"It's weird. Why did Tong Guowei and the prince suddenly get together? Gao Shiqi and Zhang Tingyu were a little reluctant to pay attention to Ma De's meaning...... "Yu Xu covered his forehead and looked at the two people in front of him with a wry smile, the eldest brother Yinchu and the eighth elder brother Yinyu.

"It's not surprising at all! …… Since Ma De has already fought with the two Huai salt merchants, and he has made such a big fuss, he will definitely not stop easily. Needless to say, the prince must have a lot to do with the two Huai salt merchants, so of course they don't want to just watch their God of Wealth being beaten down! Yinxi said with a smile.

"Eighth Elder Brother, I don't understand it even more when you say that! …… According to you, the crown prince and Tong Guowei should be working against Ma De! He was puzzled.

"Hehe, it's all because of the ticket salt method. Although this law has not yet been enforced, it can be seen from its meaning that once it is implemented, the great salt merchants will lose the foundation of their lives. In the future, they will never want to call for wind and rain like today, and it is even more impossible to force the governor of a province to play with them! Moreover, Ma Qi, Gao Shiqi and Zhang Tingyu all agreed to try this method, and the emperor's intention seemed to be somewhat inclined to their side, so the prince and Tong Guowei had to bring Ma De forward. Because, only if Ma De promised to make way for Huaiyan, the ticket salt law could be tried in Jiangsu! And if he doesn't agree to give way, the salt merchants can 'live' longer, so that the prince and Tong Guowei can take the opportunity to collect more. Yinxi said.

"Ma De has always been kind to Gao Shiqi and Zhang Tingyu, and Ma Qi helped him again this time, the prince and Tong Guowei's abacus may not be able to sound this time, at most, it will delay the trial time of the ticket salt law." Yin Zhen pursed his lips and said.

"Wrong! Big brother, I'm just the opposite of what you think! …… This time, Ma De is afraid that he will stand on the side of the prince's Tong Guowei! Yinyu replied.

"Impossible!" Said Xu.

"Yes, Eighth Brother, how can you conclude that Ma De will stand with the crown prince? As far as I know about them, as long as Huang Ama decides, they will not oppose it for the sake of a moment! Yinchu said.

"But Huang Ama has not decided whether to try this salt law or not!" Yin Yu said with a smile.

"As long as people who know a little bit of the market can tell the advantages and disadvantages of the ticket salt method and the gang salt method, I can't think of any reason why the emperor should not agree to try it!" Said Xu.

"Hehe, Huang Ama is Huang Ama after all, he is an old man, and he can see it better than us! …… Who do you think Mader is? Is Light just a governor? Wrong, he is now the sword in the palm of Huang Ama, the shield in his hand! knives are used to cut the salt merchants; The shield is used to block the open guns and arrows of those civil and military officials who are related to the salt merchants! ......," Yinxi said.

"Knives? Shield? Yinchu thought about it and nodded, he already understood a little.

"The two Huai salt merchants, although they have done a lot of things for the imperial court, what they are doing now has become a disadvantage of the imperial court! Huang Ama is wise and powerful, how can he not see them clearly? However, there is more than one prince behind these salt merchants! …… They have countless connections, and there are many related princes and nobles of the Eight Banners! Although it hasn't been shown today, if you really want to clean them up, the court will definitely be in a mess! Therefore, Huang Ama has never been able to make up his mind! …… This time, however, the salt merchants provoked Mader. In this way, when Ma De counterattacked, Huang Ama also had an excuse to support Ma De. In this way, Ma De is in front and Huang Ama is in the back, in fact, they are all targeting the two Huai salt merchants! But even so, when Ma De cut off the Yangtze River salt transportation a few days ago, except for Ma Qi, who of the other three ministers in the study room dared to speak for him, except for Ma Qi, who dared to speak for him? If it weren't for the fact that the prince and his gang offended people as soon as they came up, I am afraid that those people would not be the only ones who jumped out to impeach Ma De that day. …… However, the ticket salt law is different. This is tantamount to cutting off the roots of those salt merchants! And it is also the meaning of the imperial court...... When the time comes, there will certainly be countless officials who will jump out to oppose it. At that time, there was no Ma De in front to protect the emperor from the wind and rain! Therefore, Huang Ama will not make a decision easily! Yin Yu said again.

“…… Well! Then Eighth Brother, why did you conclude that Ma De would help the prince talk to Tong Guowei? He asked again.

