Dahao North Street, located to the north of Dahao Commercial Port, is where the Chaozhou General Army Yamen and Chaozhou Magistrate Yamen were located during the Ming Dynasty!
The two yamen are actually two almost identical square buildings. Both buildings are two stories high, with tall turrets at the four corners. They also have a wide and imposing door with a Stone lion. At first glance, it looks the same as the "Factory Mansion" where Zhu Hesheng stayed, but the area is more than twice as large.
When it got dark, a man wearing a blue cloth trousers and a servant's attire quietly walked into the enclosure where the plaque of the General Military Office was hung, and went straight to a main room inside. None of the soldiers standing guard inside and outside the General Military Office seemed to have seen him. They neither questioned nor stopped him.
After the man in Tsing Yi walked into the main room, he bowed and said, "Boss, Cannon Zhu arrived at the Factory Mansion yesterday afternoon."
"Big Brother" is the honorific title of Qiu Hui. Qiu Hui was originally a villager in the capital of Dahao Island. He made a living by raising ducks and selling salt. When Zheng Chenggong was recruiting troops in Nan'ao, he went to join him and became a small soldier in Zheng Ming's army. Later, he got a minor official for his meritorious service and made friends with a group of heroes in the army.
Before the Qing Dynasty implemented the border sea ban, he was ordered to operate along the Chaozhou coast. After the coastal relocation began, Chaozhou was in chaos and the Qing army was struggling to suppress it. Qiu Hui seized the opportunity to stage an incident in Dahao. He gathered more than 10,000 troops and occupied Dahao Island, which was close to the mainland.
After that, with the assistance of Zheng Ming's forces, he worked hard to build Dahao into a wealthy trading port and coastal salt field. They used private salt and maritime trade to seize huge profits, recruit troops and buy ships, and dominate one side. At the same time, they also used "middle forces" like Mr. Yu who had both hands in the ship to share the spoils with the Qing Dynasty's corrupt officials in Chaozhou and Huizhou.
Because the Manchu and Qing Dynasty implemented large-scale relocation and sea bans in various coastal areas, the originally prosperous international trade suffered a heavy blow. However, the demand for trade did not completely disappear, and the Manchu and Qing court could not fully control the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian. Therefore, three major smuggling trade ports emerged: Xiangshan, Macau, Dahao and Xiamen.
The only three ports left in the country are naturally prosperous in business and rich in wealth... Moreover, Qiu Hui does not live alone, and Pingnan Palace and Xushun Palace both have the need to support bandits.
Therefore, Qiu Hui was "ignored" by the Guangdong Qing army in the past two years, and they allowed the forces attached to Qiu Hui to continue to expand in Huilai, Chaoyang, Chenghai, Jieyang and other counties within Chaozhou Prefecture.
Qiu Hui himself was also hailed as Da Lao Hui by the heroes in the Chaohui coastal area.
Now the boss Hui is having dinner, not alone, but with a man and a woman at the same table as company.
The man was in his thirties and looked very similar to Qiu Hui. He had a fleshy face, erect eyebrows, and a scary scar on his face. He looked like an unreasonable and ruthless man. This man's name is Qiu Rong, nicknamed "Dao Scarrong". He is the eldest son of Qiu Hui and the second-in-command of the Dahao Ming Army. He is the prefect of Chaozhou.
The woman was much prettier, about sixteen or seventeen years old, with snow-white skin, an oval face, thin lips, smart brows, and quite a heroic spirit. She is Qiu Hui's fourth daughter, named Shuzhen. It was the daughter of the Qiu family that Zhu Qipao had been thinking about.
In this feudal society, sons are valued over daughters, and the man who is the head of the family generally does not let his wives, concubines, daughters, or daughter-in-law serve at the table.
Of course, Qiu Hui is also an old feudalist, and after becoming prosperous, the rules in his family are not small. But he is indeed an exception to his fourth daughter Shuzhen. He really gives her whatever she wants, and whatever she wants, as long as the boss Hui can do it, he will never say anything twice, and he will definitely spoil her to the point of no rules.
The boss Hui dotes on his daughter Shuzhen so much, not because the girl is particularly beautiful, nor because her mouth is so sweet.
But because of an unknown domestic violence tragedy! Shuzhen's biological mother was actually beaten to death by Da Lao Hui who drank too much and went berserk!
Not long after he beat Shuzhen's biological mother to death, Qiu Hui, who was already in good health, fell seriously ill. After recovering from the illness, a circle of pimpled rat sores appeared on his neck, and he was even considered his enemy because of it. Officials of the Qing Dynasty scornfully called it "stinky Xiang Zhu".
Being sick and suffering from sores finally made Qiu Hui feel deeply guilty towards his wife. So he built an ancestral hall for his wife on Dahao Island, burned incense every day, prayed for forgiveness, and doted on Qiu Shuzhen, his only daughter with his wife, to heaven.
