and others were all clear examples. The Captain Taylor in front of him not only has a wealth of experience in sailing, if this can be done, the land east of the sea is likely to be the territory of adults, if there is no output, and the grain and baggage have to be transported by sea, it is impossible to maintain it for a long time. And it is not difficult to see from his account that whaling is an extremely lucrative business, and if it is developed, it will at least not be without help.

"How far are you from your goal?"

"It's a secret!" A mysterious smile appeared on Taylor's face, and he stretched out his finger and tapped his chest: "Old Taylor will only write it down here, and no one will tell it!" ”

"Okay!" In the face of Taylor's tight-lipped words, Lin Heshui decided to adopt a roundabout tactic: "According to your statement, if you have a large amount of money, such as 10,000 gold ducats, you may not be able to live a high-class life, and you must buy a farm, get a title or something, do I understand correctly?" ”

"Yes!" Taylor nodded: "It's not enough to have money, you also have to have land, understand?" If you have the land, you have the title, and with the title, you can enter the parliament and serve His Majesty the King! ”

"Oh! This is similar to our Ming Dynasty, when a businessman makes a fortune, he buys a field, and when he has a field, he lets his son go to study for the imperial examination, and when his son is admitted to fame, he will be able to become an official! Speaking of this, Lin Heshui changed his voice and said with a smile: "Captain Taylor, are you interested in staying?" ”

"Stay?" Taylor's eyes widened, "You mean to hire me?" ”

"No, it's not me!" Lin Heshui said with a smile: "It's another adult, his status and power are much higher than mine, and I am also working for him." ”

Taylor put down his glass and didn't speak for a while, and finally he asked, "Is that Lord Xu?" ”

"Yes, that's him!" Lin Heshui decided not to reveal Liu Cheng's name first, after all, how could a British captain understand the difference between the Datong General Soldier and the Yangzhou Soldier? "Lord Xu's official position is not very high, but the richest land in the Ming Dynasty is under his rule, do you know Nanjing silk and Songjiang cloth? Both of these are from his jurisdiction. ”

Taylor had a greedy look on his face, but caution prevailed, and he replied cautiously, "Can I think about it before giving you an answer?" ”

"Of course, we are going to anchor in Yangzhou this time, you can observe it with your own eyes! That's when you know I mean it all! Lin Heshui raised his wine glass, his face full of sincere smiles.

Yangzhou, Bingbei Provincial Government.

The late spring sun shone on a few pear trees in the courtyard, giving off an intoxicating fragrance, and the dense foliage blocked out most of the scorching sunlight, leaving only a shade in the courtyard, and a breeze blew, and the shadows of the trees rustled. A black hound lay lazily on the stone steps, flicking its tail twice from time to time to drive away a few small insects that lingered on its body. Temur sat cross-legged on his knees, his horned bow, arrows, and long knives aside. Holding a lamb bone in his hand, he is concentrating on cutting the bone with a short knife to make a Ming Di.

The silence of the courtyard was broken by the sound of hurried footsteps outside the courtyard, and the hound stood up vigilantly, and when it realized that the comer was a familiar soldier, it barked twice and fell down again. The soldier did not wear a tattered red fat jacket like the local officers and soldiers in Yangzhou, but wore a knee-length soap-colored round-necked short robe, which was tightly tied around the waist with a wide cow belt, and a short knife was inserted in the belt. In order to distinguish the fierce soldiers and horses under the command of Xu Hecheng from the original southern Ming army, the locals of Yangzhou gave them the nickname Crow's Head Army.

"Boss!" The soldier presented a stack of paper with both hands: "The report of the palace in the capital is here!" ”

"You send it in, the adults are playing chess with Mr. Cheng Er!" Temur looked the soldier up and down, nodded, and sat down cross-legged again to continue his work.

"Yes!" The soldiers took three steps and made two steps to go up the steps, entered the house, and presented the report to Xu Hecheng, who was playing against Mr. Cheng Er on the Hu bed.

"Put it down!" Xu Hecheng nodded to the cases on the side. The soldier sang a fat song, put down the newspaper and retreated. The two played a few more moves, and Xu Hecheng suddenly sighed: "The skills are not as good as others!" ”

"Concession, concession!" Cheng Er stood up with a smile, took the Di Bao from several cases, looked at it twice, and suddenly smiled: "Oh, the adults and gentlemen of the Jingshi have finally come to fruition?" I thought it was going to be autumn! ”

"How?" Xu Hecheng took the newspaper from Cheng Second-hand, glanced at it, and his expression suddenly became solemn: "With Lu Xiangsheng as the right deputy capital of Yushi, the prime minister of Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Huguang, and Sichuan, and the governor of Huguang; With Xiong Wencan as the squire of the Nanjing Military Department, and the military affairs of Nanzhili, Liangzhejiang and Fujian, it seems that the imperial court is going to make a big move. ”

"But no, with Lu Xiangsheng replacing Hong Chengchou, and increasing taxes and salaries for military training, it seems that he is going to be punished; But let Xiong Wencan come to be the squire of the Nanjing Military Department, and the prime minister Nan Zhili Liangzhejiang and Fujian military affairs, this is clearly to be soothed, and the court is going to suppress or caress it? “

"If you want to suppress, you have to caress it, first kill it and then caress it!" Xu Hecheng thought for a while and replied: "Yang Wenqiao is self-aware, and he knows that this tax increase is to quench his thirst and cannot last. His idea was to fight a quick battle, kill its leader, appease its subordinates, solve the problem of thieves as soon as possible, and then stop levying and raising salaries and rest with the people. ”

"That's a good point!" Cheng Er said with a smile: "Lu Xiangsheng is good at fighting, Xiong Wencan is good at soothing, first Lu Xiangsheng is afraid of the thieves, and then Xiong Wencan will be a good person, this is also a way." Speaking of this, he patted his thigh with a smile: "It's just that things in the world are unsatisfactory nine times out of ten, I'm afraid that in the end, it may not be as Yang Wenwan thought!" ”

Xu Hecheng didn't have an interface, so he read the newspaper twice and put it aside, Cheng Er laughed twice, looked around at no one, and said in a low voice: "Lord Xu, it's Xiong Wencan who is your top boss, we have to be careful." ”

"Beware? What to watch out for? ”

"Naturally, it's Zheng Zhilong, you forgot that these two are Meng Bujiao, Jiao can't be Jiao Meng!"

