Section 51: Lando's Mission

"Can you mark all the facilities in the harbor?"

"I can get where I can, but there's a large part of the harbor that neither I nor my men can set foot in." Li Huamei said with regret, "They are very strict with my monitoring - in the past, the Australians personally guarded me, but it was relatively loose. Now it's a lot of money recruited from the mainland. ”

"So you're starting to lose your interest in them." Li Siya jokingly said, "Your charm has declined." ”

"No, I think they like me very much, especially among naval officers." "But there are some Australians who are very vigilant and suspicious of everyone -- including themselves. Considering that they are actually weak, there is nothing wrong with that. ”

"How many troops do you estimate they have?"

"I can't estimate it, but in the harbor you can see about two companies of infantry at all times, very well trained - completely European-style training, very well equipped. Gunners and sailors are not counted. If the sailors were all armed, they would be able to organize at least twenty companies. These sailors were equally well trained. Australians have a lot of firearms and plenty of ammunition. ”

"In this way, the Dutch have no hope of attacking Lingao."

"Not at all. How many ships can the Dutch make a sortie? Fifteen? Sixteen? During the expedition to Penghu, they could only dispatch fourteen ships. Li Huamei said, "Back then, they pulled the British into the nest and went out, but they still didn't even capture Macao, and now they want to attack Lingao, which is ten times more difficult than Macao, I'm afraid they won't even be able to enter the port, and they will only touch a nose of dust." ”

"So they're willing to pay five thousand guilders." Li Siya said.

"We have a good relationship with the Australians, and the Goa trade is very profitable, so why bother to fight for the Dutch? 5,000 guilders only. ”

"It's not as simple as five thousand guilders." Li Siya opened the corner of the curtain and looked at the dripping fountain in the atrium, "You said: In the past three years, the Australian Liliang has become stronger and stronger day by day. When they are strong enough to ignore the giants of the South China Sea, will our sisters have a better time? ”

"They're early. Zheng Zhilong......"

"Zheng Zhilong is also a threat." Li Siya said, "The Australians who are on the high are more dangerous than Zheng Zhilong - no one knows what their intentions are - they still have a lot of cards to open." ”

Li Siya believes that it will not hurt them to fight the Dutch and the Australians. Since the Dutch could not have exterminated the Australians - they would only be beaten and returned home - their interests in Lingao would not be affected in any way. The threat of the Dutch as a fierce rival for the Australians will only further entrap the existing collaborators, and Li Huamei can claim more benefits from them.

Overall, the good use of this opportunity is that these two families are "double losses", and the Li sisters are "win-win".

"We're going to make the Australians suffer." "Then they'll treat you better." In short, there has to be some chaos on the sea. ”

"The Dutch can't afford to make the Australians suffer. They don't have the ability. ”

"It's up to us." "Give the Dutch a hand," she said. ”

Li Huamei remained silent: "What do you want to do?" ”

"There's a guy, I'm going to use him."

"Aragonés? Although he was in a bad situation, he was not a useful person. ”

"He? Kind of useful. But I'm going to use this man: Weiss? Lando. ”

So she sent one of her closest cronies, the Black Slave Girl, who often did secret business for her, to meet Lando. Not only was this woman a very eloquent speaker of Portuguese, but she was also a cold-blooded killer when necessary, a man who was adept at concocting poisons and poisoning, and who had quietly eliminated many enemies and people she was annoyed with.

With her keen sense of smell and her all-pervasive spies -- she has raised a large number of scum of various nationalities in Macao, acting as eyes and ears -- she has all kinds of information in the city.

Weiss? Lando's appearance in Macau did not interest her much, and it was nothing more than the usual European residue in the Far East, ready to reap some advantage by brute force and wielding knives and guns. Even on the Countess Scarborough, she was not too impressed by the man. Except for the strange accent of Italian and the demeanor that is out of place with the surroundings.

She later saw him many more times on the street, in hotels and churches. This person never received his attention, except once, when one of her subordinates brought her a strange object.

