sea

Chapter 75
Gu Zhen glanced at him and said with a smile, "Lu Jian, you are much smarter. These two are indeed fierce tigers. There is a saying that two tigers are fighting, and one dies and the other is injured. Therefore, we have to go to the battlefield in person and wait for the opportunity."

Lu Jiandao: "You and I are both civilians, how can we come to the battlefield in person?" Gu Zhen said: "It's easy." After clapping his hands, a man appeared in the dark, over thirty years old, with sunken mouth and sharp eyes.Gu Zhen said: "Hong Shu, go and buy two armors for the officers and soldiers. The higher the rank, the better." The man bowed his head and walked quickly.

Lu Jian was surprised and said: "Can you buy the armor of the official army?" Gu Zhen smiled and said: "But there are two sets of armor, not the crown and dragon robe, so what can't you buy?" Lu Jian blushed, and hesitated: " Does that... the general ignore it?" Gu Zhen said with a smile: "They only care about money." But seeing Lu Jian's injustice, he laughed again, "It's half an hour away from Yinshi, why don't we eat while we eat, Wait on the side."

Lu Jian was gloomy, and followed Gu Zhen to a hall. Outside the hall was a garden of bluegrass, which had not yet bloomed, but it was still refreshing.

There is a plaque outside the hall, the handwriting is dim and unclear.In the hall, jade candles are burned high, with nanmu as beams and ebony as lattices. There are sandalwood tables and chairs on the ground floor. A black lacquered stool, on which are two large azure earthen pots with ground money planted.There is a large light ink painting on the front wall. In the painting, an old man is riding a boat with a detached expression, and the signature is written on the side: Chiyi Zipi, the master of Ruoxu hall on a certain day of a certain month and year.On the left and right of the large painting are two ebony chiseled UnionPay cards, on the right is "responsible to the rich and empty, and the benefits of the world", and on the left is "to gain wealth from all over the world".

The two sat down, and Gu Zhen said: "This 'Ruoxu Hall' and even the house belong to the old man. I haven't been here for three or four years. Now it seems that although Liang Yuan is good, it is not a place to stay for a long time."

Lu Jian said: "Yu Chuan and Hong Shu are all your buddies?" Gu Zhen said: "That's also left by the old man. He is loyal, smart and capable, but it's a pity that he doesn't know martial arts."

Lu Jian frowned, and asked, "Where's the God of Wealth ring?" Gu Zhen smiled, and took out the emerald ring from his bosom, "What do you mean?" Lu Jian took a closer look, the color of the ring was dark green, and three bloodstains ran through it. The ring has different thickness from the beginning to the end, it seems to be flowing, the upper part of the ring is larger, like a jade seal, engraved with curving writing, he couldn't help asking: "What is this word?"

"This is Shigu seal script." Gu Zhen said with a smile, "The beginning and end are read as 'Fortune Tongbao', which means the precious money of the God of Wealth in the sky. Meeting it with mortal money is like a grandson meeting a grandfather. It's over." Lu Jian was surprised and said: "So, what those people said about the 'God of Wealth and Tongbao, order the world' is really true?"

"You believe this too?" Gu Zhen smiled, "I'll give it to you." Lu Jian blushed, waved his hand and said, "I don't want it." When Gu Zhen examined his film, he smiled slightly and put the ring in arms.

Lu Jian thought for a while, then sighed: "Gu Zhen, no matter what, I am very happy today." Gu Zhen smiled and said, "Where does the joy come from?" Lu Jian said: "I didn't expect that you not only did not collude with the Japanese pirates, but also defeated them It’s a pity that your father is not here, if he heard Xu Hai’s words, your grievances will be gone long ago!”

"You're thinking wrong!" Gu Zhen shook his head, "I'm not a hero, I'm just a businessman, and I dealt with Japanese pirates only because they didn't follow the rules." Seeing that Lu Jian was puzzled, he stood up and pointed Looking at the couplet, he said, "Have you seen this couplet? The words 'Chong Ying Xu' and 'Tong Yu Wu' in the couplet are all about business. The so-called business is the rules in the shopping mall."

When he said this, he looked at the big painting, pondered for a long time, and said leisurely: "Chinese people have despised businessmen since ancient times, but they don't know that the way of business is the way of heaven. Turning what you have into what you don’t have is the benefit of eleven. For example, there is more tea in the south and less tea in the north. I buy tea in the south and ship it to the north to sell it. Is it a good thing to take what is surplus in the south and make up for the deficiency in the north? ?" Lu Jian said, "Yes!"

