In a secluded and lavishly decorated hall, there sat seven or eight men in long robes, the youngest of whom was in his early thirties, and the oldest estimated to be in his sixties.

In November, the temperature in Fujian has begun to get colder, so there are several braziers around the hall, and the white charcoal in the basin is burning with a blue fire, baking the whole hall warm.

Seven or eight men all have a small coffee table in front of them, and there are several plates of delicate pastries and fine wine on the coffee table, and there is a Mei Ji sitting next to each person, but most of the pastries are still intact, which shows that the minds of the people sitting on the coffee table are not on this, and these people don't even pay attention to sitting next to them to persuade Mei Ji to drink.

A middle-aged man in his forties smiled at an old man in his sixties who was sitting on the east side with his eyes closed and letting the two maids gently beat his legs for him: "Hongyi Gong, I have received a post from the Governor's Mansion of Zhengnan today that it is Jiangninghou who will invite the six of us to a banquet in Binjianglou tomorrow. ”

This old man with his eyes closed was none other than Hong Futong, the head of one of Fujian's largest maritime merchants, alias Mr. Hongyi.

After listening to the middle-aged man's words, Hong Futong's eyelids finally lifted, and he said slowly: "The boss of the Ning family, you are the old man looking at Zhang Da, do you know what the old man likes about you the most?" ”

Without waiting for the middle-aged man to answer, Hong Futong continued: "You are smart when you are young, this is what the old man knows, but you are too calculating, no matter what you do, you like to let people rush ahead, you are following behind to pick up cheap, the old man also said you several times for this, but it seems that the old man has wasted his efforts." ”

"Hongyi Gong, little nephew ......" In the laughter of everyone, the man's face turned red, but Hong Futong not only watched him grow up, but also his elder, and now he just taught him a few words, and he can only endure it if he is unwilling.

"It seems that you are still not convinced." Hong Futong sneered and said to the middle-aged man, Ning Yao, who is the head of the Ning family: "You know that Jiang Ningbo must have come to us for the matter of us joining forces to put pressure on Xia Dayan a few days ago, but you pretended not to know and came to ask the old man, this is to see if the old man is old and confused, is that so?" ”

Ning Yao's head shook like a rattle: "Neither nor not...... Hongyi Gong misunderstood, the little nephew had no such intention, the little nephew really wanted to ask you for advice. ”

"Okay, don't deny it, you grew up watching the old man grow up, and the old man knows what shit you want to poop as soon as you pinch your ass, what's the use of saying this." Hong Futong waved his hand, ignored Ning Yao and said to everyone: "Since you all know that tomorrow's meal is not delicious, then tell me what charter you have come up with?" ”

Looking at Ning Yao, who was sitting on the side with an embarrassed face, everyone was a little funny in their hearts, and a middle-aged man in his thirties said to Hong Futong: "Hongyi Gong, the younger generation thinks that Jiang Ninghou invited us to the banquet, but it is nothing more than that Xia Dayan was afraid, and found Jiang Ninghou and asked him to make a move, and now Jiang Ninghou just wants to put pressure on us." Since they are afraid that we will join forces to strike the market, then we can put forward conditions to them and ask Jiang Ningbo to stop lifting the sea ban, even if the sea ban is opened, but it must be in our hands, this is our bottom line. ”

Hong Futong's eyes were slightly closed, leaning on the seat behind him and pondering for a while, everyone didn't dare to disturb him when they saw this, this old man didn't look at him always looking sick, but who in Fujian didn't know that the Hong family could have today's momentum, most of the credit was that the old man in front of him had supported up, and all the people who underestimated him over the years were all beaten down by him.

Hong Futong opened his eyes, picked up the teacup on the coffee table and took a sip, perhaps because he was too anxious, and coughed for a while.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem......"

The maid on the side hurriedly brought the spittoon, and Hong Futong spit out a few mouthfuls of thick phlegm into the spittoon, which made it better.

He took a few deep breaths before shaking his head and sighing: "I'm old, and in the past two years, I started coughing as soon as winter arrived, and it seems that it won't be long before the old man has to abdicate and make way for Xian." ”

Everyone laughed and said: "What did Hongyi Gong say, you are old and strong, and you can work for at least another ten years." ”

"Ten years?" Hong Futong chuckled, shook his head and stopped talking.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man in his thirties hurriedly said: "Boss, this is not a compliment, your old body is ......."

"Okay, don't say good things, stay home and coax your son!" Hong Futong waved his hand: "Let's get down to business, since we know Jiang Ninghou's intention to invite us to this meal, you all talk about it, what is the way to deal with him." ”

The middle-aged man in his thirties snorted coldly: "Hongyi Gong, since the Marquis of Jiang Ning came to our Fujian, he has opened the sea ban and opened the customs, which has made a lot of complaints, and the people of Fujian have been dissatisfied with it for a long time. ”

The middle-aged man became more and more excited the more he spoke, and at the end of the day, his face was full of pride.

The people around also nodded frequently: "Yes, the head of the Huang family is right, since Yang Feng came to our Fujian, we haven't had a good life." Since the imperial court announced the ban on opening the sea, any cat and dog can go to sea to earn money, which makes our business more and more difficult to do, if it continues like this, our life will not be able to live. ”

Hong Futong shook his head: "You guys...... It's still too simple, and you don't want to think about it, if Yang Feng is really so easy to deal with, the emperor won't send him to Fujian. Since he came to Fujian, he has expelled Zheng Zhilong, opened the sea ban, set up customs, and rebuilt the Fujian Navy Division. ”

was splashed down by Hong Futong with a scoop of cold water, everyone glanced at each other, and Ning Yaocai smiled and said, "Hongyi Gong...... So what are we going to do? ”

Hong Futong thought for a while: "It's useless for us to dream here, after all, although we know that Jiang Ninghou must be looking for us for the matter of boycotting the market, but we don't know what his attitude is, if he can force him to ban the sea again, it is naturally the best, if he can't ban the sea again, how should we limit those mud legs, these need to be negotiated, what do you say?" ”

"Hmm...... Reasonable! ”

"It's still Hongyi Gong who is right!"

"Ginger is still old and spicy!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.