In the fourth year of Jianxing, at the beginning of August, Wei Shuo, Pei Wei, Mo Han, and Wen Qiao returned to Youzhou from Jinyang.

In the carriage, Wei Shuo quietly looked at the scenery speeding by outside the window, as usual, he still maintained his usual inherent calmness, but no one knew that under that quiet appearance there was a dark tide of turbulent heart.

Just like the seemingly calm situation in the outside world today, the destruction of the Xiongnu Han State was actually only a major military victory for Liaodong.

However, it was accompanied by a surging political crisis, whether it was the clan forces headed by King Langya and King Nanyang, or the local separatist forces represented by Li Ju, Zhang Yu, Wang Dun, etc., or even the Hulu forces represented by Cheng Han and Xiangguo, all of them watched the quietly rising Liaodong with vigilant eyes.

Fortunately, all localities were forced to make strong Liaodong, and they only dared to calculate secretly, and did not dare to openly make enemies with Liaodong.

Even so, Wei Shuo did not dare to take it lightly, he had ordered to temporarily rein in the edge of the Liaodong Army, in addition to continuing to support Qingzhou, most of the rest of the energy was put on the construction and adjustment of internal affairs.

After returning to Jicheng, Wei Shuo felt that the situation was booming, which made Wei Shuo feel good, but he did not know that a war was about to break out in the distant South Seas because of a dispute over trade rights.

When the people of Jicheng had lost their enthusiasm to celebrate the demise of the Xiongnu, due to the lag in the transmission of information at sea, at the same time, the news that the sailor ocean-going escort fleet had defeated the pirates who tried to rob the ocean-going trade fleet was still floating on the sea.

According to the change of the monsoon, the Liaodong ocean-going trading fleet will generally fill up the two ports of Lushun and Qingdao in the first half of the year, and then set off for Nanyang trading when the north wind blows during the winter monsoon season; In June and July, when the summer monsoon comes, the ocean-going trading fleet will return to Liaodong from Nanyang with grain, gold, silver, brass and other materials.

August. Under the protection of the escort fleet, the ocean-going trading fleet broke through the interception of several pirates along the way, and finally successfully reached the vicinity of the mouth of the Yangtze River. Once the sea area to the north of the Yangtze River estuary is basically the sphere of influence of the Liaodong Naval Division, Zhang Fang and Liu Zong, who have been worried all the way, finally put their minds at ease.

Due to the fact that the sea is much more dangerous than usual during the monsoon season, the ships naturally shake violently with the turbulence of the huge waves. At this moment, Mr. Liu, who was standing in the wind, was a little pale. But he still stood firmly on the bridge of the 'Liaodong' county-class Fuchuan battleship, looking at the endless sea in front of him with a gloomy face.

Since the two county-class Fubune warships entered service, the naval division ushered in the largest expansion since its establishment. At the same time, at the request of Zhang Fang, who was in charge of the ocean-going trade fleet, the naval division formed a small escort fleet for the first time with the county-class Fubune warship as the flagship.

After more than two months of sea sailing, even Mr. Liu, who was used to life at sea, couldn't help but miss the days when his feet landed on the ground.

This time, the escort trade fleet traveled to the South Seas, which opened Mr. Liu's eyes, not only to see the customs of the South Seas, which are very different from those of the Central Plains and the outside of the Saiwai, but also to re-realize that the ocean trade is not as beautiful as imagined. Take this trip as an example, Mr. Liu personally led the sailors along the way. Fought off no less than five pirate attacks.

"Commander Liu, are you still worried about the pirate attack just now?"

Zhang Fang didn't know when he appeared behind Mr. Liu, and he said with a hint of mockery on the corner of his mouth: "Hmph! The king of Funan won't really take us for fools, will he? Those people look like Funan people, if you say that there is no envoy from the king of Funan behind them, will you believe it? ”

"It's just a pirate attack right now, I'm afraid that after a while, the Funan Naval Division will go into battle shirtless! At that time, with the weak strength of the escort fleet, how could it be the opponent of the Funan Naval Division, which occupied the right time and place? ”

If it was really coveted by a small group of pirates, Mr. Liu would not take it seriously. However, as Zhang Fang said, the real mastermind behind it is to monopolize the trade rights between the East and the West. And dominate the overlord country of the entire South Seas - Funanguo.

