Nanming Engineer

Chapter 427
Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, Zhangpu County.

In this small county town of Haiphong, you can see the vast ocean less than five miles away from the city. There are many hills and mountains around, the land is barren, and the soil is too salty and alkaline, which is not conducive to farming. Working in the fields, the harvest is only enough for the family to make ends meet.

Fortunately, the sea is generous. You can rely on mountains to eat mountains, and rely on water to eat water. Fishing in the sea is a good way to supplement your family and supply food. Drying fish and storing them can also feed your hunger in the continuous winter, so Zhangpu’s Although the aborigines live in poverty, they have gradually formed a relatively concentrated settlement along the coast for thousands of years.

People on the beach live a hard and sad life like this.

This situation lasted until the Tang and Song Dynasties. The powerful China attracted merchants from all over the world. The developed maritime trade has led the foreign trade trend on the land of China since the beginning of the Quanzhou Shipping Department in the Tang Dynasty. People of various skin colors and appearances go up and down, and a large number of goods are loaded and unloaded from Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong coastal areas or public imperial wharfs, or various smuggling wharves. In the end, boxes of silver and gold were exchanged in people's hands, and the smiles on their faces promoted the prosperity of maritime trade.

Zhangpu’s excellent geographical advantage, near water and towers, quickly developed. The original fishing village was obviously not enough. The houses were built more and more densely, and the population increased. When Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, Zhangpu County, as a county, finally It has the appearance of a county town.

Huge profits will inevitably produce some bad things. The smell of gold and silver attracts wolves, the ravages of Japanese pirates, and blood-stained swords make Zhangpu County build a city wall, and the sea outside the city is protected by force. This side is safe.

Haiphong was opened and banned, banned and opened again, sometimes tightened and sometimes relaxed. People who rely on the sea to eat follow the changes of this policy, sometimes become well-behaved maritime merchants, and sometimes become cruel pirates. Tanned people learn to use force to solve problems.

During the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, Haiphong, which had been banned for many years, was once again opened. It was called "Longqing switch" in history. Crescent Port, more than 100 miles east of Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, became a port open to the public by the imperial court to allow private maritime trade. And Haicheng County was established, and the Governor's Office was established. In later generations, this place will have a famous name-Xiamen.

Although the imperial court only allowed Haicheng to open his mouth, the imperial court did not care about the long coastline. Zhangpu County, which is close at hand, took advantage of its unique advantages, and naturally produced many people who took advantage of the loopholes to smuggle. Few people took the risk and used the navy to transport a boatload of goods without taking into account the time.

This business has made many families rich overnight, and a single adventure in exchange for a profit that can last for several lifetimes crawls their hearts like ants. Many of them have various collusions with the government and pirates, or He was simply a sea bandit, a bandit and a merchant. After several years of development and all kinds of black and white, some people died, some families disappeared inexplicably, and the rest were all rich and powerful families.

For example, the Gan family in Zhangpu County.

The high gate compound, white walls and black tiles, the house several times into the house is bigger than the magistrate's yamen, and the two mighty stone lions at the gate have angry eyes and claws. The high threshold and the vermilion lacquered gate all show the wealth of the owner's family. According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, a low-status merchant family cannot be so ostentatious. The county magistrate can punish his family at any time. However, everyone in the county knows that when the two stone lions moved here, the Gan family There is a big banquet, and the county magistrate is the guest of honor.

The county magistrate knew very well that as a foreign official, if he didn't establish a good relationship with the Gan family, he might be decapitated in his sleep at some point.

The Gan family is a sea merchant, or in other words, it is also a sea bandit. The people who come in and out hang sharp knives from their waists, and their faces are full of hostility. It can be extended to Mansaka.

Since they are a wealthy family, in order to protect against enemies, the Gan family's house is also quite majestic. The courtyard wall is tall, there are holes for arrows on the wall, and there are archery towers at all four corners. The family keeps one or two hundred family members at any time, and all of them are strong and strong, even better than the yamen servants in the county yamen.

On this night at the end of July, something happened to the Gan family.

In the middle of the night, when the moon was covered by clouds, screams pierced the night sky, followed by urgent warning sounds and loud roars. Someone shouted: "Enemy attack! Get up and defend against the enemy!" Laughing loudly in "haha", there was a lot of noise, which woke up the left and right residents.

In such a situation, everyone knows that someone came into the city to kill people. Those who dare to touch the Gan family must be powerful. At this time, no one dares to rescue them. movement outside.

