Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 258 A trip to Macau ([-])
The next morning, Liu Sheng and his party met the so-called "Governor of Macau" Faria.The reason why I say "so-called" is because this governor is illegal.

Historically, since 1616, the previous 92 "Governors of Macau" were all illegal.Because Macau during this period was leased by the Ming and Qing governments, not a colony, the Macau and Portuguese authorities had to pay 515 taels of land rent to Xiangshan County every year.

It is illegal for Portugal to send a governor to Macau, and the Portuguese have always kept this behavior secret.When the Australian and Portuguese authorities faced the Qing court officials, Faria never showed up.

The problem is that Liu Sheng and the others don't understand this at all, so the two sides talked very politely, and Liu Sheng also sent the prepared gift.Faria and several municipal councilors expressed great amazement at the products "produced" in Beihai Town. Apart from the general attitude towards cigarettes, whether it was matches, lanterns, or the razors given to them, they all showed a strong interest.

However, in private, the Portuguese people in Macao only regard the razor as a novelty. Most men these days have to grow beards, and usually only need to be trimmed. No one can shave their chins like the people in Beihai Town .

Faria and the accompanying members of the municipal committee expressed their full support for Liu Sheng's proposal of a two-day local business investigation.These people have already learned about the tonnage of the Thor from Matos. The cargo volume of such a ship can be equivalent to seven or eight three-masted sailing ships at a time, which is undoubtedly very attractive to the Portuguese side.

Although Macao at this time had the privilege of 25 merchant ships designated by the Qing court, it had already been reduced to a supporting role in world trade.Its external routes only include some ports in Manila, Indochina and the Malay Peninsula, as well as Batavia, Timor, Brunei and India and Ceylon.If the Qing government hadn't forced all foreign businessmen in Guangzhou to spend the winter in Macau, the Portuguese authorities in Macau wouldn't even be able to earn rent.

After the meeting with Faria, Liu Sheng and the others, accompanied by a special person from the Municipal Committee, visited various commercial firms in Macau.

Like other European cities at the same time, the urban area of ​​Macao is based on a wide straight street as the central skeleton, and residential areas, commercial areas, and other public facilities are distributed on both sides of the straight street like a fish skeleton.The entire straight street starts from Fengshun Church in the south and ends at St. Anthony's Church in the north, and the residential areas in between are divided according to the church parish.

The first stop of the group is the Samba Temple. In July 1762, due to the complete expulsion of the Jesuits by the Portuguese royal family, St. Paul's College in Samba Temple was forced to close. It is currently managed by the Macao Municipal Council.

Because they had little interest in Catholicism, Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng just wandered around the church and came out, not even talking to the clergy.In another 50 years, the church will be destroyed by fire, leaving only a large archway.

A dozen soldiers from Beihai Town expressed great interest in those baroque sculptures and decorations, which were not seen in Beihai Town at all.Although a few priests tried their best to introduce them, these soldiers from island countries and Henan were very resistant to Catholicism, and Beihai Town did not have such soil.

Afterwards, everyone went to the Mazu Pavilion again. It was the Chinese god's turn to protect the safety of the sea. Both Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng paid homage.

What Liu Sheng and the others did not expect was that the Bucarao Cannon Factory, which had been thriving at the end of the Ming Dynasty, had closed down more than 100 years ago. Now the Macau authorities only have a small workshop to maintain and maintain all kinds of artillery; The famous "Wannuhang" has turned into a business dealing in tea and European watches and jewelry.Although the idea of ​​recruiting craftsmen in the plan fell through, Liu Sheng and the others also learned that there are currently six forts in Macau, and more than 100 various types of coastal artillery.

As for the shipbuilding industry, there are only two shipyards in Neiwan and Gongbei on the entire peninsula.Due to the strict monitoring of the Australian and Portuguese shipbuilding by the Qing government, the docks in Gongbei only built some small fishing boats and barges.

Fortunately, when Liu Sheng and the others visited the Neiwan shipyard, although the shipyard was not very good, they found that there were a large number of teak and iron wood piled up here, which seemed like a timber trading market.This discovery surprised them so much that they ordered a batch of lumber.