It is a rectangular piece of paper, very beautifully printed, with a round head of a beautifully printed European man. As for the text on it, she didn't recognize it, it was supposed to be a European language. Other than that, it's an Arabic numeral 10.

The source of this piece of paper is the proprietress of the small inn where Lando stayed. The man was drunk and tried to pay the bill with this piece of paper, but when he was refused, he went crazy and stuffed it into the proprietress corset.

Li Siya took care of the proprietress and bought the piece of paper. In this piece of paper, she thought of similar prints that she had found from the shopkeeper back then. However, the shopkeeper was red, and the Arabic numerals 100 were written on it. The avatar is a yellow man. In addition, the text on it is also kanji.

Weiss? Lando turned out to be an Australian, at least he had a deep relationship with the Australians, and Li Siya Xiang discovered the New World. Thinking about it this way, when Aragonés went to attack Lingao, he was originally throwing himself into the net, needless to say, the other party sent this person to Macao for himself.

She immediately wanted to keep an eye on the Australian - but almost a year later, not only did Lando not return to Lingao once, but he never even visited Wong Soon Loong's shop once, he had no contact with the outside world at all, except for going out when he worked for the Jesuits, and spent almost every day in Macau living a drunken life and dreaming of death.

In any case, he didn't look like a secret agent.

She asked the Jesuit insiders for all the news about the man. Lando was received from the Ming Mansion. The Ming government captured him from a small county town called "Lingao" on the coast, and he was rescued by several fishermen and sent to the county seat.

The insider told him that Lando was faithful to the Jesuits, and that Master Geranzani was very pleased with him - except for the money.

After a long period of observation and temptation. Li Siya confirmed one point: Lando is an Australian, but Lando and Lingao's Australians are not in a group.

If it was a group, he would never have had anything to do with the Australians in Lingao for more than two years, and he had not done anything to serve the Australians - except that the news of the night attack on Bopu may have been leaked by him.

In addition, she also knew from Gelanzani's attendant that Lando had said to the elder several times: "They are Chinese in the truest sense of the word, although they are not from the Ming Dynasty." ”

Although the Elder may not understand what he meant, Lisya does: Lando makes it clear that he knows the ins and outs of the Aussie who are on the heights. As for his weishenme important saying that "it is Chinese, not from the Ming Dynasty", there should be another reason.

If it were an ordinary person, Li Siya would have tortured him secretly a long time ago. But Lando was in the service of the Society of Jesus in Macau, and she was not yet so rebellious as to dare to offend the Society of Jesus.

Now is a good opportunity. Li Siya thought about it for a few days and came to such a conclusion.

If the Dutch want to find out Lingao's secrets, she can let Lando go, if Lando is an Australian agent, he will never tell her about Lingao's key defensive measures. And Lando didn't know that Li Huamei was her person. Just one comparison can be found. On the other hand, Lando is not a secret agent, and he will have more detailed information about Australians than his own nurse.

If this is the case, Lando is a strange character Li Siya thought, the Australians will inevitably be the hegemon of the South China Sea in the future, and there is a person who knows their details in his own hands, and the benefits are immeasurable.

Lando didn't know that he had been calculated by Li Siya. Since he had accepted the money, he decided to go to Lingao in person. Go and see with your own eyes what the Chinese are doing in Lingao, and estimate whether you can defect to each other. In his opinion, no army in this time and space can be an opponent of the Chinese armed with modern weapons. In case the Chinese actually suffered defeat at the hands of the people of this time and space, then it would be better for him to simply break the idea of defecting to them.

However, the faces of Europeans are too conspicuous to go to Lingao, and they will be targeted by the Chinese as soon as they enter the country. It is impossible to pretend to be a merchant - you are not like a merchant, who knows nothing about the trade here and cannot stand up to interrogation. Lando thought twice and decided to pose as the priest's attaché. The Society of Jesus was recently sending two priests to Lingao. After Lu Ruohua's letter requesting the dispatch of more priests arrived, the Jesuits sent three more people to the meeting, but the demand for priests continued unabated, and in the previous stage, another priest contracted an illness and was "called by the Lord" while serving in the Loese district. At the request of the Lingao Church, the Jesuits decided to send two more priests to Lingao to preach.

