Chapter 205 Is that a Japanese Pirate? No! That’s a Treasure!

The Sheng family never thought that Wei Yuan would be a close friend of the royal noble King Wu.

As Wei Yuan shocked them again and again, Molan and others were envious or jealous of Minglan, which could not be described in words.

Minglan always felt that accepting King Wu's arrangement would be inappropriate.

But under the strong request of the Suzhou official, she didn't know what to do, so she had to ask her grandmother,

"If I accept King Wu's kindness, what if it will bring trouble to my grandson's uncle, wouldn't it be bad?"

Old Lady Sheng smiled and said, "Let's follow the official into the city, otherwise it will be a disgrace to King Wu."

"Afterwards, King Wu gave us all the benefits, so we just reciprocated and gave it back to him."

"In this way, your uncle will not feel embarrassed."

Minglan thought so too. If she didn't follow the official into the city, I'm afraid King Wu would be unhappy after knowing it.

After entering the city, they suddenly discovered that the house arranged by the King of Wu was a large house with three entrances and three exits.

In terms of floor area, it is larger than the residences of the Sheng family in Youyang, Yangzhou, and the capital.

Moreover, the various facilities inside are also extremely luxurious.

Everyone listened to the Suzhou official's introduction: "The prince has just ordered people to clean up this house. You can stay here during your stay in Suzhou."

"You can use everything in the house. The prince is worried that Miss Sheng and you will lack people to take care of you, so he has assigned a few maids."

Old Lady Sheng said: "The prince is really too polite."

The Suzhou official smiled and said: "The King of Wu has a very good relationship with General Wei, it should be so."

Minglan, who was standing behind the old lady, looked embarrassed.

Rulan took Minglan's arm and whispered:

"We are new here. Although we are here for your uncle's sake, will the King of Wu treat us too well?"

Pinlan nodded and said, "Minglan, why don't we go find an inn? After all, we can't stay in Suzhou for too long."

Hearing this, the Suzhou official slowly said, "Everyone, since we are here, as the saying goes, we should take things as they come. The King of Wu has made such careful arrangements, so we should not let him down. Don't you think so?"

Old Lady Sheng nodded and said, "Then let's stay here for the time being. We will only stay in Suzhou for a few days and will not bother the King of Wu for too long."

After the Suzhou official left.

Old Lady Sheng asked Sheng Wei, saying earnestly, "Go and find out what the King of Wu likes. Let's buy some things and give them to him when we leave Suzhou."

With the status of the King of Wu, he must have no shortage of gold, silver and jewelry, so he must be catered to.

Sheng Wei nodded and said, "I understand what my aunt meant."

The Sheng family stayed in Suzhou for a few days and heard that the King of Wu liked to drink fruit wine and go fishing.

So, Mrs. Sheng asked Sheng Wei to buy some fruit wine and a bamboo pole made of gold and jade, which was expensive.

But after all, it was to repay the favor of the prince, and Sheng Wei also wanted to take this opportunity to make friends with the King of Wu.

So, he gritted his teeth and bought it.

On the day of departure, the family went to the King of Wu's mansion to pay a visit to the King of Wu, but they didn't see anyone, so they had to leave the gifts and leave.

After leaving Suzhou, Mrs. Sheng and others went to Hangzhou.

On the way, the old lady, Rulan, Sheng Wei and others said one after another:

"We have been staying in Suzhou for a few days, which is a great honor for the sixth sister. Grandmother, grandmother, you don't know that there is a Taihu cruise ship that is rarely visited on weekdays. Because of the sixth sister, we can see it."

"That building ship is really big. It is said that the prince personally ordered people to build it. Rich people may not have the opportunity to go there, and it costs hundreds of taels of silver to go there once. As a result, the guards in charge of guarding the building ship let it go directly after hearing the name of the sixth sister."

"This is for the sake of Ming girl and Ming girl's uncle. I don't know if the prince likes our return gift to the prince."

"We have done our best, and this is enough."

"."

When everyone arrived in Hangzhou, the scene that surprised them happened again.

It was because an official in Hangzhou, like the scene they encountered outside Suzhou City, was also waiting for Minglan and others here.

Everyone just heard the Hangzhou official say:

"The governor Mei has ordered that this official should be here to wait for the arrival of Miss Sheng Minglan. Everyone, the accommodation has been arranged."

"Please follow me into the city"

The attitude of this Hangzhou official was even more friendly than that of the Suzhou official.

Minglan didn't know whether to be happy or sad, and murmured: "Will it be like this all the way south?"

If that's the case, she would rather return to Beijing.

If it weren't for her uncle, how could she do it?

She refused their kindness, fearing that it would cause trouble to her uncle. If she didn't refuse, it would be easier to offend people.

She really didn't know what to do.

In fact, Suzhou Wu Wang and Wei Yuan are indeed friends now.

As friends, it is natural to take care of each other's relatives.

The reason why Mei Zhi, the governor of Hangzhou, was so eager to be nice to Minglan was that he hoped that she could say more good things about him around Wei Yuan.

After all, what happened in Zhao's teahouse a few days ago was still a lingering fear for Mei.

If Wei Yuan remembered this matter from now on, he would tell the emperor when he returned to Beijing.

Then, Mei's future would end here.

