On the vast sea, three five-masted ships with a length of 16 to 17 feet were lined up and headed southwest. Today, the southeast wind started, and the direction was wrong. The main sail in the center had fallen, leaving only a few jib sails at the front and rear. All the big oars on the boat were stretched out, and people were rowing through the water.

Normally, in such a headwind, a large ship should anchor and wait for the wind direction. After all, sea voyages can take thousands of miles, and manpower can only assist.

But it is not used now.

Because it is already close to the shore.

This is the Turtle Ocean off the coast of Qingyuan Prefecture. It is only sixty or seventy miles away from Dinghai County. We have passed Daishan Island before, and we can see Zhoushan Island looking south. So we no longer need to be careful about food and fresh water. The fleet goes up and down at noon. After a full meal, in order to get to the shore as soon as possible, even the accountant ran to help with the oar.

As the leader of this fleet, Shen Tong was not so relaxed.

When they set out from Qingyuan in June last year, Xiwu had already captured Huaidong, and the Zhu family also issued the "Pingzhou List". The army might press on Pingjiang at any time. The family leader had no choice but to let them turn to Qingyuan to go to sea, and made an appointment. On the return trip, we also arrived in Qingyuan, for which we gave Fang Guozhen a big gift.

During the few months we stayed in Nagasaki, merchant ships arrived one after another, saying that Soochow had been defeated and the Fang family was still supporting it. But think about how long the Fang family could support the Western Wu army and how long it would be like in Qingyuan. Shen Tong felt unsure.

What's more... he didn't dare to think about what happened to the Shen family.

If his parents, wife and children didn't all need him as the backbone, Shen Tong would occasionally think about staying in a foreign land forever and never come back.

Such troubled times!

After lunch, Shen Tong went to the incense room on the ship to offer incense to the gods and prayed devoutly. He only hoped that the Shen family would be like him when he went to sea this time, and that all three ships would return safely and safely. Return to your cabin.

I opened an account book and just sorted out the income from this round trip for a while, when suddenly a boatman staggered in and said with a trembling body: "At the bow of the ship, there... in the north, there are ships... fleet..."

Seeing the boatman's appearance, Shen Tong's heart skipped a beat, and he stood up suddenly, forcing himself to calm down.

I still don’t know what the situation is and how I can get myself into trouble.

After scolding the boatman for a few words, Shen Tong walked out of the cabin and went straight to the mainmast. On the way, he saw many boatmen gathered on the north side of the ship, pointing, not even bothering to rock the oar, and some people screamed in panic: " The army..."

Not paying attention to the crowd, Shen Tong climbed onto the mainmast by climbing the mast cable. When he arrived at the observation deck, he realized that he was in his thirties and had not climbed for many years, yet he still had such potential.

Already standing on the observation deck was a thin, dark-skinned man named Pu Wu. Because his eyes could see far away, he was also nicknamed "Pu Yao Zi". The fleet almost ran into pirates several times along the way. It was Pu Wu who gave the early warning. It can be said that the watch post played the most important role in making this trip go smoothly.

Shen Tong glanced at the huge fleet that was getting closer and closer, raised his hand and slapped Pu Wu hard on the head: "Hey guys, we are so close, why don't you give a warning?"

Pu Wu didn't pay attention to Shen Tong's anger. His head was knocked crooked and straightened up again. He stared blankly at the north and said with a cry: "Boss, we... can't run away, so he raised the sail and only It can be hit by the wind."

If it is a distant sea, if there are only a few pirate ships, even if they encounter them head-on, they can move and dodge. Even if they encounter them, their own side will not be helpless to fight back.

At the moment...

There were more than twenty ships of various sizes, and most of them were larger than their thousands-material ships. What's more, looking at the flags on the ship, it was obviously a navy. Plus, with the wind direction like this today, how could they run away?!

After being stunned for a moment, Pu Wu said again: "The bow of the ship, I think... the big ship in the middle seems to be the Zhang Throne Boat."

After hearing what he said, Shen Tong felt that his legs became weaker.

Zhang Shicheng has been defeated, so if there is any king Zhang there, it must be that the Western Wu navy is not bad.

