When Wu Sidao talked about Xinjian, Zhu Yicheng immediately understood.

Who is Xinjian? Zhou Zhongliang and Bao Jian! If Gao Jin hates the most, it is nothing more than these two people, especially Zhou Zhongliang. If it weren't for Zhou Zhongliang's rebellion against the Lord and seeking honor, Yuan Qi would not have been defeated and died. Gao Jin, who succeeded Yuan Qi, might have hoped most in his heart to kill the enemy and avenge Yuan Qi.

Wu Sidao's words reminded Zhu Yicheng that he might be able to do something on this point. Zhu Yicheng nodded immediately and agreed. As for Dong Dashan, he quickly reacted and said that he would immediately order Jiangxi and try to capture the two of them alive.

The next day, Zhu Yicheng summoned Fernando to the palace. Zhu Yicheng was satisfied with the current situation in Macau and the personnel recruited by Fernando from Europe. At the same time, he asked about the situation of the Portuguese envoy. Fernando roughly reported to Zhu Yicheng, but what he said was basically the same as what Wang Dong said. In fact, Fernando talked to Wang Dong in advance to Zhu Yicheng in order to report this from Wang Dong to Zhu Yicheng in advance and let Zhu Yicheng prepare in advance.

He chatted with Fernan with a smile for more than an hour, encouraged the other party, and then kept him in the palace for lunch, and then asked someone to send him out of the palace.

Zhu Yicheng was quite relieved about Fernando. With the current management of Macau and what he did, it proved that Fernando had abandoned his old identity and looked at the problem as a true Ming person.

However, Zhu Yicheng still needs to think about the Portuguese messenger, namely Earl Vasconcelo, who is basically clear about the purpose of the other party, but no matter what, I am afraid that this Earl Vasconcelo, who is on the mission, will be disappointed.

Zhu Yicheng planned to send Count Vasconcelo to Nanjing in a few days and then formally summon him. If the other party is tactful, the Ming Dynasty might cooperate with Portugal in business, which would be considered as taking care of the other party, but if the other party makes some rude requests, then Zhu Yicheng would not be polite.

As for how to talk and how to talk, Zhu Yicheng finally decided to hand it over to the people below to deal with it. As the emperor, it was enough to be able to meet an envoy from a European country, which was due to diplomatic etiquette.

These things were quickly left behind. The most important thing at the moment was the situation in the battlefields of Jiangxi and Hubei. In addition, the Ming Dynasty has been paying attention to the northern Jiangsu, that is, Huai'an.

The new Jiangbei Admiral Yue Zhongqi has already taken office. The Jiangbei Admiral’s yamen is located in Huai'an. Yue Zhongqi, who has arrived in Huai'an, went to Yangzhou as soon as he took office and carefully inspected the Jiangbei defense arrangement and the green camp in Yangzhou.

Although Yue Zhongqi was of high authority and was promoted by Kangxi, he was too young after all. When he first arrived in Jiangbei, Yue Zhongqi only brought hundreds of personal soldiers. Although the generals, deputy generals and generals were respectful to Yue Zhongqi on the surface, they actually looked down on this young man. In their opinion, he ate more salt than Yue Zhongqi ate rice, and the bridge he walked longer than Yue Zhongqi walked. How could such a boy who had not even grown hair? He climbed up on their heads all at once.

Yue Zhongqi is naturally very clear about these situations. Although he is young, he is very cunning. On the surface, Yue Zhongqi is still very polite to these "old elders". He speaks of a general, keeps a certain town coach, and is very caring. He even takes the initiative to visit the other party with an official status. During the conversation, he often talks about the other party's pride and shows his respect and admiration.

In addition, Yue Zhongqi also gave some gifts to several generals in private. In addition, his father's connections in the army, the generals of several towns in Jiangbei were very good at Yue Zhongqi. After a few strokes, the initial resistance gradually disappeared.

Of course, if Yue Zhongqi had to make good relationships, then he would be too underestimated. Yue Zhongqi was numbing his opponent and secretly drawing up people who could use it for him, while also preparing quietly. Just a few days ago, Yue Zhongqi suddenly launched an attack. When convening various towns in Jiangbei to Huai'an, he suddenly took down a deputy general, three generals, four or five middle and senior officers of guerrillas, garrisons, etc. in the name of eating empty space and stealing military rations. He directly asked the king's order flag to remove them and took them out of the yamen to behead them with military law.

He chopped nearly ten heads in one breath, and Yue Zhongqi also specially asked someone to put these heads into a plate and take them down to the yamen for the generals to watch. Then he chatted and laughed with everyone as if nothing had happened and was free to do it.

This move scared everyone. No one expected that the gentle and gentle admiral Jiangbei, who had always been kind, had this side. How could this be a sheep? It was clearly a tiger! Even the generals who had been through the battlefield were as beautiful as earth, and they were frightened and were in a panic.

Immediately afterwards, Yue Zhongqi cut off the mess quickly and directly sent personnel to take over several troops on the grounds of sorting out the military's quota and tracing theft and selling of military rations. At the same time, several officers who had defected to him took over the positions of those who had been cut off their heads. After a while, in less than a month, the entire Jiangbei towns were basically under his control. Then, Yue Zhongqi sent orders to the army in the name of the Admiral of Jiangbei to make up for the shortage of military pay and food, which made the lower-level officers and soldiers of Jiangbei towns happy and immediately captured the morale of the army.

At this time, Yue Zhongqi's position as the Admiral of Jiangbei was unshakable, and the military orders were unimpeded. Which generals from various towns who had learned his methods dared to be half-hearted?

On this day, Yue Zhongqi set up a private banquet in Huai'an and specially invited the Huai'an prefect Wen Dong and the Caohe Governor He Shou to come to the banquet.

