The officials of the Ministry of Rites who dealt with the wedding of the prime minister did not expect the Fujian sailors to come so quickly, and the welcoming team of more than 1,000 people had just arrived in Songjiang Prefecture when they received news from the Songjiang prefect that the Fujian sailors had arrived.

According to the request of Fang Ling, the second wife of the Guogong Mansion, the welcome mission was not personally attended by Wang Lanping, and it is said that the bride had to be personally attended by the groom, but the smart Fang Ling understood as soon as she heard that the prime minister handed over this matter to her to decide, and the prime minister was unwilling to go, and she did not know the reason for not going.

Therefore, the welcoming mission was led by a five-pinlang who was in charge of the Ministry of Rites, singing and dancing all the way, blowing and beating, and it was lively for a while.

Songjiang Mansion is today's Shanghai, according to Nanjing, there are also 300 miles of road, and it takes three or two days to move a normal fast horse, so the greeting team first boarded the warship of the Yangtze River Naval Division from Zhenjiang, and traveled day and night.

It just so happened that the greeting mission had just appeared at the seaside wharf, and the landed family envoy met, Fang Shuang exchanged happy dishes, greeted politely, and immediately made great drum music, the gongs and drums along the coast were noisy and the firecrackers were earth-shattering, and the surrounding people who rushed to the scene also ran out to join in the fun, and only after inquiring did they know that this was the fiancée of the prime minister of the dynasty, and the daughter of the famous Zheng family.

Why is such a big thing the people don't know much, this is mainly the result of Wang Lanping's indifference, since the Zheng family agreed to marry, it shows that the marriage is a foregone conclusion, and it can no longer be too high in the government and the opposition to elevate the status of the Zheng family, to make a picture of the prime minister marrying your Zheng family's daughter, that is to give you Zheng's face posture, the Zheng family wants to be out of the ground and have to look up to the prime minister, the reason why Wang Lanping wants to do this, is to completely get rid of the Zheng family in the future.

The bride Zheng Jiasi was full of nostalgia on the one hand, and longing for Lang Jun on the other hand, in the joyful sound of ceremonial music, she changed into a small boat and landed on the shore, and then the official of the Ministry of Rites read out the emperor's holy decree, which King Zheng married was given by the emperor himself, and it had to be more formal, of course, this holy decree was prepared a long time ago.

Then Zheng bride sat on the eight sedan chairs sent by the Dingguo Mansion to pick her up, and went to Nanjing City, but at this time it was the third day of the fifth month, and there were only two days before the big day.

Therefore, just after Songjiang City, the wedding team changed boats at the riverside wharf and went to Nanjing by water, but in the process of these changes, no one cared why the ships of the Fujian Navy Division were slow to move, and they had been anchored at the mouth of the Songjiang River.

The whole Fujian sailors from the north are lined up, four hundred large and small warships are lined up along the coastline, the guns cast by fine iron are shining in the sunshine, the banner is clear, mighty and majestic, much better than the Yangtze River sailors, and the sailors are more from fishermen and pirates from various countries, there are people of all colors, even blacks, they are wearing the military uniforms of the Ming army, they look particularly eye-catching, don't look at these people can't even speak a word of Chinese, but they are definitely the mainstay of the Zheng sailors, they can skillfully operate all kinds of artillery and firearms, And because they are in a foreign country and cannot return, if they want to survive in the East, they can only work harder than the locals.

Four hundred warships are divided into three teams, the front army is commanded by Shi Lang, the Chinese army is Hong Xu, and the rear team is Liu Guoxuan, all three of them are particularly proficient in naval warfare, the most recent naval battle of the Fujian Navy Division occurred in the Luzon Islands a year ago, in fact, this naval battle has nothing to do with the Zheng family, the cause is the Dutch entrenched in the Ryukyus (Taiwan | Bay), the Dutch have occupied the Ryukyus for more than ten years, and built a strong castle, last year, three Dutch merchant ships full of goods set off from the port of Kaohsiung and returned home under the escort of ten warships, When passing through the Luzon Islands, they were targeted by pirates and found that in fact, this was not a pirate, but pretended to be the Spanish Armada entrenched in Luzon, they had long been eyeing the Dutch merchant ships, and they knew what was on them, and they were itching, so the Spanish Armada lowered the arrow flag and raised the skull flag, and sent fifteen warships at a time to raid the Dutch fleet, the Dutch were caught off guard, four of the ten warships were sunk by medium artillery as soon as the war began, and the rest of the ships fled from the Luzon sea in a hurry, and the Spaniards were not dead and kept tailing, More than 20 days later, entered Zheng Zhilong's sphere of influence, the Dutch asked Zheng Zhilong to send troops to resist at the cost of two thousand taels of gold, Zheng Zhilong ate this bowl of rice, and immediately ordered the sailor Qianhu Hong Xu to lead thirty warships to fight pirates, dare to play this hand on Zheng's territory, Zheng Zhilong allowed him, none of the Spanish warships that followed escaped back, twelve were sunk, six were captured, and even the sailors with the warships were owned by him after a little modification, and the Spaniards couldn't say if they were bitter, who told them to pretend to be pirates.

