Section 163 enters the Pearl River

The "Yong'anju" tea house is usually bustling with tea customers. The tea house in Guangzhou is different from the tea house in Jiangnan and Jingshi, not only the dim sum is exquisite, but also the tea house is high and spacious, most of which are two or three storey high-rise buildings. Its first floor is as tall as the second floor of a normal building. Now that the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, every teahouse hangs a seven-and-a-half-foot-high, four-and-a-half-foot-wide mooncake sign on the teahouse on the first floor. The sign is very imposing: it is carved with a full set of classical figures, huā birds, insects and fish, which are not only beautifully carved, but also have gold leaf on many of them. It looks magnificent.

Teahouses and tea houses have always been places where all walks of life gather and discuss matters, although the teahouses are usually pasted with red notes saying "Don't talk about state affairs", but many "state affairs" are not only discussed here, but some are even decided in such places.

According to the custom of the time, people with different identities and occupations did not sit together and drink tea. The teahouse is also divided into different shijie according to the unit of "hall". In one of the teahouses, called "Tingquan", the people who drank tea in it were all people in Tsing Yi and small hats -- although they were slaves or the like, they were different from ordinary slaves who were beaten and angry. No one in this Guangzhou city dares to look down on them: they are all the long-term followers of various dignitaries and nobles. The servants and stewards of his cronies are all powerful, and they can speak to the ears of their masters. If there are many things that cannot be done in the yamen, find someone here to talk to them, and give a sum of money, and maybe they can be handled smoothly.

It's morning, and it's time for the teahouse business to be booming. Not only is the lobby on the first floor full, but the second and third floors are also more than half. The entrance of each teahouse is full of noisy people, talking, hawkers, and singing...... Hún is mixed together to look both cluttered and vibrant.

In a bustling and noisy environment, there was a young man drinking tea on a tea table. There are several small steamers on the table. There are the most appropriate dim sum in this teahouse. The young man did not look around, but his eyes glanced at the door of the hall from time to time

After a while, a small middle-aged man came in from the door of the hall, and with a slight roll of his eyebrows, he found a young man sitting alone. So he came over and sat down. "Qitang" hurriedly came over to make tea.

"Drink tea." The young man reached for the teapot and helped him pour water.

"You're welcome" came with a lot of style, "Did you bring the money?" ”

"Of course. Delong redeems the ticket when he sees it, and it is a ticket that is common in the whole province. The young man whispered, pulling a paper ticket from his sleeve. Complex huā patterns, set of sè printing, tǐng bracketed paper - at first glance it is Delong's ticket. This kind of ticket cannot be forged at all.

The middle-aged man looked at it, and it was clear that Delong's provincial votes were redeemed at the sight of fifty taels of votes. The corners of the mouth lù a smile:

"Well, my brother is a happy man," he said, shoving his pouch from under the table, "everything you want is in it." ”

The young man nodded, unwrapped the package, and examined it carefully, and there were several small handfolds inside, each with a small paper tag attached to it. The young man looked at the contents carefully, and nodded his head when he was convinced.

"Don't worry, you can't fake it." The middle-aged man ate a shrimp dumpling and said with a smile, "This thing is not a rare thing, but it is stored in the master's inner study." If you can't get in, you'll have to pay all the way......"

The middle-aged man took the ticket and stuffed it in his boots, babbling about how difficult it was, as if to show that the bag was not expensive.

"It's also about making friends for us. In the future, there will be something to work hard. The young man nodded.

"Well said, well said." The middle-aged man hurriedly drank tea and left.

The package contained copies of Gao Shunqin's recitals and correspondence with the capital in the past month. This is a very confidential thing for local officials, and it is generally kept in an important place such as his inner study, and is not handed over to the master for safekeeping. But day and night defense, it is difficult to prevent thieves. As long as he has enough money, the concubines and servants around him can buy it and copy it secretly.

This copy quickly passed through the traffic station to Lin Baiguang's hands. Lin Baiguang took a closer look, and quickly came to a conclusion after eliminating irrelevant parts. The expulsion of the Portuguese from Macau, which Gao Shunqin had been calling for, was finally officially launched.

Lin Baiguang is not most interested in the fold itself. In order for a matter to be resolved and turned into a holy decree at the imperial court, it is not enough to rely on a letter of reciprocation, but a lot of preparatory work must be done in advance, and it is necessary to communicate well with the cabinet officials, the officials of various ministries, and other officials in various fields to win their support. Some are political persuasions, while others involve the exchange of interests. In the late Ming Dynasty, there was also partisan struggle.

In contrast, letters of communication, exchange of opinions, and entrustment have great reference value. By reading the correspondence, you can roughly tell how something is going.

