On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, a merchant ship sailed into Qingdao Port after being inspected, and since Qingdao Port was put into use, the phenomenon of foreign merchants coming from the sea has become more and more common.

However, to the surprise of the officers and soldiers of Qingdao Customs, the ship was not loaded with any goods, but only brought one million taels of silver.

After this group of people went ashore, they immediately visited Yan Shiliang, who was stationed in Qingdao, and revealed their identities!

They were the envoys sent by Zheng Zhilong, and after a few days of sailing, they finally arrived in Qingdao, led by a middle-aged man surnamed Li.

When Yan Shiliang found out, he immediately sent someone to escort them to Zhaojiabao, and sent a fast horse to notify them in advance.

Zhao Yan is listening to Zhang's nagging in Zhaojiabao, and recently Zhang's is looking for a daughter-in-law for Zhao Yan, the reason is naturally those Shandong squires.

Zhao Yan was promoted to General Jianwei, and he held a heavy army, and his power in Shandong was unrivaled for a while, and those squires were vying to send him his daughter one by one.

"Yan'er! Your identity is different now, don't go into battle all day long, just leave those things to your subordinates to do. Zhang nagged and said to Zhao Yan: "You have also passed three years of filial piety, find a serious girl as soon as possible, and let the mother hold her grandson early." ”

"Mother, I know, but there's no need to be in such a hurry, anyway, the child is still young, so it doesn't hurt to wait a few more years." Zhao Yan said unhurriedly.

"Still young?" Zhang couldn't help but say loudly: "It's twenty-one people, your father married his mother at the age of nineteen, and some people got married at the age of fifteen or sixteen." ”

"If my mother is in a hurry to hold her grandson, choose a good day and say that Yuan'er and I can marry first." Zhao Yan thought for a while and said.

"Yuan'er was born ......"

"Yuan'er was born in a scholarly family, and she is a good match for a child." Zhao Yan hurriedly said that Yuan'er's father was involved in the eunuch party, and Chongzhen was liquidated after he came to power, so he was naturally from a scholarly family.

"If you want to take Yuan'er as a concubine, your mother will follow you." Zhang said very happily that she did not object to the two being together, but Zhao Yan wanted to give Yuan'er the status of a flat wife, but Zhang couldn't accept it.

"Mother, the child can now be a general of Jianwei, he can have three wives and four concubines, two equal wives, it is nothing to give Yuan'er one, you can also help the child Zhang Luo another flat wife, and a full wife." Zhao Yan was helpless, so he had to be patient and enlightened.

"Anyway, Yuan'er's family is not innocent, and she can't be a wife." Zhang insisted.

"Alright! Then mother, you can help the child pick first! If there is a suitable one, let the child see it first. Zhao Yan had no choice but to follow Zhang's wishes, but it didn't mean that he was compromising, anyway, if Zhang's didn't agree for a day, he wouldn't mention the matter of getting married for a day.

"That's right! Yan'er is now the general of Jianwei, so she will naturally pick and choose carefully, so those small families don't have to look at it. Seeing that Zhao Yan seemed to agree, Zhang said happily.

"My lord, Yan Shiliang sent someone to report, Zheng Zhilong sent someone to come, and he will be able to reach Zhaojiabao tomorrow." At this time, Qin Zhiyuan, the chief of the guard, walked into the courtyard and reported the situation to Zhao Yan.

"Got it." Zhao Yan nodded and said to Zhang: "Mother, the child will go to deal with official business first." ”

"Go ahead! Don't get tired, it doesn't matter if you slow down. Zhang said with concern, Zhao Yan said goodbye, and then walked out of the small courtyard.

Zhao Yan usually lives in this small courtyard, and there are still Zhang's and Yuan'er, as well as two maids, and there is no one else. The environment of the small courtyard is very good, it looks chic and elegant, but with such a scale, it is a rich and rival country, and the general Jianwei who has a heavy army lives, and there are few servants, and outsiders seem to be really shabby.

However, under the leadership of Zhao Yan, the military generals and civil officials under him have no extravagance at all, and none of them dare to live in a house better than Zhao Yan, which has become an unwritten rule, which family wants to build a new house, even if they have money, they can't build a bigger place where Zhao Yan lives.

