The sea breeze is blowing, the sky is blue, and the ocean is full of the smell of water vapor after the storm - this thing is called negative oxygen ions in later generations, and it is an ion that sub-healthy people in the city need to spend money to absorb......

Date: Morning of July 10, 1628. Coordinates: The wharf outside the city in the southwest corner of Xiamen Island.

Du Dewei, who was dressed in a cyan short robe, with a short knife at his waist, a sturdy body, and two thick eyebrows, was standing on the bow of the slowly moving boat with his arms at the moment, still blowing his hairband by the sea breeze, but there was no expression on his face.

Du Dewei is 27 years old and a native of Xianyou, Fujian. The Du family was born in a small maritime businessman, and his father's family business was acceptable when he ran to the sea in his early years, so Du Dewei was able to enter the Mongolian school opened by the local academy when he was young.

However, when he was 15 years old, his father died in a shipwreck, and the Du family fell into the middle of the road, and Du Dewei was forced to follow his father's old path: running to the sea.

After working the ocean for more than 10 years, Du Dewei has now worked hard to pull up a small group of 20 ships and become the shopkeeper himself. And the place he was going to by small boat today was the big tent of the Chinese army outside the center left.

......

Since Zheng Da's shopkeeper defeated the official army and Hongyi in a row, and captured Tongshan and Zhongzuo, a large number of small pirates from Fujian and Guangdong have come to vote, and the momentum is unmatched for a while. And Du Dewei Du's shopkeeper is naturally not exempt from vulgarity: gathering and dispersing is the normal state of pirates, the powerful ones raise the flag, the small ones are prosperous, and it is normal to go their own way after the business is done.

Not long after joining the group, Du Dewei suddenly heard a rumor: Zheng Da is going to recruit again.

To tell the truth, he himself is still full of longing for this old joke about Zhao'an: from the first day he was a pirate 10 years ago, he had a dream of Zhao'an. Du Dewei, who has studied private school since he was a child, and has a rough understanding of literature and ink, has never forgotten that his family is a serious person, if it weren't for the business of killing and robbing goods for his widowed mother and his younger siblings, he would not want to do it in his heart.

And to his surprise, this time the rumor was actually true: one day not long ago, the young Zheng Dalongtou gathered all the big and small shopkeepers in the Chinese military tent and announced a major event in public - he was going to Fuzhou to discuss the matter with the official lord in person.

Not to mention the fact that the shopkeepers from all walks of life disturbed and made a noise, as far as Du Dewei himself was concerned, this was indeed good news. Therefore, in the early morning two days later, he also made a special boat to see off the big shopkeeper.

......

Unexpectedly, the big shopkeeper was gone.

From the day the news came from the spies who were ambushed in Fuzhou, the pirate camp near the Zhongzuo Institute began to become chaotic - the spies returned to the Zhongzuo Institute by boat from the Fuzhou dock in late June, a few days after Zheng Zhilong's fleet departed from Fuzhou.

Fuzhou is only 200 kilometers away from Xiamen in a straight line, which is converted to more than 100 nautical miles...... However, until the spies who set off later came back one after another, no one saw any trace of the Zheng family's fleet.

After July 5th, all kinds of rumors could no longer be suppressed - because a large number of people who were frantically sent out by the shopkeepers to explore again still did not see the Zheng family's fleet after slipping around Fuzhou City and returning from it......

The pirates don't have much concept of information control, so when a large number of spies came back this time, the public opinion market suddenly opened up, and all kinds of true and false news began to prevail.

It is said that Xiong Wencan took advantage of the send-off that day to seal the inner and outer cities of Fuzhou, secretly transferred the elite of Fubiao, and besieged Zheng Zhilong and his gang outside the city of Fuzhou.

It is also said that the big shopkeeper was first introduced into the Marshal's Mansion by Xiong Wencan, and then Xiong threw a cup as a number, and the big shopkeeper was bound by the ambush soldiers who rushed out of the two compartments at the moment, and then Xiong Wencan first read out a number of Zheng Shun's major sins in public, and then asked for the sword of Shang Fang given by the emperor, and beheaded the head of the big shopkeeper's neck on the spot.

...... The storyteller paints the voice, and the listener is engrossed in the story, as if he is there.

The closest rumor to the truth is that the Zheng family's fleet was ambushed by the officers and soldiers in the open sea, and the entire army was annihilated.

However, this rumor has the least market in the pirate hierarchy. You must know that the treasurers who can now have a chair in the Chinese military tent are all the leaders of a large gang with more than 100 boats in their hands, and these people are well-informed, shrewd and capable, so they will never believe such rumors.

The big gang of shopkeepers who have the most authentic information first-hand are now generally inclined to the most prosaic answer: the Zheng family's fleet encountered a strong wind in the open sea and was completely annihilated.

...... Zhu Baba said that if all impossible answers are removed, the one that remains is the truth, no matter how unbelievable it is.

The shopkeepers thought the same way - although the wind blew all 800 people and horses of the 5 Daifuku ships sounded a bit low, but in their opinion, this ending was the only reasonable answer at the moment.

