Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 775: Offering a Ship
The businessman surnamed Zhao teamed up with several other businessmen and his cousin and won nearly a quarter of the goods in the auction. Although this amount was somewhat unsatisfactory, it was not easy.

You have to know that there are a total of thirty-seven merchants participating in the auction, and the five of them account for less than one-seventh of them. Although these merchants are not big or wealthy merchants, they are all well-known businessmen. In terms of strength, there is actually not much difference between them.

If the businessman surnamed Zhao did not have a relationship with the Shanxi Wang family, that is, Wang Zhichen, behind him, because his daughter is the wife of Wang Zhichen's second son, and if he came to Shandong with a lot of capital this time, he would not have been able to snatch these shares from the tiger's mouth.

But even so, the businessman surnamed Zhao felt it was a pity, especially for the thirty-two East Pearls that they were most concerned about. In the end, they only won a batch of twelve, and the remaining twenty fell into the hands of other businessmen due to financial reasons. Moreover, because these twelve East Pearls were won by joining forces with others, according to the investment ratio, less than half of them actually belonged to him.

After the auction, the businessman named Zhao was unwilling to give up. Suddenly an idea came to his mind. After thinking about it, he went directly to the official who presided over the auction, secretly gave him some benefits, and asked to meet Li Xin.

The other party agreed to pass on the message for the sake of benefits, but he could not guarantee that the governor would definitely meet him.

The businessman surnamed Zhao was not surprised by this and thanked him repeatedly. After the official left, he kept waiting. After waiting for a long time, he finally saw the official coming out from the back hall and waving at him. The businessman surnamed Zhao was immediately delighted and hurried forward.

"The governor has agreed to see you. Do you know how to answer him when you meet him?" the official whispered to the businessman named Zhao.

"I know, I know. Thank you for your help. I will reward you handsomely later." As he spoke, the businessman surnamed Zhao quickly extended his hand again, and the small ingot of silver in his hand was slipped into the other party's hand without anyone noticing. The other party smiled, and skillfully hid the silver in his sleeve with a flip of his hand, and then took the businessman surnamed Zhao to the second hall.

Li Xin was sitting in the second hall. When the businessman named Zhao saw Li Xin, he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down to greet him, saying, "Your humble servant is here to see the governor."

Li Xin did not say anything. He waited until the other party finished his greetings before he raised his hand and asked him to stand up.

The businessman surnamed Zhao got up from the ground, stood with his hands hanging down, looking very respectful.

"You sent someone to tell me that you wanted to see me for something important, and it was related to the war in Liaodong. You are just a businessman, do you have any news from Liaodong? Or do you have any channels to the Jiannu?" Li Xin asked directly.

"Your Excellency, I am just a businessman. I don't have any channels in Liaodong. As for the actions of the Jiannu, I have no information about them. I have always been law-abiding and have never had any private dealings with the Jiannu." The businessman named Zhao replied quickly.

"If there is no such thing, why do you say it is related to the Liaodong war? Are you trying to make fun of me on purpose?" Li Xin's face immediately turned serious.

The businessman surnamed Zhao said hurriedly: "How dare I do such a thing? You are really wronging me. How dare I deceive you?"

"Then why do you want to see me?"

"My Lord, please allow me to explain."

"Say!"

The businessman surnamed Zhao secretly wiped his sweat. The pressure from Li Xin was too great. Not only was he a high-ranking official, but also because Li Xin was a man of both civil and military talents. He had fought in battles and killed people with his own hands. Just sitting there, with his imposing manner, especially with two lightning-like eyes sweeping towards him, made the businessman surnamed Zhao feel uneasy. But when the time came, he could only bite the bullet and reply.

The merchant surnamed Zhao took a deep breath, calmed himself, and then asked, "Sir, I dare to ask you a question. Now that our Shandong navy is crossing the sea to attack the slaves, can the warships of the Shandong navy be used?"

Li Xin narrowed his eyes and looked at the other person. Why did this guy ask this? Could it be that he wanted to find out military secrets? Just as Li Xin was about to ask the other person's intention, the businessman surnamed Zhao hurriedly said, "Don't misunderstand, sir. I have no intention of finding out military secrets. I just thought of another thing because of today's auction, so I asked."

"Oh, why don't you tell me what's going on? What's the point of asking this?" Li Xin asked with a cold face.

"My Lord, I heard that our Shandong navy went all out to cross the sea this time, and that the captured ships were transported back using some of the navy's ships. I also heard that our Ming soldiers seized far more than what was auctioned today in Liaodong, but that it was because the warships were not able to transport them, so they could only be transported back in batches. I don't know if this is true or not, so please help me." "So what if it's true? So what if it's not true?"

"I am just a businessman. I have no other ideas. But I am also a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. Although I am a businessman, I also have a heart to serve my country. After knowing this, I thought about contributing to you and the court. Since the navy is short of warships, I have five ships under my name. Although they can only carry goods and cannot participate in naval battles, I can still do my best."

"If you don't mind, I am willing to hand over these five ships to you and incorporate them into the Shandong Navy to transport supplies for the Ming Dynasty. This will alleviate the shortage of our navy. Although I am in a low position, I dare not forget to serve my country. Please give me a chance and serve you."

