Chen Zizhuang asked Li Zhaoji: "Shopkeeper Li, tell the truth to the old man, did you really come uninvited this time, or did you premeditate?" ”

Li Zhaoji's face was full of surprise: "Why did Master Chen ask such a question?" ”

Chen Zizhuang said: "The last time I raised money in South Park, you were in the middle of the chaos, and you let the families donate a lot in vain. Of course, it was a contribution to the country, and the gentry and us had some complaints, but it was also a due. This time, Governor Shen invited us to discuss maritime affairs, and you happened to appear again, why don't you come back to participate in the market? ”

Li Zhaoji laughed, and said in his heart Chen Zizhuang was really afraid of the well rope after being bitten by a snake for ten years, and he was cheated by himself last time, and now he has a psychological shadow.

He hurriedly explained: "The four surnames are in the sea, I, Li Zhaoji, voted tens of thousands of taels of silver on the silk ticket, and now a load of raw silk is sold for less than 100 taels in Guangzhou, such a good thing is rare for decades, may I ask Master Chen, I just can't get along with you, can I still get along with money?" ”

Chen Zizhuang nodded: "If I hadn't known the truth in this, I would have taken you to see Lin Cha a long time ago." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled, and said in his heart that he had arranged people outside his house, if there was any conflict, just a few healthy servants of the Chen family, it was okay to deal with the market splashes and rural barbarians, and it was nothing to deal with the outlaws and tigers and wolves under his own hands.

"Hey, you say, is that Hai Shuzu a ginseng market?" Chen Zizhuang thought of Hai Shuzu again, when Nanyuan raised funds, Hai Shuzu was also one of the participants in the market, but he was robbed of the limelight by Li Zhaoji and was easily forgotten.

Li Zhaoji said: "Master Chen, I promised him a profit, and after this transaction, the silver he got was indispensable for 10,000, so can Lord Shen Youlong give him this amount?" ”

Chen Zizhuang nodded slightly: "It's really not, but I always feel that today's game is not easy to disassemble." ”

Li Zhaoji hurriedly clenched his fists and said: "Last time Nanyuan fundraised, the younger generation offended Master Chen a lot in order to please Lord Shen.

Since the maritime affairs have been agreed this time, Master Chen is puzzled, and the younger generation is not talented, so I will solve it for you, how about it? ”

Chen Zizhuang saw that Li Zhaoji had an idea, so he must have been interested and asked, "What do you say?" ”

At this time, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps outside, the housekeeper had already invited people to the table, obviously coming to knock on the door soon, Li Zhaoji said to Chen Zizhuang: "Master Chen came over with his ears." ”

Chen Zizhuang immediately posted it, Li Zhaoji only said two words in his ear, Chen Zizhuang immediately stretched his eyebrows, gave a thumbs up, and said: "It's really yours, haha, just as you said." ”

"What about this table?" Li Zhaoji asked with a smile.

Chen Zizhuang said: "I originally wanted to let you listen to it in this small hall, and when the old man solves this matter, he will discuss it with you secretly. ”

"Hahaha, that junior is disrespectful." Li Zhaoji laughed, opened the door, and went out with Chen Zizhuang.

There were already six people sitting in the flower hall, including Zhao Wenji and Hai Shuzu, everyone saw Chen Zizhuang come out, and immediately got up, but when they saw Li Zhaoji behind Chen Zizhuang, their faces changed again.

"Li Zhaoji, why are you here?" Zhao Wenji blurted out.

Li Zhaoji spread his hands: "Mr. Zhao, I haven't seen you for many days, you have always been good?" ”

Zhao Wenji really didn't expect to meet Li Zhaoji here, he looked at Chen Zizhuang and asked, "Mr. Chen, what is this...... What does this mean? ”

After Chen Zizhuang invited Zhao Wenji to sit down, he said: "The four surnames are fighting infighting, and the whole of Guangdong is in danger, and this matter has something to do with Zhaoji." A few years ago, his ship was attacked by pirates on the Lingding Ocean, and Zhaoji just wanted to teach him a lesson, and sent a fleet to attack the pirate's lair, which caused a great turmoil and chaos.

