Shen Jian was stunned by the news that the Fuguo Commercial Bank was fully raided, he never thought that Zhang Xuan would turn his face with him for a transoceanic ship, two months ago he also stated that he would cooperate with the Jiangnan Society, now what? actually seized the shops of Jiangnan Society? It made Shen Jian very annoyed.

However, Shen Jian also understands that Zhang Xuan is only targeting Fuguo Commercial Bank, and he has not completely turned his face with Jiangnan, otherwise he would not be sitting here unharmed.

But no matter what, Shen Jian is still anxious, the fleet will set off for Lujiang early tomorrow morning to pick up Meng Haigong to cross the river, and now Zhang Xuan has detained the fleet again, which is really going to be a bad thing.

Shen resolutely decided to go to talk to Zhang Xuan, and he was about to get up, when a steward ran anxiously and said, "Lord Shen, there are a lot of troops from outside, and they are coming to search the trading house!" ”

Shen Jian was startled, he had thousands of pairs of armor sold to them by the Dou family in his warehouse, and it was terrible to be found, so he hurriedly walked towards the gate.

The fire outside the gate was bright, hundreds of soldiers with torches surrounded the gate tightly, the chief steward of the trading house was desperately explaining to the soldiers, asking them to wait for a while, at this moment, Shen Jian walked out, "I am the big proprietor here, what do you say to me!" ”

A partial general stepped forward and said sharply: "The Imperial Government suspects that the Fuguo Commercial Bank is secretly hiding prohibited weapons and fornicating with Du Fuwei, we are specially ordered to come to search, please get out of the way immediately, don't obstruct official business!" ”

The chief steward's face turned pale with fright, there were indeed thousands of pieces of armor in the warehouse, what could I do? He looked at Shen Jian in fear.

Shen Jian sighed secretly in his heart, if he really wanted to search, he would have broken into the door a long time ago, and what nonsense he said to himself, he was obviously making a show, he already understood in his heart, and hurriedly said: "I'll go to you now to recruit the general." Please wait for me for half an hour, and I will definitely give an explanation. ”

The general glanced at him coldly and waved his hand, "Block the front and back doors to prevent them from transferring the contraband!" ”

He said to Shen Jian again: "For the sake of the big proprietor, I will give you half an hour." ”

Shen Jian arched his hand. After getting into the carriage, the carriage started quickly, and rushed towards the direction of the military office, and after a while, the carriage came to the military office, only to see that the front of the military office was full of soldiers, Zhang Xuan was wearing armor and holding a sword, and he was staring at Shen Jian who hurriedly stepped out of the carriage with stern eyes.

Jao Hyun sneered in his heart. This is called toasting without eating and drinking, Jiang Nanzai actually dared to fight with himself in Jiangdu, he was simply impatient.

Shen Jian stepped forward quickly, bowed down and said, "General, I promise to send thirty old shipwrights to the military office before noon tomorrow, please raise your noble hand!" ”

"What about the drawings?" Jang Hyun asked.

"General Hui, the copy of the drawings was indeed burned along with the Jiangning Shipyard, and we didn't grab it. But there is an original copy from the Ministry of Works, and we can get it for the general. ”

"Since there are no drawings, forget it. I don't have to work hard for you. ”

Zhang Xuan took out the arrow and said, "Go and pass my order, and collect the troops immediately!" ”

The two cavalrymen took the order and rushed away, and Zhang Xuan said coldly to Shen Jian: "If you still want to play any tricks, it is not just a matter of turning your face against the rich country firm, you should understand what I mean!" ”

"Don't dare!" Shen Jian hurriedly bowed and said.

Jaang Hyun snorted, turned his horse's head and ran towards the city gate. The cavalry followed behind them, and in a moment they were clean and clean.

Shen Jian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, turned around and got into the carriage, and shouted: "Go back to the business house quickly!" ”

After a short time, the carriage returned to the trading house, and the Sui soldiers had already withdrawn. The chief steward stepped forward and said, "The proprietor, they have not entered the mansion, they have all evacuated. ”

Shen Jian sighed and said to him: "You immediately rush to Yanling, bring all the thirty old shipwrights from the Hong'an Shipyard back to Jiangdu, and tell them that they are going to give a share of the reward, and they must come back before noon tomorrow. ”

"Don't worry, I'm going!"

