Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 733

Taiwan Strait.

A fleet is fully loaded with goods, the sails are fully bulged, and they cut through the waves and sail to the Southeast Asia.

This is a fleet of merchants from Huguang. The ships are full of goods such as cotton cloth, cement, dried fruit, and silk. The European powers in the Asian gold rush are crazy about it, and cement is an indispensable material for them to build fortresses, roads and other facilities in Southeast Asia. As for dried fruits, they are eaten by white men who are tired of eating bananas.It is no exaggeration to say that if such a ship of goods is shipped to Nanyang, it can easily earn double profits. If rhino horns, ivory, gemstones, precious wood and other goods are purchased at low prices in Nanyang and shipped back, the profits will be doubled. , Even if you just ship a boatload of durians back, you can make a lot of money. Rich people like to try something new.The sailors were chatting and laughing, and they were quite happy. Sea voyages were of course hard work, but the pay was high. The pay for a trip to the sea was more than what they earned from three years of farm work at home. Of course, they had reasons to be happy.

Seeing that the Taiwan Strait was coming to an end, the watchman suddenly called out: "A pirate ship is rushing towards us!"

Several captains were taken aback and shouted: "Hang up the flag quickly!"

The sailors frantically hoisted two flags, one red and one black.The black flag is the unique symbol of the Heluo New Army, and the red flag is the flag of Zheng Jialing. Flying these two flags is equivalent to telling the pirates who covet the goods on their ships that their ships are protected by the Heluo New Army, and at the same time they are sending a message to East China. , Zheng Zhilong, the overlord of the South China coast, paid the protection fee, if you want to move us, you'd better weigh your own weight first!With these two flags around, all the captains were calm and relaxed. In their impression, the Heluo New Army was invincible all over the world, and the Zheng Group was a Tyrannosaurus Rex at sea, daring to move a ship protected by these two behemoths at the same time The pirates are not born yet!
A sharp sail shadow quickly appeared on the distant sea surface, and soon, a fleet cut through the sea surface and came galloping.The lookout carefully identified the flag with binoculars, and called: "It's the Zheng family's fleet!"

The whole fleet breathed a sigh of relief.It is no problem if it is the Zheng family fleet, they have all paid protection fees to the Zheng family fleet, and the Zheng family fleet will not touch them.

Those fast boats came so fast, they stopped in front of the merchant fleet in just one meal, and lined up, blocking the way of the merchant fleet, led by a man with a scar on his face , held up a big knife and shouted: "Sail down, stop the boat!"

The fleet did not dare to resist and quickly lowered the sails. The boss of the fleet walked up to the bow and bowed his hands to the scarred face, calling: "You heroes, how are you doing?"

Scar stared at him and asked, "What do you guys do?"

The boss said with a smile on his face: "Do a small business, transport some cotton cloth, cement, dried fruit, silk and other goods to Nanyang for sale."

Scarface pointed to the black flag on the mast: "What do you mean by flying that flag?"

The boss said: "Oh, this is the unified symbol of our Huguang fleet, and the champion Hou distributed it to us."

Scarface was furious: "You have been protected by my Zheng family for so many years, how dare you hang other banners? I think you are tired of work, take them all away!"

The pirates became ashamed one after another, threw iron hooks to hook the side of the merchant ship, and swished a few times to climb up. The cold swords and black muzzles were aimed at the sailors, murderous.

The boss was so frightened that his legs trembled and he struggled to shout: "Don't get me wrong, all heroes, we have paid the protection fee!"

A captain shouted angrily: "Yes, we have paid the money, why are you robbing us!?"

The scarred face smiled ferociously: "I shouldn't, you shouldn't hang that flag of the Bird Champion, so your money is in vain, give it to me!"

……

"That is to say, since December last year, the Zheng family's fleet has been trying to get through with us, robbing Huguang's merchant ships?" After listening to Li Yan's narration, Yang Menglong's complexion was somewhat ugly——was beaten The feeling on the face is really uncomfortable!
Li Yan smiled bitterly: "In fact, there were already such signs as early as July last year. It was only after the adult bloodbathed Kyushu that Zheng Zhilong began to intensify. He robbed our ships one by one, not only robbing all the people on the ship The goods, even the people were detained, making people panic, and now there are not many people in Guangdong who dare to go to sea!"