——

During the time when the Sheng family stayed in Suzhou and went to Hangzhou.

The situation in Fuzhou was temporarily stable.

The first batch of merchants participating in the sea transportation had already arrived in Fuzhou, and they could go out to sea as soon as Wei Yuan gave an order.

The goods that had been stored for several months could finally be put to use.

At the same time, on the vast sea.

Four thousand naval officers and soldiers were divided into ten teams and began to search for Japanese pirates in a carpet-style manner.

The day before yesterday, on the sea, the navy encountered a group of Japanese pirates with only forty ships and about three hundred people.

Most of the ships that the Japanese pirates rode on were wooden boats, which were far inferior to the warships of the navy in terms of sailing speed and size.

Therefore, under the siege of thousands of navy soldiers, the Japanese pirates were successfully wiped out, with only four wounded and no one killed.

Among the four casualties, one of them accidentally fell off the ship and drank a few mouthfuls of sea water while trying to snatch the heads of the Japanese pirates.

This battle was also one of the largest battles launched against the Japanese pirates since the establishment of the navy.

Wei Yuan was very happy and named it the "Battle of Fuhai".

Merchants, officials and even envoys from various countries in Fuzhou were all delighted when they heard the news.

After all, the fewer the Japanese pirates, the safer the sea transportation.

This is related to the interests of many parties.

Logically speaking, with such a great victory, the happiest people should be the navy soldiers.

In fact, it is not entirely true. Most of the navy soldiers are unhappy at this moment.

Because in that great battle, many people did not even see the shadow of the Japanese pirates, and the Japanese pirates were destroyed.

In this way, how can they bring honor to their ancestors? How can they be recorded in the county annals of their hometown?

The current situation of the navy officers and soldiers is that everyone looks like a Japanese pirate, and if they see a ship not far away, they want to go over and hit it.

Even some navy teams have paid for the heads of Japanese pirates.

The cause is that a navy gave a few coins to each of his colleagues on the warship, begging his brothers to show mercy if they encounter Japanese pirates and let him kill more. He only wants a separate family tree, and the silver reward for killing Japanese pirates will go to his brothers.

As a result, his comrades not only confiscated his money, but also said:

"There are only a few Japanese pirates, and we can't even rob them. You still want us to show mercy for these few coins?"

"That's right, why don't you ask, how many of our comrades now kill Japanese for money?"

"Brother, not only do you want to bring honor to your family, I want to too!"

"."

Once upon a time, because the Japanese pirates were good at roaming and sneaking, whether it was the soldiers of the coastal defense camp of Fujian Road or the soldiers of Liangzhe Road, when they encountered Japanese pirates, they only took defensive measures.

Few took the initiative to attack.

But now, when you see Japanese pirates, if you don't sail hard and take the initiative to attack, you may not even be able to separate your bones.

Some soldiers even almost burst into tears after killing a Japanese pirate,

"Finally, I caught one, it's not easy!"

It is said that there was a team of naval soldiers today.

While patrolling the sea area, they suddenly saw a few lonely ships wandering not far away.

For a moment, the navy officers and soldiers who were originally a little depressed suddenly rushed towards the ships desperately,

"Sink it!"

"Hurry, go faster, don't let others see it!"

"It's been five days! After five days, I finally saw the Japanese pirates!"

"Oh no, those Japanese pirates are going to run away!"

"."

Those Japanese pirate ships obviously discovered the Great Zhou navy, so they quickly dispersed.

At this time, the Japanese pirates with a slightly higher status could wear cloth armor.

But what about the navy officers and soldiers?

They wore fish scale armor, with armor plates attached to the lining.

The armor plates were made of old gourd shells, brushed with raw tung oil on the surface, and then dried in the sun or dried over a low fire.

This kind of armor is very good in terms of defense and buoyancy in water.

How can the Japanese pirates resist?

Besides, in the past few days, the Japanese pirates floating around Fuzhou have heard about the strength of the newly built navy of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

When they met me, they were like meeting a woman, with greed in their eyes.

They were really scared!

Suddenly.

Over there, the navy of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

A captain shouted loudly: "They are going to run away! Brothers, open the family tree, bring honor to the ancestors, chase them! Chase them!"

Then, the navy soldiers shouted one after another:

"Don't run! Don't run! Let's talk it over, why are you running?"

"Fight first and then run!"

"Chase! Chase!"

"."

Chasing the enemy at sea is prone to accidents.

However, the navy officers and soldiers still worry about these things?

Because at this moment, in their eyes, the Japanese pirates not far away are not pirates, let alone enemies.

Instead, they are "bringing glory to the ancestors", "opening a single page in the family tree", and the admiration of future generations.

Just imagine, when a hundred years later, your grandson's grandson will one day look at the family tree on a whim.

Suddenly, there is a page that records your glorious deeds of bravely killing the Japanese.

Just thinking about it makes me excited!

So.

The eyes of these navy soldiers are full of desire and greed.

What's more, they are as if they have encountered rare delicacies, and their mood is extremely excited, and even their saliva is about to flow out.

They can't wait to swim over.

It seems that it is not the Japanese pirates who rob the treasures of the merchants on the sea.

Instead, they were advancing forward one after another, fearing that their comrades would catch up with the naval officers and soldiers on their warships.