On Wednesday, October 4, 1645, the fifteenth day of August in the first year of Longwu of the Ming Empire, the Mid-Autumn Festival.

With a long whistle, a passenger and cargo Oriental Union merchant ship slowly sailed into the Pok Wan Pier on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, looking at the dark green scenery of the northern continent, three young people on the deck dressed in the costumes of Ming scholars involuntarily pinched the railing, and the faces of the dusty servants were excited that could not be concealed.

Gu Jikun, Wang Fuzhi and Luo Jian set off by boat from North America in early June, and then transferred to a high-speed passenger ferry in Nanshan overseas, which was supposed to arrive in Hong Kong in early September, but because of a mechanical failure of the ship on the way, they had to stop the ship in the overseas territory of Yueshan Island, and it was delayed for half a month.

Fortunately, when he stopped at Pearl Island, Luo Jian sent a telegram to his father, so at this moment, Luo Jian's father Luo Huide had already led people to wait at the Hong Kong dock.

"Father's ......"

"I've seen my uncle."

The three young men who stepped on the port saluted the rich middle-aged man who came almost at the same time, and Luo Jian, who was in front of him, buried his face and didn't dare to look up.

At the beginning, I carried my family behind my back and sneaked on a gorgeous boat, and I went there for three years. Now that he has returned from school and seen his long-lost father again, Luo Jian recalled the various orders and repercussions about himself at the beginning, and couldn't help blushing slightly.

"Okay, it's good to come back......" Looking at his son and the two strange young people beside him, Luo Huide pinched his beard and nodded frequently.

Looking at his son who is much more mature, Luo Huide, who has also undergone heavy changes in his life in the past three years, did not scold him, but just patted his son on the shoulder lightly, looking very kind.

After his son's introduction, Luo Huide, who was a little knowledgeable, was even more excited, Gu Jikun and Wang Fuzhi were well-known scholars in Jiangnan many years ago. In the future, it is very likely that he will become an official in the court, and his son has studied with them for several years.

Luo Huide's vision has always been very poisonous, and when he sees that the two of them are not ordinary people from businessmen like himself, they are also scholars who came back from studying in Western Huamei, and the relationship between them and Huamei Oriental Union Group is not bad!

"The two of them studied in Huamei with children, and they have been classmates for three years, and this time they will return to their hometown even if they are a family, so let's go back to Guangzhou to rest together. Today coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival. The old man invited a few distinguished guests of the Oriental Union Group to enjoy the moon, as well as a few local friends, even if it was for you to wash the dust. It is not easy to travel tens of thousands of miles back to your hometown, if there are any difficulties, you can also bring them up! ”

Luo Huide, who was careful in his heart, looked familiar, and did not directly express his inner thoughts, but greeted Gu and Wang as elders.

Gu Jikun and Wang Fuzhi quietly glanced at each other, and had no choice but to salute and agree. If according to the original arrangement. Gu Jikun and Wang Fuzhi planned to go directly to Fujian to visit Zheng Sen after returning to the Ming Dynasty, and it is said that when Jiangnan fell, Zheng Sen immediately protected and settled their families in Zhangzhou.

At this time, Luo Huide can be described as a spring breeze, in the past few months. Not only did the Guangzhou small and medium-sized maritime business group that led Guangfu Bank earn enough profits and face in this turmoil between Guangzhou, but also because of the reason of standing in line, it entered a period of love with Zhao Youheng and other officials who made a comeback.

Although he has settled in Hong Kong, he has traveled between Guangzhou and Hong Kong for convenience. In addition, he married a new concubine and needed to settle down, so Luo Huide simply bought a mansion in Guangzhou City. On weekdays, he goes in and out of the Guangdong Governor's Yamen and the Hong Kong branch of the Oriental Union Group, and often entertains merchants from all over the world in Guangzhou City. It has become like a new generation of leaders in the business circles of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and Guangzhou, which has attracted the eyes of some old Guangzhou maritime businessmen.

In addition to the well-funded and aggressively expanding Kwong Fuk Hong, Law's own industry in Hong Kong has also been given an opportunity to develop by leaps and bounds. In order to reward Luo Huide's active performance in the turmoil between Guangxi and Guangzhou, as well as the instigation of Fujian, Zhejiang and maritime merchants to move south, the Oriental Bank took the initiative to provide Luo Huide's garment processing factory with a commercial loan at a preferential interest rate for the first time.

Luo Huide, who is not short of money, ordered a complete set of technologically advanced spinning machinery from OUCC Group in the form of a joint stock, and it is also steam-powered, which can produce high-quality spinning yarn that meets Huamei quality standards.