Gu Zhen also said: "It's a pity that although the way of business is the way of heaven, businessmen are ordinary people. They use unscrupulous means to seek profit, so the way of business is mixed with human way." Robbing the poor and helping the rich. For example, the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangxi have experienced years of Japanese invasion, people have been displaced, farming has been incessant, and government warehouses have run out of relief year after year. Before next year, there will be a great famine that will not happen in a century..."

Lu Jian was surprised and said: "Is this true?" Gu Zhen smiled slightly and sighed: "I am not the only one who understands this, many wealthy households also understand that if you follow the principle of turning things into nothing, you should plan ahead and go to Huguang Sichuan To make up for the shortage of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangzhou. But as far as I know, instead of going to other places to buy grain, these people searched for local grain and hoarded it, hoping to wait until the famine year to make a fortune. If left alone Because of this, before next year, the price of rice will be as expensive as pearls, and I don’t know how many people will starve to death.”

Lu Jian said angrily: "Is there no way for the imperial court to restrain them?" Gu Zhen sneered and said, "Old man Jiajing cultivates Taoism and becomes immortal every day, so the life and death of the people has nothing to do with him? As for other officials, they all have a lot to do with these profiteers Relationships, like Shen Xiu, relying on his father's power, he also hoarded a large warehouse of grain."

Lu Jian hesitated and said: "Shen Zhouxu, it seems...it doesn't seem like that kind of person." Gu Zhen said: "He is not that kind of person, and he is also suspected of conniving. If I gave birth to a son like Shen Xiu, I should give birth to him." Beat them to death with a stick and feed them to the dogs." At this point, he got excited, paced back and forth a few steps, and said loudly, "Among the ways of business, if the way of heaven is stronger than the way of humanity, it is the right way; if the way of humanity is stronger than the way of heaven, it will definitely become crooked. Among these crooked ways, the most hateful thing is the profitless business of killing people and taking goods. It is like Japanese pirates who robbed our Chinese people and then transported the stolen goods to Dongying, or sold them at a low price, or gave them away for nothing. In this way, Dongying originally The lack of gold, pearls, jade, and Suzhou embroidery porcelain are all enough. The goods purchased by other merchants with hard work are shipped to Japan, or they are worthless, or they lose a lot of money..."

Lu Jian interjected, "Isn't there a sea ban in the imperial court? How can it still ship the goods to Dongpu?" Gu Zhen said, "Bullshit sea ban is the idea of ​​those bureaucrats. Besides, Daming has thousands of miles of sea, who can stop it?"

Lu Jian suddenly said: "That's smuggling." Gu Zhen said impatiently: "Even if the smuggling was forced out by Jiajing old man. Maritime business is the most profitable, if there is no sea ban, he can set up a company to collect tax money , The collected money is more than enough to build ten more Beijing cities. Old Jiajing is rich but does not make money, he is really a big fool of his grandma."

Gu Zhen was always smiling, and Lu Jian rarely saw him get angry, but when he suddenly saw him blushing, he couldn't help laughing secretly.

Gu Zhen felt that he had lost his composure, sat down on his back, was silent for a while, and said: "The Japanese pirates only do this kind of business without money. At first, they made small troubles, and then they grew bigger and bigger. At the peak, 2 people came to China to plunder. So For one thing, not to mention the loss of business in Japan, the Chinese goods needed in the West and South Seas can be bought at cheap prices from Japanese pirates. There are more or less wealthy merchants in the world doing business at sea. Since the sea ban, everyone’s livelihood has been very difficult. Such a commotion made matters worse. Seeing this situation, I thought to myself, since the government is incompetent, I might as well try to save myself, so I spent a lot of money to recruit twelve red-haired warships, and ambushed them on the way back to Japan. The Japanese are greedy and stupid , when returning to the country, the ship was full of stolen goods, the draft was extremely deep, and it was suddenly attacked, not to mention escaping, and it was difficult for the ship to turn around. I divided the warship into two teams, fired artillery in turn, chased and intercepted them, and spent three hours sinking all the Japanese ships. , only Wang Zhi and Xu Hai left."

Lu Jian heard his blood boil, and clapped the table and shouted: "This incident is so violent, didn't your father know?" Gu Zhen shook his head and said: "The Japanese died in that battle, Wang Zhi and others abandoned everyone and fled for their lives, and they were afraid afterward." The relatives of the Japanese people blamed it, and falsely claimed that they were caught in a hurricane and the ship was destroyed. They didn’t tell me, and I didn’t want to boast. Alas, you don’t know, the Japanese pirates were defeated. How many people..." At this point, he looked at the dark night outside the hall and let out a long sigh.

