Shi Diwen said in his heart, we just want to sell the weapons to the north now, but we are worried about falling into the hands of pirates, so we haven't started it for the time being. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 But it was not clear for the time being, and he pondered for a while before he asked again: "According to what you say, there are no pirates over there, and there are officials who collude with pirates, so it is not easy for us to do it!

"It depends on what you're trying to achieve. Xu Yuzhuo explained: "If you just want to clear the local sea area and deter Xiaoxiao, then it is actually very simple, just send troops to fight all the way, and no one can stop you." However, if you want to be recognized by the Zhejiang government and settle down in the local business in the future, it will be more troublesome. Because there are so many people involved, if you want to sweep away the local pirates, you will inevitably hurt the interests of some people, and it is inevitable that people will be jealous. ”

Shi Diwen said: "What does General Xu mean is that the high-level officials of the local government are involved?"

Xu Yuzhuo hesitated for a moment before nodding, acquiescing to Shi Diwen's statement. For the local powerful people, the pirate tool is really useful, and all the work that can't be put on the table can be handed over to the pirates, and they only need to control it behind the scenes and collect the money on time. Occasionally, a few unsociable officials will quickly be taken away by the calculations of the top and bottom, and they will definitely not stay in the local area for long.

Shi Diwen said: "Then retreat to the second, you don't need big people, you can have small people who are worth supporting." Please don't worry about General Xu, when we asked Lord Xu to cooperate, it was not because we liked his official position at that time, but we thought that he could be trusted and worthy of our resources to support him. As long as there is a suitable option, we can also replicate this process in Zhejiang. ”

When Haihan first contacted Xu Xinsu, he was just a low-level officer who had just spent a few thousand taels of silver to buy a general military position in the Fujian Navy Division. If Haihan hadn't invested a lot of effort to support him, he would have been killed on the battlefield by Shibazhi as early as 1628, and there would have been no chance to climb all the way to the Fujian General Army. Xu Xin's status and power today are indeed largely due to the continuous military assistance of Haihan for several years, which is clear to Haihan people, and the people of the Xu family also know it.

Shi Diwen took Xu Xinsu as an example, and he was indeed very persuasive, since Haihan had the ability to lift a sailor all the way to the position of the general army of a province, of course, he could also try to support one or several local spokesmen in Zhejiang. The big people may be reluctant to cooperate with Haihan because of all kinds of inseparable interests or favors, but the people below may not all have the same heart, and there will always be people with ambitions or other intentions to take risks to fight for the top. What Haihan needs now is to find a target like this.

Xu Yu said clumsily: "I am only responsible for military affairs, and I don't know much about the news in Zhejiang officialdom, so if you want to recommend candidates, it will be really difficult!"

Seeing the disappointment on Shi Diwen's face, Xu Yuzhuo hurriedly said: "However, there is a special person under my father's command who is responsible for this aspect of affairs, and there must be a candidate, but this matter needs to be reported to my father, and he will make a decision." ”

"Of course this is how it should be, Lord Xu has taken the idea, we errand runners are easy to do!" Shi Diwen nodded in response. Haihan's plan to make a move on Zhejiang would have communicated with Xu Xinsu, and the reason why he came to Xu Yuzhuo first was also to explore the attitude of the Fujian military first. Since Xu Yuzhuo has put forward the condition of taking a piece of the pie on behalf of his family, the follow-up details can be communicated and discussed little by little.

Shi Diwen had heard Xu Yuzhuo describe the situation in Zhejiang in detail, and in fact, he had already thought that his family, or the Fujian military, must have secret intelligence agencies carrying out relevant operations, but they lacked an opportunity to make use of the intelligence information they had collected. Maybe the Xu family has secretly cultivated some people in Zhejiang, but the time has not yet come, and they dare not publicize it easily, or they themselves have not thought about how to act locally in order to win benefits for Fujian.

Although this matter ultimately depends on Xu Xinsu's attitude, Shi Diwen is not worried about it. He had dealt with Xu Xinsu two years ago, and he could feel the ambition that could not be hidden in the other party. If there is an opportunity to expand his power to the surrounding provinces, he believes that Xu Xinsu will not miss such an opportunity. What's more, this time it was Haihan who took the initiative to propose it, and he didn't need Xu Xinsu to come forward directly, as long as the Fujian military properly cooperated.