The chief steward hurriedly left with a few entourage, but Shen Jian couldn't help but have a trace of doubt in his heart, could it be that Zhang Xuan also wanted to build a cross-ocean boat?

Luoyang, the capital city, since the Son of Heaven Yang Guang toured the north, a large number of officials and troops also followed the north, and the capital was obviously relaxed, first of all, the curfew was temporarily lifted, and the door was not closed all night, and secondly, the atmosphere of repression in the capital disappeared, and the chat and conversation in the wine shop Qinglou were more unscrupulous.

But the days are still plain, the south and north markets of the capital are still thriving, there are a large number of goods in and out every day, and the south city is also full of people, lively and abnormal.

The business of the cloth shop is also exceptionally good, seeing that it is coming to the end of the year, every household has to buy cloth to make new clothes, but this year's business is the best is a newly opened cloth shop, Huang's cloth, the huge signboard can be clearly seen in a hundred steps away, every day there are a large number of ships full of cloth to buy, countless mule carts to drive the cloth to ship, the business is particularly prosperous.

This new store is the cloth shop opened by Huang Jin, a big businessman in Taiyuan, who rented Zhang Xuan's shop, which is also the largest store in the entire cloth shop, covering an area of about five acres, and the warehouse is piled up like a mountain, and there are more than 30 people alone.

The shopkeeper of this shop is Huang Jin's brother, a tall middle-aged man with a shrewd face and a good person, and he is in charge of the inside and outside of the store.

In addition, there is a second shopkeeper, also a middle-aged man, short and fat, his appearance is not good, but a kind face, smiling all day long, his surname is He, everyone calls him He shopkeeper, but although he is the shopkeeper, he almost never asks about business, all day long out and late home, according to the explanation of the big shopkeeper, He shopkeeper is mainly responsible for going outside to attract big customers.

But in fact, only two people know the secret of this shopkeeper He, one is the proprietor Huang Jin, and the other is the shopkeeper Huangda, this shopkeeper He is just in name, his real identity is Zhang Xuan installed in the capital intelligence chief, there are ten capable subordinates, all of whom are shop guys.

In addition, they also opened a very small eagle shop outside Dongcheng, specializing in raising falcons and letter eagles, which is also a big hobby of Luoyang distinguished guests, of course, the eagle fang is just to cover their communication with Jiangdu.

The shopkeeper of He is named He Shouyi, a native of Beihai County, he has been extremely busy these days, he has been on a secret mission, and he has been looking for various connections to complete the task assigned to him by Zhang Xuan.

In the evening of that day, a man in his fifties came from outside the Huang's cloth shop, who looked like a court official who was not very happy, wearing a seven-grade court dress, but the shoes and ** looked a little worn. He walked to the shop and asked, "May I ask if the shopkeeper is there?" ”

"Shopkeeper He, someone is looking for you outside!" A guy shouted.

"It's coming! Here it comes! ”

The short and chubby shopkeeper He walked out of it and saw this court official at a glance, "Yo! It's Zhou Yuanwailang, which fragrant wind blew you here? ”

This court official's name is Zhou Mi, and he is a member of the Ministry of Works. The official has a small position, and he is not qualified to follow the Son of Heaven on his northern tour, so he can only stay in Luoyang, he reluctantly smiled and said: "Does Shopkeeper He have time?" I'd like to talk to you about it. ”

He Shouyi immediately understood what he meant, and said with a smile: "That's it!" I invite you to go to the Heavenly Temple Pavilion for a drink, and let's talk while we talk. ”

In the lobby on the second floor of the Tiansi Pavilion Restaurant, He Shouyi and Zhou Mi sat in a window seat, and Zhou Mi drank three glasses of wine in one go, and the authentic Gaochang wine made him squint his eyes comfortably. He hadn't drunk such a mellow wine in years.

