Ten years later, Xu Liang arrived in Nanjing with two maritime merchants and their retinue, and the two of them went directly to the Guogong Mansion according to Xu Liang's instructions, and after receiving a definite answer, they entered the Guogong Mansion in the evening of the second day after arriving in Nanjing.

Xu Li sat on the main seat, and beside him was a young man with a very calm face. The two of them knew Xu Li, and after giving Xu Li a salute, the two looked at the young man one after another.

Xu Li smiled, pointed to Zhang Ru and introduced: "This is the Marquis Zhang of Dingbian, who came to Nanjing specially to run around for the imperial court's ban on the sea. ”

There are more than a few old fox-like Xu Li's natural way of maritime merchants, but it is not good for Zhang Ru to know that there are so many people who don't give face, he can only work hard in the dark, but he can't let Zhang Ru lose face on the bright side.

The two of them bowed to Zhang Ru very respectfully: "Grass farmer Chen Dafu (student Qin Luo) has seen Master Hou. ”

The former knew at a glance that he was a wealthy businessman with a low level of education, and the latter looked very elegant, and after hearing the two of them call themselves, Zhang Ru realized that the young man was a scholar.

In this era when everything is inferior and only reading is high, it is difficult to imagine that a scholar who is likely to be promoted to a high level of scholarship will choose to inherit the family business.

You must know that even if you have gold and silver mountains in your family, you can't compare to a champion, even if Qin Luo's ability is not good, so young, it is not the time to retreat bravely.

Zhang Ru asked curiously: "You are still a scholar, why are you willing to let go of your fame?" ”

Qin Luo smiled embarrassedly: "It's not a secret, when I first inherited my father's business, I was really unwilling in my heart. However, the student is the only son in the family, and his father is old and frail, so he is not suitable for the maritime business. In desperation, he returned home to run a maritime business, and now, he has long been unwilling and accustomed to it. ”

Zhang Ru nodded, and said to Chen Dafu again: "How many boats does Shopkeeper Chen have in his hands now, and where has he been the farthest?" ”

Chen Dafu hurriedly said: "The grass people now have six sea boats in their hands, and they can go to the South China Sea once a year, and the farthest place is only to the South Seas. However, two of these sea ships of the grass people are owned by others. ”

"Huh?" Zhang Ru asked with some confusion: "But the local officials?" ”

Xu Li hurriedly gave Chen Dafu a look, hoping that he would not continue to dwell on this topic.

It's a pity that Chen Dafu didn't understand this look at all, and he immediately denied that the dry shares were owned by officials, and said in a low voice: "The financial resources of the grass people are enough to support six big ships, but in terms of strength, the villain is only medium in the maritime business." Some seafarers will not let go of such a big piece of fat in Nanyang, and in order to survive in the cracks, the grass people have no choice but to rely on one of the seamen. ”

Hearing this, Xu Li's face changed greatly, and he carefully looked at Zhang Ru's face, for fear that he would be furious. He is not afraid of Zhang Ru, and the Duke of Wei is not afraid of the Dingbian Marquis Mansion, but he is afraid of the emperor. Zhang Ru came to Nanjing, obviously with the emperor's holy decree, but he never took out the holy decree, which means that now is not the time. Of course, Xu Li hoped that Zhang Ru would not even have a chance to come up with the holy decree, in that case, his responsibility would be much smaller.

Zhang Ru's face changed slightly, and he said quietly: "Oh, so that's the case, if you are given enough people and silver, how much market can you occupy?" ”

"Wh. What market? Chen Dafu didn't understand what Zhang Ru meant at all.

Zhang Ru smiled, unconsciously said some terms from his previous life, and after laughing, he explained: "To put it in layman's terms, it means how much territory you can occupy, and ensure that this territory belongs to you." ”

Chen Dafu shouted: "Master Hou, the court will not hold us responsible? ”

Zhang Ru laughed: "I said that there are at least ten powerful maritime merchants that Jinyiwei has heard, and only two came today, it turns out that you are all afraid of being investigated by the imperial court." ”

"The grass people are brave, if the imperial court can support it, the grass people can eat the entire Nanyang!" Chen Dafu didn't know where he got the courage, and he had the courage to fight in his heart.

"Xu Liang, did you tell anyone else that this is what the imperial court meant?" Zhang Ru suddenly turned his face to Xu Liang and asked.

Cold sweat broke out from his back, Xu Liang felt palpitations, and he didn't dare to say that he hadn't explained it clearly to those people.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Zhang Ru also roughly understood what was going on, and walked over and patted Xu Liang's shoulder, who was afraid that he had already stood up but didn't reply: "Don't be nervous, tell the truth." ”

Xu Liang knelt down on one knee: "The last general is guilty, and the last general never told them that the Hou Ye meant, only that the grandfather had something to ask them to come to Nanjing." ”

Zhang Ru looked back at Xu Li, and said with a smile: "You reported the name of your grandfather, but they still don't choose to come?" ”

Xu Liang nodded and said, "Yes." ”

Zhang Ru's face was instantly full of a mocking smile: "Brother, it seems that the sea merchants in this coastal area are not very afraid of you, the Duke of Wei!" ”

Xu Li's face was a little unbearable: "It's all that rebel, and even the Guogong Mansion has been discredited by him." ”

If it weren't for Xu Huaiyuan taking the benefits of others, those people would not have been so rampant that they would not even listen to the call of him, the Duke of Wei. In addition, with Zhang Ru here, it is impossible for Xu Li, who knows his son well, to take the responsibility on himself.