Now that the general direction has been agreed, Shi Diwen is not in a hurry, but Xu Yuzhuo does not want to delay time, so he repairs a letter in front of Shi Diwen, and then asks someone to send it back to Zhangzhou immediately. Xu Yuzhuo thought that after Shi Diwen arrived in Penghu, he immediately transferred to Zhangzhou, obviously Haihan's attitude towards this matter was more eager, Shi Diwen didn't say it, but he couldn't pretend not to understand.

The waterway from Zhongzuo to Zhangzhou City was less than 100 miles, and the messenger sent by Xu Yuzhuo set off by boat, and arrived at the dock outside Zhangzhou City at dawn the next day. After disembarking from the ship, there was no delay at all, and he directly called the carriage on the dock dedicated to urgent matters with the token. There was no need to inspect the city gate when they arrived at it, and the defenders of the city gate opened the gate when they saw the car and let it go. When Xu Xinsu got up early in the morning and went to the yard to exercise, the messenger delivered Xu Yuzhuo's letter.

"Haihan people finally can't hold it anymore!" Xu Xinsu returned to the study and read the letter, and his mood was very good for a while.

As an official, Xu Xinsu can only go to the capital if he wants to be promoted, and he does not plan to let go of the cause of Fujian and go to the Ministry of War to be a clay sculpture Bodhisattva, so in the past year, someone from the Ministry of War has sent a letter to ask for his opinion, and he has deduced that his body is not suitable for the northern climate and he is unwilling to be transferred to the north. After all, here in Fujian, he can do what he says, and millions of silver are collected every year through various trades, and everything he wants can be realized, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the emperor of the soil.

However, the current scale of the Xu family's maritime trade is far from reaching Xu Xinsu's own goal. He believes that his maritime trade business seems to be unlimited, but in fact it is extremely restricted, except for the direct navigation of Hainan Island, which is controlled by the Han Dynasty, the trade environment in the adjacent areas to the south and north is not ideal.

Although the commercial bank under the name of Xu is also one of the thirteen shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa", and the big merchants in Guangdong also have a friendship with colleagues, Xu's sea trade business in Guangdong is still subject to many restrictions. Of course, there is nothing to say, when Guangdong merchants go to Fujian, they also have to abide by the rules set by the Xu family, and everyone is just each other.

As for the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas in the north, the situation is even far worse than that of Guangdong, at least although the competition in Guangdong is fierce, but with Haihan in the middle, the maritime businessmen of Fuzhou and Guangzhou will never tear their faces because of competition, but there are many opportunities for cooperation and investment. And it is much more difficult for Jiangsu and Zhejiang to intervene, and they have to be vigilant from time to time, because one day they will be used by pirates to stumble.

The situation in the south is actually good, Xu Xinsu's main trade object is Haihan, and the direct route from Fujian to Hainan is similar to that of Manila on Luzon Island in the past, and the trade volume with Haihan is at least ten times that of the past with the Spaniards. At the same time, with the help of Hainan Island as a trade transit station, Xu Xinsu was also able to open up the trade routes from Fujian to Annam, Champa and other Indochina Peninsula regions, and the trade volume has increased many times compared with a few years ago.

In addition to the daily need to be cautious in the north, Xu Xinsu's biggest headache is actually that the route to the north is stuck at this location. The Haihan people occupy the island of Taiwan and need a large number of immigrants to move in the area for development, and Xu Xinsu is very interested in participating in this matter. But the cost of recruiting immigrants from Fujian is too high, far less cost-effective than transporting cheap Central Plains refugees from the north by boat, and the more people are brought back, the faster the plantation development on the island of Taiwan can be developed. However, the Zhoushan Islands are stuck in the middle of the shipping route, which greatly increases the cost of population transportation and the navigation risk of the fleet, which makes Xu Xinsu resentful.

A few days ago, news came back from Penghu that after the Haihan people opened a port in southern Taiwan, they started a non-stop war with the Franco-Rang people who occupied the north, and it took less than 20 days to completely expel the Franco-Rang Mans from the island of Taiwan, which means that this large island, which is about one-third of Fujian, has completely fallen under the control of the Haihan.