Prior to this, only the Huang family in Ding'an County, Qiongzhou, had obtained a set of advanced steam-powered yarn mills producing 20 yarns from the Oriental Union Group many years ago by giving away 30% of the shares, with a scale of only 1,500 spindles and an annual profit of only more than 20,000 taels of silver. This time, the yarn factory equipment obtained by Luo Huide only gave away 20% of the dry shares, and the scale also reached 3,000 spindles, which is a high-end 30-count yarn process!

Luo Huide naturally knew quite well that this was just the Oriental Union Group buying bones with a thousand dollars, provoking the big gentry and Nanhai firms in Guangzhou to compete openly. In the future, it is inevitable that a bunch of followers will use him as a template to move closer to the Oriental Union Group, and he will also become the biggest opponent of the squires in Qiongzhou who have eaten enough, but the temptation of interests in this is too great.

In order to purchase and protect this leading yarn factory in the Ming Dynasty, Luo Huide directly pledged tens of thousands of silver taels and a large amount of grain to the Yamen, the governor of Guangdong, and then dotted up and down officials at all levels in Guangzhou, so that the wasteland in the Kowloon Village area on the north shore of Hong Kong Bay was completely encircled at a very low price.

This time, the son who learned a hand of Taixi's skills returned to his hometown, which can just come in handy, and if there is any problem, he doesn't have to bump around with his old arms and legs.

……

……

In the open-air courtyard of the Hong Kong Governor's Palace, a moon-viewing night banquet for only two people is being carried out under the dim candlelight.

Di Zugong, who has traveled to Temasek, Pearl Island, Hong Kong, Manila and Dayuan Tungning City in six months, is comfortably leaning on the chair to watch the moon.

The six-month mission of the "Congressional Far East Study Group and Far ASEAN Countries Visiting WÈN" officially ended today, and the group will soon depart for North America. After months of running, Di Zugong's body, which was already a little out of shape, actually showed some weight loss, although the body was tired, but the harvest was also huge.

Whether it is Liu Xiang of Lanfang or Li Guozhu of Manila, they all vowed to maintain a high degree of consistency with Huamei on the issue of treating Nanming. Not only did they join hands to participate in the overseas grain trade embargo against Nanming, but they even expressed their willingness to obey the unified dispatch of the Chinese and US military. Prepare for the final elimination of the Zheng family, a group that has monopolized the Ming East China Sea for more than 20 years.

Although the big man is still the overseas Tusi territory of the Ming Dynasty on the surface, under the in-depth contact with Huamei over the years, how can the Yan family not know the true movements of Huamei, and will also seize this golden opportunity to replace the Zheng family in one fell swoop. Moving closer to the small court of King Lu in eastern Zhejiang, sending the main fleet to Nan'ao Island to carry displaced people, and suppressing the strategic space of the Zheng family was the result of Di Zugong's visit to Wèn.

In order to "inspire" these allies, Di Zugong, who was authorized, signed a series of memorandums of cooperation with Lanfang and Luzon in one go, covering many aspects such as economy, education, health and military.

To say the fly in the ointment. Presumably, Di Zugong must return to China, and he will not be able to see with his own eyes the military attack on the Manchus a year later, and the implementation of the "Southern Ming Zheng zhì reform line" drawn up by Homeland Security Minister Fan Li. This is a pity for Di Zugong, who has always regarded himself as a "pioneer mentor of the Eastern Reform", because with his age and physical condition, he may not have a second chance to go to the Far East in the future.

"Teacher, Luo Huide has received strong support from the Oriental Union Group, and there will be people in Liangguang who are willing to set up industries in the future. However, the students thought that this action was too explicit, and it would inevitably cause dissatisfaction in Qiongzhou. I'm afraid that even the students will have to endure the reproach of the Nanhai business in Qiongzhou, and it is not easy for Brother Liu to explain......"

Zhao Mingchuan, as always, served Di Zugong with a disciple courtesy, and poured another glass of light rice wine for the other party, while talking quietly.

"It's a pity. is just an ordinary businessman who is not too big or small, and he is not a big landlord in the two wide lands. Di Zugong smiled disapprerovingly, as if he was still a little dissatisfied with this result, "If someone really covets the red Luo Huide." Then I think it's a small part of it. More than ten years have passed, and the hard work has only impressed Qiongzhou, a small place far away from the mountains, and it seems that there is a long way to go......"

