Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 904 New News

"The longer the night, the more dreams you may have, my husband!" Princess Taiping said meaningfully.

"Yes! I understand!" Hu Liang nodded: "I will not let the Political Affairs Hall delay this matter!"

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The waves hit the sharp bow and were shattered into white powder. Before they could disappear, the next wave came and submerged them. Under the blowing of the sea breeze, the spray sprinkled on the cables and sails, and they changed color instantly.

"The wind is getting stronger and the waves are getting bigger!" Chongjing sighed.

"Well, we passed Dengzhou the day before yesterday. Now we are in the East China Sea, so naturally the wind and waves are much stronger!" Sutuo said, "Master, didn't you notice? The speed of the boat has also increased a lot!"

"It's not surprising. The boat is in better shape now. The sails are blown up!" Chongjing pointed to the sail above his head.

"No, there are other reasons!" Suta stretched out his finger and pointed downwards: "Didn't you notice? There is also the ocean current. The sea water is also flowing southeast. We are going downstream. If nothing unexpected happens, we will reach the next stop much earlier than expected!"

"Next stop?" Chong Jing asked, "Mingzhou?"

"Yes, it is Mingzhou!" Xu Tuo nodded: "Then it is Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and finally Jiaozhou!"

"So many places? Won't that take time?" Chong Jing asked.

"Haha!" Suta stamped his feet twice and asked, "Master, guess what's in the bottom cabin?"

"The bottom cabin?" Chong Jing was slightly stunned: "What's in it?"

"We have everything, mainly goods from all over Haidong!" Suta said with a smile, "Father asked me to open up a route to Jiaozhou, but what's the point of just a route? Only when it's profitable can more and more people participate."

"You mean we still want to trade?"

"Yes!" Xu Tuo nodded. "Mingzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou are all famous trading ports, and they are right on the sea route from Cangzhou to Jiaozhou. It would be a pity if we passed by without entering. To be honest, if the ship was not too big and the draft was too deep, I would have wanted to go to Yangzhou first to see the scenery there!"

"So, then, sir, when do you plan to arrive in Jiaozhou?"

"It will be fine within three months! The important thing is to find out the needle routes, safe havens and special products along the way. Then we can make two round trips every year, load 30,000 guan of goods on each ship and make twice the profit each time. Only then can we make this business!" Suta became more and more proud as he spoke: "Master, colonization is the most dangerous thing in the world. Who would be willing to go to a place where people are unfamiliar with by boat and brave the wind and waves if it can't bring enough rewards? Even if you force them with force, it won't last long!"

"But maritime business is not that easy to do, right?" Chong Jing asked hesitantly, "Let alone other things, just your large ships, if I were a local official, I would probably have to think twice before entering the port!"

"Hehe, I've thought of this a long time ago!" Xu Tuo pulled out a stack of white hemp paper documents from his sleeve: "Look, this is issued by the Hejian Palace of the Tang Dynasty, it's genuine!"

Chong Jing didn't say anything. He turned around and looked at the end of the ship. Behind the "Long Tailed Whale" were seven other ships, three large and four small, and the smallest of them was 45 meters long, with two masts and three decks. All the ships were built with completely dried oak, with the stern and bow towering like two sentry towers, and the sides of the ships were covered with shooting holes, and on the decks were skilled sailors and armored warriors.

Anyone who is not blind can see how terrifying these behemoths are. Chong Jing thought that his disciples might have been away from the Tang Dynasty for too long and took things for granted, as they wanted to handle everything with just a few documents. ————————

Waters near Guangzhou Port.

"Are you the fleet of the Prince of Hejian?" The clerk of the Maritime Customs carefully looked at the certificate presented to him, then looked at the huge ships around him and swallowed his saliva: "I remember that the Prince of Hejian was in Fanyang, Hebei. Why did he come to Guangzhou? Also, why are the styles of these ships different from the past?"

"We are setting out from Cangzhou Port in Hebei!" The captain said with a smile, "We are following the order of the Prince of Hejian to open up the sea route. We passed through Dengzhou, Mingzhou, and Quanzhou along the way. Every place we arrived at had the seals of the port officials along the way. You can take a look."

