In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, after the capture of Phi Dao, the chief soldier Shen Shikui was killed in battle, and his subordinate Shen Zhixiang was unable to support it alone, leading 2,500 soldiers and civilians to surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. After that, the Qing army was a division, but Yang Sichang, who was the secretary of the Ming Dynasty at the time, did not re-establish Dongjiang Town, but moved all the people and soldiers on the islands near Phi Island to Jinzhou and Ningyuan. As a result, in a few years, it shocked Liaodong, frequently attacked and disturbed the hinterland of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and severely damaged the Qing army's Dongjiang Town. Phi Island has also become a veritable desert island.

On the night of the fifth day of November in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the wind and waves were calm, and a fleet of more than 100 ships quietly sailed out of Weihai Weijun Port, puffed up their sails, and headed north.

The commander of this fleet was Li Dingguo, who came from Jing Haiwei in a hurry to return to his life, but stayed in Penglai for only ten days. His deputy is Tong Jingyan, the eldest son of Tong Wanjun, the commander of the Denglai Water Division, and Lopez, the leader of the Francois Merchant Group, and the current Penglai Maritime Merchant, that is, the original pirate leader Liu Xiaodao, are also among them. The fleet has 10,000 soldiers, and there are more than 30 wide-bottomed boats, which are responsible for carrying a large number of baggage.

But all the soldiers took off their military uniforms and changed to civilian clothes, but the orders were not in the slightest, and the ships sailed in the darkness of the night, and such a large fleet did not make any noise, and the ships moved forward in an orderly manner with the light on the mast.

But at the stern of Li Dingguo's main ship, three black shadows came together. One of the tall and thin men quietly looked at the crowd on the bow of the ship, and couldn't help but sigh, "It seems that you don't want to sleep tonight, General Li and they are all discussing at the bow of the ship!" ”

Another figure who looked very calm said, "Zizhong." Fortunately, thanks to the trust of the handsome, we have the opportunity to go to sea this time. Look at our classmates, who are now scattered all over Shandong, where are we so free. ”

A simple and rough-voiced man next to him laughed, although he tried his best to lower his voice, but the sound of the urn still spread far away. "Xiao Zizhong, you will be content! Now that you are the commander-in-chief of the MI sent to North Korea, you have learned a lot in the past two months behind the MI Senator, right? It's like me and my eldest brother, and now I'm still a pawn in the army! ”

The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, and the soft moonlight sprinkled over the sea. clearly reflected Xiao Yuanteng's sad face.

"Boss, big cow. Don't laugh at me! What's so good about this MIA? Everything is mysterious and secretive, and I can't see the light, but I want to be like you, rushing to the front of the battle, cutting the generals and capturing the flag. What a majesty that is! Alas! ”

Zhang Jizu patted Xiao Yuanteng on the shoulder. "People do their best. Didn't Da Shuai and Senator Yin also say it? You were born to do this kind of material, and there will be opportunities for you to show your strength in the future, you know. Every one of your envoys can save my Shandong disciples from many unnecessary casualties. As the saying goes, 'a soldier who surrenders without a fight' refers to this! ”

Xiao Yuanteng smiled, the depression and sorrow just now disappeared from his face in an instant, Zhang Jizu and Wu Ziniu knew that he was pretending on purpose, and they couldn't help but roll their eyes.

Xiao Yuanteng took out a small jar of wine from his arms, "Boss, big cow, after landing on the shore, our three brothers will be separated, and the younger brother will sneak into the Korean royal city in advance, and then I don't know what year and month we will be able to meet, or I will disappear silently in this enemy territory, I don't know." Today, we will drink this wine, and if the younger brother ...... in the future, we will ask the two brothers to take care of the younger brother's parents! ”

Xiao Yuanteng rarely said a few serious words on weekdays, but saying it at this time made Zhang Jizu and Wu Ziniu's hearts suddenly tighten. There are still Qing soldiers stationed in the royal city of Joseon, and Xiao Yuanteng's departure has really become "a stinger inserted in the heart of the enemy" as Zhu Ping'an said. Today's difference, I don't know what year or month we will meet again, or it will be the eternal separation of heaven and man, and the different paths of people and ghosts. At the thought of this, the eyes of the three of them were slightly red.

"Come, you and my brother have done this jar of wine, and from now on, the ends of the earth, make contributions, and never forget each other in the rivers and lakes!"

The voices of the three people vaguely reached the bow of the boat, and Tong Jingyan couldn't help frowning, "These three guys, what are you muttering there!" Come on, go get ......! ”

"Forget it!" Li Dingguo waved his hand, "The three of them are friends of life and death, let them talk tonight!" ”

Since Li Dingguo, as the commander of the First Army, opened his mouth, Tong Jingyan naturally didn't want to say anything. After carefully observing the ocean current and wind speed, he said to Li Dingguo: "My lord, the fleet should be able to arrive at Dingzhou Port in Ping'an West Road in the early morning of tomorrow." ”

Li Dingguo nodded. This is the first time he has led an army on a solo trip, and the pressure on his shoulders can be imagined. Thinking about what Zhu Ping'an said to him before leaving, he suddenly seemed to have more courage and confidence.

