Under the scorching sun, the heat wave of Jinghaiwei Private Port was scorching, groups of porters used carts to transport boxes of cigarettes to two sand boats, and several other berths in the port were also parked with merchant ships, Liu Minyou was surrounded by a group of businessmen in the middle, and it took a long time for a deputy of the trading company to get on top and get out by himself, seeing the scene in front of him, Liu Minyou was both excited and slightly worried to urge some workers to go to other berths to unload the goods.

When the cigarettes were first sent to Jiangnan, the response was mediocre, and many people were still used to smoking with pipes, but after the clove cigarettes were put into Linqing and Jiangnan in April, the unique taste immediately attracted the attention of smokers, and sales began to skyrocket.

When Liu Minyou inspected the cigarette factory, he often tried to smoke cigarettes to check the quality of the cigarettes, but he also became addicted to cigarettes. Now it has reached the point where he has reached the point of more than half a pack a day, he was very disgusted with smokers before he crossed, and now that he is in this business, he has become a smoker, but fortunately, Li Ranzhu is pregnant, so he has less urgency to quit smoking.

After the opening of the cigarette channel, several shops along the canal already have many regular customers, Liu Minyou is ready to sell bags through these channels in the next step, attracting more merchant ships to Jinghai, making it a commercial and prosperous port, as long as there is a fixed fleet of maritime vessels, Wendeng can develop more new products, further reduce logistics costs.

Although the trade form shì was very good, the slowly tense shape shì between Dengzhou and Wendeng made him somewhat worried, and Chen Xin went on an expedition. The Intelligence Bureau forwarded him a piece of information. This information involves civil affairs, after Huang Gongcheng received the support of Dengzhou, he was in line with some gentry and scholars, and sent domestic servants to listen to the news near the two factories in Jinghai, especially the tobacco factory, according to the news from Jingshi, Chongzhen was very disgusted with tobacco, and expressed an attitude of banning tobacco during many court meetings, and if someone accused Wendeng Ying of producing cigarettes, I am afraid it would leave a very bad impression on him. Although the factory was only opened in Liu Minyou's personal name, as long as there was a hint from someone in the heart, Chongzhen could understand.

Liu Minyou didn't know what Huang Gongcheng was doing now, and he really hated this person. With these ill-intentioned people around, he always felt that he couldn't develop with peace of mind.

At this time, another merchant ship from the south was docking, and a big flag with the word Xu was hung on the mast, and Liu Minyou knew that it was Xu Xinsu's ship, transporting tobacco purchased from the south, which was what he needed most urgently.

After the boat approached, a person at the bow laughed loudly: "Brother Liu is clever, he has made a special trip to wait here." ”

Liu Minyou fixed his eyes and saw that it was Zuo Changhao, and Liu Minyou had a good impression of this friend who had fought side by side against the enemy. When I saw each other, I couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly greeted him and said from afar: "No wonder the magpie is calling today, it turns out that there are friends from afar." ”

Zuo Changhao walked across the springboard and said with a smile: "Mr. Liu has been in business for a long time, and his tongue is more sharp than before." ”

Liu Minyou bowed down and said: "It's just that the true feelings are revealed, I fought side by side with Brother Zuo that day, and I still remember it vividly, just like yesterday." He was telling the truth, the bloody battle on the Qinhuai River was the most thrilling time of his life, and it often woke him up from his dreams.

