A bowl of millet porridge, a small plate of fried sea loaches, a small plate of green and green kelp shreds were mixed with sesame oil, and sprinkled with a little bit of chopped chopped green onion, and the aroma came to your nose. This was the breakfast of the head of the Zhou family in Bozhou.

In his early years, he suffered from stomach problems at the sea and stopped getting into the water when he was old. Zhou Shuguang paid special attention to health care. The meals changed every day, but a bowl of millet porridge cooked on low heat was difficult for thousands of years.

In Bozhou, whether it is an outsider who has nothing to do with the Zhou family, some small families that depend on the Zhou family, or some people outside the Zhou family, the Zhou family is now in a turmoil.

The Zhou family is an unrivaled wealthy family in the Great Qi. Although it is not as inherited from another Zhou family and the Wu family for thousands of years, the Zhou family, which emerged in the Tang Dynasty, is still a powerful family with great influence in Qi. Unlike other big families who desperately penetrate the government affairs of the Great Qi, the Zhou family is focused on the sea. If we talk about the rich, in the Great Qi, they can be said to be unparalleled, but if we talk about the influence on the national affairs, they are much worse.

This also led to the fact that after Cao Tiancheng decided to attack the wealthy families, a family like the Zhou family, which was rich but lacking political influence, was the first to be affected.

The first step is to find various reasons to blackmail Zhou's money.

Zhou was very obedient. As long as the emperor spoke, he would give him a gift immediately. He even added 10% or 20%. Over time, even Cao Tiancheng was embarrassed. Although he wanted to catch this fat sheep and try to pull up more wool, he had to worry about the reactions of other wealthy families. The so-called "death of lips and teeth" were cold. Zhou himself had not complained yet, and there were already discussions between the government and the country, and Cao Tiancheng had to stop a little.

If you stop, you will stop doing it. The new county magistrate came to Bozhou. The task of the new county magistrate is to continue to fetch the wool. Of course, the means should be gentler and more concealed.

However, Zhou's wealth was obviously beyond Cao Tiancheng's expectations. Even with such great force, Zhou's life was still alive.

If one plan is not settled, one will naturally have another plan. After capturing the six eastern counties of Chu State, in order to seize Jinghu and deal with the Jinghu naval army, Cao Tiancheng ordered the main force of the Zhou family to go to Jinghu to fight. These dragons on the sea had to give up the turbulent sea and enter the gouban lake to fight.

It is not that people who are extremely vibrant on the sea can adapt to the combat environment there when they arrive in the inland river. On the contrary, sailors who are used to the vast sea will be far more difficult to adapt to the Jinghu area where tributaries are like a maze array.

Cao Tiancheng's purpose is very clear and he further consumed the power of Zhou.

Qi State has not paid attention to the navy for a long time. When Cao Tiancheng wanted to deal with the Zhou family, the ghost's investigation report shocked Cao Tiancheng. If the Daqi Navy went to war with the Zhou pirates at sea, the Daqi Navy would definitely be beaten to pieces.

Since this is the case, you will naturally have to get rid of the firewood. If you have too many warships, can you fight? Then go to Jinghu to fight with the people of Chu, and the people who are waiting for you will be almost done, then can you also get your warships openly?

The process of things went unexpectedly. The Zhou navy was defeated in the battle with Ning Zhiwen of Chu State, and thousands of elite troops were gone forever. The defeat of the navy also caused Zhou Jiyun's troops in the Jinghu War Zone to be divided into pieces by Bian Wushuang, and in the end, tens of thousands of Qi troops were destroyed in the Jinghu War Zone.

Cao Tiancheng was so happy!

Cao Tiancheng's elite navy was finished. Zhou Jiyun suffered a great defeat. The power of the wealthy families encountered an unprecedented major blow in the six counties in the eastern part of the Chu State. The tens of thousands of Qi troops were pawns of those wealthy families. They were defeated by death, and Cao Tiancheng was not a pity at all.

It just happened to die, and the imperial court could recruit new recruits again after the vacant number of soldiers. Of course, the recruits recruited had nothing to do with the wealthy families.

The happy Cao Tiancheng wanted to send a banner to Bian Wushuangning Zhiwen, thanking them for their great contributions to the reform of the internal affairs of the Daqi family and the eradication of the cancer.

The war was fought in the six eastern counties of the State of Chu. It was killed by the soldiers controlled by wealthy families. Does it have any impact on the Great Qi?

Of course there is still one thing, at least the reputation is not very good. Ordinary people naturally cannot tell the difference between the various things here. They only know that we have defeated the war again. Well, we need to find a scapegoat to take the blame. To calm the public's anger, Zhou Jiyun cannot move. He still has tens of thousands of soldiers and a more powerful family behind him. The Zhou family in Bozhou, who is rich and has no support from the navy, will naturally be chopped on a felt board.