"The world is in chaos, sooner or later we will have to fight the rogues head-on, I also know your thoughts, you don't want to meet their swordsmen, I don't want to fight such a battle, but there is no way, I really can't dodge. But you're different, that's why I appointed you as the commander of the rebuilding of Dongjiang Town. In the face of the Tartars, you can let go of your hands and feet, and you have room to play. It will not be very difficult to conquer Phi Island this time, but the difficult thing is to stick to it all the time, and to expand cooperation with the Korean royal family, quietly run Dongjiang Town, and when there is an opportunity in the future, you can send troops from North Korea to smash Huanglong! ”

As the general of Shandong, Zhu Ping'an can put himself in Li Dingguo's shoes like this, Li Dingguo is naturally inexplicably grateful, and from then on he secretly vowed in his heart that he must complete the task of rebuilding Dongjiang Town and operate it as an anti-Qing base on the flank of the Manchu Dynasty.

Li Dingguo pondered for a moment, then turned his head and said to an old man dressed as a scribe beside him: "Yu Changshi, there are many contacts between the Lu Wangfu and North Korea, and now there is news coming back. ”

The old scribe was Yu Qijiao, the chief of the Lu Palace. When Liu Zeqing attacked Dengzhou, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, wanted to sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight and reap the profits, but was later discovered by Zhu Ping'an. After pacifying Liu Zeqing, Zhu Yihai's maritime trade business plummeted, and suddenly all the major merchants no longer dealt with the palace, so Zhu Yihai lost a lot of silver, and the goods were also backlogged. Later, Zhu Yihai figured out the joints, so he ordered Yu Qijiao to go to Dengzhou instead of him to ask for guilt, and Zhu Ping'an also took the opportunity to put forward a request to share the trade route of North Korea with Lu Wangfu.

Zhu Yihai regretted it, but he didn't have the strength to resist, so he had to pinch his nose and agree. But when it was time to set off, Yu Qijiao found out that Zhu Ping'an's fleet turned out to be a heavily armed sailor, so he realized that it was not good, and wanted to send news back to Zhu Yihai, but he was tied to the warship by Li Dingguo, and it has been until today.

During this period, Li Dingguo ordered Yu Qijiao to contact the North Korean side, and Yu Qijiao had no choice but to comply. Not long ago, the people under him had already sent the news. "One qiē as usual, normal trading!"

Li Dingguo nodded with satisfaction, at present, there is no communication channel between Shandong and North Korea, and Yu Qijiao still needs to contact him, but once he is connected, Lu Wangfu will not want to play any role in it, which is also the tone that Zhu Ping'an has set early on.

López on the side was inexplicably excited, and the smell of the sea on his face seemed to be very different from the past, like a mellow aroma of wine, which made people intoxicated.

What was an inadvertent bet turned out to be the situation it is today, even if López has traveled all over the seven seas, he has never heard of such a miracle. Zhu Ping'an has jumped from an ordinary low-level officer in Fengyang to a military general in the Ming Empire, and the land and population he controls are equivalent to a superpower in Europe. What's more, now he also has a powerful waterway army.

What started as an inconspicuous investment is now lucrative, much to the excitement of López, a businessman with business blood flowing through his body. Today's Francois business group has become the palm of López's hands, and all shareholders have to act according to his face. It is no exaggeration to say that López's words can cut off all the maritime trade routes from the Francophone to the north of the Ming Empire. Just because his partner is Zhu Ping'an.

Even the Dutch and their East India Company were not allowed to have good relations with López, and because of the success of the trade with the Ming Dynasty, López was received and honored by the King of Portugal.

Therefore, this time, Zhu Ping'an asked him to help develop the North Korean market, which made López even more overjoyed and grateful.

And Liu Xiaodao next to him, who used to be a guy who followed the butt of the Francois merchant group to pick up leftovers, has now taken root on the shore, wearing a satin robe, where can it be seen that he used to be a murderous pirate without blinking. Now, when he sees Zhu Ping'an, he is more like a house slave, eager to hug Zhu Ping'an's feet and kiss him wildly.

Looking at the distant and vast sea, thinking of the imminent establishment of a closed and backward ancient country, thinking of the wealth and business opportunities that are still unknown, López trembled with excitement, and Li Dingguo beside him may have seen López's mind and couldn't help but smile.

"Mr. López, our marshal said that trade and commerce are the two pillars that underpin friendship. On this trip to North Korea, we will use your name to open up the situation in North Korea in advance. But the marshal also made it very clear, he hoped, no, it was an order. This time, you can only enter the DPRK in the name of a merchant group, and you must not enter the name of your government. Do you understand? North Korea is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, that is, all interests in Korea are at the disposal of the Ming Dynasty. You can only ask for what we give you, and you cannot ask for what we do not give you! Do you understand? ”

López smiled humbly and bowed deeply to Li Dingguo, "Heroic General Li, you can rest assured about this." I am just a merchant, and a merchant who is attached to the great Lord Zhu Ping'an, without his save, my merchant group is nothing more than fish and meat to be slaughtered. Your Excellency Zhu Ping'an and your instructions are supreme orders for me, even more than the sovereign of our country, and every word he says will be carried out to the letter! ”

Liu Xiaodao on the side also nodded frequently, and his body was bowed like a cooked shrimp.

Li Dingguo suddenly laughed. (To be continued......) R1292