Things happened suddenly, and in more than a month, Shandong suffered a drastic change.

This made the powerful and salt merchants in the coastal areas of Fujian, except Shandong, which were under the jurisdiction of the new salt law of the imperial court, not know what to do.

But now that things have come to this point, even the Zheng family dare not be too arrogant.

The current Emperor of Apocalypse is too fierce. Even if there is a civil unrest in Shandong, he still responds calmly and does not retreat at all.

This also made many people clearly realize that perhaps the implementation of the new salt law is no longer something that can be stopped.

The sea waves are clear, Yuegang, Zhangzhou, Fujian.

Since Zheng Yiguan broke up with the maritime merchant Li Dan in the first year of Tianqi and was recruited by Fujian Governor Nan Juyi, Yuegang has become the coastal base of the Zheng family fleet.

Zheng Yiguan was named Zhangzhou Sea Defense Governor. The coastal garrison was different from the inland garrison. This was a position with low official positions but great power.

However, Zheng Yiguan rarely stayed in the garrison palace in Zhangzhou City. In comparison, he was more in the Garen ship in Yuegang before.

The Galen ship, a main warship commonly used by Western countries, is equipped with large-caliber cannons. It can fire accurately within a few miles, and its firepower is extremely strong.

There is no navy in the Ming Dynasty that has owned the Garen warship, which is not to say that you should cherish money.

However, when Yuan Keli was developing the navy in Denglai, he abandoned the consideration of introducing the main Western warships and instead developed himself.

The emergence and popularity of Zhenlu cannons greatly improved the problem of insufficient firepower of the Ming Navy.

Now, the Dafu ship modified by the Denlai Navy is also equipped with a large number of Zhenlu cannons. Although its firepower is slightly inferior to that of the Garen ship, it has a huge advantage in terms of crew.

If there is no real fight, it cannot be said that the better and worse between the Dafu ship and the Galen ship.

"One official..."

Zheng Hongkui did not find Zheng Yiguan in the garrison palace. Without thinking too much, he must have come to the deck of Garen ship in Yuegang again.

He came here and saw Zheng Yiguan, so he called out and slowly approached.

Zheng Yiguan knew who was coming by just hearing the sound. Without replying, he stood on the deck with his hands behind his back, looking at the rippling sea, and said quietly:

"Uncle Second, can I ask you for something?"

Zheng Hongkui seemed to be startled.

"A official, why did you say this?"

"This year is the fourth year of Apocalypse. I am twenty years old. Can I...can I stop calling my nickname in front of others."

Zheng Yiguan said, turned around and said:

"Uncle Second, call me Zheng Zhilong, okay?"

"I heard that the emperor today is only in his early twenties, and is it the same as mine?"

Zheng Hongkui was stunned at first, then laughed, patted his shoulder, sat on the big box containing stones, and sighed:

"Yes, I'm only in my early twenties."

"One official has grown up, he is already twenty this year..."

Although Zheng Zhilong is only twenty years old this year, he has always been very mature in dealing with people and things, and there will be no hesitation when he should be decisive.

Although Zheng Hongkui is his elder, he actually regards himself as a subordinate for most of the time, and he feels even worse in terms of personal abilities.

After a while, the two of them were speechless.

Zheng Hongkui patted his butt and stood up, raised his voice, and said in a voice that could be heard by the "Zheng family officers and soldiers" on the deck:

"Zheng Hongkui, pay homage to the garrison of Zhangzhou, Zheng Zhilong!"

Suddenly, such a loud voice attracted the attention of most of the officers and soldiers on the deck.

Zheng Zhilong finally heard this sound, and felt relieved and was very happy. He quickly bent down and helped him up, laughed and replied: "It's all a family, so you don't have to be polite to me!"

After Zheng Hongkui got up, he stood behind Zheng Zhilong and said worriedly:

"The imperial court's Salt Inspection Office has arrived in Yuegang. In the past few days, a large number of people have been expanded and they have been going to various places to inspect the salt industry."

Zheng Zhilong seemed not surprised and nodded and said lightly:

"Well, I know everything."

Zheng Hongkui held the railing with his hands, leaned against Wang Yang and looked at one side, saying:

"It is said that Nanzhao Station, Tongshan Station, and more than a dozen salt fields in Zhenhaiwei have been taken over by the local Salt Inspection Office."

"The court is moving very quickly, and the new inspector of the Salt Inspection Department is also a ruthless person. I heard that he was transferred from the Dongchang and handled the case of Donglin. As soon as he took office, he took out the ironclad evidence that the four families of Jiang, Chen, Han and Yang had accumulated a large amount of private salt."

"Speaking of this... these four companies are also unlucky enough!"

"These four families are quite powerful on weekdays, but how can they beat the imperial court?"

"When the Salt Inspection Office took action, Wang Mengxiong sent troops to maintain the surrounding order in order to shock the rest of the powerful people who were ready to move."

"The inspector was very straightforward to confiscate Jiang, Chen, Han and Yang's families. All the wealth accumulated in the past few lives was in the emperor's treasury."

"The situation is serious now, you should make an idea and can't drag it down..."

"Wang Mengxiong..." Zheng Zhilong murmured when he heard this and said:

"I am familiar with this person. I am a general from Fujian South Road. When I was recruiting that year, Wang Mengxiong came on behalf of Fujian Governor Nan Juyi."

"After all, I was just a pirate who had just left Li Dan and had a little capital..."

Speaking of this, Zheng Zhilong was quite self-deprecating. He was long gone as excited as he was when he received the imperial edict at the beginning. He also leaned against the railing and said to Zheng Hongkui:

"This time the imperial court's new salt law, what do you think of the second uncle?"

Zheng Hongkui thought for a while and sighed:

"It's difficult. The salt industry is very profitable. It has always been 30% or even more of our Zheng family's income. The court's new salt law has taken back the salt farms in various places and rectified the salt industry. I think it's also eyeing this huge profit."

Zheng Zhilong nodded and said:

"Uncle Er said it well. I have read the new salt law in the court. It has settled the coastal people. The main content is to take back the national salt fields, sort out the salt fields, and select new salt merchants to issue salt intake."

"The implementation of the new salt law is already unstoppable. Even our Zheng family has twisted their arms and legs. If you can, just let go of the errands..."

Zheng Hongkui seemed a little surprised when he heard this.

"Yiguan, what do you mean?"

Zheng Zhilong smiled and said:

"Our Zheng family is not good at land transactions, and there is no need to break up with the court because of this. We still have to rely on the court."

Speaking of this, Zheng Zhilong looked at the sea again, with a little light in his eyes.

"Now in this day, the real huge profits are not on land, but on the sea, in the depths of the distant sea! What kind of tea horse salt and iron, compared with the profits at sea, is not considered huge profits at all."

Zheng Hongkui understood that Zheng Zhilong had greater ambitions, but he did not understand that there were many maritime merchants in the world. As far as he knew, the biggest one was Li Dan.

Doing business with those foreign merchants is not stable profits. How can you be faster and stable than the salt industry?

Although he was puzzled, Zheng Hongkui did not talk much. He always did this, without asking or saying more, because such a relationship could last for a long time.

Zheng Zhilong looked at it for a while, suddenly stood up and said:

"If the court wants to accept it, we will release it. Not only will we just release it. We will throw all the halls of our subordinate salt industry to the court! The four families of Jiang, Chen, Han, and Yang are examples of disobedience, and our Zheng family will simply set an example of obedience!"

"Send someone to find Wang Mengxiong and say that I, Zheng Zhilong, gave him great military achievements. I will be prosperous in the future. Don't forget today."
Chapter completed!