After all, Fuzhou was the territory of the Song Dynasty. It seemed chaotic inside and outside the port, but it had its own inherent order. As the ship docked, there were sight bets all over the harbor.
A man dressed as an ordinary fisherman, rowed behind the boat when it sailed into the Minjiang River. He took the lead to leave the port, passed through the Tiger Gate Gate, passed through the Mighty Military Gate, and entered the Governor's Mansion.
The so-called mighty military gate was inherited from the Tang Dynasty and refers to the Yamen of the mighty military governor established in Fuzhou during the Qianning period of the Tang Dynasty. The name of the Dudu Mansion comes from the Later Liang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties. At that time, Wang Shenzhi, who was based in Fuzhou, was canonized by Taizu of the Later Liang Dynasty and became Zhongshu Ling, King of Fujian, and Governor. Because Wang Shenzhi had a great legacy in Fuzhou, people still call this the largest government office in Fuzhou this way.
The former Governor's Mansion is now largely deserted. The remaining part is the Yamen of the Fuzhou prefect. In the Yamen, there are Rixintang and Chunye Pavilion built by the famous minister Cai Xiang when he knew Fuzhou. The scenery around Chunye Pavilion is especially beautiful. It is said that the river is green with the rising tide, and the foothills are red in the morning.
Sitting in the Chunye Pavilion at this moment were Hu Ju, a general under Shi Miyuan, the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, and Xuan Zhen, who often handled maritime trade on behalf of Shi Miyuan.
"What do you mean? Are you here?" Hu Ju asked.
"The one who came here is Wang Erbai, the Northerner's captain. His ship left the port two months ago. It was originally loaded with cargo and said it was going to Haizhou, but now it turned back..."
Of course Xuan Zhen knew why Wang Erbai came back early. He coughed lightly: "Let's get down to business!"
"The ship has arrived at the port. Dozens of men got off the ship, all of them tall and strong. Several of them were dizzy and staggered after they stepped on the ground. In addition, the boxes and cages they were traveling with were unusually heavy, so they were probably weapons."
"Just one boat carrying dozens of people? Are there no other boats?"
"In the past, when Wang Erbai came by boat, he would always follow the veterans. This time, maybe he was bolder, and there was only one boat."
"How big is the ship? Is there anyone hiding in the cabin?"
"Wang Erbai's ship was produced by our shipyard on Nantai Island in Fuzhou. It only has 400 pieces of materials in total. The cargo hold is too small to hide people."
Hu Ju waved his hand to make him retreat.
He turned to look at Xuan Zhen, shook his head slightly, and there was a bit of contempt in his eyes: "Zhang Liangpeng said that the reaction of the Northern Dynasty would be violent? He also said that the Northern Dynasty would definitely send tigers and wolves south? Hehe, so what if there are dozens of people with weapons? ?」
Zhang Liangpeng, who promoted Changping tea and salt in eastern Zhejiang and also served as the coastal envoy, is now very prosperous. But he was not a close confidant of Shi Miyuan in the true sense, and his status in the Shi Party had always been a bit embarrassing.
It was his elder brother Zhang Liangneng who took care of him in his career. In his early years when he was serving as the censor Zhongcheng, Zhang Liangneng worked closely with Shi Miyuan and forced away Shi Miyuan's political enemies Wei Jing and Qian Xiangzu. But when Shi Miyuan returned home to mourn, Zhang Liangneng suddenly became a member of the Tongzhi Privy Council and became the governor. If this person had not died of illness soon, he might have become Shi Miyuan's political enemy.
Therefore, after Shi Miyuan unified the government, he nominally took care of Zhang Liangpeng, but in fact he kicked him from the position of minister of the Ministry of Industry to eastern Zhejiang, cutting off the possibility of him participating in major political affairs. Who would have thought that Zhang Liangpeng's explosive expansion relied on maritime trade, and now he is shaking again?
In Hu Ju's eyes, Zhang Liangpeng was just unlucky and not worthy of much attention. As for Hu Ju himself, he has followed Shi Hao and Shi Miyuan father and son for two generations, which is called deep heel!
Not long ago, Zhang Liangpeng did not know what kind of ecstasy soup he poured into Prime Minister Shi. Then Xuan Zhen came to Fuzhou in a hurry with the warrant of Prime Minister Shi. He listed a lot of things and asked the governor of Fuzhou to cooperate. Hu Ju was not happy.
This is a special order given to me by Prime Minister Shi to go to Fuzhou to investigate the wealthy merchants who have contacts with the Zhou Kingdom in the north. What are you, an expired character, doing here to interfere? What, the northerners are coming to Fuzhou to run wild? They dare!
Shi Xiang agreed? What was Zhang Liangpeng talking about? Do you understand that they have crossed the line? The sea is dangerous and only a few ships have been sunk. Is there any need to make such a fuss? I will naturally explain some of these things to Shi Xianxiao, but they have nothing to do with you!
Complaining in his heart, Hu Ju did not dare to seriously disobey the Prime Minister's order, so after waiting for Xuan Zhen for a few days, he finally bought wine in Chunye Pavilion and planned to explain the reason in detail.
But I never thought that at this moment, someone from the north would actually make a special trip to the south.
.
Xuan Zhen saw the impatience in Hu Ju's eyes. He was not in a hurry, he just rubbed his hands and said slowly, "Wait a minute."
After a while, another person came out to see him. They were all dressed as small traders. They were four subordinates who had come south with Xuan Zhen.
Xuan Zhen was very polite to them. He stood up to greet them and asked earnestly: "Can you see clearly? Do you know who is coming?"
