Smuggling Daming

"Please look, Lord Admiral, this highland is next to the port, only two miles away from the port, and because the terrain is relatively high, there is no need to worry about flooding. If there is an enemy coming from the sea, the soldiers in the fortress can use it as quickly as possible. It can be said that it is a good place to build a fort!" Tang Bohu pointed to a high ground in front of him and introduced it to Zhou Zhong.

Zhou Zhong looked at the highland and found that it has a wide view and the area of ​​the highland is large enough. It is indeed a good place to build a fortress, which made him nodded and said: "Yes, this place is stronger than the first two places. If there is no better place, then choose to build a fort here!"

Although the money to build the fort is still a bit lacking, the preliminary preparations for the construction of the fort cannot be delayed. For example, some time ago, Zhou Zhong handed over the matter to Shibosi and Shen Ying, who jointly selected a suitable location for the construction of the fort. As a result, they selected three places in total. Today, Tang Bohu took Zhou Zhong to inspect them on the spot. Unfortunately, the first two places have various shortcomings, but the third one is not bad.

"Yes, I obey orders!" Tang Bohu finally heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Zhou Zhong's words. Since the Shibu Division belonged to the Admiral's Office of the Four Seas, their Shibu Division has more and more affairs and more and more power in their hands. Even now, it is not only collecting taxes, but has begun to intervene in the construction and management of ports. Although this is a good thing, for Tang Bohu, who has just entered the officialdom, he feels more and more pressure, and he dare not relax at all. .

After finishing the business, Zhou Zhong also felt a burst of relief.When he turned his head and saw Tang Bohu's relieved expression, he immediately smiled and said, "Brother Tang, your shipping department has been busy recently, and I heard that Yang Tong wants you to take charge of the management of Malacca Port. How about it? Do you have the confidence to manage it?" Such a big port?"

Hearing Zhou Zhong chatting with himself in a relaxed tone, Tang Bohu smiled wryly and said: "Thank you for your concern, sir. Yang Tiju entrusted me with such an important matter. I really didn't have much confidence at the beginning. But now Heavy, each official has a lot of work to do, such as Yang Tiju and Li Futiju, Ningbo Port and Shuangyu Port can't do without them, and I'm the most leisurely in the shipping department Therefore, the management affairs of Malacca Port this time will fall on my head. Just like Yang Tiju said, I have to take the lead if I have to, otherwise the Department of Shipping will not be able to spare other people. "

Hearing Tang Bohu's complaints, Zhou Zhong laughed out loud, and stopped after a while and said, "Brother Tang, this is just the beginning. In the future, the places that your Shipping Department will manage are not only Shuangyu Port and Malacca, so you have to be prepared. Of course, the establishment of your Shibo Department is indeed a bit too small. After I go back, I will suggest to His Majesty to try to merge the Shibo Department of Guangzhou and Quanzhou with you. At that time, you will also have a few more subordinates to handle errands."

Although Tang Bohu complained that he was under increasing pressure, he actually liked this kind of life very much, because it made him feel fulfilled.And he also learned a lot from it, and now he sees some shortcomings in himself.In addition, the most important point is that he finally realized his wish to serve the country and the people.

While Zhou Zhong was chatting with Tang Bohu, Jin Yiwei suddenly rushed to report: "My lord, someone from Jinzhou on the other side of the strait came by boat and said that he would come to visit you on behalf of King Alec of Malacca!"

"People from the Huang family?" Zhou Zhong was overjoyed when he heard this. He originally planned to take people to the opposite Jinzhou after he had finished his work, and then find the people from the Huang family and persuade them to come back. Living here, he didn't expect that the members of the Huang family had already come here by themselves before he left, which saved him a lot of energy.

Thinking of this mysterious Huang family, Zhou Zhong couldn't help showing a smile on his face, and immediately asked, "Where are the members of the Huang family now, and how many people are there in total?"

"My lord, the Huang family only sent one boat. Apart from the boatman, there was only one member of the Huang family. According to his introduction, his name was Huang Qionghai, the patriarch of the Huang family. There was no one else besides him. Waiting in the navy camp." Jin Yiwei who reported the message replied again.

"Very good, let's go back immediately!" Zhou Zhong was refreshed when he heard that it was the patriarch of the Huang family who came in person. Since the other party is the patriarch of the Huang family, he should know more secrets. Can solve mysteries in my mind.

Soon Zhou Zhong returned to the barracks. Speaking of which, the army in Malacca City was completely lost in the previous war. In order to maintain the order in the city, Zhou Zhong asked Shenying to bring the Beijing camp to the city, but the navy was still stationed in the city. The port, and because the original naval camp in Malacca was destroyed, the navy of Daming could only temporarily live in tents.

Zhou Zhong came to the handsome tent of the Navy Camp, and saw a middle-aged man sitting there, sipping tea with a relaxed expression on his face. When he saw Zhou Zhong coming in, the middle-aged man immediately stood up and saluted: "Villain Huang Qionghai sees the Admiral!"

