Such a large formation on the sea soon attracted a large number of people to come and watch.

In the open space next to the pier that was fenced off by officers and soldiers, Zhu Yuan and Hua Gao, as well as other local officials from Dinghai who arrived one after another, waited for about two-quarters of an hour before the boat of Vice Commander of the Navy Wu Zhen finally docked.

After the gangplank was set up, a general wearing brown light armor and a red cape walked off the ship with a steady pace.

This person is none other than Wu Zhen.

Zhu Yuan followed Hua Gao and took a few steps forward, looking around.

This is a middle-aged man with a large beard and a square face, about forty years old, with a medium build, and a temperament that is much more capable than that of Hua Gao, who is like an old farmer in the fields.

Both parties came closer.

Wu Zhen's original serious expression softened a bit, and he solemnly saluted Hua Gao with cupped fists: "I have seen Wu Zhen, the governor."

Hua Gao smiled and returned the salute, then held Wu Zhen's arm and turned directly to Zhu Yuan: "Qianchen, this is Zhu Yuan. You must have heard a lot about him, so I won't go into details. Ying Haisi and

The Navy Governor's Office is one family. From now on, we will be on the same ship. Hanlin is weak, so you should take more care of him."

Zhu Yuan pretended not to notice the unnatural look on Wu Zhen's expression when Hua Gao grabbed his arm. He bowed and said, "Zhu Yuan has met General Wu. The general fought for the country and traveled north again. It was a hard journey."

When Hua Gao let go of himself, Wu Zhen just relaxed a little. Seeing Zhu Yuan like this, he was a little surprised, and quickly returned the greeting with cupped fists: "Wu Zhen has seen...Mr. Zhu, sir, you are exaggerating. It's all within my scope."

Wu Zhen on the southern front had already heard about the strange news of sending five hundred years to the country.

Before leaving Fujian, Wu Zhen received a personal letter from his lord, asking him to treat Zhu Yuan as "my own son". Wu Zhen was shocked, so he was worried and worried about what kind of person he would meet along the way.

At the moment...

Wu Zhen feels that it should not be difficult to work together in the future.

Hua Gao interjected a few words with a smile. After Wu Zhen and Mingzhou Guard Commander Tongzhi Chang Duan and others saw each other one by one, he said: "It's already noon. I've ordered my family to prepare a reception banquet. Here we go."

Just go to the city?"

Wu Zhen glanced at the navy fleet behind him and wanted to refuse, but was pulled back by Hua Gao again and walked towards the horses prepared not far away.

Seeing this, Wu Zhen could only hurriedly tell the guards around him a few words and leave first with Hua Gao.

Zhu Yuan walked to his sedan chair as usual.

Just as he stepped over the horizontal bar held down by the bearer, he suddenly heard someone shouting. Following the sound, he looked around and saw in the crowd blocked by soldiers, a man in his fifties wearing a dark blue gown was offering his hand to him.

Seeing Zhu Yuan's eyes, the man quickly raised his voice and said loudly: "Sir, I'm here at Cheung Chau Shen Mao, could you please take a moment to talk?"

It’s ‘Shen Wansan’ again.

Zhu Yuan smiled, but he didn't have time now.

However, now that Wu Zhen has arrived in Mingzhou, some arrangements for sea trade can be made in advance. Thinking of this, when Zhao Xu, the guard next to him, looked at him inquiringly, he waved his hand casually, got into the sedan, and called someone next to him.

Come in with a sack.

According to instructions from people around him, whenever Zhu Yuan approaches the water, the sack girl must follow him.

I got used to following and following.

A group of officials, big and small, left here one after another, but the people watching the excitement did not disperse.

After all, battles like this at sea are rare.

Shen Mao, the third eldest son of the Shen family who had just called Zhu Yuan, did not leave either.

Not only that, Shen Mao was also surrounded by a group of maritime businessmen from various places who came to the dock after hearing the news.

Everyone hoped to take this opportunity to meet with the chief officials of the Ying Haisi Department and the Navy Governor's Office. Unfortunately, even if Shen Mao took the initiative to call for help at the risk of conflict, he still failed.

