I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 134 The gold rush team is established!

One day in October of the 44th year of the Jiajing reign.

Dengzhou Port.

Chen Keyan was anxiously looking at the dock, and from time to time he asked the port clerk next to him, "Will the ship from Dagu arrive in the morning?"

"My Lord Chen, the wind is blowing from the northwest now. As long as the ship leaves the port on time, it will definitely arrive at noon."

The clerk answered with a smile.

But I dare not offend this man. It is said that he is the cousin of the Crown Princess, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has to call him uncle.

Of course, the real uncle of the king would not travel through mountains and rivers or take a boat to get here.

It is said that he is the cousin of the real uncle of the emperor, also of the Yan generation, and is responsible for helping the Chen family manage their business. For petty officials, he is already a big shot whom they dare not offend.

"That's good. The express ship to Weihaiwei will leave in the afternoon. If he doesn't arrive at noon, he will miss the ship. If he misses the express ship to Weihaiwei, he will miss the ship of the fleet at Weihaiying. They are all connected."

Chen Keyan mumbled a lot, glanced at the clerk, smiled bitterly and said, "What's the point of me telling you this?"

After waiting for half an hour, a ship appeared in the distance of the port.

The clerk volunteered, "Master Chen, I'll go to the observation deck and ask for you."

"it is good."

After a while, the ship was still slowly approaching the port area, and the clerk ran back quickly.

"Master Chen, this is the Jifu Bing 13 ship from Dagu."

"Which pier?"

"East Pier 6."

"go!"

Chen Keyan lifted his collar and walked towards East Pier No. 6 at full speed.

After waiting for a while, the Ji Fu Bing 13 ship slowly approached the dock. A sailor from the bow threw a rope over. Two people on the dock took the rope and quickly tied it to the two wooden stakes, circling it like a butterfly.

When the boat docked, several people on the dock lifted the wooden planks, placed them on the side of the boat and the dock, and began to get passengers on and off.

The man walking in front was in his early twenties, wearing a casual suit with arrow sleeves and a straw hat. He looked heroic and dashing, but his face was a little pale.

When he got onto the dock, his body swayed a few times, his throat shook back and forth, and he rushed to the seaside, retching loudly.

Chen Keyan smiled. That’s right, just like himself.

He stepped forward and asked with a smile, "Brother Yi, you have worked hard on the journey."

The man who came was Xue Yi, the son of Xue Lin, the general of Datong, the captain of the new army camp, and Zhu Yijun's riding and archery instructor.

Xue Yi bent over, resting his right hand on his right leg, shaking his left hand, and talking while retching: "Brother Chen Liu, wait a minute, wait until I finish vomiting before you talk."

He retched again, and all he vomited was dry saliva. After a long time, he came to his senses and slowly straightened up.

"This boat is really uncomfortable to sit on."

"Brother Yi, you are doing great. The first time I took a boat, I was dizzy and several people carried me off the boat. It took me three or two days to come back to my senses. You can get off the boat by yourself now, which is great."

Xue Yi bowed and introduced his companions, "These two are my comrades from the new military camp, Wang Cong and Li You. These two are the surveyor and painter from the Surveying and Mapping Section of the Supervision Office, Zhang Da and Yang Gu."

There were twelve men traveling with him, all of whom except these four were attendants.

Chen Keyan exchanged a few polite words with the four people, and led them to a teahouse at the dock area to sit down. "Brother Yi, the four of you are in a hurry. The express ship to Weihaiwei will weigh anchor and set sail at 3:30 pm. Let's have some tea and eat something here first."

"How can I eat this?" Yang Gu complained.

"You have to eat even if you can't eat. Otherwise, you will have no place to vomit bile when you get on the boat." Xue Yi advised from the side.

"Okay, let's eat." When everyone heard this, their faces changed and they all sat down and forced themselves to eat and drink tea.

Xue Yi sat down next to Chen Keyan and stuffed the bread into his mouth desperately, drinking the hot mutton offal soup in the bowl.

Chen Keyan looked around and saw that there were only him and Xue Yi at his table. The rest of the people were sitting at other tables, a little distance apart.

"Brother Yi, you have been designated to lead the survey and mapping at sea this time. You should know where to go, right?"

Xue Yi's mouth was full of stuff, and he was talking in a humming voice, "Your Highness, Mr. Wenchang and Mr. Zhuo Wu have explained it clearly to me. The island we are going to is on the north side of the main island of Japan in the East Japan, and to the south is the Echigo Kingdom of Japan. The lord is Kenshin Uesugi.

There were several thousand people there, and the lord of Echigo, Kenshin Uesugi, had to fight three times before he succeeded. "

Chen Keyan curled his lips and said, "It's a small island isolated overseas, with only a few thousand people, young and old, men and women. It took three expeditions to succeed. This Uesugi Kenshin is too bad."

"That's what the Eastern Japanese are like. But we can't let our guard down. Lord Daichuan has appointed Commander Lu Xianglu as the leader this time, and has allocated twelve large sea ships, twenty-two other ships, and three patrols of marines."

Chen Keyan asked in surprise: "Prime Minister Lu? Admiral Lu's son?"

“Yes, it’s Admiral Lu’s son, Lu Xiang.

I heard that Admiral Lu always entrusted him with difficult and dangerous tasks. Whenever the task was difficult and dangerous, Commander Lu would bravely take the lead. Lord Daichuan praised him for "acting immediately upon hearing the order, and acting without hesitation."

"That's great. With Commander Lu leading the team, we will be able to complete this mission." Chen Keyan hesitated and asked, "Brother Yi, is there really a mountain of gold and silver on that island?"

Xue Yi looked around and said softly, "Brother Chen Liu, only you and I know about this. No one else knows. We just think we were assigned by the Navy Bureau to circle around Japan and draw coastal maps."

"I know this is a serious matter, and I'm not just telling you this."

"Brother Chen Liu, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has specifically instructed us to keep the gold and silver mountains on that island a secret. This time we are going there just to explore the way and get a feel for the situation. We are still unsure whether there is such an island or where it is.

Once we have explored the route and understood the situation, we will head there next time. That will be the time to do that.”

"When Brother Yi said that, I knew what was going on. East Japan is mountainous and produces gold and silver. Everyone knows this. So I think it is very likely that there are mountains of gold and silver on that island.

We should first find the island, take a look around, and lure the locals to exchange some good things. Then we can find out where their gold and silver come from. Did they come from outside the island, or were they picked up on the mountains on the island? "

Xue Yi smiled and gave a thumbs up, "Brother Chen Liu is an expert in this kind of thing, we all listen to you."

As the two were whispering to each other, three large ships slowly sailed into the port, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

Chen Keyan asked curiously, "Brother Yi, who is this? Why is there such a big scene?"

Xue Yi took a look and continued eating, mumbling, "Mr. Zhang Juzheng, the Minister of War, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, and the Governor of Shandong and other places."

Chen Keyan was even more curious. "Ah, Zhang Shijiang became the governor of Shandong? Why didn't he go by land?"

"The governor of Shandong also governs Liaodong. The most convenient way for Shandong and Liaodong to travel is by sea from Dengzhou to the north. Mr. Zhang said that if that were the case, he would like to experience the hardships of the sea route himself."

Chen Keyan looked at the three large ships slowly approaching the shore and shook his head. "Zhang Shijiang is also a Jinshi, a noble from the Hanlin Academy. How did he become a people-friendly official? His style of doing things is very different from those officials."

Xue Yi chuckled, "Otherwise, how could he be the tutor who has stayed with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince the longest?"

Chen Keyan nodded, "That makes sense!"

(End of this chapter)