This is no wonder Zhaoji, but what he was thinking about was pirates attacking and harassing the people, so regardless of the danger, he entered Guangzhou and discussed the matter with the old man.

Mr. Zhao, others don't know, don't you know, when it comes to worrying about the country and the people, why did Zhaoji lag behind us? ”

Zhao Wenji didn't know what to say for a while, the infighting between the four surnamed pirates was related to the Oriental Trading Company, and the Guangdong local government already knew about it. But as for what the relationship was, they didn't know, they just heard from the captured pirates that when they met someone from the Oriental Trading Company, they would be killed.

But Li Zhaoji has the world in his heart, which he knows very well, and it is also what he admires most about Li Zhaoji.

It's just that at this point, he and the governor Shen Youlong failed to reach an agreement. Shen Youlong always thought that Li Zhaoji would become the second Zheng Zhilong, who would be useful for a while and cause trouble in the future. However, Zhao Wenji thinks that Lee Zhaoji is different from Zheng Zhilong and has big ambitions.

But the reality has made the two sides incompatible, and Zhao Wenji is difficult to change.

"That's what I said, but Chief Soldier Lin Cha still has some unresolved misunderstandings about Shopkeeper Li, and Shopkeeper Li still has to be careful." Zhao Wenji said to Li Zhaoji, but he kindly reminded him that Guangzhou was very dangerous to him.

Of course, Li Zhaoji knew that Guangzhou City was a tiger's den in Longtan for him, but this meeting was encountered, not discussed in advance, and even if Lin Cha had his hands and eyes in the sky, he could not foresee his coming in advance.

As for the agreement with Chen Zizhuang on the sale of silk bills, it is related to the trade of the trading company in the future, at least next year, and Li Zhaoji is not worried about others replacing him in any case. In particular, the person in charge of Guangzhou is still Hai Shuzu, a person who has a complicated relationship with the trading company.

"Come, come, everyone, raise your glass!" Chen Zizhuang raised his wine glass and said to everyone in a very eager tone: "Today's participants are all old friends of the old man, don't be restrained, let's drink this cup together." ”

After speaking, Chen Zizhuang drank all the rice wine in the cup, and the rest of the people followed suit, and after a few glasses of wine, the atmosphere in the flower hall was lively.

When these gentry get together, they naturally can't just talk about business, especially at the beginning, so everyone talks to each other, talking about the matter of last year's autumn season, and some people lead the topic to Jiannu and thieves, but the news of the gentry in Guangdong is extremely backward, and they don't know that the thieves and Jiannu have become a big disaster, and some people show that the things in the north are not about the appearance of the south, but some people echo it.

"What thieves are ravaging the Central Plains, it's all what Tang Bao said, and the left is just preparing for tax increases. It's just a matter of ignoring it, but it's the chaos of the four pirates surnamed in the Pearl River Estuary that is a real mess, which makes the gentry of the whole province a headache. A gentleman said that this man was not involved in the silk ticket business, and he did not know much about the inside story, so he was more straightforward in his words.

And Zhao Wenji immediately answered: "What Master Mi said is very right. As soon as the pirates are in turmoil, the gentry of the whole province will not be able to live in peace for a day. And this time the infighting between the four surnames is not the same as the previous chaos, but there is a lot of room for action. ”

The four pirates have occupied the Pearl River Estuary for more than ten years, and they have been at peace for many years, mainly because the four pirates maintain a delicate balance between them, and the pirates and the imperial court are also divided into spheres of influence and do not interfere with each other, and the Pearl River Estuary is often not a pirate rebellion, but a change in the imperial court.