However, when Liu Sheng and the others expressed their intention to recruit several shipbuilders with high salaries, Macau officials expressed their embarrassment.Before the 48th year of Qianlong, the Qing government adopted a policy of prohibiting the shipbuilding industry in Macao. All craftsmen were required to be protected and registered.These Chinese shipbuilders build ships in the dock during the day, and leave the city at night before the gates are closed; if they dare to go with Liu Sheng, the neighbors in the neighborhood will be held accountable by the government.

However, given that Liu Sheng and the others purchased a large amount of wood, Macau officials recommended two Portuguese engineers and several Portuguese craftsmen who were waiting for work at home.Liu Sheng discussed with Ding Guofeng and decided to meet these people tomorrow morning.

It is said that the current main commercial street in Macau is the "Three Streets", namely Camp, Haystack and Guanqian Street.When everyone arrived here, they found that the street was crowded with people, and there were rows of shops.Chinese in long robes and mandarin jackets mixed with foreigners in Western-style clothes, Cantonese and Hokkien dialects filled the streets.

The accompanying city official complained: "Too many Qing people are here now, and they have occupied all the land outside the city wall."

Ding Guofeng heard this and asked: "What? Can't you go out of the city to build a house?"

The official explained: "This matter is said to be due to the Fu'an teaching case decades ago, and finally Macau also suffered."

Liu Sheng and Ding Guofeng became even more curious when they heard this, and continued to ask questions.The official only talked about it roughly, but he said it from the standpoint of Catholics.

In the 12th year of Qianlong, because of the involvement of the Fu'an teaching case, Haiphong Tongzhi led troops into Macau, intending to seize the Abaro Monastery, which aims to pursue the "Chineseization of Catholicism".As a result, the priest and bishop of the monastery refused to hand over the keys to the church, and the Haiphong Tongzhi finally only posted a seal notice and walked away.Since then, the Chinese are strictly prohibited from living in Macau, all Chinese working in Macau are not allowed to bring their family members, and the Chinese south of the Guanzhai must protect the record.

After doing this, all the Chinese in the city moved out of the city except those who married Portuguese women.Up to now, the city of Macau has been surrounded by Chinese communities outside the city, which makes the Macau and Portuguese authorities extremely unhappy, and disputes between China and the West are also increasing day by day.

Everyone turned to the evening on the commercial street, and found that most of the Chinese shops here sold various daily necessities, such as fish, salt, grain, cloth, etc. These are the supplies for daily life in Macau, but for Beihai Town, There is really nothing to buy.

After Liu Sheng gave the accompanying officer a pack of cigarettes, the officer's conversation became much more relaxed. From his mouth, he learned that there are only three types of business that are most prosperous in Macau, entertainment, service and real estate, and opium smuggling.

The entertainment industry developed because the Qing court strictly prohibited Western women from landing in Guangzhou.So a group of foreign businessmen are like ascetic monks. Except for winter, they have to stay in Shisanhang Street in Guangzhou all year round. Only in winter can they return to Macau to see women.In this way, the business of all kinds of brothels and bars in Macau will be very prosperous in winter.

Services and real estate are also related to the above-mentioned reasons. Consuls, taipans, family members and business people from Britain, the United States, France, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Prussia and other countries have lived in Macau for many years, and some wealthy businessmen even bought high-end residences.Like the British and Dutch East India Companies, they also leased huge warehouses in Macau.

Finally, there is the smuggling of opium.Because the Australian and Portuguese authorities had 25 quota ships that were exempt from inspection, the Portuguese took the opportunity to mix opium in the cargo to pass through the customs.In order to monopolize the opium smuggling trade market in Macau, Macao and Portugal have stipulated that businessmen from other countries can only be represented by Portuguese businessmen when they operate opium in Macau.

Although the Guangdong Customs at this time explicitly banned the entry of opium, they knew that the Portuguese in China's official circles were accustomed to bribery. They also set up a "corruption fund" for bribery, charging 40 yuan of double-column silver coins for each box of opium. fund.

Portugal's monopoly on opium smuggling made it difficult for the British East India Company to smuggle opium. Five years ago, British businessmen resold more than 5 boxes of opium backlogged in Swallow Bay to Portuguese companies in Australia at a low price of 1600 yuan per box.

