I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 547 Do you want me to be Wang Zhi’s second best?
Upon hearing this, Li Dan's face suddenly showed a hint of imperceptible anger.

In the past, Huang Cheng would only nod and bow down when he saw him, and he would ask himself to do things at every turn.I didn't expect that now that he had a backer, he would be so presumptuous towards me and dare to say these things to me.

But looking at Huang Cheng, who was calm and drinking alone, Li Dan had to hold back his anger.

There is no other reason than that what Huang Cheng said was right.

He had indeed funded Tokugawa Ieyasu before, but after Tokugawa Ieyasu died of illness, the Japanese shogunate became more and more strict on Catholicism, and his tendency to close the country became more and more serious.In particular, there were more and more opinions and difficulties for Ming merchants like him who believed in Catholicism. If he hadn't given a large amount of offerings to the Lord of Nagasaki every year, it would have been difficult for him to stay in Nagasaki for a long time.

For this reason, he had always wanted to make plans in advance. At that time, he thought that it would be difficult to return to Ming Dynasty, so he would have to have a backup base.Then he set his sights on Taiwan, always feeling that this place was a treasure land that could be used as a retreat.

So he kept sending people to open up Taiwan, and chose Jingang (now Haomeili, Chiayi City) in central Taiwan as his base and transit place to move goods back and forth between Ming Dynasty, Japan, and Luzon, making a lot of profits.

However, after Yan Siqi saw him doing this, he also imitated his example and prepared to imitate him in choosing a port in central Taiwan.He had already thought of a name, so he called it Beigang, which was not far from his hometown of Singang. At the same time, he was planning to set up camp there. He had already sent people to recruit fellow villagers with the surname Yan from Zhangzhou, Fujian, and he was afraid that they would take action soon.

This really made him a little annoyed. This Yan Siqi was generous, generous with money, and tall, which made most of the merchants in the Zhangquan Merchant Gang very convinced of him, making it very difficult to deal with him.

Huang Cheng looked at Li Dan who was silent, picked up the jug on the side and slowly poured wine for Li Dan.

"Don't worry, Mr. Li. When I came to Japan to do business, you took good care of me and saved me a lot of trouble. Therefore, I made a special trip this time to bring you peace and wealth."

Li Dan picked up the wine glass and took a cold look at the wine in the glass.To be honest, he didn't know anything about Huang Cheng's purpose, but seeing that he came specifically to see him, Li Dan suddenly felt like a weasel paying New Year's greetings to a chicken, so he said without caring:

"I have long heard that people in Daming Trading Company can buy and sell shares and invest. Do you want me to invest in Daming Trading Company? If so, I can invest."

"Haha, I also want to buy the shares of Daming Trading Company, but they have been sold out a long time ago. Since the earnings were announced in the first month of this year, everyone in this capital, from the peddlers to the high-ranking officials, doesn't want to get a share of the pie. This is the only way to buy it. Even if you earn it, I can’t grab it.”

Huang Cheng shook his head when he heard this, thinking to himself that this Li Dan was really whimsical.

"The emperor is smart. I heard that the Red Maoist East India Company has this model. I also wanted to try it, but before I could do it, the emperor learned from me. He can do this kind of business without capital. Very. Okay, tell me, if you have any peace, wealth or wealth you want to tell me."

Li Dan smiled. Although he was stationed in Japan, he had been paying attention to the situation in the Ming Dynasty. The more he watched, the more he felt that the emperor was not an ordinary person.

Many of the measures implemented since he came to the throne broke the ancestral system and could not be implemented by those without great perseverance, so he was very curious about Huang Chenglai's purpose.Seeing that Li Dan couldn't hold on any longer, Huang Cheng suddenly felt secretly happy, and then said solemnly:
"Mr. Li, what I said is true. I came here this time to give you a great fortune. I came here this time under the orders of His Majesty and the Governor of Southern Zhili, Bi Ziyan. The purpose is to Return to the Ming Dynasty."

"Go back to Ming Dynasty?"

Li Dan was stunned when he heard this. He never expected that Huang Cheng would have such a request, and that he was sent by the emperor and the governor of Southern Zhili to make the request.

This suddenly shocked Li Dan and didn't know what to say. Huang Cheng immediately explained after seeing this. "It's true. Let me tell you the truth. Now the imperial court has abolished the maritime ban and promoted maritime trade. However, there are many Japanese pirates and pirates in the maritime trade, especially in the East China Sea."

When he said this, he couldn't help but glance at Li Dan. I was afraid that many of the pirates in the East China Sea were from Li Dan's fleet.

"So the Governor of South Zhili, Mr. Bi Ziyan, wanted to revitalize the South Zhili Navy and escort merchant ships. To this end, he specially ordered the Tianjin Navy to go south and recruited navy from the Cao Gang. This has only one purpose, and that is Let the navy's combat effectiveness take shape quickly."

"This won't work at all. How can the Bohai Sea compare with the East China Sea? It's okay to have Cao Bang jumping in the canal, but once you get on the boat and go to sea, you will definitely have vomiting and diarrhea. You must know that the canal and going to the sea are two different things."

When Li Dan heard this, he immediately felt that this matter was unreliable. The East China Sea was very stormy and one had to be extremely careful when sailing on it. Currents, weather and other climate changes should not be taken with caution.

"As Mr. Li said, even the emperor was worried about this matter and felt that it was a bit too hasty. So Governor Bi came up with a way, and that was to recruit people!"

Recruiting?

As soon as Li Dan heard this, his eyes narrowed and he immediately understood what Huang Cheng meant.

"I thought you were talking about a good thing, but I didn't expect you to come here to harm me. It's really a waste of my time. Someone, pull Huang Cheng out."

As soon as he finished speaking, two Japanese samurai came in from outside the door, suppressed Huang Cheng, and tried to drag him out without saying a word.

Huang Cheng never expected that Li Dan suddenly turned against him and shouted quickly:
"Mr. Li is confused. You don't want peace, wealth or honor. Your men have plundered more than ten ships in the East China Sea, which has long been recorded by the government. There are many people in the court who want your head. Don't take advantage of your majesty now." By issuing an order to recruit people, could it be that they want to wait for the imperial navy to complete their training, cut off trade, and move in with the army to suppress them?"

Li Dan became even more angry when he heard this, and immediately waved his hand to stop the two warriors.Then he slowly walked up to Huang Cheng and said coldly:

"Recruit me, Wang Zhi's lessons are still vivid in my mind, how could I be Wang Zhi's second best?"

Wang Zhi is known to everyone among maritime merchants such as Huang Cheng and Li Dan. It can even be said that he is the earliest maritime overlord.

During the Jiajing period, Wang Zhi gathered his gang members to form a smuggling team. They were both traders and thieves, traveling across the sea and no one could control them.Later, Hu Zongxian, the then governor of Zhejiang Province, and his staff Xu Wei advocated recruiting him, and sent envoys Jiang Zhou and Chen Keyuan to Japan to negotiate with Wang Chun (Mao Haifeng), Wang Zhi's adopted son.

Wang Zhi agreed immediately because of his rationale and affection. However, not long after returning home, he was captured by Wang Bengu, who was then the inspector of Zhejiang Province, and was immediately executed.

Subsequently, smuggling merchants in the Ming Dynasty took this as a warning, and few accepted the offer.

Others don't, especially Li Dan.

　The third update will start tomorrow, work hard! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)