It is rumored that the pirates during the Great Ming Qi and Chongzhen periods all originated from the line of Li Dan and Yan Siqi.

Li Dan, nicknamed Jiapitan, a native of Quanzhou, Fujian, was a famous maritime merchant in the late Ming Dynasty, originally engaged in business in Luzon, but because of disagreement with the Spanish rulers, he moved to Dongying Kyushu Island to settle down and became a local Chinese leader.

At that time, coinciding with the rise of the Netherlands and the decline of Spain, the Netherlands and Spain launched a fierce competition in Dongying, the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty to the Nanyang line, Li Dan was secretly instructed by the Dutch, and with the help of the Dongying pirate group, he organized an armed fleet to engage in piracy and plundering between Dongying, Daming, Dongfan, and Nanyang, specifically sabotaging the trade between Spain and the Ming Dynasty and Dongying.

After Li Dan's death, most of his pirate forces belonged to his righteous son Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong was immediately attached to the command of Dongying Jialuo Yan Siqi.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Yan Siqi and others were dissatisfied with the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, plotted to rebel, unfortunately the incident leaked, the shogunate sent troops to search for it, Yan Siqi led the crowd to flee to Dongfanbengang, which is now the north port of Chiayi, Tainan, cutting down wood and clearing the soil, building a squatter village, and organizing reclamation, so he was called the king of Kaitai by later generations.

In the fifth year of the Apocalypse, Yan Siqi died of illness, and Zheng Zhilong took over his position again and continued the great cause of reclamation.

It should be said that the main forces of Li Dan and Yan Siqi were inherited by Zheng Zhilong, so he was the most powerful force among the Southeast Pirates, but a considerable part of the armed forces were also divided by Li Dan and Yan Siqi's other subordinates and scattered to the southeast coast and all over the South Seas.

Five years after the Apocalypse, due to the Ming court's negligent control of the southeast coast, Zheng Zhilong and other pirates developed rapidly, and by the first year of Chongzhen, in just three years, the pirate force on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty had skyrocketed to dozens of shares.

Among them, the most powerful is of course Zheng Zhilong, but at this time, he has been appeased by Zhang Bin, the governor of Fujian, and has become a guerrilla general under Zhang Bin.

Although Zheng Zhilong returned to obedience, it was impossible for his subsidiary industries in Dongfan, Nanyang and even Dongying to move to Daming, and with Zhang Bin's acquiescence, he still let his subordinates take care of these industries.

On this day, more than 50 warships suddenly appeared outside Dongfanben Harbor, and the flag they flew was the "Zheng" banner of the pirate Zheng Zhilong.

This Bengang was originally Zheng Zhilong's territory, since it was his own fleet, the people in Bengang naturally would not dodge, the fleet had not yet approached the port, and more than ten small leaders that Zheng Zhilong had left here to manage were already waiting at the dock.

This time it was not Zheng Zhilong who came, but his general Zheng Cai, at this time, Zheng Cai was standing on the bow of the boat side by side with a young man dressed as a fisherman, and this young man was still holding a telescope in his hand!

The lucky boat slowly approached the dock, and Zheng Cai suddenly flattered the man dressed as a fisherman: "Brother Cha, why don't you go to the cottage and sit down, the little boss here has recruited a group of Dongying dancing girls, which is quite flavorful." ”

Zhang Cha put down the binoculars, shook his head firmly, and said: "My lord, let me find out the pirate situation in the south of Dongfan as soon as possible, I can't lose to Zhao Ru's kid, forget it this time, let's talk about it next time I have time." ”

Zhao Ru followed Yang Geng's fleet to the north of Dongfan, spying on pirates from north to south, while he followed Zheng Cai's fleet to the vicinity of Bengang to spy on pirates from south to north.

When Zheng Cai heard this, he could only nod regretfully: "Okay, wait until I unload the supplies on the ship, and I will accompany you to Gan Hui." ”

While the two were talking, the Fu boat had already docked, and the sailors on the ship quickly unloaded bags of daily necessities from the ship, and Zhang Cha also came to the dock at the invitation of Zheng Cai.

As soon as they arrived at the dock, the dozen or so small leaders who were waiting at the dock immediately came up and shouted in unison, "See General Zheng." ”

This guy is bowing his hand, bowing, and even stroking his chest, and his accent is extremely weird, which makes Zhang Cha stunned.

Zheng Cai put on a general's shelf, and waved his hand majestically: "Excuse me, has there been any movement in the red hair fan in the south recently?" ”

One of the men who gave up his hand immediately stepped forward and replied in pure Hokkien dialect: "General Hui, there is no change in the red-haired fan, they are carrying a large group of people to build the castle." ”

Zheng Cai nodded and ordered: "You send more people, be careful, the general said, at this time, he will submit to the Ming Dynasty, which is equivalent to turning his face with the red hair, be careful of their retaliation." ”

The man nodded again and again: "The little one understands, the little one understands." ”

Zheng Cai looked back, and the daily necessities sent were almost unloaded, and he immediately confessed: "You prepare 10,000 stone of grain, move it to the dock, and I will come back to pick it up in a few hours." ”

The man nodded and said, "The little one knows." ”

Zheng Cai nodded, waved his hand, and said, "Okay, let's all step down." ”

With that, he gestured to Zhang Cha, turned around and walked back to the boat.

The little leaders in the back said in unison: "Congratulations to General Zheng." ”

Zhang Cha followed behind Zheng Cai and quipped: "Boy, it's not bad, I've become a general, I'm just a squad leader." ”

Zheng Cai repeatedly told him: "Brother Poor, don't bury me, you are a celebrity in front of adults, and I, a pirate general, am a fart!" ”

"Hahahahaha."

