The head of the Liu family and even a dozen other people present changed their expressions when they heard this. Among them, only the Liu family could compete with those large merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. The relationship between these merchants was quite close.
, so what happened in Jiangnan reached the ears of these people even though they were thousands of miles apart.
If it weren't for Chu Yi's ferocity, how could those maritime merchants like them who dared to fight against the pirates be so honest?
If this were the case in the past, if the imperial court dared to set up a shipping department to tax them, the officials who took office the next day might be drowned and die, or a group of common people would directly attack the Yamen.
The head of the Liu family frowned and looked at the crowd and said: "Everyone, Chu Yi is so powerful that we must not let anything fall into his hands, otherwise we will definitely make the same mistake again."
A family head said with a look of reluctance: "It doesn't seem that easy to make the imperial decree unenforceable and at the same time not to be ignored!"
The heads of the families were sitting there one by one, with solemn expressions on their faces.
They, these large merchants, rely on sea trade to make large sums of gold and silver. It can be said that all the gold, mountains, silver and seas have gone into their pockets.
Now that the imperial court has reached into their pockets, it would be strange if these people could remain calm.
There is no problem in asking them to take money from other people's pockets, but it is extremely difficult to take money from their own pockets.
Fortunately, these people did not come forward rashly. After all, Chu Yi's killing spree had frightened quite a few people. Even a fool knew that anyone who dared to come forward at this time would definitely become the target of Chu Yi's killing to scare the monkeys.
More than a dozen people sat facing each other for a long time, but in the end no solution could be discussed, so some people said goodbye and left. More than a dozen families left one by one. In the end, only the Liu family, the Zhou family, and the Wang family were left. These three families are also in Huating County.
It can be said that if the three largest maritime merchants join forces, they can account for half of Huating County's maritime trade.
It was precisely because the three companies quietly spread the word that no one, large or small, who depended on maritime trade for a living, dared to go to the Huating City Shipping Department to report and pay taxes.
What the three families did was very secretive. Even the large and small maritime merchants knew that the three families were putting pressure on them, but there was no evidence.
From this point alone, it can be seen that these people are determined not to be the first person.
The head of the Zhou family watched the others leave, let out a sigh of relief, and glanced at the Liu family. The head of the Wang family said: "Brother Liu, Brother Zhou, there is no one else here, there are only three of us, what are you doing now?"
But now we can talk with peace of mind!”
The head of the Wang family has a strong back and strong waist, and is dressed in powerful clothes. He looks more like a martial artist than a maritime trader.
However, the head of the Wang family is an out-and-out maritime merchant, with amazing bravery. The Wang family is also a famous maritime pirate and maritime merchant family. In other words, the Wang family is a maritime merchant.
, they are also pirates, so the Wang family has a very powerful power at sea.
If Wang Ping, the head of the Wang family, gives an order, he can easily gather more than a dozen groups of active pirates at sea and thousands of pirates to plunder coastal towns.
On the contrary, the reason why the Liu family has become the largest maritime merchant in Huating is because an elder of the Liu family was the magistrate of Huating County in the previous generation. It was also since the magistrate of Huating County in the previous generation that the Liu family
Just now, he has risen rapidly in Huating.
As for the Zhou family, it is the most low-key among the three families. It is almost so low-key that it is mysterious. Many people almost subconsciously ignore the presence of the Zhou family.
The Zhou family has always kept a low profile, and Zhou Tong looks like a scribe at all. If they saw him, few people would think of him as a maritime businessman who smelled of copper.
Zhou Tong glanced at the head of the Liu family lightly, then at Wang Ping and then spoke slowly and in a low voice.
Wang Ping and the head of the Liu family couldn't help but show a look of horror and excitement in their eyes after hearing Zhou Tong's words. To be honest, both Wang Ping and the head of the Liu family were extremely shocked after hearing Zhou Tong's idea.
Wang Ping was heard high-fiving and praising: "Brother Zhou Tong, your idea is really great. This time we want to see how Chu Yi solves the problem."
The manager of the Shipping Department of Huating City is a fifth-grade official, with more than a dozen officials under him, plus others, the total number is dozens of people.
