It took a lot of effort for Gu Cripple and his entourage to rush from Zhangzhou to Ningbo.

In fact, the sea distance is not far, they are all people who have been drifting on the sea all the year round, and they are naturally no strangers to the coastal waters of Fujian, Zhejiang, Nanzhi and even Shandong, but they are all people with a team, how to hide from the eyes of outsiders, and they have to make their subordinates feel at ease, which is a difficult problem.

Of course, they also estimated that they could hide it for a while, not for too long, whether it was the five families, or the other few of the thirteen local families, while the eight immortals crossed the sea to show their magical powers, they were also staring at their friends, allies and opponents, to see what they were planning.

The person who sent the message was very mysterious, and only knew that it was related to the Yamen of the Imperial Salt Envoy, but it was not from Fujian and Zhejiang, but from Nanzhi, which made them also confused.

Of course, selling smuggled salt is a profiteering business, but it is not something that anyone can touch, and the pattern has long been fixed, unless the salt patrol imperial history is replaced, it can usher in a wave of reshuffle.

However, the ancient lame people all know that their own family is not the material for eating this bowl of rice, that requires deep and dense connections and power in the government and on the land, they have no advantage, even if they change the history of the salt patrol, it is impossible for people to take a fancy to their materials.

So they are also worried, there are nobles to carry a little allocation, of course they can't ask for it, that is, to pay tribute to their property, as long as they can enjoy a bowl of long-term rice to eat, they are willing, after all, there are hundreds of people and family members under their hands, that are all waiting to be fed.

The problem is who rewarded this bowl of rice, how to eat it, what to eat, and how to eat it, but they don't know anything.

But there is one thing they are still sober, the other party may not be able to look at their little belongings, I am afraid that they should fancy their ship or people, this is the only thing they can get their hands on, after all, there are too many wealthy businessmen who want to get started, compared to silver, than connections, they have no advantage.

While they were anxiously waiting for an interview in the reception room, Feng Ziying was also thinking about how to deal with these people.

Like the seven surnames in Quanzhou and the five families in Zhangzhou, these wealthy families all have their own connections and backgrounds, not only have close relationships with the local government, but also have their own connections in the imperial court.

Officials like Ye Xianggao, Li Tingji, Huang Ruliang and even Xu Ji, who were born in Fujian, are their strong backing, and they can respond quickly at the slightest disturbance.

If there were no people behind them, the arrogant maritime merchants would have been wiped out long ago under the suppression of the government and army.

Now the situation is becoming more and more obvious.

The two Zhejiang scholars have considerable power in the court, and the scholars on the side of Nanzhili have always echoed each other with the same qi and branches of the two Zhejiang scholars, that is, Ye Xianggao is the first assistant, and Li Tingji is the group of assistants, but compared with the two Zhejiang Nanzhi people who occupy this considerable advantage in the six Shangshu Shilang and the officials of the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, Dali Temple, and Tongzheng Division, the power of the Fujian scholars is still inferior.

Therefore, Ningbo and Guangzhou, as the first batch of pilot projects to open the sea, are basically ironclad, but if they do not give an explanation to the Fujian scholars, then they will encounter pressure in terms of borrowing.

You must know that the seven surnames of Quanzhou and the five families of Zhangzhou are all wealthy businessmen, and a large number of Fujian businessmen with abundant funds on the plane are also gearing up to try, if you don't give Fujian a place, it is unreasonable.

Although Feng Ziying did not know what kind of compromise the imperial court would make, he estimated that it would most likely be to add another place between Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and Quanzhou was more likely.

Although there are more maritime merchants in Zhangzhou, the strength of maritime merchants in Quanzhou is stronger. In contrast, Zhangzhou is more of a small and medium-sized maritime businessman, even if the five families are compared with the seven surnames of Quanzhou, their strength is much inferior.

Wang Wenyan is indeed a talent, although he was not familiar with the situation in Fujian before, but in less than a month, he mobilized all his relationship resources and contacted these maritime merchants in Fujian.

Although this has also received Lin Ruhai's full support, it is not easy to do this step.

The original maritime businessmen and even these wealthy businessmen of Fujian and Zhejiang who are about to enter the sea trade, Feng Ziying is not qualified to intervene in contact for the time being, and people can only find the bigwigs in the court.

There are too many of those small maritime merchants and their strength is insufficient, and they have all begun to take the initiative to rely on these local maritime merchants and gentry and wealthy merchants, but these small maritime merchants are now headless flies, and they are the best targets to win over and recruit without grabbing.

