Mingyue and Xueying finally came to Jeonra Island, and Zhao Hao originally planned to take them to ski and take a hot spring bath, which would be a worthwhile trip. But after asking, he found out that because this place was a place of exile, the nobles of the Joseon Dynasty would never come here for entertainment, so these two projects were not developed at all.
And I don't know if it's due to the influence of the Little Ice Age, but this place is very windy and cold in winter, and there is no awareness of the subtropical marine climate. There is no shopping mall, which is not attractive to the girls at all, so everyone unanimously decided to go home immediately.
The next day, the Royal Shipping fleet finished loading and unloading, and Zhao Hao and the girls drove to Pier 1. When they got off the car and prepared to board the ship, they saw a man wearing a coast guard robe and carrying a large backpack, who was blocked far away from the dock by his guards.
"What's going on?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but wonder. The coast guards always act in groups and it's rare to see them alone.
Gao Wu signaled with his eyes, and a guard ran to inquire, and came back to report that it was a first-class police officer on leave, who wanted to take a boat back to the mainland. The guards told him to wait until the young master got on the boat, and then go to inquire about other boats.
"Call him on board." Zhao Hao ordered with interest. First-class police officers are rare nowadays, even rarer than police officers. And they are first-class police officers who can take leave so early.
After a while, the police officer was carefully searched and taken aboard the Oriental Beauty by the guards. Perhaps because he was roughly touched all over his body, his expression was not good, but when he saw the young man standing on the deck clearly, the police officer put his feet together, straightened his body, and saluted in a standard manner.
"Good day, Chief Inspector!"
"No need to be polite." Zhao Hao looked at him strangely. He looked plain, dark, thin and capable, but his eyes were bright and sharp. He knew that he was his police officer. "Do you know me?"
Mr. Zhao was dressed like a rich young man today, but he was not wearing his police uniform. He was not so arrogant as to have his portrait hung on every ship, so an ordinary policeman like him would not be able to recognize him.
"To the Chief Police Inspector, at the oath-taking ceremony last month, I was awarded an honor on stage!" The police officer replied proudly, "I saw the Chief Police Inspector once at that time, and I will never forget it!"
"Haha, you're quite good at talking. What's your name?" Zhao Hao pulled aside his dark blue cloak and saw two rows of medals on the chest of the police uniform underneath.
"My name is Chu Liuxiang!" the police officer replied quickly.
"Oh, I've heard of you." Young Master Zhao slapped his forehead and said suddenly, "You are the best artilleryman under his command."
"I didn't do much in this battle..." Chu Liuxiang lowered his head in shame and said, "I just got two service medals."
One of them was the 'Kyushu Punishment Operation Medal', and the other was the 'Long Voyage Medal'... which was awarded to police officers who had been at sea for more than 200 days. In his opinion, these two medals were common goods and were almost not worth mentioning.
"This is a good thing... It means that the soldiers have become stronger and no one needs to be a hero alone." Young Master Zhao patted his shoulder with a smile.
"This is a good thing..." has almost become Zhao Hao's catchphrase. I don't know if there is no such thing as a bad thing in his eyes, or if he is just lucky and only encounters good things.
"By the way, why are you on vacation so early?" Zhao Hao glanced behind him. There, the guards were taking out the things in Chu Liuxiang's backpack and checking them one by one. Not only were they worried that he might do something bad, but also for the sake of ship safety, they could not bring flammable and explosive items on board.
"I want to go home and get married, but I'm worried that I won't be able to celebrate the New Year if I'm late." Chu Liuxiang blushed as he explained, "I applied for leave as soon as the fleet returned to the base. It just so happened that a ship from the Marine Police Bureau was heading back to Xingang, so I followed it here."
"Then why are you still here?" Zhao Hao looked at him again. From what Chu Liuxiang said, he had been in Xingang for at least five or six days. Could it be that Fatty Tang's entertainment business was in trial operation?
"I only found out after I got here that there are not boats going back every day. We have to wait for the ship to depart." Chu Liuxiang said with a depressed look on his face: "I waited at the dock until today." Five days of precious vacation were wasted in vain, which would be upsetting for anyone.
"You've been at the dock?" Zhao Hao was stunned. "Where do you live?"
"There's the Water Police Station over there," Chu Liuxiang pointed to a small house not far away and said, "I tried my best to persuade them, and even promised to help them clean up, before they agreed to let me stay for a few days."
He said angrily, "I still have to pay for my own food!"
"Why don't you stay at the inn?" Zhao Hao asked curiously, "Is it not open yet?"
"I don't know, I didn't even ask." Chu Liuxiang said, "I've never stayed in an inn in my life. When I fled from Shandong to the capital with my mother, we slept in the wild, so as not to waste money."
"Then what do you do with the money?" Zhao Hao asked with a smile.
"Get down to business."
"Is getting married a serious matter?"
Chu Liuxiang said as a matter of course: "My mother's biggest wish is for me to get married. In our village, getting married is the most important thing!"
"Is it difficult to find a wife?" Zhao Hao put his hands behind his back and looked at the beautiful women on the poop deck. What's so good about getting married? Isn't it good to be single?
