Chapter 500: Moon Harbor Rebellious, True or False

Yuegang is the largest commercial port in Fujian, before the start of the sea ban, here is not as prosperous and large as Quanzhou, but after the sea ban began, it was immediately deformed and prosperous, a large number of smuggling merchants and smuggling ships are trading and transporting here.

In the past, when the Xia family was still here, it could only occupy a tenth of the share of this piece of fat, and it also had to provide protection and undertake a series of assistance, because the significance of Yuegang was actually an important stronghold of the merchants and pirates of Fujian, Guangdong and Nanyang in the Ming Dynasty. This is different from Linjia Island in the north and Liuheng Shuangyu, where Linjia Island and Shuangyu are not the only ones, except for the existence of some small ports.

As the fleet of Huazhou began to monopolize the trade in the East Asian sea, these merchants were also nervous and desperately strengthened the defense of the port of Yuezhou, because there was a large fleet in Yizhou, so the biggest imaginary enemy of the maritime merchants in Fujian and Guangdong was the fleet of Yizhou.

Of course, it is impossible for them to purchase such warships, Huazhou's meticulous work in the port has a very important task is to investigate whether the local shipyard produces warships, if their ships exceed Huazhou's bottom line, then Huazhou's fleet will come and sink them at any cost, and the merchants do not have the strength to build warships of this scale, so they hired a large number of wandering warriors in the port.

If there is any foreign enemy to attack, after approaching the port, there will be countless small boats rushing out like ants, and it is not difficult to go ashore, although most of the firearms on the shore are bought in the Ming army's rank warehouse, but they can't stand a large number, no matter who comes, they will have a headache.

The military households and guards of the Ming Dynasty, although they occasionally go to be mercenaries to make some extra money, but the main force is the pirates who did a lot of evil at sea in the past, and a large part of the force in the hands of the pirates in Fujian are the Japanese invaders, at this time in the Japanese country, it is the time when the princes and daimyo are at their most powerful, many wandering warriors begging for a living at sea, after seeing the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, these people are still willing to go back, and they have stayed.

These pirates are simple-minded, fierce and fierce when fighting, and they are the first choice hired by the maritime merchants, and after collecting them under their own command, these pirates are accustomed to the days of plundering and freedom at sea, and they are naturally stuffy enough to eat with money, and often go out to do activities in private.

At the beginning, several leading merchants in Yuegang still had strict control over this matter, but as Jiang Feng's control over the sea gradually strengthened, except for the maritime merchants of the Huazhou system and the Shuangyu system of Liuheng Island, the space for survival became smaller and smaller, and the merchants of Yuegang began to have other ideas.

The Japanese were not the same as the kind of open sea attacks in the past, but set off from some private ports and small ports around Yuegang, took small boats, and advanced along the coastline, and did not do anything to the fishing boats and households along the way, but the merchant ships of non-Fujian and Guangdong in the past, as well as those small ports in Zhejiang and north of Zhejiang, did not have the strong force of Linjiadao and Liuhengdao Shuangyu.

A few small boats, forty or fifty pirates, is already a great threat to such a place, often the ships are burned and the port is destroyed.

Huazhou is in Incheon, in Yizhou, and there are fleets in Luzon and Malacca, although it is said that it has the responsibility to protect the passing ships, but after all, it can only be protected at sea, and there are still some whips beyond the reach of the port, after all, it is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, like the warships of Huazhou, there are dozens of cannons at every turn, and the behemoth above 400 tons is close to the port, it must be the shock of the government and the opposition, and Jiang Feng's power is not far away thousands of miles, and premature exposure is not delicious.

However, the destruction of the small port and the small merchant fleet by the Japanese was of some benefit to the seaport controlled by Jiangfeng, and those shipowners and cargo owners who used to feel that they had paid too much money in Jiangfeng's port came to the big port that they had avoided in the past for safety.

The same is true of Yuegang, which has increased its business and made a lot of money, and the merchants who control Yuegang have tasted the sweetness and know the importance of controlling the force.

However, when the strength in their hands reached a certain level, the prefect of the county began to be polite to the merchants, and the county magistrate closest to Yuegang had to visit the leader of the merchants when he took office, and as for the generals of the guard, since he had a conflict with the Japanese robbers controlled by the merchants, and was defeated as before, he honestly did not dare to say anything.

