Warring States Eagle

In Xuefu City, there is a building built on a small hill that resembles the Four Seasons Garden of the Ming Dynasty.This is a tea pavilion in the mountains where Zhengliang specially entertained guests from afar.

Right now, Zheng Liang is standing on the balcony of another slightly higher loft in this garden, looking at Wang Hai and his party who are slowly walking towards the tea pavilion in the mountain.

It seems that there are a dozen people in this group.These men, though not large in stature, were very strong.Everyone has a knife across their waist, and the last few people are holding a box in their hands, I don't know if it is a gift or something.

Of the two leaders, one is naturally Wang Hai, whom Zheng Liang knew, and the other is a young man in his 20s, talking with Chen Tianjie and walking slowly. There is a sense of calmness and sophistication.From the bottom of my heart, I guessed that he was the backbone of this group of people.That is Mao Haifeng, godson of Wang Zhi, the future King of Pirates mentioned by Wang Hai.

Half a month ago, after seeing Zheng Liang, Wang Hai not only introduced to Zheng Liang the smuggling and trade of the Ming country and the recent immigration situation of the Ming country, but also took out a letter written by Wang Zhi himself to Zheng Liang.The letter mainly expressed friendship to Zhengliang and proposed mutual trade proposals.Zheng Liang then conveyed his goodwill to Wang Zhi through Wang Hai, so Wang Zhi sent his godson Mao Haifeng as an envoy to discuss trade.

Some time ago, Wang Zhi’s lair, Fujian Shuangyu Island, was taken over by Zhu Wan, who had just served as the governor of Zhejiang Province and also served as the seaway in Fujian, Xing, Zhang, Quan, Jianning, etc., with a navy.Wang Zhi had to take people to flee to Liebiao Mountain (also known as Liegang. This port is about [-] miles away from Zhoushan County).Regroup here.Then sent a large army to capture the Ryukyu Islands.During this period of time, Wang Zhi's strength has actually not reached its peak.Moreover, he was having a great conflict with another pirate leader, Chen Sipan, and he was only thinking about how to annex Chen Sipan's forces.As for the Wa country area, he didn't pay much attention to it for the time being, and he mostly used Wa country as a ship stop and supply point.

What Wang Zhi didn't know at this time was that Zhu Wan, who drove him away at the beginning, harmed the vested interests of the gentry in the southeast coast because of a series of tough actions against armed business groups after he took office, so after the impeachment of the Fujian censor, The chapter is handed in.Zhu Wan was demoted to "inspector" by the court, and was about to be dismissed soon.Faced with such shame, the fierce Zhu Wan chose to commit suicide.After Zhu Wan's death, the post he left behind was "governor of Zhejiang Province, and concurrently in charge of the military affairs of the five prefectures of Fu, Xing, Zhang, Quan, and Jianning", which has not been filled for three years.His death also brought about another more serious consequence: the armed business groups that originally focused on business and smuggling ceased to exist, and the pirate forces that blindly plundered became stronger.

According to the development of history, it was during this period when the power of the government suddenly weakened that Wang Zhi sent people to secretly collude with people in Chen Sipan's camp not long after, on the day of Chen Sipan's birthday.Wang Zhizhi went straight to Henggang and cooperated with those spies inside and outside.Yu Zhuying cut off Chen Sipan's head at the banquet where the candle shadow was popular, and occupied Chen Sipan's lair.At that time, the Chen family's fleet was plundering abroad. When they returned to Henggang, they found that their old nest had already changed hands. Pirates are subject to its restraint.

Satisfied, he simply called himself "Captain Wufeng", and only ships at sea with the "Wufeng Flag" could pass in his waters.Later, in order to force the Ming Dynasty to open the sea ban, he began to frequently lead the fleet to harass the coast of the Ming Dynasty.In the end, the Ming court was forced to send famous generals such as Yu Dayou and Lu Tong to jointly kill Wang Zhi, and Wang Zhi was defeated and fled to the country of Japan. Only then did Wang Zhi establish a pirate empire in the country of Japan and call himself the "King of Hui" .

