1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 138 Interception ([-])

Compared with the poor agricultural harvest in Hanzhou Jianye City, Luo Rucheng "harvested" a large population in Haizhou (now Lianyungang).

After Luo Rucheng led the four ships including Zhou Yingping's Fuchuan to separate from Cao Xiong's fleet, they went all the way north and arrived in Haizhou in mid-February.

At first, there were only a few hundred hungry people in Haizhou, and they were going to go to the south of the Yangtze River to seek a living.

Luo Rucheng and Zhou Yingping found a few local subordinates, spent a little money, and immediately loaded these hungry people onto the boat. After filling the two boats, they sailed southward to Guangzhou without delay.

After waiting for a while, the news of going to Nanyang to reclamation and colonization gradually spread to the inland, and the hunger gradually increased.

At the beginning, Luo Rucheng was worried that there were too few hungry people, regardless of strong and strong women and children, as soon as they got on the boat, they would give out a dry pancake.In just two days, two more ships were filled.

Later, more and more hungry people gathered, and the Haizhou Yamen became tense.A state judge came to the pier with a team of guard soldiers and many government servants. While maintaining order, he angrily ordered Zhou Yingping to quickly evacuate the gathered hungry people, or find a boat to get them away.

Zhou Yingping negotiated with Luo Rucheng, and immediately hired all the large and small ships near Haizhou to send the hungry people to Guangzhou at the price of eight taels of silver per person.

From mid-February to the end of April, Luo Rucheng did not know how many boats transported hungry people, but there were probably four thousand to four thousand five thousand.This group of hungry people is their last wave of transportation. When they arrive in Guangzhou, after a little repair, all the ships will return to Hanzhou with full loads of immigrants.

Looking at the vast sea, Luo Rucheng couldn't help shouting excitedly.

"Brother Luo, why are you so excited?" an old brother asked with a smile.

"We have transported more than 4000 people back and forth." Luo Rucheng looked at the six or seven large and small ships passing behind him, and said happily: "When these people arrived in Hanzhou, did our strength increase all at once? A big part!...It can be regarded as completely standing still."

Hanzhou is isolated overseas, and the nearest powerful force is the Dutch East India Company, but it is also thousands of miles away.If you want to attack Hanzhou, you don't have one or two thousand armed men to land, and it is impossible to defeat Hanzhou.

In this era, large-scale landing operations have always been very complicated and difficult.Moreover, Hanzhou has 5000 people in the future, most of whom are young and strong, and can easily mobilize 500 to [-] people.At that time, I will definitely not watch you log in calmly.

In landing operations, it is easier for people to go ashore, but the difficulty is how to land materials and equipment smoothly.

"How to transfer these thousands of people to Guangzhou is still a big problem."

"It's okay, Brother Dajiang built an island near Champa, and it's only a ten-day flight from Guangzhou. Master Cao's three big ships can transport more than 1000 people in one trip. The three trips should be able to be transported. The rest is to transport people to Hanzhou slowly." Luo Rucheng said.

"Maybe it will be faster. Master Cao and the others have already transferred a batch a month ago.... Hey, why did they all stop?"

Luo Rucheng also felt that the boat came to a slow stop. He took a few steps to the bow and looked forward.

I saw more than 20 large and small ships lined up on the sea half a mile ahead, intercepting their small fleet.After a while, the other party sailed out of two small boats and approached slowly.

"The Zheng family's patrol fleet!" Luo Rucheng was a little annoyed and helpless.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong's forces controlled the vast seas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the north, Guangdong in the south, and Japan in the east.Their cruise ships can inspect passing ships at will.If the ship does not have the Sea King flag issued by the Zheng family, the cruise ship can collect tolls ranging from 3000 to [-] taels of silver depending on the type and quantity of the cargo.Its strength is astonishing.

The two small boats that came to inspect the cargo stopped beside Fu Chuan.

"Why are there people on board?" The little leader who boarded the ship boarded several ships in a row, and found that all the ships were hungry people with disheveled faces.

"Nanyang Chinese merchants recruited people to cultivate, so they recruited some hungry people in Haizhou, and prepared to beg for a bite of food for them!" Zhou Yingping replied carefully.When they recruited hungry people in Haizhou, they also used this excuse.

The little boss was in a bit of a dilemma. If all the goods were on board, with years of experience, he could estimate the price casually and ask them to pay the money and leave.But what the hell are the hungry people on board, so it's hard to estimate.

"Wait, I'll go back and report to our general." The little boss shook his head and led the people off the boat.

After hearing the report from his little boss, Chen Hui remained silent for a while, as if he was thinking about something.

"If I remember correctly, in the past few months, more than [-] boats have gone south one after another, all of them are hungry people, and they are also going to Nanyang to cultivate fame."

"Back to the general, I heard from other brothers that in recent months, there have indeed been many ships carrying hungry people to Nanyang for reclamation."

"Besides the Dutch, what other big power in Nanyang can accept so many hungry people?" Chen Hui asked.