An important reason why Qiu Hui refused to marry his daughter Shuzhen to Cannon Zhu was also the crime of killing his wife that he committed back then... Wasn't he just a cannon-tempered man? He drank too much and quarreled with his wife. , I couldn’t control my slap and punched it, and it turned out to be a big mistake!
And Cannon Zhu is also famous for his bad temper, and his martial arts strength is even better than Qiu Hui's back then. I heard that he also likes to carry a short-handled ax with him, and when he gets into a fight with others, he often throws the ax to kill people!
If you drink too much and throw an ax out, you won't die?
That's why Qiu Hui refused to let go of Eunuch Pang, the factory official!
But the problem is that his daughter Qiu Shu really doesn’t know how powerful she is!
She didn't know that her mother was beaten to death by her father. Who dared to tell her? Moreover, Zhu Qipao was good-looking, tall, with stern eyebrows and slender beard... He looked like an uncle from a class in a tower, with a unique masculine air and definitely not a sissy. It fits the aesthetics of Miss Qiu Si, who grew up in a pirate den.
So after Miss Qiu Si met Zhu Hesheng more than a dozen times, she already fell in love with this fierce bearded man.
When Qiu Hui was in trouble, his daughter Shuzhen had already put down her chopsticks and asked: "We arrived yesterday afternoon? Then why didn't we see Brother Pao coming to the General Army Yamen to pay a visit?"
Qiu Hui's heart skipped a beat when he heard his daughter affectionately call Huo Pao Zhu "Brother Pao."
Isn't this girl impatient and wants to get married? Qiu Hui also remembered that when the news came a while ago that Zhu Qipao was captured by the Chaozhou government office of the Qing court, the little girl cried so hard that her eyes were red for several days.
This won't work! Qiu Hui looked at his daughter and said to himself: "That Cannon Zhu is very fierce and will beat you!"
"In reply to Miss Fourth, Cannon Zhu is injured and may need to recuperate before coming to visit. In addition..."
This man dressed in Tsing Yi and dressed as a servant was arranged by Qiu Rong to work in the Factory Mansion as a spy (in fact, the Factory Man knew of his existence). He had always been quite capable and could always find out the situation in the Factory Mansion and report it to Qiu Rong. But now he looked like he was hesitant to speak, which was a bit weird.
"What can't you say?" Qiu Rong asked sharply, "Why are you so hesitant?"
"In reply to the eldest son," Na Xizuo said hurriedly, "I found that Cannon Zhu's behavior was a bit strange..."
"What's weird?" Shuzhen blinked and asked curiously, "Did he ask about me?"
Qiu Hui looked confused when he heard this...
Na Xizuo shook his head, "No, I didn't ask..."
"It's a bit weird!" Shuzhen muttered, "Then did he prepare a gift for me?"
"No..." As soon as Xizuo's words came out, he saw the fourth lady's face darken, and he quickly changed his words, "After he arrived at the factory's mansion, he asked... to buy it. I have candy, fish and shrimp, maybe I want to give them to Miss Fourth."
"Sugar and fish and shrimp?" Qiu Shuzhen was stunned.
Qiu Rong looked at his sister and asked, "Fourth sister, that must be bought for you? You like eating sweets, fish and shrimps very much!"
Qiu Shuzhen nodded: "Yes, I like to eat sweets and seafood!"
Qiu Hui was confused, "Sugar and seafood are not expensive, how much did he buy?"
"Back to the general army, Artillery Zhu asked someone to buy 360 kilograms of sugar! In addition, he asked the young father-in-law (Pang Siming) to go to Haimen Port to collect one or two thousand kilograms of fish and shrimp."
"Then, so many?" Even Qiu Shuzhen felt something was wrong now.
Na Xizuo couldn't laugh or cry and said, "Everyone in the Factory Mansion also thinks it's weird. People below are all wondering, is this Cannon Zhu so tortured by the cruel officials of Chaozhou Mansion that he loses his mind?"
Unconsciousness?
Stupid?
We can’t have this stupid son-in-law!
Qiu Hui waved Na Xizuo to leave and winked at his son.
"Abba," Qiu Rong said, "Why don't I go to the factory official's house early tomorrow morning for a medical visit. If he is really stupid..."
Before he could say anything, his sister Qiu Shuzhen said, "Abba, I'll go with my brother!"
Qiu Hui shook his head, "How can you, a loser (daughter), show up in public?"
Qiu Shuzhen didn't listen to Qiu Hui's words, shook her head and said: "I'm just pretending to be a man, Artillery Zhu won't recognize me."
Can't recognize it? Qiu Huixin said: "If you don't recognize it, you are really stupid! If you are stupid, you really can't take it..."
