The sun hung like a fireball in the blue sky, and the clouds seemed to have been burned by the sun, and there was not a single one visible from the top of your head to the sky.

The clods of earth on the ground were hot and hot, and a few gray-black locusts were jumping around like springs. The midsummer sun is like chili water, mercilessly pumping everything exposed to the sun.

Li Xiao looked at Guangzhou City in the distance, this is not a place for the fuck.

"This isn't a fucking place for people." Li Xiao looked back in astonishment, he thought that his thoughts had been echoed.

It was the second brother Li Xiu who spoke, followed by the rough men in the army. In addition to learning how to sail and fight, this kid also learned something else.

"My lord! This Guangzhou governor is deliberately hanging us, officialdom rules, how can someone come to the dock to pick us up. ”

"Someone's coming to pick it up!" Li Xiao handed the telescope in his hand to Li Xiu.

A magnificent official ship appeared on the surface of the Pearl River, and other ships avoided it when they saw it. The bow of the ship stirred up the waves, and the crystal waves were shattered by the bow of the ship, shining brilliantly in the sun.

A Zou tooth flag with black characters on a red background was blown away by the river wind.

"Zou Weilian, Admiral of the Guangzhou Navy! Chen Sifu is his subordinate, and Zheng Ye recommended us to meet it a few days ago. Eighty percent of the money Chen Sifu received was collected on his behalf.

This guy recognizes money, and his heart is quite dark. But the reputation is good, as long as you take the money, he will help you. Li Xiu glanced at the official ship and immediately recognized the flag on it.

The Admiral of the Guangzhou Navy Division, logically speaking, can be regarded as a third-grade military attaché, and belongs to the same level as himself, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan. It's just that Daming has never paid attention to the water master. Zou Weilian, the admiral of the naval division, is still a little worse than Li Xiao's name as the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan.

"It seems that the money is still bigger than my Li Xiao's face." Since the two sides are in a cooperative relationship, Zou Weilian will definitely give himself this face. Since the flag was raised, the man must have been on the ship. At the same time, it also shows that this Admiral Zou and Cai Shanji, the governor of Guangzhou, are not all the way.

"Is it Lord Li's ship in Shanhaiguan on the other side?" Li Xiao and Li Xiu were talking, and the official ship was already approaching. A guy who looked like a captain on the official ship yelled at Li Xiao's boat.

"Big brother, this person is Chen Sifu. This time, thanks to him, more than a hundred fireships were launched to attack the Dutch ships. Otherwise, my ship would have been beaten into a sieve. ”

Whenever Li Xiu remembered the sound of the cannonballs whistling and hitting the hull, he felt a little scared. That night, if the war had been delayed a little longer. The Dutch warships played a numerical advantage, so many cannons bombarded themselves together. Even if you don't sink yourself, it will definitely cause very large casualties.

After becoming a sailor, Li Xiu knew how valuable a qualified crew member was. A guy who hasn't been at sea for a few years is not a qualified crew member at all.

Under his command, I dare to say that I have a qualified crew, and there are definitely no more than two hundred people. Those recruits have to rely on these veterans to bring them. In the past, the eldest brother said that the navy is a military branch that needs to be run in for a long time. I still don't believe it, thinking that I can go on a rampage on the sea with a big ship.

Now it looks like we're training a sailor. It is far more difficult than training an army on land.

"Yes! The masts were discounted. Li Xiao glanced back at the mast that was shortened. Time was tight, and I didn't have time to completely repair it in Macau. This time, I have to repair it well in Guangzhou. Otherwise, Li Xiao was very afraid that on the way back to Phi Dao, something would happen at sea.

The sea is no better than the land, and once something happens, it is likely to be a fatal event, and you can't be sloppy!

"Brother Chen, my eldest brother is on the boat. I haven't seen you for many days, and the younger brother thanks Brother Chen for his righteous action. Li Xiu stood at the bow of the boat and shouted to the opposite side.

"It turned out to be Brother Li, and I was ordered by my family. Come to greet Mr. Li, the general soldier Li, can the lower officer board the ship for a while? ”

"Haha! Thank you Brother Chen for your kindness, please! ”

Accepting Li Xiu's invitation, Chen Sifu stepped on the gangplank and got on Li Xiao's boat.

"Brother Chen, this is my eldest brother." Chen Sifu got on the boat, and Li Xiu immediately helped him introduce him.

"Xia Guan has seen General Li!" Chen Sifu was stunned for a moment, and immediately gave a salute. He had heard that this General Li was very young, but he definitely didn't expect that he would be so young. Thinking that I am Chinese New Year's Eve six years old this year, I have only become a guerrilla, and I am really more popular than people.

