"Can you mark out all the facilities in the port?"
"I am allowed to go wherever I want, but there is a large part of the port that I and my men are not allowed to set foot in." Li Huamei said with regret, "They monitor me very strictly - in the past, the Australians personally guarded me.
It was relatively loose. Now that we have recruited Ming people from the mainland, it is much tighter."
"So you are no longer attractive to them." Li Siya said jokingly, "Your charm has declined."
"No, I think they like me very much, especially among naval officers." Li Huamei said, "But there are some people among Australians who are very vigilant and suspicious of everyone, including their own people. Consider this.
Since they are actually very weak, there is nothing wrong with this."
"How many troops do you estimate they have?"
"I can't estimate this, but at the port, you can see about two companies of infantry at all times. They are very well trained - completely European-style training, very well equipped. Gunners and sailors are not included. If the sailors are
All armed, at least twenty companies can be organized. These sailors are also well-trained. The Australians have many firearms and plenty of ammunition."
"So the Dutch have no hope of attacking Lingao."
"Absolutely not. How many ships can the Dutch dispatch? Fifteen? Sixteen ships? During the expedition to Penghu, they could only dispatch fourteen ships." Li Huamei said, "Back then, when they pulled all the British on board and dispatched all the ships, they were still able to dispatch even one ship.
Macau has not yet been captured, and now if we attack Lingao, which is ten times more difficult than Macau, I am afraid we will not even be able to enter the port, and we will only get a bad result."
"So they are willing to pay five thousand dong." Li Siya said.
"We have a very good relationship with the Australians, and the Goan trade is very profitable. Why go to the fire to get chestnuts for the Dutch? It's only five thousand guilders."
"This matter is not as simple as five thousand guilders." Li Siya opened a corner of the curtain and looked at the dripping fountain in the atrium, "You said: In the past three years, the strength of the Australians has been increasing day by day.
One day they will become stronger. When they are strong enough to ignore the heroes in the South China Sea, will our sisters still have an easy life?"
"They were very early. Zheng Zhilong..."
"Zheng Zhilong is also a threat." Li Siya said, "The Australians in Lingao are more dangerous than Zheng Zhilong - no one knows what their intentions are - they still have many trump cards that they have not revealed."
Li Siya believed that a fight between the Dutch and the Australians would do no harm to them. Since it was impossible for the Dutch to destroy the Australians - they would only be beaten and defeated - so they were in Lingao.
The interests will not be affected in any way. The threat of the Dutch as a strong enemy for the Australians will only further win over the existing collaborators, and Li Huamei can extract more benefits from them.
Generally speaking, if this opportunity is used well, the two families will suffer a "double loss" while the Li sisters will "win a win".
"We want the Australians to suffer a little bit," Li Siya said, "so that they will treat you better. In short, there needs to be less chaos on the sea."
"The Dutch can't make the Australians suffer. They don't have the ability."
"It's up to us," she said, "to give the Dutch a helping hand."
Li Huamei remained calm: "What do you want to do?"
"There is a person and I am going to use him."
"Aragones? Although he is in a bad situation, he is not a useful person."
"He's somewhat useful. But I want to use this person: Weiss Lando."
So she sent one of her most trusted black slaves, who often handled secret matters for her, to see Lando. Not only could this woman speak very good Portuguese, but she was also a cold-blooded killer when necessary. She was good at preparing poisons and
Poisoning, once quietly eliminated many enemies and people who annoyed Li Siya.
Li Siya uses her keen sense of smell and pervasive spying - she has raised a large number of scum of all nationalities in Macau, acting as eyes and ears - to master all kinds of information in the city.
When Weiss Lando appeared in Macau, she didn't arouse much interest. He was just a common European residue in the Far East - relying on his brute strength and ability to wield a knife and a gun to get some benefits. Even the Countess of Scarborough
She didn't make a deep impression on this guy on board either. Except for his strangely accented Italian and his behavior that was incompatible with his surroundings.
