The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Ma Tang does not have a satisfactory tax amount at all. His tax collection method is actually no different from kidnapping. It is to use psychological pressure to make you raise the price as much as possible.

In the end, Matteo Ricci was able to come out because Matteo Ricci reported to Wanli that Matteo Ricci brought a self-ringing bell to Beijing to contribute. Wanli was very curious about this thing. After waiting for several months, he did not see Matteo Ricci coming to Beijing, so he wrote a letter specifically. Ask the horse hall:

"That Atlantic man has come to Linqing. Why hasn't the chiming bell he mentioned in his memorial been delivered?"

Only then did Ma Tang realize the importance of Matteo Ricci, and he quickly returned the chiming bell that had been placed in his house to Matteo Ricci, and wrote a letter to Wanli informing Wanli that "Matteo Ricci has arrived in Linqing."

"Let's not mention these troublesome things," Xu Xueju shook his head and said, "Now that I am not doing the political history of Zuobu in Fujian, it is not easy for Jianyang to get involved in coastal defense matters. I wonder what Jianyang's plans are next?"

Wang Wenlong said: "The sales volume of "Xun Bao" in Fuzhou has reached 1,500 copies. It will be difficult to continue to grow. Taking advantage of this period of time, "Xun Bao" will become independent. I plan to go to half of the Suzhou branch. "

"Go to Suzhou," Xu Xueju nodded after thinking for a while: "In the Jiangnan vassal region, if the "Xun Bao" can have a base in Suzhou, the future prospects are limitless!"

He asked Wang Wenlong: "Can the financial personnel needed to run a newspaper in Suzhou require support from Zhenning Tower?"

Xunhaidao was stationed in Zhangzhou, and the office was built during the Jiajing period. Because Xunhaidao was responsible for the coastal defense of the entire Fujian province, the layout of the yamen was different from ordinary civil yamen, and more like military and political yamen, named "Zhenning Tower".

Zhenning Tower has its own soldiers and food, and has great power in Fujian. Wang Wenlong is now helping Xu Xueju to travel. As long as he says "Zhenning Tower is on duty" on the ground in Fujian, health stations and battalion officers from various coastal areas in Fujian will treat him as a guest of honor.

"We have money and manpower in reserve," Wang Wenlong said, "You can rest assured about this matter, I will make arrangements for it."

"That's very good." Xu Xueju nodded with a smile.

He liked Wang Wenlong's intelligence.

He has shares in "Xun Bao" and "Xun Bao", but Xunhaidao really doesn't have any work related to "Xun Bao". If Zhenning Tower is required to pay for Wang Wenlong's private newspaper, everyone will know it. I felt that Xu Xueju was trying to make extra money for himself, and it would not sound good if he said it out loud.

Wang Wenlong started planning to go to Suzhou to open a branch of "Xun Bao" on his way to the capital.

In the next period of time, Xu Xueju will go to Zhangzhou to take charge. Wang Wenlong can still be regarded as Xu Xueju's staff, but without the support of Si Yamen, the chief envoy of Fujian, it will be difficult for him to continue to hang out in Fuzhou Prefecture.

And after all, Fujian is not a cultural center at this time. If he wants to make a name for himself, no matter how he performs in Fujian, it will be like this. If he continues to develop, he should naturally go to Jiangnan.

After Wang Wenlong, the "Xun Bao" stall in Fujian, leaves, he will be handed over to Zhang Xie as deputy editor. In the future, "Xun Bao" will have two branches in Fuzhou and Suzhou, because "Xun Bao" only publishes one issue every ten days. After the establishment of an information transportation network between places, content can even be shared, initially forming the news agency model of later newspaper eras.

At the same time, "Beihai Dragon Sword" has been serialized for tens of thousands of words. The response among Fujian readers is not as good as Wang Wenlong's previous works. This is mainly because the refreshing rhythm of this book is still too old. The opening chapter only introduces the characters. A whole chapter is devoted to the background. After reading several issues, the protagonist has just learned martial arts.

However, some readers also like Xu Zhonglin's writing style.

Xu Zhonglin's routines may be mediocre, but what's better is his unbridled imagination. The large number of martial arts, magic weapons, sects, and mythical beasts that appear in his novels make readers feel novel.

Wang Wenlong was busy splitting up the newspaper office in Fuzhou, and after returning home, he had to write "Shangshu Ancient Prose and Comprehensive Evidence".

He went north to Suzhou last year. The two wives thought that their husband would come back soon, but they didn't expect that so many things happened in the middle. It had been half a year since Wang Wenlong came back. Both Shen Yixiu and Li Guoxian missed them quite a lot. This time they heard that their husband was back again. They wanted to go north, and both women insisted on following.

Wang Wenlong thought about it and agreed.

Anyway, there are no old people or children in his family, so it is very convenient to take his two wives away. During this period, Li Guoxian's maid has been promised to a printer from the "Xun Bao" as his wife, and the child is about to be born, so it is just right. Let the couple help look after the house in Liwenfang.

Although Wang Wenlong's hometown is in Jianyang, he became famous and married in Fuzhou. If Wang Wenlong's family spreads in the future, Liwenfang will be his family's old home, and Wang Jingui's old home in Jianyang will also be It can be regarded as an ancestral home.

In addition to these things, Wang Wenlong also deliberately inquired about spy Pan Xiu's recent situation.

After asking him about it, he found out that Pan Xiu had encountered some troubles in the past six months.

