Daming Yinghua

Chapter 165 I'm going to see Xu Xinsu

"Xu Xinsu?" Zheng Haizhu said the name twice, and said with a strange face, "I've never heard of it."

Yan Siqi said: "Where is Yu Zigao?"

"That's what I know. The current Fujian General Soldier is the son of Yu Dayou, a famous anti-Japanese general."

Yan Siqi nodded, rolled up Li Zhizao's simple version of the world map, took four teacups, and laid them out on the table.

"Azhu, Yu Zigao Yu Zongbing, is now the same as Li Rubai in Liaodong, relying on the foundation saved by his parents, and the family business is doing very well. Of course, he is still stronger than Li Rubai, and he still holds the military command along the coast of Fujian. , the sailors are all left 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 gun is it in?"

Yan Siqidao took the second teacup and said, "There is a cannon, and it's not a bad thing. Most of it depends on the money Xu Xinsu made for him. Eunuch Liu sent a message last year, saying that the imperial court appointed me as a Xuanfu envoy. I prepared a generous gift and went to see Yu Zigao near Xiamen. He should have gotten the news and treated me as a courtesy and let me go ashore. Not only did I see the gun boat, but also Li Dan's original staff, Xu Xinsu .”

Zheng Haizhu suddenly realized.

Although she can't recite the names of every key person, she still remembers the general context of the situation in the Fujian-Taiwan sea area and the friendship between officials and businessmen in the late Ming Dynasty.

Li Dan, a Chinese businessman entrenched in Japan's Hirado Port, who was also Yan Siqi's original boss, had already planted cronies along the coast of Fujian, and made friends with civil servants and generals of Ming Dynasty to do business and make a fortune together.

The imperial court banned trade with Japan, but it gave them a huge space for self-interest.A part of Li Dan's fleet loaded silver and bought goods from Daming from Yu Zigao. After being escorted by Yu's army, they transported the goods back to sea and carried out wars with Japan, Portugal, Spain, and later the Dutch and the British. trade.

Therefore, after hearing the names of "Yu Zigao" and "Li Dan", Zheng Haizhu understood the identity of "Xu Xinsu".

This Xu Xinsu is Li Dan's agent on the coast of Fujian, which is equivalent to a white glove. A local warlord like Yu Zigao who is doing business for profit will also treat Xu Xinsu as a guest of honor.

"Brother Yan, what did Yu Zigao say during your visit?"

The corners of Yan Siqi's mouth twitched slightly: "It's just eating and drinking, talking about scenes, and mentioning Qi Shaobao's poems. It's not my wish to be a Marquis, but I hope Haibo will be peaceful."

Zheng Haizhu said with a smile: "Of course I hope Haibo will be flat, otherwise we are in the sea trade business, do we drink the northwest wind? However, Xu Xinsu is not shy about confronting you. Yu Zongbing is an open person. After all, there are always brothers in Japan. I can't hide this matter from coming to Taiwan to join you. Did Xu Xinsu reveal anything during that visit?"

Yan Siqi put teacups representing Japan and Penghu on the east side of the teacups representing Yu Zigao and Xu Xinsu, one south and one north, and replied: "For Li Guozhu's help and 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. However, when Yu Zigao asked Xu Xinsu to toast me, Xu Xinsu said, big brother is big brother, and he beat Frankie well."

Zheng Haizhu stroked the rim of the teacup representing Penghu, and pondered: "Everyone is a trained fox. What Xu Xinsu said in front of Yu Zigao was what Yu Zigao meant. Do you still remember the inspector who colluded with Li Guozhu?" Cai Feng, deputy envoy of Kaido?"

"The one shot to death by Eunuch Liu?"

"Well, it's him. I talked to Cai Feng. He has a Cantonese accent. He was transferred to Fujian for more than a year. I reckon that a high-spirited civil servant like Cai Feng is stupid. He didn't let Zongbing Yu go. In my eyes, Cai Feng wants to share a share of the seafood business near Penghu with the Spaniards. Therefore, Yu Zigao is happy to see him die."

