In another time and space, Hai Rui died alone. It was this Wang Yongji who collected Hai Rui's body and then carried the coffin back to Hainan for burial over a thousand miles.

This is a gentleman who can be trusted with life and death, and he will pass the imperial examination next year. Of course, Zhao Hao has to get to know him for his father.

"Mr. Hai once served as a teacher in Fujian. Could it be that Brother Mingshou has ever received instruction from him?" Zhao Hao had long been accustomed to ignoring the confusing relationships between people and treating everyone on a brotherly basis.

"At that time, Mr. Hai was teaching in Nanping. I am from Jinjiang, so I have no honor to listen to Mr. Hai's teachings." Wang Yongji, whose courtesy name is Mingshou, has a fair complexion and is gentle and elegant. He doesn't look like the kind of person who would mindlessly chase stars.

"But I have heard a lot about Lord Hai's deeds, especially his "Public Security Memorial", which I can recite by heart. I aspire to be a person like Lord Hai, so I want to meet him and ask him a few questions in person." Wang Yongji sighed and said, "It's a pity that Lord Hai has not allowed me to enter his house for the past month, let alone give me advice."

Zhao Shizhen then showed an expression that said, "I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"Alas, Hai Gangfeng is too inhumane." Zhao Shouzheng spoke up for Wang Yongji and said, "This will discourage the young people who regard him as a role model."

"I'm not disappointed, I'm just worried." Wang Yongji said slowly with a worried look on his face: "In the past month, I found that Hai Gong's condition is very bad. I can't see the spirit in his eyes, and I can't feel the vitality in him. It's like... Oh, I'm really worried that if it goes on like this, he will..."

"It shouldn't be like that." Zhao Shouzheng and the others were puzzled. "Mr. Hai is now famous all over the world, and the court wants to use him. It should be the time when he is full of vigor and vitality."

"Yeah, I'm also puzzled." Wang Yongji's voice was low and soft, and the deep worry was not fake at all. "I really hope I can help him, but Hai Gong completely refuses to communicate with anyone. What can I do?"

Zhao Hao's heart moved when he heard this. It seemed that his boring life after coming to Beijing would become more interesting.

If you ask him who he is most interested in in the Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui must be in the top three, or even the top two. In addition to Hai's great fame and destructive power, there is also a huge controversy surrounding this character - Hai Rui was strict with himself, upright and honest throughout his life, and he did good things all his life, and he never did even one immoral thing.

But such a moral role model who was as clear as water and as honest as a mirror was attacked as "extremely treacherous, deceiving the world and stealing reputation; falsely claiming to be virtuous, harming the emperor and humiliating the country" during his lifetime. After his death, he was even falsely accused of forcing his five-year-old daughter to commit suicide for the sake of so-called chastity...

However, Hai Rui only had three daughters in his lifetime, and all of them grew up and got married. Their husbands' families all had names and surnames, which were well documented. Didn't he have a daughter who died at the age of five?

If there was, given his fame for buying two pounds of beef, how could such a sensational and morally challenging thing be recorded everywhere? Why is it not recorded in the official history or the unofficial history written by his political enemies?

There are many such rumors, such as Hai Rui pretending to be poor but actually having many wives and concubines, and changing his wife nine times. Although these rumors are so false, it is hard not to wonder why these rumors keep following him.

Is it that people cannot bear to see this magic mirror is spotless and have to dirty it to feel comfortable? Or is it that Hai Rui is really so loyal that he seems to be a traitor, and the so-called honest official and moral role model are just the persona he created for himself?

Now, the living research subject is right there, and trying to solve all these questions is an irresistible temptation for Zhao Hao, who is a professional.

He took charge of the trivial matters, which was rare, and said, "Leave it to me. I'll go and give him some advice later."

"That's great!" Young people like Wang Wuyang and Hua Shuyang all admired Hai Rui. Seeing their master actually offering to help them, which was rare, they were very happy, as if the problem had been solved.

"..." Wang Yongji naturally didn't believe that Zhao Hao could enlighten Hai Rui, but he was a modest gentleman and would never embarrass anyone, so he smiled gratefully and said, "If you can do this, you will have done a great deed."

"There is only one Hai Gangfeng in the Ming Dynasty. We cannot let him be depressed like this!" Zhao Hao waved his hand and said decisively. Then he changed the topic and asked Wang Yongji:

"Brother Mingshou's home is in Jinjiang, not far from Yuegang, right?"

"It can be said that it is very close. That is the mouth of Jiulong River, only a few dozen miles away from us." Wang Yongji smiled and replied: "My lord, you want to ask about opening the sea, right?"

"Yes, my family has some capital, and I want to see if I can find some business opportunities." Zhao Hao nodded. He had heard a lot about the things in Fujian when he was in Nanjing, but none of them were as real as hearing what the locals said.

"Well, this time the court only opened one port, Yuegang." Seeing Wang Yongji looking at him inquiringly, Zhao Shouzheng hurriedly said in coordination with Zhao Hao, "I'm sure all of you Fujian merchants are very happy."

"It is true that the court only opened Yuegang, but it is not necessarily true that Fujian's maritime merchants are happy to flourish." Wang Yongji was already nearly forty years old, so he was naturally not like the average bookworm who turned a deaf ear to the outside world and only focused on reading the books of sages. He smiled and replied:

"It's not hard to understand. Since Brother Zhao Nian knows about the existence of Fujian merchants, how did they make a living before they opened the sea?"

"Oh, you mean..." Zhao Shouzheng suddenly realized and lowered his voice to ask, "Smuggling?"

"Yes." Wang Yongji nodded and said with a smile: "Now that the sea is open, we still have to pay taxes to the court, and the goods we sell are strictly restricted. It is far less free than before the sea ban."

After a pause, he smiled mischievously and said, "I heard that before, the sea merchants in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang tried their best to prevent the court from opening up the sea in their territories. In the end, because Guangdong was too far away, the court was worried that it would be out of reach. Some people in the court in Jiangsu and Zhejiang spoke up for it, so they also fled. In the end, the knife of opening up the sea fell on the Fujianese who had no backing."

"It's actually like this..." Zhao Shouzheng and Eryang were stunned, but then they thought, this is reasonable. Wherever the court opened the sea, it would strengthen the management of that place. For example, Yuegang was originally just a spontaneous smuggling port, but the court has changed Yuegang to Haicheng County and set up a full set of civil and military teams to be responsible for the opening of the sea.

When it comes to customs duties and fees, the Fujian Navy will also keep a close eye and strengthen patrols.

For maritime merchants, how could they have the freedom to engage in smuggling without restraint just by bribing the naval commanders?

~~

At this time, the cook brought the meal. Zhao Jin still had no time to go home for dinner today. Since Wang Tongnian had given his word, he had to hurry up and finish the Guanglu Temple matter, so as not to be caught off guard.

Zhao Hao and his son kindly invited him to dinner, so Wang Yongji had no choice but to decline.

At the dinner table, except for Zhao Hao and Zhao Shizhen, all the others were candidates who were going to take part in the imperial examination. Naturally, the topic would not stay on Kaihai for a long time and soon turned back to the candidates themselves.

Wang Yongji also heard about the large number of candidates from Nanzhili being robbed, and he couldn't help but sympathize and said, "Those thieves probably thought that candidates from Nanzhili were all rich, so they targeted your fellow countrymen."

However, Zhao Hao disagreed with his point of view. He thought that the scholars in Zhejiang were also wealthy, so why had they not been robbed?

He always felt that this incident seemed to be related to his experience in Beijing...

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