Chapter 381

Ma Kui was highly efficient and returned in the afternoon.

234, Tianjin Wei!

Ma Kui investigated all the officials in Tianjin Wei.

What reassured Su Qiao was that Tianjin Wei was relatively close to the capital, and Zhao Lin and the others had no evil deeds, being rather standard and conventional generals.

It was just that in the past, Great Ming enforced the sea ban.

The Great Ming Navy was also not highly regarded, basically loved by neither grandmother nor uncle.

Now it was different; ever since Su Qiao persuaded Zhu Youjian to lift the sea ban, the status of the Great Ming Navy immediately rose like water lifting a boat.

After all, with pirates at sea, merchants needed the protection of the Great Ming Navy.

Furthermore, Zhu Youjian was eager to explore and develop overseas, so the navy was also taken seriously, with elites selected, the old, weak, sick, and disabled replaced, and cases of empty payrolls cleared, and so on.

The soldiers and officers of the Tianjin Wei garrison took advantage of such circumstances and began to restore their combat strength to what it was before the garrison was established.

When Zhao Lin learned that Su Qiao had come here, he was naturally very happy.

He wanted to express his gratitude to him.

Basically, all naval generals hoped to lift the sea ban.

It was just that the court had always been controlled by scholar-officials, and their words carried no weight.

Su Qiao had helped them out, albeit unintentionally.

After learning of this situation, he had no worries; instead, he was curious about what the banquet tonight would be like.

Time passed in the blink of an eye.

Before the banquet began, Lin Peiru personally arranged for a carriage to be set up and came to fetch Su Qiao.

Liu Rushi was left behind at the guesthouse.

After all, her status was somewhat awkward; she was an inner family member, so it was inappropriate for her to go out, and she could only be left behind.

Half of the guards were left behind, while the other half followed Su Qiao to a restaurant near the Tianjin Wei garrison.

They had arrived quite late last night, and it was already dark when they entered the city.

Moreover, after a bumpy journey, their bodies were already exhausted, so they had no mind to wander around Tianjin Wei.

However, since it was not yet dark, Su Qiao lifted the carriage curtain along the way and managed to see quite a bit of the scenery of Tianjin Wei.

Tianjin Wei was large and very lively.

In memory, when the Wei was established in Tianjin, there were already over 1,400 exposed granaries at Zhigu.

Additionally, during the Yongle era, a large number of warehouses were built at Yin'er Bay to store goods; not only that, but the Grand Canal was dredged to make north-south passage even smoother, with an astonishing volume of grain transport!

After Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, this grain transport became extremely important to Great Ming: "Permission was granted to carry local goods as attachments, exempt from tax and tolls. During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, the limit was ten shi; by the time of Emperor Shenzong, it reached sixty shi."

Tianjin Wei held an extremely high status in grain transport; almost all north-south freight gathered here in Tianjin City, which greatly accelerated the development of Tianjin Wei.

Moreover, carrying private goods on grain transport involved huge profits, and there was even a folk saying: "San Cha Kou, the boat-stopping mouth; where the north-south Grand Canal meets the Hai River mouth, cargo ships bring salt and grain, and cargo ships leave with gold and silver."

At least, Su Qiao had only traveled a short distance when he saw many markets, many grain transport carts and boats hawking their wares, and so on, a liveliness beyond imagination.

No wonder during the Zhengde era, Tianjin Wei was praised by people in such terms: "The peerless land of flowers and moon south of the capital, the first prosperous city north of Ji," and "incomparable to any single prefecture or county."

Moreover, the commercial prosperity and development of Tianjin Wei were such that even Li Dongyang, when passing through back then, wrote poems to praise it: "Silks and jade all come for the court of ten thousand nations; ladders and ships from the south connect to the distant heavens."

Su Qiao could not help but praise Tianjin Wei; a single glance showed it really was not inferior to the capital.

A large population, prosperous commerce, and complex freight.

If Su Qiao had not wanted to personally witness the situation of Great Ming naval warships, he might not have taken the sea route and instead gone directly to Jiangsu and Zhejiang via grain transport.

