In the northeastern part of the South Island, there are more than 20 islands, such as Maude, Brother Island, Peping Island, etc., the largest of which is called Arapawa Island, with an area of about 75 square kilometers, the island is densely wooded, and there are many reefs around it.

That morning, several canoes sailed out of a rock, each with two men in each seat, naked men, dark-skinned, fierce-looking, and hair scattered behind them.

One rowed, the other holding a sharpened earthen spear, staring at the sea, when suddenly a spear, a large fish was pierced through the body, and surfaced, and both natives laughed excitedly.

This is an indigenous tribe from the northeastern archipelago, about dozens of people, as Fanning said, in the tribal war for the island, they lost, more than thirty men with a dozen women and children fled here in canoes, crossed the strait two months ago, originally landed in the South Island, but they found a trace of people on the island, so they did not dare to go to the island, hiding on the largest island in the sea archipelago.

Just ten days ago, they went to the North Island to investigate the situation, and also found that the city had just been built, in order to find out information, they kidnapped a Japanese laborer, how could they not communicate, in anger, they killed the laborer, and divided his food.

At this time, the indigenous people were still struggling to survive, but they did not know that a catastrophe had quietly descended.

Several canoes were busy fishing in the calm sea, when suddenly a loud rumbling roar came from a distance, which stunned several people, and suddenly, a huge boat appeared from the fjord, and several indigenous people were startled and fled back to the island.

At the same time, hundreds of Song soldiers from the southeast and southwest sides of the island were pulling nets to kill the natives, and a dozen natives who fled south happened to encounter the Song soldiers.

Immediately afterwards, the Song army found their lair and killed them with a knife, the natives were cornered and were killed, only seven or eight rushed into the canoe and tried to escape from the water, but dozens of Song army boats had blocked the northern part of the island, and the soldiers on the big boat fired arrows in unison, and the last eight natives also fell into the water and died in the belly of the fish.

Only one old man was left among the more than 50 natives, and although the language was not understood, the Song army used pictures to interrogate, and after a short time, the results of the interrogation came out.

The commanding envoy Wu Tie reported to Fan Ning: "The interrogation has been completed, only this group of natives has come to the South Island, and there are no other natives, and they are the ones who killed the laborers." ”

"Where did they come from?"

"They didn't know that it took more than 20 days at sea to get here."

Fan Ning breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, the arrival of this group of natives should have been an accident, perhaps it was because they discovered the North Island and the South Island, and when they went back to pick up people, the news spread, and the natives began to migrate south one after another.

Of course, this is just speculation, but in any case, the alarm in front of me has been lifted, and there is no need to think about the influence of the natives for the time being.

After staying in the North Island for another two days, Fanning set off for the Great Song Dynasty.

.........

On the fourth day of October, after replenishing fresh water and coke in Luzon on the way, Fanning's giant ship finally returned to Quanzhou, and the family was overjoyed, and after nearly a year of separation, the family was finally reunited.

Fanning rested at home for five days before heading overseas for the official office.

There are two ways for officials to leave office, one is to hand over in the capital, and the other is to take up a new official and hand over directly in the official office, Fan Ning belongs to the latter type, he is overseas, and it is not when he will be able to return, the imperial court issued an appointment and dismissal order in late September, appointing the deputy envoy Li Mu as the new head of the Overseas Economic and Strategic Office, responsible to the Zhizheng Hall, and at the same time removing Fan Ning from the official post of overseas economic envoy, and entering Beijing for another appointment.

He no longer has an official position in Quanzhou, and he doesn't know whether it is easy or lost, Fan Ning only feels empty in his heart, for four years and nine months, he finally created the prototype of the overseas Great Song Dynasty, and he has a trace of reluctance in his heart.

Of course, he also has regrets about the southern seas, the eastern part of Java Island, as well as the Irian Islands, more than one million square kilometers of land, the Great Song Dynasty has never set foot in it, and it can only be left to future generations.

Zhu Pei sent her husband out of the mansion and said with a smile: "Meaning, we are going back to the capital?" ”

Fanning nodded, "Send a pigeon letter first and ask my sister-in-law to clean up the house for us, and when we arrive in the capital, we can move in directly." ”

"What about the Quanzhou house?"

"Don't sell the house in Quanzhou, put it for the time being, and then go to Ganjiang Island to transit in Quanzhou, and have a place to rest."

Ju Pei nodded, their luggage had already been packed, and when their husband returned, the whole family would enter Beijing together.

"Then you come back early and have dinner together in the evening."