"Because Gao Shiqi doesn't want Ma De to interfere in this matter!" Yin Yu said with a smile.

"Gao Shiqi? Oh...... I understand! It turns out that Eighth Elder Brother is 'learning from others'! Yu Xu also smiled.

"Gao Shiqi is a personal essence. Since he is unwilling to let Ma De interfere in the trial of this salt law, it is indeed very likely that Ma De will oppose it. However, in my opinion, the bigger reason should be Huang Amma. Yinchu said.

"Big brother is right. Huang Ama will definitely implement this salt law in the future, but now he wants to help Ma De deal with those salt merchants, and he doesn't want to provoke the opposition of so many court officials, so he can only say nothing. This will put pressure on those salt merchants, and second, there will be Ma De who can continue to be his old man's sword and shield! Yinxi said.

"It's really 'silent is better than sound at this time'! When Ma De defeated the two Huai salt merchants, it would be logical for the emperor to try the ticket salt law again. Yu Xu sighed.

"That's right!" Yinxi said.

"I'm afraid that Ma De won't be able to win so easily!" Yinchu said.

"With Huang Ama behind him, Ma De's victory rate is at least much greater than that of those salt merchants!" Yinxi said

"Who made this salt law?" Yinchu nodded, and suddenly asked.

"That's what makes it interesting! The one who gave Huang Ama this ticket salt law was actually the champion student of Ma De, Li Pan of Xuzhou! Yin Yu smiled.

"Li Pan?"

……

Yinchu and Yinxi's guess is not wrong. Kangxi has indeed already saved the heart of cleaning up the two Huai salt merchants, and without other reasons, just the fact that every Yangzhou prefect has been dismissed for corruption, and the salt tax has always not increased, which can already make the emperor make up his mind.

Therefore, it was a mistake for the two Huai salt merchants to find articles from the official face.

As soon as the three departments of the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate received reports of crimes committed by many officials in Anhui, Kangxi suppressed all these cases with lightning speed.

After that, the one-month period set by Mader officially expired.

More than 80 large ships suddenly appeared at the mouth of Dagu in Tianjin, and after that, they were transported from the Changlu Salt Farm controlled by the Jin merchants, and at some point the salt that had been piled up was transported to these ships day and night. More than 80 ships were almost full, more than 200,000 stones! This is not counting, Shandong, a province that began to lack salt in the Ming Dynasty because there are not many tidal flats, Jiaodong mountains and inconvenient transportation, etc., along its coastline, more than 100 sand boats that can carry 1,5600 stones (also known as flat-bottomed sand prevention boats) began to buy salt from the salt-producing stoves along the coast and the newly emerged "cement" salt farms! Then, along the offshore route, it was transported all the way to the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then upstream to Anhui and Huguang.

In one case, a total of nearly 400,000 koku of salt was transported! And in the entire Lianghuai, the salt sold in a year is only more than 780,000 stones!

These ships were all sent by Old Man Fei, the Jin merchants, and Wang Weihe, the president of the Hui Merchants Association, and they just obeyed the orders of Mo Jing and Ma De!

And with the arrival of such a large amount of salt, Ma De's real siege of the two Huai salt merchants has finally begun!

It's just that this time, the salt works in Liaodong did not transport salt out!

********

Mukden!

"Old Fei, what do you mean? How can you give a lot of money-making opportunities to others? You have to explain it to our brother well! ”

After the three kings of Fengtian, Prince Jian, Prince Dong and Prince Guo heard the news, they immediately rushed to Prince Zheng's mansion in a rage, and when they caught Old Man Fei who was doing Tai Chi, they spat violently.

"What opportunities have you given to others? Lord Wang, can you make it clear? "Prince Jane's Rabu has lived comfortably in the past two years, his body is fat, and his saliva is enough, and Old Man Fei has to take three steps back to avoid suffering.

"Old Fei, don't pretend to be confused for me! I've heard that you suddenly unloaded all the salt from our salt farm, saying that it will no longer be shipped to Anhui, isn't it? Rab asked.

"That's right! What's wrong? Old man Fei still didn't understand.

"Brother Fei, this is your fault. Our salt farm in Liaodong finally got a chance to make a fortune, and many people are waiting to make some money for a good year, why did you suddenly come to such a hand? Prince Guo asked.

"Oh...... what else should I do! It turned out to be for this ......," Old Man Fei said with a smile.

