"Uh..." Lin Daoquan was stunned when he heard this and didn't react for a moment.

"Well, I won't beat around the bush with you." Lin Hongzhong looked at him with burning eyes and said in a deep voice, "First of all, I am not familiar with the sea lords in Fujian, but we are all familiar with the sea lords in Guangdong. We are all afraid of you now, so we all ask me to be a lobbyist and ask General Lin to show mercy and let them go."

"It's easy to discuss..." Lin Daoqian nodded and listened to him continue:

"Secondly, I won't hide it from you, brother. We have a close relationship with the Portuguese in Xiangshan Bay. The provincial officials have always been wary of the Portuguese. Only by assisting in the defense of Guangzhou and accepting the government's dispatch to suppress the bandits did the provincial officials show mercy. If you can wipe out all the pirates, they will be useless to the province. Similarly, we can wear this official uniform because of the existence of Zeng Yiben and others who play the good cop. We have the opportunity to play the good cop. Without them, our life will be difficult. What is the attitude of the court towards useless outsiders? You know better than me, right?"

"Yeah." Lin Daoquan nodded again. Although it was a cliché, it was the truth.

"So our real enemy is not those sea lords, but the wolves from the north!" Lin Hongzhong lowered his voice and said, "That is the son of your Lord Fu Zun, Zhao Hao! That kid is ambitious and has connections. He made a fortune by monopolizing the transportation of grain and sea, and built a huge fleet to monopolize trade with Japan. I heard that he also swallowed up Ryukyu. I guess his next step is to go south and unify the seas of Fujian and Guangdong."

He added in a more serious tone, "If we don't unite and resist foreign aggression together, then no matter if it's you or me, we will all have no way to survive, do you understand?"

"Hmm..." Lin Daoqian nodded for the third time. He glanced at Lin Hongzhong and couldn't help but smile bitterly. He thought that Mr. Zhao's fleet had already swept across most of the Fujian coast...

However, it was normal that Lin Hongzhong did not associate it with Zhao Hao's fleet, because the Ryukyu Kingdom was also a hegemon on the sea. Everyone would subconsciously think that after the Jiangnan Group conquered the Ryukyu Kingdom with a snake swallowing an elephant, it would not have the strength to move south immediately.

If they leave right after conquering, what if Ryukyu surrenders and then rebels again? How can they fight southwards if the rear is unstable?

Besides, there are the Japanese in Jilong, who have powerful artillery built for them by the Portuguese. This will be a tough nut for Zhao to chew for a while.

Therefore, Lin Hongzhong did not connect the Fujian affairs with Zhao Hao at all.

However, this did not prevent him from trying to recruit Lin Daoquan to join and build an anti-Zhao alliance.

"Is Mr. Zhao so powerful? How old is he?" Lin Daoquan asked deliberately.

"He is more powerful than you think. Even the Portuguese suffered at his hands." Lin Hongzhong added, "Of course, the Portuguese were ambushed. If the two sides fought head-on, Zhao would definitely not be their opponent. You know the time when Zeng Yiben attacked Macau. His entire fleet couldn't do anything to a large Western sailing ship. The gap between the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese at sea can be measured in miles."

"Hmm." Lin Daoqian nodded slightly. He had seen the power of large Western sailing ships. Although he was very reluctant, he had to admit that the gap between Chinese sailing ships and them was not small... As Lin Hongzhong said, if they couldn't launch a sneak attack, they would not be able to defeat the opponent head-on.

Even though Zhao Hao's medium-sized black-tailed ships were powerful enough to sweep away the sea lords in Fujian, they were still no match for the Portuguese.

"So brother, it's self-evident which side you should stand on, right?" Lin Hongzhong asked with a smile.

"But he is the son of Lord Mansion, and I can't be hostile to him..." Lin Daoquan looked embarrassed.

"The Governor-General is a shareholder of the Wuyang Trading House, how can he be inferior to a small prefect?" Lin Hongzhong smiled contemptuously, and added: "As long as you stand firmly with us this time, how about we split it in half when we resume trade with Japan in the future?!"

Lin Daoqian immediately became jealous.

~~

For such an important matter, Lin Daoquan certainly could not answer it in person. He had to think about it first.

After he sent Lin Hongzhong back to the residence he had arranged for Lin Run, he called several of Lin Huiyin's confidants to his study and told them what had happened.

Lin Huiyin was delighted when he heard this: "Brother, this is great news! Aren't you always worried that Governor Yin will use the opportunity of suppressing bandits to destroy us? If we submit to him and do a few great deeds for him, he will love you so much that he will never deal with us again!"

"You're confused, aren't you?" said Lin Zhiling, the third in command who had some issues with him, "We didn't fight those battles!"

"Why do you care who beat him? That was Zhao Shouzheng's achievement and Yu Dayou's testimony. We ourselves have never admitted it, let alone reported it. If anything goes wrong in the future, it won't be our fault." Lin Huiyin said nonchalantly: "Let's talk about the simplest logic. Who has higher power, the prefect or the governor? Can Zhao Hao beat the Portuguese? Besides, a strong dragon can't defeat a local snake. With the Wuyang Trade House contacting all the sea lords in Guangdong to deal with him together, he can't win even if he is a god!"

"Hmm..." After these words came out, everyone fell silent. Indeed, after thinking about it, the chances of winning were on Lin Hongzhong's side.

For people like them who come from pirate backgrounds, isn't it natural to stand on the side of the winner?

"What you said makes some sense, but if we can't show such strong strength in the future, I'm afraid Lin Hongzhong won't abide by the agreement and share the Japanese trade with us equally." Lin Zhiling said again.