"This..., the subordinates don't know."

"Go, call their leader."

Hearing this, the little boss immediately left the cabin, boarded a small boat, and went to find the leader of the fleet.

"Brother Haihai, what do you think?" Chen Hui turned his head and asked a burly man beside him.

"I'm not familiar with Nanyang." A short answer, revealing a sense of alienation.

"Brother Haihai is still brooding over the past?" Chen Hui said with a smile.

"I... no."

"Last year, it was Liu Xiang who tricked you and asked you to stand in front, but he ran away. But the sky net was restored, and Liu Xiang was killed in Tianweiyang by the governor of my family (Zheng Zhilong had been awarded the governor of Fujian at this time), It can be regarded as a sigh of relief for Brother Haihai.... In the battle at sea, the guns have no eyes. It is really an accident that several of your brothers and elders served on that day. Besides, many of my brothers and friends died in that sea battle. People, focus on the future! Say yes, Brother Hai."

Sitting next to Chen Hui was Qi Dahai. During that naval battle, his ship was hit by artillery and he fell into the water.Later, when Zheng Zhilong's fleet cleaned the battlefield, they picked it up.Because they belonged to Cao Xiong's tribe, and they were all from Shandong, the enmity with Zheng Zhilong's forces was relatively light, so after being captured, they didn't suffer much.

After landing in Quanzhou, he was detained for a while.Soon, people in the Zheng family said that Liu Xiang's power was completely wiped out in Tianweiyang, and only a few escaped.Ask people about Cao Xiong and his brothers, there are different opinions, some say they were all killed at sea, others say they fled without a trace.

In desperation, Qi Dahai grabbed a knife and wanted to escape to find his brother's whereabouts.Although his martial arts were extraordinary, he was finally surrounded by Zheng's soldiers and subdued him.Someone was about to chop off his head, but was caught by Chen Hui who had just returned.He admired Qi Haihai's bravery very much, so he asked him to be his bodyguard.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong's people couldn't tell and didn't care about the whereabouts of Cao Xiong's men.There are only a few hundred fish that escaped the net. To Zheng Zhilong's huge sea power, they are like ants.

But Qi Dahai was burdened with a heavy psychological burden. The life and death of his closest relatives were uncertain.Almost a year has passed, and there is no news of Cao Xiong and his brothers from the sea.Endless despair and pain have been slowly eroding his heart.

If Chen Hui hadn't deliberately controlled him, Qi Dahai would have been ruined by alcohol long ago.But he became more silent, and even more ruthless and fierce when he killed people.

"General, the two leaders are here." The little leader's voice came from outside the cabin.

Chen Hui looked at Qi Dahai's silent figure, sighed, stood up, and walked out of the cabin.

Zhou Yingping was a little nervous, and he subconsciously looked at Luo Rucheng next to him.

Luo Rucheng gave him a calm look, we only brought some hungry people on board, and there are no imperial contraband, so what are you afraid of.

"Are you the leader of this fleet?" Chen Hui looked at the two people on the opposite side. One was obviously a businessman, while the other looked a bit tough.

"If you go back to the general, we are in the lead. I don't know if there are any contraband on our ship. Stop me from waiting for the ship?" Zhou Yingping said.

"I heard from you little ones that you ships are all carrying hungry people, and there are no contraband.... I want to inquire about something."

"...Excuse me, General."

"These hungry people on your boat brought down Nanyang, for whom?" Chen Hui asked calmly, staring at Zhou Yingping.

"Oh, many Chinese merchants in Nanyang are cultivating in Nanyang, and they need a lot of manpower. We will help transport some hungry people to them, and also ask them for a bite."

"The names of those Chinese merchants, tell them immediately!" Chen Hui said coldly.

"Uh..." Zhou Yingping was at a loss for words, and subconsciously looked at Luo Rucheng.

"Speak!" Chen Hui pointed at Luo Rucheng and shouted.

"Why do you ask this?" Luo Rucheng stared at Chen Hui, "We are just helping them transport people, we are just a boat runner....We just contacted us through an intermediary."

"There must be a name!" Chen Hui said coldly.

"...It's Su Minggang." Luo Rucheng suddenly remembered the Chinese Jiapidan in Batavia.

"Su Minggang?" Chen Hui chewed on the name, "I don't believe it!... Tell me, where and to whom are you transporting people?"

Luo Rucheng sighed slightly in his heart. This time, it might not be good. It is a pity that these hundreds of hungry people cannot be transported to Guangzhou.

"Don't move around, gunpowder doesn't have eyes." Seeing that Luo Rucheng's whole body was collapsing and about to erupt at any moment, Chen Hui took a few steps back and signaled the soldiers on the boat to push forward.

Sure enough, there was a problem. When these two people were caught, they had to be tortured. Is it the Dutch who are gathering manpower to conspire in Southeast Asia, or is there a new pirate force on the sea.

(End of this chapter)