Not only that, Zheng Zhilong also insisted on suppressing a Dutch merchant ship full of goods, and the Dutch could only swallow their anger in order to prevent the situation from expanding, and no one dared to argue with Zheng in the South China Sea.

It was also from that time that the Zheng clan had become a thorn in the eye of Western European countries to dominate the South Seas, and a large-scale war could break out at any time.

This battle alone can give a glimpse of the combat effectiveness of the Zheng Navy, in fact, this is no longer a naval division, it is a well-known naval fleet, and it is really overkill to let them enter the Yangtze River to fight.

It can be seen that Zheng Zhilong is not humble to Wang Lanping, he really wants to pass the approval of the imperial court, so that he can let go of his hands and feet to do a big job on the boundless sea, and at the same time he can't fully trust the imperial court, so all the warships are moored on the coast of Songjiang, anchor in formation, and make a long-term stationing plan, at this time the three sailors are gathering together to discuss, to establish a naval base on the Songjiang coastal wharf, and will definitely not enter the Yangtze River.

When the three of them were discussing, a sailor came to report that there were ships coming from the shore, under the banner of Li Yuannian, the general soldier of Songjiang in the Ming Dynasty.

The three of them immediately walked on the deck, Shi Lang took the clairvoyance to see, to say that this clairvoyance is really a good thing, especially on the sea, unobstructed, with this thing can see the flag of the warship twenty miles away, this thing was originally purchased by Zheng Zhilong from the Dutch, originally the Dutch did not take this as a commercial goods, it is forbidden to sell, but can not stand Zheng Zhilong's pirate temper, directly pulled out a hundred warships Chen Bing Chi embedded in the sea outside the city, and finally bought this thing, with this thing Zheng's sailors are even more like a tiger, north to the Zhoushan Islands, From Ryukyu in the east to Malacca in the south, Zheng's sailors galloped across the country, unmatched.

Shi Lang could see from the clairvoyance that the ship was just a small civilian boat, and in addition to one captain on board, there were two other people wearing the costumes of the Ming military generals.

Shi Lang handed the clairvoyance to Hong Xu beside him, and after the three of them finished reading it, Shi Lang said, "No matter what anyone says, the three of us only respect Zheng Dashuai's military orders, and we are not allowed to enter the river."

Hong Xu and Liu Guoxuan nodded in unison.

The boat went under the warship, and Li Yuannian, the chief soldier of Songjiang, raised his head and said loudly, "The general soldier of Songjiang and the general Song of Yulin Wei Dragon and Tiger came to greet the Fujian sailor brothers, dare to ask the three famous Hong Qianhu, Shi Qianhu, and Liu Qianhu?" ”

The three of them were not rude, and they all bowed down and said, "Exactly, come here, put down the cable, and welcome the two generals to board the ship."

The boat walked slowly next to the bottom of the warship, and looked at Song Dali again and again, "Good guy, such a big one, which is this boat, looking at Lao Tzu from a distance, I thought this was an island, hey, Li Yuannian, do you know this warship?"

Li Yuannian, this year's Wujin Shi who came out of Enke, only knew land warfare and foot warfare all his life, and had no attainments in this sailor, and this was the first time in his life that he saw these big guys, much bigger than the warships parked in the water village on the edge of the Yangtze River.

The two of them were surprised in their hearts, and climbed the cable to the deck, before the two sides could see each other, Song Dali impatiently asked Shi Lang about everything on the warship, which sounded like a casual question, but in fact, the purpose of his visit was to find out everything here, including the details of each thousand households.

If this move is replaced by those scheming people, it can arouse the suspicion of the other party at a glance, but Song Dali is very arrogant, he is a very rough person, full of foul language, such a person first gives people the impression of a reckless man, and he will not believe that he has other purposes, which is why Wang Lanping sent Song Dali.

Song Dali looked east and west on the deck like a child seeing his beloved toy with an overly surprised expression, touched here and there, patted there, and drooled and said, "Weird, your mother, good things, I Song Dali has fought for half a lifetime, opened his eyes, really opened his eyes, oh yes, this general, what do you call it?" ”

Shi Lang is also easy-going, according to the grade, he and Song Dali are not half a star, and immediately arched his hand, "General Hui Longhu, Shi Lang, the official of the Thousand Households of the Lower Fujian Water Division, this is Liu Guoxuan of the Thousand Households, and this is the Hong Xu of the Thousand Households."

Hong Xu and Liu Guoxuan were busy saluting, "See General Longhu, General Li"

The rank of the chief military officer and military attache is considered to be the third grade, the dragon and tiger general is the second grade, and the thousand households are only a positive fifth grade.