Hearing this, Xu Hecheng snorted coldly and did not speak, a few months ago they designed to secretly capture Zheng Damu as a hostage, and then the Zheng family also sent people to Songjiang to look for it, but there were no clues from foreign forces. But this time, Xiong Wencan came to be the squire of Nanjing's military department and the prime minister of the military affairs of several southeastern provinces. He started as a recruiter, unlike Lu Xiangsheng, who has an elite soldier at hand, if he wants to sit firmly in this position, he must rely on Zheng Zhilong, an old subordinate. At that time, Zheng Zhilong would definitely make a secret visit to find his sister-in-law, and the pressure between Xu Hecheng and Cheng Er was invisibly greater.

Cheng Er speculated about Xu Hecheng's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Actually, there is nothing to watch out for, a few months have passed, and there is no trace." Unless Zheng Zhilong can find real evidence, we will not admit it. He is the general of the dragon and tiger, you are also a soldier in Yangzhou, with thousands of elite soldiers under him, and Xiong Wencan has nothing to do with you! ”

Xu Hecheng pulled out the short knife inserted in his waist, took out another piece of skin, polished it twice, and suddenly said, "I'm not worried about this!" ”

"And what are you worried about?"

Xu Hecheng did not directly answer Cheng Er's question, and asked rhetorically: "When I went south last time, the guards around me were all the minions around Liu Xiandi, just opened two stone bows, but they could shoot left and right, and the warriors in armor and spears gave me more than 30 horses, and also gave me the foundation laid by Du Gu and Zhao Youcai in the south, and this time I drew a battalion of infantry from Datong, and 2,000 cavalry to me, what do you say this is for?" ”

"Naturally, it is for the imperial court to guard this land of wealth in the southeast!"

"Yes, but it's not just for that! My righteous brother can create such a foundation in the northwest, which is inseparable from the word salt tea, and tea is a thing in the southeast. ”

While the two were talking, Temur's voice came from outside: "Tell your lord, a battalion of infantry led by General Bai has arrived outside the city. ”

"It's finally here!" Xu Hecheng clapped his hands and smiled: "Let's go, let's go out of the city to greet us!" ”

The two led a team of guards, went out of the city, and met at the head of the bay. Seeing that there were crowds of people next to the canal wharf, I was afraid that there would be thousands of people watching, and Xu Hecheng's subordinates finally managed to squeeze out a way. Xu Hecheng and Cheng Er vaguely heard the shouts of the people on both sides shouting "Yiren" and "White Ghost", and finally saw Bai Wang, and they saluted on both sides. Xu Hecheng asked curiously: "General Bai, why are there so many people around, is something wrong?" ”

"Hey!" Bai Wang sighed: "Lord Xu, you don't know, I will die of suffering when I go south this time." Forget it, without further ado, I've finally brought people here, and the rest is your errand! Speaking of this, he took out a letter and half a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to Xu Hecheng. Xu Hecheng inexplicably took the letter and the jade pendant, opened the letter and looked at it, and couldn't help but be taken aback: "What, four hundred Russian Cossack soldiers, going north by boat and joining Acton?" Brother Liu Xian can't be serious, right? ”

Xu Hecheng stuffed the letterhead into his bosom, and it took a lot of effort to drive the onlookers away, and take the battalion and four hundred Cossacks to the camp to rest. He knew that these Cossacks did not understand the language, the customs were different, and they had come thousands of miles, so they were certainly not good men and women. It had to be placed on a sandbar and delivered food and vegetables by boat every three to five days to prevent it from causing any trouble. Counting the days with his fingers, hoping that the person holding the jade pendant would arrive as soon as possible.

However, it was said that Lin Heshui took a boat out of the Taiwan Strait, then went all the way north along the coastline, and arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River in a short day. This Guazhou ferry port is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, this is a sandbar in the river, the shape is like a melon, it is named after it, and then the sediment is silted, connected with the north bank, because its place is located at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the canal, and the Jingkou on the opposite bank is across the river, it is to have the saying that "although Guazhou is a projectile, it overlooks Jingkou, connects Jiankang, Jicanghai, and the big river, and is the throat of seven provinces". Although due to the changes of the times, Guazhou Ferry no longer has the scene of the peak of the late Tang Dynasty, there is still Guazhou City built on the sandbank, and there is a small city screen outside the east gate facing the sea, which is called Ghost Willow City by the locals. The ferry port was full of boats waiting to load and unload goods, and the boats passing through the river were like a forest, as if the river surface was blocked.

"Oh my God!" Taylor's eyes widened and he looked at the scene in front of him in surprise: "I now believe that the Spanish captain is not lying, he said that the Ming Emperor has so many boats, if he wants, he can use these boats to build a pontoon bridge from Guangzhou to Manila!" ”

"Really?" Lin Heshui smiled reservedly, he was very happy to use this opportunity to pave the way for his next recruitment: "These ships are used to transport supplies to the capital thousands of miles away and the Liaodong front line farther away, and it may be an exaggeration to build a pontoon bridge from Guangzhou to Manila, but it is definitely no problem to build a pontoon bridge from here to Jingshi." ”