After being jolted in the carriage for half an hour, the carriage finally stopped.

Su Qiao lifted the carriage curtain, jumped down, and glanced up.

Cuiyun Pavilion!

Whoa, the place Zhao Lin found seems to be a brothel.

Could it be that Zhao Lin and the others also learned about my visit to Yi Hong Lou?

Standing at the entrance, he could smell the rouge fragrance wafting from inside.

At the entrance stood Zhao Lin and the others' Personal Guards.

Seeing Lin Peiru, they immediately bowed and said, "General Lin, the General is already waiting inside."

"Good. This is the Imperial Envoy, Lord Su. Why do you not pay your respects to Lord Su?"

"Ah?"

Several Personal Guards were startled, fearing they might cause trouble for their own General, and quickly paid their respects.

Su Qiao waved his hand to stop them, saying, "Today I am just a commoner. Do not bow on the street; calling me Mr. Su or Young Master Su is fine."

"Yes!"

"Young Master Su, please wait a moment; we will go and announce your arrival immediately."

The Personal Guard said respectfully to Su Qiao.

Su Qiao shook his head and said, "Forget it; let's go straight in. It is just a private banquet; there is no need for such solemnity."

Entering Cuiyun Pavilion, the sounds of lively chatter from the courtesans inside were quite loud.

Lin Peiru personally led Su Qiao to the door of a private room on the second floor.

Pushing the door open and going in, Zhao Lin and the other officials of Tianjin Wei were startled.

No one had announced their arrival; how could someone suddenly come in?

However, when they saw that Lin Peiru had brought Su Qiao up, and the Personal Guard at the door quickly whispered an explanation into Zhao Lin's ear,

Zhao Lin and the others dared not be negligent; they immediately stood up and welcomed them with smiles.

"Please do not blame us, Imperial Envoy, for failing to receive you; we have been impolite!"

Su Qiao waved his hand, unconcerned, and said, "It is nothing; I told them not to announce our arrival. After all, I am visiting you all in a private capacity, so there is no need to be overly polite."

Hehe, do you think I'd believe that?

Anyway, you are the Imperial Envoy; since you've already come in, let's go with your version.

Who told you your status and rank are so high!

Although Su Qiao looked very young, not a single official present failed to show him favor.

Su Qiao did not refuse; smiling, he took the host's seat at the guest table amidst everyone's eager deference.

Zhao Lin and the others were extremely enthusiastic, exchanging toasts, and even personally toasted Su Qiao to express their gratitude.

Su Qiao accepted every offer without refusal, drinking with great boldness, which made Zhao Lin's military faction view Su Qiao even more favorably and appreciatively.

After three rounds of wine and five courses of dishes,

Drunk with joy, Zhao Lin even put his arm around Su Qiao's neck, wanting to become sworn brothers with him.

Had it not been for others who were still sober and stopped them, they might have truly sworn an oath of brotherhood.

Su Qiao was equally drunk, his head spinning, with a dazed expression on his face.

Not until curfew was nearly upon them did this group finally end the banquet, stumbling one by one back to their residences under the escort of Personal Guards.

Su Qiao was sent back to the guesthouse.

Liu Rushi and the maid Qing'er personally attended to him, washing his face, changing his clothes, and making him drink hangover soup.

Not until the sun was high in the sky the next day did Su Qiao finally open his eyes on the bed.

Ugh!

The moment he woke, he felt a terrible headache.

After recovering slightly, he got up, put on a robe, and went to the hall to drink tea.

Hearing the commotion, Qing'er came over to check.

"Master, you're awake?"

"Hmm, Qing'er, how many times have I told you to call me Young Master? You changed from calling me Son-in-Law before, so why can't you switch from Master to Young Master?"

Su Qiao gulped down a whole bowl of tea, only then feeling satisfied.

235, Sea Fishing!

"Master and Young Master are different; although Master is young, he is after all the head of the family, so he must still be addressed as Master!"

"Fine, you make sense!"

Su Qiao's head ached from what Qing'er said, so he stopped arguing with her.

"Pfft!"