The general size is still okay, after all, Zhao Yan doesn't live big, no matter how small it is, it's inconvenient, after all, not everyone is like Zhao Yan, there are only Zhang and Yuan'er in the family.

Zhao Yan walked out of the small courtyard where he lived, went straight to the office building not far away, and asked Qin Zhiyuan to send someone to call Mao Yuanyi and Liu Heng to discuss the matter.

As soon as he hijacked the merchant ships in Fujian, Zheng Zhilong came to the door, and he didn't know what he was here for, so he had to discuss it carefully.

Soon Mao Yuanyi and Liu Heng came to Zhao Yan's office, Zhao Yan told the two of them about the situation, Liu Heng looked at Mao Yuanyi, Mao Yuanyi just came from Zhangpu last year, Zhangpu is very close to Shijing, there is Zheng Zhilong's activity center, obviously Mao Yuanyi knows more about Zheng Zhilong's situation.

Mao Yuanyi said: "Zheng Zhilong has 100,000 sailors in his hands, Europeans, African blacks, and hundreds of big war ships, which is actually the hegemon of the southeast. ”

"Haha, is there any reason to spit out the steamed buns that you eat in your stomach?" Zhao Yan laughed and said, "I want to see what he Zheng Zhilong wants to do." ”

…… The next day, the messenger sent by Zheng Zhilong arrived.

Zhao Yan didn't put up any shelves, and met Zheng Zhilong's envoy very happily.

"The villain Li Zhengshen, the Fujian general soldier Zheng Zhilong, and Lord Zheng sent the villain to celebrate the general's victory. My family has admired General Zhao for a long time, and I heard that the general won a great victory, so I specially asked the villain to bring a million taels of silver to celebrate, but unfortunately there was a strong wind at sea, and it was delayed for a while. The middle-aged man spoke fluent Mandarin with a modest smile on his face.

Zhao Yan couldn't help but be surprised, this Zheng Zhilong actually came to deliver silver?

But this nonsense can't be believed, his defeat of the Qing army was in September last year, and now it is the first month of ten years, no matter how many times there are delays at sea, it is impossible to delay for so long! The so-called celebration is just a façade, and the real purpose is not yet known, but some good intentions can be seen.

Zhao Yan smiled and asked, "Zheng Zongbing is polite, I and Zheng Zongbing are both Ming courtiers, why do you need to be like this." ”

"A million taels is just a heart." Li Zhengshen said suddenly: "I heard that the adult is from Zhangpu? ”

"Oh! Benguan spent two years in Zhangpu when he was a child, and came to Shandong with his father when he was three years old. Zhao Yan smiled slightly, but he was thinking in his heart, what kind of idea did Zheng Zhilong have? Why did you start to pull up the relationship?

"The chief soldier of my family is from Shijing, and Shijing is also under the jurisdiction of Zhangpu. When the chief detective of my family heard the news, he was overjoyed, and he never thought that there was a big general in Zhangpu, and he sent a villain here this time to make friends with the general. ”

Li Zhengshen said, took out two letters from his sleeve, handed them to the guards on the side, and said to Zhao Yan: "These two letters, one is written by the general soldier of my family to General Zhao, and the other is written by Zhao Yi, the head of Zhaojiabao in Zhangpu, to the general. ”

"Oh......" Zhao Yan became interested, and Zhangpu Zhaojiabao also participated, this is the clan power behind Zhao Yan, Zhao Yan suddenly remembered that in the past six years, when Zhao Quan sent people to Fujian to buy sweet potatoes, he asked people to go to Zhangpu Zhaojiabao to report the news of Zhao Gui's death, and Zhangpu Zhaojiabao did not react at all at that time.

Zhao Yan first uncovered the letter written by Zhangpu Zhaojiabao, the head of the Zhaojiabao family is called Zhao Yi, is an old man, in the Wanli period to build the 'complete pavilion', meaning 'complete to return to Zhao', there are still many illusions about the Great Song Dynasty.

The letter first spent some time mourning for Zhao Gui's death, and then said, "The virtuous nephew is a horse of a thousand miles, and he said that he will definitely be the Guangwu Sect." Yunyun also said that he had begun to mobilize the children of the clan, and after the beginning of spring, Zhao Yan would come by water.

