Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Chi Honghai placed the unfinished box on the table and opened it again. He first took out the blank painting and laid it flat on the table.

The content of the scroll remained largely unchanged, still pure white.

This puzzled Chi Honghai. The items from Guangzhou Prefecture were specially packed into this fur trunk, containing three paintings. It shouldn't really be a blank scroll.

He then pulled out the remaining two pieces of paper and placed the fur box aside.

A normal flower and bird painting, and another blank scroll.

He examined the flower-and-bird painting carefully, trying to find some clue, but in the end he could only see that it was a very ordinary painting, one that even a Westerner wouldn't collect.

Chi Honghai's doubts deepened; it was unlikely to be a mistake in the assembly.

Even if it was a mistake, this flower-and-bird painting should be priceless, not just a simple painting.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

In the past, people would use alum as ink for letters that needed to be encrypted, so that the writing would be almost invisible on the paper.

Thinking of this, Chi Honghai took out a teacup from a cabinet and poured some water into it.

After stirring the contents of the cup twice with his index finger, he turned to the blank scroll and carefully traced vertical lines on it with his index finger.

Sure enough, the true contents were revealed after contact with water.

However, after Chi Honghai made several marks, although there were some characters on the marks, they were not coherent and could not be clearly seen.

Upon closer inspection, there are not only characters, but also some patterns.

He scribbled around the text and finally made out the contents of that corner.

The inscription reads "Fuxu Town" (now Huangpu District), and the surrounding texts roughly describe the situation in Fuxu Town.

The houses, and even the number of soldiers and officers in the town.

After he wet the entire scroll, a complete map of Guangzhou's defenses appeared before him.

Upon seeing the contents, Chi Honghai was startled.

Let alone city defense maps, even leaking maps is a capital offense. How can the officials of the Ming Dynasty be so obviously selling out their country?

Looking at the city defense map in front of him, Chi Honghai felt a chill run down his spine. He looked up slightly at another blank scroll on the table, not daring to guess what was in the painting.

Just as he was painting on another scroll, Wu Wanruo returned to the room.

Anxious, Chi Honghai instinctively put the painting away, only relaxing when he realized it was his wife who opened the door.

Seeing her husband so stressed, Wu Wanruo thought he hadn't recovered from the battle that day. She wanted to go over and comfort him, but then she found the table covered with paintings.

She stepped forward and stood next to Chi Honghai: "Are you looking at those three paintings again?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she looked down and saw the Guangzhou city defense map, and then she saw the incredulous look still in Chi Honghai's eyes.

"These corrupt officials, they really think they can sell anything..."

Wu Wanruo was speechless for a moment when she looked at the contents of the painting.

Immediately afterwards, Chi Honghai repainted the blank painting.

This image doesn't contain a map or a city defense map, but rather a letter.

The inscription roughly reads: "Our relationship is based in Guangzhou; therefore, we offer up the city's defenses in Guangzhou in hopes of great profits next year..."

Basically, the Ming Dynasty is about to collapse, and as an official, I need to take this opportunity to make a clean profit. Now I'm giving you the city defense map; you can rob it as you see fit. When the time is right, you can also take Guangzhou Prefecture as well. But no matter what happens, you have to give me the corresponding reward.

In short, they did not regard the Ming Dynasty as a country, nor did they regard the people of Guangzhou Prefecture as human beings; they were all just bargaining chips for exchanging money and power.

Looking at the content, some parts also mention the pirates of Xin'an County.

Chi Honghai understood that this was referring to him, but fortunately, the text used the phrase "their location was still unknown" when mentioning the pirates in Xin'an County.

So he hasn't been exposed yet, but he has mentioned wanting to work with foreigners to eliminate the pirates in Qing'an County. As long as the foreigners are willing to come to this sea area, the Guangzhou government is willing to grant them a special navigation permit.

Furthermore, foreigners could gradually be allowed to establish licensed trading posts in Guangzhou Prefecture. These trading posts would only be nominal trading posts, as evidenced by the phrase "self-governed" in the text.

The meaning of the text, though not involving swords or bloodshed, still terrified the two men.

Chi Honghai leaned on the table, staring at the painting, seemingly lost in thought.

"I have to go to the red-haired barbarians."

Wu Wanruo tugged at Chi Honghai's sleeve: "What are you trying to do? Isn't this letter from the Guangzhou government to the foreign barbarians? Going there is just like walking into a trap!"

Chi Honghai covered Wu Wanruo's hand that was tugging at his sleeve with his own: "But this painting hasn't reached the hands of the foreigners yet, so I can also be someone sent by the Guangzhou government to negotiate."

"But what could you possibly do there...?"

"Madam, you have a lot more to do. The fact that this painting was released like this means that the two sides have already negotiated beforehand, but the details haven't been finalized yet. This time, we're here to finalize the details. We'll turn the real one into a fake one, and the fake one into a real one."

He pulled Wu Wanruo into his arms, their heads close together, and whispered, "I know you worry too much about me. Don't worry this time, nothing will happen."

Wu Wanruo nodded gently, her hands tightly wrapped around Chi Honghai's waist.

"Are you going to take this painting with you?"

"No need, I am this painting, the reincarnation of the River God, I am the map."

"This painting depicts Guangzhou Prefecture, but you didn't submit your petition to Guangzhou Prefecture!"

The two embraced and laughed.

……

Stepping out of the room, Chi Honghai instructed Shen Er to call Pang San and some of his men to board the cargo ship.

Thinking that the master was about to do something again, Shen Er pulled the master aside and persuaded him, "Master, the brothers just finished fighting and their injuries haven't healed yet. Why don't we let them go? We'll make them pay double later."

Upon hearing the news, Liu Qingjiang initially thought there would be work to do again, but this time he wasn't being taken along. So he went to the master to ask what was going on.

Chi Honghai laughed heartily when he saw Liu Qingjiang's expression. He told Liu to train the brothers well. This voyage was indeed to make money, but there was no need to fight, so naturally, the brothers didn't need to come on board. If there really was a fight, they wouldn't be on the cargo ship.

After accepting the orders to protect Hong Kong Island and train his men, Liu Qingjiang left.

Shen Er, standing beside him, continued, "Master, even if we're not robbing, is it really necessary to use this ship? The ship we bought from the Portuguese is quite good, isn't it?"

Chi Honghai looked at the Caravelle sailboat: "You also think it's useful?"

"Hehe, sir, we've got a few more cannons on board, so relax. You never know what kind of thieves we might encounter on the sea."

Chi Honghai patted Shen Er on the shoulder with a smile: "That ship is not bad, but this time we must use this Fujian ship."

"Sir, where shall we go?"

"Zelandia," Chi Honghai said as he walked along the shore.

Upon hearing these four words, Shen Er paused and failed to keep up with Chi Honghai's pace.

"Sir, where should we go?"

"Taiwan!"