The Xia family, who claims to be a maritime merchant family, has no place in Fujian, and the share occupied in Yuegang is also swallowed up, Xia Qingjiao can only take his subordinates and the equally unpowerful Japanese Kou Zhiju Zhongshou to Zhejiang's Gate Island, and the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong are full of smoke and miasma.

Although the merchants of Yuegang and the merchants of Guangdong are also allies, they also compete with each other, and when it comes to making money, they can't even mention the question of affection, they all send the pirates and pirates controlled below to attack each other and burn ships and goods.

Although it is said that the fleet of Huazhou controls the sea area, but the vast sea, it must not be able to control all aspects, the maritime merchants of Fujian and Guangdong gradually became bolder, and began not to pay the cost of Huazhou sea sailing, and took care of their own trade and smuggling, and made a lot of money.

Not only that, even if the passing merchant ships had to take the initiative to pay the fees in Fujian and Guangdong, they whispered and accompanied the smiling faces, in exchange for a guarantee, saying that their own ships would not be plundered, and this guarantee may not be effective.

Lin Zhi, Ajaya and even Monk Li all knew that the navy of Huazhou maintained only the area that was the sea surface of Liuhengdao and Shuangyu to the north, as well as the routes from Huazhou to Yizhou, Yizhou to Waguo, and Yizhou to Luzon, Malacca could only be counted as an enclave, and the sea area between Malacca, Luzon, and Guangdong was a blank area for Huazhou's power.

For the gradually chaotic situation, Huazhou's fleet can only provide escort for its own ships, and it is no longer to ships and fleets sailing in the South China Sea, and does not collect Huazhou's regular maritime money, Huazhou's behavior, in the eyes of the maritime merchants in Yuegang, has become the other party's concession and weakness, in the eyes of outsiders, this is Huazhou's recognition of the rights of Fujian and Guangdong merchants.

For a while, many people were ready to move, but in addition to Fujian and Guangdong, the fleets of Huazhou and Yizhou were not placed there, and within two months, more than a dozen maritime merchants were slaughtered, which was to stop this unhealthy wind.

Recently, there has been vague news that the leader of the maritime merchants of Fujian and Guangdong has decided to follow the Portuguese in Macao to buy firearms and warships.

And made all kinds of promises, such as allowing the other party to have a fixed residence in Yuegang and Zhangzhou, and even to build a church.

The Portuguese are now also considered a maritime power, but the colonies he can obtain in the east are only the Ming Macao's and India's Goa, Macau can only be leased in the strict sense, the rights of the Portuguese are very small, looking at the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade has so much silver to earn, but they do not have a greater ability to participate, of course the Portuguese are in a hurry, and now someone takes the initiative to find them, and provide them with territory and rights, no matter who can judge, the Portuguese must be willing.

After the news of the so-called Spaniards preparing to attack Macao came out, in addition to the intelligence gathering in the Ming Dynasty, the brocade guards of the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to carry out overseas affairs, in other words, no one would be there to keep an eye on in advance. If there is any news spread, people will be arranged to go over to check, such a habit was like this in the early years of Jiajing, when Jinyiwei's authority was Xuanhe, and in the current situation, there is no need to say anything.

The brocade guards, dressed as maritime merchants, walked around the port of Luzon, and what they saw were six Western warships that were huge ships on this sea, and the white soldiers who trained hard there in the barracks not far from the docks.

Manila City is almost no Han people to see, to inquire about the news of the Jin Yiwei around the corner to ask the innkeeper of the inn, this is one of the few Han people who can still be found, the shopkeeper is also very taboo about this look, just vaguely mentioned that the other party said that it was going to go to sea in the near future, such a vague news can be the most confusing, thinking of the information circulating in Macau, Jin Yiwei who came here feel that he has found the truth of the matter.

On the third day, I couldn't find out any news by talking, and I was about to go to the port and the place where the troops were trained to take a look to see how many men and ships there were, but coincidentally, on the third day, the Spanish colonial governor's palace in Luzon issued an order that all non-local personnel should not stay.

The heavily armed soldiers went door-to-door in every inn or residence in Manila that allowed outsiders to stay, and the brocade guards dressed as merchants naturally had no reason to stay here, but they also felt that they already knew the news they should hear, and there was no need to stay here.

The news of the Spanish fleet's attack on Macao spread rapidly, and the official secrecy of the Ming Dynasty was always a sieve, and the spread of the news was even faster than the official documents posted on the city walls, and the Portuguese in Macao and the maritime merchants who relied on the operation in Macao were all vigorously preparing for defense.

For a while, the storm was coming......