Chapter 604

Liu Bu said with a wry smile, "what else can we do? Fighting with the Zheng family is fighting with tigers and dragons. If we can't fight the enemy with all our strength, how dare we underestimate the enemy."

Zheng Zhibao is a smart man. He said angrily, "in this way, you have a plan for celebrating!"

Liu Bu saw the unhappiness in the other party's tone, but he still said: "Qingzhi has made a strategy, but without your father-in-law's support and nod, this strategy is empty talk."

Zheng Zhibao's face was a little calm. He said in a deep voice, "someone was born in the Zheng family, but he planned the Zheng family with outsiders. What's the difference with animals?"

Liu Bu said: "Father-in-law, what's wrong? The imperial court is already sunset, which is equivalent to a sinking ship. The Zheng family is standing on the ship. It's no good for them. Father-in-law, you mean to rescue them and celebrate. Once you win the Zheng family, you'll at most put the eldest uncle and son in soft prison and let them enjoy all their glory and wealth. The Zheng family is headed by father-in-law. You will never get involved in it 。”

To put it bluntly, this is equivalent to a coup. Zheng Zhibao can barely accept it.

If he was in charge of the Zheng family, it would not let others kill the Zheng family, and let the Zheng family still have a glimmer of vitality. However, he still had doubts. He said, "my eldest brother is like a father, and my eldest brother is as kind to me as a mountain. Now he has rebelled against him. This is called forgetting kindness and righteousness."

Liu Bu knew that his father-in-law was a man who valued love and righteousness. It was not easy to convince him. Let him deal with the enemy, that is, in a word, let him deal with his own people. It was estimated that he would hesitate.

Liu preached: "the child has discussed with zining. If he has a second son, he will raise him with his father-in-law and let him inherit his father-in-law's incense."

Zheng Zhibao was shocked when he heard this sentence. He was getting older and had no children all the time. This was his heart disease. Although he had wanted to recruit a son-in-law to inherit his incense, he knew that his daughter's behavior was beyond the control of ordinary people and would only cause tragedies. With the power of the Liu family, it was impossible for them to give him their son, so he did not know it I dare not have such an idea. Now Liu Bu takes the initiative to put forward it. He is quite shocked. He is thinking that if he has a son and inherits incense, it really must be considered for the Zheng family.

Zheng Zhibao said in a deep voice, "give your father-in-law a day to consider."

Liu Bu said, "however, without the nod of his father-in-law, all our plans are Haishi chenlou, a castle in the air."

Zheng Zhibao is not only the in laws of the Liu family, but also the No. 3 figure of the Liu group. His arrival was greatly welcomed.

Liu Yuanqiao personally greeted him at the gate of the city, along with the core figure of the whole Liu group, which expressed great respect and courtesy for him.

When Liu Yuanqiao met Zheng Zhibao, he never mentioned anything about dealing with the Zheng family. He just talked about the old feelings and the situation at that time, and then he put down a banquet, gave a big banquet to the ministers, and drank Dadan!

Today's Liu family is the most powerful force in Shandong. They don't have the name of a marquis, but they have the reality of a marquis. Liu Yuanqiao has been discussing with the core figures of his class about how to determine their position.

This time, in view of their temporary stable situation, they called all important people under their banner to hold a core meeting, which will determine their direction next year.

Although the Liu family did not take up the army, they have already torn their skin with the imperial court. Now the imperial court is temporarily frustrated. It is estimated that they will use the army on a large scale when they catch their breath next year.

But it was not easy for the court to breathe, because the Liu family controlled the Grand Canal.

Daming fought so many wars with JianNu. He was defeated and fought so many times. This is because Daming is very vast and rich. Even if he lost temporarily, he can quickly supplement through the rich south, Huguang and other places. Money and grain are continuously transported to their important towns on the nine sides through the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal, which can make them fight continuously JianNu.

However, the rise of the Liu family from Shandong really stuck their necks and stuck them. There was no way to transport a huge amount of food in the south through the canal, which plunged the capital and Jiubian into a serious food shortage crisis.

Even if they can transport grain by land, the loss of land grain transportation is so amazing that it doesn't have to be calculated. It certainly can't meet the needs of the nine sides.

Therefore, in the current imperial court, he had no choice but to consider asking Wu Zongda, the governor of Jiangnan, to transport grain from the sea.

Even when transporting grain by sea, there is a great crisis. In the past, because of the opposition of the Ministry of household and the whole canal group, it was always impossible to transport grain by sea in times of peace. It is said that transporting grain by sea has great storms and great risks. If the Imperial court resolutely improves, there will be Japanese pirates and other things, which will make the sea restless and dare not transport grain by sea at all Grain transportation.