Cao Tiancheng was also very curious about how many families this big pirate family that had been rampant in Daqi for more than a hundred years had that he had not gone bankrupt yet after being remediated like this?

He is looking forward to the results he has gained this time.

The people of Bozhou knew that Bozhou was about to change. The Zhou family naturally knew that Zhou Shuguang knew better. However, what surprised everyone was that the head of the Zhou family seemed to have accepted his fate. After escaping from the six eastern counties of Chu, he kept huddling in his deep courtyard and did not show up at all. He did nothing, as if he was waiting for the emperor to cut the last knife with a snap.

In this situation, naturally, those people who depended on the Zhou family in Bozhou were panicked. After they could not get the exact news about the Zhou family and their style became increasingly wrong, many people naturally chose to stand on the side, of course, on the side of the emperor.

Zhou himself gave up, and of course they had no reason to persevere.

Some people give up, but there are naturally some who persist. Most of the people who insisted were wandering on the sea with Zhou family and fighting. They more or less knew the strength of Zhou family at sea. Most of the people who turned against Zhou family were the kind of people who could climb over the Zhou family so that they could board the Zhou family's fast ship in order to gain more wealth.

Generally speaking, the power of the imperial court has now become a dark cloud-covered force in Bozhou, and the Zhou family has retreated again and again, and there is no way to retreat.

The emperor's knife is finally coming down.

When Hu Bugui walked into the house, Zhou Shuguang had just eaten up a bowl of millet porridge. The head of the family, Daqing, who was a huge fortune, even stuck out his tongue and licked the remaining porridge in the bowl.

"Are you going to do it finally?" Zhou Shuguang asked with a smile on his face.

Hu Bugui, dressed as a housekeeper, nodded, "Xiang Lian had already returned to Bozhou City from Chang'an last night. He and Bozhou County Magistrate Hu Jian summoned the general of the Bozhou garrison, Huang Lian and several important officials from Bozhou overnight. Of course, he was going to do something."

Zhou Shuguang laughed, stood up, personally served a bowl of millet porridge for Hu Bugui, and handed it to him, "The sea loach that was only beaten in the morning, the sea loach made from fishing kelp, are fresh, try it."

Hu Bugui sat down and ate with a smile.

His identity is indeed the steward of Zhou's family, but this steward has an extraordinary status in the Zhou family. Even Zhou Shuguang's sons have to respectfully call Uncle Hu when he sees him. He can be half of Zhou's behavior. However, everyone only thinks that he is deeply trusted by Zhou Shuguang because he followed Zhou Shuguang to sea many times and saved Zhou Shuguang's life several times in his early years. However, no one knows that this steward is also a master of martial arts cultivation.

"Cao Bin's navy left the port yesterday. The reason was the exercise, but their real goal was our Peach Blossom Island. Now, I guess we are about to see Peach Blossom Island." While eating porridge, Hu Bugui said vaguely.

"The cooperation is very tacit. Both sides will work together and give us no chance to escape!" Zhou Shuguang sneered.

"They will be shocked." Hu Bugui put the empty bowl on the table, and then brought a piece of brown sea loach into his mouth, chewing it loudly, "There are many ships and more soldiers."

"They are interested in our shipyard and the craftsmen there." Zhou Shuguang said: "The Ming Dynasty's navy is rising rapidly and has become the largest force on the sea. Cao Tiancheng will not know, so he wants to destroy us and take our ships, shipyards and technicians together to build a fleet that can compete with the Ming people."

"If he had this idea long ago and had used Zhou instead of thinking about stripping us naked, he would not have succeeded." Hu Bugui smiled.

Zhou Shuguang shook his head gently: "It's too late. The power of the Ming people on the sea has long become a climate, which is one of the reasons why I decided to follow the Ming people. The Ming emperor is good at using people, dares to use people, and attaches great importance to the ocean. This is something Cao Tiancheng can't compare to. Having such an emperor who attaches importance to the ocean is a blessing for a family like ours. Ning's family has already taken the lead. If the Zhou family does not keep up, there will be no name for Zhou family on the sea in the future. Baozhen can see it clearly at this point."

Hu Bugui nodded: "After this battle, the most powerful sea ship in Qi will surely destroy the entire army, which will shock Qi."

"It's not just shocking. From now on, the landings of Zhou will be everywhere in the thousands of miles of Qi. Cao Tiancheng wanted to plan my head, so I let his country and society stagger." Zhou Shuguang said proudly.

Hurry footsteps sounded outside the yard, and a servant walked in with great strides, crossed his hands and said, "Head of the family, they are here."

Zhou Shuguang nodded, "Go, open the door, and let them come in directly without any obstacles."

"Yes!" The servant immediately turned around and left.
Chapter completed!