Why did the Haihan people take Taiwan Island, Xu Xinsu still had some points in his heart. As early as more than two years ago, the Haihan people had already vaguely expressed their interest in the island of Taiwan to him. At that time, Xu Xinsu was bent on expelling Shibazhi from the Fujian Strait as soon as possible, so even Penghu could be handed over to Haihan to control, not to mention the island of Taiwan, which was not included in the Ming Dynasty. And if the Haihan people want to take this wild island, in addition to planting plantations, they must also use it as a springboard to expand their sphere of influence to the east and north. In recent months, the Haihan people first went south to build a port in Kaohsiung, and then went north to expel the Francophiles, a series of actions that were clearly intended to bring the island of Taiwan and its surrounding waters under their control, and then continue to expand outward in this way.

The Haihan people want to expand their sphere of influence to the north, which is also one of Xu Xinsu's goals, the interests of the two sides coincide, Xu Xinsu is actually waiting for Haihan to take the initiative to discuss this matter with him, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly.

"Pass the order, go to sea today, and go to the center and left to inspect!" Xu Xinsu quickly made a decision. He knew how much information his son had, and if he wanted to talk to the Haihan people about the specific details of the operation, Xu Yuzhuo must be unable to catch it, and he had to come forward as the principal to discuss it with the Haihan people in detail. Shi Diwen came to Fujian twice last year before last, and Xu Xinsu met with him, and he also knew that Shi Diwen's status in the Haihan Army was not low, and it was not a bad thing for him to take the initiative to meet him from Zhangzhou.

Xu Xinsu wanted to go out of the city to inspect it would not be as simple and convenient as Xu Yuzhuo to send a messenger, just preparing his guard of honor, gathering his entourage and personal guards, and mobilizing the relevant ships, it took more than an hour, and this was already a time to move extremely fast. By the time Xu Xinsu left the city to board the ship and leave, it was almost noon. Although the size of the fleet he went out to patrol was not too large, there were also six ships, the flagship was an exploration-class warship purchased from Haihan, and there were three Fu ships, a troop transport ship and a supply and rescue ship, and the sailors and entourage also had a total of about 400 people.

However, the fleet went down the river, and the voyage was much faster than when the messenger came, and when the sun went down, the ships at the front could already see the outline of Gulangyu.

Shi Diwen didn't expect Xu Xinsu to come so quickly, after talking to Xu Yu yesterday, the main lord rushed over today, this efficiency is indeed much higher than that of the Ming bureaucrats in this era, and it can also be seen that Xu Xinsu is very interested in Haihan's suggestions, which can be regarded as good news.

Xu Xinsu is a very pragmatic person, and after arriving at the official residence in the city, he only let the kitchen make a table of simple wine and food, and let all the subordinates retreat, leaving only the Xu family's father and son and Shi Diwen present. After Xu Xinsu and Shi Diwen exchanged a round of wine after taking a seat, he took the initiative to bring up the conversation: "General Shi, if the old man's understanding is correct, this time Haihan is preparing to go north, is it the intention of the executive committee?"

Xu Xinsu can also be regarded as a Ming official who has a deep understanding of the Haihan power system, and knows that the highest authority of Haihan is the Executive Committee, and now he wants to move with Zhejiang, he must confirm that this is indeed a decision from the Haihan Executive Committee, not the Haihan military's own assertions.

"Don't worry, Lord Xu, the things I came to discuss with you this time have been discussed and approved by the Executive Committee. Shi Diwen unhurriedly took out a document and put it in front of Xu Xinsu: "This is the authorization letter of the Executive Committee, please look at it." ”

Xu Xinsu picked it up and roughly scanned the contents, and saw that the place where the payment was stamped with Haihan's unique round radish seal, so he said with a smile: "The stakes are very high, you must be cautious, and I ask General Shi to forgive me." ”

"Lord Xu is old, and it is also appropriate to check the power of attorney. Shi Diwen said in his heart Fortunately, Yan Chujie had a lot of eyes before setting off from Sanya, and specially went to the executive committee to get a letter of authorization, what he was afraid of was that Xu Xinsu, an old fox, was suspicious, and it really came in handy here.

Xu Xinsu said: "It's not that the old man is suspicious and can't believe General Shi, but because of this matter, it may be necessary to use some hidden piles that the old man has deployed very deeply in Zhejiang, once the identities of these people are exposed, it will be difficult to continue to stay in the local area in the future." The future and fate of many people are at stake, and the old man has to be careful. ”