Now the canal has been cut off. If they transport grain from the canal again, it will be equivalent to the enemy. They dare not distribute the grain fleet to the north. Therefore, the imperial court can only ask Wu Zongda to transport grain from the sea.

Wu Zongda, as the supervisor of Jiangnan, is responsible for managing the military and political affairs of the whole Jiangnan, and also takes over the position of water transport governor of Zhu Dadian, and naturally takes over more than 100000 water transport soldiers under him.

Although it is said that it took over these Cao soldiers and grain transport fleets, these grain transport ships are inland river ships. To put it bluntly, they are flat bottomed ships. They simply dare not go to the sea with high winds and waves. If they use these ships to transport grain, they are afraid that they will not be transported to the north. It is estimated that the ship itself will fall apart.

So they focused on Zheng Zhilong, the largest shipping group in the South and the king of maritime power.

Zheng Zhilong has the most powerful fleet in the south. His fleet can go as far as Nanyang, Surabaya and Luzon. It can be said that it is easy to transport grain to the north.

The biggest problem is that Zheng Zhilong and the Liu family are in laws. After the Liu family set up the army, Zheng Zhilong also took a very firm attitude and repeatedly wrote to ask for troops to attack the Liu family to prove his innocence.

However, officials throughout Fujian said that Zheng Zhilong was rebellious and could not be trusted.

So many people think Zheng Zhilong is untrustworthy, which makes Wu Zongda embarrassed. Wu Zongda is an old official. What he knows most is that he holds high and tramples low in officialdom. So many people say Zheng Zhilong can't use it. If he insists on using it, once something goes wrong, it's estimated that his reputation will be destroyed, so he doesn't dare to take this risk.

However, Wu Zongda is a capable person after all. There are many big families and sea merchants in Jiangnan. They also do overseas trade and have ocean fleets. If they are entrusted to transport these grains to the north, it should be feasible.

If they walk along the traditional sea coastline, it will certainly not work. They can consider taking the sea, bypassing Shandong, and then entering Tianjin port from the Bohai Sea, which is feasible on the map. Moreover, Wu Zongda also contacted a large group of marine merchants in a short time. These people also promised to transport grain for the imperial court, although the price is relatively high, But this is the only way he can think of at present.

These sea merchants demanded extremely high prices, which was equivalent to several times of water transport. The two sides agreed that they would not be responsible even in case of wind and waves. If they were intercepted by Liu's warships, they would not resist. Instead, they surrendered voluntarily. The imperial court could not pursue responsibility, and must compensate them for their losses.

Seeing such a contract, Wu Zongda was very angry, but whether he was angry or scolded his mother, it was the only person they could find who was willing to help them deliver food. If they didn't agree to these conditions, no one was willing to deliver food for them.

Wu Zongda knew that the current imperial court was in a great crisis. It was extremely short of food. The imperial court was also very dissatisfied and unhappy with itself. If it could get a batch of food, it could alleviate this crisis.

Wu Zongda had no choice but to choose this adventurous and pitiful way. In order to make a policy, Wu Zongda personally met these sea merchants. He told each other justice and promised that as long as the grain transportation was successful, the other party would ask for money and fame. It was a great opportunity for the fish to leap over the dragon's gate and turn over in one fell swoop.

He Wu Zongda is now in a hurry. As long as he can transport the grain to the north, he is willing to pay any price.

But he also overestimated their character and underestimated their greed. Behind them were huge interest groups, supported by large families and senior officials. More importantly, they were the group of people who suffered the most heavy losses in the last maysilver incident, so heavy that they almost went bankrupt, So these people are crazy about making money now.

Finally, Wu Zongda, such a wronged leader, dared to sign such a contract, and they foolishly transported grain to the north. This is foolishness.

If they work hard to transport grain to the north, they can win the appreciation of the imperial court, but what's the use of appreciation? They have fame, but they have no money. If they fight against the Liu family and meet each other's fleet, they may be sunk and killed by each other. Therefore, only fools are willing to work hard for the imperial court.

Wu Zhongda, however, raised 500000 stone grain and formed a huge fleet. He sailed to the sea and was ready to transport the grain to tianyuwei through the sea. Wu Zongda thought that as long as he transported this batch of huge grain to tianyuwei, he could alleviate the food crisis in Beijing. At that time, he could attack north and South and destroy the anti thief Liu family in one fell swoop, He Wu Zongda is also successful, so he can retreat with honor.