"Oh? There are seals of the ports along the way? Where are they?" The clerk was delighted to hear this. As an official of the first Maritime Customs established in the Tang Dynasty, he had seen too many people who forged identities to defraud trade opportunities. The group of people in front of him had such a large ship, so it was unlikely that they would defraud trade, but they were likely to become pirates. Although the "Certificate of Identity issued by the Prince of Hejian" in his hand did not look like a fake, he could not send someone to verify it thousands of miles away. There were many merchant ships going to and from the ports of Mingzhou and Quanzhou, and he had seen many official seals on the certificates, so he was not afraid of the other party's forgery.

The clerk turned the certificate to the page with the seal, and compared it with the official seal in his memory. He felt relieved and returned the certificate to the captain with a smile, saying, "Yes, it is indeed the official seal of Quanzhou Mingzhou. I will go back and report to the superiors and then send someone to lead you into the harbor. You have to stay here tonight."

"Thank you, sir!" The captain waved his hand, and his men brought a clay jar wrapped in a fox fur vest.

"This is--?"

"This bottle contains bear bile paste, which is a top-grade medicine for treating internal and external injuries! I give it to you, my dear, and this waistcoat is for you, my lady." The captain said with a smile, "I'm sorry to bother you today, so please accept this small token of my appreciation!"

"Good, good!" The official stretched out his fingers and rubbed the fox fur, only to find it was thick and warm. If his evil wife got it, she would definitely be very happy, and she would smile more at him. He was happy in his heart, so he asked another question: "Is Guangzhou your last stop, or will you continue south after Guangzhou?"

"We have to go south. According to the order from above, our final destination this time is Jiaozhou, and then we will return to Cangzhou!"

"Oh my!" the official exclaimed, "Luckily I asked one more question. You can't go to Jiaozhou!"

"You can't go to Jiaozhou?" The captain was surprised: "Why do you say that? Did something happen there?"

"That's right!" The official had just received a benefit, so he spoke with extra care. "It happened at the end of last year. The local barbarians in Annan rose up in rebellion. The local garrison commander failed to suppress them, and several counties were captured. The war spread widely. I heard that there were probably hundreds of merchant ships and passenger ships in Guangzhou that could not return. You were lucky to run into me, otherwise if you had gone there without knowing what was going on, wouldn't you have been throwing yourself into a dead end?"

"Is there such a thing?" The captain was surprised. He called a sailor and whispered a few words to him. After a while, a heroic young man came over. The captain bowed to the clerk and introduced him: "This is the son of the Prince of Hejian, and the general of this voyage, Master Xutuo!" "Ah!" The clerk was surprised and subconsciously wanted to kneel down, but was stopped by Xutuo: "Tell me about the situation in Jiaozhou, and I will definitely reward you!"

"This..." The clerk was just chatting and laughing with the captain, but in front of Xu Tuo, he was immediately angry and smiled bitterly, "Master Xu Tuo, what I know is just hearsay from a few merchants who escaped from Jiaozhou. I can't guarantee that it's all true. I'm afraid I've delayed your business!"

"It's okay, just tell me how much you know. I won't blame you whether it's true or false!" Suta reached out and grabbed the other's arm, and pulled him into the stern building.

The official hesitated for a moment and answered carefully. It turned out that the cause of the riot was that two wealthy families in a county under Jiaozhou were arguing over land. One of the families saw that it could not win the battle, so it gave its daughter to the county magistrate. The county magistrate favored that side and allocated the disputed land to the family that gave its daughter to him, and also fined the other family a large sum of money. This was originally a very common thing, but the head of the family who lost the lawsuit was already quite old, and he was so angry that he died after losing the lawsuit and being given money. His son was a powerful hero. He always brought four or five servants in gorgeous clothes with him when he went out. Whenever he met a poor person with shabby clothes on the road, he would find a secluded place and let the servants take off their gorgeous clothes and change with the poor person; if someone came to borrow money, he would lend it to the other party without urging him; if there were local bad boys who came to his wine shop to drink, he would let them default at will. More than two years passed like this. When a local festival came, the owner asked people to invite all the evil young men who had borrowed money from him and owed him money in the tavern. He first burned all the loan notes and the old debts owed by everyone in the tavern in front of everyone. Just when everyone was curious about his strange behavior, the man suddenly burst into tears and told the story of his failed lawsuit. Finally, he said: "Land and money are all external things. If it was just because I lost a lawsuit, I would not dare to trouble you to help me. But my father died because of this humiliation. If I don't avenge him as a son, how can I live in the fields with dignity? But the one who killed my father was the Tang county magistrate. I can't do anything about it. Please help me!"