In the history of another time and space, this practice of Macau and Portugal finally led to the British opium dealers forcibly breaking into Whampoa eight years later, and finally stayed in Whampoa for more than a year without incident.This behavior caused Whampoa to replace Macau as the base for the British to smuggle opium, and the poisoning became even worse.

In a Portuguese-owned firm, Liu Sheng saw that the first line in the product catalog was the price of Indian Mawa opium, and the clerk warmly invited him to look at the goods.If Ding Guofeng hadn't stopped him, Liu Sheng would have almost destroyed the firm.

Later, when a group of people asked for commodity price lists in other businesses, they found that opium was listed there; even later, in several businesses opened by people from Guangdong and Fujian, opium was actually sold.Seeing this, Liu Sheng couldn't help being furious.

"Big Liu, don't be impulsive! You have to think about Liu Zheng, he will come here for a long time in winter! If we smash Macau, Liu Zheng will be in danger." It was a lot calmer before.

"Then what do you think?!" Liu Sheng stood by the street, gritted his teeth, and glanced coldly at the various businesses on the street, thinking that there was nothing good about it!

"Calm down, do what we should do well. Go back and discuss with Zhao Xin, he must have a solution!"

On the Thunder God, Zhao Xin was receiving a middle-aged man in a coarse cloth bunt with braids on his head and his subordinates.This person is Zheng Lianchang, the boss of the Red Flag Gang. After he received the report from the shrimp ball boy, he took hundreds of his men and twenty boats from Liyumen to Tanzai Island in more than half a day.

But Zheng Lianchang did it before he came up. He heard the report from the shrimp ball boy and knew that the opponent only used two fast cannons that were not thicker than the forearm, so he beat the English ship and ran away; such a powerful character should not be taken lightly.

When he and a group of Hongqi helpers saw the Thunder God, they were even more frightened.As mentioned before, the Dan family has little literacy and is extremely superstitious, so Zheng Lianchang and all his subordinates thought that the Thunder God was either a god or a sea monster, which made them even more afraid to act rashly.

"Zheng Yi, a bastard who doesn't know how to die, dares to provoke these people, alas!" Zheng Lianchang stood at the bow of the ship and looked at the Thunder God, and couldn't help but sighed.

Speaking of Zheng Lianchang, he is conscientious in his work, but his intelligence is mediocre. Although the Red Gang has not grown in his hands, it has not declined, he is just a conservative person.However, this person can distinguish between people and things, right and wrong, right and wrong, and is good at listening to other people's opinions.Zheng Yi is his eldest son, and he is very capable among the Zheng family's children. Since he was a child, he has brought a group of gangsters to play and train together, and has done several important things; so Zheng Yi will be the one who will succeed him in the future. .This is also the reason why Zheng Lianchang brought people here in such a hurry.

Zheng Lianchang sent Shrimp Ball Boy up to contact the Thunder God, and then took a few of his men to the deck of the Thunder God.But when he saw that neither Zhao Xin nor the surrounding sailors and soldiers had braids, he was very surprised.He already knew from Xia Qiuzi that people like Zhao Xin could speak official dialect, so when he saw Zhao Xin, Zheng Lianchang stepped forward and clasped his fists and said, "My next son, Zheng Lianchang, may I ask you what your name is?"

"My surname is Zhao. Please sit down, Chief Zheng." Zhao Xin has been in a bad mood for the past few days, so he was not polite.

"Captain Zhao" Zheng Lianchang thought it over and decided to use the title "Captain Zhao". "Little Zheng Yi is ignorant and offended Captain Zhao, please forgive me."

Zhao Xin said with a faint smile: "This kid is really brave enough to take people on board a ship to attack at night. Chief Zheng, I heard that your ancestors were under the command of the Zheng family in Taiwan. How come you are now a pirate?"

"The ancestors didn't want to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, so they had to settle in the Pearl River Estuary and brought their brothers to fish for a living. As for the pirates that Captain Zhao mentioned, it really has nothing to do with us."

Facing Zheng Lianchang's nonsense, Zhao Xin waved his hand and said, "I'm just telling those who don't understand. I know your details very well. Do you dare to say that you have no connection with Annan?"