After receiving the invitation, Monk Wen Dong and Er were confused. As a local official, he had no dependent relationship with Jiangbei Camp. What happened when Yue Zhongqi inexplicably invited him to dinner?

What's more, Yue Zhongqi had just chopped off the heads of several generals a few days ago. Could it be that he was putting on the Hongmen Banquet? For this reason, Wen Dong was a little nervous and hurried to discuss it with Heshou, but Heshou didn't agree. He thought that Yue Zhongqi invited them to dinner was nothing more than to raise food and money. After all, Yue Zhongqi had just made up for the shortage of food and money in the army, and was probably on the verge of being a tight hand now. He and Wen Dong were the prefect and the other were the governor of the grain transportation, and were in Huai'an with the Jiangbei Admiral's Office. It was normal for Yue Zhongqi to ask them for help.

Thinking about it, it was true. Although the magistrate is not as good as the admiral, the magistrate is a civil servant and a local official. In addition, Heshou is also the governor of the grain transportation, and his position is still above Yue Zhongqi. I think Yue Zhongqi dares not do anything to them.

Since that's the case, then go to the banquet. Anyway, Wen Dong and He Shou went there together. When they arrived at the place, they saw Yue Zhongqi had been waiting for a long time. When they saw the two of them coming together, Yue Zhongqi went out to greet them with a smile and politely invited them in.

"Sir He, Lord Wen, come here, please sit down. Today, I happened to have fresh swordfish and anchovies. I specially invited the chef of Juxianlou to cook them."

The three fresh fish in the Yangtze River are famous all over the world, namely pufferfish, knife fish and sausage. I won’t talk about the former. Although pufferfish is delicious, there are many people who are afraid of death, so Yue Zhongqi did not prepare. As for the latter two, it can be said that they are the most fresh in the world. It is very difficult for ordinary people to have the opportunity to taste it, not to mention that it is made by the chef of Juxianlou.

Soon, the dishes came. Apart from the swordfish and the shad, the other dishes were also very vulgar, which was enough to show Yue Zhongqi's careful preparation. These dishes cost at least nearly 100 taels of silver. Wendong felt completely relieved when he saw such delicious dishes. It seemed that He Shou was right, so he asked for something to invite them to Yue Zhongqi.

As the owner, Yue Zhongqi took the initiative to pour wine for the two guests. This wine is also a good wine, a famous osmanthus wine. Although it is not as strong as those strong wines, it is sweet and clear. After a slight warmth, it is really a pleasure to add such delicious food to the mouth.

Yue Zhongqi talked and laughed with the two, and the atmosphere was harmonious during the meal. After three rounds of drinking, it was just a little drunk. Yue Zhongqi did not mention any other things, but said some ordinary interesting things.

However, Wen Dong couldn't help but go on another glass of wine. He took the initiative to ask Yue Zhongqi for the purpose of the banquet.

"Why……."

Yue Zhongqi sighed first, and then felt very embarrassed: "The two lords don't know. Because of the emperor's kindness, I am very grateful to the position of Jiangbei Admiral. I am determined to serve the country as the aspirant! But when I went to Jiangbei, I found that the Jiangbei towns had been under a long history and had many difficulties. Now the rebels in Jiangnan are huge. Jiangxi, Hubei and even Hunan, the imperial army is fighting against the rebels, while our Jiangbei is only separated by a river. In addition, the north of Anqing has been in the hands of the thieves. If the rebels are not eliminated as soon as possible, when the rebels are freed, Jiangbei will inevitably face war..."

Speaking of this, Yue Zhongqi was worried, picked up the wine and drank it in one sip, and sighed again: "The importance of the soldiers in Jiangbei should be clear. At present, not only should we ensure that at present, we should find a way to counterattack Jiangnan and fight against the bandit army. Therefore, after thinking about it, the soldiers in Jiangbei must be trained, not only to practice big but also to practice fiercely. Only in this way can we compete with the anti-traitors and join hands with local government troops to quell the thieves' chaos."

"Ship Yue is worried about national affairs and is loyal to the emperor. The officials admire him very much. Come on, the officials respect Yue Shuai with a glass." Wen Dong quickly stood up, took the wine pot and poured the glass full of wine into Yue Zhongqi, and then raised the glass and said sincerely.

"That's true. I also respected Yue Shuai with a glass. How powerful is Yue Shuai in Jiangbei? Jiangbei will definitely protect you from worry!" He Shou also stood up with a smile and picked up the wine glass.

"The two adults are so serious. What can I do? How can I get the two adults say this? I feel ashamed. So... Thank you, sir!" Yue Zhongqi quickly picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, then lit the bottom of the glass to the other party, which immediately attracted a lot of cheers.

After sitting down, Yue Zhongqi seemed a little embarrassed. After thinking about it, he started to speak up. This matter was not anything else, but was the food and salary that Heshou had guessed before. Yue Zhongqi hoped that Heshou and Wendong could help Yi2 in this matter.

They had discussed this matter privately before coming. Yue Zhongqi was a general of the court and a celebrity in front of Kangxi. In addition, everyone was stationed in Huai'an, so it was said that he would bow his head and not look up. Since he came to the banquet, he still had to give him the necessary face.

"I have discussed this matter with Lord Wen. Don't worry, Mr. Yue is that this is a state affairs. Huai'an Prefecture and I will do their best." He Shou replied with a smile.

Hearing this, Yue Zhongqi was immediately overjoyed, rubbed her hands and laughed, unable to help asking them how much food and salary they could provide to support them.

Heshou and Wendong exchanged glances, and then told Yue Zhongqi that he could give him 50,000 taels of silver and 3,000 stones of grain.
Chapter completed!