The plan was set, and Xu Wei, under the protection of ten guards from the Security Department, went to Aotou Village in Zhao'an County on the coast to find a boat to Penghu.

Penghu got its name because the sea outside the harbor is surging, while the water inside the harbor is as calm as a lake. It is a natural and excellent seaport. The imperial court originally set up a patrol inspection office here to manage the affairs of Taiwan and Penghu.

Five years ago, the sea lords joined forces to capture Penghu Village and drove away the garrison troops. However, there were too many wolves and too little meat, and no sea lord could monopolize this place, so they agreed to turn Penghu into a no-man's land.

The so-called "three no-nos" means that the government, the sea owners, and the local gentry don't care. No one has the final say in this lawless place, no one collects taxes, and no one punishes lawbreakers. As long as you are tough enough, you don't have to pay for killing someone.

The original intention of the sea lords was to make Penghu an international trade center like Shuangyu, and to make it the support for their maritime trade. Unfortunately, these sea lords were so incompetent that they didn't even know that absolute freedom leads to absolute chaos. Or, even if they knew, it would be useless, because after Wang Zhi's death, there was no sea lord with enough ability and reputation to convince the public to establish order in this chaotic sea area.

As a result, this place became a chaotic place. At Magong Port in Penghu Bay, there were ships belonging to various sea owners, as well as red-haired people, Japanese, Ryukyu people, and local tyrants from various Southeast Asian countries. The shops lined up on the docks were their bases on the island. The shops sold muskets, cannons, ships, and even slaves of various skin colors.

Penghu is prosperous, but unfortunately it is an abnormal prosperity. All the banned items that cannot be seen in public can be bought here, but there are no normal goods and merchants...

It can be said that the chaos in Penghu is just a microcosm of the chaos in the Fujian-Guangdong waters. In other words, the chaos in the Fujian-Guangdong waters is fully reflected in Penghu.

~~

From the time the ship docked to the time he entered the Jiangnan Commercial Station, Xu Wei encountered three pickpocketing incidents, two blackmailing incidents, and one bloody incident... A man with tattoos had his arm chopped off by a Japanese ronin in the street.

Fortunately, the guards were very skilled and well-trained, and they helped him enter the trading station safely.

Watching them walk into the trading station, the ronin with blood still on his knife made a fierce slash, seeming to regret not slashing them as well.

"Does that guy have a grudge against you?" Xu Wei asked curiously the intelligence officer who brought him here.

"They have a grudge against our group. The security zone blocked the route to the north, making them unable to return home. I don't know where these ronin heard that we are also from Jiangnan Group, so they want to take it out on us." The intelligence officer smiled bitterly and said, "Fortunately, the people sent by the company to Penghu Station are all experts. They have suffered heavy losses after provoking them several times. Now they can only grimaced outside."

"Ah, Mr. Qingteng, why are you here?" It was Tang Baolu who walked down from the second floor of the trading station. He looked at Xu Wei in disbelief. Obviously, he did not expect that a lonely painter who had been living a life of idleness and waiting to die all day would come to this island.

"It's you, kid." Xu Wei was not surprised at all. He sat down in the main seat, took the teacup offered by Tang Baolu and said:

"This place is quite interesting. I just saw a woman there. Hey, the skirt she was wearing was so tight that her thighs were exposed."

He took a sip of tea and smacked his lips, "I mean, it's too immoral!"

"Then let's arrange a good critique for you tonight, sir?" Tang Baolu lit another hookah for him.

Xu Wei has all five poisons, and has long learned the five methods of extracting "Danbagu". Of course, for an artist, that is called finding inspiration.

He took a puff of his cigarette and said with a smile, "Forget it, let's talk about it after we finish the important work. Zhao Hao's father is still waiting for me to save his life."

"If there is anything I can do, just tell me. I will do it for you without hesitation." Tang Baolu came to Penghu because he heard about the turmoil in Chaozhou. He knew that the young master must be worried, so he hurried back from Luzon. The two of them arrived here at the same time.

"Send me to see Lin Daoquan." Xu Wei said, exhaling a puff of thick smoke.

"It's not difficult to meet him. The Red Head Casino across from us is run by Lin Daoqian's men." Tang Baolu pointed to the opposite side and said, "But I can't send you to that wolf's den, because Lin Daoqian will definitely kill you."

"Why would he kill me?" Xu Wei pouted and asked, "I am so cute and harmless."

"Because it is widely rumored in Fujian and Guangdong that it was you who gave advice to Hu Zongxian and lured Wang Zhi to his death." Tang Baolu sighed.

"Nonsense, the one who killed Wang Zhi was Wang Bengu. What does it have to do with me, Xu Wenchang?" Xu Wei accidentally choked and started coughing.

"Governor Hu is dead, who knows who Wang Bengu is? Only you are still alive and famous." Tang Baolu smiled bitterly and said, "Naturally the rumors will lean towards you."

"I am wronged." Xu Wei stared in frustration and said, "Didn't you see that Miss Jiang doesn't blame me?"

"It's a pity that you can't reason with the sea masters. Everything they hear and say are lies. Even if you tell them the truth, they won't believe you." Tang Baolu spread his hands.

"It's so damn hateful. If I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have known that my reputation would be ruined by them!" Xu Wei was surprisingly concerned about his reputation. He was so angry that he blew on his hookah, making a puffing sound.

