Chapter 116 The Silver Ship Arrives

In the early morning, the weather was clear, and a few white clouds floated faintly in the sky. The sea water was as blue as the sky, bright as the sky, and shining with silver light like brocade. In the distance, on this calm and sleepy sea, a fleet of four blessed ships rushed from the eastern sea. The white sails were full, like the wings of albatrosses flying in the sea.

These four ships are the last capital of the Luo family at sea. They go to Japan every year and transport a large amount of Ming Dynasty porcelain, paper, tea and silk to Japan, bringing back Japanese lacquerware, folding fans and real silver. Although this is no longer comparable to the more than 200 large fleets in full swing, the existence of these ships still carries a hint of the yearning for maritime trade by the sea merchants in the past.

However, since the previous year, the Luo family has not engaged in its own smuggling trade, but has specially sold silver from Japan for the King of Qin. Three of these four large ships were loaded with silver ingots transported from Japan, which was as much as 20,000 kilograms. This time, the King of Qin exchanged 30,000 taels of gold from Japan and received the support of the Southern Dynasties of Japan, and was able to implement it smoothly. This time, the King of Qin exchanged silver almost all out. Once something happened, he would have nothing.

Therefore, King Zhu Cheng of Qin attached great importance to the anti-silver in Japan this time. He not only sent one of his confidant aides to escort the ship, but also sent 300 guards to protect the ship. The Qin King's aide who went to Japan this time was named Tan Yanling, who was the third person among the three major aides of the Qin King, except Zhao Wuji and Shao Wenda. Strictly speaking, he was the Qin King's aide, Qian Gu, and was not good at strategy. He was good at investment and financial management. He was almost all the money in the Qin King's Mansion. It was his idea to suggest that the Qin King conduct overseas trade. The first silver dealer and the second year before yesterday

The second silver sale was made by the white lead from Huguang to Japan to refine silver. Although the effect was good, the risk was too great and it was very easy to be reported by local governments. During the second silver sale, Tan Yanling discovered the secret of the difference in the price of gold and silver, so he suggested that the King of Qin exchange gold for silver from Japan. Thirty thousand taels of gold were only 2,000 kilograms, and ten strong mules could be carried, which was very hidden. The exchanged silver could be transported back to Xi'an in batches and mixed with other goods, which was also very safe. With the protection of the King of Qin's token, the inspection department along the way did not dare to check it.

So this time, the King of Qin almost used his savings for ten years. Once he succeeded, he would greatly enhance his ability to expand his troops. Four sea ships had entered the Lingdingyang. Tan Yanling immediately ordered the flags of the Southern Dynasties of Japan. These flags of the Southern Dynasties were amulets given to them by Prince Liangcheng. They would hang them on them. Generally, Japanese pirates and Japanese pirates would give face and would not come to harass them, so that they could return safely.

At this moment, a crew member suddenly shouted on the mast's lookout bucket: "Ship! There is a boat ahead!"

Everyone ran to the side of the ship together, looking desperately into the distance. The sky was clear and the vision was particularly far away. Several small black spots appeared at the end of the sky. The whole ship suddenly became nervous. The guards accompanied the ship lifted large bowl guns from the cabin. The guns were two feet long, weighed about forty kilograms, and the range was about a hundred steps. They could shoot dozens of small iron balls at one time. They were a sharp weapon to deal with pirates jumping off the ship. There were also guards with accurate archery skills to pull out the steel crossbow and install a hard crossbow with shovel-shaped arrows, which was used to shoot the opponent's cables.

The ship gradually approached, and Tan Yanling stared at the other ship for a long time. He suddenly waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, it seems to be a patrol military ship."

After a moment, everyone saw the Ming dragon flag on the hull. Everyone felt relieved. It was a military ship, not a pirate ship. Everyone put away their weapons and prepared to meet with the military ship.

The three Guang ships came, which were patrolling ships of the South China Sea Guard. They were ordered by commander Yu Guangqing and have been patrolling the surface of the Lingding Ocean in the past few days. Their main task was to receive sea ships carrying the King of Qin's cargo. In fact, even without the King of Qin's silver, the patrol military ships would not make things difficult for the Luo family's smuggling ships. This is a tacit understanding reached between the two parties. Every year, the Luo family would pay a large sum of silver to Yu Guangqing in exchange for the free travel of the Luo family's smuggling merchant ships on the Linding Ocean. This is also the distance between the emperors in Guangdong, and it would be impossible to do it if they were in Zhejiang or the coast of Shandong.