Because the entire Municipal Bureau of Shipping was newly established, the location of the Yamen was just a random courtyard in Huating County that was temporarily used as the Yamen.
Chen Kunai is an official of Chu Yi's line. Being personally selected by Chu Yi and appointed as the steward of the newly established Municipal Shipping Department, Chen Kunai naturally has some talent. If he doesn't have any talent, he may not be able to get into Chu Yi's eyes.
, and was even stationed in Huating by Chu Yi.
In the evening of that day, Chen Kuzheng wrote a letter in cursive handwriting in his study with a distressed look on his face. In this letter, he informed Chu Yi of everything that had happened since the establishment of the Huating Shipping Department.
Gradually, the study became dark, and the firelight flickered, reflecting Chen Ku's figure on the window.
However, Huating County is adjacent to the estuary of the Yangtze River and can be said to be a natural and excellent seaport.
The waves were beating against the rocks. Apart from the sound of the waves, there was almost no other sound. Suddenly, a shout sounded: "Be careful, my king. If anyone makes any big noise, I will
Your Majesty will never spare them."
In the darkness not far from the port, I saw a dozen small boats docked on the shore, and then I saw figures jumping directly onto the shore from the small boats.
I vaguely saw hundreds of brave people landing on the shore, each with a ferocious look, and soon a group of people gathered on the shore.
These people were hiding among the rocks on the shore like hungry wolves. Not long after, they saw a group of ships appear again on the sea.
This time, there were not a dozen ships but dozens of ships. When the people on these ships successfully boarded the shore, there were actually hundreds of people.
These hundreds of people looked a little strange, because each of these people were dressed strangely. Many of them wore wooden clogs at their feet, had mustaches, and samurai swords stuck at their waists.
If anyone who knew these people saw it, they would probably exclaim: "Japanese pirates!"
These people were the Japanese pirates who roamed the southeastern coast and once became a scourge of the Ming Dynasty.
The name "Japanese pirates" refers to the pirates from the East Japan Sea. Since Emperor Taizu's morale, Japanese pirates have been invading coastal areas. By Emperor Chengzu, Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures, personally commanded the fleet to sail to the Western Ocean.
The strength of the Ming Dynasty's maritime navy directly crushed the Japanese pirates, big and small. From then on, the Japanese pirates who really saw the power of the Ming Dynasty's maritime navy suddenly became much more restrained.
Considering the Ming Dynasty's great reputation in the surrounding countries and even at sea, there was no need for the Ming Dynasty to take action. Only the Japanese city lords and generals who were near the sea took action to deal with the Japanese pirates.
However, hundreds of years have passed, Japan has always cared less about food than fighting, and has long forgotten the terrible threat and pressure that the huge fleet of the Ming Dynasty brought to its ancestors in the past, and it gave birth to many ambitious people.
generation.
It can even be said that if Chu Yi had not appeared, the Japanese pirate rebellion would have completely broken out in at most ten or twenty years. On the one hand, it was because at that time, the internal struggle for power and profit in Japan was intensified, and a war broke out among the famous names in various places to compete for territory and interests.
field of battle.
During the war, whether they were deserters or defeated daimyo, many people simply chose to become pirates and became pirates who brought trouble to one side.
Naturally, these pirates set their sights on the fat Ming Dynasty, which later led to the famous Southeastern Japanese Pirates Rebellion.
Although Japanese pirates existed at this time, there were not many in number. There were at least 200 Japanese pirates who landed this time, which shows that this is definitely a truly powerful pirate group.
The first warrior, who was wearing wooden clogs, had a handlebar mustache and braided hair, stepped in front of a big man with bare breasts, squinted his eyes and saluted the big man: "Hi, Gang
Murakami has met Mr. Wang!"
Wang Mei looked at Gangcun Guiyi, and suddenly there was a look of surprise on his face as he cupped his hands towards Gangcun Guiyi and said: "General Gangcun Guiyi is such a big deal, he actually sent Gui Yijun to lead his troops here in person."
Okamura Kiichi said with a smile: "My general and your side are allies. Besides, this trip is profitable. It is reasonable for the general to send more people. I would like to ask Mr. Wang to forgive me."