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Xin raised his eyebrows slightly. What the other party said was a bit unexpected. This was something he had not thought of.

"You have sea vessels? Five more?"

"I dare not deceive you, sir. I do have five ships."

"Where is the ship? How big is it?" Li Xin asked.

The merchant surnamed Zhao quickly answered and explained one by one. He told Li Xin that his ships were currently in Jiaozhou Bay. These ships were originally in Nanzhili. Because he heard that Shandong was going to open maritime trade, he recently transferred the ships from Nanzhili to the north.

These five ships can sail far, three of them are large ships of 1,000 tons, and the other two are more than 600 tons, which is much larger than the ordinary warships of Shandong Navy. Of course, they are not suitable for war, but they are enough for material transportation. Moreover, his ships are equipped with many skilled sailors, so there is no problem in sea travel. As long as Li Xin is willing, he can donate these five ships and lend them to Shandong Navy for use.

If he were given more time, he could contact his connections in the south and try to transfer a few ships to Shandong. Although it would be difficult to get a thousand-ton ship, he would still have no problem getting a few hundred-ton ship.

"I remember that your family is from Shanxi and you are a Shanxi merchant. How come you also have a business in the south? And you do maritime trade?" Li Xin asked.

"Your Excellency, I am indeed a Shanxi merchant, but my family has relatives doing business in the south for two generations. As for maritime trade, I will not hide it from you. There are indeed ships sailing through the South China Sea. So when I heard that Shandong was about to open to the sea, I came to Laizhou. My cousin came with me. The ship I mentioned from the south is his. If you don't believe me, ask him and he will know that I am telling the truth."

Li Xin nodded slightly. In fact, he had learned about the other party's situation before meeting the businessman named Zhao. Not only him, but also the 37 merchants who came to participate in the auction today had official information records. Some situations could not be faked.

What the businessman surnamed Zhao said was also true. Although there were many northern businessmen who came to Shandong this time after hearing that Shandong was opening up to the sea, except for a few of them, most of these businessmen had some connections in the south, and their families were directly or indirectly involved in the maritime trade in the south.

Otherwise, they would not have rushed to Shandong and set their sights on sea trade. You have to know that once Shandong's sea trade was opened, although the court had ordered part of the Shandong navy to directly participate in sea trade and undertake the task of transportation, after all, the navy was a navy, not a sea vessel for trade. If they really wanted to do sea trade, they had to use the merchant's own ships to undertake it. If they didn't have this kind of relationship, it would not be possible.

Unlike others, Li Xin, as the Governor of Shandong, was in charge of Shandong and was very familiar with the current situation in Liaodong. Moreover, the troops of Zheng Hongkui, Li You and others were fighting in Liaodong, and all military reports were submitted to the capital through him, Li Xin.

What the businessman surnamed Zhao said was right. The Shandong Navy does have insufficient transport capacity. If it was just a war, the current skilled warships of the Navy would be enough. But the problem was that with the harassment and guerrilla warfare behind the Jiannu, Zheng Hongkui and Li You had gained a lot. The amount of seized materials was not small. If these materials were not transported back to Shandong as soon as possible, they could only be temporarily stored somewhere in Liaodong. But don't forget that Zheng Hongkui and Li You were fighting guerrilla warfare and harassment. Such tactics required extremely high flexibility and mobility. It was impossible to stay in one place for a long time with these materials. Often, they had to move immediately after a battle to prevent the Jiannu from catching their tracks. Today they were in the east, tomorrow they might be in the north, and the day after tomorrow they might be in the west. They were elusive and erratic.

Therefore, tactical requirements meant that many supplies could not be held for a long time. If they could not be transported back as soon as possible, the only way was to burn them. Even if they could not be used, they must not fall into the hands of the Jiannu.

There was no other way to do this, and as the results of the battle in the rear of Liaodong continued to expand, Huang Taiji had begun to pay attention to their troops and began to mobilize troops to encircle and intercept them. Zheng Hongkui also mentioned in his letter the day before yesterday that it was very likely that Huang Taiji would ask the navy of Jiaopi Island to participate in the battle. Huang Taiji was not stupid. He knew that Zheng Hongkui and Li You were using the convenience of the navy to cause destruction everywhere in the rear. The army alone could not solve this problem. Only by advancing both land and sea, mobilizing the navy to contain the Shandong navy of the Ming Dynasty at sea, and then dispatching infantry and cavalry to launch an attack from the shore at the same time, would it be possible to completely eliminate the hidden dangers.

Judging from the time, Huang Taiji will probably mobilize the Pidao navy in the near future, so Zheng Hongkui will pay close attention to the situation of the Jiannu navy and be ready to fight with the Jiannu navy at sea at any time.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Zheng Hongkui to use the navy warships to transport the captured materials back. At best, he could find a way to transport them once in the next two days. Then he would have to assemble the fleet to deal with the navy of the Jiannu army. He would not be able to free up his hands until the navy of the Jiannu army was eliminated.

(End of this chapter)