These days, because the Shipping Department of Taicang City was suddenly withdrawn, and because the Shipping Department, which had never been heard of before, was established, many maritime merchants came from all over the coast in a hurry without being notified by Zhu Yuan's notice.

In order to meet with important officials in the Yinghai Division and the Navy Governor's Mansion, they have recently tried their best. However, both the famous Yinghai Envoy and the newly appointed Navy Commander have rejected their requests.

Just simply say something.

Wait.

The two chief officials did not see any guests, and other subordinate officials were worried that the power would fall on them, so they became cautious and refused all visits.

In that case, just wait.

However, if other maritime merchants are still waiting patiently, these days, Mr. Shen of Cheung Chau only feels that his family is like an ant that may be put on the roasting pan at any time.

All this was due to those three ships that were really unlucky.

The three ships carried goods worth up to 150,000 taels of silver. When they left, they only had 17,000 taels. Every time they came back, the amount increased nearly nine times.

The most serious thing is that this account was completely revealed by the young camp sea envoy who was newly appointed.

So the Shen family suddenly felt guilty of harboring a jade.

After all, everyone can imagine that since there is such a huge amount of income, how much wealth will the Shen family have accumulated over generations?

Watching the small sedan disappear into the city gate from a distance, Shen Mao couldn't help but sigh.

Shen Mao really wanted to explain it in detail to Mr. Ying Haisi, but there really wasn't that much.

After all, it is very rare for merchants on the sea to be able to make a round trip as smoothly as this one.

However, the Ying Hai Envoy has not given him a chance to speak until now.

The more this happened, Shen Mao felt that the Shen family was about to be in disaster.

After all, the Shen family has lived in Suzhou for a long time, and it is impossible not to have something to do with Zhang Shicheng, who was destroyed last year.

Earlier, the imperial court moved to Suzhou to enrich the people in Linhao. The Shen family took great care and managed to save it. Unexpectedly, this time the bottom line was exposed. How could those people just peel off the skin and let the Shen family go?

As for the situation, the current situation was calm, and even the new sea envoy only followed the new rules set by himself and collected 20% of the tax on the three ships of goods before letting them go.

Shen Mao couldn't believe that this would happen, so he kept trying to contact the other party.

For the first time, Shen Mao went to visit him with heavy gifts, but saw no one.

The second time, after getting some information, Shen Mao tried to ask for an audience again. He was already ready. Not only did he hope to donate all the three cargoes to avoid losing money, but he also hoped to contribute to the imperial court's upcoming northward transportation of grain. .

Still didn't work.

Until now, ten days have passed, and I am still hanging like this.

It's so scary.

Shen Maodu has secretly sent a letter back to Changzhou, asking the family to quietly transfer some of their relatives to avoid any serious disaster and at least preserve the bloodline.

Today, I heard that the Vice Commander of the Navy, Wu Zhen, had arrived. Wu Liang, Wu Zhen's brother, was currently the commander of the Suzhou Guard. The Shen family had made friends with him, so they hurried to the dock again.

Unfortunately, still found nothing.

Seeing Shen Mao looking a little lost, colleagues who roughly understood the Shen family's situation tried to comfort him, and Shen Mao could only deal with it calmly.

After chatting for a while, everyone was about to return to the city. A carriage stopped not far away. A middle-aged man in his fifties with a round face and a short beard hurriedly got out of the car. He saw that all the court officials were gone on the shore of the pier. Looking at the figure of the driver, he couldn't help but stamp his feet, turned around and scolded his coachman a few words. When he noticed Shen Mao and others, the man suddenly showed a smile, walked quickly, cupped his hands and said: "Everyone, you are here, you can see the deputy governor. ?”

Everyone returned the favor politely, but no one answered the man's question. Some merchants even turned their heads deliberately, hoping that the other party would understand and leave voluntarily.

This man's name is Zhang Jiao, a native of Haiyan, Jiaxing, and a maritime merchant.

However, compared to maritime merchants like the Shen family who were widely associated with Qi Shengcai, the Zhang family had a very poor reputation.