Zuo Changhao walked side by side with him. As he walked, he said: "Brother Liu is really temperamental, thanks to the presence of General Chen and Mr. Liu that day, otherwise I am afraid that the bones will be cold early." ”

Liu Minyou didn't want to mention the events of the day again, so he changed the topic and said: "Brother Zuo is a person who has a lot of opportunities, how can he have time to come to Wendeng?" ”

"It's still Brother Liu's cigarettes, which are too unique. Last time, I bought 100 boxes and sent them to Fujian, and Lord Xu gave them a taste. They don't even want Fujian's pipe silk now, and they have sent letters to urge the goods, and sent the goods from Nanjing to Fujian, but the merchants of the two lakes also came to ask for the goods, and sent people to Linqing to find Zhou's shopkeeper, and he had no surplus goods there, so he had to go to Wendeng by himself and ask Mr. Liu to send one or two. ”

Liu Minyou couldn't help laughing, "Brother Zuo said it interestingly, but I'm really tight here, I'll send a batch after I finish it, and it's not that I can't make it, but the tobacco has been insufficient." ”

Zuo Changhao pointed to the boat behind him, "I brought a boat over, I don't know that Wendeng has a magic method to make ordinary tobacco out of that taste." Liu Min listened to him ask about it, a little embarrassed and didn't know how to refuse, the cloves were added in a separate workshop, all the workers even lived in it, when buying the cloves was carried out in a shop in Dengzhou, the middle transit twice before going to the Sihai Trading Company, after being processed in the barracks in Weihai, mixed with other goods, the channel of the Tongguò army was transported to a warehouse next door to the tobacco factory, and then sent to the tobacco factory in batches, and the people who finally cut the material did not know what this thing was, and did not know where it came from. The cigarette factory set up a fake warehouse in the factory area to confuse and work carefully, and also specially set up a 30-person escort team. With such a heavily protected secret, it is natural that no one can know about it.

Zuo Changhao looked at Liu Minyou's appearance, shook his head and smiled: "Brother Liu, don't be embarrassed, this is the secret technique of Wendeng Camp, and I don't have to inquire about it, it's just a joke with Brother Liu." ”

Liu Min breathed a sigh of relief, now the trend of tobacco is very good, it is the time when they want to make money, the secret of cloves will never be allowed to be leaked, with Zuo Changhao's status in Xu Xinsu Group, it is not a big deal, he will not leave Nanjing casually, although the current momentum of cigarettes is good, but after all, it has just begun, and that trade volume is nothing in Xu Xinsu's eyes.

Entering Liu Minyou's office, Zuo Changhao's face sank, which was completely different from the conversation and laughter at the beginning.

"Li Kuiqi is dead." Zuo Changhao said in a deep voice, Liu Minyou looked at it in surprise, he heard Song Wenxian say that the southeast shape shì when he was in Jiangnan, and knew how important this Li Kuiqi was to Xu Xinsu, and it was precisely because of Li Kuiqi's strong existence that Xu Xinsu had enough capital to fight against Zheng Yiguan.

Zuo Changhao met Liu Minyou's eyes, "I want to meet Master Chen in the future...... Two days later, Zuo Changhao and Liu Minyou finally met Chen Xin in the military camp east of Wendeng County. Chen Xin was also very pleased with Zuo Changhao's arrival. Still with a peaceful smile, Liu Minyou knew that there were many people he had to deal with, but compared to Xu Xinsu's crisis, Chen Xin could only be regarded as a little troubled at present, of course, Liu Minyou didn't know that Huang Taiji also paid attention to Chen Xin.

Zuo Changhao was visiting Wendeng for the first time, and Jinghaiwei and several tunbao near the camp opened his eyes, and in the past few months the tun households had made a lot of windmills that Wang Zheng had improved to carry water for irrigation wells, and beans or vegetables had been planted in the fields that had just been harvested. Herds of peasants are busy repairing canals, ox carts and donkey carts are constantly flowing on the roads, and the land of ordinary people or military households is still arid and barren, like two worlds.

This is also Zuo Changhao's first visit to the military camp of Wendeng Camp. Chen Xin usually receives some guests only in the old garrison mansion of the old camp, and he did not spend money to repair the official office, but only changed the sign to the general's mansion. But this time, Zuo Changhao was deliberately arranged in the military camp to show his strength to Xu Xinsu's faction.