Zhou Mi was born poor, and he is not good at camping, he has been a petty official in Qingshui for more than 20 years in the Taishi Bureau, he is low-minded, and he has no extra money, plus his family has a large population, and several children are studying, and the expenses are very large. The parents are old and sick, and they are really poor. It wasn't until last year that I was transferred to the Ministry of Industry, but even the Ministry of Industry is not much better, after all, regardless of specific affairs, just running errands, doing some paperwork and the like, I am already in my fifties. There is no hope of promotion, and his family still owes a lot of debts, which makes his hair gray.

But just a few days ago, Zhou Mi suddenly came to work, and a shopkeeper surnamed He found him. He said that he wanted to make a shipbuilding drawing, and if he was willing to give him this drawing, he would be paid three hundred taels of gold.

Zhou Mi began to be ecstatic, but when he knew that the other party was actually a drawing of a cross-ocean boat, his heart suddenly cooled half, the drawings were indeed in his charge, but this drawing was a Class A drawing, which was highly confidential, and if he was denounced, he would go to prison and go to prison, and he hesitated for a while.

After thinking about it for a few days, he found yesterday that the dozen or so wooden boxes containing the drawings were covered with dust and had never been opened since they were stored five years ago.

And his predecessor has died of illness last year, even if someone finds out that the drawings are missing in the future, he can also push it to his predecessor, maybe no one will open the box at all, I heard that the Jiangning shipyard that can build such a big ship has been burned by bandits, since it can't build a ship, what is the use of the drawings?

Zhou Mi was finally tempted, and more importantly, with three hundred taels of gold, his foreign debts would be paid off, his children could study, his parents could have money to buy medicine, and even buy some land for his old age, he was fifty-three years old after all.

Zhou Mi knew that this might be the only chance in his life, he finally made this heart, his boss followed the Son of Heaven to the north, now is the best time to get the drawings, missed this opportunity, he will regret it for the rest of his life.

Zhou Mi drank the last glass of wine, and after four glasses of wine, his courage was several times stronger.

"I can give you the drawing, but I wonder who wants it?"

He Shouyi smiled slightly, "Why do you want to know, knowing that it is not good for you, maybe you will be killed and killed, give up this curiosity!" I will add fifty taels of gold to you. ”

"Alright! I don't ask, but I have to hand over the gold with one hand and the drawings with the other, and besides, you must not kill me, I am old and young, and a large family depends on me to feed. Zhou Mi said in a trembling voice.

"Don't worry! We're not going to make trouble for ourselves, kill you, and the drawings will be found if they're missing, don't you say? ”

Thinking about it carefully, he let go of his heart a little.

At this time, He Shouyi took out a very heavy leather bag and handed it to him, "Here are seven ingots of gold, fifty taels each, take it!" ”

"But the drawings haven't been taken out yet, there are more than a dozen boxes, and I can only bring one box out at a time, and it will take at least half a month to get them out."

"I've already investigated, and this drawing is in your hands, and it's easy for you to take it out, isn't it?" He Shouyi smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed into a slit.

Zhou carefully pinched the gold, his heart was extremely flustered, as if he was pinching a bag of hot coals, he stabilized his mind, and asked a little timidly: "You are not bandits, are you?" ”

"Huh! We are not bandits, we are the guards of a certain county, the magistrates of the authentic court, you don't have to feel guilty, we just want to build big ships and go to sea to trade. ”

Zhou Mi breathed a long sigh of relief, if what they said was true, he didn't have to be afraid of aiding and abetting, although he couldn't be sure if the other party was coaxing him, but he would rather believe it was true.

"I've actually taken back two boxes of drawings, you can go to my house tonight to pick them up, there are still twelve boxes of drawings left, I will find an excuse to send them to Luoyang Shipyard the day after tomorrow, just over there in Black Dragon Pond, you guys will answer halfway, and you'd better prepare fourteen boxes of fake drawings for me, although no one opens the box, but it will happen if someone finds that the box is missing, this request should not be too much!"

He Shouyi squinted his eyes and smiled: "It's a trivial matter, and I guarantee that the original box will be returned." (To be continued.) )