Because they know that Xiong Wencan is innocent: the scene where Xiong Dafutai went out of the city to bid farewell to Zhilong that day is very clear. Again, Xiong Wencan didn't make a move in the dominant Fuzhou City, so the possibility of making a move on the ocean is zero...... If the officers and soldiers have this ability, they still need to appease Zheng Zhilong?

Therefore, in the shopkeepers who have first-hand information, the logic is very clear: the Zheng family's fleet was shipwrecked, and there is no other explanation.

Time passed day by day, and when there was still no news from the Zheng family's fleet, the situation became clear: Zheng Zhilong was dead, and most people had already decided on this matter. At this time, if the big and small shopkeepers who are still gathered in the center and left office no longer know how to find a way out for their brothers, they will be mentally retarded.

As a result, the Chinese military tent, which originally symbolized prestige, has become a vegetable market since the beginning of July, and the shopkeepers from all walks of life quarrel endlessly every day. And as time went on, when Zheng Dalong's hope of survival was completely extinguished, the time for a showdown had come in recent days - people had completely lost patience.

......Thinking of this, Du Dewei, who was standing at the bow of the ship and sailing in the direction of the Chinese military tent, couldn't help but sigh - Zheng Zhilong's death made Du Dewei, a small pirate leader, once again shatter his dream of going public through the backdoor, which really made him choke.

......

Before Zheng Zhilong accepted Zhao'an, Xiamen Island in the 17th century was just an ordinary island, and there were some fishermen and guards living on the island, which was not prosperous.

Historically, after Zheng Zhilong became a guerrilla in coastal defense, he occupied the city of Zhongzuo, cracked down on the import and export trade of Yuegang, and forced merchant ships to trade here, and in a short period of time Xiamen Island became the center of Fujian's foreign trade, and Xiamen Island began to prosper at that time.

Today's Xiamen Island is much more desolate than usual: some time ago, a series of battles between officials and bandits caused the remaining residents of the island to flee. The Zhongzuo Acropolis, located in the southwest corner of Xiamen, has long been abandoned at this moment, and it is just half-open and horizontal.

Before that, there were many pirates who lived in the city directly after the war. However, before Zheng Zhilong set off for Fuzhou, in order to show a little humility, he ordered all the pirates in the city to be driven out, creating a scene where the government had not lost the city...... It can be regarded as saving some face for the officials.

Of course, with Zheng Zhilong's accident, his previous ban gradually became ineffective. However, at this time, the situation changed again: since the shopkeepers were in the Chinese military tent every day, their subordinates naturally could no longer run to the Guard City a few miles away from the dock to station. Today, the tens of thousands of pirates entrenched outside the docks of the center and left all spend the night on their own ships - this is called combat readiness duty.

The boat that Du Dewei was riding was slowly heading towards the dock at this time. Along the way, there are a large number of fortune boats, wide boats, bird boats, fishing boats and other miscellaneous boats. Many of these boats are cooking breakfast, so smoke curls along the way. A large number of ragged pirates were fighting for a bowl of food, and some of them were already sitting in the bow of the ship, their chests bared and screaming about the tune of the earth.

It didn't take long for Du Dewei to arrive at the dock in a dinghy. After jumping onto the dock with agility, Du Dewei only took one cronie and walked to the Chinese army's tent not far from the dock.

At this moment, there are many subordinates of the shopkeepers from all walks of life outside the tent of the Chinese army, Du Dewei walked all the way, with a smile on his face, and while greeting the brothers, he went straight to the door of the cowhide tent full of flags in front of the door, lifted the leather curtain and walked in.

A small shopkeeper like Du Dewei, who only has 20 ships, has no seats in the Chinese military tent. Because pirates are not armies, most of the bandits can go into battle with not many main ships, most of them are miscellaneous fishing boats and the like.

The people who really have positions in the Chinese military tent are the big treasurers who can pull out hundreds of big ships at any time.

After Du Dewei entered the tent, his eyes habitually darkened slightly, and then he hurriedly clenched his fists and walked around in a circle, and walked to the corner with a smile. And at this moment, the few people who were already sitting in the middle of the two rows of chairs in the middle of the big tent, no one paid attention to him.

"How? Can there be results? After Du Dewei stood where he should stand, he turned his head and whispered to a tall and fat man with a stubble face next to him.

This man's name is Hu Ba, and he is also the leader of a group of small bandits. This person has a similar identity to Du Dewei, and his speech is also opportunistic, and the two have looked at each other since the day they met, and they also take care of each other on weekdays.

"I'm already working on the idea of the grain table." Seeing that it was an old friend, Hu Ba lowered his head, with a sneer on his face, and whispered to Du Dewei: "I'm afraid that I will have to make a decision today, you and my brother must be careful." ”

Before Hu Ba's voice fell, a sentence with a Cantonese accent came from the top chair: "Now that I am here, the sons and daughters are also sitting and eating empty." In the past few days, it is not good to put silver rice on the grain table, and I am afraid that some people have any blind thoughts. It would be better if they dispersed early, and when Zheng Da returned to the house in the coming day, it would be good for the brothers to get together again. ”