Li Yuannian hugged his fists and said, "Polite, polite, the sailor brothers are thousands of miles away to send their relatives here, we are waiting for the prime minister's order to come to greet each other, at this time the marriage team has gone to Nanjing, the prime minister is overjoyed, the Manchu Dynasty congratulates, then Nanjing City celebrates with the whole world, it must be extraordinarily lively, ranking thousands of households, when do you plan to enter the Yangtze River?" ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the three of them changed, and Shi Lang arched his hand and said, "This, um......"

But at this moment, Song Dali laughed and interrupted him, doing things too quickly often attracts the vigilance of others, Song Dali pulled Liu Guoxuan and pointed to a warship on the opposite side and asked, "Brother Liu, you talk to me, can this guy really fight?" What a play."

When it comes to warships, it is the pride of every sailor, Liu Guoxuan is proud, holding an inch of goat whiskers and said, "General, this ship is called Daxi Warship, which can also be called a Fu Ship, which is an imitation of the Dutch warship on the basis of the original Fu Ship, with 15 zhang in length and 4 zhang in width, equipped with 400 sailors, 200 muskets, double decks of the hull, 40 guns on both sides, and three giant cannons at the head and tail, a round of salvo, which can cover the sea surface of Fang Yuan 1 mile, and there are no plates."

Song Dali said at a glance, "Tsk, it's so powerful, I can hear Lao Tzu's scream, you have to inform me if there is going to be a war, I have to see the power of this guy with my own eyes."

Liu Guoxuan hurriedly said, "It must be certain, the Fujian Navy Division came to defend the Beijing Division on the order of Zheng Zongbing, and if there is an enemy to attack, the final general will definitely let him be wiped out, and there will be no return."

Song Dali laughed, "Okay, this sounds uplifting, I'm asking you, who are these people on your boat, we are black like this, darker than the bottom of the pot in my house, and sunburned on the sea?" ”

The three of them laughed when they heard this, and the atmosphere immediately became harmonious.

I only heard Hong Xu say, "General Song, these people are from the distant West, but I can't tell where the last general came from, according to the last general's estimate, their faces should be natural, and our sailors' brothers call them blacks."

At this time, Li Yuannian on the side interjected, "General Song, it's important to do business first, discuss how the sailor enters the river, don't delay the errand of the imperial court, it's not easy to explain if you miss the prime minister."

Song Dali waved his hand and grinned, "Hey, the prime minister is busy with the candles in the cave room, how can you take care of these, come, three thousand household officials, do you have wine, take advantage of this bullish formation, let's **** a few big bowls on this boat"

In the face of Song Dali's recklessness, Shi Lang and the other three thousand households gradually relaxed their vigilance, in fact, until now, they have not figured out the real purpose of these two people on the ship.

As he spoke, a banquet was set up on the deck where the sailor was slightly shaking, and Song Dali endured the dizziness and took care of himself.

The wine was brought from Fujian, not as sweet as the south of the Yangtze River, through the dizziness of the wine and the shaking of the hull, Song Dali pulled Shi Lang's arm, it was a good spell, from the romance of the gods to Guan Gong and Qin Qiong, and from the legend of ghosts and gods to how the palace concubine in the Forbidden City was Peugeot, anyway, there was no serious word, and the general soldiers of Li Yuannian who accompanied him were stunned, and no one knew what Song Dali was doing with these idle articles, and the three of them quickly came to a conclusion, General Song was drunk.

**

However, it was said that the wedding envoys on both sides gathered together, took advantage of the Yangtze River waterway to travel down the river, and came to Zhenjiang in the middle of the night.

Gan Hui as the envoy to the north is also extraordinarily trying, along the way to meet people to get some silver, anyway, the Zheng family has silver, and has been with the Ministry of Rites to welcome the envoy to inquire about the recent situation of the imperial court, he came to Nanjing has no intention of going back, do not make a contribution and never return home.

The fleet is close to the Yangtze River, from time to time you can see the Ming army on night patrol in the river and the Ming army sentries holding torches on the shore, on the banks of some of the banks along the river bank that are relatively easy to land, you can see the batteries along the river that are illuminated by torches as day, every time you pass such a battery, there are small boats coming, and you can set off again after verifying your identity.

Gan Hui has high ambitions, the closer he is to Nanjing, the more excited he is, and he can finally show his ambitions, but soon there is a little more worry in his heart, how to get close to Prime Minister Wang, it is absolutely impossible to stay in Nanjing for a long time just by virtue of the identity of a family envoy, and he will return to Fujian as soon as the wedding is over, and it will be even more difficult to come back.

Sleepless all night, there was also a person in the cabin of the main ship and he was in the same mood, Zheng Jiasi was sad, how happy it was when the wedding team left Quanzhou, but he didn't expect to enter the Yangtze River in Songjiang Mansion, but Prime Minister Wang Cheng did not come to pick her up, in the face of the prime minister's cold, Zheng Jiasi lost sleep, tossing and turning, helpless again and again, Shi Lang is right, I really shouldn't come, even if the scenery is infinite, it is not just a victim of power, Wang Lanping, Wang Lanping, what do you think. (To be continued.) )