After three months of training, these semi-amateur soldiers already have the appearance of a professional army, and the earth-shattering slogans on the school field and the majestic military posture at any time opened Zuo Changhao's eyes, he never thought that the army would become like this. When he saw Chen Xin's army in Yongping, he was resting after the war, and he did not see the real state of training and fighting in the Wendeng battalion.

He looked at Chen Xin even more highly in his heart. Respectfully knelt down and said: "Lord Chen's army is majestic, it is really better to hear than to see, when I went down to Jinghaiwei Port, I heard that Wendeng Yingpi Island was victorious, beheaded hundreds of slaves, and captured Gushan Ezhen alone, the villain first wishes the adults to go to the next level, step by step." ”

Chen Xin hurriedly bypassed the table and helped Zuo Changhao up with his own hands, and said modestly, "Brother Zuo can't be like this." No matter how much credit this official has made and what official position he has, Brother Zuo and Master Xu are friends of the lower officials. ”

After Zuo Changhao got up, he didn't be too polite, and said to Chen Xin: "My lord." This time I went north under the Lower Heavens, but I was sent by Lord Xu. I want to ask General Chen to use some connections with the imperial court to curb Zheng Yiguan's momentum. ”

Chen Xin already knew a rough idea of Li Kuiqi, and at this time he still asked, "How did Zheng Yiguan kill Li Kuiqi?" ”

"In fact, Li Kuiqi did not die at the hands of Zheng Yiguan, but someone else killed Li Kuiqi." Zuo Changhao explained with a calm face: "Li Kuiqi has no ambitions, he is a pirate with peace of mind, and he often can't control his subordinates, often harasses the coast, and even goes as far as Songjiang and other places to land. ”

Chen Xin asked with some surprise: "It is said that Li Kuiqi has dominated the open sea for several years, and his subordinates are at least tens of thousands, even if there are dozens of big ships, it seems that it is not enough to defeat him." ”

Zuo Changhao nodded and said: "Lord Chen has seen incisively, Zheng Yiguan really can't defeat Li Kuiqi, but Li Kuiqi himself is rebelled by someone's nest, this person is called Zhong Bin, who was originally Zheng Yiguan's gang, and is also an unruly person, in the early years, he followed Zheng Yiguan Zhao'an, and in a blink of an eye, he followed Li Kuiqi to reverse, he himself has a force of men, and he is a powerful person under Li Kuiqi, this person has a backbone behind his head, and this time he killed Li Kuiqi in the nest, he pulled the fleet out by himself, and is constantly attacking and surrendering the remaining remnants of Li Kuiqi, The strength has already reached forty big black ships. ”

Chen Xin frowned, since Zhong Bin was not with Zheng Yiguan, he actually only replaced Li Kuiqi, and it actually had no effect on the shape of the sea, and asked at the moment: "This Zhong Bin is just off the coast of Fujian, and Li Kuiqi is in the same group, he should be familiar with Lord Xu, why does Lord Xu feel that Zheng Yiguan's momentum is unstoppable?" ”

"Zhong Bin is a cruel person, and never willing to be subordinate, the person who plundered Zhejiang and Songjiang is him, although Lord Xu has always been familiar with him, and provided goods for him to trade with the Dutch, but this person is never grateful, and Lord Xu has received the news, this person has also colluded with Zheng Yiguan. Zheng Yiguan kept contacting Zhong Bin privately, but behind his back he claimed to Xiong Wencan that Zhong Bin was naturally rebellious and must not be recruited. Lord Xiong was almost moved by Zheng Yiguan's words, and was ready to continue to increase the number of troops to Zheng Yiguan, if it weren't for Lord Xu's multi-faceted activities, Zheng Yiguan's strength would be doubled, and if he killed Zhong Bin again, he would definitely be promoted to another level, and it would be very difficult to control. ”

