"Eldest prince, you are going to Nanjing Guozijian, and you have already delayed the matter of the Fries' fleet for too long, and you missed the time, which displeased Mr. Qian, how can you do it?" Shi Lang hurriedly reminded.

Zheng Sen will not be frightened by this incident, this time he went north to study, and the Zheng family prepared a rich gift for him, but for Zheng Sen, he has found the best gift.

That is the letter written by the Dutch East India Company to the Manchu Emperor, or in other words, the secret ambush of the Friesian fleet with the Oriental Trading Company, which is the best gift.

Zheng Sen said with a smile: "Brother Li, I was born in Hirado, Japan, and returned to my homeland at the age of six. But Brother Li didn't know that my Zheng family's dealings with Japan were not the will of the family, and they had to be approved by the shoguns of Edo. ”

The reason why Zheng Sen went to Fujian from Japan was because the Japanese Edo shogunate knew that Zheng Zhilong had been raised by the Ming Dynasty, and his strength had skyrocketed, so he sent back his eldest son, but left his wife Tagawa and another son in Japan.

This time, Tagawa went to Fujian because of Zheng Sen's marriage and study, and he returned to Japan last month. When I went to Fujian again, it was the time when the Zheng family was enshrined in Longwu as the emperor after the Jiashen National Disaster, and the power leaned towards the government and the opposition, but even at that time, Zheng Zhilong's other son, that is, Tagawa Shichizaemon, stayed in Japan for the rest of his life and was forever a hostage.

"What the eldest prince said is that the overall situation of the two countries cannot be damaged because of the selfishness of one person." Shi Lang also beat the side drum next to him and said to Li Zhaoji: "Shopkeeper Li, you are heroic and benevolent, don't embarrass my son-in-law." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled, the current situation is that it doesn't matter whether Zheng Sen is willing or not, he is unwilling, Li Zhaoji will also use him as a hostage, but as long as there is a possibility, Li Zhaoji still doesn't want to spoil the relationship between the two.

"Zheng Gongzi thinks, why did I invite you to Nagasaki with me?" Li Zhaoji asked.

Zheng Sen had some speculation in his heart, this time the Oriental Trading Company went north to trade and bought the Zheng family's water order flag, but Zheng Sen knew that his father would definitely take the opportunity to attack, although it was not what he wanted, but it was inconvenient to say at this time, after all, as a person of pure filial piety, Zheng Sen could not say his father's in front of outsiders, even if it was his father's fault.

Seeing Zheng Sen shaking his head, Li Zhaoji simply explained, he said: "I got news that Ling Zun united with local Japanese forces and wanted to make it difficult for me during my trade with Nagasaki. But I don't know what kind of difficulty it is.

Maybe it's to suppress the price of my goods, or simply take the opportunity to kill me. ”

Shi Lang was furious: "Ridiculous, what are you, you want to let my family master harm you, Shopkeeper Li said this, it was too much." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "Then please ask Zheng Gongzi to go with me, if there is such a thing, I will be annoyed to protect my life and inheritance, if not, I will go to Anping from now on in the future, and I will be guilty." ”

Shi Lang saw that he couldn't be fooled, and shouted: "Li Zhaoji, do you want to take my son-in-law hostage?" ”

Li Zhaoji stretched out his hands: "Don't dare, don't dare, it's Zheng Gongzi who has to repay my favor." ”

Shi Lang immediately retorted: "That can't involve the Zheng family, now my son-in-law is young, and he is mainly engaged in studying manufacturing arts, and he has never been involved in family affairs, so why do you want to pull him into the water." Do you have to force the head of my Zheng family to be suspicious of my son's father and son, are you happy? ”

Shi Lang's words woke up Zheng Sen, no matter what, as long as he participated, it would be disrespectful to his father, but deep down, he still didn't want Li Zhaoji to die.

Li Zhaoji said: "It's just a trip with me, why do father and son doubt each other, General Shi and listen to me."

Although I, Li Zhaoji, am not a nobleman, I also know that the safety of one person is related to the lives and future of thousands of people in a trading company, so I will never take risks here. This time the fleet poured out of the nest, full of accumulated goods, but when I went ashore to trade with the Japanese, my men came forward, and I would never go ashore.

