1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 850 Liuheng Island

This seemingly unremarkable Shipu Port actually has such a function, but the Haihan military did not expect it at all when formulating the combat plan. The decision makers including the high-level military only thought that Shipu was a fishing port, and they didn't have any ideas about it. More to count on.However, there are many harbors in the coastal areas of Zhejiang, and it is indeed uncertain where such smuggling warehouses exist.And this also creates a paradox-can these maritime trades that are completely operated by official personnel still be called smuggling?
After reporting to Qian Tiandun, Gao Qiaonan took out a large amount of porcelain and other goods from the warehouse one after another. According to a rough estimate, the value of the goods in these warehouses in the city is already close to 10 taels of silver.Later, the soldiers found a batch of official silver from the bank of the official office of the city guard, a total of 600 taels. According to the accounts in charge of the storehouse, most of the money was paid for by the local garrison in the first half of the year and daily expenses. A small part is the private property of the officers kept in the treasury.

The seizure at Shipu Station greatly exceeded the expectations of the coalition commanders. They originally thought that it would be good if they could get two or three thousand taels of silver from this place, but they didn't expect that this place was actually a hidden cargo transit port.Even Xu Ke, the leader of the road, was shocked when he learned the truth. He has come to Shipu at least two or three times a year in the past few years, but he never realized that there is such a big secret hidden here.Even if this was the case in Shipu, the situation in the Juexi and Qiancang guards under Chang Guowei's rule would not be much worse.

He was not the only one who thought of this matter. After hearing the report from his subordinates, Shi Diwen became excited: "Old Qian, it seems that this errand in Zhejiang is going to dig out a few gold mountains! I have to send a telegram back to Penghu so that Just send a few more cargo ships over there to grab the spoils!"

Qian Tiandun was not overwhelmed by the windfall, he shook his head and said, "We don't plan to go to war with Daming, so why don't we sweep these guards one by one? These cargo owners are all respectable people from Zhejiang. , Offended all these people, how can we do business here in the future?"

Shi Diwen didn't take it seriously and said: "If you offend us, just support another group. What we did in Qiongzhou can also be copied here."

Qian Tiandun said: "That's true, but it took us four or five years in Hainan Island to straighten out various relationships. Do you think the Executive Committee will have the patience to spend such a long time in Zhejiang?"

Shi Diwen retorted: "Hainan Island is our own base camp. Of course, everything must be under our own control. We don't plan to capture Zhejiang immediately, so we don't need to spend a few years to manage it. People see money and see it, as long as they realize the benefits of working with us, they will not change their attitude.”

"Even if some people will change their original attitude, there will still be some people who will be hostile to us because of the loss of interests." Qian Tiandun persuaded: "Although we are not afraid of anyone, there is no need to take the initiative to make enemies."

Shi Diwen thought for a while, and finally softened his attitude: "Then what should we do now that we have copied these goods? Do we have to return them one by one?"

"How could you spit out the meat you ate in your mouth!" Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "Of course it is impossible to return the meat that has already been obtained, otherwise the people below will think that we are afraid of the Zhejiang government. Seal all of them first, When the next batch of ships returns to Fujian, they will be shipped back."

At the same time, under the "escort" of Haihan soldiers, Ma Ling, Zhang Qian and others showed up in the fishing villages around Shipusuo, asking the people not to panic because of the previous battle. It's just a daily exercise.As for the strange fleet that appeared in Shipu Port, it was the sailors of the Haihan Militia that came from Fujian for this purpose.

This is also the first time that the coalition fleet has officially shown its flag since it entered Zhejiang.The reason why they chose this timing was that Qian Tiandun and others considered that the coalition forces would set up a forward base here, at least in the short term to set up a garrison in Shipu, and it was necessary to appease the emotions of the local people.Moreover, the large amount of goods found in Shipu City also proves that this is one of the transshipment ports for smuggling trade in Ningbo Prefecture. The fishermen living in the nearby area will definitely have the eyes of pirate gangs. It is impossible for such a large fleet to hide the truth for a long time. identity.As far as I can think of, the statement that has less psychological impact on the local people can only be supported by official personnel to prove that this is a partner of the government.