Zhou Zhong came in and sat down to look at the patriarch of the Huang family. He saw that he looked to be in his 40s, with big ears and good facial features.

"Patriarch Huang doesn't need to be too polite. I went to Sanbaoshan to visit the current Han merchants, and I heard a lot about the Huang family from them. I also admire the Huang family's ability to stand up and protect the royal line of Malacca. , At the same time, I am also very curious about the Huang family, and it is a great honor to finally meet the head of the Huang family today!" Zhou Zhong said politely with a smile.

"The Huang family is just an abandoned citizen from overseas, how can they be praised by the admiral?" Huang Qionghai said, seeing that Zhou Zhong was so enthusiastic, he couldn't help but feel a little flattered.However, he couldn't help being a little surprised that Zhou Zhong agreed with their support for Alec, and at the same time he was also a little excited. After all, now that Sultan Mahmud has left and the city of Malacca has fallen into the hands of Daming, if Zhou Zhong can agree with Alec to take over For the city of Malacca, it couldn't be better.

"By the way, I don't know what is the important matter of Patriarch Huang's visit this time?" Zhou Zhong asked straight to the point at this time, although he really wanted to ask about the relationship between the Huang family and Princess Han Baoli, and the true identity of Princess Han Baoli. What is the identity, but the other party came to see him obviously has important things, so it is not suitable to talk about these now.

Hearing Zhou Zhong's initiative to ask, Huang Qionghai immediately bowed and replied: "My lord Admiral, this villain is here to represent King Alek of Malacca to visit you, and I hope you can represent Daming to uphold justice for His Highness the King! "

"Oh, I understand." Zhou Zhong looked at Huang Qionghai with a smile. Originally, he was also guessing the intention of the Huang family to see him on the road. He also guessed that the other party might want to take advantage of Sultan Mahmud to escape. The opportunity to take over the city of Malacca, and now it seems to be the case.

Seeing that Zhou Zhong understood his intention so quickly, Huang Qionghai was also surprised. He secretly praised that Zhou Zhong was indeed a very smart person, otherwise he would not have become Daming's admiral at a young age.

"Master Admiral, you must have heard that my king Alec is the real king of the Malacca Kingdom, but later Mahmud colluded with the Tamils ​​to launch a coup, which forced us to retreat to Jinzhou. Fortunately, Admiral now My lord has rushed to Malacca City, I hope that my lord can represent Daming to uphold justice for my king!" Huang Qionghai begged again at this time.

From a jurisprudential point of view, Alec is indeed the orthodox king of the Malacca Kingdom, and that Mahmud is just a usurper. That's why Huang Qionghai came to ask Zhou Zhong to uphold justice with such confidence.

But Zhou Zhong smiled slightly when he heard this: "Patriarch Huang, this admiral already knew what happened to your Huang family and King Alek before, and for your Huang family to stand up to support King Alek in times of crisis, I personally I also admire it very much, but after all, this is an internal matter of your Kingdom of Malacca. Although our Ming Dynasty is your suzerain country, Daming has never participated in the internal affairs of the subordinate country. Therefore, regarding your matter, although I hope you can Regaining the throne, but not daring to violate Da Ming’s policy towards the vassal states, so Da Ming will not get involved in this matter, at most I can only find that Mahmoud, and then you two can settle it yourself!”

The Port of Malacca has already fallen into Zhou Zhong's hands, and he naturally cannot hand over the port again, so whether it is Alec or Mahmoud, it is useless for them to come. At most, Zhou Zhong will announce the ownership of the entire port in name, but in fact It must be controlled by Da Ming, and no one can take it back, so naturally he will not agree to Huang Qionghai's request.

Hearing that Zhou Zhong was unwilling to meddle in his own affairs, Huang Qionghai was sweating profusely for a while, and finally thought for a while before pleading again: "My lord, although Daming does not interfere in the internal affairs of the vassal states, now The city of Malacca was breached by the Portuguese. Fortunately, it was saved by the rescue of the adults. However, Mahmud fled away with his people. Now his life and death are unknown, but my king Alec is in Jinzhou. If the admiral supports our king , if we come forward at that time, we will surely settle down the port of Malacca as soon as possible, and you can ask your admiral if you have any requests."

In order to achieve his goal, Huang Qionghai finally bribed Zhou Zhong almost openly.But Zhou Zhong was unmoved at all, at first he just shirked that he had no power to deal with Malacca's internal affairs, but Huang Qionghai was an indomitable character, and still begged bitterly.

Finally, Zhou Zhong checked that it was about the same time, and suddenly the topic changed: "Patriarch Huang, after the admiral came to Malacca, he heard about a legendary incident, and it was related to the Huang family, but he didn't know Is this true or false? If it is true, then the admiral can make an exception to uphold justice for King Alec!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets, your support, That's my biggest motivation.)