"Brother Chen, please get up, although our official positions are different. But in this place, we're only talking about personal friendships. I fought privately with the red-haired ghost, Brother Chen, you are willing to take the risk to help, and my brother is grateful. Li Xiao arched his hand, it is rare that this Chen Sifu can speak fluent official language.

Although Li Xiao still sounds awkward, it is better than Cantonese that he can't understand. For Li Xiao, who has lived in the north for two lifetimes, Cantonese is another language.

"Huh! Since the adults said so, the lower officials are not polite. Brother Li is young and promising, which is really the envy of his brother. As for the words of thanks, my brother is indeed ashamed. After receiving so much money from you, if you don't do anything, my old Chen's reputation will be ruined.

Ay......! Brothers, don't blame your brothers, they all lead soldiers. We all know in our hearts that if you don't have money these days, who will give you your life. My brother and I also have subordinates to raise, relying on the few servants in the imperial court, everyone has to drink the northwest wind.

There's no way around it! Chen Sifu hugged his fists and shook Li Xiao, and what he said was quite sincere. Li Xiao, who wanted to tease a few words, also shut up.

"Understood! These days, you can't do anything without money. This time, the eldest brother, the final payment for your troops, the younger brother also brought it with the ship. When you get to the shore in a while, you and the second child will be handed over.

Big brother, you are interesting enough, and I, Li Xiao, will never do anything without credit. ”

"Well said! When you come out to mix, you always need to have a credit. Brother Li, you don't have to say anything, as long as there is something in the future, you will definitely help my brother with a word. Chen Sifu patted his chest like King Kong, like a pirate in the sea more than like a guerrilla general.

I guess this thing used to be a pirate!

"This time, my brother is here to greet you brother on behalf of Lord Zou, and the matter of you beating the red-haired ghost is not happy in Governor Cai's heart.

Speaking of which, brother, you may not know that those red-haired ghosts will give Guangzhou Mansion a bonus every year. I don't know how much silver, but it should be a lot anyway.

Brother, you cut off Governor Cai's financial route in one battle, this is ......! You know. ”

"Thank you, Brother Chen!"

"Then let's go see Admiral Zou."

"Good!"

From Chen Sifu, Li Xiao once again proved that John didn't tell a lie. The officials of Canton Prefecture did take the money from the East India Company.

The joint battle between himself and Zheng Zhilong can be regarded as cutting off other people's financial routes. Otherwise, they would not ignore the etiquette of officialdom, and they would not even owe a seven-grade sesame official on the dock.

"By the way, Brother Chen, I don't know ...... Admiral Zou and the red-haired ghost!"

"Don't worry, brother, no soldier can watch other countries' armies spread wild on our territory. The red-haired ghost is not only in business, but his subordinates are actually not honest.

Secretly do some pirate business, where is there an official government in the vast sea. Whoever has the big fist is the boss. They have guns and cannons in their hands, and they don't believe anyone if they don't rob him.

Over the years, Lord Admiral's brothers have fought with the red-haired ghost many times. Although there are mutual casualties, the red-haired ghost's ship is large. The artillery was also very tight, and my brothers suffered most of the time.

My Admiral has wanted to build big ships many times and buy Franc cannons to kill those red-haired ghosts. But every time, he was pressed down by the governor. They don't give money, and my Admiral can't do anything about it. It costs a lot of money to build a big ship, so you can't afford to pay for it yourself......!

Brother, this time, you really gave us a bad breath. ”

"Oh! I see. Li Xiao smiled and nodded, knowing that this thing was not a good bird.

said that people pretend to be pigs and eat tigers, and these guys must have done a lot in private. Otherwise, there will never be a conflict with the Dutch, black eats black, and there is no good piece of bread.

But the more useful information is that there are often conflicts with the Dutch. When the Dutch sent money, they did not send money to Zou Weilian.

even bought off the Governor Cai and did not allow him to allocate funds to the Guangzhou Navy Division to build ships. No one wants to have one more opponent at sea!

Talking to Chen Sifu all the way, the two arrived at the Guangzhou wharf.

The Guangzhou Pier is much more prosperous than the Macau Pier, and the ships and sails in the port are lined with shops, one after another. However, compared with the Macau Terminal, the international atmosphere has faded a lot.

The workers on the dock, as well as the owners of those shops, are all dressed in Daming clothing. There are no black brothers, and no tuxedo guys in top hats.

However, there is one thing that is similar to Macau, where people open and close their mouths in Cantonese. "Wow", Li Xiao couldn't understand a word.