Lu Jian was also in a daze, thinking that the Japanese pirates and the captives were on the same boat, whether to kill or save them, it was very embarrassing, if it was him, he would never be as decisive as Gu Zhen.Thinking of this, he stared at Gu Zhen, and suddenly felt that the person in front of him was very strange.

At this time, Yuchuan brought food, only a few plates, but it was bad shad, braised ham, red fermented bean curd, and two kinds of fruits.Gu Zhen said with a smile: "I only want to eat for convenience, don't be too shabby, just settle for one or two." Lu Jian said with a smile: "I was often hungry when I was a child, and I couldn't even dream of eating these meals." He was already hungry , The rice was filled at once, and I devoured it hungrily.

Gu Zhen looked at Lu Jian, suddenly feeling a little sullen, put down his chopsticks, poured a bowl of wine, drank one bowl, poured another bowl, drank three bowls in a row, and then raised his chopsticks to eat.

After eating, Hong Shu happened to bring two sets of armor, both in the uniform of a sentry officer, and two waist knives. Lu Jian couldn't help but ask, "How much are these worth?" Hong Shu replied, "300 taels for each pair. The seller is familiar with me, so besides the armor, I also gave away two waist knives."

Lu Jian couldn't help but laugh, shook his head and said: "These officers and soldiers are too ridiculous, no wonder they were defeated!" Seeing his indignation, Gu Zhen couldn't help laughing to himself, and said, "If they weren't ridiculous, they wouldn't be called officers and soldiers."

The two changed their armor and carried their knives, and walked out.On the road, people and horses come and go silently, the long street is dark, the fire is flickering, and the rattling of war boots can be heard from a distance.

The two mingled behind a group of soldiers and came outside the Sanshan Gate.But I saw a ten-zhang wooden platform built between the inner city and the outer gate, surrounded by firewood, I don't know what it is for.

The two slipped up the tower.Along the city wall, dozens of Franco cannons were erected in a row, and the sergeants were carrying equipment, coming and going quietly, whispering a few times, and being swept away by the strong wind.

The ranks of the two are not low, standing there, ordinary soldiers dare not ask.Shocked by the atmosphere, Lu Jian was in a trance when he was suddenly dragged into Qiaolou by Gu Zhen and climbed to the top floor.Gu Zhen untied a pair of hooks, flew to the eaves of the building, turned over and covered the tiles.Lu Jian also jumped up, wondering: "What are you doing?" Gu Zhen smiled and said: "Climb high and look far, and watch a good show."

Lu Jian raised his eyes and looked, the bright moon was in the west, the dawn stars were sinking, and the wind was blowing from the east, curling people's clothes and hair.Here is the top of Nanjing, the night is still dark, and thousands of households are desolate; the great river goes east, breaking the dark night;

Suddenly hearing people's voices, looking down, several soldiers came to the city with a chariot on their shoulders, Shen Zhouxu sat on the chariot, pointing to the distance with a feather fan in his hand.Hu Zongxian followed beside him with a stern expression, and kept nodding his head.

Lu Jian asked in surprise, "Hasn't Hu Zongxian left the city?" Gu Zhen said, "It's true if it's false, and it's false if it's true. The so-called Hu Zongxian's leaving the city is just a ruse by the cripple." Speaking of which, he stared at Shen Zhouxu, revealing A deep hatred.

"Gu Zhen," Lu Jian couldn't help asking: "What kind of hatred is there between you and Shen Zhouxu?" Gu Zhen was silent for a while, then suddenly asked: "Have you seen that Shang Qingying?" Lu Jian said: "See Yes." Gu Zhen nodded, and said word by word: "She is my biological mother."

Lu Jian couldn't help but stare blankly. Looking back, what Gu Zhen said that night in front of the Buddhist hall was clearly to blame Shang Qingying for abandoning him.For a moment, many doubts in Lu Jian's heart suddenly became clear, but seeing Gu Zhen bowed his head and said nothing, he wanted to persuade him, but he hated himself for being clumsy and couldn't think of a proper word.The two fell silent for a while, only the strong wind whizzed past them.

The flames under the wooden platform jumped up and burned up, and there was a commotion on the outer gate, accompanied by shouts, the wooden platform was gradually engulfed in flames, and the flames were so bright that it could be seen from ten miles away.

Lu Jian was very surprised. He turned his head and saw that there were five or six fires in the city. He was surprised and said, "What's going on?" Gu Zhen said, "The fire was set off by sinking a boat. When I heard the shouts, I must have thought that Xu Hai was trying to seize the city gate..."

Suddenly there was a "bang", the suspension bridge was lowered, the city gate was opened, and the shouts from the top of the city became more urgent.

(End of this chapter)