On the official road outside the South Park, there is a group of seven or eight people, each riding a horse in front of a melon shed.

When the old melon farmer in the melon shed saw this scene, he put away the pu fan in fright, bent down to greet him, and asked carefully: "A few heroes, may I ask what is the matter, the old man has melons here, eat them casually." ”

He was directed at a big man with a beard, and when the big man heard this, he flicked his horsewhip and scolded, "You are an old immortal, you have no eyesight, this is our leader." ”

The bearded man looked at the young man on the side, and the old man immediately knelt down in fright: "Master, the old man has eyes and no beads......." ”

Tang Mu immediately whipped the bearded shoulder, and scolded: "It's so raw, what kind of posture, don't forget, half a year ago, you were just a straw mat maker." What's the matter, if you are developed, you will be arrogant, if you are like this, it is better not to be with me in the future.

I'll whip you, and the big treasurer will kill your head." ”

"The little one knows it's wrong." The bearded man hurriedly said goodbye.

Tang Mu dismounted, picked up the old man selling melons, and said, "Uncle, we have rushed all the way, I want to rest here with you, you can kill a few melons to eat." ”

As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of copper coins and put them in the old man's hand, but the old man didn't dare to ask for it, but he couldn't do it at all, so he could only put it away. The old man was very happy when he saw that Tang Mu was sincerely giving money: "Master, wait a while, there are melons in my well." ”

As he spoke, he moved the melon, and when he came back, Tang Mu's men had already led the horses to the forest behind the melon field, but they also unloaded a big bag, and after untying it, it was a fair-skinned young man who was being taken a rag from Saizui and fed water to drink.

"Oops, my grandma ........" Seeing that someone was tied in a sack, the old man threw the watermelon in fright, and Tang Mu on the side hurriedly caught it, so that the melon did not break on the ground.

"What you look at has nothing to do with you." The bearded man said loudly.

Tang Mu smiled, glared at the guy, and said: "This guy is a little white face, deceived the body of the sisters in my clan, ran into Guangzhou City, and this time I went back, and I handed it over to the elders of the clan to deal with." Uncle, you said, such a person should not be cleaned up. ”

When the old man heard this, he nodded heavily, and no longer doubted.

At this moment, the sound of horses sounded in the distance, and the bearded man immediately stuffed the mouth of the little white face, and carried it behind the melon shed, and after a while, a gorgeous carriage hurriedly drove by, splashing a lot of dust.

"What a magnanimous carriage, I don't know which family in Guangzhou belongs to!" Tang Mu said.

The old man said: "The master is wrong, it may not be a big family in Guangzhou." This carriage is going to the South Park over there, which is the property of our old man Chen in Guangzhou, who worked as a waiter in the imperial court, and has a lot of friends. ”

Tang Mu asked with a smile: "Uncle, I have also heard that Master Chen likes to hold a poetry party, and he may have to do it again today, but I don't know if there are many visitors." ”

"Oh, but it's a lot. Let me tell you, I have been here for many years, as long as I hold a poetry meeting, the carriages from all over the country will arrive in the morning, and at noon there will be a banquet inside, and someone came yesterday, and today, seven or eight cars have passed, and look, there will be four or five more cars later, among which there will be Master Chen. The old man said like a treasure.

Tang Mu said, "How do you know? ”

The old man laughed, took a sip of strong tea, and showed a mouth full of big yellow teeth: "Of course I know, I have been planting melon fields here for more than 30 years. Master Chen is a ceremonial family, and he has entertained literati all these years, all like this, he must have received early arrivals in Nanyuan yesterday, and went to Guangzhou early this morning to greet those gentry in Guangzhou.

If you don't believe it, there will be people from South Park who will come to buy melons and ask me to pick them, which is to entertain VIPs. ”

Sure enough, as the melon farmer said, not long after, a servant came to Nanyuan and ordered twenty watermelons, all of which were put in the well, saying that they would only be taken in the afternoon.

South Park.

If Li Zhaoji was here, he would definitely know that the person who drank tea in the garden was the gentry from the major cities of Guangdong who gathered in the South Garden when they were donating money for the imperial court. These people either have direct business dealings with Li Zhaoji and put a large amount of goods in the fleet of the Oriental Trading Company, or they are the behind-the-scenes financiers of the sailors' group training, of course, most of them have both.

"Speaking of which, something happened to us, you see, it was Mao Jian who entertained us. It can be seen that Master Chen is confused, otherwise, just to entertain Brother Xu, you should replace it with your favorite mustard chips. Mr. Huang from Dongguan said to Mr. Xu from Huizhou.

Master Xu nodded slightly: "But I don't know what it is, don't be a big deal." Brother Huang, is it too peaceful on the Pearl River? ”

"It's very peaceful, the gold sand mine has been discovered in Dongfandi, and the unemployed vagrants have gone to pan for gold, who is still making trouble." Mr. Huang is from Dongguan and knows more about the local situation.

Master Xu was a little relieved: "As long as the four surnames don't make trouble, it shouldn't be a big deal." ”

"Not really. Brother Xu, you see, which of these gentry who come and go is not on the ship of the Oriental Trading Company. Counting it, Li Zhaoji has been gone for three months. Master Huang whispered.

Unlike Mr. Huang, who has been operating in the silk fabric industry for many years, Mr. Xu's family is more involved in offshore trade, he said: "Although the time is longer, it is normal, the north wind has not risen, and it will take a month or two to come back." ”

"Yes, if you follow the hyacinth, you have to get October, but I'm afraid, if I come back early, something will happen. I put five hundred and fifty quintals of raw silk on his boat. Master Huang said.

