Chapter 148: Undercurrents

Li Wei was looking at it for a long time, and he shook his head and said he didn't know about this thing. Chen Wanli smiled and said, "I saw this thing in Sichuan when I was a child. It is called Qifan ointment. It is a strange medicine, but it is not a medicine in Nanyang. Many people take it, and it is easy to get addicted."

"Opium!" Li Wei was blurting out. The black paste in front of him was probably the opium that had poisoned China for nearly two hundred years. Li Wei was suddenly looking up and staring at Chen Wanli's eyes and asked slowly: "Is its flowers extremely bright? After ripening, the fruits are cut with a knife. After the juice flows out, it is this paste. It is also called poppy, is it?"

Chen Wanli seemed to feel that Li Weizheng's tone was beginning to be wrong, and he became a little nervous, and nodded and said, "The locals are not called poppy, but the flowers and fruits are just as the adults said."

Li Weizheng's face suddenly became gloomy and he said coldly: "You didn't smuggle this thing to the Ming Dynasty!"

"No! No!" Chen Wanli shook like a rattle, "I dare not. This thing will become addicted and hurt too much. I will bring some to adults because it is a strange medicine and can be used to relieve pain and save lives at critical moments."

"Okay! I have taken this box of strange balm, but I warn you, if you dare to smuggle it to the Ming Dynasty, or send its seeds, I will peel you."

Chen Wanli bowed repeatedly and said, "The villain dare not! The villain dare not!"

Li Weizheng ordered people to carry sweet potatoes onto the treasure ship. He remembered something and asked Chen Wanli again: "Have you been to Xiaoliuqiu Island overseas in Fujian, the Ming Dynasty?"

Chen Wanli quickly smiled and said, "Why haven't you been there? I have a subordinate who is born on Xiaoliuqiu Island."

He waved to a tall and strong young man who was sorting out the cables on the bow of the boat. The man quickly stepped forward. He knelt down to Li Weizheng and kowtowed, "Xiaomin Lin Chao, see the Lord."

Li Weizheng first saw him dark-skinned. He thought he was also a Luzonian, but after looking closely, he found that he was different from other Luzonians, but like a Hakka from Fujian. Li Weizheng couldn't help but ask in surprise: "So you are a Xiao Liuqiu?"

"Reported to the adults, the little family has been a coastal fishermen in Fujian for generations. They moved to the Penghu Islands at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, the Ming Dynasty was banned from the sea. My grandfather was unwilling to farm, so he led his whole family to live in Xiaoliuqiu Island. In recent years, Xiaoliuqiu Island has been occupied by Japanese pirates, and our lives are becoming increasingly difficult. By chance, I went out to sea with Brother Chen."

"Do you still have relatives on Xiao Liuqiu Island?"

"My father and brother are still there."

Li Wei was thinking for a moment with his hands behind his back, and then said to Chen Wanli: "I may need your help in some things, but I can't keep you in Shandong. You can go to Danluo Island for a while and I will write you a letter."

Chen Wanli bowed quickly and said, "I am willing to serve for you!"

At that moment, Li Weizheng wrote a letter and sent them out to sea according to the normal trek ship regulations. When Chen Wanli's sea ship disappeared from afar, he boarded the treasure ship and returned to Penglai with the silver ship. It was already late spring, and if he didn't plant sweet potatoes, he would miss the season.

The treasure ship slowly landed. On the dock, Lai Yongguo had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Li Wei getting off the boat, he immediately waved and shouted: "Sir, I have something urgent to come to you."

Li Wei was getting off the boat and stepped forward and asked, "What's the matter?"

The emperor's imperial edict has been waiting for a day and asked the adults to go to the military camp to receive the edict. Li Wei was shocked and hurriedly followed him to the military camp. In the military camp, the two officials who proclaimed the edicts were a little impatient. Because Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely taboo about eunuchs, eunuchs were not allowed to participate in any matters involving government affairs. Therefore, there were special officials who proclaimed the eunuchs in various places.

When he heard that Li Weizheng was back, two officials immediately stood up to prepare, put on the incense table, and spread the red carpet. After a moment, Li Weizheng, wearing military uniform, walked over quickly, clasped his fists and said, "Below is Li Weizheng, the commander of Weihai Guard and the thousand households in Penglai."

A headed prosecutor looked at him and immediately said loudly: "Li Wei is obeying the order!"

Li Wei knelt down in front of the incense table, and dozens of generals and officials behind him also knelt down.

"My minister Li Weizheng submitted his order to the emperor."