The sounds from the direction of the Gan family became louder and louder, and the clanking of weapons became more and more intense. When it reached a certain peak, the screams pierced the air and slowly dropped.

When a sea lord seeks revenge, he usually kills someone and destroys his home before leaving, so as not to harm the innocent. People around him think so, and this is also a common practice.

Unexpectedly, the situation was different tonight. The voice of the Gan family became quieter, but the voices from the direction of the county government office and the city gate became louder and louder. The sounds of fighting and shouting could no longer be described as noisy, but It was a battle-like din, and several flames burned in the city, and the fire light illuminated half of the sky.

The people in the city spent the night in fear. When it was dawn, a man on horseback ran through the city, shouting as he ran: "Gan Hui, the general under the command of the king of Yanping County in the Ming Dynasty, returned to Zhangpu. All the villagers are not allowed to go out. , the remnants of the Eastern captives in the city have not been exhausted, so as not to hurt the innocent!"

Ming dynasty?

Yanping County King?

It turned out that it was really a war!People startled, what about the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty?Killed and ran away?
In the compound of Gan’s house, soldiers of the Ming army wearing hats and red uniforms were guarding. A large number of people were walking up and down the street, carrying corpses on the street, and putting out several fires. In time, without burning down a few houses.

A burly man was sitting in the main room, with his legs crossed, his whole body covered in blood, a bloody steel knife casually placed on his lap, his head in a loose bun, his face joking, looking at the kneeling man in front of him. a group of people.

"Patriarch, didn't you expect it? I, Gan Hui, are back again." He grinned and laughed: "Back then you took advantage of my parents' death and robbed me of my property and drove me out of the house. Didn't you expect this to happen?"

Kneeling in front of his head was an old man with a gray beard, his body was very strong, and his dark skin showed that he had been floating in the sea all year round. His hands were full of calluses, and he did not know how many times he had squeezed knives when he was young.

He stared and looked at the big man sitting in surprise, but his back was straight, his lips were trembling, and even the braids on the back of his head trembled slightly. He seemed to want to speak, but his mouth was blocked by a rag.

Gan Hui listened and listened: "Ah? What are you talking about? I can't hear you? Well, speak louder."

The old man's Adam's apple was moving up and down, his expression was agitated, his shoulders shrugged, and he seemed to stand up and rush over, but unfortunately his legs were tied and he couldn't move.

Gan Hui pretended to listen for a while, and then laughed happily, laughing so hard that tears came out. While laughing, he waved his hand: "Kill them all! Push them out and kill them!"

The soldiers came up to drag people, and there was a "whoosh" sound in the crowd. The gagged mouth tried to speak, but nothing came out during the struggle.Gan Hui ignored it, turned around and flicked, without blinking his eyes, he swept down the table of spirit cards on the spirit table behind him to the ground, cleared the table, took out two spirit cards from his pocket, and placed them respectfully. Go up, take two steps back, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Father, mother, the child is back, and I respect the second elder." He choked up and smoked incense.

……

Hundreds of miles away from Zhangpu County, outside the city of Zhangzhou Prefecture, beside a high hill, thousands of soldiers of the Ming army with red tasseled hats prostrated themselves in a ravine, as quiet as stones.

Zheng Chenggong, the king of Yanping County, squatted among the grass, looking at the towering Fucheng in the distance.

Shi Lang, Liu Guoxuan, Zhou Quanbin, Feng Xin and other generals were beside him, their bright eyes staring at the same direction.

"There is no sign of the Qing army dispatching, and the gates of the city have not even been opened."

"There is no flag of the Eight Banners Army on top of the city."

"It seems that the news about the flag soldiers leaving camp is true. Otherwise, Zhangpu would have changed hands. According to past practice, Qing soldiers would have left the city to attack by now."

"...The Eight Banners soldiers really retreated."

"The spy dispatched into the city hasn't come out yet, just wait until we have accurate news before making a decision!"

In the lowered voices of the crowd, there was unparalleled joy, and a kind of joy as if relieved from a heavy burden jumped out between the lines.

The 25-year-old King of Yanping County had bright eyes, his pupils glowing like a burning flame. He clenched his fists tightly and landed heavily on his thighs.

The sea breeze blew, bringing with it a salty smell of sea water. Zheng Chenggong knew that this smell would change soon, and the smell of blood would fill every corner of Fujian.

(End of this chapter)