My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 420 The Jinfan Thief on the Sea

The tone of the two Japanese was calm, neither humble nor overbearing, which surprised Gu Chongwen.

He nodded, then stood up and motioned for the two of them to follow. After all, this was not the place agreed upon. The two sides went one after another to the study room where the discussion was held in the large courtyard.

Using warship blueprints to do business with the Japanese was always suspected of betraying the interests of the Wu State in the eyes of outsiders, so there were many people who had to leave the front yard.

Along the way, Gu Chongwen maintained his majesty as the prime minister of a great country and spoke to the envoys from the island country who were following him. From time to time, he would also ask about the current situation on the island over there.

"Who is Date Munemasa? Your general?"

"Hai, Date Munemasa is Dr. Sakyo, His Majesty's humerus."

"Your Majesty? There is also an emperor on your island?"

"Prime Minister Wu, please don't use insulting words."

Gu Chongwen sneered, but he was not angry because he didn't take it seriously at all. The land covered by the archipelago was not large. Even if there was an emperor, all of them together would only be as big as a state of Wu.

In the midst of such questions and answers, Gu Chongwen led the two people into the study, still remaining polite, and asked the maid to pour tea for them.

The Japanese named Changshan Hontada looked at the tall maid serving them tea, and couldn't help but reach out and touch the back of the woman's hand. The maid shrank back in shock with a look of disgust, bowed to Gu Chongwen, and left in a hurry. .

Here, Gu Chongwen looked at the unscrupulous and vulgar behavior of the Japanese opposite, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Then he opened his mouth and talked about the business directly. After finalizing the matter as soon as possible, he sent them away.

"You want the warship drawings of the Wu Kingdom. You have been thinking about it for a long time. This time I agree, but don't be too happy!" The old man sat down behind the desk and raised his hand to interrupt the salute of the two Japanese envoys. "I need your help in patrolling. coastal."

"The matter entrusted to you by the superior country is so simple?"

"Encounter Xia's warships and sink them!"

Xia Kingdom warship?

Ben Zhong, a man in a long gown with a bald bun, looked straight at Gu Chongwen behind the desk. He was not a fool. The reason why he came to the Wu Kingdom in the south to do business was because Feiyun Port in the north stopped trade on the archipelago.

Moreover, after the Venat people who had previously colluded with each other were captured by the other party, they no longer dared to go to the northern waters for activities.

Now they are actually allowed to take the initiative to start a war with the Xia people. Isn't this pushing them into the fire?

He buried these thoughts so that Prime Minister Wu could not see their timidity, but he obviously did not dare to agree rashly. Just as he was about to refuse, the deputy next to him gently pulled his sleeves and shook his head.

Changshan Benzhong understood and stood up to salute respectfully: "We would be honored to be able to serve the country above. The Kingdom of the Rising Sun will definitely help the country to stop the warships of the Xia Kingdom! However, the country must sign a peace treaty with us. I hope that we can Let the people of our country enter and exit Mengkang’s Minggang area at will.”

"Peace treaty?"

Gu Chongwen frowned. It was obvious that the other party had offered this condition in exchange, so he had to be cautious. However, thinking that Xia might come from the sea, he needed to move the battlefield at sea to the Huaijiang River to cut off the supplies of Xia's army.

The worst case scenario is to repel Xia's army and break the peace treaty.

Think about it for a moment.

The old man asked someone to sharpen his ink and wrote something about asking the Shipping Department to allow Sunrise Islanders to enter and exit Minggang. After that, he asked the other party to take a look at it, and then sent someone to send the Zhongshu Provincial Seal to issue the ship. Over there.

After the business was done, the man in the gown stopped staying. He took another handwritten letter from Prime Minister Wu and left respectfully.

Gu Chongwen returned to the front hall and didn't care at all about the country name of the Rising Sun Island. To him, it was just a piece of paper.

"But it would be much easier for these islanders who are better at naval warfare to entangle the Xia people's warships."

……

Changshan Benzhong and his deputy, who came out of the residence of Gu Chongwen, Prime Minister of the State of Wu, rode a carriage through the bustling market. Their eyes were filled with envy and a flash of greed.

He has been traveling to and from the Kingdom of Wu for a year, and has seen endless city walls; warships as tall as tall buildings; wealthy nobles surrounded by their attendants; vast fields, and countless silks and porcelains.

"This is a really rich place."

He spoke to the deputy envoy on the side in the language of the island, and he was not afraid that the driver of the car would hear him.