As the military ships get closer, the faces of the Ming soldiers on the side of the ship can be seen. The three ships are led by a deputy Qianhu, with more than 500 officers and soldiers. This person is Luo Jin, the son of Luo Beisheng, the second in charge of the Luo family. He is the contact person of the Luo family stationed in the South China Sea Guard. When the two ships approach, he stood on the side of the ship and shouted: "Mr. Tan is there?"

Tan Yanling walked up and smiled and waved, "Let General Luo wait for a long time, and the next journey will go smoothly."

"Okay! Please go to Luojia Island and we will guard all the way."

The big ship pulled up its sails again, gradually accelerated, and drove towards the depths of the Lingding Ocean under the escort of three military ships.

About midnight, the fleet finally arrived at a small island. The island was about five miles in a radius and lush forests. There was a hill dozens of feet high, which stretched out and occupied most of the island. The island was called Huangpu Island, located on the sea about thirty miles east of Huangpu Town, Shunde County. There was originally a small fishing village on the island, with hundreds of families making a living by fishing. After the sea ban, almost all the fishing villagers fled to the Nanyang, and the small fishing village was abandoned. However, ten years ago, the island was spotted by the Luo family and became a secret base for the Luo family to conduct overseas smuggling trade. There was a secret warehouse of the Luo family on the island, and more than 100 armed servants protected the island.

Four lucky ships slowly landed on the dock, and a simple embassy was filled with servants who rushed to unload the goods after hearing the news. Among the four lucky ships, in addition to the 300,000 taels of silver from the King of Qin, there were also a large number of goods from the Luo family, suma, lacquerware, folding fans and other items.

The 300,000 taels of silver were placed in fifty wooden boxes, but the Luo family was not allowed to touch them. Instead, the 200 guards of the Qin Palace were unloaded by themselves. The wooden boxes would be placed in a stone cave as deep as four meters deep, and the outside was equipped with a thick iron gate to protect it. The 200 guards would be stationed in a row of stone houses outside the iron gate until all the silver was transported.

In the heavy night, everyone unloaded the goods silently and quickly and sent them to a special warehouse. No one spoke, but only coughing and rapid footsteps came by chance. On the sea three miles away, Luo Jin, the deputy Qianhu, saw that the mission had been completed, so he gave a low order. The three military ships set sail and sailed northward, and soon disappeared in the depths of the dark sea.

Shortly after the military ship left, a small boat sneaked out behind a reef. There were five people on the boat, all wearing Japanese samurai uniforms. They were lying on the bow of the boat, staring at the supplies piled up on the docks and the dark warehouse in the distance. After several people counted the number of people on the island, they rowed the boat and retreated, like a flat-headed cockroach, silently disappearing into the darkness.

At the Guangzhou Welcoming Hall, a Jinyiwei lieutenant trotted into the gate and came directly to Li Weizheng's room.

"Sir, there is emergency information!"

"Come in!"

In the room, Li Weizheng was writing his second investigation report on the disaster relief grain case and was about to send it back to the capital immediately. It was the tenth day he came to Guangzhou. There was no news on the smuggling ship of the Qin King. Almost all relevant parties lurked. Everyone was waiting for the ship to arrive. Li Weizheng's attention was also temporarily focused on the disaster relief grain case. In the past ten days, he sent more than 200 Jinyiwei to various parts of Guangdong for investigation. Judging from the information collected from various places, all disaster relief grains were mixed with rice bran.

The proportions are the same, and the source is the same. They are all seconded grain from the military warehouse. More than 20 counties have made fraud at the same time, and the possibility of consistency of the method is almost zero. The source of the problem is already very obvious. Yesterday, several Jinyiwei magistrates sent key evidence. Li Wen, a magistrate of Qingyuan County, Guangdong, discovered that the grain was mixed with rice bran when receiving military rations. He made a special record when receiving it. A deputy Qianhu, a military deputy surnamed Zhou, also signed the letter and admitted that the rice bran came from the military.

