Emperor Chenghua's decree on privateering was like a strong hurricane, which swept the entire land of Shandong in an instant, and even the coastal areas of Beizhili and Jiangnan were sensational, and countless gentry and ministers played one after another, asking Emperor Chenghua to set up trading venues in Beizhili and Jiangnan!

This situation was not expected by Emperor Chenghua, who was originally worried that the ministers of the court and the central government would oppose this move, but in reality, these ministers raised their hands in agreement.

After thinking about it carefully, Emperor Chenghua also understood the reason: most of these ministers were from large wealthy families in Beizhili and Jiangnan provinces, and the people who had the strength to participate in this open privateering order were basically these big wealthy families, and most of them could benefit from it, so it was reasonable for these ministers to agree so actively.

As a result, Emperor Chenghua pushed the boat down the river and set up two additional trading venues in Tianjin and Nanjing, and all the regulations were consistent with those of the Shandong trading market.

Shandong Jinan Fucheng.

Hu Dexing, the governor of Shandong, and Zhang Xiaojun, the chief military officer of Shandong Town, rode their horses on the street together, and a hundred heavily armored iron cavalry soldiers accompanied them to escort them, separating the people who came and went on the street.

"During this time, there are more and more people in the city, and this Chengen Street is not as lively as it was in the past."

Zhang Xiaojun looked at the tide of pedestrians and sighed.

Hu Dexing said with a smile: "Isn't it the reason why the imperial court issued a privateering order? At present, there are no less than 100 maritime merchants and large families who come to apply for privateer warrants every day, not counting those on both sides of Beizhili and Jiangnan. Moreover, there are many people who come to the trading hall and desperately want to win a document to enter the trading market. ”

"There are also many small traders and peddlers, as well as the people who work as coolies, also flocking to get a piece of this feast!"

Listening to Hu Dexing's words, Zhang Xiaojun said: "How many years has the imperial court not had such a grand event, I remember that when the eunuchs of Sanbao went to the West, our Shandong was lively once, and it was only this once!" ”

Hu Dexing smiled and said, "Indeed! However, when I went to the West, it was only the national dynasty that participated in it, and the common people did not get any benefits from it, and it was just a fun situation. But this time it was different, the big merchants and gentry could gather the sea ships and go into battle shirtless, and swallow the Dutch goods and ships directly! Small traders could repair ships, transport supplies, and provide food for these big merchants, and ordinary people could work for them, help, and make a living around the trading grounds. ”

"It can be said that the imperial court approved the Hou Ye's request this time and issued this plunder order, which completely stirred up the population and silver money from the north to the north and the south to the south of the Yangtze River!"

Hu Dexing said arrogantly: "According to the information sent by the Ministry of Intelligence, the amount of money mobilized this time is more than 10 million taels!" The population involved is also as high as one million, and the number of registered sea ships has reached more than 1,000, such a strength, the Dutch will never be able to fight back! ”

Zhang Xiaojun laughed and said, "Haha! It seems that those Dutch people should feel lucky, fortunately, the Netherlands is far away from our emperor, otherwise this time it would not be a plundering order, but the imperial court directly gathered a large army and fleet, and directly killed the Netherlands itself! ”

As the two were talking, they saw a crowd of people in front of them, and the wide street was full of people, and the team was unable to move forward for a while.

Zhang Xiaojun pointed to the front and said: "In front is the yamen of Jinan Mansion, and it is estimated that businessmen from all over the country are waiting for registration and registration." ”

Hu Dexing looked at the two classes of officials and city patrol archers who maintained order in front of him, and said with a smile: "These soap officials are estimated to be tired and paralyzed, there are at least a few hundred people here!" ”

"Yes, it is estimated that in a few more days, there will be more merchants who have rushed over!"

After the two talked for a while, the accompanying iron cavalry soldiers cleared the passage, and the two rode through the street in front of the yamen of Jinan Mansion and returned to the Shandong Governor's Mansion.

At this time, there was also a sea of people in front of the Governor's Palace, at least three or five hundred people were waiting here, and when they saw Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun coming back, everyone rushed up, and the surrounding iron cavalry soldiers hurriedly stepped forward to maintain order.

Outside the gate of the Governor's Palace, a general manager who led people to maintain order hurriedly ran over, and Hu Dexing asked, "Who are these people?" ”

After the thousand general saluted, he said loudly: "Qiyu Governor Xian, Qiqi General Town, these are all businessmen who came from all over the country, and after they registered and reviewed in Jinan Mansion, they came to buy firearms with the vouchers issued by Jinan Mansion!" ”

Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun glanced at each other, and they were very happy.

Hu Dexing said: "Let them line up and let three waves of people come in at a time. ”

"Yes!"

On the same day, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun reviewed 89 waves of merchants together, and sold a total of 398 portable artillery, 551 bundles of rockets, 1,750 Jingtai two-year-style thunder throwing cannons eliminated by the Tiance Army, and 4,650 Jingtai year-made bird guns! More than 200,000 rounds of ammunition of all kinds!