For example, when pirates rebelled at the mouth of the Pearl River last year and the year before that, Shen Youlong deliberately allowed Lin Cha to destroy the smuggling places on Neilingding Island in order to raise funds, selling ships at high prices, and artificially creating tensions.

And this time, it was Li Zhaoji who made a move and created civil strife and infighting.

Master Mi showed great interest in Zhao Wenji's words, the reason is very simple, his family has grain and timber trading, this kind of trading requires large ships to enter and exit the Pearl River estuary, these ships are large and slow, it is easy to be targeted by pirates, and the four surnamed pirates are in chaos, which makes their business suffer greatly.

Listening to Zhao Wenji, there is room for action, and immediately ask for advice on how to quell the chaos.

Zhao Wenji immediately said: "This time is different from the past, it is the infighting between the four pirates, attacking and killing each other, causing turmoil in the ocean.

As for why the four surnamed pirates suddenly fought among themselves, there are different theories, and there are rumors that there is some misunderstanding between Shibi and Zheng Tingqiu. In any case, it is not a good thing for pirates to wreak havoc on the Lingding Ocean, and what Lord Shen means is that the big guys will come forward together to put pressure on the pirates to see if they can get them in order and restore order.

As long as everything is as good as before, everyone is at ease, isn't it? ”

Master Mi laughed: "If the imperial court and our gentry come forward to mediate together, then the four pirates with the surname will be shameless if they don't stop fighting." The old man looked, this can be done. ”

He said boldly, but suddenly found that something was wrong, Chen Zizhuang and everyone at the meeting did not express their position, speaking of which, it was a few of them who dealt with the government on behalf of the gentry on weekdays.

"Brother Chen, is there anything wrong with the Governor's method?" Master Mi is also a smart person, and he saw some clues, and asked directly to the principal Chen Zizhuang.

Chen Zizhuang put down his chopsticks and said, "When you didn't come, I also talked to Zhaoji in the room about this matter, he has some opinions, which are quite similar to the old man, you might as well listen to what he has to say first." ”

Master Mi is the only one among them who is not familiar with Li Zhaoji, and he immediately asked: "Shopkeeper Li, you must give advice if you work hard." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled and stood up: "I don't dare to advise, but I am also doing sea trade below, the sea is uneven, and my business is also affected." ”

Everyone nodded, knowing that Li Zhaoji was modest, and Li Zhaoji said: "I can't agree with what Mr. Zhao said. Those four surnamed pirates are pirates, heinous, among the four surnames, which one does not have hundreds of outlaws, and which one is not in blood debt.

How can such a pirate be at peace with the imperial court? The Governor is a local parent, and he is the Guardian of the Heavens, so how can he make the pirates feel at ease?

Even this time, the big guys work together to pacify the pirates, these pirates are all wolf ambitions, everyone is brazen, who knows which day there will be trouble again. What should I do then, and then come forward to calm down?

In the long run, will the people say that the officials and thieves are a family, and will they say that the court and the pirates are in the same stream, which will damage the name of the governor and harm the interests of the gentry and the people.

No, no, never. ”

When Master Mi heard this, he hurriedly looked at the people at the table. Zhao Wenji's face was solemn, but he was not angry, he had already guessed that the persuasion of this trip would not go well, but he didn't expect that it was Li Zhaoji who should not be here to oppose it.

But I think this situation is good, Li Zhaoji has a grudge with the governor anyway, but he has avoided the governor from angering the gentry.

Chen Zizhuang and others all participated in the trading of silk tickets, Li Zhaoji came, it was to talk about business, to talk about big business, everyone wanted to make a lot of money by taking advantage of the civil strife of the four surnames, naturally they didn't want to see it appeased, as long as they didn't appease the four surnames, what reason, what righteousness, they didn't care.

It's just that Master Mi really didn't know the inside story, so he was extremely puzzled and said: "You can't watch the pirates jump off the beam, invade the coast, and control the waterway." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "So, I propose, it's better to kill than to fight." ”