"In other words, this Zhong Bin is even worse than Li Kuiqi, and he doesn't listen to anyone, so he won't be Zheng Yiguan's opponent." Chen Xin pondered for a while, "Why didn't Pu Zhuang and them do it when they arrived in Fuzhou?" ”

Zuo Changhao sighed, "Pu Zhuang and they have been there for a short time, Zheng Yiguan has been cautious recently, and after May, he often goes to sea to kill the remnants of Li Kuiqi, and the time in the Zhongzuo Institute is very small, Pu Zhuang and they have set up an ambush, but Zheng Yiguan temporarily changed the road, and there has been no chance to move." And...... There was another traitor beside Lord Xu, and Zheng Yiguan had learned that a group of people from the north were going to assassinate him, and he searched for people with northern accents in the center and left, and Pu Zhuang and they had now withdrawn to Fuzhou. ”

"Your mother, this Zheng Yiguan really has two brushes." Chen Xin scolded in a low voice, he has a lot of people to deal with now, there are still powerful Houjin outside, Shangguan and Ge Lao inside, tens of thousands of mouths for eating, a group of talented gentlemen who don't know the so-called, and the rogue who is about to grow slowly, there is really no more strength to invest in the southeast.

"Zheng Yiguan, Sailor...... Otherwise. Chen Xin turned his head to look at Zuo Changhao, "Since Zhong Bin is not convinced by anyone, as long as he can live, Zheng Yiguan will not be able to dominate Fujian." ”

Zuo Changhao's eyes rolled, and he nodded after half a sound.

Chen Xin's eyebrows loosened, "Since Zheng Yiguan is so capable of fighting, he should be let serve the country, this time Jiannu failed in Phi Dao, it is said that he is ready to rejuvenate the water division, first take Phi Island and then conquer Lushun, if Lushun is lost, then Denglai Tianjin will be shaken, and this official will find someone to ask the imperial court to transfer the Fujian Navy Zheng Yiguan Department to garrison Juehua Island to curb Jiannu's idea." ”

Zuo Changhao's eyes lit up, and then he said worriedly: "Xiong Wencan received a lot of money from Zheng Yiguan, and he will not let Zheng Yiguan transfer him lightly." ”

Chen Xin said with a smile: "Zheng Yiguan will not be willing to come to the north, they need a reason, Zhong Bin needs to live, Xiong Wencan has been in Fujian for three years, how long can this governor sit may not be, as long as Zhong Bin does not die, we will have time, this official will be active in the court, even if Zheng Yiguan cannot be transferred to Juehua, he must make him feel that he may be transferred away from the coast, this dragon is out of the sea, it is a snake, and he himself knows that he must leave Zhong Bin with self-respect." Pu Zhuang and the others continue to stay in Fujian, looking for an opportunity to assassinate, let's prepare with both hands, plus Lord Xu can also speak in front of Lord Xiong, Zheng Yiguan is not so easy. ”

All of Zheng Yiguan's connections are in Fujian, and he is only good at naval warfare, if he leaves there, he can say that he is nothing, and Zheng Yiguan is far from being the powerful Zheng Yiguan who was difficult to control later, if he really wants to mobilize him, he will not be able to coerce the imperial court.

Zuo Changhao smiled when he heard this, "Lord Xu, continue to give Zhong Bin commercial goods and let him trade with the Dutch, so that he can maintain the balance of power." It's just that Zhong Bin is really arrogant, and he wants to make some trouble from time to time, the emperor definitely doesn't want such a sea of pirates outside Fujian, if Xiong Wencan can't stand it, he will eventually start to clean up Zhong Bin. ”

"The emperor immediately didn't have the heart to pay attention to the little Zhong Bin, according to the official's calculations, there was going to be a big incident in the north, so the official would find someone to write a letter, and ask the people in Dongjiang Town to report that Jiannu had signs of establishing a water division......"

Liu Minyou was dizzy when he heard this, and looked at Chen Xin with a mysterious face, only to notice that he actually had some white hair, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. rs