"What's wrong? Is this still a small matter? Rabu said displeased.

"Lord Wang, what you said is right, this matter involves two countries, and it is indeed not small!" Old man Fei replied.

"Two countries? Old...... Old Fei, what are you talking about? I'm talking about the salt farm, not your business! Rab said.

"It's all the same!" Old man Fei didn't give up his seat to the three kings, he lay down on the rocking chair next to him, and continued: "I just got the news from a group of businessmen a few days ago that Japan is short of salt!" So, I've decided to take the salt from our Liaodong Salt Works to Japan to exchange for gold! ”

"Gold?" Rabu didn't notice anything else, only the two words that popped out of Old Man Fei's mouth!

……

Old Man Fei's idea was made up after Mo Jing brought Jin Shang Cao Sanxi to visit him.

Although I don't know how Cao Sanxi knew about these situations in Japan, from Cao Sanxi's mouth, Old Man Fei got a lot of useful information.

And the most important of these information is that Japan lacks salt!

Japan's long, winding coast is ideal for tidal pools and inlets, and was originally an ideal place for salt production, but the humid climate and periodic storms and occasional flooding make it a high-input, low-output region.

Therefore, you can definitely make a lot of money selling salt in Japan. What's more, sailing from Liaodong to Japan is closer than sailing to Anhui!

Of course, Old Man Fei didn't just plan to sell salt!

Selling salt was just an excuse for him to send someone to Japan to investigate the market situation, and at the same time, he asked his subordinates to "make friends" with some big names as officials.

Today, Japan is ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate, and it is relatively peaceful. When Tokugawa Ieyasu first founded the Tokugawa shogunate, because of his prestige and his martial arts, no one dared to disobey him, and he had to obey and sing the praises of the unification of the peace. Although the laws he formulated imposed restrictions on the royal family, the common people did not feel anything, and the ministers did not dare to criticize it. However, after nearly 100 years of peace and prosperity, the situation in Japan has changed dramatically. The shogunate's policy of cultivating the samurai meant that the samurai had no food to eat. The strict hierarchy has made the life of the high nobles more and more luxurious and luxurious, and the bureaucracy is constantly corrupting, but the life of the common people has not changed.

Although there are no favorable opportunities yet, opportunities are always created by people!

**********

It's not just Old Man Fei who has a different idea, just when Old Man Fei and the three **** in Fengtian were talking about selling salt in Japan, a fleet was also moving forward according to the established route. This fleet is not huge, there are only four large ships in the whole group! It is the "remnants" of the sea cucumber sailor division led by Yu Zhong.

"Gross! ……”

On the flagship "Triton", several people wearing Ouchi guard uniforms were lying on the side of the ship and vomiting! The fish he had just eaten was returned to the sea.

"It's a pity, these guys are too wasteful, they just ate sharks!" A Vladivostok soldier on deck watched these people vomit as if they were "not dying", frowned and whispered.

"Dock! Find a place for Lao Tzu to dock immediately! ”

After vomiting until the bile water came out, and he really couldn't vomit anymore, Oro Dai could finally barely straighten up and shout, but his voice no longer had the same momentum as before. Moreover, no one paid any attention to him. All the people on the ship are supposed to do what they should do.

“…… Damn it! Yu Zhong, you fucking find a place to dock for Lao Tzu right away! ”

Oro Dai's face couldn't be put down. He leaned on the side of the ship and shouted at Yu Zhong, who was standing with the helmsman.

"Oro Dai, what are you calling nonsense?" Long Keduo's face was already scorched, but his temper was not so short-tempered, and when he heard Oro Dai shouting at Yu Zhong so rudely, he immediately stopped him.

"You don't care about me! I can't stand it! …… Dock, Yu Zhong, you fuck, hurry up and dock Lao Tzu! Oro Dai clutched his stomach and continued to shout towards Yu Zhong.

"......" Yu Zhong didn't seem to hear Oro Dai's cry, but just held a telescope and looked at the horizon in the distance.

"Yu Zhong......" Oro Dai roared, and rushed towards Yu Zhong with a vain step.

"Orodai! Retire! Yu Zhong ignored Oro Dai, and Yue Zhongqi stood in front of this guy.

"Which fucking onion are you, get out of the way!" Although his physical strength was not good, Oro Dai was still arrogant, and he reached out and grabbed Yue Zhongqi, and his other hand was clenched into a fist, and he was about to start fighting.