Now, Wang Zhi has just extended his power to the Ryukyu and Satsuma regions, and his attention is not concentrated here. His own power is also in the rising stage, but it just happens to meet the Luo family who is also rising in the Kyushu region. .

Wang Zhi, who knew about the existence of the Luo family when he was smuggling in the early years, had grown up to be the most powerful daimyo in the Kyushu region when he learned that this local wealthy family in the Hizen Kingdom who didn't even bother to come forward to negotiate business in person. At that time, he was also taken aback.And when he knew that the Luo family's navy was also quite powerful, he didn't dare to underestimate the Luo family.So they immediately sent someone to find Wang Hai, who also became famous in the world of smugglers in the Ming and Japanese countries in the past few years, hoping that Wang Hai could act as an intermediary to influence the establishment of a cooperative relationship between Wang Zhi and the Luo family.

Wang Zhi's thoughts at this time were mainly focused on annexing Chen Sipan's forces, and most importantly, he wholeheartedly hoped that the Ming Kingdom would open the sea ban, and he would return to his hometown with a recognized and prominent status.As for the country of Wa, in his opinion, he is willing to trade with all the local forces in the country of Wa, such as selling arms, but he is unwilling to intervene too much in the affairs of the country of Wa, because this will arouse the resentment of other wealthy families in the country, which is not good for him in the country of Wa foothold.The key is that his heart is in Daming, and Wa Kingdom is just his supply base.Besides, the Luo's family is so powerful now, if the Luo's family really unified the Kyushu by then, it would be bad for him to turn against the Luo's family, so he took the initiative to show his favor.

And what about Zhengliang?After receiving Wang Zhi's personal letter, he began to think about how the Luo family should deal with Wang Zhi's forces.

In Zheng Liang's eyes, Wang Zhi is a historically controversial figure.As the future One Piece, he restrained the behavior of pirates to a certain extent.Moreover, although others are overseas, their hearts have always been in their homeland, and they always hope that one day they can return to their homeland with glory (later, this dream was indeed realized, but the head fell to the ground because of it).

However, it is naive to try to push the entire Ming Dynasty to lift the sea ban and resume maritime trade by himself, like ants shaking a tree.And in order to achieve this naive idea of ​​his own, he has caused great harm to the people in the coastal areas intentionally or unintentionally.This is what Zheng Liang does not agree with.

But even if he disagrees with Wang Zhi's actions, what can Zheng Liang do?It is impossible to ignore the actual situation of the territory itself.Press all the water troops in the house.Then go to conquer Wang Zhi?In this case.Even if he succeeds, what will Zhengliang gain?

The current Zhengliang is no longer the person who just came to this world with the ridiculous ideal of saving the people from fire and water.As much power as a person has, so much responsibility can be exercised.Now he is still a local lord of the Wa country, and now he has to ensure that he and the people around him can survive in this troubled world, and expand the strength of his family to achieve self-protection.As for the Ming Dynasty?Hehe, it's really not something that a little lord like him can worry about.What's more, at this time, his identity is not yet a Ming countryman?

So, since Wang Zhi took the initiative to come to the door.The only thing Zheng Liang has to consider is what benefits he can get from cooperating with him, and at the same time, how to prevent Wang Zhi from becoming unfavorable to the Luo family in the future.

While thinking about it, Zheng Liang moved a chair from the Ming Dynasty to sit down, closed his eyes and waited. Thinking about it now, after living in the Wa Kingdom for a long time, Zheng Liang has long been used to sitting on the ground all day long. He has not felt the feeling of sitting on a chair for a long time. .

Not long after, outside the teahouse.Chen Tianjie's voice came, "My lord is waiting inside. Please come in, the two of you. The rest of the attendants are resting in the living room. Tea is already prepared."

"It's work."

Immediately afterwards, the wooden door of the hall was pushed open with a "squeak", and Zheng Liang opened his eyes, facing the gaze of Mao Haifeng who came in.

