On the second day of February, the dragon raised its head,

Outside Kaohsiung Harbor, artillery roared on the surface of the sea, and the Southeast Fleet was training.

The sea breeze was blowing, the cannon was urgent, and Yan Changwu, who was standing on the open-air platform behind the "Kaohsiung No. 1", skillfully ordered: "Drive against the wind, the right rudder, and the wind direction is 6 compass points!" ”

After a while, it was issued again: "Left rudder, 7 compass points with the direction of the wind!" ”

By constantly correcting the rudder position, the fleet, under his guidance, gradually approached the three pontoons on the sea.

The training gave him the experience to deal with those targets, to drive the ship within range of the guns and attack.

The three ships were left uncontrolled and left to drift on their own, and the task of the fleet was to sink them.

Approaching a pontoon, the port gun emplacements opened fire violently with the sound of the ship's bells, and the pontoons were smashed to the point that the mast was broken, and debris flew everywhere, and it was a mess.

The sea was filled with gunsmoke, and in a short time, two pontoons were tilted into the water, while the last pontoon was approached by the battleship, simulating a broadside attack.

The Marines attacked with a platoon of guns, hooked the pontoon with iron hooks, and jumped into the gang to fight.

When he was busy and happy, the officer on duty reminded Yan Changwu: "A signal boat has come out of Kaohsiung Port and is heading towards us!" ”

This kind of signal ship is built by Kaohsiung Shipyard, made of camphor wood, used for patrol and order, can there be anything?

It's really something!

From the signal ship, he boarded the maritime merchant Sherlock, who was a red-capped merchant who was responsible for making money for Yan Changwu's running merchants, and when they met, he shouted, "Overseer, the pirates want to rob our ship!" ”

Seeing Yan Changwu's unkind face, he hurriedly said: "But we escaped, and the ship was safe and sound, but the goods were all abandoned!" ”

……

A quarter of an hour later, at the officer's cafeteria (which doubled as a conference room), Yan Changwu learned what had happened.

Shylock is from the Netherlands and is a Jew.

The Netherlands is merchant-oriented, does not care about origin, Jews do business like a fish in water, Mr. Sherlock did business in Asia, flourished, had his own galleon at a young age, and became a rising star in the business world.

It's a pity that bad luck is not good, in Tainan, he even became a prisoner of Yan Changwu with people and silver and galleons, and of course his money and galleons were confiscated.

Sherlock actually took refuge in Yan Changwu, saying that he wanted to work for Yan Dashao, and Yan Dashao actually trusted him and handed over the galleon to him to operate, so he used his previous relationship to start trading with the Dutch.

He sold silk, pottery, porcelain, and tea from the mainland to the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, from where he made a fortune transporting metals, (light) artillery, gunpowder, linen, canvas, shipbuilding tools, and much more.

Soon after, he pulled up six boats, and his efficiency was very high, often two boats were repaired in the dock, two ships returned to the southeast province to load, and two ships went to Batavia to unload, and the relay went back and forth, and did business without interruption, and became a liner ship, and silver and supplies rolled in.

Others really can't compare to him, just a ship maintenance, there is a dock in the southeast mansion!

Maintenance of the boat is fast and good, and it is launched immediately after it is done, without delaying business.

Blessed with a unique nature, others can't do it like him, so arouse the envy of others!

"It was the pirate Yang Lu who attacked us, but in essence, Xu Xinsu was doing evil, which even the Dutch said!"

When Yan Changwu heard it, hehe, they are all acquaintances.

Xu Xinsu, a native of Tong'an, Quanzhou, Fujian, befriended Li Dan (a Chinese captain who persuaded peace between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch) and became his trade representative.

And Li Dan is familiar with Yan Changwu's cheap father Yan Siqi, and everyone is really not an outsider.

After Li Dan's death, Xu Xinsu continued to trade with the Dutch, but due to his lack of strength, he first bought off the key figure in coastal defense at that time, the general soldier Yu Zhigao, with 20,000 gold, and became Yu's confidant, and then actively urged Yu to agree to appease the pirates.

At the beginning of this year, Xu Xinsu finally persuaded Yu Zhigao to appease Yang Lu and other pirates, and then became the commander of the sailors, leading Yang Lu and his subordinates who had just been appeased.

After becoming an official businessman, Xu Xinsu acted as an intermediary between the local government and the Dutch, becoming the only merchant who obtained a trade license with the Dutch. Taking advantage of such a big advantage, Xu Xinsu almost contracted all the business of the Dutch East India Company with China, monopolizing the trade between China and the Dutch.

He used five sailing ships to transport 200 quintals of raw silk from Zhangzhou to the Dutch, and later received a deposit from the Dutch East India Company for the purchase of 200 to 300 quintals of raw silk, and received a high price of 142 taels per quintal (the cost price was 60 taels of silver per quintal).

This high price was obtained by using his official status to suppress the mainland's raw silk exports, and then dispatching official sailors to suppress other smuggling merchants.

Monopolizing business, the Dutch can't stand it.

Some people will ask, don't the Dutch have a grudge against Yan Changwu?

Hey, the red-haired fan is the most real, if there is a silver dollar, any revenge will be thrown aside, Sherlock stepped on Xu Xinsu's kick, the Dutch didn't care that he came from Yan Changwu, and Sherlock's success was not a fluke, he would be a man, he bought off the Dutch, and broke Xu Xinsu's monopoly, the Dutch were very happy.

As for the hatred with Yan Changwu, there will be a chance to get revenge in the future, do business first, don't worry!

……

Sherlock sprung up, at the beginning of this year, at the price of 120 taels per quintal, he exported 600 quintals of raw silk in one go, and the momentum was terrifying, where could Xu Xinsu endure this breath!

He first used official forces to check the source of Sherlock's land raw silk, but he didn't expect Sherlock to have the assistance of "Ruifeng Yin", and the backstage was actually Liu Dajun, the political envoy of Fujian, and Yu Zhigao had no choice but to do it.

Liu Dajun and Yu Zhigao are the same as Yu Zhigao, both belong to the eunuch party (Wei Zhongxian's people), but they are light on civil and military, and they are not right, and they refuse to cooperate, Xu Xinsu has no choice but to send Yang Lu's fleet out to sea to intercept Sherlock's fleet returning from Batavia.

Sherlock's fleet was returning with cannons and a large number of shipbuilding supplies, which was an important voyage.

It was intercepted in the area of the Dongsha Islands, and as soon as the two sides fought, they recognized it as Yang Lu, and the other party's six boats, two of which were overloaded and did not rotate well, Sherlock saw that the situation was not good, and threw the goods away quickly.

Yang Lu was not good at giving up, and chased after him, intending to jump to the gang to grab the gunwale, but he ate the bullet: the large black powder "bomb" on the Sherlock ship carrying the "Panzergrenadiers" of the Southeast Province was thrown wildly, and Yang Lu could not get on the ship.

fled back to Tainan and told Chen Xinji, Chen Xinji was furious and immediately called Sherlock to see Yan Changwu.

After listening to the report, Yan Changwu was not angry but happy: "Finally waited for an excuse!" ”