Fuzhou prefect Yamen back office.

Zhang Ru sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, and in front of him stood a middle-aged man dressed in gray cloth.

He was reading a letter in his hand, the thin piece of paper rustling in the breeze.

Putting down the letterhead and sighing, Zhang Ru said very movingly: "Please also ask this brother to thank Ge Lao for me, but now I really can't get out." ”

The middle-aged man said: "My lord, listen to the persuasion and go back to Beijing as soon as possible!" Now His Majesty has a lot of small accusations against adults. Thanks to Huai En and Lord Wang, otherwise His Majesty's holy decree would have arrived in Fuzhou long ago. ”

Zhang Ru nodded, and shook his head again: "I also know what you said, but now I really can't leave." In this case, please go back and tell the elder Ge Lao, give me three months, and after three months, I will definitely return to Beijing. ”

The middle-aged man's expression was gloomy: "I'm afraid it's too late by then." ”

Zhang Ru gently put the letter on the stone table and sighed: "I can't care so much, there must be a beginning and an end to one thing." Meng Fu took two hundred taels of treasure money and gave it to this brother and sent him off. ”

"Lord Zhang" The middle-aged man shouted anxiously, but what he saw was Zhang Ru's back.

Five days later, it was still the same position, but the person standing in front of him was different.

Zhang Ru was still the same as last time, after reading the letter, he gave the person who came two hundred taels of silver, and sent the person away.

If it was like a few times, Zhang Ru didn't want to see the people who came later, but just asked people to take the letters back, and then gave the people who came money to send things away.

Liu Peng, who was all shrouded in a cloak, sneered: "It seems that your life is not so comfortable!" ”

Zhang Ru shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I didn't tell you that my life was comfortable." ”

"I guess what you are thinking now in your heart must be the eight words of faith and doubt, loyalty and slander." Liu Peng continued to ridicule without knowing what to do.

This time, Zhang Ru ignored it, but said to Meng Fu, who had just finished sending off the guests: "How is the preparation of the water master?" ”

Meng Fu arched his hand and said: "Back to the words of the adults, the sailor can now produce 15,000 soldiers, 8,000 people who have experienced naval battles, and the others are all newcomers who have never seen blood." ”

"What about the ships?" Zhang Ru asked again.

Meng Fu said: "The three 5,000-ship-rich ships are equipped with 20 Furlong cannons, and all of them are launched to test the guns, and there is no problem." The rest of the generals do not know. ”

The person in charge of supervising the construction of the sea ship has always been Lei Yuan, and Meng Fu can know about the Fu Boat, because he is more interested in the Fu Boat.

"Tell Lei Yuan to come over." Zhang Ru's words are concise and to the point.

It didn't take long for the confused Lei Yuan to come.

"Old Lei, how is the shipyard now?" Zhang Ru asked.

Lei Yuan said: "Back to my lord's words, the shipyard has now built three Fu ships, and three hundred Eagle Ships, which can be loaded on the Fu ships.

There are 1,000 net shuttle ships, which are loaded on the Fu ship and can go to sea at any time to fight.

There are 10 red dragon boats, 8 Cangshan boats, and 20 Haicang boats.

The crews of the ships have been assigned in place, and in the event of a water war, the firearms equipped can destroy a small country. ”

"So, you can go to the sea?" Zhang Ru asked uncertainly.

Lei Yuan said confidently: "Don't worry, you can go to the sea to fight." ”

"Okay, immediately mobilize Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other places in the south of the Yangtze River to store cloth, and order Jiangsu Chengxuan to announce the political envoy to mobilize enough porcelain tea to Fuzhou.

Liu Qi, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, led 2,000 musketeers from the Shenji Battalion to accompany the army. ”

Lei Yuan asked, "My lord, this is"

Zhang Ru gritted his teeth and said: "After spending so much manpower, financial resources, and material resources, it's time to try your skills now." The situation between the DPRK and China is unstable, and if the Fuzhou Navy Division does not make some achievements, it is afraid that this sea ban will not be opened. ”

Lei Yuan nodded silently: "Don't worry, my lord, this time, my Fuzhou sailor will definitely make Xiao Xiao dumbfounded." ”

Zhang Ru instructed: "Tell Chen Guang that the main purpose of going to sea this time is to do business, and if you encounter pirates on the way, and if you encounter a small country, don't make a noise." When encountering difficult opponents, use porcelain, tea, and silk as opening bricks. Remember, if you want to trade, leave it to those merchants to do, as long as it doesn't violate the principles of Fuzhou sailors, no matter what those merchants do, don't care. ”

"Yes!" Lei Yuan responded excitedly.

This kind of decision, in a sense, gives Fuzhou Sailors great autonomy.

As long as the Fuzhou Navy Division safely escorts the fleet back, then they will all be meritorious heroes. No matter how much silver those merchants earned, the profit that could be obtained from this cargo was indispensable to the Fuzhou sailors.

The people of Fuzhou Yamen immediately got busy, up to the prefect Lei Yuan, down to a small helper, all of them were busy non-stop.

Liu Peng, who had been watching by Zhang Ru's side, couldn't help but ask after everyone left: "Three months, is it enough?" ”

Zhang Ru groaned: "It should be enough!" The southeast coast vigorously develops the silk weaving industry, and the porcelain is ready-made, as long as it is beautiful, those foreign devils like it the most. Tea foreigners can't tell the good from the bad, this is the first time to go to sea, try to use poor tea. Only when they get used to drinking poor tea leaves and occasionally give them a little good tea will they get a treasure. ”

"Profiteers." Liu Peng squeezed out two words from between his teeth.

