After all, Fuzhou is the territory of the Song Dynasty. It seems that the port is chaotic inside and outside, but it has its own internal order. When the ship is docking at the port, there are sight lines everywhere in the port.
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 Festival 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 Palace comes from the Later Liang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties. Wang Shen, who was based in Fuzhou at that time Zhi was canonized by Emperor Taizu of the Later Liang Dynasty and took up the post of Zhongshu Ling, King of Fujian, and Grand Governor. Because Wang Shenzhi had a great legacy in Fuzhou, people still call this the largest government office in Fuzhou this way.
The former Dudu's Mansion is now mostly deserted. The remaining part is the Yamen of Fuzhou Prefecture. In the Yamen there are Rixintang and Chunye Pavilion built by the famous minister Cai Xiang when he was Zhifuzhou. The scenery around Chunye Pavilion is especially beautiful. It is said that the tide rises and the river becomes green. , 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 represented Shi Miyuan in handling maritime trade.
"What do you mean? Are you here?" Hu Ju asked.
"The person 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."
"Only one boat carrying dozens of people? Are there no other boats?"
"In the past, Wang Erbai always followed experienced people when boats came. This time, maybe he was bolder and only had one boat."
"How big is the ship? Will there be 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 material 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 southward? 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 system envoy, is now very fat. But he is not a close confidant of Shi Miyuan in the true sense, and his status in the Shi Party has always been a bit embarrassing.
It was his elder brother Zhang Liangneng who took care of him in his official career. In his early years when he was the censor Zhongcheng, Zhang Liangneng worked closely with Shi Miyuan and forced away Shi Miyuan's political enemies Wei Jing and Qian Xiangzu. But Shi Miyuan returned. When the family was in mourning, Zhang Liangneng suddenly became a member of the Tongzhi Privy Council and became the governor. If he 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 actually 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 would make an explosive fortune by relying on maritime trade? It swelled and now it's shaking again?
In Hu Ju's eyes, Zhang Liangpeng was just unlucky and not worthy of much attention. And Hu Ju himself followed Shi Hao and Shi Miyuan for two generations, which is called a deep heel!
Not long ago, Zhang Liangpeng poured some kind of ecstasy soup into Prime Minister Shi, and 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.
I went to Fuzhou to investigate the wealthy merchants who were dealing with the Zhou Kingdom in the north. This was a special order given to me by Prime Minister Shi. Why do you, an expired person, come to interfere with me? What, the northerners want to come to Fuzhou to run wild? How dare they!
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? Some of these things, I will naturally ask Shi
Talking to each other has nothing to do with you!
Complaining in his heart, Hu Ju did not dare to seriously disobey the Prime Minister's order, so after letting Xuan Zhen dry 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 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, and 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 the person coming?"
The four of them 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 such people. But...
"
"But what?"
"That group of people had accents from the Jinzhou and Zongzhou areas of Beijing, Dazhou, and Yanjing, 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. They were looking forward to the opportunity.
As I got closer, I heard that most of my subordinates also called me this, and someone casually said something about defense, but was immediately stopped."
Xuan Zhen checked them several more times to make sure 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. They have connections in several commercial ports in the north. They are my capable 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, with 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 suffered from severe seasickness.
He is tall and his martial arts must be very good..."
Xuan Zhen crushed 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 he is also highly used by Guo Ning. He is undoubtedly 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 Dynasty is really a messy grassroots team! I heard before that that naughty kid Li Yun became the young man's supervisor; now a county uncle has brought dozens of people with him
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 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.
Half an hour later, 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, a famous sea pirate in the Fujian area, was actually a middle-aged man who looked like a scholar. However, he wore heavy arm guards on both wrists, and there were long knives hanging on the left and right sides of his waist, which was not suitable for the t-shirt.
"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 rough as other pirates. As a result, there was no news for two months after his departure, not to mention him.
There is no news about him or his entire crew.
It often takes several months for pirates to go out and plunder, circling thousands of miles at sea. It is normal to have no news for two months. But if you don't come back as a pirate, the merchants who should be robbed will come back.
What's the matter?
Another pirate leader, Cai Ba, murmured: "Perhaps, the two ships were missed at sea? Did Lao Wang turn to pursue other targets?"
"He won't have a stroke, will he?"
"Probably not..." Cai Ba thought carefully and said, "Old Wang is so cunning, how could he be taken advantage of by a young boy like Wang Erbai at sea? Impossible. I think he probably missed it.
"
Zhao Xi said dissatisfiedly: "Then he should send someone to deliver a message! Everyone is waiting, how much things will be delayed!"
After complaining for a few times, he finally felt uneasy and felt more and more anxious. He kicked the wine table in front of him and said in a deep voice: "If anything happens, we must be on guard. If Lao Wang is not here, the boundary of Fuzhou will be gone."
If something goes wrong, it will be difficult to explain later."
"Send the order." Zhao Xi raised his voice and continued: "Be more vigilant. I will double the number of people on patrol 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 white breasts of the woman in his arms, causing a burst of tender cries of pain.
Cai Ba has been engaged in maritime plunder since the Chunxi period, and he is a real veteran with many years of experience. He did not mind being more cautious, and then he saluted: "I will personally lead the inspection tonight, and you guys have a good rest. Then. We still have to do something big!
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 was always happy when he thought 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.