In the small courtyard of the Sanjin Guild Hall.

Faced with everyone's secret criticism, Zhang Siwei felt annoyed.

This matter was originally simple, just to let Zhao Hao make a choice question, to vent his anger at being pushed by Huang Ting. Who would have thought that the boy would persuade Shao Fang to retreat, and in turn gave them a difficult problem.

"I think Zhao Hao is just bluffing." Zhang Siwei calmed down and said in a cold voice, "For him, the most important thing is shipping. The risk of failure in this court meeting is something that he and the entire Jiangnan Group cannot afford. How dare he say that he can bypass us and make peace with the Duke of Xinzheng? If he can't pass the court meeting this time, what qualifications does he have to represent the entire Jiangnan?"

"Hmm." The old men nodded. Yes, without their eight votes and those from Huguang, how could Zhao Hao win the court debate? If this point cannot be resolved, then everything he said is meaningless.

Minister of War Huo Ji said quietly, "I heard that their people are stepping up their lobbying. It seems that they are planning to get a few more votes to make up for our loss of eight votes."

"That's really weird!" Han Ji couldn't help but sneer, "It's already this late, and everyone's attitude has been finalized. Who can turn the tide?"

"Until the last moment, anything can happen." Yang Bo reminded him lightly and asked Zhang Siwei: "Ziwei, what are you going to do next?"

Zhang Siwei's forehead was covered with sweat. He knew that Yang Bo obeyed his orders and was actually testing him to see if he had the ability to take over.

He hesitated for a moment, then calmed down and said, "No matter what, since he has accepted the challenge, we naturally cannot back down."

"Could it be that they really intend to defeat them?" Wang Guoguang sighed, "The entire Jiangnan region is eagerly awaiting shipping. If we ruin their shipping, we will have a huge grudge against them."

"Yes." Everyone nodded. We are all businessmen, and we must not do anything that harms others and does not benefit ourselves.

The old men all looked at Yang Bo, but Yang Tianguan looked at Zhang Siwei with his beard pursed.

Zhao Hao's reaction was indeed unexpected, making the situation that had taken the initiative extremely difficult to deal with. But the more times like this, the more you can see the leader's determination and judgment.

Zhang Siwei had no choice but to be extremely cautious and said: "Indeed, there is no need to help the people of the grain transport industry. However, since Mr. Zhao has made up his mind to compete with us, we can't be timid. We must let them know that without us, they can't succeed!"

~~

At about the same time, various colorful lights in Dengshikou have been lit up one after another.

The lights of every restaurant and brothel were brilliant and dazzling, making the whole street look like a vast galaxy. The most dazzling one was the Beijing-style restaurant with Aoshan lanterns.

In the luxurious private room on the fourth floor of Wei Ji Xian.

Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi and Zhu Shimao, who had his neck tilted, were entertaining two officials from Guangdong, with Eunuch Ji and Tang Youde accompanying them.

The two officials, one was Chen Shaoru, the right vice-minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the other was Ye Mengxiong, the censor of Shandong Province, both of whom were ministers voting for this court meeting.

The two nobles spent a whole day in the government office, trying to persuade them, and finally invited them to dinner at Weijixian after they got off work.

In fact, the two ministers should have avoided suspicion at this time, as the vote was about to begin. But they were really fed up with it, and since they dared to come, they had made up their minds not to vote for Shipping, so they naturally did not need to avoid suspicion.

Sure enough, no matter how much the four of them talked, the two remained unmoved and just kept eating. Especially for Censor Ye, it was his first time to taste the delicious food, so he had to enjoy it.

Seeing that all the nice words were useless, Xu Wenbi lost his temper and yanked the tablecloth violently. With a crashing sound, wine glasses, wine pots, bowls and dishes fell to the ground. The table was immediately in a mess, and soup was spilling all over the two Guangdong officials.

The two were a little frightened, with their chopsticks hanging in the air, at a loss.

"My lord, please speak in Cantonese. What are you doing?" Minister Chen was so nervous that he spoke in Cantonese.

"If we are not allowed to eat this meal, you will not be able to eat it either!" Zhu Shimao tilted his neck to the other side, squinted at the people and said, "Don't think we don't know the wicked things you Cantonese people have done!"

"I don't understand what you are talking about." Ye Mengxiong sneered. This future artillery expert of the Ming Dynasty was naturally very brave.

"Then I'll make it clear to you!" Duke Dingguo waved his hand, and Eunuch Ji threw a thick cowhide envelope in front of the two men.

Chen Shilang and Ye Mengxiong opened the envelope in confusion and took out a thick stack of letters. Their faces changed. It turned out to be a record of smuggling in Guangdong that the factory guards had detected over the years, and even evidence of officials dividing the spoils.

The governor of the East Factory, Eunuch Feng, is a member of the board of supervisors of Xishan Company, so it is no problem for him to provide some negative information about Guangdong. Besides, there are too many negative information about Guangdong...

Both of them had sweat on their foreheads, but their mental qualities were still strong. Of course, the main reason was that this black material had nothing to do with them.

In fact, Feng Bao had some dirty information about Chen Shaoru. Even a former right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing could not clean up his mess. What's more, he was the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing.