Zhang Ru smiled noncommittally, and his face gradually became solemn.

In the past month, more than a dozen letters came from the capital, three of which were written by his brothers, and all the others were written by people related to him in the capital.

These letters conveyed a signal that Zhang Ru felt dangerous, that is, Emperor Zhu Youzhu had developed a crisis of confidence in him.

It's no wonder that Zhu Youzhu will suspect that he Zhang Wenxuan wants to be the king of the southeast that no one cares about, after all, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, few people have dared to ignore the emperor's three holy decrees, plus five secret letters.

Zhang Ru did it, because he didn't want to go back to Beijing now, didn't want to face the ugly faces of those political enemies, and didn't want anything wrong with things in Fuzhou.

The change in the direction of the political wind made it difficult for him, and only by quickly scattering the Fuzhou sailors and the caravan out, and when the caravan brought back the profits, could he block the mouth of the world.

On the seventh day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Hongzhi, the flag of Xiamen Port was unfurled, and more than a dozen condemned prisoners were lined up, and a long table was placed with a cow's head, a sheep's head, and a whole chicken.

Chen Guang was dressed in battle armor, and behind him was a row of soldiers of the Shenji Battalion holding muskets, and behind him were the soldiers of the naval division of the brigade.

The large army arrived in front of Zhang Ru, and Chen Guang led everyone to salute Zhang Ru.

Then, the dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty was raised, and everyone paid attention to the dragon flag flying high.

The local people in Xiamen Port are watching, and many people are looking forward to this army being able to bring back endless gold and silver treasures with the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty.

"Kill the thief! Sacrifice the flag! Zhang Ru said solemnly.

More than a dozen human heads rolled to the ground, blood was sprinkled all over the harbor, and immediately soldiers picked up the blood, and then climbed onto the lucky boat, and sprinkled it on the dragon flag in a very special way.

"The dragon flag is stained with blood, invincible!"

"The dragon flag is stained with blood, invincible!"

"The dragon flag is stained with blood, invincible!"

The deafening sound of harmony sounded with Zhang Ru's lead, resounding throughout Xiamen Port.

Chen Guang led the army onto the ship, and after everyone was in place, Chen Guang drew the sword at his waist on the highest lucky boat. Raising his sword in the air, the Admiral let out a roar from deep in his throat: "Set sail!" ”

"Set sail!"

"Turn the rudder, three degrees to the northeast!"

"Set sail, close anchor!"

The black pressure pressed a battleship to leave the port of Xiamen and sail towards the vast sea.

Zhang Ru's hoarse voice came from behind: "On the day of your triumph, Ben will personally greet you!" ”

Chen Guang turned around, looked at the vast sea, carefully smacked the sentence that had just entered his ears, suddenly raised his hand and smashed his fist on his chest, and said in a voice that only he could hear: "Commander, rest assured, Chen Guangding will live up to his mission!" ”

The fleet faded away, and soon became a small black dot on the line where the sea and the sky met.

The lively people on the shore gradually dispersed, and in the end, only Zhang Ru and a group of servants were left standing in place for a long time.

"Xianggong, it's windy, let's go back!" Su Qiqi draped the skin on Zhang Ru, who was born in front of the sea, and said with concern.

Zhang Ru came back to his senses and said with a heavy heart: "Well, go back!" ”

I don't know when it will be the return date, and I don't know what kind of difficulties they will encounter on the way. To be honest, Zhang Wenxuan, who has always been confident, has a very messy heart at the moment.

Liu Peng, who was hiding in the black cloak, had been observing Zhang Ru's expression all the time, and he didn't know why after getting along for this time, he always felt that Zhang Ru was not a person with wolf ambitions as the man said.

Shaking his head vigorously and leaving distracting thoughts behind, Liu Peng quickly followed the team.

Fan Tong, who had completely recovered from his injuries, took Meng Fu's place and silently followed Zhang Ru around.

After the group returned to the temporary residence in Xiamen, Zhang Ru called Fan Tong to his room and said some private words to the personal guard who had followed him for the longest time.

What the two talked about, no one knew, only Meng Fu knew that when Fan Tong left Zhang Ru's room, he had a solemn face.

After spending another two days in Xiamen, Zhang Ru suddenly decided to return to Beijing.

This decision has made many people feel incredible, and some people even think that you, Master Zhang, have resisted the decree a few times, why do you want to go back to Beijing again this time?

The capital is a tiger's den in Longtan, Zhang Ru returned to the capital, can he stir up the wind and rain again?

Many people are not optimistic about this, because they know that in this era, the emperor's words represent everything, no matter how much Zhang Ru has contributed to the Ming Dynasty, no matter how strong Zhang Ru's personal ability is, he can't compare to the imperial power.

However, no matter how persuaded by the people around him, Zhang Ru still insisted on returning to Beijing.

There are many people who persuade them, but the only one who didn't persuade was the woman named Su Qiqi.

She just sat quietly beside Zhang Ru, held Zhang Ru's hand, and told him with her eyes: "No matter where you go, I will accompany you." ”