Moreover, I will not dock all ships in Nagasaki, and treat them as if they were stationed on the outlying islands and traded in port, which would be a loss, but only a loss of a ship's cargo. ”

Regarding the matter of dealing with the Oriental Trading Company and Li Zhaoji in Nagasaki, Shi Lang once heard his uncle say that the Zheng family was preparing to seize the goods of the Oriental Trading Company and capture Li Zhaoji himself, but Li Zhaoji arranged it like this, but he couldn't do anything, Shi Lang couldn't be sure for a while, if he couldn't destroy the Oriental Trading Company, or even hit Li Zhaoji hard, would the Nagasaki plot continue?

Zheng Sen listened to Li Zhaoji's words, but his heart was relaxed, Li Zhaoji arranged it like this, that is, without himself as a hostage, he could be saved, and he went by himself, but he just wanted to retreat for Li Zhaoji.

Li Zhaoji said: "I don't go ashore, and Zheng Gongzi doesn't need to go ashore, just go ashore with me and accompany me, how about it?" After this incident, as long as General Shi and the others are tight-lipped, then Ling Zun will not know that you are involved in this matter. ”

Zheng Sen smiled: "Brother Li said so, if I refuse, it will be mine, so let's go with you." ”

At night.

"In the army, orders are forbidden, and orders are obeyed. Guo Xu, I have given the order, why are you still attacking the enemy ship? ”

Because of the daytime war, during the night banquet, the trading company awarded the meritorious person, and the first merit in this battle was Guo Xu, who led the Hongyan to capture the Castelliku, and just when he was in the envy of everyone to receive the reward, Chen Liuzi, the commander of the fleet, asked him on the spot.

The management of the trading company was there, and Guo Xu felt embarrassed when he heard this.

"Real..... I really didn't see the Lingqi, and the smoke of gunfire was everywhere at that time, and the battle was fierce......... Guo Xu stammered in response, but in fact, at that time, he not only saw Lingqi, but even guessed Chen Liuzi's order in advance, but he pretended not to see it with Chunshu, and pounced on the enemy ship, so he won the first place in order to grab the credit.

Chen Liuzi's tone was solemn: "You can't see it, it's excusable, why can't you see the liaison officer under your command?" Why didn't you report it after the war! ”

Li Zhaoji coughed lightly on the side and said: "Guo Xu is still meritorious in this big victory, sixth brother, reward the soldiers first." ”

Chen Liuzi is the commander of the fleet, and the rewards and punishments are decided by him alone, even if Li Zhaoji said it clearly, Chen Liuzi still said: "Guo Xu led the troops to break the enemy, and there was a generous reward, but if you ignored the military orders and acted without authorization, you will only reward you with a boatload of soldiers, and you yourself will be compensated for your merits."

Someone came, captured the liaison officer of the Hongyan, and beat him with twenty lashes. ”

Chen Liuzi's military order was issued, and everyone was silent, and the people who were eagerly seeking rewards just now all bowed their heads and did not dare to speak. Chen Liuzi rewarded Chunshu as the person who made the first contribution to this battle.

"Everyone, go out for a feast, Guo Xu, you stay for a while." Li Zhaoji waited for Chen Liuzi to finish arranging and said to Guo Xu.

When everyone went out, Li Zhaoji said: "Guo Xu, do you think Chen Liuzi can be regarded as a clear reward and punishment?" ”

Guo Xu lowered his head and said: "It was my meritorious service that did not act according to the military order, and the shopkeeper Chen made me compensate for my merits, and I was convinced." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "I don't think so, as far as I know, Chunshu also participated in the matter of stealing merit, and even said that he instigated you." ”

When Guo Xu heard this, he suddenly raised his head, he was extremely puzzled, because of the details of the battle that happened during the day, he had never told others how Li Zhaoji knew.

"How does the big shopkeeper know?" Guo Xu asked.

Li Zhaoji said: "Naturally, Haruki told me. ”

Guo Xu was even more puzzled, if Chunshu wanted to take his first credit, he told Li Zhaoji that he was deliberately disobedient, how could he put himself in it, and why did Li Zhaoji tell him the truth.