Li Weizheng immediately ordered Chen Ying, a hundred households, to lead 30 Jinyiwei to Shunde County, and detained the deputy Qianqian family at home to prevent being killed by the military from silence. Since the case involved the Guangdong commander Zhang Yi, Li Weizheng was afraid of the army's mutiny and did not dare to act rashly, so he gave the preliminary report to Zhu Yuanzhang in the form of a Geochi Guard's letter overnight. This happened five days ago.

At this time, the captain walked in quickly, bowed half kneeling, and took out a letter: "Report to the Lord, this is an emergency letter from the Luo family to the Lord."

"I understand." Li Wei was taking the letter and put it on the table, but he did not read it. Instead, he continued to write his second report. After a moment, the report was written. He read it and handed it over to a follower beside him and said, "Send this letter to the highest level immediately."

"Yes!" The personal follower took the letter and hurried away.

At this time, Li Wei was tearing apart the emergency letter from the Luo family. He knew that the silver ship had arrived without looking at it. He had been waiting for ten days and it should have arrived no matter what. As expected, the content of the letter was that the silver ship had arrived at the Luo family's secret warehouse, with a total of 300,000 taels of silver.

Li Weizheng pondered for a moment, then said to another follower next to him: "Send a message to the brothers from Dongguan County and Shunde County to closely monitor the townships near Nanhaiwei and Shunde. Report any abnormal situations immediately!"

After personally receiving the order, Li Wei was taking out a detailed map of Guangdong from the box beside him and carefully checking the situation on the sea near Lingdingyang. In fact, many of the Qin King's guards followed this batch of silver and it was easy to catch them, but this did not prove that it was done by the Qin King himself. The key was to ask for the exact evidence of the Qin King's smuggling, such as silver and handwritten letters, and supplemented with the Qin King's aides, guards and other personal testimonies, which was a foregone conclusion. This was something Zhu Yuanzhang emphasized particularly.

Li Weizheng's eyes were on the sea surface of Shunde County. His thinking was already very clear. First, he had to intercept this batch of silver, and secondly, he was looking for evidence, but he could not be too hasty and alert the enemy. Judging from his dealings with Zhao Wuji for so long, this person is definitely not a straight line.

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered: "Su Ling Luo Guangcai and three hundred households to come to my room immediately. I have an urgent matter to explain."

At the same time when Li Wei was starting to make a lot of arrangements, Zhao Wuji also launched. In a secret room, he carefully analyzed one intelligence after another. There was no suspense about the arrival of the silver ship, but how to transport this batch of silver back to Shaanxi safely was what made Zhao Wuji devote himself to. This time he had an ominous premonition, which was not born out of thin air. Since Li Wei was in Guangdong, Zhao Wuji began to become nervous. The thousand households of the Jinyiwei had become an indelible shadow in his heart.

, Is this person really here to investigate the disaster relief food case? From his coming to the city to kill people to establish his authority, from his imposing momentum at the Luo family feast, from his attacks everywhere in Guangdong, he should have come to investigate the disaster relief food case, but Zhao Wuji's doubts in his heart have never been eliminated. It is because he knows this opponent too well. In Dingyuan County and Wuchang Prefecture, his unexpected methods have made Zhao Wuji unforgettable. Zhao Wuji began to suspect that these were Li Weizheng's cover-ups. His real purpose may be the smuggling case of the King of Qin.

He had a piece of information he had just received. Li Weizheng's Three Hundred Jinyiwei was in Guangzhou, and the rest went to various counties to investigate the case. Judging from this piece of information, there was no one around Li Weizheng. If he was here to investigate the case of the King of Qin, he should have left his subordinates in Guangzhou. From this point of view, Li Weizheng really had no intention of investigating the King of Qin smuggling case.

But Zhao Wuji thought that Li Weizheng's decision was abnormal. He already knew that Kikuchi Fengya secretly participated in the Luo family feast and met Li Weizheng, but there was no trace of this matter in Li Weizheng. He did not even send anyone to find the residence of the Kikuchi brothers and sisters. This did not conform to Li Weizheng's unmissable character. In addition, he was assassinated when he first arrived in Guangzhou, and there was no trace of this matter, which made Zhao Wuji sensitively notice that something seemed to be hidden here.