"Now the Manchu Qing is coercing Jiangnan. King Lu, King Tang and other clans and vassals have risen up one after another, and the power struggle within the Ming Dynasty is even more than in previous years, and they continue to attack each other, so why revive? If there is a real dispute between the South China Sea and Guangfu Bank, if we stand by and watch, I am afraid that there will be a new chaos between the two Guangzhous, which will consume internal strength and be detrimental to the overall situation, right? ”

Thinking of the successive performances of various domestic schemes in Daming and Guangzhou, even if he had long lost the heart of working for Daming, Zhao Mingchuan always had a little bit of trouble in his heart for the Oriental Union Group to "make waves" in Liangguang like a-stirring stick.

"I have already told you that the problem of Daming is not in the court, but in the countryside and villages. The foundation of this Ming dynasty is not in the orthodoxy of the Zhu family, but in the local landlords and squires. In a society that needs landlords and gentry to maintain, the greatest resistance to reform lies in the landlords and gentry, and the greatest opportunity for reform is also on them. ”

"Whether it is a Nanhai firm or a Guangfu line, it is just a spokesman for the reform of advanced productive forces of the landlords and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, and it is an early attempt of social reform in the Ming Dynasty. But what Daming needs is not one or two pioneers who eat crabs, let alone a small result and close the door early, it needs a highly tempting infectious power to spread! What is most susceptible to infection is naturally economic benefit. As long as the fundamental interests coincide, then it is not a problem! ”

"Generations of Chinese landlords who have been obsessed with the land for thousands of years are not only supporters of the imperial family, but also gravediggers of successive dynasties. Which time is the cycle of chaos and reincarnation, and the land in the world is not all the root? Prosper industry and industry, create social wealth with a more advanced social production model, so that landlords no longer rely on land annexation and tenants to accumulate family wealth, so that those silver watermelons buried in the ground for several lifetimes can circulate in society, so that more ordinary people no longer rely on land to survive. ”

"You should wish that there were more big landlords in Liangguang and Guangzhou, and they couldn't resist the temptation to follow Luo Huide to make waves, and it will spread more widely in the future. Only when they move, change, and jump up, can the Ming court have silver in their hands, and half of the Ming Dynasty can come back to life. These prescriptions have been in place for 20 years, and they have only achieved such results, are you going to stop taking them? ”

"You don't have to worry, at least until now, Huamei has not had the slightest intention of occupying Daming. In our eyes, tens of millions of square kilometers of fertile land in North America are no worse than Da Ming...... In other words, the more dynamic the economy and the more prosperous the society, the greater our business profits. ”

After saying a lot, Di Zugong was already a little impatient, and he was actually very clear about what Zhao Mingchuan was really worried about.

This was probably the first clear "promise" that Zhao Mingchuan had received from Di Zugong's mouth, but now it did not dispel the biggest worry in his heart.

It has been 20 years since he joined Huamei, and Zhao Mingchuan has already grown from a problem boy to a mature Huamei entrepreneur. Huamei's consistent social atmosphere of "business and government are not separated" has made him clearly see the real purpose of Huamei in supporting the new generation of merchants and factory owners in the Ming Dynasty and infiltrating the coastal trade of the Ming Dynasty in the past 20 years.

Land, Huamei really does not need it, but if it continues like this, the Ming Dynasty, which is self-sufficient in a small peasant economy, is afraid that it will lose countless social wealth in the future.

Under the industrial scissors, hundreds of trillions of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty work all year round just to contribute to the happy life of the Huamei people. The so-called rich Dongtu Shenzhou, one day it will become a withdrawal account for Huamei to take and demand. What will be left behind will be a vain and prosperous era that is too peaceful on the surface, but the bottom is a poor and turbulent political reef.

By the skin of one's teeth? Or regret it?

Zhao Mingchuan himself didn't know, the only thing he understood was that the medicine of these two Guang really couldn't be stopped, and once it stopped, it would be all in vain.

Now Daming is dying of starvation, but at least the current Liangguang can still earn a soup to drink, right?

……

……

A few days later, the news that Gu Jikun and Wang Fuzhi had returned from a study tour in Huamei spread, and for a while, many Jiangnan scholars and lower-level officials who were in Guangzhou visited the Luo family's mansion in Guangzhou City, making the master's family even more arrogant.

But Gu Wang and Wang had plans as early as halfway back to China, and politely refused the retention of Luo Huide and his son, and directly rejected the solicitation of Zhao Youheng, the governor of Guangdong. Judging from the political position of the two, Emperor Longwu is far more reliable than King Lu in eastern Zhejiang.

They planned to return to Fujian and Zhejiang to recruit brave soldiers to fight against the Manchus, and the first choice was their friend Zheng Sen, who had been absent for three years. (To be continued......)

PS: Resurrection of the second bullet...... There are a lot of drafts of all kinds, and two chapters are sorted out to save the emergency first. Sigh, the seventh volume is gone after it is written, work hard!