"But considering that the government had gone back on its word several times before, he was a little hesitant when he was about to go ashore. I swore a solemn oath on the lives of my entire family to protect him, and then I took him to meet Hu Ruzhen. You should know what happened next..."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded and said softly, "It's a pity that Hu Ruzhen couldn't fulfill his promise because the officials in the southeast were all strongly opposed to lifting the maritime ban. Governor Hu had no choice but to appease Wang Zhi while trying to get through to the young cabinet minister... But before the young cabinet minister could get through, Wang Bengu arrested Wang Zhi first."

"That's right." Zhao Liben nodded, still brooding over it after so many years: "At that time, he went to the Governor's Office every day to ask about the progress, which annoyed Hu Ruzhen so much that he asked him to go to West Lake to relax. Because I was in Hangzhou, Wang Zhi came without worry, but I waited and waited in the Neitai Yamen and no one showed up. I heard the news and found out that the Inspector Wang Bengu had arrested him!"

The current Prime Minister Wang Shao was just a young man of the seventh rank who had just entered the officialdom. But a major feature of the Ming Dynasty official system was that the lower ranks suppressed the upper ranks - at the central level, the six-department secretary could sit on an equal footing with the six-department bosses; at the local level, the seventh-rank inspector did not even give face to the governor-general, let alone a third-rank inspector.

"Upon learning that Wang Zhi had been arrested, Hu Ruzhen was horrified and immediately sent a letter to the Provincial Inspectorate, asking Wang Bengu to release him. I also tried my best to rescue him, but the situation was deadlocked for a whole year. In the end, he and his son were sentenced to death for colluding with the Japanese."

"Before his execution, Wang Zhi asked to see me. I cried and apologized to him, but he didn't blame me for not keeping my promise. He just smiled and said that he had only realized today that those famous families who passed down poetry and literature were a hundred times more greedy than the pirates who killed people without blinking an eye. He, a pirate, was still hoping that the court would open the sea to facilitate both officials and civilians, but those people hoped that the sea ban would continue and they would monopolize the trade with him. He actually dared to go ashore to negotiate against their wishes, so naturally, only death was waiting for him..."

Zhao Hao suddenly realized what was going on and said, "So Wang Bengu is one of their people..."

"Of course. Otherwise, with Hu Ruzhen's status as the King of Southeast at the time, and me as the Chief Justice in charge of the province's criminal cases, how could they not be able to defeat a small inspector?"

Zhao Liben let out a breath of turbid air, and then continued: "In exchange for forgiving me, Wang Zhi asked me to promise him one thing - to save the lives of the rest of his family. I went to find Hu Ruzhen overnight and jointly petitioned with him. Those people in the court only wanted the male members of Wang Zhi's family to die, and the female members didn't care at all... They were originally sentenced to exile, but they pardoned them without hesitation, which can be regarded as compensation for us."

After hearing this, Zhao Hao understood everything.

It turns out that the "Wu" in Wu Ji is not the "Wu" in the surname Wu, but the capital letter of "Wufeng".

"You must have guessed that your grandmother Ye was Wang Zhi's second wife. But she was actually just a maid serving Wang Zhi's mother. The two of them were released, along with the infant Xueying. Yes, Xueying's real name was Wang Xueying, and I changed her surname to Jiang for me."

"Wuji was not originally called Wuji, but Wangji. I was the one who changed it. Although the court let them off the hook at that time, after Wang Zhi's death, the Japanese invasion broke out, and we had to be on guard against someone taking revenge on them."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, thinking that the Japanese invasion was a thing of the past now and no one would pursue Wu Ji's past, so it was time for the old man to reap the benefits.

This is quite similar to Tao'er's "sacrificing wife and son for his own benefit".