"Strange! It's really weird! His performance in the disaster relief food case seems to be a bit too much."

Zhao Wuji walked slowly in the room with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself. He pondered for a long time and finally made the first decision. He immediately wrote a secret letter and handed it to a guard and said, "Send this letter to General Yu of the South China Sea Guard and ask him to follow the steps in the letter, and do not be careless at all."

After the guard left, he got up and went to the living room. In the living room, Luo Nansheng, the head of the Luo family, and Ma Buyuan, a merchant, arrived almost at the same time, waiting for Zhao Wuji's arrival. Since the feast ten days ago, the Luo family has changed the head of the family, Luo Nansheng, to cooperate with Zhao Wuji's actions on the grounds of being of great importance. Zhao Wuji has no objection to this. He also appreciated the Luo family's attention to this matter, but he did not know that with the arrival of the silver ship, the Luo family officially began to cooperate with the Jinyiwei's investigation.

After coughing outside the door, Zhao Wuji walked in slowly. He bowed and smiled, "I'm really embarrassed to let you wait for a long time."

Luo Nansheng quickly stood up and saluted, "You are polite, Mr. Zhao, in fact, we both just arrived."

Ma Buyuan also bowed and asked with a smile: "Mr. Zhao, why aren't that Japanese brother and sister not seeing each other?"

"They went out of Guangzhou City to visit this morning, not in the mansion." Zhao Wuji waved his hand and said, "Please sit down, two!"

The three of them sat down, Zhao Wuji pondered for a moment and said to Luo Nansheng first: "That batch of silver is not safe to place on the island. I have notified General Yu that the silver will be transported back to the military camp in four days. I hope the Luo family can cooperate."

"Don't worry, sir, the Luo family will do their best to cooperate with sir's arrangements."

Zhao Wuji nodded and turned to Ma Buyuan: "Brother Buyuan has to work hard this time. I decided to transport this batch of silver back to Xi'an at one time. I hope Brother Buyuan will prepare fifty carriages and three hundred strong mules."

Ma Buyuan immediately nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir, I will do it, but I don't know when my convoy is? Where to install silver?"

"Ten days later, the silver will be officially installed in Qingyuan County. At that time, the Nanhai Guard will have 500 troops guarding your convoy to Huguang."

At this time, Luo Nansheng next to him asked again: "Would I go to the island in person to hand over the silver properly?"

Zhao Wuji immediately smiled and said, "It is best if the leader of the Luo family is willing to go in person. I hope the leader of the Luo family will arrange the handover of Huangpu Island and do not have any problems."

As soon as Zhao Wuji finished speaking, a sudden sound of rapid footsteps came from outside. A guard rushed in and reported urgently: "Sir, the Kikuchi brothers and sisters killed the brothers who were watching were gone."

"What!" Zhao Wuji was shocked. He stood up and asked suddenly, "When did something happen?"

"It happened two hours ago, the Kikuchi brothers and sisters were going to go to the south, but the brothers who were monitoring them were not allowed. Unexpectedly, the Kikuchi Hideji suddenly attacked and killed three brothers. They rode their horses to the south. We don't know where they went."

"What's going on?" Zhao Wuji couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. After King Qin Baiyin set out, he was going to let their brother and sister go out on the boat. Everyone had agreed that they both accepted it completely. How could such an accident suddenly happen?

Although Zhao Wuji couldn't figure it out, time could no longer allow him to continue thinking deeply. He immediately went to Luo Nansheng and Ma Bu: "Okay! Let's act according to our established plan."

After arranging these things, he strode out and ordered: "So quickly prepare the carriage, I will rush to Shunde County immediately."

Ma Buyuan left the Luo family's house. His carriage was surrounded by several followers and left Guangzhou City and headed east. Ma Buyuan was in his early fifties and was not tall, black, fat and strong. He was from Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong. When he was young, he fled to Shaanxi by manslaughtering people in his hometown. He also worked as a mule and horse merchant in Shaanxi. He relied on five strong mules to transport goods to others. When he was forty, he came to operate and saved the brother of the King of Qin's concubine on a way to transport goods in northern Shaanxi, so he was appointed as the King of Qin.

