Under the influence of the Little Ice Age, there was still some late spring chill in the south of the Yangtze River at night, but in Lingnan it was already extremely hot.

In the mansion in Xiangshan County, Guangdong, the peach blossoms have faded, but the redbuds, azaleas and kapok are in full bloom, creating a scene of colorful flowers that brings joy to the audience.

Zhao Liben sat in front of the dressing mirror with vigor and energy. Ye and three maids combed his hair, trimmed his beard and nose hairs, and helped him put on his clothes, tie his belt, and put on his boots.

After tidying up, the head maid Han Tao held up a black gauze hat with a trembling hand, and Ye put it on his head neatly.

With the help of Cailian and Zanju, the old man slowly stood up and walked out of the house.

This is his 100th day in Guangdong. He has climbed Baiyun Mountain, visited West Lake, drank the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Soup, and met the sexy dealers. Today, he exchanged appointments with the Portuguese and it is about time for him to go back.

Outside the gate, in the corridor, Xiangshan County Magistrate Lin Huichun, Guardian Officer Ye Zimei, two local civil and military officials representing the imperial court in administering Macau, and Lin Hongzhong, a large sea merchant who had settled in Macau for a long time, had been waiting for a long time.

This time when the old man came to Xiangshan County for negotiations, he mainly contacted these three people. The first two helped him put pressure on the red-haired man, while Lin Hongzhong acted as a middleman and ran between the two.

As for the Portuguese, they could only leave Macau twice a year, in spring and summer, to go to Guangzhou to trade. At other times, they were not allowed to leave Macau.

~~

Zhao Liben was a cunning old man. Upon arriving in Guangzhou, he did not immediately contact the Portuguese, nor did he even set foot in Xiangshan County. Instead, he became close friends with a group of officials from the provincial capital.

He was a retired minister, and the governor treated him as an elder. He was also the arbitrator of the Yangzhou salt merchants, the grandfather of the famous Mr. Zhao, and he was very rich. Naturally, he soon became close friends with a group of Guangdong officials, and they had yacht parties and flower appreciation parties all day long, and they had a lot of fun.

Although the old man seemed to be extravagant on the surface, he was actually just using his hobbies to cover up his true purpose. While drinking and chatting, he found out the details of the Portuguese from the mouths of Guangdong officials, and most importantly, the attitude of the Guangdong officialdom towards them!

He found out that Macau was still under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese were just guests here.

Macau is located in Xiangshan County. Although the Portuguese bribed the Guangdong Sea Road and occupied Macau Island in the 32nd year of Jiajing, the civil and judicial affairs of Macau were still under the jurisdiction of Xiangshan County Magistrate. In addition, because Macau is a foreign trade port, Guangdong Sea Road is responsible for its coastal defense, and the Shibo Tizhusi is responsible for its trade management and tax audit.

Therefore, Macau is still an undisputed territory of the Ming Dynasty, but the Portuguese are allowed to live and trade on the island.

The Portuguese, who were used to being domineering, did not want to be so honest. However, they failed in two large-scale attacks on Guangdong. They realized that this was a big country that could not be conquered as easily as the small countries in the southeast. So they had to lower their posture, mainly relying on bribery, actively paying taxes, embracing supervision, and obeying the dispatch of the Guangdong government to fight pirates and help defend Guangzhou Bay.

After so many years of running-in, especially after repelling Zeng Yiben's attack on Baietan last year, the Portuguese finally gradually gained the trust of the Guangdong officialdom.

Of course, this is inseparable from the mediation of the traitors. For example, this sea merchant named Lin Hongzhong and his companions became rich by doing business with Malacca for a long time. He had his own armed smuggling fleet and fought against the Portuguese together when Macau was threatened by pirates. He even converted to Catholicism in Macau and naturally had close relations with the Portuguese.

But at the same time, they also obeyed the government's dispatch and were used as firefighters to relieve the pressure of coastal defense. In the "Tuen Mun Naval Battle" and "Sai Cao Wan Naval Battle" organized by the Ming Dynasty to resist the Portuguese invasion, their fathers and grandfathers were the main force. Therefore, Lin Hongzhong also had the title of a thousand households of coastal defense and had a very good relationship with the government.

However, no matter what, conservative forces in the officialdom always exist, and they are often honest officials with super combat effectiveness, one of whom can beat ten so-called "enlightened" officials who are covered in shit.

It is precisely because of the existence of conservatives that the Portuguese have never been able to obtain the Macao lease they have always dreamed of. In other words, they are still all illegal immigrants, illegally staying here!

After finding out the details, Zhao Liben knew how to deal with these red-haired devils.

During one drunken sex, he casually mentioned to a high-ranking official from Guangdong who was playing with him that Governor Lin did not like the red-haired devils.

This made the Guangdong officials, who had been speculating all day long about where the three fires would be set after the new governor took office, suddenly think that one of the fires would definitely be set in Macau.

So after the masters returned, they summoned their staff and wrote a petition to Lin Run, saying things like, "The Aoyi have occupied Xiangshan, Haojing'ao, Gongchangdu and other places for more than 20 years, with a population of 10,000. Although there are trade restrictions, they are not of our race, and their ships are strong and their guns are powerful. They have been a hidden threat to Guangzhou for a long time!" "It may not be a hidden worry on the sea for a hundred years!" and so on.

