Longjiang Baochuan Factory, on the No. 1 work pond.

The autumn wind made Zhao Hao and Wu Shilai's robes rustle.

"Nephew, are you crazy?" After hearing Zhao Hao's nonsense, Uncle Wu shouted in a low voice: "Just based on what you said, I can arrest you, do you know?"

"Uncle, can you do it?" Zhao Hao blinked.

"Of course not..." Wu Shilai said with a wry smile: "Who are we following?"

The reason why he was so tolerant and even indulgent towards Zhao Hao was not just because they were old friends, nor because his nephew Wu Kangyuan opened a store in Beijing, nor because Zhao Hao gave him the shares of Lugouqiao Company...

Well, that all adds up pretty well.

What made Wu Zhongcheng truly grateful to Zhao Hao was that Zhao Hao had saved his career.

That happened in the first half of this year. Before Xu Fan was about to leave office, he wanted to arrange for him to be the governor of Guangdong.

Moreover, at that time, Wu Shilai was still the Right Censor-in-Chief of the fourth rank, and going to Guangdong to serve as the third rank governor was a promotion.

But Xu Fan had a condition, which was that before he took office, he had to recommend a group of local officials as usual... Because Caojiang Yushi had certain supervisory powers over officials in all prefectures and counties along the Yangtze River, he could of course recommend talented people he discovered.

This was what the question was supposed to imply, although the number of people on the list drawn up by the young minister was slightly larger... there were a total of fifty-nine people.

Well, that's too much.

But fortunately, they were all minor officials of the seventh rank or below, and whether they were used in the court was not something he, Cao Jiang, could decide.

In addition, he didn't know that Lord Xu was about to retire, so he naturally didn't dare to say anything and was ready to submit the report with a pinch of his nose.

However, at that time, Wu Kangyuan wrote to him from Beijing, conveying Zhao Hao's warning that Xu Ge Lao was about to retire, and if he accepted the appointment of Guangdong Governor, he would be impeached and his career would end.

Although Zhao Hao's words seemed incoherent after being relayed by his nephew, the letter clearly mentioned the existence of the "list of 59 people", which scared Wu Shilai.

He would never have thought that Young Master Zhao was using the Great Prophecy to issue a warning. Therefore, he could only imagine that there was a high-level struggle that he was not aware of, and the list of 59 people might have become a death warrant.

Wu Shilai had experienced the pain of losing everything, and he did not dare to risk losing his position again. To him, that would be tantamount to dying again.

So Uncle Wu made a difficult decision. He wrote back to Xu Fan, saying that he had dreamed of a god who told him not to travel south for three years, otherwise he would be in trouble. So he decided to give this precious opportunity to someone else.

Xu Fan was about to leave and go home. There was nothing else he could do at this point. He could only curse him for being less courageous as he got older, while negotiating terms with others.

As a result, Zhao Hao was right. The man who seized this precious opportunity and was recommended by the court as the governor of Guangdong, indiscriminately recommended thirty of his cronies before taking office, was impeached and dismissed from office, and returned to his hometown to live in idleness...

This made Wu Shilai very scared. The number of people he had to recommend was twice that of the other person. If he had not listened to Zhao Hao's advice, he would have been imprisoned...

So Wu Shilai was particularly grateful to Zhao Hao, otherwise why would he give him that beautiful "Science" for no reason?

~~

However, no matter how grateful he was, he still couldn't bear such a huge responsibility for Zhao Hao.

So Wu Shilai advised earnestly: "My dear nephew, I am only in charge of the Yangtze River. Beyond the Yangtze River estuary, the imperial navy is no longer under my control. The imperial court's maritime ban is not a joke, you know?!"

"Of course I know." Zhao Hao nodded and said, "I didn't say anything about violating the maritime ban."

"Uh..." Wu Shilai smacked his lips and said, "You clearly said you wanted to go out to sea."

"You build it first. I'll wait for the court's approval before setting out to sea. Is there any problem?" Young Master Zhao said with a look of 'you're so weird': "Who does Uncle Wu think I am? Am I such an unreliable person?"

"Haha..." Wu Shilai thought to himself, of course you are, I don't know who almost dropped the hot air balloon on Lord Xu's head.

"You really won't go out to sea without the court's approval?" But Wu Shilai still breathed a sigh of relief.

"Really?" Young Master Zhao nodded decisively and said, "If my company's ship violates the maritime ban, Uncle Wu will just arrest me."

"Are you so sure?" Wu Shilai looked at Zhao Hao suspiciously and whispered, "Nephew, don't keep me in suspense. Just tell me what you are going to do!"

"I want to take a gamble." Young Master Zhao didn't intend to hide it from him, so he replied calmly: "I bet that the Yellow River will flood next year and cause the canal to be blocked."

"The canal is blocked?" Wu Shilai was stunned for a moment before he uttered four words: "Transportation of grain by sea?"

"That's right." Zhao Hao nodded. This was nothing new. It was the same practice in the Yuan Dynasty. An experienced official like Wu Shilai would naturally guess it.

"No wonder." Wu Shilai suddenly realized, "No wonder you need so many boats. How can there be enough without fewer?"

"Yes, millions of dan of grain will not be enough without hundreds or thousands of large ships." Zhao Hao nodded and said in a deep voice.

"My dear nephew, are you sure the court will approve it?" Wu Shilai frowned and asked, "There have always been calls for shipping grain by sea, but why has it never been successful? Isn't it because the resistance is too great?"

"So we must seize the opportunity and make the final decision!" Young Master Zhao said in a very serious manner: "The opportunity is fleeting, so we must be prepared in advance."

After a pause, he smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, it's a little late to prepare now..."

"Nephew, are you sure the Yellow River will flood next year?" Wu Shilai naturally understood what he meant. The capital and the nine border areas all depended on the grain transport. If the canal failed, no one could object, and the court would try other options.

But the prerequisite is that the canal must be blocked, and it cannot be a small area, but must be a large section, making the canal basically useless.

"Of course I can't guarantee it." Zhao Hao lied with his eyes open: "But Pan Zhongcheng told me that the canal will be blocked within two or three years. But it will be the same next year or the year after. Anyway, it will take at least two or three years to build 400 thousand-ton ships, right?"

"Is that so..." After hearing about Pan Jixun's judgment, Wu Shilai no longer doubted it.

At this time, an old man named Pan, who was on his way to Chongming Island, suddenly sneezed and felt a heavy sensation on his back...

~~

After pondering for a while on the pond, Wu Zhongcheng asked Zhao Hao again, these ships really won't go out to sea before receiving the imperial decree?

After getting Zhao Hao's affirmative answer, he continued to nag his nephew, telling him to keep his word, otherwise his uncle would not be able to protect him.

Just when Zhao Hao's head was about to explode, Wu Shilai suddenly regained his majestic demeanor and shouted to the shipyard manager who was hiding far away: "Come here!"

The official came over quickly. "What do you want, Zhong Cheng?"

"Aren't you complaining about the lack of business?" Wu Shilai said coldly, "We have brought you business."

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