"It's difficult, too difficult. Who would follow you when you can't even have food to eat? I don't have any sisters to exchange wives for. If it weren't for God's blessing, I would have joined the security team at the mine and became a maritime policeman. I would have been a bachelor for the rest of my life!" Chu Liuxiang couldn't help wiping away tears and said, "My lord, I can't repay you for your kindness even if I work like a slave for the rest of my life!"
"Hahaha!" Zhao Hao loved to hear this. He laughed out loud and said, "There are plenty of cattle and horses on Hallasan. I don't need you to work like a cattle or a horse. Practice your artillery skills to perfection and bring me more little artillery kings. That will be the best reward!"
"Yes!" Chu Liuxiang responded excitedly, pressing his legs together. He suddenly felt his depressed mood swept away, and his fighting spirit was rekindled.
"After the vacation, I will come back and study hard!" Chu Liuxiang gritted his teeth secretly, the best artilleryman in the police force must be me, no one can take it away from me!
"Brother Gao, find him a place to stay." Zhao Hao raised his hand and fanned the air, and ordered, "Hurry up and take a good bath. The food has gone bad in this winter."
"Oh, yes..." Chu Liuxiang blushed and secretly made up his mind to take a bath every day in the future to be the cleanest gun king...
~~
In the morning, the fleet left Jeju Island.
On the return trip, the ocean currents helped us sail westward from Xingang to the coast of Daming. Then we followed the cold currents along the coast and headed south to the mouth of the Yangtze River. With the ever-present northerly winds in this season, it only took two days. Of course, the return trip was troublesome, as the ocean currents and winds held us back, and it took five or six days to get there.
In the luxurious captain's cabin of the Oriental Beauty, which was sailing against the wind and waves, precious ambergris was lit in a silver incense ball and soothing piano music could be heard from next door.
Zhao Hao and Jiang Xueying sat on a double sofa. There was no third person in the room. President Jiang shyly leaned her head on his shoulder.
At this moment, Ma Xianglan was teaching Qiaoqiao to play the piano in the next cabin. Zhang Xiaojing did not board the Oriental Beauty at all, but followed Chen Huaixiu on her "Express Express" to continue learning sailing.
Li Mingyue also followed Zhang Xiaojing on the Express, saying that she was afraid that Xiaojing would be lonely. But in fact, she deliberately gave this section of the voyage to Jiang Xueying.
After all, Zhao Hao had spent a lot of time with her this year, and they only separated in September. Jiang Xueying and Zhao Hao had not seen each other since they separated at the end of February. The young county lady held herself to the standards of a lady, so naturally she had to do a favor for Xueying's "sister"...
Jiang Xueying no longer had time to intrigue with Li Mingyue and accepted her favor.
She hadn't seen her brother for almost a year and she was almost falling sick with homesickness.
When did the yearning begin? It was when Zhao Hao said, "When your hair grows to your waist, I will come back to marry you," when they parted on February 25. For the first time in her life, this cold and indifferent girl experienced the feeling of "parting from you is the most heartbreaking thing, and missing you is the most heartbreaking thing."
"These nine months have passed so long, it feels like nine years..."
"Can I see where your hair is?"
"Brother, let's never separate, okay?"
"Don't worry, you can't drive me away even if you beat me..."
For the whole morning, the two of them leaned their heads against each other, saying cheesy love words and expressing their deep feelings for each other.
But the problem with these two people is that they will talk about business as usual. As expected, the topic returned to Jiangnan Group.
In fact, except for the time when Zhao Hao went to Japan and it was inconvenient to contact, the two of them basically kept a correspondence every three days... Of course, Zhao Hao's letters were all written by Ma Xianglan. So they knew each other's affairs better than when they were together.
This year, both of them did a good job. Zhao Hao completed the most critical task of shipping grain and obtained free trade rights for the group. He also obtained Jeonra Island and temporarily monopolized trade with Japan. At least for now, this year has been fruitful and perfect, and even most of the plans for next year have been completed ahead of schedule.
President Jiang was no less impressive. It was under her command that the group was able to realize its potential so quickly and unleash its powerful production capacity, shipping warships, sailors, artillery, ammunition, military supplies, etc. overseas in an endless stream, supporting Mr. Zhao's grand plans in Tamra and Japan.
Moreover, she also thwarted the Caoyun Group's plot to destroy the Jiangnan Group by running a bank run on Jiangnan Bank. She definitely deserves half of Zhao Hao's military achievements.
"By the way, has the shopkeeper Song done anything weird again?" Zhao Hao asked softly while playing with Jiang Xueying's hair.
"How can he care about that?" Jiang Xueying smiled softly, "Last month, Hengtongji closed its last bank south of the Yangtze River and retreated to Jiangbei."
"Isn't life going to be hard when you go back?" Young Master Zhao said as he sniffed the rose.
"Of course. The canal transportation is still cut off. The merchants who originally relied on the canal no longer care about the attitude of the canal transportation office and are lining up to ask the Royal Shipping to help transport the goods." Jiang Xueying smiled faintly and said, "Even if the canal transportation is opened in the future, these people will not be able to go back."