Wang Mei frowned, but he pondered for a moment and then said to Gang Cungui: "This time, Mr. Gangcun is also asked to cooperate with Wang to destroy the Huating City Ship Division!"
Gangcun Guiyi laughed and said: "It's just a Huating City ship company, not to mention a city ship company, even the entire Huating County, I, the general, can break it if I am willing."
Wang Mei glanced at Gangcun Guiyi, opened his mouth and said nothing more, but waved his hand, and immediately saw Wang Mei's men and horses gathering together and disappearing into the night.
And Okamura Kiichi immediately led his men to follow closely.
Huating County is shrouded in night. At a glance, the entire Huating County is not too big. The city walls are in disrepair, and the bricks and stones in many places are broken. A door makes a squeaking sound whether it is opened or closed.
There was a squeaking sound, and I was really worried that the door would fall down.
A few figures could be vaguely seen on the city wall, but those figures were in a daze, almost falling asleep leaning against the city wall.
Those figures were the soldiers guarding the city of Huating County. There were originally at least dozens of people in the group. However, due to various reasons such as lack of pay, there should have been dozens of people patrolling the city wall, but in the end, less than 40% were left.
Even the remaining 40% are mostly old, weak, sick and disabled, so there are only a few figures seen on the city wall.
In the darkness, if you don't look carefully, you won't notice a group of people slowly approaching the city gate.
A tinkling sound came from the city wall, and an iron claw was seen stuck on the battlement. Then a figure climbed up the city wall nimbly and quickly. The moment he landed, the man rushed to the city almost instinctively.
The nearest city guard, who was almost asleep, covered his mouth and slashed his throat with a sharp knife, causing blood to spurt out.
Immediately afterwards, several more figures climbed up the city wall along the rope. Originally, there were only a few soldiers guarding the city wall, but as a result, more than a dozen soldiers guarding the city almost lost their lives in their sleep.
When more than a dozen figures descended the city wall along the corridor and arrived at the city gate, a bewildered city guard was stunned for a moment, and shouted as if he had seen a ghost: "There is a ghost!"
The soldier's exclamation immediately alerted a dozen soldiers who were resting in the city gate. However, these soldiers did not realize that the enemy was coming. Instead, they cursed, thinking that the soldier was yelling and disturbing their dreams.
But when more than a dozen ferocious-looking figures rushed into the city gate, the light of the sword flashed, and almost all of these soldiers lost their lives in a daze. Even if some people reacted, they had no time to react.
There were screams, and the entire city gate was suddenly filled with a bloody air, and the ground was covered with blood spurting out.
Creaking, the old city gate slowly opened, and hundreds of figures swarmed in.
Needless to say, these people were naturally Wang Mei and Gangcun Guiyi's group. With Wang Mei leading the way, it could be said that hundreds of people were heading straight to the direction of the Huating City Bosi in the middle of the city.
The commotion made by hundreds of people was not small, but even if the people in the city heard the commotion, no one dared to open the door. They just looked at the figure running past through the crack in the door with fear.
The Huating City Bureau is located in a corner of Huating County. Since the Yamen is still under construction, the current location of the Huating City Bureau is simply an ordinary compound.
Because of the intentional or unintentional confrontation of the maritime merchants in Huating County, the Huating City Shipping Department did not collect any tax money at all, and Chen Ku was writing a letter by the light of the light in his study at the moment.
At this moment, the Huating City Bosi's compound has been surrounded by hundreds of ferocious pirates. Not even a fly can even think of flying into the city's Bosi.
Looking at the gate of the Shibo Division, Wang Mei looked at Gangcun Guiyi, bowed his hands towards Gangcun Guiyi and said: "Gangcun Jun, I'll take care of everything else!"
Gangcun Guiyi said solemnly to Wang Mei: "Wang Jun, don't worry, we will definitely kill everyone in this city's shipping department!"
Wang Mei nodded slightly, and disappeared in front of Gangcun Guiyi. Gangcun Guiyi waved his hand, with a ferocious and ferocious look in his eyes, kicked open the door, and shouted loudly at the people behind him.
: "Kill with me, no matter living or livestock, leave no one behind!"