Later, she saw him many times on the street, in hotels and in churches. This person never received his attention. Only once, one of her men brought her a strange thing.
It was a rectangular piece of paper, printed very beautifully, with a beautifully printed round head of a European man on it. As for the text on it, she didn't recognize it, it should be in a European language. Other than that, it was
An Arabic numeral for 10.
The source of this piece of paper was the proprietress of the small hotel where Lando was staying. After getting drunk, this person tried to use this piece of paper to pay the bill. After being rejected, he went crazy with alcohol and stuffed it into the proprietress's bra.
Li Siya asked the proprietress to buy this piece of paper for a riyal. She thought of the similar printed matter found on Shopkeeper Wen's body. But the one on Shopkeeper Wen's body was red, with the words "
It is 100 in Arabic numerals. The avatar is of a yellow man. In addition, the text above is also Chinese characters.
Weiss Lando turned out to be an Australian! At least he had a deep relationship with the Australians! Lisya seemed to have discovered the New World. Thinking about it this way, when Aragones went to attack Lingao, he was just throwing himself into a trap! Needless to say,
The other party sent this person to Macau for himself.
She immediately asked people to keep an eye on the Australian - but almost more than a year later, Lando not only never returned to Lingao once, but also never even visited Huang Shunlong's shop. He had no contact with the outside world at all, except for
When the Jesuits were working, they would go out and spend almost every day in Macau living a life of intoxication.
In any case, he doesn't look like a secret agent.
She asked the Jesuit insiders for all the information about this man. Lando was received from the Ming Dynasty officials. The Ming Dynasty officials captured him from a small coastal county called "Lingao". At that time, he was captured by several people.
A fisherman rescued him and brought him to the county town.
The insider told him: Lando served the Jesuits very faithfully, and Lord Gelanzani was very satisfied with him - except for spending money.
After a long period of observation and testing, Li Siya confirmed one thing: Lando is an Australian, but Lando and the Australians in Lingao are not the same group.
If they were in a group, he would never have had anything to do with the Australians in Lingao in the past two years, and he had never done anything to serve the Australians - except for night raids on gambling.
The information about the store may have been leaked by him.
In addition, she also learned from Gelanzani's attendants that Lando had said to the president several times: "They are out-and-out Chinese, although they are not from the Ming Dynasty."
Although the president may not understand what he means, Li Siya understands it very well: Lando clearly stated that he knows the details of the Australians in Lingao. As for why he said so important, "They are Chinese, not people from the Ming Dynasty."
"There must be another reason.
If he were an ordinary person, Li Siya would have secretly kidnapped him and tortured him to find out the reason. But Lando was serving the Jesuits in Macau, and she was not so crazy as to dare to offend the Jesuits.
Now is a good opportunity. Li Siya thought about it for a few days and came to such a conclusion.
If the Dutch want to find out the secret of Lingao, she can let Lando go. If Lando is the Australian spy, he will never tell her the key defensive measures of Lingao. But Lando doesn't know that Li Huamei is her
People can be discovered by just making a comparison. On the other hand, Lando is not a spy. He will have more detailed information about Australians than his own nanny.
If this is the case, Lando will be a rare person! Li Siya thought that the Australians will definitely be the dominant force in the South China Sea in the future. The advantage of having someone who knows their details in her hands is inexhaustible.
Estimated.
Lando didn't know that he had been tricked by Li Siya. Since he accepted the money, he decided to go to Lingao in person. He would see with his own eyes what the Chinese were doing in Lingao, and assess whether he could do it.
defect to the other side. In his opinion, no army in this time and space can be an opponent of the Chinese armed with modern weapons. If the Chinese actually suffer a defeat at the hands of the people in this time and space, then he might as well just give up and go to them.
The idea is good.
However, the face of a European would be too conspicuous in Lingao, and he would be stared at by the Chinese as soon as he enters the country. It is impossible to pretend to be a businessman - he is not like a businessman, knows nothing about the trade here, and has no experience at all.