The official of the imperial edict took out the Huang Ling imperial edict and read it out: "In accordance with the heavens, the emperor's imperial edict said: Li Wei, the commander of Weihai Guard, escorted the official ship to Japan, successfully completed the matters I assigned. He made great achievements and was specially rewarded with ten hectares of land in Linhuai County to express his commendation..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply satisfied with Li Weizheng's trip to Japan, and he specially rewarded him with ten hectares of land in his hometown of Linhuai County as a commendation. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang agreed that he used the food he obtained from the Da Nei family for disaster relief. However, 30,000 taels of silver were only approved for 10,000 taels of silver to be used for the resumption of production by the victims, and the remaining 20,000 taels of silver were transported to Peiping as military expenses. These were expected, but what made Li Weizheng a little strange was that Zhu Yuanzhang did not mention anything about Goryeo.

After the official who announced the edict read the memorial, Li Weizheng immediately kowtowed and replied: "My dear Li Weizheng thanked the emperor for his kindness!"

The official proclaimed the imperial edict handed over to Li Weizheng and smiled and said, "Mr. Li's trip to Japan has made contributions to the Ming Dynasty. The emperor appreciated it very much. Congratulations."

"Where! Where! The officials are not worth mentioning." Li Wei said politely: "I'm sorry for letting you wait for a day."

"It's nothing, it's our duty. Since the promulgation has been completed, we will say goodbye." The promulgation officer had no intention of asking for money. He simply packed his bags and hurried away with his followers.

Li Wei was sending away the prosecutor and came to his room in the military camp with confusion. Lu Siyuan, who was sorting out documents in the room, saw him come in and smiled and said, "Sir, do you think it's strange! Why is the emperor not so beautiful at all?"

"It's really strange." Li Wei was sitting down and said, "Mr. Lu, tell me what you think."

"Maybe I don't know yet that one of these two people is my old friend. Last night I went to find him and learned about some things in the court. From this, we can infer the reason why the emperor did not improve his beauty."

"What's going on in the court?"

Lu Siyuan shook his head gently and said, "Do you remember what I said to you on the boat on the day of attacking Danluo Island?"

Li Wei was thinking for a while and said, "You said that I was going to use power with caution. It would be better to return Danluo Island to Goryeo after fighting Eiyi of Oui. Is that true?"

"That's right. At that time, I analyzed that the adults had the right to make decisions on the spot, but they must not be used really, otherwise they would exceed the emperor's bottom line. But the adults still used it in the end. As expected, I heard that a censor had impeached the adults and criticized Busan as an act of overreaching him, and asked the emperor to hold him accountable."

Speaking of this, Lu Siyuan sighed and said, "The wood is fascinated by the forest, and the wind will destroy it. The Lord led the Ming fleet to attack Goryeo and attack Japan, and made great contributions. With the lack of qualifications of the adult, how could no one be jealous? In addition, the Lord's Jinyiwei's origin, so the important officials of the Minister of Personnel Zhan Hui and the Minister of War Sun's family began to attack the adults. If I was not wrong, the emperor took a vague method because he had too many oppositions, so he took a vague method, skipped Goryeo, and only talked about Japan, and did not promote the adults, and only rewarded ten acres of land. This shows that the emperor was also a little dissatisfied with the adults. This is what adults should pay attention to!"

Li Wei was not speaking for a long time, and he sighed slightly. The result was actually as expected. He knew the taboos of using military forces against Goryeo without authorization, but the urgency at that time did not allow him to ask the court for instructions slowly. In fact, even if he had time to ask for instructions, he would not do it. He knew that the court would never allow him to occupy Danluo Island, nor would he allow him to bombard Busan. This is actually a historical limitation. Now the Ming Dynasty is the sect leader of Goryeo. Just like a father who could teach his son a lesson by chance, but would not occupy his son's home, he could not tell Zhu Yuanzhang and tell the court ministers what the world situation will be like six hundred years later? What is the relationship between the Celestial Empire and the Bangzi?

This is not realistic, so when he resolutely decided to seize Danluo Island, he was mentally prepared to bear the consequences. Li Wei was thinking for a long time and finally said slowly: "I don't care what credit I get. As long as the court does not let my efforts go to waste, don't send Danluo Island back to Goryeo, that's enough, but now the emperor avoids Goryeo and doesn't talk about it, which makes me really worried!"

"Sir, in my opinion, the emperor did not mention the matter of Luodao, which means he was still hesitating and watching. Perhaps he wanted to see Li Chenggui's reaction. If Li Chenggui was so sad and sincere and someone in the court added fuel, the situation might be unfavorable to him."

"What should I do, Mr. Nayi mean?"

Lu Siyuan thought for a while and said, "Danluo Island was occupied. Li Chenggui was not clear about the intention of the Ming Dynasty for a while, and he might also wait and see for a while. If I was not wrong, once he was sure that the Ming Dynasty had no intention of returning it, he would definitely send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty immediately. On the one hand, he would apologize, and on the other hand, he would have to return to the Danluo Island. So if the lord does not want to throw away the Danluo Island, it would be better to find an excuse to return to the court and personally persuade the emperor. There might be a chance."