Of course, these guys received a lot of money from the Portuguese and sea merchants. They made clear statements, but their butts were still crooked. Because the solution they proposed was just to set up institutions in Macau and strengthen control. Incorporate the Portuguese army into the foreign army system, just like the Miao and Yao people on land, who obeyed the orders of the court.

Saying that they are not of our race is actually an attempt to legalize them.

However, those conservative officials who were determined to "guard against the barbarians" saw that the situation was good, so why not take the opportunity to expel the barbarians? They hoped to drive all the Portuguese out of Macau, transfer trade to the outer sea of ​​Langbai, and restore the foreign trade system before the 32nd year of Jiajing.

In fact, since Lin Run took office, he has been trying to understand the situation in Guangdong Province, and has spent a lot of energy to mobilize grain and grass in Guangdong Province to support Yin Zhengmao's battle in Guangxi. In this era, localism in various provinces was very serious. It was useless for Lin Run to give orders. He had to run around in various prefectures and counties in person and lead the army to open warehouses and transfer grain before the grain could be transported away. Otherwise, the gentry would mobilize the common people and take the grain back in minutes.

So how could he care about the Macau issue? After finishing his work that day, he returned to Zhaoqing and prepared to deal with the backlog of official documents, only to find that the officials in the provincial capital had unanimously condemned the Portuguese.

How smart was Lin Run? He immediately sensed something was wrong. Lending Macau to the Portuguese for business was a big benefit to Guangdong Province, and officials also got a share of the profits. But this was not in line with the system, and it was suspected of colluding with foreigners. Therefore, the Guangdong officials have always adopted an attitude of not admitting, not reporting, and not knowing.

If the court asked, they would just conduct a symbolic investigation and pretend to drive them away; if they didn't ask, they would just leave it alone.

Therefore, most officials in Guangdong Province should be very secretive about the Macau issue, and would rather forget about those red-haired devils. Why would they rush to express their views, as if they were afraid that the world would not know? There is only one possibility, that they smelled something unusual, so they could not wait to express their views in advance and draw a clear line.

Since even the governor has submitted a proposal, it must be believed that the governor is going to take action against the red hair.

But the problem is, I didn't have time to think about this problem at all, okay? What's going on with the Guangdong officialdom's overly strong desire to survive?

Just as he was wondering, the doorman reported that Mr. Zhao had arrived. Lin Run immediately understood that it was the old man who was taking advantage of the power of others.

He personally welcomed Zhao Liben into the signing room. As soon as he came in, old man Zhao started crying, saying that he was old and confused, and he couldn't control his words, which caused trouble for the governor.

Lin Run asked, what happened? Old Zhao then told him what happened.

At last, he said with a face full of grievance: "You said they asked me what the Minister thought of the Portuguese? Can I still say that you like the red-haired devils? I can only say that you definitely don't like them. Who knew that this group of people could make up stories so well, and they really thought you were going to deal with those Australian barbarians by taking chicken feathers as a token of authority."

"..." Lin Run was speechless after hearing this. He knew that Zhao Li had other tasks in Guangdong besides spending the winter. He didn't expect to be used by this old guy.

But as Zhao Liben said, what else can he say? No, I like red-haired ghosts.

I just heard him pinching his nose and laughing bitterly: "Old man, you are right. Who would like a red-haired ghost that is neither human nor ghost? Unless you are blind."

"Even a blind man can't do that. The smell is too strong." Zhao Liben echoed: "You can't touch this red-haired ghost's woman. Not only does she smell bad, but she has more hair on her body than me."

"Uh..." Lin Run looked at Minister Zhao, who was seventy years old, and wondered how he knew so much.

After a long while, he managed to say: "Take care, old man. Come back to Jiangnan as soon as you are done with your work... Guangdong is too hot."

"Oh, I would have forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it." Zhao Liben slapped his forehead and said as if he had just remembered, "My grandson still has important things to do."

"Where are you going, old man? I'll send someone to escort you there." Lin Run took the initiative to let him take advantage of him this time. Now he just wanted to send this old immortal away quickly and not let him fan the flames again.

"How can I say that?" Zhao Liben said embarrassedly, "Xiangshan County."

~~

Therefore, the old man was sent to Xiangshan County by the governor's guards. The leader of the guards also gave the magistrate of Xiangshan County and the officer guarding the Macao each a visiting card of the governor, asking them to give appropriate care to him.

Can these two civil and military officials who govern Macau not serve Zhao Liben as if they were serving their ancestors?

After hearing his purpose, Ye Zimei immediately led his troops to Macau to crack down on prostitution and organized crime. He arrested dozens of red-haired devils and put them in the Xiangshan County Prison.

Major General Domingo, the highest commander of Portugal in Macau, was in a state of panic because of the rumors in the Guangdong officialdom. He felt that he was extremely unlucky. He had just lost two large sailing ships and a crew before the New Year, and he was in danger of being driven out of Macau the following year.

If the two large sailing ships were still there, he would still have the confidence to stay. But now he only has the remaining dozen old lock ships, and he really has no confidence.

Now the government has broken the tacit understanding that officials will not enter Macau, and have openly come in to arrest people. This has made Domingo worry. Is this a prelude to expelling them?

He quickly asked Lin Hongzhong to go to the government office and ask what posture he should take in order to let them go this time.

It is really shameful for the great powers that divided the world to end up like this...