Lando thought twice and decided to pretend to be the priest's attaché. The Jesuits were going to send two priests to Lingao recently. After Lu Ruohua's letter requesting to send more priests arrived, the Jesuits sent three more people, but Lingao failed.
The demand for priests has continued to increase, and in the previous stage, another priest fell ill while preaching in Li District and was "called by the Lord." According to the requirements of the Lingao Church, the Jesuits decided to send two more priests to Lingao to preach.
Lando went to ask Father Comange, saying that he was very curious about Lingao and hoped to go with the group to see it. His request was immediately agreed. So Lando became a member of the Jesuit visiting group.
The spring sunshine shines through the gaps between the bamboo trees outside the window, casting mottled shadows on the square tiles. The gentle breeze shakes the green bamboos, and a broken curtain flows back and forth like a stream.
The bamboos have all turned green, and the withered yellow leaves in winter are fading away one by one. The courtyard is full of life.
The furnishings in the study are very simple, and it is difficult to imagine that it is the private study of Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Wang Zunde was reading a letter with his head down at this time. His attire was very simple, almost as good as a humble Confucian. Wang Zunde was famous for his simplicity. He was always a commoner and vegetarian on weekdays, and he had a reputation for being upright in officialdom. .
This is a letter brought back from the capital by one of his disciples. With his dignity and status, it is convenient and fast for the Titang officials of this province to send him private messages, but Wang Zunde never bothers with their efforts - who I wonder if Dongchang has read the private messages sent back to the province by these officials.
A private letter from Beijing, the content is nothing more than family gossip, various news, and the trend in the court. It turns out to be nothing, but I am just afraid of finding out some "shouldn't" words for the gang of eunuchs in the East Factory. You'll be in trouble yourself.
The letter was written by an official in the imperial court in the same year. This letter made him feel an inexplicable worry. What aroused his worry were the several "enclosed letters" attached to the letter.
According to the official customs of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the main text of a letter, people also had a so-called "side letter". A side letter was an anonymous letter used to ask for help or discuss confidential matters.
The letter now in Wang Zunde's hand also has three sub-openings.
As usual, the main text of the letter contained some polite remarks about daily life, and Wang Zunde glanced at it hastily. The first one talked about news from the imperial court. He read it briefly and talked about the recent trends in the imperial court: Yuan Chonghuan's prospects are not good - -More than a month ago, the imperial court sent people to Guangxi to arrest Yuan Yuan Yuan's family members in Teng County and bring them to Beijing. This important official who was once highly regarded by the emperor may not be able to escape the scourge of execution. Although Yuan Yuan Yuan and himself have no relationship There was no connection between him and me, but seeing him being reused and then being arrested made me feel sad.
He picked up the second copy.
The content above is the news about the imperial court's battle with Jianlu and rogue bandits. The war in the east has temporarily calmed down since the imperial court regained Zunhua. However, the situation of rogue bandits in the northwest is getting worse day by day, and is gradually becoming a prairie fire. And among them, Shaanxi Town The post soldiers, town soldiers, and military households were "a lot of thieves."
When Wang Zunde saw this, he couldn't help but sneered, thinking that this was just an expected thing. The salary of the soldiers was already calculated on an annual basis, and the abolition of the postmen was a failure. Northwest Shaanxi is a bitter cold place, not like Jiangnan and Guangdong. In this blessed land, one can barely survive by begging for food. It used to be a miserable life of half-starved and half-fed, but now that they have been laid off, how can they survive without rebellion?
This kind of chaos will probably not be suppressed within seven or eight years.
He dropped the envelope and picked up the next one.
This letter was written briefly, but it was relatively important. It mainly said that since Xiong Wenhuan recruited Zheng Zhilong, the situation on the southeast coast has stabilized, and the emperor seems to be satisfied with this. He is urging Xiong Wenhuan to "clarify the ocean" as soon as possible.
