After nearly five days of horseback riding and boating, Fan Liang and his party arrived in Nagasaki from Edo. As soon as the pen %fun %pavilion www.biquge.info arrived in Nagasaki, before he had time to sit down, Fan Liang was approached by Jiaozhou businessmen led by the Li family.

During the time when Fan Liang went to Edo, the merchants of Jiaozhou were not idle. Not only did they sell out of the goods they had brought with them, but they also bought a large number of Japanese souvenirs. Daming's goods already have a good sales channel in Japan, and with the help of the Zheng Family Chamber of Commerce, most of the merchants in Jiaozhou have made a lot of profits this time. The merchants of Jiaozhou, who had tasted the sweetness, had been driven by huge profits, and they were eager to return to Jiaozhou as soon as possible, so that they could make a fortune by transporting Japanese goods back to Jiaozhou. Fan Liang was not there some time ago, and now Fan Liang has returned to Nagasaki, so the Jiaozhou businessmen couldn't bear it, so they visited the door as soon as possible, urging Fan Liang to return home.

After learning about the intention of the Li family, Fan Liang thought about it carefully and agreed to their request, agreeing to return to Shandong after five days. The reason why he agreed to these people's requests so happily was not that Fan Liang was afraid of them, but that Fan Liang had his own considerations. After a rough calculation, nearly two months have passed since the departure from Jiaozhou Bay and embarking on the journey, and it will take at least three months to go back and forth when adding the time required to return home. As one of the core high-level leaders of the Broken Army, Fan Liang was very aware of the anxiety and urgency hidden under Liu Fan's calm gaze, and at the same time, he also understood the importance that Liu Fan attached to this trip to Japan. Now that the task given to them by Liu Fan has been completed, there is no point for Fan Liang to stay in Nagasaki any longer, it is better to return to Jiaozhou as soon as possible to contribute to the development of the Broken Army.

However, before leaving Nagasaki, Fan Liang still has some things to deal with. In the next few days, Fan Liang fell into a busy situation. first visited many Tang Tongshi families, including the Chen family, one by one, and then went to the Zheng family non-stop to discuss the next step of cooperation. With the help of the Zheng family, Fan Liang set up a simple guild hall in Nagasaki as a base for communication. A number of reliable soldiers and accompanying trainees of the economics department were arranged to stay behind.

At the beginning of April of the eighth year of Chongzhen, in the farewell of the Tang Tongshi family and the Zheng family and other members of the chamber of commerce in Nagasaki, the Jiaozhou fleet slowly sailed out of the port of Nagasaki and embarked on the road back.

In the early morning, a round of red sun rose from the east, and after three days of sailing, the Jiaozhou fleet gradually moved away from the Japanese seas, heading towards the west of the Ming Dynasty. On the deck of the flagship of the Jiaozhou fleet, the "Qingdao", looking at the vast blue waves in front of him, Fan Liang felt inexplicable irritability in his heart.

It was already early April, and under the influence of the subtropical monsoon, the wind direction in East Asia had gradually shifted from northerly to southeasterly. The Jiaozhou fleet set off from Nagasaki with a tailwind, but even with a full sail with a tailwind, the speed of the current Jiaozhou ships is only about four knots, which is still the speed of a battleship. Even in such favorable circumstances, the fastest ships were only two or three knots. At this rate, it will take about ten days to return to Qingdao.

Ten days! Fan Liang's resolute face was full of worry. In the vast sea, the longer the voyage time, the more dangerous it is, and even if you put aside the storm, waves, and rain, there are no fewer natural disasters. For example, the pirate king straight!

As one of the biggest enemies of the Jiaozhou fleet of the Broken Army, Wang Zhi has always been a thorn in the throat of Liu Fan, Fan Liang and other naval officers. This time, the Jiaozhou fleet went to Japan, such a big move, Fan Liang didn't believe that Wang Zhi and the others would not know. Even if Wang Zhi didn't pay attention, the remnants of the gentry who regarded the Broken Army as an enemy and spread all over the two places in Jiaolai would not give up a good opportunity to fight the Broken Army. Therefore, Fan Liang expected that they and Wang Zhi would have a battle, and the difference was only in the sooner or later.

The three-day sailing fleet had already moved away from Japan, away from Nagasaki, and now the moment was the most dangerous, because the Jiaozhou fleet was already far away from their nominal "ally" the Zheng family. Judging from the current situation, even if they were attacked by pirates at this moment, the Zheng family would not have time to rescue them during the three-day voyage, and the clouds of crisis had already shrouded the sky over the Jiaozhou fleet!

"Someone! Inform the captains of each ship to strengthen their vigilance, and call the stewards of the Li family, the Wang family, the Zhao family and other families for me, and say that there will be important matters to discuss! Exhaling lightly, the gloom in his heart lightened a little. Turning around, Fan Liang's knife-like face was filled with resoluteness again, and he commanded Wang Ning, the adjutant beside him

Wang Ning was embarrassed, "My lord, we have been in a state of preparation for war in the past few days, and Captain Slade is not much of a problem." But the rest of the people are not easy to say, the sergeants have been nervous for the past few days, and they are already very tired, and if they force the order again, I am afraid that they will be resentful! Wang Ning's tone was full of worry and grievances, the situation of the Jiaozhou fleet was special, and this time the fleet was originally pieced together. Among them, there are not only locally recruited sailors in Jiaozhou, but also a large number of retired Portuguese and Macao officers and pirates who have defected. These Westerners were not only numerous, but also occupied important positions in the fleet. These people defected to the Broken Army for financial interests, and they did not have a strong sense of belonging to the Broken Army, coupled with their casual nature and the nature of putting interests first, it has always been the most difficult problem for the Jiaozhou fleet.

"Alas!" Hearing Wang Ning's words, Fan Liang frowned and couldn't help sighing, waved his hand weakly and said, "Just do as I say, tell those red-haired ghosts that they are holding on for a few days, as long as they can return to Jiaozhou safely, so people's salaries will be doubled!" After a year of getting along, Fan Liang also deeply understood the nature of these Westerners, and knew what they cared about the most.

"Yes, lowly commanded!" Wang Ning nodded helplessly and turned away.

After about half an hour, the caravan stewards who got the news arrived at the flagship of the "Qingdao" in small boats. In the slightly cramped cabin, Fan Liang said to everyone with a solemn face: "The purpose of calling everyone here this time must have been well understood. We're in the most dangerous situation now, and Ben doesn't expect the rest of the trip to be as calm as before. Therefore, you must be upset and deal with it carefully, because this is not only related to your net worth and my life, but also related to the superiors or families behind us. Ben didn't want to have any trouble at this juncture because of our slackness! Do you all understand? ”

Everyone looked at each other and said in unison, "Obey the general's orders!" (To be continued.) )