The dhow flying the flag of Sanya Iron and Steel Group Corporation stumbled close to the mouth of the Pearl River, with a light blue background and the main symbol was a lever forging hammer. The ship's name is Shrike, a fierce bird.

The Shrike is a dhow, with a mixture of oblique and cross-sail sails, and water plates on both sides to optimize navigation at the mouth of the Pearl River.

The aft cabin is divided into a captain's cabin and a guest room each with a window at the stern, and the small cabin can only be placed vertically with a bed and a wooden board that doubles as a table.

In the cabin, Cai Yuanding, who was dressed in a bad suit, put away the briefing on the national situation of Nanzhang.

With Cai Yuanding's current status, of course, he could requisition a more spacious sailing ship in Sanya, but in the north wind season, it was almost impossible for the Galen ship to enter the Lingding Ocean through the Great Western Channel, and the north wind and the current of the Pearl River would smash the ship on the reef, and the only way to enter and exit the Pearl River estuary was by small boats.

Cai Yuanding relied on the Shrike, a small but sturdy ship with a shallow draft that allowed her to move freely along the offshore routes, and the self-defense firepower of six four-pounder guns on both sides was enough to deal with a handful of pirates who were not long-sighted.

Bypassing the sailors who were resting and snoring in the cabin, Cai Yuanding boarded the deck.

The young captain greeted him, "Sir." ”

"You command the ship, I'll come up and take a look."

"Yes."

Cai Yuanding walked to the bow of the boat.

On the nose mast there are two stranded sails, which are swollen in the wind.

In the telescope, the starboard side of the Great Hengqin Island is in sight.

The captain gave the order, and the Shrike folded its sails, turned its jirs, and lowered the plates on both sides. The water batch plate is inserted into the water, which slows down the irregular side drift of the boat under the wind at a large angle.

The ship enters the sharpening door.

Lampacao is on the port side, the first Portuguese settlement in Guangdong. After the Portuguese moved to Macao, it was a smuggling centre for hundreds of years, and in the words of the British East India Company, "it was the only place on the island where free trade could be made." ”

The Shrike did not come to do business on this trip, but did not stop at Pak O after passing through the waves, and sailed along the Modaomen waterway to Macao, about 90 miles northeast.

A day later, the ship arrived in Macao, and the Shrike exchanged a salute with the St. Paul's Battery.

The mighty St. Paul's Fortress stands on a 50-metre-high hill in front of the port, with the Seven Wounds flag fluttering in the wind from the top of the fort.

The fort is a four-pointed star fort with 34 guns. The fortress is flanked by Guia and Guia forts, each with several cannons.

There are 4 other batteries at the foot of the mountain to control the port, and the entire coastal defense system has 70 guns. The Macao Fort was a model for the Tatars to learn. From Guangzhou to Dagukou, the Tatars set off a wave of construction of Macao-style forts.

At this time, 4 junks and 15 dinghys were moldy in the harbor. Those are all kinds of foreign ships trying to go to sea, from all kinds of forces.

Tatar officials in Xiangshan County forced the Portuguese to detain the merchant ships and put them under the supervision of the Tatars, and if these merchant ships dared to flee without approval, the batteries would immediately open fire.

"No sea." Cai Yuanding snorted coldly.

Under the trade ban, there were always people who were freer than others, and the Shrike was not the object of Tatar officials.

The Shrike anchored at the mouth of the Laqing Kok Sea and anchored with the Portuguese ship, and Cai Yuanding waited until night to disembark and board a Portuguese galen.

In the aft cabin conference room, under the dim whale oil lamp, the old-looking Jesuit Inspector Sebastiao de Maya and Shen Shangda had been waiting for a long time.

Maya greeted Cai Yuanding, "Mr. Cai." ”

"Bishop."

"You talk to Mr. Shen, and I take my leave."

"Please."

Macau is inseparable from Shang Kexi's support, and it is also inseparable from the Nanyang trade, and the Jesuits are a bridge for negotiations between the two sides, but they will not be too deep.

"Shen Shenrong."

"Senator Tsai."

Shen Shangda was a general of the palace of the southern domain of Tatar Pingnan, and Cai Yuanding was a member of the Ming Dynasty's Guangdong political envoy.