In his early years, Zhang Zhi's father made a fortune by selling illegal salt. In Zhang Zhi's generation, he switched to maritime business. However, Zhang Zhi was not only stingy and lacked integrity, but also used dirty tricks. It was rumored that he had interactions with pirates. In the past few years,

A fellow villager of Zhang Jia, surnamed Wang, also ran a maritime business and helped the Zhang family in his early years. For some reason, during a business trip, the Wang family's family fleet encountered pirates just after leaving port. Not only was the property lost, but seventy

Many lives were lost and no one survived, and the Wang family was ruined.

Afterwards, many people suspected that Zhang Jiao colluded with the pirates to seek wealth and death, and also killed a competing colleague.

But there is no evidence.

Even the sufferer hanged himself, leaving the matter unresolved.

No one likes to deal with such a person.

This is why everyone arrived at the dock in time, except Zhang Zhi who was late. His popularity was so bad that when everyone heard the news, no one would take the initiative to inform him.

It's not good to say nothing at all, so Shen Mao spoke kindly and exchanged a few words with Zhang Zhi. He had something on his mind and knew the details of this person, so he didn't say much. He exchanged glances with the people around him and returned to the city together.

go.

Seeing Shen Mao and others leaving in a hurry without even trying to hide their dislike, Zhang Jiao's expression darkened.

He looked at the backs of a group of people fiercely and muttered a few words. He was about to get on the carriage and go back to the city when he suddenly heard someone calling him: "Brother Shu, you are welcome and well."

Zhang Jia, the word has a sparse meaning.

In private, many people ridiculed that this expression is very appropriate, because this rich man Zhang only has a lot of "righteousness" to give you. When it comes to giving away money, it is impossible, but he gives you.

If you lose your 'righteousness', I will take away your 'wealth'.

Zhang Xia turned his head with a surprised expression.

It was actually the short-lived Taicang Shipping Secretary who promoted Chen Ning.

When Taicang City's shipping department first opened, Zhang Zhi also went to give gifts. After all, no matter how reluctant he was to part with it, he also understood that such a thing must be cut off.

It's a pity that the pile of rare sea goods worth at least five thousand taels of silver were all wasted.

Because this Chen Tiju suddenly lost his position after taking office for just over a month, and even the Taicang City Botiju Department was dismissed.

Seeing Chen Ning greeting him and imagining the goods being given away, Zhang Jia felt heartbroken and subconsciously didn't want to pay attention to him.

Just a phoenix that has lost its hair.

However, just as he was feeling idle, someone suddenly took the initiative to greet him. Zhang Jiao regained some of his mood. On second thought, he also showed a smile, stepped forward and cupped his hands and said: "Mr. Chen, you are well."

Chen Ning's lips twitched when Zhang Jia called him 'Mr. Chen', but he quickly recovered and still said with a smile: "Shu Yi, are you here for sea trade?"

Zhang Jia didn't answer. He looked at Chen Ning as he walked in, and suddenly thought he understood, and whispered: "Sir... you came to Mingzhou for the sake of recovery?"

Zhang Jie only knew that Chen Ning had lost his official position, but he did not know about His Majesty the Emperor's words of "never hiring him".

No one knew about him.

Zhang Jia has heard that many officials will soon come back to power after they step down.

If that's the case, let's burn Chen Ning's cold stove now. If the other party makes a comeback, the Zhang family will definitely benefit.

Of course, Chen Ning understood Zhang Jia's thoughts better, so he just gave an unpredictable smile.

Chen Ning has been in Dinghai for six days, and it is indeed what Zhang Zhi thought. Although he felt that the new young camp sea envoy might have taken away his lucrative position, if he could see Zhu Yuan and ask for help, he would also There is no shortage of this ability to bend and stretch.

Then Han Xin has also experienced crotch humiliation.

Given His Majesty's favor for that young man, it probably wouldn't be a problem whether he would never be hired.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out as expected.

He finally persuaded Chang Bao, the former deputy of the Prosecution Department, to introduce him to him, but the answer he got was only two words: "No."

Chen Ning thought that Chang Bao was worried about his resurgence and was not doing his best, so he turned to other former colleagues and tried to meet with Navy Commander Hua Gao.

Unfortunately, nothing came of it.

leave?

Not willing to give in.

So I kept wandering around Dinghai County.
Chapter completed!