"The Kingdom of Wu is already so big. I heard that they have even wider grasslands in the Central Plains and the north... But just the Kingdom of Wu has such a strong military force."

"Haha, we have a peace treaty. Regardless of whether Wu is here or not, they must abide by the peace treaty!"

Changshan Benzhong looked around until he left the east city gate, and he continued: "I admire your majesty's ambition. Setting your sights on such a large land is something we have never dared to think about."

"It's like the emperor of the Xia Kingdom who suddenly unified several countries. Our Majesty will not lose to him!" The deputy envoy knelt on the soft cushion. This was the sitting posture taught to them by his Majesty and his generals. Thinking that one day , they can also become the masters of this land, and their hearts can't help but ignite their pride and ambition.

"As long as we are not afraid of death, we will definitely accomplish this goal!"

Ordinary words were returned to Yuegang as usual. With this thought, the two gathered their fellow islanders scattered near the ferry, and set up a warship that was about the same size as an ordinary merchant ship, carrying the necessities purchased from here. , slowly drove away from the dock and headed northeast to the sea.

The warship flying the islanders' flag sailed for two hours, using the familiar shipping route to correct the rudder and change the sailing direction. It was already afternoon.

When we reach the sea, even near the sea, there are endless waves.

After leaving the Shengkang area, on the vast sea area, on the parallel line where the sea and the sky intersect, there are vague figures of ships. The first islander spotted was wearing linen clothes and linen trousers. He looked into the distance and shouted: "There are ships." Passing by, coming from the north."

"Ignore it, it might be a merchant ship, let's go our own way!" Changshan Benzhong was checking Prime Minister Wu's handwriting in the cabin. He didn't care about the ship coming outside.

After all, we are taking the shipping route, so it is quite common to encounter merchant ships.

They continued to correct the rudder and when they changed direction, there was only one ship coming from the north in the distance, but it was unusually tall, tearing through the waves as if riding the wind.

On the big ship, a figure in brocade clothes took off his iron helmet because of the humid and sultry weather at sea, and only wore a forehead protector on his head. He looked at a ship in the south that was changing direction, and frowned slightly.

"Turn around when you see us? There must be a ghost. Send a flag and ask the governor behind if you want to take this warship."

The messenger stood on the ship's roof and waved a small flag towards a warship in the rear. After a while, the order was sent back.

"The Grand Governor has an order. This time we go to Shengkang, no news should be leaked along the way!" Gan Ning raised his hand, "Hang up my brocade sail, and then kill him."

On both sides of the swollen sail, two more sails suddenly rose up, but they were made of spliced ​​silk brocade. They were pieced together from the brocade that they took from the other party's cabin while cleaning merchant ships all the way south.

As soon as the brocade sail was raised here, the islanders on the boat over there naturally saw it. They showed confusion at first, and then they panicked when they saw the other party rushing straight towards them.

After hearing the news, Changshan Benzhong hurried out of the cabin, thinking that he had encountered pirates, but when the other party got closer and saw the Xia flag flying on the other side's warship, he immediately panicked: "Turn the rudder!"

However, the single-pole boat could not match the speed of the three-sail boat, and it still hit them like a stern.

The islanders above shouted in panic, their eyes reflecting the huge bow getting closer and closer, and one could almost see the algae crawling on the fender in front of the bow.

Changshan Benzhong shouted: "Hold on to the guardrail!"

"Hahaha!"

On top of the three-sailed warship that was charging forward, Gan Ning drew his sword and laughed loudly: "Crash into it!"

boom!

The Xia Kingdom's warship directly hit the side of the islanders' single-pole boat. The entire hull tilted suddenly, and the islanders above screamed. Many of them danced and danced and were pushed into the sea by the impact.

The moment the long-sleeved Honzada pulled out the slender knife from his waist and grasped the handle with both hands, a figure fell from the sky above his head, landed with a bang on the deck of the ship, and rushed directly into the crowd of islanders who could barely stand their ground. Inside, he held a knife and slashed to kill.

The blade of Gan Ning's blade was swung very fast. The force of Gan Ning's sword was like running water or a whirlpool, drawing out countless lines of blood in the air. His brocade clothes and leather armor were covered with the flesh and blood of these dwarf monkeys, and he looked like a tiger out of a flock of sheep. Thumping wildly.

Around him, the soldiers jumped over with ropes, blocked the left, right, rear, and three directions, and began to kill on the deck.

"Go up, go up!"

The long-robed Hontada followed closely behind the deputy envoy with a thin knife, and together with the other four men who had stabilized, they attacked the figure who looked like a general on the opposite side.