Yan Siqi echoed, "It's the most taboo thing in the world to dig out a snake's den without the ability, but not to pay attention to local snakes."

Zheng Haizhu turned her head, moved to the string window, looked at the gradually clear Beigang, and murmured: "What are you doing digging out the snake's nest? We don't need to call ourselves Jinlin. We can unite with the local snakes to clean up the foreign mice."

……

Beigang in Taiwan is commonly known as "Old Port" and "Stupid Port". Today's Taipei to Keelung area.

More than 40 years ago, Lin Feng, a native of Chaozhou, gathered people and started his business as a sea trader. After his strength grew, he came to station in northern Taiwan. While building ports and doing business, he also engaged in immigration and farmland, making northern Taiwan quite prosperous.

Lin Feng hoped to be recruited by Daming, but the imperial court ignored it and ordered the Cantonese General Army to encircle and suppress.Lin Feng took all the people and boats and went south to Luzon, trying to drive out the Spaniards, occupy Manila, and establish his own overseas kingdom.

After Lin Feng left, the island of Taiwan, which was originally quite middle-earth, gradually became an "enclave". Various smuggling fleets of Chinese and foreigners occupied their own harbors in northern Taiwan to trade goods and supply fresh water.

In the setting sun, Yan Siqi pointed to a row of three-masted ships with cloth sails in the distance on the "Yan" flag ship that had sailed to the north of Hualien, and said: "After I have established my foothold in Tainan, I will go to Japan with my brothers. I have visited here a few times. Now in Beigang, there are many private boats in Hirado, Japan, Ningbo, Zhejiang, and Zhangquan, Fujian. But the ones you see now are the boats of the Hongyi people. After the hurricane season last year, I I also saw your old acquaintance there."

Zheng Haizhu rolled her eyes when she heard the words, and said with a smile, "Is it that glib Gullit?"

"Yes, our boat sold him more than a dozen tans of black tea. This Gullit didn't even pay back the price at the time. He looked polite and sincere, but he came to bribe the tea farmers on us and the boat the next day, trying to trick out the black tea maker. French."

Zheng Haizhu was not surprised at all.

In the age of great voyages, people and goods, concepts and technologies have entered the process of global intercommunication, and it is impossible for information to be blocked.The sweet potatoes that Xu Guangqi planted in Songjiang to prepare for the famine were also sneaked into the country by Chinese from foreigners' boats.

Historically, after black tea appeared in Wuyi Mountain, black tea put into the commodity market soon appeared in Sri Lanka and other places in Southeast Asia.

What matters is not the technical barriers to cargo, but the command of the sea.

As the ships sailed, in Zheng Haizhu's vision, the white sailboats of the Dutch fleet and the Spanish fleet slowly turned into the bamboo sailboats of the Chinese merchant fleet, and then the Japanese Zhuyin ships.

But they all have one thing in common: they are all loaded with artillery.

Truth is within the range of the cannon.

Tax silver is beyond the range of the cannon.

Zheng Haizhu looked at Beigang, Taiwan, which was still busy as the Spring Festival approached, and she knew that in two months, it would be even more lively in order to catch up with the voyage of the Manila Galleon across the Pacific Ocean in early summer.

In the territory of Ming Dynasty, the imperial court couldn't get the tax money that was vain.Ten times the huge profits are earned by foreigners on the land cultivated by the Chinese for generations.

Yan Siqi's voice sounded next to Zheng Haizhu's ear: "Azhu, I am luckier than Lin Feng. The envoy Lin Feng asked for back then is now Yan Siqi's. But what the imperial court gave me was Taiwan Xuanfu envoy, not Tainan Xuanfu. So, I see that Beigang is still in such a situation, how can I be reconciled, do you understand?"

Zheng Haizhu looked up at him: "Brother Yan, after returning to Tainan, you give me a boat and send the brother who went to Xiamen to steer the helm. I'm going to see Xu Xinsu."

(End of this chapter)