Taking a strong breath to calm himself down, Shen Tong gestured to Pu Wu: "Look at the flag..." He also squinted his eyes, but unfortunately he could only faintly see the flag fluttering, and he couldn't even distinguish the colors clearly, so he asked: "The biggest flag, look at it, what color is it? Is it the dragon flag?"

No matter what, you must first determine the identity of the other party.

Pu Wu looked at it for a moment and shook his head: "Yellow, no dragon, but words."

Shen Tong was so anxious that he wanted to give this hammer a try again, but he couldn't say more, so he could only ask again: "What word?"

Pu Wuyi grinned, as if crying and laughing: "Son, I can't read."

Shen Tong was too lazy to teach any more, so he spread his palm and said, "Trace it on my hand."

Pu Wu squinted his eyes slightly and looked at it again, and began to use his fingers to trace the cat and tiger in Shen Tong's palm.

Shen Tong quickly recognized the line of characters: Yu, Ling, Hua, Gao, Hai, Jun, Du, Du.

Then he completely collapsed and sat down in the basket of the observatory.

Shen Tong had never heard of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, but the meaning of the word was somewhat clear from the surface. The key was Hua Gao... He happened to know that this man was a naval general under the name of the Zhu family.

When Pu Wu saw Shen Tong sitting down, he wanted to fall down too, but his body was so stiff that he couldn't move. He could only look blankly again and saw two clippers separated from the mighty fleet and came towards this side. After arguing for a while, he said in a hoarse voice: "On the bow, two eight-oared clippers are coming towards us, and they even raised their flags, as if to ask us to stop the ship."

Just as he was talking, two more bright lights shot out from the two ships and exploded in the sky.

After a moment, the sound of explosion came.

Pu Wu said mechanically again: "They... have firearms. This is a warning to us."

Shen Tong took another deep breath, finally stood up, and looked at the fleet that was getting more and more stressed as it got closer. Not only the giant ship in the center, but most of the other ships were also big ships with one or two thousand materials. Then he looked at the fast approaching eight-oared speedboat, murmured a few words, and finally said to Pu Wu: "Shout out, lower the sails, lower the anchor..."

It doesn't matter these few ships of goods, nor does the ship. We need to save the lives of more than a hundred people in the fleet first. Not only that, Shen Tong has already considered that in order to prevent this group of officers and soldiers from directly killing people and grabbing goods, they have to report the Shen family Afterwards, he would send a generous gift to Nahua Gao.

Shen Tong believed that even if the head of the family was here, he would definitely make the same choice.

In matters of maritime trade, people are more important than ships.

If the ship is gone, it can be rebuilt, but if there is no man who is proficient in navigation, it will take a few years to train one.

Pu Wu also knew that there was no other way, and the result of trying to escape at this time might be worse. He shouted at the top of his lungs: "There is an order from the bow of the ship, lower the sails, lower the anchor, lower the sail, lower the anchor..."

The other side.

On the top deck of Zhu Yuan's boat, a group of people were also looking at the three boats.

Hua Gao held a recently made monocular telescope, grinning as he looked at it, his true nature revealed: "Three fat fish, they must have come back from the Japanese. They have been cut open over and over again. It’s good stuff.”

Today is the tenth day of February.

Awakening of Insects.

The temperature at sea was even warmer. Zhu Yuan still wore a thick white fox fur suit and stood facing the wind. He didn't look like a handsome young man. He was too small and thin. With his hands on his sleeves, he looked more like a landlord's idiot who had been sick for a long time.

Son, my silly son is accompanied by a small sack, each one less imposing than the other.

Ignoring Mr. Hua's exultation, which may have been inspired by the memory of the past 'turbulent years', Zhu Yuan said to Zhao Xu, "Did you just give the order that no one is allowed to board the ship without permission?"

Zhao Xu nodded.

Zhu Yuan turned to Liu Lian: "Choose a group of people, arrive at Dingyuan, and carefully make a list of all the goods on the ship."

Liu Lian did not agree immediately. He glanced at Hua Gao next to him, cupped his hands and said: "Hanlin, it is not easy to survive at sea. You will almost die. Lian please Hanlin not to embarrass them."