Pan Xiu was sent to Fujian by the Dutch to inquire about the news. She originally thought that she could slowly figure out the situation by sneaking into Wang Wenlong's side, but she didn't expect that Wang Wenlong had been away for half a year. He was left in Fujian and had to pretend to be his original identity. It was very difficult. He actively made friends with Xu Xueju and Yang Tiansheng, who was reclaiming Taiwan. In order to avoid Yang Tiansheng's suspicion, he was particularly active in giving money to the reclamation team.

He played the role so well that he attracted Gao Yin's number one master, Lin Shiqing. As Gao Yin's party members in Fujian increased, Lin Shiqing's power gradually increased. Now he has also accumulated a lot of money. Finally, he no longer wanted to blackmail even if he saw five or six taels of silver. Now he can do it. Do something big.

Lin Shiqing had recently been looking for suitable blackmail targets in Fuzhou. At this time, he heard someone talking about Pan Xiu: This man had paid more than a thousand taels of silver to open up Dayuan Island. He also made friends with gentry everywhere and had a good reputation. He wanted to use Wang Wenlong's relationship to cling to Xu Xueju.

This information was summarized to Lin Shiqing, and he was instantly tempted.

The payment of more than a thousand taels of silver showed that Pan Xiu's family was rich, and he had good friends with the gentry and had a good reputation, which meant that Pan Xiu gave money readily. Using Wang Wenlong's relationship to try to get along with Xu Xueju showed that this guy had no foundation.

Taken together, isn’t this a proper big fat sheep?

So Lin Shiqing went directly to Pan Xiu's door to extort money.

Pan Xiu was a fool when he heard about this. After reacting, he realized what had happened: he acted so realistically as a spy that he was actually blackmailed by the eunuch's minions.

But the Dutch only gave him the funds to be a spy, and the money he paid for it could be withdrawn from his account. Where did he get the money to bribe Lin Shiqing?

Wang Wenlong was not in Fuzhou, so Pan Xiu had no choice but to go find Xu Xueju. Xu Xueju knew in his heart that Pan Xiu was a Dutch spy, but he was just submissive to watch Pan Xiu's good show.

The Dutch not only refused to pay, but also sent people to reprimand Pan Xiu for spending more than a thousand taels of silver and still had no news of return, and threatened Pan Xiu's family's business in Batavia.

Pan Xiu was not a human being inside and outside, so in the end she had no choice but to grit her teeth and take a few hundred taels of silver from her home to give to Lin Shiqing.

……

Fuzhou, Fuqing, a smuggling dock somewhere.

As disasters hit various parts of Fujian this year, the ground in Fuqing has become extremely chaotic. People who are able to go to sea have all fled, and coastal docks have become a no-care zone.

In the middle of this unattended pier, there is a magnificent teahouse. The wealthy guests sitting there all have sinister expressions on their faces. It looks like it is just a place where sea owners from all over the world talk about business. No one dares to approach it.

In the secret room of the teahouse, Li Jin, dressed as a small businessman, frowned and reprimanded Pan Xiu: "Representative Wei Malang is very dissatisfied with your work. You have spent so much money and you have not gotten anything back." Regarding Wang Wenlong’s information, it’s only been half a year and he’s still asking for hundreds of taels of silver from the company?”

Pan Xiu defended: "In order to protect my identity, I really have no choice. If not, no one would believe that I am a wealthy businessman."

He thought for a while, gritted his teeth and said: "As I want, why don't we do something against Wang Wenlong? Now Xu Xueju is no longer the chief envoy of Fujian. Although he has soldiers far away in Zhangzhou, he can't take care of Fuzhou's affairs. We Just grab Wang Wenlong and torture him, and you can always pry something out of his mouth."

He was also very dissatisfied with this job. He was assigned to be next to Wang Wenlong. The day he would go back was far away. He was in fear every day. He even had to pay for his work as a spy. How could there be such a frustrating job in the world?

Hearing this, Li Jin turned black and scolded: "Don't make random suggestions. The situation in Batavia is unstable now. How can we have the ability to do things in Fujian? We will do whatever the Dutch say. If it delays the company Neither you nor I can take responsibility for our plan. If you act so recklessly that our two businesses in Batavia are ruined, I will show you no mercy!"

Pan Xiu was shocked when she heard this, and quickly apologized and said: "I made the decision on my own, and I will definitely obey the company's orders."

The Dutch really don't have the energy to provoke another conflict in Fujian now, mainly because Batavia is facing threats.

Batavia is located on the Indonesian archipelago. After colonization, the Dutch began to operate this place as their base on the East Asian sea. In order to consolidate Batavia's defense, the Dutch have been slowly colonizing the entire Indonesian archipelago.

However, there have always been kingdoms that believe in green religion in the Indonesian archipelago. The most powerful of them is the Sultanate of Mataram. This country was just established fifteen years ago. The first Sultan Senapati fought in the south and north in the course of fifteen years. China first annexed the surrounding Bajrang Sultanate, continued to occupy all of Central Java and East Java, and was marching towards West Java. Their strength made the Dutch colonists in Batavia very fearful.

This year, the new Sultan of the Mataram Sultanate came to the throne. Princes in the country rebelled, and Batavia was also on alert.

Now the Dutch are also getting involved, supporting the princes in their country and trying to split the powerful Sultanate of Mataram.

The whole island of Java was in commotion.

Externally, the Dutch are uniting with the Kingdom of Johor to try to attack Malacca. There is already a two-front war. The Dutch really don't have the energy to stir up trouble in Fujian for a while.

If Pan Xiu arrests Wang Wenlong, if Fujian officialdom gets involved, a big trap will be created.

(End of this chapter)