"Brother Huang is right, something happened." A gentleman approached and saluted the two of them. This person is from Shaozhou Mansion and belongs to northern Guangdong, who originally did not belong to this circle, but he did iron sand trading and was involved with the Oriental Trading Company, so he joined in.

"Brother Qi can know the inside story, tell me quickly."

The gentry surnamed Qi said: "I am good friends with the Hai family, and when I arrived in Guangzhou yesterday, I went to see Brother Hai first, and he told me that a messenger came back from the north and talked with the chief of Tamsui, and happened to hear it. Something happened to the fleet of the Beihang trade, and a fight broke out with the Japanese people.

said that a ship was detained, and the fourth son of the Chen family was also detained. ”

"No wonder Master Chen hurriedly called everyone over, this kind of thing happened emotionally." Master Huang said.

Master Xu shook his head slightly: "If it's just that simple, but it may not be, maybe the loss will be greater than the Hai family thinks." ”

The three of them talked and talked about the truth, and many people gathered together and inquired, but they didn't find out anything. At this time, Chen Zizhuang arrived with the gentry of Guangzhou, and everyone looked at Chen Zizhuang, thinking that he was much older, and his hair and beard were not as smooth as they were on weekdays.

"Those of you who are well-informed should also know that something happened to the Oriental Trading Company." Chen Zizhuang led everyone into the flower hall, and the maidservants were still arranging the plates, so he opened the topic and seriously introduced the situation.

"Nowadays, there are relatively few sources, and we know that Huaiyu was seized by the Japanese and lost another ship. But what the situation is is not necessarily so simple. Let me tell you that Tamsui City is in turmoil, and the Oriental Trading Company is raising ships and soldiers, and it looks like it is going to make a big fuss. Chen Zizhuang said.

Everyone whispered, some discussed how big the loss would be, and some discussed how to deal with it.

Chen Zizhuang said: "There are two reasons for inviting you today. First, like my Chen family, there are many goods in the fleet of the Oriental Trading Company, and the total amount of raw silk, tea, cotton cloth, and iron is no less than 200,000 taels of silver.

This is only the price of the goods, if the trade is successful, this batch of goods in Nagasaki will be worth more than 300,000 taels, which is not a small amount. If it is because the Oriental Trading Company provokes with the Japanese state, the goods will be damaged. How can we make it compensate and how much! ”

Second, among your friends, there are many people who donate money to the sailor group training, and now the sailor has been trained, but everyone knows that the people in the imperial court can't count on the water village, and our group training will clean up the four surnamed pirates in the future, and we also need the fleet of the Oriental Trading Company to contribute, if the Beihang fleet is not wiped out this time, what should we do?

Let's discuss two things.

Everyone was noisy for a while, and after a while, Master Xu took the lead and said: "Everyone, listen to me, although our family is quite powerful in Guangdong, and he Li Zhaoji is a strong dragon and does not suppress the head snake, but Li Zhaoji is a person, I believe that the big guys also know that even the governor has suffered losses in his hands, and he is not afraid of heaven and earth."

If the fleet of the Oriental Trading Company is really damaged and the goods are detained, we will ask him for compensation one by one, but it may not be his opponent. After all, Xiucai met Bing, and it was unreasonable.

He Li Zhaoji is not an ordinary soldier, now he has a fleet of soldiers, complete armor and weapons, and he is still overseas to dominate one side. ”

"Master Xu, we all know what you said, you gave a way, what should we do?" It was said.

Master Xu said: "Hehe, Mr. Chen was the first to get the news, and he is the leader of our gentry. Speaking of which, when I was doing business with Li Zhaoji, it was the old gentleman who nodded first and sent the fourth son, so we followed. The matter of the sailor's group training was also led by the old gentleman, and I think it must be right to listen to the old gentleman. ”

Master Huang hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, we all listen to Mr. Chen." ”

How to do it, everyone is clear in their hearts, that is, twist into a rope and unite as one, so that Li Zhaoji can bow his head, but the problem is that no one knows what is going on with the Beihang fleet, and most of it is really lost.

Speaking of which, what Li Zhaoji fears most about everyone is his temper that cannot be fathomed. After all, he is not in the Ming system, and he is always unconstrained in doing things, and naturally he will not abide by any rules.

Chen Zizhuang smiled faintly, and said in his heart that these people pushed themselves to the front again, if it was in the past, he would still find a way to rectify it, but now, he can't do this, after all, what others care about is the loss of goods, and he has already lost his son.

"Thank you, the old man thinks that everyone should unite and face Li Zhaoji together. This time in the Beihang voyage, the ships are all from the Oriental Trading Company, and we have also paid the fare, if there is a loss, he will compensate. Chen Zizhuang said.

"But what compensation does he take, I heard that the Oriental Trading Company has also put all its old capital on it."

"Gold mines, so many people go to fresh water, then the gold mines must produce a lot."

Chen Zizhuang said: "Yes, Li Zhaoji has a gold mine, compensate us for our losses, and some will pay for it." But we have to stick together and keep it down. If he doesn't pay compensation, don't think about buying a pound of silk and a piece of iron from Guangdong in the future. In addition, we should also send a representative to Anping, Fujian.

If Zheng Zongbing is willing to come forward, whether it is the pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River or Li Zhaoji in Dongfandi, they should also bow their heads. I think Zheng Zongbing will also be willing, the old man heard that it was the Zheng family who was entangled with Li Zhaoji in Nagasaki. ”

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