They are not willing to be co-opted by the sea merchants and those gentry with strong backgrounds and connections, which means that most of their interests will be taken by these gentry and sea merchants, but the risk may eventually fall on their own heads, but if they want to fight for the concession qualification, the imperial court is basically unlikely to give them this opportunity in the first batch.

Because this will first be suppressed and squeezed out by the gentry who were specially prepared by those sea merchants who first entered the trip and incorporated the small sea merchants, only by squeezing out this group of people, can they quickly seize the most lucrative interests in this piece, and this suppression and exclusion may come from all sides, including the government.

It is precisely for this reason that everyone feels the most desperate, and even wants to take the dangerous path.

"Wen Yan, do you think these people can be used? How to use it? ”

Feng Ziying stretched her body, leaned back in the chair, and asked calmly: "Zhangzhou came first, Quanzhou is on the way, well, what about Ningbo?" ”

Wang Wenyan smiled, "Childe, there are more maritime merchants in Fujian, and they are more daring to take risks, and the two Zhejiang sides are more connected in the DPRK and China, and their capital strength is stronger, of course they are not willing to be excluded, they prefer to minimize the number of concession qualifications in Fujian, so Ningbo is not dead until the Yellow River, and they will not give in until the last moment." ”

"No, Wenyan, your statement is not right, no one makes them have to bow their heads, in fact, they can wait, maybe wait for a year or two, the imperial court will open up more routes to open the sea, and will also give more concessions, then they will have a chance." Feng Ziying said lightly.

"Childe, you're kidding, wait a year or two, they can do it themselves, but what about the people below? How can you afford to wait? This is one of them; It's hard to exclude them, and those who have already entered the game, can they still tolerate them? I'm afraid that all kinds of ways will come up to prevent them from entering the game, such as poaching your people, cutting off your business channels, such as setting up obstacles from the government level, once you are out, it will not be so easy to enter the game again, everyone understands this truth, and the people in the government understand it even better,......"

Wang Wenyan's words hit the nail on the head.

Being kicked out and wanting to go in again, unless there is a great network and capital support, it is basically impossible, then again, you really have so many connections and capital, how can you be kicked out?

"Well, I see." Feng Ziying looked at the information on the table again, and kept them firmly in her mind, which she would use later.

It stands to reason that he shouldn't have met with these people directly, but he doesn't have a suitable person who can represent him now, and his identity is still insufficient, so if he finds a so-called spokesperson, it will be even more unconvincing.

After careful consideration, Feng Ziying still refused Wang Wenyan's suggestion to come forward on his behalf, and decided to contact him personally, and this group of people may become a very key force in the future.

"Childe, these people are not good, they basically have a connection with the Japanese people, of course, having a connection with the Japanese does not mean that they are the Japanese robbers, but mainly for the needs of smuggling." Wang Wenyan also reminded, "But when necessary, these people also use all kinds of means, well, killing people and setting fires are also commonplace." ”

Wang Wenyan's reminder is very fair, without too much emotion, and very objectively introduces the true identity and background of these people, neither the kind of ferocious pirates, but also not the kind of pure maritime trade smugglers, or this kind of identity is mixed, more of the latter, but if necessary, it can also incarnate the former.

"Well, don't worry, Wenyan, I'm not the kind of person who has a moral cleanliness, and I know that there is never anything clean behind this sea trade, and it is a crime to violate the laws of the imperial court, even if this law is not good for our Great Zhou in my opinion, but the law is the law, and if you violate it, you should be punished,......"

Feng Ziying packed up the documents in her hand, "Let's go, go and meet these people, they should be up and down at this time, and they are nervous." ”

When Gu Yanbing saw the young man, his heart tightened, and then he jumped again.

Even if the middle-aged man walking in front has a calm and sharp gaze, and even has a unique leisurely demeanor in his gestures, compared with the young man walking behind, Gu Yanbing, who has been crawling and rolling in the sea and various forces for many years, can see that this seemingly careless young man is the real person in charge.

Because he casually glanced at a few people, he withdrew his gaze, and didn't even care too much about everyone's expressions and attitudes.

Of course, it is impossible that this trust is not indifferent, otherwise there is no need for the other party to let out a rumor and recruit his group to Ningbo, but the other party is confident that he can let his group of people bow down and obey their orders.

It's okay to bow down and obey orders, as long as you can make yourself submissive, what if this life is sold to you?

This is what everyone thinks, including Gu Yanbing, if you don't want it, I'm afraid that you won't be able to afford it.

Everyone's eyes focused on Feng Ziying and Wang Wenyan, but the two didn't even introduce their identities.

There was a mysterious and subtle silence in the whole room, who were they, why had they invited their group, and why had they come? Even when I got the news that the caller arrived here, no one asked, and I was taken here directly.