The four people knelt down and said, "These people are strangers. I have never seen them here in Qingyuan Mansion. I have traveled to Tianjin, Laizhou, Haizhou and other places, and I have never seen people with such appearance. But... "
"But what?"
"That group of people had accents from the Jinzhou and Zongzhou areas of Beijing Road in the Great Zhou Dynasty, as well as Yanjing accents from the capital of Zuozhong. Their leader had a Yanjing accent. We heard that the sailors called the leader Shi Dalang, a big man of Han Dynasty. We saw the opportunity. As I got closer, I heard that most of my subordinates also called me this, and someone casually called me defensive, but was immediately stopped."
Xuan Zhen checked a few more times to confirm that there were no omissions, and then politely asked them to leave.
He explained to Hu Ju: "These people were sent by a good friend to help me. They are all experts who are accustomed to traveling by sea and have connections in several commercial ports in the north. They are my powerful assistants , not an ordinary servant."
"But didn't they recognize the person? Where did their strength lie?"
Xuan Zhen frowned and thought for a while, then smiled and said, "With these few words from them in return, that's enough."
"how to say?"
"He was born in Zhongdu and brought his subordinates from Zhongdu Road and Beijing Road. His surname is Shi. He is the eldest son of the family. He may have the title of defense envoy. It was the first time for him and his subordinates to sail, so they were very seasick. He is tall and his martial arts must be very good..."
Xuan Zhen crushed up the report from his subordinates and said it again, nodding heavily: "This person is probably Shi Tianni, the uncle of Yongqing County in the Great Zhou Dynasty and the defense envoy to the north of Dading Prefecture in Beijing."
He raised his eyes to look at Hu Ju and said softly: "This man has a reputation in the Jin Kingdom and Mongolia, and is also highly used by Guo Ning. There is no doubt that he is a man of tigers and wolves. Brother Zhong Fang should be more careful."
Hu Ju frowned: "A county uncle actually came here? This great Zhou Kingdom is really a messy grassroots team! I heard earlier that that naughty kid Li Yun became the eunuch of the young manor; now a county uncle has led dozens of people Subordinates, come to my territory in the Song Dynasty... Do you know what he wants to do? Is he going to start a gang fight?"
"The Prime Minister hopes to use the force of these northerners to straighten out the order at sea. With the fierceness of the northerners, it is very likely that they will get stuck in this and arouse hostility in all aspects. This will also consume their financial resources, Material resources and manpower. Since they have a county uncle here, why don’t the magistrate ask him to talk to him in person and explain our principles and rules first?"
Hu Ju thought about it and felt that this was a good idea. It not only showed his politeness, but also showed that he had a good grasp of the situation and would never allow the Northerners to act recklessly.
"Okay, let's do it."
The two of them were drinking and chatting, talking about rumors about their business.
After half an hour, it was getting dark, and the servants turned back in a hurry.
After hearing the servant's report, Hu Ju jumped up: "What? We can't find anyone? How is this possible? Weren't we keeping an eye on him the whole time?"
At the same time, east of Fuzhou City, in a camp deep in Gushan Mountain.
Zhao Xique, the famous sea pirate in the Fujian area, is actually a middle-aged man who looks like a scholar. However, he wears heavy arm guards on both wrists, and there are long knives hanging on the left and right sides of his waist, which is not suitable for the robe.
"Then Wang Erbai is back?"
Upon hearing the news, Zhao Xique's expression became extremely ugly.
He knew that Wang Ziqing had specially designed a trap two months ago to get rid of Wang Erbai without anyone noticing and then plunder his wealth.
Wang Ziqing had the title of Baoyilang on his head and had some personal connections with Hu Ju, so his methods of doing things were particularly sinister and not as crude as other pirates. As a result, there was no news for two months. Not to mention himself, his entire ship's subordinates also lost news.
The pirates' plundering trips often took several months and traveled thousands of miles at sea. It was unusual for them to have no news for two months. But you do the sea
If the pirates don't come back and the merchants who should have been robbed come back, what's the big deal?
Another pirate leader, Cai Ba, murmured: "Maybe the two ships were missed at sea? Did Lao Wang turn to pursue other targets?"
"He won't have a stroke, right?"
"Probably not..." Cai Ba thought about it carefully and said, "Old Wang is such a slippery girl, how could he be taken advantage of by a young boy like Wang Erbai at sea? Impossible. I think he probably missed it Already."
Zhao Xi said dissatisfiedly: "Then he should send someone to deliver a message! Everyone is waiting, how much things will be delayed this time!"
After complaining for a few times, he finally felt uneasy and felt more and more anxious. He kicked away the wine table in front of him and said in a deep voice: "If anything happens, we must be on guard. When Lao Wang is not around, something goes wrong in the boundaries of Fuzhou. It will be difficult to explain in the future."
"Give me the order." Zhao Xi raised his voice and continued: "Be more vigilant. I will double the number of people patrolling and guarding tonight! We must all be fully armed!"
Several pirates who gathered together to drink showed disapproval. A man with a beard agreed and squeezed the fair breasts of the woman in his arms, eliciting a burst of tender cries of pain.
Cai Ba started his career of sea robberies during the Chunxi period and was a truly experienced thief. He didn't mind being more cautious, so he saluted immediately: "I will personally lead the patrol tonight, you guys have a good rest. Then we have to fight a big battle! qδ.net
Zhao Xi nodded with satisfaction.
He thought again, if something happened to Wang Ziqing, for example, died in a storm at sea, then I would have to arrange for my subordinates to kill Wang Ziqing's confidants who were left here, and ask him where he kept his money and food. Let’s talk about money.
Zhao Xi has always been very happy when he thinks about getting rich. But today he was in an inexplicable bad mood. He drank two more drinks with the other leaders before getting up and leaving.