Fanning smiled and turned on his horse, "Then I'm leaving!" ”

Zhu Pei waved goodbye to her husband and watched him go in the direction of the official office, she looked back at the mansion, where they had lived for nearly five years and were finally going back to the capital.

........

Fan Ning came to the official office, Li Mu greeted him, bowed and saluted, "You have worked hard this year!" ”

"Congratulations to Brother Li on his ascension!"

Li Mu has been promoted from the fourth product to the fourth product to the envoy of the fourth grade, and knows the affairs of the overseas economy.

He was not promoted to the position of Overseas Economic Minister, but was appointed as the Governor of the Overseas Economic Affairs Office, which meant that he was no longer directly responsible to the Son of Heaven, but to the Governor's Hall.

This is also a compromise reached between the Zhizheng Tang and the Empress Dowager Cao last year, after the end of Fanning's term, the overseas economic strategy was changed to the head of the Zhizheng Hall, and the overseas economic strategy envoy also became a fictitious position.

Li Mu smiled bitterly, the biggest reduction in the power of the governor of the Overseas Economic Strategy Mansion is that the military power is gone, and the recommendation power of overseas officials is gone, and he is greatly restrained by the governor's office, and his authority has been greatly reduced, there is no way, Fan Ning is a high-ranking official and a low position, and he has the support of the Queen Mother, and his authority is very large, and his current authority is the norm.

He invited Fanning into the lobby, and Fanning smiled: "Let's hold a handover ceremony!" I'm relaxed. ”

Li Mu immediately put down the incense case, and the two held a handover ceremony, and Fan Ning completely resigned from the post of Jingluo Mansion.

Fanning came to his official room, his three staff members have all taken official positions, the official room is still the same as when he left last year, a thin layer of dust fell on the table, Fanning sat in his seat for a while, and he was very emotional in his heart, nearly five years have passed, he has hardly sat here, and most of the time is busy in the open sea.

At this time, a person engaged in reporting at the door, "Su Zhizhou has an urgent matter to see!" ”

It was Su Liang who came, Fan Ning nodded, "Please let him in!" ”

Fan Ning heard his wife Zhu Pei say that Su Liang's term of office has also expired, and he will enter the court to serve as the host and guest of the Ministry of Rites, and he will be promoted to the doctor of Chaosan, and he will also be officially promoted to the fifth grade.

After a while, Su Liang walked in quickly, and said as soon as he entered the door: "Go have a drink, I'll tell you an important news." ”

"If you have to sell it, let's go!"

Fanning had nothing to do in the Jingluo Mansion, so he simply went for a drink and learned some information.

The two came to the Xin'an Restaurant close to Jinjiang, sitting on the second floor, you can clearly see the scenery on the river, the boat is like a shuttle, and the back and forth are continuous.

The bartender served the two of them a drink, Su Liang grabbed the wine jug, filled the wine glass in front of Fan Ning, and asked with concern, "What's the news of the new position?" ”

Fanning shook his head, "It will be promulgated only after talking to the imperial court and the Son of Heaven, and there is no news for the time being." ”

After a pause, Fanning asked again, "Is the Son of Heaven in charge?" ”

Su Liang looked around and whispered, "The Son of Heaven is in charge, but the Queen Mother has not retreated." ”

"What do you mean?"

"I heard that the small government affairs queen mother has delegated power, but in major matters, the queen mother still holds the final decision."

"What do you mean by a major business?" Fanning asked again.

"I'll tell you something! I also heard that Han Qi took the blame and resigned, and the Son of Heaven refused to agree, thinking that Hebei's poor defense had nothing to do with Han Qi, but the Queen Mother approved Han Qi's resignation, and Han Qi couldn't stay. ”

Fan Ning understood, "You mean to say that the appointment and dismissal of high-ranking officials from the third rank is still in the hands of the Queen Mother?" ”

"That's what it means, there are more than one million guan of money must be approved by the queen mother, the three divisions of the degree of support Liu Kan will be a sum of 1.2 million guan of the royal border money divided into two 600,000 guan project, approved by the Son of Heaven to implement, but Liu Kan was soon impeached and imprisoned, the Son of Heaven is helpless, in addition, the transfer of more than 10,000 troops must also be handed over by the queen mother, personnel power, financial power, military power, in fact, are in the hands of the queen mother."

Fan Ning was speechless, if the Queen Mother continued to love power like this, there would be a big mess sooner or later.

He sighed in his heart and asked, "Didn't you say that you have important news to tell me?" ”

Su Liang nodded, "I heard from a Japanese businessman, and I don't know if it's reliable, the envoy of the Liao State has arrived in Heianjing." ”