Li Wei was looking out the window for a long time without saying a word. He was going back, but what he saw was not an opportunity, but a battle. Can he change the trajectory of history?

That night, Li Weizheng found the prefect Zhao Liangcheng, handed him a few baskets of sweet potatoes, and gave him the planting method, asking him to plant immediately, and asked someone to strictly guard him. He repeatedly told him that these baskets of sweet potatoes are related to the solution of the Ming Dynasty's grain. If the planting is successful, it will be of great benefit to him. Zhao Liangcheng had never seen this thing before, and he was skeptical about the claim that the yield per mu of thousands of kilograms was produced, but he finally agreed to send someone to plant in the official field and sent several yamen runners to guard him day and night.

However, Li Weizheng still kept a hand. Sweet potatoes are of great importance and he could not hand them all over to Zhao Liangcheng. The next morning, he boarded the boat and went out to sea. He did not take a treasure boat, but took an ordinary lucky boat, leading more than 100 soldiers to the island outside Penglai along with the patrol boat. He remembered that Lai Yongguo told him that there was a unique island twenty miles east of Changshan Island, called Guishou Island. The wind blew over a gourd-shaped boulder on the island and would make a sharp roar. Sea birds dared not approach this island. There are more than ten acres of fertile land on the island. Although it is not suitable for large-scale planting, planting sweet potatoes is an ideal place. Chen Wanli gave him more than a dozen baskets of sweet potatoes to him and then distributed to the people for large-scale planting. This will take two years to breed.

Li Weizheng's boat broke up from Changshan Island on a boat. The patrol boat went north, and Li Weizheng's boat went northeast to Guidou Island. After more than an hour, the ship slowly approached the island. People from afar could hear a strange sound, sometimes high and sometimes low, as if the sirens were singing softly on the sea, which was creepy. Although everyone knew that this was the sound of the wind blowing through the cracks of the rocks, it still made people feel strange.

"Why do you have to go to the island to plant?" Several personal soldiers were really puzzled.

Li Weizheng looked at them and smiled, "You don't know that Penglai has suffered severely in recent years. The local people have an unusual sensitivity to food. I am worried that if these sweet potatoes are planted, they will be stolen in a few days. So I only give part of them to the prefect Zhao, and I want to plant the other part myself to leave a way out. This small island is rarely visited and is an ideal place for growing sweet potatoes."

The boat slowly leaned on a reef and stopped. Everyone jumped off the boat and went ashore. Li Wei was standing on the reef and looked at it. The island was not big, about the size of two football fields, with reefs around it. The tallest reef was indeed like a huge stone gourd, with a long crack in the middle. The strong sea breeze passed through the crack in the rock and made a harsh roar, but the land in the center of the island was fertile and covered with various plants. It was indeed a natural test site.

"Everyone do it! Clean the weeds and be careful not to poisonous snakes."

Everyone agreed to take various tools from the boat and clean up the weeds together. What made everyone happy was that although there were many insects on the island, there were no poisonous snakes, and even mice. Only a few water snakes were found in the cracks of the reef.

In the afternoon, all the weeds were cleaned up, and everyone started to loosen the soil. The next planting was very simple. Find the most fertile place in the soil layer and plant the sweet potatoes. Then about half a month later, nearly a hundred seedlings will grow in a sweet potato. Then cut them off and insert them into the soil. One acre of land can be inserted into six or seven thousand seedlings. According to seven or eight taels of sweet potatoes, the yield of that acre can reach about two or three thousand kilograms. This is much more considerable than wheat with a yield of hundreds of kilograms per mu, and its vitality is strong, and it basically guarantees harvest by drought and flood.

Of course, Li Weizheng is just the first step now. He will plant sweet potatoes and have to plant seedlings again in half a month. Li Weizheng specially handed over this matter to a hundred households, from planting seedlings to nursing, and then to the final harvest, all the officers and soldiers are responsible for it.

When Li Wei returned to Penglai Water City, it was already dark. He washed the mud on his body. Then he rode home under the escort of more than a dozen personal soldiers. But as soon as he arrived at the door, Li Wei Zheng found a carriage parked in front of the gate. There were more than a dozen followers on both sides of the carriage, all of whom were strong, as if they were clay sculptures without saying a word. He was surprised, turned over and got off the horse and walked quickly towards the house. As soon as he entered the door, Qianqian came up and said, "Brother, there are guests in the family to look for you."

"Does he have a name?"

Qianqian shook her head and said, "He refused to say that he was just an old person you knew. He is now waiting in the study outside."

Li Wei was not worried about changing clothes, so he hurried to the study outside. As soon as he entered the door, he saw a man standing up and bowing and smiling, "Mr. Li, we're meeting again."
Chapter completed!