The two stared at each other for a moment.During this process, Zheng Liang always kept this smiling expression on his face, and his eyes were very calm, as calm as the deep sea water.

In the end, it was Mao Haifeng who was the first to smile politely, clasped his fists and said to Zheng Liang who was above the main seat: "I'm Mao Haifeng, I have met the lord."

Zheng Liang also smiled slightly, and said back: "The distinguished guest is here, and I have lost my way to welcome you. Please forgive me! Both of you, please sit down!"

But when Mao Haifeng heard Zheng Liang's words, he was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I don't think so, my lord's Ming language is so good!"

Zhengliang's accent at this time is the local accent he learned in Ningbo Mansion, and his original language talent is not bad, so it is really similar to imitate.

After being polite to each other, everyone sat down one by one.Afterwards, two surnames came in to serve tea, using the local tea soup of the country of Wa.While enjoying the tea, everyone talked a few words about the way of tea soup.

After the formalities were over, we finally got to the point.I saw Mao Haifeng said seriously: "My lord, this time I came here under the order of my father, and I hope to cooperate with my lord."

"Oh? I don't know how Wang Dangjia plans to cooperate?" Zheng Liang immediately asked calmly.

"Trade. My family can provide the lord with a large amount of supplies, and I hope that the lord can exchange gold, silver, copper ore, sulfur and other materials. In addition, the family also hopes that the lord can also send some ships and manpower when necessary." Join the fleet of our family and go to the coast of the Ming Dynasty to make a fortune together. If there is a shortage of manpower, it is okay to allow our family to recruit people in the territory of the lord." Mao Haifeng said.

"Trading with you is very welcome." It is naturally the best to obtain materials such as iron ore, saltpeter, gunpowder, and kerosene from the other party, so Zheng Liang welcomes trade with the other party.But it's not enough to allow the other party to recruit people on their own territory, or even send people to do some looting with them.

Although Zhengliang knew that powerful and famous people such as the Shimadzu family had probably agreed to cooperate with each other in this way (this would not only deepen the relationship with Wang Zhi, but also rob more wealth during the plundering process), even according to intelligence According to the report from the court, in the Satsuma country, Wang Zhi's forces have already recruited people who go to sea.But in Zhengliang's view, even if he couldn't do anything for Ming, at least he couldn't do anything for tigers.So although Zheng Liang changed his voice, he said to Mao Haifeng tactfully:

"As for recruiting people and sending people to help, I'm afraid it's a bit difficult for my family. Your Excellency also knows that at this time, my family is facing enemies from all directions, and the population is also very insufficient, so please forgive me for the manpower."

"Hahaha, it's okay. As long as the lord can agree to trade with the family. This is enough to explain to my father when I go back next time." Although it is strange that such a large territory of the Luo family still claims to be short of people, but for the Luo family Mao Haifeng really didn't care that the family couldn't provide them with manpower.Anyway, apart from the Luo family, there are many other powerful names.They don't worry about not being able to recruit people.

certainly.What Mao Haifeng didn't know was.Due to the early appearance of the Luo family.In history, many along the coast of Hizen Kingdom, Higo Kingdom, and Chikuzen Kingdom defected to Wang Zhi's command during this period.And some pirates who left a lot of blood debts on the coast of the Ming Dynasty have either been incorporated by the Luo family in advance, or have been exterminated by the Luo family.

"To be honest, I have another request." Seeing that Mao Haifeng didn't care about Zheng Liang's refusal to provide manpower, Zheng Liang took the opportunity to continue, "Our family is really short of people at this time. If it is handed over to my family, no matter men, women, old or young, healthy or not, my family is willing to exchange a certain amount of gold and silver."

This is tantamount to doing human trafficking business with Wang Zhi.It's just that Zheng Liang just wanted to give those poor people who were robbed to these pirate lairs a chance to live again.Often after losing their use value, these plundered slaves will end up being killed. In this case, it is better to buy them from these pirates to increase the population of the territory.