"You!" Zheng Lianchang was shocked, he didn't expect such a secret thing to be revealed by the other party.

It is said that in addition to sulfur and ordnance, the Qing court also included rice and ironware in the trade embargo list.And because of the war, Annan had an extremely urgent demand for ironware, which led to the rise of smuggling trade.With smuggling, there must be pirates.However, the Pearl River pirates at this time did not pose much threat to the Qing court. These people often consisted of three to five people, sometimes dozens of people, who robbed fishing boats and merchant ships along the way. In Cantonese, they called it "Ta Dou".Most of the iron materials seized were sold to Annan by the pirates.

Zhao Xin smiled slightly. He knew all the stories about pirates in Guangdong from watching movies and TV dramas in history. "Boss Zheng, I know that you came here to bring your son back. I'm not a pirate, so just speak up if you have something to say."

Zheng Lianchang said: "Captain Zhao, please speak."

"I can let you take him away, but I have two conditions." Zhao Xin didn't say whether he would agree or not, which meant that Zheng Lianchang had to agree. "I want twenty shipbuilders, and you give me fifty men. These people will work with me for ten years."

Zheng Lianchang's face darkened suddenly: "I have plenty of people, and I also have boatmen, but what does Captain Zhao want to do with these people?"

"I don't want to say the reason. In short, these people follow me, and they will only grow their skills; I really don't like the matter of occupying a reef to collect tolls. I don't want these people for nothing. I will give 50 taels of silver to each of them. You can sign a contract, and I will give you an extra 2000 taels if you are here, Chief Zheng."

"Ah!" Zheng Lianchang was stunned for a moment.He also carried 500 taels of silver to redeem his son on the boat, but he didn't expect that the other party would give him ten times the silver if he didn't give it out.He hurriedly asked: "Captain Zhao, where did you come from?"

"Beihai. It's about 6000 miles away from Tanzai Island."

After hearing this, Zheng Lianchang and the people behind him couldn't help but gasp.Mother too! More than 6000 miles!But what Zhao Xin said next surprised them even more.

"However, it will take me ten days at most on this boat." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he ordered a soldier to bring Zheng Yi and Zheng Qi over.

Not long after, brothers Zheng Yi and Zheng Qi, who were wearing Beihai town training camouflage, were led by several soldiers and walked over from the bow cabin.

"Father!" Zheng Yi saw his father coming in person, his eyes turned red, and he knelt down.Zheng Qi beside him also knelt down listlessly.

"You bad boy!" Zheng Lianchang went up angrily and slapped his son.

　Fu'an lesson plan: Historically, from the later years of Kangxi, Bai Duolu, a monk of the Dominican Society, began to secretly preach in Fu'an, Fujian.When Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, the Qing government began to expel Western missionaries on a large scale across the country, converted Catholic churches in various provinces into public offices, and strictly prohibited religion.Although Catholic missionary activities in inland China were hit hard afterwards, they did not disappear. Secret missionary activities continued in many areas, especially in Fu'an.In April of the 11th year of Qianlong, Zhou Xuejian, the governor of Fujian at the time, captured five Western missionaries Fei Ruoyong, De Huang Zhengguo, Shi Huangzhengguo, Bai Duolu, and Hua Jing according to a secret report, and also captured a group of local religious believers.After interrogation, it was learned that these five missionaries set out from Macau every time, shaved their heads and braided hair, pretended to be patients, sat in a sleeping sedan chair on the dry road, covered with a curtain, and then secretly sneaked into Fu’an to preach; Available from Dominicans based in Macau.In July of that year, the Fu'an missionary case turned into a nationwide campaign to suppress and ban missionaries.Originally, Qianlong was unwilling to deal with missionaries, but Zhou Xuejian, the governor of Fujian, as an important minister in frontiers, faced the missionary situation in Luzon, Macao and other places and the serious situation of secret missionaries in his jurisdiction. Zhou Xuejian felt the power of Xili more directly and strongly than Qianlong. The undercurrent of eastward expansion is raging; and the impact of Catholicism on Chinese traditional culture is too great.In the end, under his strong suggestion, the monk Bai Duolu was beheaded, and the other four missionaries were imprisoned successively.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)