"Xu Xinsu?" Zheng Haizhu read the name twice and said with a strange look on his face: "I've never heard of it."
Yan Siqi asked: "Where is Yu Zigao?"
"You know that. The current Fujian Commander-in-Chief is the son of Yu Dayou, a famous anti-Japanese general."
Yan Siqi nodded, rolled up Li Zhizao's simplified version of the world map, took four tea cups, and placed them on the table.
"Ah Zhu, General Yu Zigao, and General Yu, are now like Li Rubai in Liaodong. Relying on the foundation saved by his father's generation, his family's business is doing a lot. Of course, he is still stronger than Li Rubai, and he still controls the military command along the coast of Fujian.
, all the naval forces were left behind by his father, Yu Dayou."
Zheng Haizhu stared at the teacup representing Yu Zigao on the table and asked: "Is there a gunboat? How big is it and what kind of guns are it equipped with?"
Yan Siqi took the second tea cup and said: "There are cannons, and they are not bad things. They mostly rely on the money Xu Xinsu made for him. Last year, Eunuch Liu sent a message saying that the imperial court appointed me as a propaganda envoy.
I prepared a generous gift and went to see Yu Zigao near Xiamen. He must have got the news, and he treated me politely and allowed me to disembark. Not only did I see the gunboat, but I also met Li Dan's former aide, Xu Xinsu
.”
Zheng Haizhu suddenly realized.
Although she could not recite the names of every key figure, she could still remember the general outline of the relationship between officials and businessmen in the waters of Fujian and Taiwan in the late Ming Dynasty.
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Li Dan, the Chinese businessman who was based in Hirado Port, Japan, and Yan Siqi's original boss, had already planted cronies along the coast of Fujian, and established friendships and business with the civil and military generals of the Ming Dynasty, and together they made a fortune.
The imperial court banned trade with Japan, which gave them huge room for personal gain. Part of Li Dan's fleet was loaded with silver and bought goods from the Ming Dynasty from Yu Zigao. After receiving the escort of the Yu family army, they transported the goods back to sea.
, trading with Japan, Portugal, Spain, and later the Dutch and British.
Therefore, after hearing the names "Yu Zigao" and "Li Dan", Zheng Haizhu understood the identity of "Xu Xinsu".
This Xu Xinsu was Li Dan's agent on the coast of Fujian, equivalent to a white glove. A local warlord like Yu Zigao, who was engaged in business and profit, would also treat Xu Xinsu as a guest.
"Brother Yan, what did Yu Zigao say during your visit?"
Yan Siqi's mouth twitched slightly: "It's just eating and drinking, talking about some scenes, and mentioning Qi Shaobao's poems. I don't want to be granted a title, but I hope the sea will be peaceful."
Zheng Haizhu said with a smile: "Of course I hope that the sea will calm down. Otherwise, we who are engaged in maritime trade will drink from the northwest wind? However, Xu Xinsu does not shy away from confronting you. Mr. Yu is an open-minded person. After all, there are always brothers in Japan."
I can't hide the fact that I came to Taiwan to seek refuge with you. Did Xu Xinsu reveal anything during that visit?"
Yan Siqi placed the teacups representing Japan and Penghu to the east of the teacups representing Yu Zigao and Xu Xinsu, one to the south and the other to the north, and replied: "As for Li Guozhu's harm to us, and after Li Guozhu was sent back to Hirado by the imperial court,
Xu Xinsu didn't mention Li Dan's attitude at all. However, when Yu Zigao asked Xu Xinsu to propose a toast to me, Xu Xinsu said that the eldest brother is the eldest brother, and he would do well to beat Frankie."
Zheng Haizhu stroked the rim of the teacup representing Penghu and muttered: "We are all trained foxes. What Xu Xinsu said in front of Yu Zigao was exactly what Yu Zigao meant. Do you still remember the patrolman who colluded with Li Guoshu?
Haidao Deputy Ambassador Cai Feng, right?"
"The one who was shot to death by Eunuch Liu?"
"Well, that's him. I talked to Cai Feng. He has a Cantonese accent and was transferred to Fujian for more than a year. I guess that an arrogant civil servant like Cai Feng would be stupid not to let General Yu go.