"Yes, so you can't go, sir." Tang Baolu nodded heavily, then made up his mind and said, "Let me go, and do it according to your idea, right?"

"No, what's the point of you going? I have to go and clarify things and ask Mr. Lin to help me restore my reputation!" Xu Wei threw the white copper hookah on the table and said angrily, "Hurry up and pass the message!"

"Oh, oh..." Tang Baolu had no choice but to agree and arranged for someone to make the contact immediately.

~~

Meanwhile, Mr. Zhao, accompanied by a group of followers, entered the territory of Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture.

Raoping County is a neighboring county of Haiyang County where the provincial capital is located. It is also across the sea from Nan'ao Island which was captured by Zeng Yiben and his party. Naturally, there had been panic in the area for a long time and the city gates were closed.

Mr. Zhao's original plan was to go to Raoping County first, ask the magistrate Liu Rugao to borrow a thousand militiamen to build up his courage before going to Haiyang.

Liu Rugao was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing. Although they didn't have much friendship at that time, they would not stand by and watch him die because of their friendship.

Who would have thought that after giving their names and waiting outside the city for more than half an hour, the city gate was still closed.

Liu Rugao actually went down the city wall in a hanging basket to meet Mr. Zhao...

"My dear brother Deqing, what are you talking about?" Master Zhao helped Liu Rugao, who was bowing to him, up and looked around and said, "There are no thieves approaching, why don't you open the city gate?"

"Oh, how shameful, brother." Liu Rugao brushed off the dust on his official robe, ashamed, "As the county magistrate, I can't even ask them to open the city gates. I can only use this method to see you, brother."

"Ah, don't the people below listen to you anymore?" Zhao Shouzheng said in disbelief, "Where is the authority of the parents of a county?"

"The authority of the county magistrate? Is there such a thing south of the Wuling Mountains?" Liu Rugao smiled bitterly and said, "It's okay on weekdays, they call you old parents or great magistrate. But that's just superficial. When it comes to the real thing, you are nothing, and those gentry have the final say."

"Hey, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are really different." Master Zhao sighed when he heard this.

"Of course, this is the Guangdong and Guangxi area." Liu Rugao laughed out loud, "Before this dynasty, Guangdong and Guangxi were nominally ruled by the Central Plains dynasty, but outside the cities, the local nobles still had the final say. In the first year of Hongwu, after Dongguan Earl He Zhen surrendered Guangzhou, Taizu transferred him to Shandong and sent Deqing Hou to Guangdong to try to control the situation. As a result, he couldn't control Guangzhou for ten years, and had to transfer He Zhen back to Guangzhou several times to clean up the mess."

"This is the provincial capital, not to mention our Chaozhou, a marginal prefecture. After the Huang Xiaoyang Rebellion in the late Zhengtong period, the imperial court began to try to actually control the land and population outside the provincial capital, but the effect was not ideal, and instead aroused frequent rebellions." Liu Rugao sighed repeatedly:

"In my opinion, these rebellions are actually a struggle between the government and local forces for local control. What are rebels and what are obedient people? The difference lies in whether they are willing to obey the king's law and pay taxes and serve! We, the officials, are alone and have a short term. How can we fight against those local forces? Only by relying on obedient people and reducing the number of rebels can we barely maintain the situation."

"Oh..." Zhao Shouzheng listened to his long-winded talk patiently, and finally understood. "You mean, you don't dare to bully those gentry, and you, as the county magistrate, have to listen to them?"

"I'm not saying I'll listen to them, but I don't want to quarrel with them. I still need them to defend the city..." Liu Rugao said awkwardly, "Brother, you know me well, but if there is a slight possibility, how can I be so unkind?"

"Okay, I understand." Zhao Shouzheng nodded, patted his shoulder and said, "You can go back. Defending the county town is a great achievement."

Naturally, there was no way to ask for borrowing troops.

"Brother, why don't we go into the city together?" Liu Rugao seemed to feel that what he did was not very decent, and hurriedly tried to persuade him to stay, "Right now, my small county town is much safer than the provincial capital."

"No need for that. Although I'm only an assistant magistrate, I also have two halls in a prefecture. The prefecture is where I should go." Zhao Shouzheng waved at him and turned to leave.

Suddenly he turned back and said to Liu Rugao, "Brother, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Brother, please tell me. I will do whatever I can." Liu Rugao said gritting his teeth.

"It's not a big deal." Zhao Shouzheng pointed to his official sedan chair and official title badge and said, "These things are too eye-catching to carry on the road. Can I ask you to keep them for me first?"

"It's nothing, no problem, no problem." Liu Rugao breathed a sigh of relief. He had already made plans. As long as they didn't borrow soldiers, everything would be fine. He didn't expect that they would just ask him to help keep things.

"If you insist on going to the capital, I have twenty strong guards who can follow you and protect you." He gritted his teeth and said.

"No need." Zhao Shouzheng smiled gratefully and said, "I have more than 300 guards, so safety shouldn't be a problem."

"Ah..." Liu Rugao was startled. He had always thought that those strong men riding on horses following Mr. Zhao were soldiers who were ordered to escort him.

I didn't expect that he was the bodyguard he hired himself. It's really exaggerated how rich he is.