Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

"Can I really get my boat back after paying the money?" People came to inquire early in the morning at an office in Dongluo Island village.

"Sure, as long as you can prove your identity, you can take your boat back after paying the insurance premium. Next time you sail in this area, just show the flag you received to avoid any trouble. If any problems arise, our Four Seas Gang will help you resolve them." The Four Seas Gang clerk said, handing the other party a paper contract. It detailed some precautions.

The man picked it up and examined it carefully, then asked, "If my boat is destroyed by a hurricane, will I still be entitled to compensation?"

The clerk looked up at the other person. "No, you can't. Look at point 7 below. This insurance only covers losses caused by pirate raids. Other third-party factors are not covered. However, if you'd like, there's another contract here, about ship accident insurance, which covers accidents caused by natural disasters. How about it? Do you want to get it? It'll only cost one thousand taels." As he spoke, the clerk picked up another contract from the table and handed it to the other person.

"Uh, no thanks, I'll get this pirate insurance first." The man had only asked casually and wasn't planning on paying for a second policy. So he quickly denied it.

"Alright then, fill out this form here, and someone will guide you through the subsequent procedures." The clerk handed the person a strangely formatted form. The person took it and found that the format was completely different from the usual forms, with many boxes made up of horizontal and vertical lines, some with writing inside and some without.

With the clerk's guidance, the man finally managed to fill out the form, albeit haltingly. "Sir," he asked, "was the cargo still on board when you gave me the boat?"

The clerk took the form and gave the person a disapproving look. "What do you think?"

......

"Hao'er, your method doesn't seem to be very effective. It's been so many days, and less than five people have come to pay, and they're all people whose boats were stolen." Lin Chengfeng and Lin Hao looked at the office from a distance and chatted while eating breakfast.

Lin Hao swallowed the egg in his hand in one gulp and said nonchalantly, "This is normal. First, the time is too short. Some people who are farther away have only just received the news."

Secondly, we only have three ships now, so even if the hijacking is highly efficient, the threat it poses is limited, and many people still harbor wishful thinking.

The third and most important point is that we are still too weak. Many people do not trust us, and the area we control is too small—less than half of the Fujian coast, and we don't even fully control the waters off Fuzhou. Naturally, this makes us less attractive.

However, once we have complete control over the entire Fujian sea area, many people will naturally be tempted.

"That's true. These three ships are far too few. By the way, Hao'er, when will your big ships be finished? I'm getting impatient," Lin Chengfeng said, scratching his head.

"Third Uncle, you've urged us about this eight times already, but the new ship over there has only just started laying the keel. It will take at least three months to build. Even those three new Flying Dragon-class slings on Dongluo Island will take another month and a half," Lin Hao said with a wry smile, shaking his head.

"Why is it taking so long? The first batch only took a month and a half, and the second batch is taking even longer. Are the workers slacking off? I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!"

Lin Chengfeng immediately stood up angrily. How dare they delay the launching speed of his warship? They must be asking for trouble.

Seeing this, Lin Hao quickly pulled the other person back, "Third Uncle, it's not like that. The project was completed ahead of schedule before because all the craftsmen worked day and night. Now I'm asking them to control their working hours, so it will naturally be slower."

In addition, a large number of craftsmen went to the new shipyard on Nangantang Island, which naturally affected the progress here. A delivery time of two months is already considered slow.

"Hao'er, you're still too kind. Why not continue making them work day and night? They wouldn't dare say anything anyway," Lin Chengfeng said nonchalantly as he sat down.

Lin Hao sighed upon hearing this and said, "They can't endure long-term, high-intensity sleep deprivation. They are workers, not cattle or horses. We have to consider their physical condition."

Furthermore, prolonged high-intensity work cannot guarantee the quality of the project, making the ships built in this way prone to problems. Uncle San probably wouldn't want his ship to have problems at sea.

However, Lin Hao did not accuse the other party of being indifferent to the people's plight. People in each era have their own views. In Uncle San's opinion, the Four Seas Gang gave them a way to survive, so these people should work hard and not rest for a moment. This is also the view of most people in this era.

In the Jiangnan region of the Ming Dynasty, the most developed capitalist area, many wealthy merchants and industrialists in Jiangnan employ servants who are not paid wages and can be exploited at will.

This led to the shocking Jiangnan slave rebellion that occurred when the Ming Dynasty fell. All the lower-level servants united and slaughtered a large number of Jiangnan gentry families, including the Xu family, to which Xu Xiake belonged, which was wiped out by its own servants.

Although Lin Hao did not intend to unite the workers to carry out any ideology, he would not go so far as to abuse his workers like a heartless capitalist. As long as they were willing to work for him, he could help them live a better life through their own efforts.

"Judging by the days, Second Brother should be back soon, right?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, my second uncle should be arriving in Fujian soon. He should be home in a few days."

Just as the uncle and nephew were chatting casually over their breakfast, Lin Chengzong hurried over from a distance. Seeing the two still leisurely eating their breakfast, he immediately complained, "You two are so carefree, still enjoying your breakfast here. I'm almost frantic with worry, something's happened to Hao'er."

"Father, the sky won't fall. Have you eaten? If not, have a bite or two?" Lin Hao stuffed the bun in his hand into the other's hand.

"Oh dear, how can I have the time to eat? The men we sent to receive the ships have run into trouble. They've all been arrested by the people in the shipyard, who say they're going to hand them over to the authorities." Lin Chengzong refused the steamed bun in Lin Hao's hand, shaking his head and sighing.

Before the Lin family was forced to go to sea, they had ordered four new Fujian-style ships from various shipyards along the Fujian coast.

As agreed, the earliest ship is ready for delivery.

Therefore, Lin Chengzong sent people to the shipyard a few days ago to receive the ships. But unexpectedly, they were detained by the people at the shipyard as soon as they arrived. Fortunately, he had sent people to wait outside before going, otherwise there would probably still be no news today.

"Father, don't worry, this is nothing. Which boathouse did you send people to this time?" Lin Hao took out a chair and let Lin Chengzong sit down, then asked softly.

"At the Xiawei Shipyard at the mouth of the Ao River, we ordered a 500-ton Fujian-style ship. We intended to send someone to sail it back, but we never expected this to happen."

In fact, Lin Chengzong had anticipated the risks beforehand, after all, he and his men were already pirates. But he thought that at most the other party would refuse to hand over the ship, but he didn't expect them to dare to detain people.

It's important to understand that the Ming Dynasty had a maritime ban. This meant that, theoretically, all privately owned shipping companies were essentially engaged in illegal business. In such cases, the shipping companies didn't care who their trading partners were. Both sides pretended not to know. Even pirates, as long as you took the money, would hand over the ship on time.

But now it's clear that someone has broken the rules.

"Shimooth Shipyard, I think this should be the Zhang family's shipyard, right?" Lin Hao asked, frowning.

"They belong to the Zhang family. Apart from the Fujian-style ship in Quanzhou, the other three were ordered from the Zhang family's shipyard. We could let them get away with their previous antics, but now they're doing this. Do they really intend to confront us head-on?"

Although the fact had already occurred, Lin Chengzong still couldn't believe it. He knew that the pirate Li Jiu, whom the other party had been raising, had already been wiped out by them. It was one thing for the other party not to back down, but to provoke them like this. Were they really not afraid that their ships would not be able to leave the sea?

"Regardless of what the Zhang family thinks, since they've made their move, we'll accept it," Lin Hao said firmly as he slowly stood up.