There is a great hint in that sentence, whether it is Zhao Yan or Zhao Yi, they all know that Zhangpu Zhaojiabao is a descendant of the Southern Song Dynasty royal family, and what this 'dangguang Wuzong' means is easy to understand.

Zhao Yan couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head, the emperor is not so easy to be. However, when it is not the emperor's matter, it is too early to make a conclusion, it depends on the development of the situation, Zhao Yan does not force the emperor's throne, but at least he will not be liquidated after death, and everything else is easy to talk about.

Then Zhao Yan opened Zheng Zhilong's letter again, Zheng Zhilong's words in the letter, very close to Zhao Yan, the general meaning of the letter is that the two are for the township party, the previous conflict between the two sides was all caused by misunderstanding, the past is over, and at the same time he will restrain his subordinates and no longer disturb the merchant ships of Denglai.

"It turned out to be a misunderstanding." Zhao Yan seemed to have just understood, and said to Li Zhengshen.

"The general soldier of my family and General Zhao are officials of the same dynasty and the township party, so they are close to each other. Before, it was all due to not knowing the details of the general, but now the general army of my family has known that he will not fight with the general at sea again. Li Zhengshen smiled.

Zhao Yan couldn't help but wonder in his heart, why didn't Zheng Zhilong take revenge on the 100,000 sailors in his hands, and he robbed more than a dozen merchant ships?

Is it a ploy to paralyze defense? However, this is obviously not necessary, and he does not dare to come to the port of Shandong to be presumptuous, otherwise Zhao Yan's soldiers will wave Fujian, and Zheng Zhilong's naval army will have extremely poor land combat capabilities, and it is estimated that he will not even be able to line up in battle, and he will be vulnerable to the Shandong army at all.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yan suddenly vaguely understood.

It is estimated that Zheng Zhilong is afraid of his army strength, so he does not dare to fight him too fiercely at sea. The Zheng Group relied heavily on the land, but it did not have the strength to defend the land.

Without the support of the mainland, the Zheng group in exile at sea will be cut off from the replenishment of manpower and material resources, and it will soon weaken, and it will also cause the army's morale to be unstable, and it is very easy to collapse, after all, not every soldier of the 100,000 naval army has the courage to go into exile overseas for the rest of his life.

"Since last year, the Shandong Navy has caught several groups of pirates who claim to be Fujian sailors, and the Shandong army has been clamoring to go south to suppress the bandits. Since it was a misunderstanding, the official didn't care about it. Zhao Yan said with a smile, but there was a threat and toughness in his smile, "This official and Zheng Zongbing have the friendship of the township party, and they must be closer in the future." ”

Zhao Yan made his words very clear, if Zheng Zhilong dared to move around the sea, don't blame him for going south to Fujian under the banner of suppressing bandits.

Li Zhengshen hurriedly nodded and smiled: "What General Zhao said is extremely true, what he said is extremely true. ”

"At present, our Ming Dynasty is a big country, and the maritime defense is weak, so that foreigners, ships and coastal areas are rampant, plundering our Ming people as slaves. If Zheng Zongbing has a heart, my Shandong and Fujian can join forces to attack Dongfan Island, expel the Hongyi people from the island, and restore our Ming territory. After Zhao Yan's threat, he talked about cooperation, but it was only mentioned, if Zheng Zhilong refused to cooperate, he would not force it.

With his current strength, it is not easy to solve Zheng Zhilong, a super 'smuggler', and it is best for the two sides to make peace.

Although Zhao Yan is not afraid of the Zheng Group at sea, the vicious fight between the two sides will inevitably cause negative effects and hinder the development of his power at sea.

If the two sides cooperate, the vast market profits in Southeast Asia can be snatched from the hands of the Europeans.

"General Zhao's intentions, the small ones will convey it. What our commander-in-chief means is that in the future, the two sides will not interfere with each other at sea, and neither side will attack each other's merchant ships. Li Zhengshen nodded, and then said Zheng Zhilong's idea - the issue of not interfering with each other, each being one side, and attacking the Dutch together was not considered at all.

(To be continued)