"Hmph." Wang Zunde snorted. Xiong Wenhuan's move was just to use a thief to fight a thief, hoping to hurt both sides and reap the benefits. However, this matter may not be as simple as he thought.
Although Guangdong didn't have much contact with Zheng Zhilong, he knew a lot about it. The information mainly came from the Portuguese, including the history of Zheng Zhilong's origins and his special relationship in Japan. Wang Zunde knew very well that Zheng Zhilong was by no means a good person.
, nor is he an ordinary pirate who would be satisfied with an empty title like "guerrilla general".
He refused to leave the Zhongzuo Institute after he was imprisoned, and occupied Jinsha. His purpose was nothing more than to use it as a port to trade with Japan and other places. The Portuguese would come to Guangzhou twice a year to trade, and we can learn a lot from their mouths.
Useful news. For example, Zhongzuo Institute is more ideal as a trading port than Yuegang; the purpose of Zheng Zhilong's repeated attacks on Yuegang is not to rob, but mainly to force merchants to no longer trade locally, etc.
"Zheng Ni is ambitious and has great ambitions. He is definitely not sincerely surrendering to the imperial court!" This was Gao Shunqin's comment after hearing Zheng Zhilong's request - privately, of course.
But Xiong Wenhuan doesn't see it that way. For more than a year, he has continuously supported Zheng Zhilong's ships and heavy artillery, and even gave Zheng Zhilong a lot of the Hongyi cannons cast by Wang Zunde for Fujian. Zheng Zhilong simply wants wind and rain in Fujian.
Deyu. He knew that the Zheng family had purchased properties in Fujian, and even reached out to Guangdong and bought many farms and properties. He even purchased a farm outside Guangzhou. It was simply outrageous!
But after all, Zheng Zhilong wiped out Zhu Cai Lao and other long-standing pirates one by one. As long as Xiong Wenhuan's good news continues, any impeachment will have no effect. There are many people in the government and the opposition who agree with Xiong Wenhuan's approach. The court meeting is very beneficial to him. It seems that
The momentum is very likely to lead to promotion.
These news seem to have nothing to do with Guangdong. However, Wang Zunde knows that if Xiong Wenhuan is promoted, he will most likely take over his position - there are pirates in Guangdong too, and their momentum is no less than that of Fujian. Xiong Wenhuan has a "Ping Jing"
With a reputation as a capable officer, he would most likely come to Guangdong. He is now the governor of Fujian and has made great achievements, so he may not just be promoted to the governor of Guangdong.
If I can't quickly open up a situation and achieve several naval victories, I'm afraid my position as governor of Guangdong and Guangdong will no longer hold.
It's just that the pirates on the Guangdong ocean are not easy to deal with. The number one favorite is Liu Laoxiang. This person has been patrolling outside the Pearl River Estuary for a long time. From time to time, he goes deep into the Pearl River to rob villagers and ships, blocking the way to the ocean.
Trade. The Portuguese in Macao came to talk to him every three days, hoping that the two sides would jointly attack.
The Portuguese had large plywood boats and red barbarian bronze cannons, and their combat power was considerable, but the Ming Dynasty could not send troops. If they wanted to suppress the army, they had to pay the army and prepare the ships, which cost a lot of money. The governor of Guangdong
The envoy has been crying about poverty, saying that there is no money in the vassal treasury. At present, most of the money for casting cannons for various provinces is still owed. The price of cannons allowed by the Ministry of Works has not been seen yet.
However, Guangdong has a lot of financial resources. If you really want to fight a war, you can still do it regardless of where you make a fortune first. It's just not worth it.
Moreover, the Guangdong official circles knew nothing about Liu Laoxiang's details, and they didn't even know as much as the Portuguese. Without a guide, it would be impossible to find Liu Laoxiang's fleet among the vast sea and countless small islands.
Wishful thinking. In the end, it is just another loss of troops. The imperial court could afford to lose in the past, but now it can no longer afford to lose. A defeat means that it will never recover its strength.