The beautiful cargo transported by the mansion was specially used to transport some black goods for the King of Qin. Because he was smart and capable, he could complete his errands beautifully every time, he gradually became valued by the King of Qin. Under the deliberate cultivation of the King of Qin, he established a mule and horse carriage business, which was equivalent to an ancient logistics company, and became larger and larger, transporting grain and salt for the military. The number of its servants also increased to more than 400, hundreds of carriages, and more than 2,000 strong mules, becoming the largest mule and horse carriage business in Xi'an Prefecture and even Shaanxi, almost monopolizing the military's business.

But since the previous year, King Zhu Chuang of Qin turned to Japan and began to sell silver from Japan. He chose Guangdong, which was remotely blocked as a base. Ma Buyuan also returned to his hometown after nearly 30 years of separation. He opened a mule and horse shop in Chaozhou Prefecture and transferred 400 mules and 100 large trucks from Shaanxi. In name, he transported goods from north and south, but in fact he was specialized in transporting silver for the King of Qin. He had successfully transported two batches of silver the year before and last year. This year was his third time, 300,000 taels of silver, and he had to send it back to Xi'an at one time. Ma Buyuan also felt great pressure. Although he had the token of the King of Qin on his body, the inspection department along the way did not dare to check, he was still worried that if something happened, he would face the fate of extermination of the clan.

The carriage left Guangzhou City and headed to Chaozhou Prefecture hundreds of miles away. Just as passing through a forest, the carriage slowed down. Several horse riders blocked the way in front of him. Ma Buyuan recognized the person blocking the road. He quickly got out of the carriage and went forward and saluted, "Do you have something to look for me?"

A man in the lead glanced at him and said coldly: "Follow me!"

Ma Buyuan's carriage turned around and followed several people into the woods. There were more than a dozen horses tied in an open space. A burly young man was sitting on a big rock, surrounded by more than a dozen sword-bearers on both sides. The man was chewing a grass root in his mouth, with a cold expression and a little absent-minded. He was Ji Gang, a capable general sent by the King of Yan. Ji Gang did not lead people south directly, but came to Guangdong as a follower of the river envoy. He brought not many subordinates, only fifteen people, all of whom were elite warriors selected from a hundred.

As early as two years ago, Yao Guangxiao learned about the Qin King's silver dealings from Shao Wenda, the aide of the Qin King, and also knew that it was transported by the mule and horse merchant Ma Buyuan. However, at that time, the two kings of Qin and Yan had common interests and cooperated more than differences. The King of Yan never interfered with the Qin King's smuggling of silver. However, at one time and another, the prince's body became increasingly weak. Whether he could survive the abdication of his father was a major event. In this case, killing future competitors was a major event planned by the King of Yan.

This time, the emperor ordered the Jinyiwei to secretly investigate the smuggling case of the King of Qin, which was obviously going to attack the King of Qin, so the King of Yan could not sit still.

This time Ji Gang came to Guangdong not to compete for merit. The investigation of the case of Qin King smuggling silver was handed over to the Jinyiwei Special Office. King Yan knew very well that he had to stay out of this case, but he did not want to stand by. He was afraid that Li Wei could not find out the core matter, so he ordered Ji Gang to come and secretly help, which could also be said to be a fuel to the fire. There was only one goal, and he took this opportunity to completely defeat the King of Qin.

When Ji Gang came to Guangdong, the first thing he did was to find Ma Buyuan. Under his threat, Ma Buyuan finally surrendered and agreed to do things for the King of Yan in exchange for a reduction of the crime.

After a moment, several followers brought Ma Buyuan into the woods. Ji Gang immediately straightened his waist and smiled and said, "What good news does Lao Ma bring to me today?"

Ma Buyuan hurriedly bowed and said, "The latest news is that the silver ship has arrived. Zhao Wuji ordered me to lead a mule and horse carriage to pick up goods in Qingyuan County in ten days. At that time, five hundred troops will escort me out of Guangdong."
Chapter completed!