These firearms were enough to equip tens of thousands of troops, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun sold them in just one day, and Shandong Town not only removed a large number of backlogs, but also earned hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, which was just the beginning.

At the end of this day, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun both exclaimed that the arms business was too profitable!

However, in addition to being happy, Hu Dexing also said to Zhang Xiaojun: "Fortunately, there is the will of the imperial court, so we can sell firearms so without scruples." However, Shandong Town must do a good job of prevention and control, these firearms can be used to fight the Dutch, and must not be aimed at the people and merchant ships of our Ming Dynasty! ”

Zhang Xiaojun also knew that the matter was serious, and immediately clenched his fists and said: "Please rest assured, I will personally control this matter, and there will be no chaos!" ”

In order to prevent trouble, Zhang Xiaojun saw that some officers and men were transferred from the Dongping Island Navy and assigned to various privateer fleets to be responsible for supervision.

Soon, the provinces of Beizhili and Jiangnan followed suit, and stationed officers and soldiers of the naval division in the privateer fleet to prevent accidents.

In the middle of September of the first year of Chenghua.

Less than a month after the imperial court issued the privateering order, more than 300 armed fleets were established in Shandong, Beizhili, and Jiangnan provinces, and were registered in various local governments, and then these more than 300 armed fleets and thousands of sea ships plunged headlong into the vast sea, searching everywhere for Dutch merchant ships, as well as Japanese and Korean merchant ships that had trade with the Dutch.

In the middle of the sea, these huge numbers of Ming civilian armed fleets swam in groups, and under the restraint and guidance of the officers and soldiers of the imperial navy, they launched a wolf-like attack on the Dutch merchant ships and even sporadic warships.

Often a Dutch ship appears on the sea, and it will not be long before there will be several, dozens of Ming privateers, or even hundreds of Ming privateers, and no matter how good these Dutch ships are at fighting and how fast, they will not be able to escape from dozens of times the enemy!

Such a ferocious attack caused the Dutch to suffer heavy losses in a very short time, and the Dutch Far East Company entrenched in Luzon lost almost seventy percent of its merchant ships, and the dozen or so warships that escaped back to Batavia also lost three, which made Van Zery angry.

But in the face of Daming's absolute strength, Fan Zerui felt deep helplessness and despair, and could only persuade his companions over and over again to start peace talks with Daming as soon as possible, and sign the peace negotiation treaty, but was rejected again, and even some Dutch officials and businessmen began to question Fan Zerui's position, which made Fan Zerui break out in a cold sweat.

Under the Shazhou Acropolis.

As the sun sets, the thousand-year-old Acropolis of Sandbank is also gilded with a layer of gold by the afterglow of the setting sun.

In one day, Liu Juntao commanded all units of the Tiance Army to launch a fierce attack on the Tartar stronghold south of the Shazhou Acropolis, conquering thirteen Tartar fortresses one after another, and beheading more than 4,000 people!

At this time, Liu Juntao rode his horse and looked at the Acropolis of Shazhou, only to see that the soldiers of the Qikeli troops at the head of the city were rectifying the city defense, obviously not to the point of low morale, and the Tartar troops in the city were still 26 or 70,000, and the troops were strong.

"It looks like this battle still has to be fought!"

Liu Juntao sighed, and ordered all units of the Tiance Army to retreat ten miles back and return to the camp to station, and at the same time ordered more than 30,000 soldiers in Shaanxi Town to be stationed in place in order to contain the attention of the Tartars.

After returning to the Chinese military camp, Lan Siqi, Minister of the Central Committee, and Liu Zi'an, Minister of Intelligence, who were already waiting here, greeted Liu Juntao together, and the two of them gave Liu Juntao the good news with a smile.

"Lord Qiqi! After receiving the news from the imperial court, His Majesty has issued a privateering order in accordance with the plan of the Hou Ye, and the current scope is the coastal provinces of Beizhili, Shandong and Jiangnan! ”

Liu Zi'an also excitedly described the grand occasion of the coastal provinces of Shandong, Beizhili, and Jiangnan, and said: "Master Hou, now the Dutch must be in pain, I really want to see the magnificent scene of thousands of sails on the sea!" ”

"Haha!"

Liu Juntao laughed, his face was full of excitement, and the tiredness of today's hard work suddenly dissipated.

"Good! Now that the imperial court has begun to let go of the power of the people, it is great! ”

When Lan Siqi heard this, he smiled and said, "Although these privateer fleets are numerous, it is difficult to replace the imperial court sailors, right?" ”

Liu Zian also said: "What power can the people have? At the critical moment, you have to look at the court and the official army. ”

Liu Juntao looked at Lan Siqi and Liu Zi'an and said; "You may not see it, but in fact, I am in China, and the real majestic power is these small people, these descendants of Yan and Huang!"

Liu Juntao said firmly: "Look at it! This will be the great era of my China, and I will be in China, and with the hard work of hundreds of millions of descendants of Yan and Huang, I will use the power of the ocean to truly rule the world, so that the foreign races of the Quartet will prostrate on the ground from now on! ”