However, Zhao Hao told them not to take it out, otherwise it would hurt their feelings. There was no need to offend the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue like this.

It would be more appropriate to talk about this kind of black material that has nothing to do with them.

Of course, the deterrent effect is limited.

The two men calmed down and said to the four people in a serious tone: "We left Guangdong in our early years and came to Beijing, four thousand miles away, to serve as officials. We are unfamiliar with the people and things in our hometown. It is probably useless to ask us for verification. It is better to send this thing to the Censorate, right?"

"Good! Well done!" Xu Wenbi clapped his hands and said with a smile, "My Ming Dynasty is in need of two upright and selfless officials like you! I'll do as you say!"

"Okay, if there's nothing else, we'll take our leave now." The table had already been overturned, so there was no need for Chen Shaoru and Ye Mengxiong to endure it any longer. Anyway, no matter how explosive the material was, it didn't matter. Smuggling in Guangdong had been rampant for at least sixty or seventy years, and who in the imperial court didn't know about it?

But what does it matter if you know? All the officials, local gentry and wealthy businessmen in Guangdong, none of them are clean. Lingnan is far away from the emperor, and pirates are rampant. How can the court investigate? Which imperial envoy dares to investigate? Aren't they afraid of being kidnapped by pirates?

Moreover, since the material was brought out by the eunuchs, they were even less worried. If they could investigate, the East Factory would have already done it. Why would they use it to scare people?

So the two of them walked out without fear.

But behind him, Duke Dingguo said quietly, "We will hand it over to the Censorate tomorrow, and then send Hai Rui to Guangdong to be the governor!"

"You, you, you shouldn't do this!" The two of them seemed to be immobilized and dared not take a step forward.

"Let's go, why are you standing here?" Xu Wenbi sneered.

"If you have something to say, please talk nicely, sir..." Chen Shaoru put on a smile, and Censor Ye was no longer unyielding.

~~

In the Zhao Mansion in Zhaojia Hutong, Zhao Hao slept till the next day.

I still had a splitting headache when I woke up in the morning, and I felt completely unwell.

With Qiaoqiao's help, he washed, dressed, and went to the main courtyard with a dull head to have dinner with the old man.

Zhao Liben had finished his breakfast and was drinking tea to help digestion while reading the official newspaper with his glasses on.

"Are you feeling better?" The old man asked with a smile as he caught a glimpse of Zhao Hao coming in.

"I still feel dizzy and my mouth is bitter," Zhao Hao sat down depressedly and swore, "I will never drink again."

"Hahaha, I've said this hundreds of times, and each time it only lasts until the next time we drink." Zhao Liben laughed, looked at Zhao Hao with satisfaction and said, "As a man, you can't do without wine, sex, money and anger. Take your time with each one, kid."

Qiaoqiao rolled her eyes secretly, thinking, "Is this reasonable? Is this reasonable? Is there anyone who educates his grandchildren like this?"

"Everyone who went out last night is back. Seeing that you were drunk, they didn't wake you up." Zhao Liben took off his glasses and put down his office to report: "The lobbying situation is mixed."

"What do you mean?" Zhao Hao took the millet porridge served by Qiaoqiao and took a sip. It was indeed neither cold nor hot, just right for going down his throat.

"Let's talk about the two people from Laizhou and Qingzhou in Shandong. Zheng Kaiyang explained everything to them, and they both agreed." Zhao Liben held the teacup in his hand and said slowly, "In fact, the dredging during the Jiajing period made the Jiaolai River prosperous for a while, but the next year the river mouth was blocked and ships could not navigate, and the towns that relied on the canal fell into decline. Many wealthy people lost their money, and the entire Jiaolai was seriously damaged. So they all admitted that what we said made sense and that the Jiaolai River could not be relied on."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded and listened to his grandfather continue.

"But after Shandong Governor Jiang Tingyi came to Beijing, he had already visited these Shandong officials and asked them to support him. He also promised some benefits such as tax reductions." Zhao Liben sneered and said, "Once the Jiaolai River is opened, Jiang Zhongcheng's political achievements will be achieved. When he leaves Shandong, he will not care about the lives of the people."

"What are their attitudes?" Zhao Hao asked softly.

"It's a dilemma." Zhao Liben sighed, "They all understand the reasoning behind this. But firstly, they don't want to offend the local governors. Secondly, it's hard to explain to the people back home... For many years, the people of Jiaodong have been suffering from the lack of a freight channel. Many people still want to gamble on the Jiaolai River. Maybe this time they can hold out for many years."

"But they are very tempted by the conditions we offer, and so is the one in Liaodong. If we can really have three seaports and guarantee 200 ships every year, why would they need the Jiaolai River? It doesn't matter even if they have a falling out with the governor."

Zhao Liben took the pipe prepared by the maid and put it in his mouth. The maid then lit the paper match that was smoked with sandalwood and lit a cigarette for the old man.

Taking a puff of his cigarette, Zhao Liben said, "However, for such a big thing, you can't just tell people that you believe it, right? Even if we write it down in black and white, they're still worried that we'll break the contract, so it's still hard for them to let go of their baggage and vote for us."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded. Sure enough, no one was stupid. "What about the two from Guangdong?"

ps. Please vote for the second update! I will write another update...