"Senator Cai, did you have an eyebrow about what this clan asked you for last time?"

"The Jing clan is exempt from talking, and my lord agrees in principle to redeem the prisoners."

"That's good, I can't care about Geng Jimao's people. Brother Cai, this is a small meaning of this domain, please smile. ”

Shen Shangda pushed through a leather bag, Cai Yuanding opened it, and there were gold bars inside.

Cai Yuanding accepted the gold bar and remained silent.

"Brother Cai, I don't know what price you offered?"

Cai Yuanding gave Shen Shangda a five, "Xu Dutong's identity is so valuable, and if he has less money, he will not respect him, 50,000 taels." ”

"It's too much, the Xu family can only pay 30,000."

"Brother Shen is really good at laughing. Xu Erxian had countless Kecheng under the command of your domain, accumulated half of his life, and had at least more than 100,000 family properties. ”

"Please understand, the Xu family still has to spend a lot of money to carry out activities in officialdom."

"40,000, no less."

“…… This, okay. ”

"The general Heng Chengliang has 10,000, and the guerrillas Li Chongyuan, Li Hailong, and Yue Jinglian have 8,000 each."

Shen Shangda wiped his sweat.

"5,000 for Liu Wenhuan, 2,000 for each of Zhang Wenshi and Ma Chenglong."

……

After pulling out all the lists, Shen Shangda sweated through his clothes, "Brother Shen, your offer is a total of 340,000 taels." ”

Cai Yuanding took a sip of tea, "Also, there is a need to pay for accommodation and food during the release of prisoners in detention. ”

"Do you want money?"

"No way, rules. Our price is very fair, 3 taels per soldier per month, and the total above is increased in turn. All things are calculated, and for each additional month, your clan will have to pay 8,000 more. ”

Shen Shangda slumped in his chair, "That's more than 440,000." ”

Cai Yuanding sneered slightly, "It's not Brother Shen who paid for it, what are you worried about?" If you report more, there will be more room for Brother Shen's activities. ”

Shen Shangda was a little sad and indignant, "A gentleman loves money and takes it in a good way." This is the life-saving money taken out by the orphans and widows in the domain, who dares to hack me and chop him first. If there are deficiencies, Shen has to pay for them out of his own pocket. ”

Cai Yuanding was in awe, "Cai Mou said vainly, Brother Shen forgive me." In this way, for the sake of everyone's cooperation for many years, I am in charge, and the fraction will be given to you, which is 440,000 yuan. ”

"Alas," Shen Shangda shook his head with a wry smile, "what else can I say?" ”

"Money can be earned again, and life is better than anything else. Brother Shen should know that the people of the Jing clan have been taken to the mines, and your people are just farming, which is enough preferential treatment. ”

"Yes, thank you, Brother Cai."

After talking about business, Shen Shangda changed to new tea, and the two lit pipes and chatted.

Cai Yuanding: "Do you have any definite news about Zheng Chenggong?" I heard that he was hit by a storm at the mouth of the Yangtze River and suffered heavy damage. ”

Shen Shangda glanced at Cai Yuanding, "This news is worth 5,000 taels." ”

"No problem, I'll give you a minus."

Shen Shangda nodded, "The pseudo-national surname, oh, it's Zheng Fan." Chen Yingtai, the governor of Zhejiang, and thousands of warships of Zheng Fan were caught in a hurricane in front of Yangshan, the road that must pass through the north and south, drowning three parents and children, one was six years old, one was five years old, one was one year old, and three wives were drowned. The warship suffered numerous losses. ”

"Zheng Fan brought his family with him in the war?"

"It seems to be, I don't know what Zheng Chenggong thinks."

"Where is Zheng Chenggong now? What will Fujian do? ”

"After Zheng Fan reorganized his fleet in Zhoushan, he went south to conquer Taizhou, Haimenwei, Huangyan County, Panshiwei, and Yueqing County, and now stays in the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Fujian Admiral Ma Degong took the opportunity to conquer Baisha near Quanzhou."

"Baisha is Zheng Hongkui's defense area."