Judging from these letters, Gao Shunqin had generally completed all the preparations, and once this letter was published, it was very likely that it would be approved—first, the ancients did not know much importance to maritime trade; Secondly, the Portuguese and their partners were not good men and women, and trade was often accompanied by naked looting, murder and arson.

On the whole, Emperor Chongzhen's decree to ban Portuguese trade next year is mostly due to the original historical situation.

The question is how unusually nervous is Weishenme Li Fengjie on this matter? Whether the Portuguese can do business or not has no interests at all with him. He was so interested in making such a request to the Portuguese that his request would be denied as soon as the news was confirmed by the Portuguese.

Lin Baiguang couldn't think of anything that could make Li Fengjie care so much about the attitude of the Portuguese, you must know that in the old time and space, at least in the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese could be regarded as "deferential" to the local officials in Guangdong. The small capital of Xiangshan County once stormed Macau in a big way, and arrested the Portuguese in the Macau Senate and spanked them.

The new news soon came that the envoy of Li Fengjie, who had been sent to Macao, was not his staff, but Li Luoyou, an old acquaintance of the senators.

Having lived in Macau since childhood, Li Luoyu studied under the Jesuit Society and has a close relationship with the Portuguese. and close ties with officialdom, Wang Zunde wanted to borrow Portuguese cannons to cast cannons in Guangdong, all of which were handled by Li Luo. Now it is not surprising that Li Fengjie sent him to liaise with the Portuguese.

Lin Baiguang decided to immediately telegraph to Lingao, asking Jiang Shan and others to immediately arrange for someone to go to Macao to contact Li Luoyou through Gu Baocheng and find out the specific inside story.

On 20 September, after several days of rest and waiting for reinforcements to arrive, Chen Haiyang finally launched an operation into the inland waters of the Pearl River. Led by the survey ship "Haitian", he led the task force to leave the Sanmen anchorage and enter the inland river of the Pearl River.

There are two channels from the mouth of the Pearl River to the Pearl River to Guangzhou. One is the outer route. From the east side of Macau, go through Humen, pass through two sandbanks, and then go straight to Huangpu. This is the main route for large merchant ships to Guangzhou. The navigation conditions of this waterway are better.

The other route, known as the "Inner Route", travels from the western part of Macao, crosses the "Hengsha Shoal" and then arrives at Heung Shan. Then go up from Xiangshan through Humen to Huangpu. This route is usually navigated by small tonnage ships because it passes through many shoals and rivers on the way.

Chen Haiyang has aerial survey data of the Haitian and various information provided by local sailors and veteran shipwrights. For the first time, he decided to take only the outer route. Ensure the safety of the vessel. The final destination of this voyage was Humen. If possible, he would set up a stronghold in Humen, ensuring that this strategic point would not have to be attacked every time he went to Guangzhou.

The fleet was led by the brig Survey Ship Haitian, which lifted anchor from Sanmen and sailed through the waters east of Macao. It's a very haode autumn weather, with a light breeze and freshly scrubbed ships sailing in a queue with sails hanging at the Sanmen anchorage. The red imperial flag adorned with gold ribbons rose on the mainmast, and numerous flags fluttered in the wind. Cannons roared, and bugles played in unison. A large fleet of steamboats spewed thick black smoke on both flanks of the flotilla. Then came the hordes of small boats, towed by the big hairboats. The flag of the Marine Corps fluttered. arrive

The Portuguese in Macao knew that this was the fleet of Australians -- the Senate of Macao had already sent people to Hong Kong Island a few days ago, and the two sides had exchanged gifts and exchanged views. The Portuguese were no strangers to Australians because of their support for the Jesuit mission and trade with the Society of Jesuits. They were nervous about the purpose of the Australians' sudden arrival at the mouth of the Pearl River - they had not only routed a group of pirates here, but also repaired a fort on Hong Kong Island.

Chen Haiyang assured that the Australian fleet had no intention of Macao, and although the Portuguese were afraid and did not fully believe in the Australians' assurance, the disparity in strength between the two sides made it possible for them to meet the new arrivals with a peaceful attitude. The Portuguese even allowed the Australians to send small ships into Macao to get supplies.

Chen Haiyang noticed that there were four large Galen ships parked in the harbor of Macao, as well as five or six smaller ships. In terms of scale, the Portuguese naval strength in East Asia is indeed not weak. If you don't have new weapons, power-ups, and ships as bonuses, relying on traditional ships and weapons alone may not be an opponent.

A puff of smoke rose from the distant battery, and the rumbling sound of cannon was heard. The Portuguese are firing a cannon salute.

A gun salute was fired from the Macau battery, followed by a salute from Portuguese ships anchored in the harbor. The fleet responded with a salute. White smoke billowed from the entire Pearl River estuary, and artillery roared. It is announced that the crossing group has officially come to the mainland