Xu Liang gritted his teeth and said: "Those maritime merchants rely on their own stinky money, and they don't take the grandfather and the marquis in their eyes at all, and say that if they don't come, the grandfather can't do anything with them." ”

"What do you think about this?" Zhang Ru's face became solemn, his heart moved, and an ominous premonition arose.

Xu Li groaned: "It seems that the biggest reliance behind these people is not a dog, there is a greater force behind them. ”

The next conversation was the conversation of his own people, and Zhang Ru immediately bowed his hand to the two shopkeepers: "The two of you will go down with Xu Liang to rest for the time being, and you will have worked hard all the way." After Ben Hou thinks about the way to share profits, he will naturally let people look for you. If you are idle, you can go to the Qinhuai River for a walk, in this Jinling City, the Qinhuai River is a good place to go. ”

Chen Dafu smiled honestly: "The grass people have retired." ”

Qin Luo glanced at Zhang Ru with a flickering gaze, and also bowed his head and said, "The student retires." ”

After the two of them followed Xu Liang away, Zhang Ru frowned and said, "Brother, it seems that this south is not something you can say alone!" ”

Xu Li said angrily: "You kid, don't set up the old man, how you should play, how you play, what help you need, just tell your brother directly, it's boring to fix those empty heads." ”

Zhang Ru said embarrassedly: "I really can't hide anything from my brother, but what the younger brother wants to do, the old brother is really not easy to get involved." ”

Xu Li said vigilantly: "What are you going to do!" ”

Zhang Ru said coldly: "Naturally, I want to kill someone." The reputation of the little brother in the capital is not very good, the elder brother should have heard of it, this name of the king of Hades, if it is not publicized in Jiangnan, wouldn't it be sorry for the little brother's trip to Jiangnan. ”

Xu Li exclaimed: "Don't come nonsense, you kid, let's discuss and do anything, don't kill you." ”

Zhang Ru said lightly: "If you want to sleep, someone will send you a pillow, and this day is very moisturizing." Rest assured, the younger brother is still measured, what can and what can't be done, the younger brother has a pole in his heart. This is not Tianjin, there is a shortage of silver, and these maritime merchants took the initiative to send silver ****, what a good thing! ”

Xu Li frowned and said, "You want to attack the maritime merchants?" ”

Zhang Ru stretched out a finger and shook it left and right: "No, no, no, it's just to attack those disobedient maritime merchants." If you catch one and raid your house, you can get millions of taels of silver, and you won't lose money in this transaction. If others take the initiative to find **** to convince themselves, it won't be a big deal, if others are disobedient, I'll catch another one, raid the house, hehe, until enough maritime merchants in the coastal area come to me. ”

Xu Li said: "Brother, aren't you afraid of those people in the capital attacking? The amount of silver that these maritime merchants give to those people in the capital every year is not a small amount, if something happens to these maritime merchants, their money bags will be deflated a lot, and if they attack them in groups, I am afraid that my brother will not be able to stand it. ”

Zhang Ruman said indifferently: "Your Majesty has nothing to do with the little brother, others don't know, you still don't know." As long as Your Majesty doesn't say anything about dealing with the younger brother, the civil officials in the capital who only know how to play tricks don't have the ability to move me. ”

Xu Li sighed and said, "I'm afraid that everyone will be angry!" You are the enemy of the entire court officials, once Your Majesty can't bear it, you will be the unlucky. ”

Zhang Ru was arrogant: "A man is alive, if he can't make a career, what good is it to live!" If this is unlucky, the younger brother will definitely not cause trouble for the elder brother. ”

These words made Xu Li completely speechless, in fact, even if Zhang Ru really caused him any trouble, with the name of Wei Guogong and the great family of Guogong's mansion, there would be no big incident.

The reason why he gave advice to Zhang Ru was just to see that this young man had an appetite, and what Zhang Ru did was for the sake of the Ming Dynasty.

During this time, Xu Li felt very happy with Zhang Ru, so he didn't want this young man with ideas to be like Wang Zhi, who failed to fulfill his ambition and became a victim of political struggle.

The civil officials have their own things to maintain, the nobles have their own things to maintain, and the emperor has his own things to maintain. At least in Xu Li's opinion, no matter how good Zhang Ru is with the emperor, he Zhang Ru is just a courtier, and Zhu Youzhu is the emperor.

The emperors of all dynasties, few people will have friends, and the general founding emperor may have friends, but once he becomes the emperor, those friends either withdraw or become dry bones under the power struggle.

Zhang Ru asked Xu Li to borrow the troop transfer documents and tiger talismans, and then left Nanjing City directly, he wanted to take a look, half of Fujian was arrogant enough to despise the maritime merchants of the dynasty, who was standing behind them.