Yang Menglong frowned: "Why does Zheng Zhilong have trouble with us? Haven't we always lived in peace with them, and the well water does not violate the river water?"

It is true that the Heluo New Army and the Zheng family have been living in peace. The Heluo New Army is the overlord on land, but its strength at sea is very weak. Most of the few warships are deployed in the north. It can be said that until now, Heluo The new army never had any plans to enter Fujian, and Zheng Zhi's Longjing water did not cross the river.On the contrary, Zheng Zhilong often came to Nanyang to purchase rivets and processed ship materials. There was no conflict of interest between them. On the contrary, they had a lot of cooperation in business, and the relationship was not bad.Zheng Zhilong suddenly turned his back on him and made trouble with the Heluo New Army, which is really strange!

Li Yan said: "We really want to stay with the Zheng family, but I'm afraid this is wishful thinking. The Zheng family has almost monopolized the maritime trade and makes tens of millions of profits every year. Even the Jiangnan consortium with the support of the ministers of the DPRK It all depends on their faces, how happy they are, how can they tolerate the rise of Guangdong maritime merchants and threaten their status!" Shaking his head, he said: "We can tolerate him if he just grabs a few merchant ships, the problem is They even sent people to land on the coast of Guangdong, murdered and set fire!"

Yang Menglong jumped up: "They actually landed on the coast of Guangdong!?"

Li Yan said: "Just last month, it happened several times. Several villages were killed without even a live chicken. One time they even landed in Humen. Fortunately, our army was well prepared to deal a head-on blow. , killed more than [-] people, and this made them be honest for a while, and they dare not go to land to do wild things for the time being, but the looting against maritime merchants has intensified, and even fishermen are robbed!" After a pause, Added: "According to the report of Peng Zheng who commanded the Humen ambush, most of the people who landed in Humen to kill and set fire were Japanese samurai!"

Yang Menglong narrowed his eyes: "Seriously?"

Li Yan said: "It's absolutely true! Moreover, according to some pirates who were cornered by the Zheng family and came to join us, the number of Japanese samurai who have taken refuge in the Zheng family has increased greatly in the past few months. They all claim to be Kyushu samurai. Revenge, my lord!"

With his hands behind his back, Yang Menglong paced back and forth in the living room, muttering in a low voice, but he didn't know what he was muttering.After a long while, he sat down again, his baby face was full of murderous looks, he gritted his teeth and said, "The Oriental dwarf wants to seek revenge from me? Yes, yes! Mrs. Zheng joined forces with these dead dwarves and ran to his own country with them Going to kill people and set fires in the coastal towns, it’s even better!” With a strong swing, under Catherine’s distressed eyes, the exquisite teacup in her hand flew out with the wind, and exploded into countless pieces on the floor, followed by a roar: "I think they are tired of living!"

Li Yan cupped his hands and said solemnly: "My lord, calm down!"

Yang Menglong sneered repeatedly, obviously extremely angry.However, he still suppressed his anger and asked, "Why does Mrs. Zheng oppose us for no reason?"

Li Yan said: "I'm afraid it's not for no reason."

Yang Menglong said, "Let's listen."

Li Yan said: "I believe that the reason why the Zheng family wants to make things difficult for us is because they want to suppress the Guangdong maritime merchants and do not want the Guangdong maritime merchants to develop and compete with them; secondly..." He tapped the coffee table with his fingers, pondering Zhuo said: "I'm afraid there are all the princes in power behind it."

Yang Menglong snorted: "What do you mean by the big brother in the court?"

Li Yan said: "Eighty nine is not far from ten! The Donglin Party controls the government, and the Jiangnan Consortium is the Donglin Party's financial backer. Your Excellency has vigorously developed industries such as steel, flax, rock salt, and black tea over the years. Hui, but it has caused a strong impact on the Jiangnan Consortium. If it were the Jiangnan Consortium, it would not want Huguang to continue to develop and continue to squeeze its own profit margins. It has become an inevitable choice. It should be noted that apart from being a pirate, the Zheng family has another identity, that is, the General Soldier of Fujian Province. All you need to do is give him a little signal, and he will understand." He sneered: "If all the princes let him go Going to suppress Guangdong maritime merchants and endorse him, this kind of good deed that can suppress potential opponents without being blamed by the court, no one will refuse!"

Yang Menglong also sneered: "Well, you really treat me as a soft persimmon, you can pinch it as you like." He stretched his body, like a lion that woke up and was hungry, and looked at Li Yan, "What do you have? suggestion?"