"Oro Dai stop!" Long Keduo rushed over in time and hugged Oro Dai from behind!

"Leave me alone!" While struggling, Oro Dai roared loudly, and his fist still hit Yue Zhongqi with "my heart will not change".

Yue Zhongqi didn't fight back, he just flashed over slightly.

……

The more than 20 clansmen from the inner guards sent by Kangxi were all landlubbers without exception. Therefore, as soon as the ship entered the sea, it began to faint en masse! To take care of them, the flotilla has already stopped several times halfway. …… However, these are just scratching the surface! Anyone who is in Vladivostok knows that Yu Zhong is actually deliberately rectifying these arrogant and arrogant guys!

When people first arrive in an environment, they will have a time to adapt, and after the time has passed, they will almost get used to it. However, Yu Zhong agreed to the request of these guys to stop the ship halfway, this is not deliberately to make their adaptation time longer, what is it? Seasickness and vomiting, the feeling of almost spitting out all the bitter gall is simply fatal, and it is not much inferior to any harsh punishment.

This is also the reason why Oro Dai is so arrogant, and even insulted Yu Zhong without being directly punished! Because the punishment is going on all along! I've been suffering from seasickness for so long, and if I were to be tortured again in this situation, it would be easy to get killed.

……

The small turmoil stirred up by Oro Dai quickly passed. Roncodo worked with a few soldiers and was able to drag him back to the cabin with little effort...... In order to let these clan royals vomit happily and not affect others, Yu Zhong also specially prepared a separate cabin for them, and each of them had a "spit pot". After returning to the cabin, Oro Dai can continue to vomit to his heart's content!

The flotilla continues to sail!

……

"Woo......"

The horn sounds!

"Military Gate, here, the continent is ahead!" High on the mast, the lookout hand excitedly pointed to the land still below the horizon and shouted loudly down.

"It's finally here!" Yu Zhong, who had been silent, finally smiled.

"Junmen, have we arrived at Vladivostok?" Long Keduo staggered over, looked at Yu Zhong with a scorched face, and asked with some excitement. It's so happy to finally be able to walk on the ground. However, Yu Zhong just smiled and said a word, which shattered his sweet dream and kicked him to the eighteenth layer of hell:

"This is not a sea cucumber!"

"Not a sea cudivostok? …… So where is this? What are we doing here? Roncodo asked anxiously.

"The locals call it 'Ezo', and I call it 'Hokkaido.'" Yu Zhong replied with a smile.

"Hokkaido? …… This, where is this? "Ronkodo is unfamiliar with the name of the place, so he still doesn't understand where he has been.

"Actually, this is the northern tip of Japan!" Yue Zhongqi also came over and helped Yu Zhong explain.

"Japan? …… Dongying? Yu Junmen, what are we doing here? Roncodo shouted.

"Nice onsen, I know of a place not far from the sea! Just go wash ......," Yu Zhong replied with a smile.

"Junmen ......" Long Keduo suddenly had a feeling of wanting to cry! Who is this?

"Junmen, you better uncover the mystery for us! We'd also like to know why you didn't take us straight back to Vladivostok and came to Hokkaido instead. Yue Zhongqi also asked.

"To occupy space!" Yu Zhong replied casually.

"Occupy space? …… The military gate, I don't understand the humble position! Yue Zhongqi said.

"Is it possible that you want to go to war with the Japanese? Isn't this their territory? Roncodo also wondered.

"Of course I can't go to war with the Japanese! ......" Yu Zhong looked at the sea level in the distance, exhaled deeply, and asked the two of them, "Do you know who is in charge of the whole of Japan now?" ”

"The Tokugawa family!" Yue Zhongqi replied. Because Vladivostok has a group of servants from Japan, he doesn't know much about Japan.

"Not bad. It was the Tokugawa family, which the Japanese called the Tokugawa shogunate! ......" Yu Zhong nodded and said, "Japan is made up of four large islands, and their seat of government is the largest of them, a place called 'Edo' on the island of Honshu. But you don't know yet, do you? However, the people of the Tokugawa shogunate did not include this 'Ezo', which was only separated from Honshu by a strait. They don't even have a map of the island. Now, there is only one Ainu on the island, and the number is extremely small. …… In the past, we were short of troops, but now it is different, so I decided to find a port here in advance, opposite the sea from Vladivostok, as a supply point for the training of our Manchurian sailors. And, garrison 5,000! ”