"Yes, Zheng Hongkui gave up Baisha. Zheng Cai also gave up Shacheng, and Shacheng is now full of Zheng Chenggong's warships. Both of them retreated to Luzai Port in Taiwan, you should know this, right? ”

"We know Zheng Cai's movements."

Cai Yuanding habitually scraped the tea foam with the lid of the cup, falling into thought.

The reports of the Ming army and the Tatars in Zhoushan corroborate each other with the records of the Catholic monks, and Zheng Fan was recuperating from his wounds in Zhejiang, and then plundered and killed people in Zhejiang Province.

Zheng Chenggong's annual maritime trade volume of one million taels could not support his army, and Zheng Fan survived by looting grain, and his military discipline was very poor.

One of Spain's emissaries for negotiations with the Confederation, the Dominican monk Lisheng was in the army of the Zheng Domain. Li Sheng recorded a brutal looting of the Mindong region of Fujian Province by Zheng Fan the year before last, robbing everything, killing men, women, and children wantonly, raping women and capturing strong men.

Although Zheng Chenggong had no other way, Cai Yuanding still instinctively hated Zheng Fan's behavior.

"Brother Shen, I'm going on a long trip, and in the future, my deputy will talk to you about trade, you are familiar with the people, and there will be no problem."

"Oh, I don't know where Brother Cai went?"

"It's inconvenient to say for the time being, but I'll have a chance to tell you later."

"Okay." Shen Shangda was not disappointed, unlike Cai Yuanding, who shouldered many responsibilities, his main task was business, which was relatively simple.

"Brother Shen, the Führer asked me to make a suggestion to you."

"Please."

"Everyone in Guangzhou knows that Brother Shen's net worth accumulated by Haimao can be called rich."

"Don't dare to be, a little money is not worth mentioning."

Cai Yuanding smiled a little coldly, "Brother Shen, Beijing uses troops everywhere, and its financial resources are very tight, and it is necessary to collect tax arrears across the country, whether it is the gentry in Jiangnan or the victims of the disaster in Zhili, no one can escape." If they are worried about your money one day, what is Brother Shen going to do? ”

"This ......"

"Brother Shen should know that our country uses the legal situation to ensure the safety of private property, and for your consideration, it is better to leave a way out overseas."

Shen Shangda's face changed greatly.

Cai Yuanding sneered, "Your dynasty is extremely lenient, such as Fang Guoan and Liu Zeqing, where are you today?" Zhang Xuanxi, the governor of Zhili, was insulted by Malerji and hanged himself, and Fulin was a cheap dog. ”

Cai Yuanding's words typed into Shen Shangda's heart word by word.

"Brother Shen, what to do, the road is chosen by yourself."

——————————

Note: Zheng Chenggong's question, Qing Fang has the most records, so I won't cite it, look at the others.

1, Li Yehei: "Yijun (Qiu Donglong) is fat and white, meaning rich, asking for his wealth, there is nothing, because he kills him." ”

The location is in Yinxian County, Ningbo, Zhejiang (Fucheng), Zhang Huangyan's hometown, and the recorder Li Yesi is a friend of Zhang Huangyan, who is an anti-Qing warrior who buried his father for Cangshui.

2, Zhang Huangyan is more euphemistic, "For more than ten years, righteousness has been all over the world, the costumes have flourished, the seashore has moved to Li, the Qin and the twilight of Chu, and the supply of hundreds of millions of dollars has been exhausted in the two countries, and the people's power has been used to benefit the people." ”

3, Zheng Chenggong's appointment of Zuo Du Yushi Xu Fuyuan's poem: "Happily seize as your own things, today you have to make every effort to recover, who is the wings of the army, and the thief is a thief." ”

4. For Catholic records, see Lisheng, "Dominicans' Achievements in the Chinese Empire". Lisheng has a good relationship with Zheng Chenggong's family. In 1662, Li Sheng entered the rebellious Chinese community of Manila, mediated the conflict, and persuaded the Governor of Manila to agree to let the Chinese who had laid down their arms return to China and save thousands of Chinese under the butcher's knife. Lisheng's book records Zheng Fan's Min'an, the two Northern Expeditions, and the previous wars in Xiamen, which is of great reference significance.