I got off the boat and went to the dock, and there was already a carriage waiting on the pier.

In Guangzhou in July, the weather was simply torturous. The sun was so white that it was too white to look at it, and the blazing heat scorched everything on the earth.

Just now on the boat, the sea breeze blowing against the water skin is a bit cool. Now that I'm going to die, a layer of sweat is pouring out of my head when I get off the boat.

Fortunately, I shaved my hair short, and I looked at the hair of the people around me. God, how did they endure it. Li Xiu, like himself, shaved his hair short. Standing overtime, the people who were taking Chen Sifu to count the silver.

The guard company followed Li Xiao to the shore, and Shunzi pressed the short-barreled fire gun with one hand and pulled the handle of the carriage with the other, standing on the pedal, looking around like a police dog with two eyes.

As soon as he entered the carriage, Li Xiao felt cool, this is simply two worlds from the outside.

It's strange, is it said that there is air conditioning these days?

Seeing Li Xiao's strange eyes, Chen Sifu smiled and pointed to the copper pads under his feet. "It's all ice, and I don't know how those red-haired people got it. On a hot day, there is still ice for sale.

Throughout the year, this just selling ice has made a lot of money in the city of Guangzhou. It's a hot day today, and my Admiral bought ice for you. Just this bucket, just fucking ten taels of silver, it's just a robbery. ”

Li Xiao patted his head, he was simply a pig's brain. The weather is hot and becomes this virtue, but I don't know how to make ice. deserved to be so hot that his head was full of sweat, and Li Xiao had the urge to slap himself twice.

Saltpeter ice, in fact, this technology is not complicated. Even people with some common knowledge of chemistry can imagine it. Why didn't you think of it yourself!

"So much ice costs ten taels of silver?" Li Xiao's eyes widened, this is really not much different from robbing money.

"There's no way, whoever lets the red-haired man do it, we won't do it. You say it's evil, you can make ice on a hot day. ”

"Hahaha! Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Li Xiao laughed, it was another source of wealth. He was playing haha with Chen Sifu in his mouth, and he had already begun to think about how to make this fortune.

"Brother Li, it is rumored that the Tartars in the north are making a lot of trouble?"

"Oh, it's done! Since last year, the imperial court has won several battles, but the arrogance of the Tartars has been suppressed for the time being. ”

"I also heard that my cousin Na Jinghaihou has something to do with you?" Chen Sifu suddenly blinked his eyes and looked at Li Xiao.

That's right! This is a distant relative of Chen Hailong, and it still looks like a distant relative. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in his thirties, and he would still be a guerrilla general.

"Where it has anything to do with me, it's all the credit of Lord Chen's courage to kill the enemy."

"Huh! There is one thing you don't know, Chen Fuchen, the chief manager, is actually my own uncle. Chen Sifu smiled very weirdly.

"Oh, it turns out that eldest brother, you are the nephew of Chen Laodu. That's your own person, and if you have something in the future, just open your mouth. ”

As the two men were talking, the carriage slowly stopped.

Li Xiao and Chen Sifu stopped talking at the same time, and Shunzi opened the door of the carriage. Li Xiao and Chen Sifu got off the carriage!

"See Lord Admiral, Lord Li, this is Lord Zou of my family." After getting out of the carriage, Li Xiao saw an old man about fifty years old coming out of the Admiral's Mansion.

Wearing a black gauze hat on his head, and on a crimson robe, a tiger's complement seemed to be about to come to life. Li Xiao, who was wearing a short-sleeved military uniform, compared with others, was like an old hen who had seen a peacock.

"I've seen Lord Admiral." Li Xiao gave a gift, everyone is a third-grade official, so there is no need to be too polite.

Zou Weilian was very surprised to see Li Xiao, he had also heard that this Li Zongbing was very young. But I didn't expect that I would be so young. What's even more strange is Li Xiao's outfit, short and flat-headed. He wears a short-sleeved shirt on the upper body and an olive green pair of pants underneath.

He had a wide plate belt tied around his waist, and he wore a holster on the belt. Inside it seemed to be a short-barreled firecracker, but it was much smaller than a firecracker.

The Ming Dynasty was a strict hierarchical society, and the imperial court had clear regulations on what kind of officials should wear what kind of clothes. This kid is wearing clothes so indiscriminately, can it be said that there will be no imperial history to impeach him? In addition, the parents of the body should not be damaged, otherwise it will be regarded as unfilial piety.

But this kid's hair is so short, it is impossible to say that he is a monk. I haven't heard that a monk can be a third-grade military attache in the imperial court, and besides, the monk is bald, and this kid's hair is quite long.