Lando went to ask Father Comange, saying only that he was very curious about Lingao and wanted to go with the group to see it. His request was immediately granted. So Lando became a member of the Jesuit delegation.

The spring sunshine shines through the gap between the bamboo trees outside the window, spreading mottled shadows on the square brick floor. The breeze shook the green bamboo, and a curtain of broken water flowed back and forth like a stream.

The bamboos have all turned green, and the withered yellow leaves of winter are fading one by one. The courtyard is full of life.

The furnishings in the study are very simple, and it is hard to imagine that it is the private study of Wang Zunde, the governor of Liangguang.

Wang Zunde was looking at a letter with his head down at this time. His dress was very simple, almost on par with a humble man. Wang Zunde is known for his simplicity, always dressed in vegetarian clothes on weekdays, and has a reputation for honesty in the officialdom.

This is a letter brought back from Beijing by one of his protégés. With his dignity and status, it is convenient and fast for the Titang officials of this province to send him private messages, but Wang Zunde never works for them - who knows if Dongchang has seen these private messages brought back to the province by these Titang officials.

A private letter in Beijing, the content is nothing more than the short news of the parents, various news, and the trend in the court. It turned out to be nothing, but I was afraid that I would find out what "shouldn't" words for the eunuchs in the East Factory, and I would be in trouble.

The letter was written in the same year as an official of the imperial court. And this letter made him feel an inexplicable worry. He was concerned about the "encyclopedia" contained in the letter.

According to the habit of officialdom in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to a text, people wrote letters with the so-called "deputy enlightenment". A letter is an anonymous letter that is used to ask for an errand or to discuss a confidential matter.

Now the letter in Wang Zunde's hand also has three sub-letters.

The text of the letter is usually some polite words of cold and warm life, and Wang Zunde hastily swept the matter. The first one was the news of the imperial court, and he read it roughly, and talked about the recent movements of the imperial court: Yuan Chonghuan's prospects were not good -- more than a month ago, the imperial court had sent people to Guangxi to arrest Yuan Yuan's family and relatives in Tengxian County. This once very important person who was highly regarded by the emperor may not be able to escape the scourge of killing. Although Yuan Yuan Yuan has nothing to do with himself, and he can't be implicated in his head, but seeing him being reused and arrested, he can't help but feel sad in his heart.

He picked up the second copy of the sub-de-enlightenment.

The content above is the news of the battle between the imperial court and the Jianyu and the Liukou. The war in the east has temporarily calmed down since the imperial court recovered Zunhua, but the situation in the northwest is getting bigger and bigger day by day, and it is gradually burning the prairies. Moreover, among them, the post guards, town soldiers, and military households in Shaanxi Town are "quite a lot of thieves".

When Wang Zunde saw this, he couldn't help but sneer, thinking that this was just expected. The arrears of the town soldiers are already calculated on an annual basis, and the reduction of post guards is even more defeated. The northwest of Shaanxi is a bitter cold land, no more than a place like Jiangnan and Guangdong, and you can barely survive if you ask for food. It used to be a miserable and half-starved bastard, but now that they have been laid off, where can they survive if they don't rebel?

I am afraid that such a chaotic situation will not be suppressed in seven or eight years.

He dropped the note and picked up the next one.

This letter is very brief, but it is more important. It is mainly said that since Xiong Wenhuan recruited Zheng Zhilong, the situation on the southeast coast has stabilized, and the emperor seems to be satisfied with this. is urging Xiong Wenhuan to "clarify the ocean" as soon as possible.