"Yes! The most worrying thing is the Funan country, which has been established for more than 300 years, and the national strength is strong, dominating the Haixi Gulf (now the Gulf of Siam) and the nearby waters for hundreds of years, and it is the first country worthy of the name in the South Seas. ”

"Funan has its own strong strength. and a special geographical location, controlling the throat of the east-west sea lane, manipulating the privileges of maritime Silk Road trade, and using its own business expertise to reap huge profits. ”

"The tradition of Funan is completely different from my Great Jin. In the country, from the king and nobles to the common people, they all took pride in doing business. As soon as it was founded, it was committed to the development of maritime trade, on the one hand, it opened up ports such as Gorussia and Eritrea and Kuli to attract merchants from various countries to trade, and on the other hand, it sent many envoys to pay tribute to the country such as Shenzhi, Huaxia, and Daqin. ”

"Before I went southeast in Liaoning, Funan occupied a dominant position in connecting the eastern and western trade routes! Unfortunately, in recent years, with the gradual involvement of Liaodong in the South Seas, the monopoly of Funan's trade has been loosened. This is a situation that the king of Funan will never allow, and I, Liaodong, am not willing to let the huge profits be made by the little Funan. ”

Mr. Liu's face changed and he was shocked: "Doesn't that mean that the war between Liaodong and Funan caused by the dispute over trade rights is inevitable?" ”

Zhang Fang didn't answer directly, but asked rhetorically, "Is Commander Liu willing to give up the sailor development funds he gets from ocean trade every year?" ”

"Huh!" Mr. Liu's face froze, and he immediately understood the deep meaning of Zhang Fang's words, whether it was Liaodong or Funan, it was impossible to easily give up the huge profits brought by ocean trade. For example, in Funan, most of its domestic tax revenue comes from maritime trade, and giving up ocean trade is tantamount to suicide.

Liaodong, which has tasted the sweetness of overseas trade, is also impossible to give up, otherwise Liaodong, which is expanding at a high speed, will collapse due to financial problems. At the same time, a large number of families gathered under the banner of Liaodong due to foreign trade may once again detach from Germany.

"It seems that some sailors will be busy in the future!" Thinking that he would personally lead the sailors to fight in Nanyang in the future, Mr. Liu suddenly felt his blood boiling.

……

Jicheng, in the Wei Mansion, it is rare to have leisure on this day, and Wei Shuo took his wife and concubine to enjoy the cool play in the back garden. The garden is very large, and it is full of flowers, all kinds of exotic flowers and plants. Some have to hang on high branches, some have to hang under the placket of their feet, and some gently brush their faces and noses, bringing bursts of fragrance.

Pei Yinger likes to take her son to the garden with her when she has nothing to do on weekdays, and she introduces Wei Shuo to various flowers and plants in the garden, and at the same time instructs people to arrange dance music performances.

Wei Shuo sat comfortably in the beauty room, tasting the refreshing tea, and after a while, the sound of the guzheng dingdong sounded in his ears, and the sound was low and deep, crossing the sky over the splendid garden, and rendering it with the diffuse aroma.

The sound of the guzheng is a little low and poignant in the ears at first, but it is slightly joyful when it is carefully tasted, even if Wei Shuo is a person with incomplete five tones, he can clearly distinguish that the person who strokes the qin is skilled, and it makes people feel a little quiet in the ears, as if the spring breeze is blowing, refreshing people's hearts.

Wei Shuo looked up and saw a quiet pavilion in front of him, which was located by a lotus pond, and a zither was placed in the center of the pavilion, igniting the fairy rosin.

At this time, a young girl with a good figure is sitting with her back, stretching her hand to stroke the kite, and her hair hangs down from the back of her head like a waterfall.

Wei Shuo closed his eyes and listened to the beautiful music quietly, only to feel that the sound of the guzheng was first compact, then lax, and then relaxed, first as if it was on the battlefield, and then it gradually relaxed people, and finally he gradually fell asleep.

I don't know how long it took, when Wei Shuo opened his eyes again, he found Pei Ying'er looking at him with a smile.

He said with a little apology: "I was too tired some time ago, but I didn't expect to fall asleep, did I disturb a few Yaxing?" ”

Pei Ying'er bowed and said, "Why did the husband say this? Home is meant to be used to relax. The husband is busy with political affairs and often goes to war, so being able to rest at home shows that the concubine and several sisters have fulfilled their duties. ”

"Well, Madame is right, I slept so well just now, as if I had slept through months of fatigue. When I woke up, I found that I was full of energy, and I was finally able to handle official duties well. (To be continued.) )