"Don't forget, we still have a trump card." Lin Huiyin said with a smug smile: "With Miss Lin's fleet in Jilong, we are not weak at all!"

"Yeah, how could we forget about this?" Everyone suddenly realized and said, "Our main strength is in the chicken coop!"

For a moment, there was no objection, and everyone felt that it was better to work with the governor than with the guy named Zhao.

Since you are selling yourself, of course you have to sell it to the big boss.

Even Lin Daoquan thought so, but he was cautious by nature and would not make his attitude clear until the last moment.

Besides, he still has a father behind him. With Xu Wei's sharp eyesight, if he shows any second thoughts, he will probably be discovered. Then the Lord of the Zhao Mansion will definitely punish him, and Master Zhao will not let him off either!

To be honest, Lin Daoqian had already suffered psychological trauma from the torture he had suffered from Zhao Hao, and he did not dare to easily think of betraying his master.

And the most practical thing is that the Jiangnan Group’s fleet has already reached Kinmen Island, which is only 300 miles away from Xiawei!

Xiawei is eight hundred miles away from Macau. Distant water cannot quench nearby thirst!

Whenever he thought about having to bear Mr. Zhao's anger, he couldn't help but shiver.

"I'm sleepy. Let's stop here today and let me think about it first." Seeing that the hand of the Western clock had pointed to twelve o'clock, Lin Daoquan waved his hand and asked everyone to leave first.

But how could he sleep? When he closed his eyes all night, he could only see Zhao Hao's harmless smile. He was served with whips, candles, and collars...

He was so frightened that he sat up with a scream, only to find that it was the incense sticks tied to his toes that burned his flesh.

He changed places as usual, but the nightmares continued, so he had no choice but to stop lighting the incense and sit with his eyes open until dawn.

~~

Lin Daoquan thought about it all night but still couldn't come to a decision.

In terms of strength, Lin Hongzhong would definitely be the winner, but Young Master Zhao was equally formidable, and his fleet was just a few hundred miles away.

It looked like the two sides were about to fight a decisive battle, so there was no room for him to sit on the fence. Alas, it was really difficult to decide!

General Lin was distracted as he dressed and washed himself with the help of his servants. He was about to have breakfast and talk to Lin Hongzhong to see what guarantees the other party could give him, but he saw Xu Wei asking a maid to bring him some large coconuts.

"Hey, how did godfather preserve it? It's still so fresh?" Lin Daoqian was surprised. Last time Lin Feng sent him that boatload of coconuts, he definitely wanted to give some to godfather, but that was more than a month ago, how could the shells still be so green?

"It was sent by Master Tang. It just arrived last night." Xu Wei's maid was actually Lin Daoqian's concubine, who was placed beside him as a spy. She hurriedly replied respectfully, "Master Xu said that the boss loves this thing the most, so he asked me to bring some to you."

"Oh?" Lin Daoqian couldn't help but laugh: "Godfather really loves me."

As he spoke, he picked up one, drew out the dagger from his sleeve, cut a hole in it with a few strokes, and then tasted it. He couldn't help but exclaimed with great joy: "Hmm, this is the taste!"

He was too lazy to pour out the water, as it would be soulless to drink it that way. He simply held the coconut and drank it with his head tilted back. The refreshing coconut water with a hint of sugarcane sweetness immediately made Lin Daoqian's frown disappear.

But as he drank, his brows furrowed again, and then he froze there, letting the coconut water spray all over his face and body...

"What's wrong? Doesn't the coconut taste right?" The maid hurriedly tried to take the coconut from his hand, but he grabbed her neck and asked sternly, "Tell me, where did this coconut come from?!"

"Master, I told you..." The maid was terrified. Her face turned pale and she stammered, "Master Tang Baolu sent it here."

"Where are the people?" Lin Daoquan asked.

"I left that night..." The maid rolled her eyes because he pinched her.

Lin Daoqian then let go of his hand, stood up, stepped over the exhausted maid, and stumbled to find Xu Wei.

In the villa, Xu Wei was still lying in bed with his concubine when Lin Daoqian rushed in.

The concubine was so frightened that she quickly got under the quilt with a scream. Xu Wei was so angry that he yelled, "Are you going to scare me to death?"

"Dad!" Lin Daoqian knelt down in front of his bed and said in a different voice: "Tell me the truth, where did that coconut come from?"

"Of course it grows on a coconut tree." Xu Wei bent down to find his shorts, put them on and said unhappily, "Could it be growing in my crotch?"

"I mean, where are the coconut trees?" Lin Dao looked at Xu Wei blankly.

"Where are the coconut trees?" Xu Wei blinked, patted his head and said, "Don't you know better than me, an outsider?"

"Beat the dog..." Lin Daoquan finally couldn't help it and uttered these two words from between his teeth.

"Haha, it seems to be called this." Xu Wei nodded, picked up a wrinkled cigarette box from the pillow, took out a cigarette and said, "Try it? It was delivered yesterday, Victory brand cigarettes."

"..." Lin Daoqian understood everything immediately, sweating profusely as he said, "My lord, in addition to the fleet attacking the Fujian coast, there is another fleet heading south along Xiaoliuqiu Island, right?"

"Okay, you're not too stupid." Xu Wei waved the cigarette in front of his eyes, signaling him to light it. But Lin Daoqian took out a lighter and blew for a long time, but he couldn't blow up the flame, which showed that he was panicking.

"Dakao has been captured. Is my...Lin Feng still alive?" Lin Daoquan finally lit a cigarette for Xu Wei and asked in a crying voice.

"How would I know this? If you're worried, just go and have a look yourself." Xu Wei took a deep breath and choked and coughed, "Fuck, it's so strong."

ps. It’s gone tonight.