Just after midnight, the biting cold wind blew more and more, and Tianjin Wei was already so dark that it was difficult to hear the barking of dogs.

The malnourished people of the Ming Dynasty did not even dare to walk at night at this time, and no one dared to sail in this kind of cold and windy night, and I am afraid that even the Cao gang men who had been crawling and rolling on the Grand Canal for hundreds of years did not dare to brave the death of the boat in the dark night without stars and moons.

The surging sea and river are hazy.

The vast port of Tianjin on the south bank fell into endless darkness, and the outline of the riverbank within tens of meters in front of him was only a shadow of different shades in the eyes of most officers and soldiers, but Zhu Daolin led two warships to set sail quietly at this time that no one expected.

The two small boats moved forward at a constant speed on both sides of the main channel dozens of meters ahead, and the navigation lights made of copper plates inlaid with glass on the stern flickered on the gray water, and the two 300-ton warships with raised sails followed the navigation lights one after the other, and it was not until they left the port of Tianjin and turned into the canal that the sight of the officers and men gradually adapted.

Zhu Daolin ordered to hang the navigation lights, lower the rope ladder to pick up the officers and soldiers and the small boat leading the way, and raise the sail and move forward slowly.

Zhu Daolin, who has superhuman eyesight, stood at the bow of the ship to personally lead the way, constantly loudly informing the back of the course, and the speed of the warship that only dared to raise the half-sail was not fast, but there were no various ships coming and going during the day on the wide river, the channel was wide and quiet, and the navigation of the warship was quite stable, but the sail rope chief and more than ten soldiers under his command worked very hard, and had to quickly adjust the sails in the sound of the order to ensure that the warship could move forward victoriously in different wind directions.

Because the temperature was too cold, the eunuch Zhao Huaizhong and the sons of the nobles had already entered the bilge to rest, and Zhu Daolin had no one else around him except Guo Zhongjun, the chief of the guard, and the young chief flag who served as the chief of navigation. ”

Zhu Daolin expressed his worries: "After arriving at Tianjin Port, I had a bad premonition in my heart. That's why I didn't berth at the big port on the south coast, and after that, I was always worried about being plotted by an opponent hiding in the shadows......"

"If nothing else, just drop a few broken ships full of fire-starting objects along the riverbank in the dark upstream, float to the side of our warship, and set it on fire with rockets or something, and we can cause huge losses."

"That's why I decided to set sail quietly in the middle of the night. Even if you are weak and timid, it is much better than passively waiting for passive defense, at least the initiative is in your own hands. ”

Only then did the young navigator and Guo Zhongjun on the side understand Zhu Daolin's good intentions, and they nodded in unison.

They knew that the unfamiliar north was completely different from the Jiangnan they were familiar with, and the Jiangnan family gate lords and the Cao Gang, who had been repeatedly hit hard by Zhu Daolin, had powerful forces on the Grand Canal, and they could hire killers to assassinate Zhu Daolin, and they could do it again when no one could predict it.

At this moment, everyone, including Zhu Daolin, didn't know how lucky they were, 15 kilometers behind them in the upper water of Tianjin Port. An ordinary small fishing boat quietly crossed the central course, gradually approaching the empty south shore ferry.

On the small fishing boat, a sturdy man in a tattered jacket looked at the south shore of the big tent, and in astonishment, he didn't care whether his whereabouts were exposed, and urged the two minions on the swaying oars to speed up quickly, and the fishing boat soon approached the empty wooden dock.

The two men looked at each other for a long time, and ordered their minions to continue to go down the river. A careful search of 3 kilometers of the riverbank still yielded nothing.

The two discussed for a moment, and then sailed to the large pier on the south bank again to search carefully. There was a delay of nearly two hours back and forth, where was the shadow of two warships?

Moreover, it was impossible to deduce whether the two ships had already gone north or returned to Dagu Port at the mouth of the river for the night, so they could only return to the depths of the Chahe River five miles upstream, and tell dozens of murderous gangsters to suspend their actions and immediately build a dozen tattered boats loaded with black powder, vegetable oil, and hay. No one was allowed to leave, but they were allowed to enter the hut on the shore and rest for the time being, waiting for the order to go out at any time.

As seven o'clock in the morning approached, the gloomy canopy of the sky gradually brightened, and the officers and men gathered on the deck cheered excitedly. Captain Chen Xuan loudly ordered the sails to be hoisted and move forward at full speed, and Xu Wenjue and the others surrounded Zhu Daolin, whose lips were frozen into blue and purple, and asked him to return to the rear cabin to rest.

Zhu Daolin glanced at Baodi County, which was shrouded in the vast mist on the east coast, nodded reassuringly, walked to the captain's room, took the hot tea offered by the guards, drank it tremblingly, swallowed two rice crackers, and lay down in the corner of the narrow cabin with confidence, pulled up the stinky quilt to wrap his frozen body and fell asleep.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the two warships successfully arrived at the port of Tongzhou.

Under the stunned gaze of thousands of pairs of eyes on both sides of the strait, the two patrol clippers following the Tongzhou garrison sailed directly to the military dock on the south side.

Liu Guojian, a henchman of the great eunuch Cao Huachun and a 38-year-old imperial horse supervisor, was waiting on the dock with a spring breeze on his face, and when he saw Zhu Daolin, who was wearing a red three-grade military attache robe, disembarked, he immediately led the two thousand households under his command to greet him warmly, and asked the cold and warm very cordially, and after asking about the number of goods, he ordered the two thousand households to immediately transfer the convoy and horse team, and hurry up to unload the goods and rush back to the capital as soon as possible.

After Zhao Huaizhong and Liu Guojian finished their salutes, they took Liu Guojian's hand and walked to the side to whisper, and then returned to Zhu Daolin, who was surrounded by everyone, and quietly asked Zhu Daolin: "Does General Zhu have a place to live in the capital?" ”

Zhu Daolin glanced at Yang Junwu and the shopkeeper of Bofu Qianzhuang Tongzhou Branch beside him, and saw the two of them nodding with a smile, so he smiled at Liu Guojian:

"Before leaving, Uncle Xia reminded me that after entering Beijing, I must live in Guanglu Temple according to the rules, and obey the instructions of my father-in-law in Beijing, so I don't plan to live outside, there is Lao Liu's father-in-law!"

Liu Guojian, who has very white skin and good maintenance, smiled with satisfaction: "This is good, this is much more convenient, don't worry!" When you arrive at Guanglu Temple, it's as convenient as coming to your own home, haha! Although it is the first time we meet, it can be said that we are a family, in front of your uncle, our family also has to respectfully greet his old man, and call him uncle, haha! ”

It didn't take long for Zhang Shize, the prince of England, Zhu Chunwu, the second brother of Zhu Chunchen, the prince of Chengguo, and Geng Cong, the 23-year-old Changxing Hou Gengcong, and other noble sons of the capitalists to arrive one after another, and the dock was crowded with four-wheeled luxury carriages flying various flags and a team of knights in iron armor.

Zhu Daolin was happy when he saw so many four-wheeled carriages made by Hushan Manor, and under the guidance of Xu Wenjue, Zhang Dezhong and others, he respectfully stepped forward to pay respects, and was immediately dragged by Zhang Shiduo and Zhu Chunwu, who were about the same age as him, and said nothing to let Zhu Daolin bend down. (To be continued.) )