Li Yan once again bowed his hands in salute, and said solemnly: "My lord, don't be impulsive! Zheng Shixiong has occupied the South China Sea for more than ten years. They are all transferred, and they may not be their opponents! I have no doubt that the Heluo New Army can easily defeat the Zheng family on land, but it is too difficult to defeat the Zheng family at sea! Let your lord fight with Mrs. Zheng, and both sides will suffer from the fight, so they can benefit from it!"

Yang Menglong nodded: "The judgment is very accurate, I bet that's the idea of ​​those scumbags in court."

Li Yan said: "So, I suggest that my lord be patient for the time being, find an opportunity to talk to the Zheng family, find a policy of peaceful coexistence, delay it for a few years, wait until the sea is strong, and then destroy the Zheng family once and for all!"

Yang Menglong tapped the coffee table quickly with his fingers and remained silent, anger and disdain flashing across his face.

Li Yan emphasized his tone: "Although the Zheng family is hateful, it is not useless. It has been suppressing the Hongyi pirates for so many years. Without them, I am afraid that Guangdong and Fujian will be turned upside down by the Hongyi pirates." , Rushing to start a war with the Zheng family will only allow the Hongyi pirates to take advantage of it, and the consequences will be even more serious. My lord, please think twice!"

Yang Menglong closed his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking, and said after a long while: "Li Yan, you have seen everything through, but you have not seen the key point... If I take this step back, the Zheng family and those trash in the court Chai will only press on every step of the way, and won’t give up until he tears me into pieces! I know those guys too well, it’s harder to get them to do something practical, but it’s more difficult to let them hold back their own people. Awesome! I can never give in, not even half a step!"

Li Yan looked solemn: "What does your lord mean..."

Yang Menglong was categorical, with murderous intent in his tone: "The only way to cure the brainless is to chop off his head."

Li Yan was horrified: "Your Excellency, you want to start a war with the Zheng family!?"

Yang Menglong sneered: "Why not? The Zheng family has a monopoly on maritime trade and collects protection fees from passing merchant ships. It makes more than tens of millions of profits every year. This is the country's wealth, how can he be allowed to monopolize it! Do yourself a favor and write If you have a copy of the information, say that the Zheng family is running rampant and illegal, plundering merchant ships, and the people are boiling with resentment. Please allow the Holy One to allow the Heluo New Army to enter the Fujian Qing Dynasty to suppress those abominable pirates!"

Li Yan's eyelids twitched wildly... The thing he was most worried about finally happened, this idiot committed an idiot!So many years of official career has not worn away Yang Menglong's edges and corners, but has sharpened his edges and corners even more sharply. Perhaps it is because he has been fighting and fighting all the time. This bastard is used to using the simplest and most brutal way To solve the problem, words such as "forbearance", "concession", "compromise" and so on are all equated with "fart" in his eyes. There will be exceptions!
"How many warships do we have now?" Yang Menglong asked.

Li Yan said with a wry smile: "Last year, the Wuhan Shipyard built a total of eleven large warships and 35 medium-sized warships, all of which have been delivered. If the few Transformers warships in Liaodong are recruited back, we can make up four warships." Ten battleships."

Yang Menglong raised his thick eyebrows: "There are already forty warships? Enough!"

Li Yan couldn't help reminding him: "The Zheng family has three thousand warships!"

Yang Menglong said: "It's just three thousand targets! These warships are training in Denglai, right?"

Li Yan nodded: "Yes!"

Yang Menglong said: "Let them step up their training and go south in a month!"

Li Yan was almost begging: "My lord, can't we bear it any longer? Even if we endure it for another year, the number of our warships will be doubled, and our chances of winning will be greater!"

Yang Menglong said: "I can afford to wait, but the common people can't wait! I forced the people in the Huguang area to go to the sea. Their fate is already closely linked with the sea. Once the sea trade is cut off, the consequences will be disastrous. I must Give them an explanation!"

Li Yan hesitated to speak, and finally turned into a sigh, saying: "The Dutch and Portuguese have expressed their willingness to send troops to help us eliminate pirates..."

Yang Menglong said: "Let them go away, anyone who dares to interfere with me will kill them!"

Li Yan answered with awe, but his heart was full of worries.

The South China Sea... has been troubled ever since!

(End of this chapter)