Ma Ling's arrangement for the Haihan people really wanted to cry without tears. His help in publicizing this way basically confirmed his collusion with Haihan.But he couldn't refuse the Haihan people's request in a righteous way, because the Baihu under him were all imprisoned by the Haihan people, and they gave him a multiple-choice question with no alternative answer-either cooperate or follow Baihu. Choose someone from the household to replace him.

Ma Ling didn't want to just disappear for no apparent reason, so he had to cooperate first to save his life.As for the colleagues who might betray him afterwards, Ma Ling also asked the Haihan people to deal with them on their behalf so that they would not appear in public again.

On April [-], all the temporary bases originally established on Beiyushan Island were transferred to Shipu Port.The coalition forces designated the eastern part of Shipu Port as a military control zone, prohibiting fishing boats from entering and leaving the port from this direction.All the captured guard soldiers were transferred to a small island in the harbor and temporarily placed under house arrest, and Shipu Suo City was logically taken over by the coalition forces and became the location of the headquarters.The commanders intend to allow the soldiers who have been fighting for many days to have a short rest here, and wait for the supply of combat supplies from Fujian by the way, and then continue to march north.

At the combat preparation meeting held today, in addition to the senior officers of the coalition forces, there were two more people from other establishments. One was Xu Ke, a hidden stake planted by the Fujian military in Xiangshan, and the other was last night. After thinking clearly about the cause and effect, he decided to join Qianhu Ma Ling in Haihan's Shipu Institute.

Of course, the coalition forces will not immediately give Ma Ling [-]% trust in Ma Ling's refuge. After all, this guy is from the Zhejiang government and has no intersection with Haihan in the past. He will make such a choice entirely due to the situation. Forced to save his life.If the situation changes another day, it is difficult to guarantee whether this guy will backtrack.

The purpose of holding this meeting is to start preparing for the next phase of the goal.Going further north from Xiangshan County, they have already entered the waters of the Zhoushan Islands, which is also said to be the most frequent pirate activity in the Middle East Sea.The first to bear the brunt is Liuheng Island, located at the southern end of the Zhoushan Islands.

This island with an area of ​​more than [-] square kilometers is the third largest island in Zhoushan. The topography of the island is high at both ends and low in the middle. , has always been a good port favored by maritime merchants.But about this place, it was not Xu Ke, the leading party, who provided the most information, but the Portuguese, one of Haihan's current partners.

Nearly a hundred years ago, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Deng Liao, a Fujianese who escaped from the prison of the Chasi in Fujian Province, colluded with the Portuguese who had just been expelled from Guangdong by the Ming Dynasty at that time. A port was established on the side of Hengdao to set up a smuggling market, and this port was called Shuangyu Port.However, the participation of the Portuguese at this time was not too great. More than ten years later, the four brothers of the Xu family brought the Portuguese into Shuangyu Port on a large scale. Japanese pirates stationed there.

By 1542, the 21st year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the number of Portuguese living in Shuangyu Port had reached 1200. The total number of people from countries other than Ming Dynasty exceeded 3000, and the annual trade volume exceeded 300 million Portuguese dollars.Regarding this trade volume, a simple comparison can be made that the Portuguese navigator Da Gama, who discovered the Far East route at the same time, had an annual salary of 1000 Portuguese dollars, and he was already known as the richest person in Portugal at that time.

The Portuguese Fernán Mendes Pinto (Fernao Mendes Pinto) described in his book "Journey to the Far Side" what he saw and heard when he passed Shuangyu Port when he accompanied the Jesuit missionaries to Japan.According to Pinto’s records, the port of Shuangyu can accommodate hundreds of sea-going ships. The port is managed by the Portuguese colonists. There are municipal officials, judges, mayors and other government officials. Hospitals, churches, charity halls and other public facilities.At that time, the Portuguese not only operated trade with Ming Dynasty here, but also opened the door to entrepot trade with Japan. Most of the trade here was exchanged with silver ingots from Japan as circulation.Its wealth ranks first among the Far Eastern colonies owned by the Portuguese at that time.