"Wu Ji was originally Wang Zhi's business on the shore. It was small and unnoticeable at the time. In fact, it was more like a tool for him to gather intelligence. When Wang Zhi's mother passed away, Xueying was only six years old. In order for your grandmother Ye to support Wu Ji, the old lady decided to marry Wang Zhi's tablet before she died... So, I have not let Wang Zhi down."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao thought to himself, there must be no apology, look how well my Grandma Ye is doing now.

~~

After listening to the old man's story, Zhao Hao was still a little puzzled: "Even if Xueying is Wang Zhi's only descendant, what's the point?"

There's no bloodline awakening or anything like that.

"You don't understand, right? It means a lot." Zhao Liben said proudly:

"First, although Wang Zhi has been dead for eight years, his former team still controls part of the Thirty-Six Islands. These people hate the Southeast nobles who killed Wang Zhi, but they are forced to cooperate with them. However, they privately send people to greet Xue Ying regularly, hoping that she can take over her grandfather's business one day."

"Secondly, the Japanese value bloodlines more than we do. The Japanese emperor has become a grandson, and no one dares to replace him. So they will definitely recognize Xueying's identity, or at least make things easier for her."

"Third, God is helping me. The nine major families in the southeast had an internal conflict, and now the Lu family has been expelled from the family. However, they accidentally lost the crucial 'Seal of the King of the Pure Sea'. Do you know what that is?"

"I know." Zhao Hao nodded.

"You know? How do you know?" Zhao Liben couldn't believe it.

"Because that thing, by some strange combination of circumstances, fell into my hands."

Zhao Hao chuckled.

"How is this possible?!" Now it was Zhao Liben's turn to be stunned.

Zhao Hao then told the old man everything about how he encountered Shanghai merchants chasing the Lu family when he went to Beijing last year; how his house was robbed after arriving in Beijing, and how he found the gold seal and the maritime merchant account book from his luggage.

As for the fact that Zhao Shouzheng was taken to Shuntian Prefecture for questioning, Zhao Hao had already written a letter to tell the old man. He was just worried about leaking the secret, so he didn't say much in the letter.

After a long while, Zhao Liben recovered from his shock, grabbed his grandson's arm, and asked in a low voice: "Where is the account book?"

"Write down the key information and then burn it." Zhao Hao replied.

Zhao Liben thought that his genius grandson must have a photographic memory, so he asked confidently, "Where's the seal?"

"Hide it. If grandpa wants to see it, I'll find a chance to give it to you." Zhao Hao said again.

"No, keep it and don't show it to anyone." Zhao Liben said firmly: "It is priceless!"

"Is it that important?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but be surprised.

"It's very important." Zhao Liben nodded heavily and said, "Do you know what happened to the eight families because they lost the golden seal?"

"On the first day of the Lunar New Year, someone set fire to a batch of goods that were about to be shipped from Huzhou to Zhoushan at Xinbei Pass. More than 100,000 pieces of silk and hundreds of ships were burned, dozens of people died, and the city was in chaos afterwards..." Zhao Liben sighed:

"On the sea, the strong prey on the weak, and there are countless fleets of all sizes. Every time a contract is signed, it is the result of countless battles, which often last for several years. No one can afford it. So unless it is absolutely necessary, everyone still hopes to get it back."

After saying that, he looked at his grandson with sharp eyes and said, "Now, do you understand what I mean?!"

"Grandpa wants to fill the vacancy of the Lu family and become the ninth family?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but gasp. The old man's appetite is really big!

"Why not? Just because the eight of them have fleets at sea and territories overseas, why don't our Zhao family do the same?!" Zhao Liben raised his eyebrows and sneered, "Why, are you scared, my dear grandson? You dare to destroy even Lord Xu's place! Don't be worse than an old man like your grandfather!"

"Why not?" Zhao Hao said proudly, "I have already made up my mind to meet them!"

"Great, you are worthy of being my grandson!" Zhao Liben was overjoyed when he heard that.

ps. This is the third update. Please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes... The next two updates will be a few minutes late. I found a small bug and need to adjust it.