"Hmph." Wang Zunde snorted. Xiong Wenhuan's hand is just attacking the thief with a thief, wanting both sides to lose and hurt him to reap the benefits of the fisherman. It's just that this matter may not be as simple as he thinks.

Although Guangdong has not dealt much with Zheng Zhilong, he has a lot of information. The news came mainly from the Portuguese. Including Zheng Zhilong's family history and his special relationship in Japan, etc. Wang Zunde knows very well that Zheng Zhilong is by no means a good type, nor is he an ordinary pirate who will be satisfied with the empty title of a military general like "guerrilla general".

After that, he refused to withdraw from the Zhongzuo Institute and stole Jinxia, the purpose of which was nothing more than to use it as a port to trade with Japan and other places. The Portuguese come to trade twice a year, and a lot of useful information can be derived from their mouths. For example, compared with the Moon Port, the Zhongzuo Institute is more ideal as a trade port; The purpose of Zheng Zhilong's repeated attacks on Yuegang was not to rob, but mainly to force the merchants to dare not trade in the local area anymore.

"Zheng rebels against the wolf's ambitions, and his intentions are very great, and he is by no means sincere in submitting to the imperial court" This is Gao Shunqin's comment after hearing Zheng Zhilong's fuss at that time - of course, in private.

But Xiong Wenhuan doesn't see it that way. For more than a year, he has continued to support Zheng Zhilong's ships with heavy artillery, and even sent a lot of Hongyi cannons cast by Wang Zunde for Fujian to Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong in Fujian is simply to get the wind and rain. He knew that the Zheng family had a wide range of properties in Fujian, and even extended his hand to Guangdong, buying many farms and industries, and even outside the city of Guangzhou, there were farms he purchased. It's just paradoxical

But after all, Zheng Zhilong wiped out all the bandits who had accumulated over the years such as Zhucai Lao, and as long as Xiong Wenhuan continued to report success, no impeachment would work. On the government and the opposition, there are quite a few people who agree with Xiong Wenhuan's approach. The court discussion is very beneficial to him, and it is very possible to see the momentum and be promoted.

These news seem to have nothing to do with Guangdong. Wang Zunde knew that if Xiong Wenhuan was promoted, he would most likely come to take over his position - there are also pirates in Guangdong, and the momentum is no smaller than that in Fujian. Xiong Wenhuan has a reputation as a capable member of "Pinghai Thief Jinghai", and most of them will come to Guangdong. He is now the governor of Fujian, and he has made great contributions, but he may not only be the governor of Guangdong.

If he can't quickly open up a situation and win a few naval victories, I'm afraid that the position of the governor of Liangguang will not be able to sit still.

It's just that the pirates on the surface of the Guangdong Ocean are not easy to get along with. The first major stock is Liu Laoxiang, who has been patrolling the Pearl River estuary for a long time, and from time to time he has gone deep into the Pearl River to rob and plunder villagers and ships, and block the trade abroad. The Portuguese in Macao came to talk to him twice in three days, hoping that the two sides would join forces to suppress him.

The Portuguese had large plywood ships and large bronze cannons, and their combat power was considerable, but the Ming Dynasty could not send men and horses. If you want to go in, you have to pay the army and prepare the ships, which will cost a lot of money. The political envoy of Guangdong has been crying poor, saying that there is no silver in the treasury. At present, most of the money for the cannons cast in the provinces is still owed. The price of the guns allowed by the Ministry of Industry has not been seen until now.

However, Guangdong has a lot of financial resources, and if it really wants to fight, it can still be done without holding any other place and making a sum of money first. It's just a little bit unworthy.

Moreover, the Guangdong officialdom knows nothing about Liu Laoxiang's details, and even less than the Portuguese. People who have no guide want to find Liu Laoxiang's fleet between the vast sea and countless small islands, which is simply wishful thinking. Zuihou is nothing more than another loss of soldiers. The imperial court could afford to lose in the past, and now, the imperial court can no longer afford to lose. Losing a battle means never recovering.

Thinking of this, he was very irritable.