Of course, this is very likely to stimulate these pirates to increase the scale of plundering the population.But from another point of view, Zheng Liang also indirectly saved the lives of those looted civilians.Because these pirates were very fierce and cruel when they robbed, if they didn't plan to keep the robbed people as slaves, they would kill them directly.Now that these people are left behind, they can still be sold to the Luo family as goods.Then these pirates will naturally be merciful before killing people.

At that time, it is estimated that most of the slaves will be women.After all, women are often the most popular with these pirates.Naturally, the innocence of these robbed women is basically at stake.So in order to receive these women.Zheng Liang also needs to add an organization similar to psychological counseling to the pension institutions run by several of his women, so as to guide these women and prevent them from committing suicide after they end up in the Luo family's territory.Otherwise, the coins of the Luo family are equal to Baihua.

Unlike the local women in the Wa country, although the women in the Ming country are not of high social status, they all have a strong concept of chastity.However, the local women in the country of Wa do not seem to have a high opinion of this kind of concept.Anyway, the local women agree with such things as remarriage.It is estimated that it is the open concept of these women and the local admiration for the culture of masculinity that caused the Japanese culture to spread its reputation overseas in the future.

Mao Haifeng naturally agrees with Zhengliang's proposal to buy people from them.Now that there is a business, there will be fools who turn it down.What's more, pirates also have a day when they get old or can no longer go to sea. In the past, it was a problem for them how to deal with these people. Isn't it just a way out for these people now?You can get rid of the burden and make some money, so why not do it?

Later, Zheng Liang and Mao Haifeng reached an agreement that when the Luo family's ships passed through the waters within Wang Zhi's sphere of influence, as long as they hung the Luo family's family flag, they could pass safely without harassment.

After reaching an agreement with Wang Zhi, at this time the Luo family has already entered into a business cooperation agreement with the Nanman Sea Adventurer, the Western Church, the Ming Kingdom smuggler, Wang Zhi, and the North Korean smuggler.In this way, a variety of export methods are formed, and it also avoids the situation that the price of Luo's export products is lowered due to a single partner.The so-called shopping around, the Luo's family will focus on cooperating with the one that can make the Luo's family more profits, gain more benefits and benefits.This also allows these partners to form a competitive relationship.

Of course, during the negotiation process, Mao Haifeng also proposed to use Yongle Tongbao to exchange for gold, silver, copper ore, sulfur and other materials of the Luo family.Zheng Liang naturally disagreed with this. The Luo family can now imitate the Yongle Tongbao which is difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake, and use it as the main foreign trade currency. Where is the Yongle Tongbao from Wang Zhi?Therefore, Zheng Liang decisively proposed the method of exchanging things, and asked Wang Zhi to provide iron ore, saltpeter, gunpowder, kerosene and other materials to the Luo family in a concentrated manner. If possible, he could also provide the Luo family with warships, large cylinders, etc. arms.He also promised that the Luo family would be able to exchange as much of these materials as Wang Zhi provided (the Luo family stored a lot of gold and silver in their warehouses for the purpose of trading with the Southern barbarians and merchants of the Ming Dynasty, and now they are just in use. ).

Finally, when Mao Haifeng was happily preparing to leave, Zheng Liang solemnly handed over a wooden box to Mao Haifeng.

"Lord, what is this?" Mao Haifeng looked at the box suspiciously and asked.

"Inside is a little gift for your leader, please be sure to hand it to him." Zheng Liang said.

"Okay." Seeing Zheng Liang's serious expression, Mao Haifeng also carefully put away the wooden box.

There are only two things in the wooden box, one is a world map drawn by Zheng Liang based on the memory of later generations, and the other is a letter written by Zheng Liang himself to Wang Zhi.

The letter mainly pointed out to Wang Zhi in detail that under the current situation, it was impossible to force Ming to reopen the sea ban.At the same time, it is recommended that Wang Zhi look to Southeast Asia, or even further afield, where is the paradise of free trade and pirates.That piece of world really belongs to him, Wang Zhi.As for how much Wang Zhi could listen to after reading these gifts, Zheng Liang could not consider it. He just did his best not to want the tragedy of history to happen again. (To be continued..)