The people had received many favors from this man and had long wanted to repay him. They were also angry at the Tang county magistrate for his corruption and oppression of the people, so they all responded in unison. The man took out his weapons and distributed them to everyone. He first rushed into the county government office and killed the county magistrate, then attacked and killed his opponent, set fire to the county government office, and led everyone to retreat to the mountains.

"From what you said, this guy is brave and resourceful, he is indeed a hero!" Suta praised: "What's his name?"

"It seems his last name is Lu, but I don't know his specific name!"

"Hmm! Is this how the unrest in Jiaozhou started?"

"Yes! The government troops went into the mountains twice to fight, but were defeated each time. Seeing that the government troops could not destroy the Lu family, more and more people rebelled, including local big families and Han people who were exiled. The government troops were forced to be at a loss, and it became like this today!"

"Thank you for your help!" Suta said with a smile. He asked someone to bring two pieces of fine woolen cloth and gave them to the official as a reward. "If you know anyone who knows more about the situation in Jiaozhou, please invite them to see me. If they speak well, I will give them another reward!"

"I'll remember that!" The subordinate, who had gained a lot, happily left the big ship, boarded his own boat, and went to the shore. Looking at the departing figure, the smile on Suta's face gradually disappeared.

"What's wrong? Is the situation not good?" Chong Jing asked.

"Yes!" Xu Tuo nodded: "If what that guy said is true, then the situation in Jiaozhou is very bad!"

"Why do you say that?"

"I heard from my father that the officials who guard places like Jiaozhou are generally low-level talents. They are either exiled losers in political struggles, or they are incompetent and go there because they have nowhere else to go. These two types of people definitely want to be transferred back as soon as possible, so officials in such places usually try every means to get money into their own pockets and send it to Chang'an, just to get out as soon as possible. Therefore, such places either have no trouble, or if they do, it's a big trouble."

"Then do you want to intervene?" Chong Jing asked.

"Let's take a look first!" Suta said with a smile, "Don't worry, I won't just rush over without caring about anything. I'm not that stupid!"

"That's good!" Chong Jing breathed a sigh of relief: "In fact, I can go ahead and test the waters. After all, I'm a Taoist priest, even the local bandits won't pay attention to me!"

"It's too early for you to say that. Just wait and see!"

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Guangzhou, Guangta Temple.

Boom!

Wang Bo suddenly opened his eyes, awakened by the knock on the door. He subconsciously turned over and sat up in bed, reached under the pillow and pressed the handle of the knife.

"who!"

"It's me, my dear!"

Wang Bo was relieved when he heard the voice of the servant outside the door. Although this is a temple, the guests who stay here also have to pay. The only difference is that the inn charges for the room. Here it is called alms or incense money. But when he escaped from the county town, he was in a hurry. Even his father was lost. He only had the jade pendant on his body. After he fled back to Guangzhou with this as the ship fare, he had nothing on his body and could only stay in the temple.

The door was opened, and the servant came in breathlessly, whispering, "Master, I asked a few people who escaped from Jiaozhou today. According to them, the master should not have escaped!"

Wang Bo sighed. In fact, he had a premonition in his heart these days that his father was probably dead in Jiaozhou. When he thought of this, he felt hatred in his heart. He was obviously a man of great talent, but he was demoted to such a desolate place, and even his father died because of it. How unfair was the world!

The servant looked timidly at Wang Bo, who looked poor, and coughed, "Sir, there is one more thing!"

"what's up?"

"This is what happened. When I went to get information today, I heard that someone was asking about the news in Jiaozhou. It would be best if they were the ones who escaped from there and experienced it personally. The reward is very generous. Do you want to -"

"Why not!" Wang Bo's decisive answer surprised the servant. In his impression, Wang Bo didn't seem to value money that much, at least it was far less important than his own dignity.

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