The men who rushed towards him were blocked by the opponent's soldiers. With his short and agile figure, he rolled into the battle group from under the opponent's soldiers' knife edge. He kicked off his feet and slashed at the back of the enemy soldier, holding the knife in both hands and slashing fiercely.

"General, be careful!" a wounded soldier shouted, covering his arm.

Over there, Gan Ning turned around and swung his sword horizontally, fighting with the incoming blade. He suddenly let go of the handle of the knife, twisted his feet and turned around, grabbing the ring-headed sword that was about to fall with his left hand.

The blade swung into the air, red as blood.

Changshan Benzhong was shocked by the opponent's sudden change of moves. He had no time to retract his sword and block it. Gan Ning's sword was drawn upwards and slashed down like flowing water.

The long-shirted Hontada who returned was suddenly split into two pieces with a pop, including his shoulders, and fell to the deck. The smell of blood filled the sky.

"This knife is interesting."

Gan Ning raised his toes and lifted the opponent's abandoned weapon into the air. He grabbed it and waved it twice. It felt quite comfortable. He immediately held a knife in each hand and started killing again excitedly.

……

Shengkang, it is already night time.

After seeing off the two people on the island, Gu Chongwen thought about his previous conversation with the other party, and then invited the Taiwei and Zhongshu Shilang to have a banquet at his house.

In the Gu Mansion, the families of the three families ate together, which was quite lively and warm. The children had a few casual bites, and then played games together outside the central hall, chasing each other and playing, which was full of children's laughter.

In the central hall, the female relatives were chatting and laughing, picking up vegetables and eating, while talking about their parents' shortcomings.

At another table, Gu Chongwen, Fan Li, and Xiao Zhiyi were drinking and chatting, and no one dared to come and disturb them.

During the banquet, they drank and drank, and occasionally talked about poetry and business, but most of them were about the war in Yaozhou and the Japanese from the two East China Sea Islands who came today.

"I don't think there are many problems. As long as the Japanese fulfill their promise and entangle the Xia Kingdom's warships."

"A piece of waste paper caused a fierce battle between the Japanese and the Xia Kingdom's fleet at sea, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. This shows how resourceful the Prime Minister is!"

The Vice Minister of Zhongshu flattered him without hesitation, which greatly benefited Gu Chongwen. He stroked his beard and chuckled, looking like a wise counselor.

The men were happy, and the women naturally chatted and laughed.

A servant came from outside. When the steward outside the door saw it, he walked over silently, communicated with the servant for a while, and then came back with something.

Gu Chongwen, who was talking to Fan Li and Xiao Zhiyi, glanced at him, frowned slightly, and stopped talking. The steward outside the door hurried in and handed the letter he had just received to his master.

Gu Chongwen looked at the signature and saw that it was from the Shipping Department. He smiled and said: "I just used the seal today. I think it is to reply to my official letter."

As he spoke, he opened the letter, unfolded the paper in his hands, and took a look.

The smile that was on the old face just now disappeared in an instant. Fan Li and Xiao Zhiyi, who were talking on both sides, noticed the change in his expression. They stopped chatting and turned their heads to ask: "Prime Minister, what's wrong?"

In the front and center position of the table, Gu Chongwen's expression was empty and numb. When he slowly stood up, his expression turned into horror again. The letter paper he held in his left hand was pressed on the table. From the shaking of his cuffs, he could feel The old man was seen shaking slightly.

The middle hall, which was full of laughter and laughter just now, suddenly became quiet. Fan Li winked at his wife over there, and the female family members left the table in silence. They also took away the children playing outside and went to the side compartment.

"Prime Minister..." Xiao Zhiyi tried to take the letter from his hand, but couldn't move it. Then he heard the dull Gu Chongwen say: "Here it comes!"

"What's coming?"

Gu Chongwen swayed and sat slumped on the chair. He squirmed and said with a trembling voice: "The Japanese who went out today encountered the Xia Kingdom's warship... and disappeared at sea."

In the past, I didn't face the Xia Kingdom's military front directly. I just sat in the capital and commanded and issued orders. Now, facing the Xia Kingdom's military front indirectly from the Japanese, it was a completely different feeling.

A huge feeling of trembling instantly enveloped his body.

The two people at the table also had pale faces. Like Gu Chongwen, they gradually began to tremble. They sat on the stool and stared at the letter in his hand, which could not stop shaking.

"How could it be... it's fake... the Shipping Department... may have made a mistake."

Xiao Zhiyi swallowed his saliva, fear already filling his eyes.

(End of this chapter)