Li Zhaoji beckoned Guo Xu to come close and said: "Guo Xu, Zheng Gongzi has agreed to go to Nagasaki with us, but he is still surrounded by Shi Lang and more than 60 Zheng family entourages and sailors, many of whom are children of official families, do you think they will stand by and watch this trip?" ”

Guo Xu shook his head, in his heart, he connected what Li Zhaoji said with what happened just now, and he understood. immediately clenched his fists and said: "Big shopkeeper, Guo Xu is willing to be a yellow cover." ”

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "Very good, I won't let you be wronged in vain." ”

The flotilla rested on Langgang Island for three days, repaired all the ships, including the Rose, and set sail for a fleet of eight ships.

"Why are you going north, shopkeeper Li, aren't we going to Nagasaki?" Li Zhaoji was chatting with Zheng Sen about the current situation in the room, Shi Lang suddenly rushed in desperately and asked loudly, like that, as if Li Zhaoji was going to take him to the tiger's den in Longtan.

Li Zhaoji patted Tang Mu's hand and signaled that he didn't need to be nervous, Tang Mu then accepted the saber, Li Zhaoji said: "After a few days, the fresh water in the boat is consumed a lot, and I went north to the Shengsi area to replenish fresh water." ”

This is not entirely true, the fresh water carried in the ship is sufficient, but the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and it has been out of port for more than ten days, and the fresh water gradually turns bad and hairy. Although it is inevitable on ocean voyages, rum is mixed into the water and drunk.

There is no shortage of rum in the ship, but rum mixed with water, that is, it can be swallowed under water, which is also harmful to the body.

"You can also supply when you go south, don't you know that in the Shengsi area, there are river thieves gathering?" Shi Lang asked.

"We're not going south." Li Zhaoji smiled and said, then patted the musket on his waist and said: "My ship is strong and well-armed, why not be afraid of river thieves, it's just right that thieves don't come to attack, if they come, I will gather and annihilate them, my Tamsui City, the most lacking is the population." ”

Because the Shengsi Islands are close to the mouth of the Yangtze River and are at the confluence of the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay, there are pirates from the Yangtze River. At this time, Chongming Island was still more than a dozen sand dunes, these river pirates gathered in the Chongming area in winter, and plundered in the Shengsi Islands in summer and autumn, which was difficult to clear.

Shi Lang was not afraid of the Shengsi River bandits, but he was surprised that Li Zhaoji's fleet did not go south: "If you don't go south, how can you go to Nagasaki, is it possible that you still have to go to the court, Xian?" ”

It was not until this time that Li Zhaoji understood what Shi Lang meant, he got up and nodded at the Shengsi Islands and Nagasaki on the map, and said: "After the Shengsi Islands are replenished, they will sail directly to Nagasaki, neither north nor south." ”

In the Song and Yuan dynasties, China's shipping was complicated, from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Nagasaki, it was possible to cross the East China Sea, but in the Ming Dynasty, most of the time in the forbidden sea, navigation technology was backward compared with the previous dynasty, to Nagasaki, you have to rely on the coastline to sail.

The merchant ships of Fujian and Zhejiang first crossed the northern section of the Taiwan Strait and went north along the Ryukyu Islands, and many of the merchant ships in the south of the Yangtze River first went north to the Yellow Sea, and then crossed the sea to go to North Korea.

Shi Lang was speechless for a while, although Li Zhaoji was a Han Chinese, all his ships were foreign ships, and Western ships could cross the ocean and sail thousands of miles, and it was impossible not to pass through the East China Sea.

"Is there anything else to do with General Shi, if it's okay, how about sitting down and drinking tea?" Li Zhaoji greeted Shi Lang and said with a smile.

Shi Lang looked quite embarrassed, didn't want to stay longer, and retired directly.

"General Shi, don't do anything again, although you are the protector of the master, but you have also fallen for the plan, they deliberately make you lose face." Shi Lang walked out of the stern and shook his fist angrily, but a voice sounded behind him, it was an authentic Hokkien dialect, he turned around and saw Guo Xu standing on the deck of the stern.

Shi Lang frowned: "Guo Xu, why didn't you return to the Hongyan?" ”

Shi Lang had seen Guo Xu when he was on Dongchun Island, so he knew that Guo Xu was the captain of the Hongyan, and he should go back at this time.

Guo Xu smiled helplessly: "I made a mistake in the war some time ago, and I had time to contact the coach in the future, and I was left to study again." ”