However, Chinese pirates, Portuguese colonists, and Japanese Japanese pirates colluded by the huge interests of the smuggling trade, and caused more and more serious harm in the eastern coastal areas of Daming, and incidents of foreigners harming the people of Daming occurred from time to time.In the 27th year of Jiajing, Zhu Wan, the deputy capital of the right, served as the governor of Zhejiang, supervised the military affairs of the coastal defense of Zhejiang and Fujian, and appointed the Fujian capital to command Lu Tong and his deputy Wei Yigong, and led Liu Enzhi, Zhang Siwei, Zhang Han and other generals to gather 480 warships. A ship with more than 6000 soldiers from both land and water armies encircled and suppressed the bandit nest in Shuangyu Port.

After days of fierce fighting, the Ming army captured bandit leaders Baldy Li, Ji Tianpo, Gu Liangyu and others, destroyed dozens of pirate armed sailing ships, and killed hundreds of enemies.The Portuguese Pinto’s account in his works is even more shocking, saying that the Ming army executed as many as 250 Christians on the island, including [-] Portuguese, and the total value of property destroyed amounted to [-] million Portuguese dollars.

After the war, Zhu Wan personally went to the island for inspection. He originally wanted to garrison troops, but in the end he chose to use wood and stones to sink the sea to block the pass of Shuangyu, completely abolishing this pirate port.In the next three months, Zhu Wan commanded the troops to conquer the Japanese pirates in the surrounding areas such as Nanji Island and Panshiwei, and quelled the bandit turmoil in this area that had lasted for 20 years.However, Zhu Wan's actions greatly damaged the interests of the local gentry and some officials to sit on the ground and share the spoils, and inevitably aroused hatred. Censors Chen Jiude, Zhou Liang and others impeached Zhu Wan for "acting well, killing and provoking wars", and impeached Lu Tong And others "the party's murder is arbitrarily reasonable, so it should be left to reason", the confused Emperor Jiajing ordered Zhu Wan to be held accountable for the death penalty, and finally Zhu Wan committed suicide unjustly, Lu Tong and others were dismissed and imprisoned, and sentenced to death Exonerated and reactivated.

After this battle, the Portuguese suffered heavy losses and had to leave Zhejiang to go to the coast of Fujian. They were expelled several times and traveled to many places before finally settling in Macau.Before the fleet departed from Sanya this time, the Portuguese also offered a lot of information when they heard that Haihan was going to enter Zhejiang.Of course, their purpose is also very clear, that is to hope that after Haihan wins a base in Zhejiang, they can reciprocate and let them re-extend the trade route to Zhejiang.

From the late Wanli period to the Tianqi period, the coastal defenses in the east gradually became weak, and this area once again became a paradise for adventurers.Although the earliest Shuangyu Port has been abolished due to silting, this island facing the exit of Xiangshan Harbor still attracts gold owners to invest in the opening of the port again.According to Xu Ke's description, there is currently a port in the south and north of the island that is engaged in smuggling trade all year round, and these two ports are also controlled by two groups of pirates.These two groups may not be considered the most powerful pirate group in the entire Zhoushan Islands, but their financial resources are definitely the strongest.Xu Ke estimates that the annual smuggling volume of Liuheng Island is at least one million taels of silver, which is comparable to that of Penghu, which was controlled by Shibazhi in the past.

Of course, to operate such a large industry, it is definitely not enough to rely on a group of pirates. On the shore, there must be local gentry who arrange supply and marketing channels for them, and government officials who provide shelter for these gray industries.Xu Ke didn't know exactly how many people would be involved in this network.

"Ma Qianhu, do you have anything to add?" Qian Tiandun asked Ma Ling who was dumbfounded.

The briefing just now really stunned Ma Ling. He didn't know where the Haihan people collected so much information about Liuheng Island, and he, a native of Zhejiang, didn't even listen to a considerable part of it. Said.However, it can also be seen from this that the Haihan people have made full preparations for this operation in Zhejiang. The background information on Liuheng Island alone has collected so much information, so the battle plan will naturally not be too bad. .

Ma Ling came back to his senses and replied: "Reporting to the general, I have a small household with a humble position, and I don't usually have access to the big shots above. The goods in and out of Shipu Port are also based on the orders of the Commander of Chang Guowei. That's all, as for how to schedule and coordinate other places, I really don't know."

"Xiangshan is so close to Liuheng Island, you always know the situation of the two groups of pirates on the island, right?" Qian Tiandun didn't let Ma Ling go, and continued to ask him.

(End of this chapter)