It has been cloudy and rainy in Kunshan since the day before yesterday, and there has not been a sunny day.

The official ship dock was now full of important figures who could shake Jiangnan with just a stomp of their feet. They were eagerly waiting, like a group of geese waiting to be fed, staring at the lower reaches of the Lou River.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, everyone finally saw a snow-white sail appear in the misty rain.

"Here they are, back!" people shouted excitedly. Even the great military governor Wu Qing had a look of anticipation in his eyes.

The Science slowly sailed into the dock and docked next to the pier.

Young Master Zhao was somewhat surprised to see all the big men from Jiangnan gathered here, and he quickly bowed to greet them all.

"The young master is finally back." Everyone saluted him together.

"Bingxian, Laogongzu, Zhongfuzun, and all my parents, and all the old gentlemen, why bother to come and welcome us in person? It's really an honor to me." Zhao Hao couldn't help but smile bitterly and return the greeting again.

"Mr. Zhao is the hope of the entire Jiangnan region," Wu Qing said emotionally, "Compared to what you are going to do for Jiangnan, what does it mean for us to welcome him?"

"You are too kind, Bingxian." Zhao Hao walked down the deck steadily and greeted Wu Qing and the two prefects again.

"It's raining, let's go back and talk about it." Then he asked everyone to get into the cars and sedan chairs, and not to gather here for people to watch the show.

Wu Qing wanted to invite Zhao Hao to ride in the same sedan chair with him. Although the military officer's sedan chair with eight bearers was more than enough for two people, Zhao Hao always felt something was a little strange.

Fortunately, his carriage also arrived, so he invited Wu Bingxian to ride in the same carriage with him. Wu Qing mainly wanted to talk to Zhao Hao, so he naturally agreed.

~~

In the carriage, Master Zhao first poured Wu Qing a glass of fine wine, then sank into the sofa and adjusted himself to the most comfortable position.

Wu Qing was not used to this soft chair. He wanted to imitate Zhao Hao's sitting posture, but felt that it was too unbecoming of an official. So he straightened his back and rested half of his butt on the edge of the chair. He looked like a subordinate facing his superior.

Despite his appearance, Wu Bingxian actually had a great background. He was from Wuxi and ranked first in the palace examination in the 23rd year of Jiajing.

Unexpectedly, when the names were announced, the old immortal Jiajing heard his name and said, "Fuck, is there a heartless champion in the world?" So he demoted him to the third place. As a result, Qin Minglei, who was originally scheduled to be the third place, got the first place for nothing.

In addition, the runner-up at that moment was named Qu Jingchun, who was the father of Zhao Hao's new disciple Qu Rukui. There was also Zhao Hao's older brother Zhao Jin, who was also in this class.

In the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, Wu Qing presided over the Nanjing Autumn Examination and selected 13 candidates from Wuxi in one go. This caused dissatisfaction among the many failed candidates, who wrote doggerel to mock him: "Speaking of ruthlessness and affection, 13 candidates from Wuxi were selected in a row." Although no problems were found after investigation, he still couldn't stand the gossip and returned home on the pretext of illness.

Actually, Wu Qing had no desire for power, but he deeply hated the damage to his reputation throughout his life and could not live with himself.

This time, he came out of retirement under the recommendation of his peers and fellow townsmen, with the goal of doing something for the people of Jiangnan, so as to wash away the shame of the past and regain the respect of his hometown. Therefore, he attached great importance to the "sea transportation plan for grain transport" proposed by Zhao Hao. Once this plan succeeds, all those involved will become heroes in the eyes of Jiangnan.

What's more, as the Susong Military Governor, he is in charge of the military preparations and river defense of Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures. No matter what, he will play an important role in it.

"If you need us to do anything, just tell us." After a moment's silence, Wu Qing said to Zhao Hao, "I will fully support you."

Zhao Hao nodded and said without being polite: "This is a matter of national policy. It is a contest of hard power. There is no room for any opportunism. Let's discuss the rules and make overall arrangements later, and work together to get this done."

"Yes." Wu Qing nodded heavily. He agreed with Zhao Hao's opinion and sighed softly, "I have thought about it carefully these past few days. This matter is really difficult and dangerous. It is beyond description. The current governor of the Canal, Zhao Yuquan, is my classmate. I have some friendship with him. He has a strong character and will never give in easily."

Zhao Hao nodded. He naturally knew the biggest opposition to the sea transportation of grain.

"But I can still write him a letter and try to reason with him to see if I can persuade him to give in." Wu Qing said and then sighed, "But I'm afraid his words don't count. The one who really makes the decision in Huai'an is the Marquis of Zhenyuan, who served as the general commander of the grain transport for four terms! The old Marquis Gu has been a soldier all his life, and has been stationed in Guangdong and Guangxi, and fought against Japanese pirates. His prestige among the grain transport soldiers is unparalleled, and hundreds of thousands of grain transport soldiers call him 'Grandpa Gu'. If Zhao Yuquan dares to give in, I'm afraid he will be chopped by the old Marquis with a knife."

After Wu Qing finished speaking, he felt that he had somewhat destroyed his own prestige and boosted the ambitions of others. He hurriedly said with a smile: "But the Zhenyuan Marquis's Mansion is in Nanjing. Can we see if we can ask Master Xu to help us?"

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, thinking that although the Gu family was in Nanjing, the old marquis disdained Xu Pengju the most. Xu Bangrui might not have that much face.

As the two talked, the carriage stopped in front of the three-story building of Kunkai Company on Xitang Street. The Jiangnan Group's headquarters in Suzhou had not yet been built, so they could only borrow the site of Kunkai Company for the meeting.

~~

Zhao Hao, the senior executives of Jiangnan Group, as well as officials and gentry in Jiangnan, held an enlarged meeting for a whole day.

Finally, after working together, we finalized a complete strategy, including the lowest and highest goals, how to achieve them step by step, what problems we would encounter, and how to solve them. We also clarified who were the enemies, who were the allies, who were the centrists that could be won over, who were the pawns that could be used, etc. We also assigned tasks to everyone.

In fact, Zhao Hao had already basically finalized all these matters with Xu Wei and the old man during the Chinese New Year. The reason why he was spending time and energy to do it all over again was to let everyone go through the decision-making process and inspire their sense of ownership. This way, they would do their best to treat it as their own business.

Second, he didn't want the officials and gentry in Jiangnan to feel that they were being controlled by him. This would make these self-important guys resist him from the bottom of their hearts. So he had to create a situation where we controlled others together, so that everyone would feel much better.

Don't underestimate this feeling. If you are not careful, it will cause hidden dangers.

Third, for such a big matter, of course we need to make collective decisions and take collective responsibility. If something goes wrong, don't let me take the blame alone...

The meeting ended after a day and the participants went back to their respective tasks.

Although Mr. Zhao's eyelids were heavy and he felt sleepy, he did not return to the county government office. Instead, he went to Jinfeng Garden behind the county government office first.

Although the garden is named "Golden Wind", the east wind comes from here.

ps. This is the third update. Please give me your monthly votes. There is one more update to come!