The two laughed all the way, and the fleet left Ben Harbor and turned north.

About half an hour later, Zheng Cai, who was standing on the bow of the boat with Zhang Cha, suddenly pointed to a small island on the right and said: "Behind that is Hong Xu's lair, I have to go and say hello to him when I turn around, let him prepare, and wait for the adults to lead the army over, and immediately honestly bring his minions out to surrender." ”

When Zhang Cha heard this, he raised his binoculars and said, "Hong Xu and Gan Hui will listen to you honestly?" ”

Zheng Cai said coaxingly: "It's overturned over them, Hong Xu, Gan Hui and Shi Daxuan in the north were all mixed with the general at the beginning, but they were ambitious and wanted to go outside, so the general gave them some ships and men and horses, let them each develop, and then the general will follow the adults to exterminate all the pirates, let them surrender, they dare not surrender!" ”

When Zhang Cha heard this, he couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "What kind of general, you have returned to the command of the adult, and you are still called Zheng Zhilong, that kid general?" ”

Zheng Cai touched the back of his head and said embarrassedly: "Isn't this called habit, besides, if you don't talk about the general in front of these pirates, they don't know that it's Zheng Zhilong!" ”

Zhang Cha didn't continue to talk about him, but said with some surprise: "Hey, you can't see anything in this place, are you sure that Hong Xu's lair is behind?" ”

When Zheng Cai heard this, his face turned straight, and he reminded: "You have to be careful when you go to spy, like Hong Xu and Gan Hui's lair, you can't see anything on the sea, you can only find it when you turn in, there are many winding harbors and rivers like this in the east and west, you don't have to look all the way to it." ”

Zhang Cha nodded solemnly and said, "Well, I didn't expect this situation, I have to take a closer look at Gan Hui when I wait for it." ”

The fleet continued to move forward for about half an hour, and Zheng Cai suddenly pointed to a gap on the coast in front of him on the right and said, "See, Gan Hui's lair is in the harbor behind that gap." ”

Zhang Cha raised the binoculars to take a look, but still couldn't see anything.

Zheng Cai explained to him while directing the fleet to slowly turn into the gap, behind the gap is a complex harbor, I don't know how many bends and bends, the fleet turned all the way for nearly two quarters of an hour, and a wharf suddenly appeared in front.

Zhang Cha raised the binoculars and saw that it was indeed a pirate's lair, there were wooden buildings on a hill behind the dock, and there was a two-person high fence around the periphery, and there were paddy fields everywhere around the hill, but it was winter at this time, and nothing was planted in it.

These pirates are very vigilant, Zheng Cai's fleet is estimated to have just appeared on the outer sea surface and was discovered by them, at this time, more than a dozen pirate ships moored in the port have been lined up, waiting there.

Soon, the Fu boat docked, and Zheng Cai took the lead in striding down.

At this time, there were already a bunch of people standing on the dock, led by a strong man in his thirties with a full beard, Zheng Cai just got off the boat, he hugged forward and arched his hand: "It turned out that General Zheng was coming, I missed the distance, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." ”

Zheng Cai laughed and said: "Boss Gan is polite, I haven't seen him for more than half a year, and Boss Gan is still so powerful." ”

Gan Hui smiled and said: "General Zheng said that he was joking, I don't know why General Zheng came here?" ”

When Zheng Cai heard this, he immediately turned his face and said seriously: "The general has already returned to the imperial court, have you heard about it, where are you going to go?" ”

Gan Hui secretly glanced at the fleet brought by Zheng Cai, and immediately said "arrogantly": "Gan is naturally the only general who is the head of the horse, and he will return to the imperial court together!" ”

Zheng Cai nodded and said with relief: "Well, it's good that Boss Gan remembers the old relationship, otherwise it would be bad for us to meet each other." ”

Gan Hui wiped his sweat and smiled: "How dare I go against the general." ”

When Zheng Cai heard this, he introduced Zhang Cha's arm and said: "This is my brother, the captain of the guard under the governor of Fujian, Lord Zhang, this time he was ordered by the governor to spy on the situation of other pirates in the north, and temporarily borrow your place to settle down, you have to cooperate well." ”

Gan Hui hurriedly arched his hand and said: "That's nature, that's nature, I've seen Master Zhang." ”

Zhang Cha arched his hand, and then said to Zheng Cai: "It's not too early, I'll set off now, you put the rest of the supplies here first, and I'll come to pick it up when the time comes." ”

When Zheng Cai heard this, he patted him on the shoulder and said solemnly: "Brother Poor, be careful." ”

Zhang Cha nodded, laughed, arched his hand at Gan Hui again, and then turned around and walked towards a dilapidated fishing boat that came with the fleet.

This fishing boat is really rotten, the sails are patches and patches, and the hull is full of traces of repair, only the more than ten fishermen on the boat look quite capable.

As soon as Zhang Cha boarded the boat, the "fishermen" on it immediately raised their sails, stretched out their oars, turned the bow of the boat, and sailed out.

Don't look at this fishing boat in tatters, it's quite fast, much faster than ordinary sailboats.

Zheng Cai looked at the fishing boat that was gradually moving away, the smile on his face slowly disappeared, replaced by a deep worry, Zhang Cha is extremely dangerous, he has only about a dozen people under him, and if he encounters any pirate head-on, he will have to shed his skin if he doesn't die!