After getting along with each other for just a few days, Liu Lian already understood that Zhu Yuan was not the sycophant he once imagined. The words he said now... were not directed at Zhu Yuan, but because of Hua Gao's verbal excitement just now, pointing here and there.

Zhu Yuan also understood and said with a smile: "I have no intention of embarrassing them. From now on, maritime trade matters will be under the jurisdiction of our Maritime Affairs Department. These three ships happen to be a standard case, and they have not been tampered with in any concealment, which can make us clear

Learn the details of maritime trade.”

After saying that, he turned to Zhao Xu: "When we arrive at the port, board the ship and send a few more soldiers together. Look at each other and no one is allowed to stretch out their hands." After thinking about it, he signaled to his brother Qiao An, who was further away: "You can follow me later.

, mark my words.”

Qiao An, who had been bumpy for a few days, was no longer seasick. Hearing this, he clasped his fists and bowed meticulously: "I'll take my orders."

Qiao An has become a hundred households again.

They were not among the two thousand people of Zhao Xu and Zuo Qi, but were subordinate to the Mingzhou Guard.

After all, he was unfamiliar with the place, and Zhu Yuan always had to have someone he trusted. He had reported it to Lao Zhu before, and asked Qiao An to compete with Zhao Xu and Zuo Qi. The Shandong man suppressed Zhao Xu two by one.

After a fight, Zhao Xu got impatient and tried to compete with bows and arrows, but unfortunately he still couldn't compete.

Zhu Yuan knew at that moment that he had found a treasure.

In short, it is more than enough to grant one hundred households.

Zhu Yuan had given instructions and stopped staying on the top deck to watch the excitement. He turned around and walked towards the gangway.

A group of people around him followed him, and a certain sack girl even reached out to help him. She was quite strong, as if she wanted to lift Zhu Yuan up. Zhu Yuan recently coined a new word for this, called "sack carrying the cauldron".

I plan to go ashore and find a tripod to try.

As for the little girl named Lin Xiaoyu next to him, Zhu Yuan originally disagreed with her following her closely. What it looked like, but he must have left blank. Nizi persuaded her, but she didn’t know what she said. She went up to Hua Gao and down.

When it came to Zhao Xu, everyone quickly agreed.

Hua Gao even came to persuade him personally, and even said the wrong thing, saying, "Hanlin, look, Xiao Nier nodded, and you...".

He was kicked out at that time.

Returning to the cabin on the first floor, I pondered for a while a simple star map that a group of girls had made in recent days based on existing data and real-time observations. I felt sleepy and was about to catch up on some sleep when someone came to report that the ship just now

The leader of the team was brought over and asked if Zhu Yuan wanted to see him.

Zhu Yuan stood up again and came to the meeting hall on the second floor.

Entering the door and sitting down on the right side of Hua Gao, several people were soon brought in. The leader was a dark-skinned but elegant man in his thirties with a short beard. He wore a black robe and no turban, and his expressions were full of emotion.

Embarrassment and panic.

The man came closer and knelt down with several followers behind him: "The bow of Changzhou Shen's caravan Shen Tong has met two adults."

Hua Gao held a cup of tea casually, watched Shen Tong salute, and said to Zhu Yuan: "Hanlin, just come and ask."

Zhu Yuan asked a few people to stand up first and asked curiously: "Where is Changzhou?"

When Shen Tong saw that it was a young man who spoke, and no one had mentioned his official position to them, he did not dare to neglect him at all, and said respectfully: "Pingjiang Road belongs to Changzhou County."

Zhu Yuan understood.

It is now a county under Suzhou Prefecture.

But...well...Suzhou, Shen family, this...

So he asked: "Zhouzhuang, Shen Wansan?"

Shen Tong almost knelt down again, bowed deeply and said, "Sir, 'Wan San' is just a rumor among the people. The former head of the family, Shen Xiu, really does not deserve to be called this."

Zhu Yuan understood why Shen Tong was frightened.

These days, it's not a good thing to have people talking about how rich you are all day long.

But he curled up his mouth.

What a coincidence.

It’s really ‘Shen Wansan’.


Chapter completed!