In his eyes, Cai Feng wanted to share a piece of the merchant business with the Spaniards near Penghu. Therefore, Yu Zigao was happy to see him die."
Yan Siqi echoed: "It is the most taboo thing in the world to dig out a snake nest without the ability and not take the local snakes seriously."
Zheng Haizhu turned his head, moved closer to the window, looked at Beigang, which was gradually becoming clearer, and murmured: "Why are we digging out the snake's nest? We don't need to boast about being golden lins. We can join forces with the local snakes to deal with the foreign rats."
…
Beigang in Taiwan is commonly known as "Old Port" and "Bengang", and is the area from Taipei to Keelung today.
More than forty years ago, Lin Feng, a native of Chaozhou, gathered people and started his business in maritime trade. After growing in strength, he came to northern Taiwan to station himself, built ports, and while doing business, he also engaged in immigration and farming, building northern Taiwan into a very prosperous city.
Prosperity.
Lin Feng hoped to be recruited by the Ming Dynasty, but the court ignored it and ordered the Guangdong General Army to continue the encirclement and suppression. Lin Feng then took all the people and ships and went south to Luzon, trying to drive away the Spanish, occupy Manila, and establish his own overseas kingdom.
.
After Lin Feng left, the island of Taiwan, which originally had a Middle-earth atmosphere, gradually became an "enclave". Chinese and foreign smuggling fleets occupied their own berths in northern Taiwan, trading goods and replenishing water.
In the setting sun, Yan Siqi, who had sailed to the "Yan" flag ship north of Hualien, pointed to a row of three-masted ships with cloth sails in the distance: "After I established a foothold in Tainan, I and my brothers who came to Japan to seek refuge,
I have visited this place several times. There are many private ships in Beigang, Hirado, Japan, Ningbo, Zhejiang, and Zhangquan, Fujian. But the ones you see now are the ships of the Hongyi people. After the hurricane season last year, I
I also saw your old acquaintance there."
Hearing this, Zheng Haizhu rolled his eyes and smiled: "Is it that smooth-tongued Gullit?"
"Yes, our ship sold him more than ten tons of black tea. This Gulit didn't even pay back the price at the time. He looked polite and sincere, but the next day he came to bribe our and the ship's tea farmers, trying to get him to make black tea.
French."
Zheng Haizhu is not surprised at all.
In the Age of Discovery, people and goods, ideas and technology have entered a process of global interconnection, and information blockade is impossible. The sweet potatoes planted by Xu Guangqi in Songjiang to prepare for waste were also sneaked into the country by the Chinese from foreign ships.
Historically, after black tea appeared in Wuyi Mountain, black tea soon appeared on the commercial market in Sri Lanka and other places in Southeast Asia.
What matters is not the technical barriers to goods, but sea control.
As the ships sailed, in Zheng Haizhu's field of vision, the white sailing ships of the Dutch fleet and the Spanish fleet slowly turned into the bamboo sailing ships of the Chinese merchant fleet, and then the Japanese red seal ships.
But they have one thing in common: they are all equipped with artillery.
The truth is within cannon range.
The tax bank was out of cannon range.
Zheng Haizhu looked at Taiwan's North Port, which was still busy as the Spring Festival approached, and she understood that in two months' time, it would be even more lively to coincide with the Manila galleon's voyage across the Pacific in early summer.
The imperial court itself could not get the white tax money in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Ten times the huge profits were made by foreigners on the land that the Chinese had cultivated for generations.
In Zheng Haizhu's ears, he remembered Yan Siqi's voice: "Azhu, I am luckier than Lin Feng. Back then, I, Yan Siqi, got the recruitment that Lin Feng wanted. But what the imperial court gave me was the Taiwan Xuanfu Envoy, not the Tainan Xuanfu
So, how can I be willing to accept it when I see that Beigang is still in this situation, do you understand?"
Zheng Haizhu looked up at him: "Brother Yan, after you return to Tainan, give me a small boat and send the brother who went to Xiamen to take the helm. I want to see Xu Xinsu."