Zhangzhou Prefecture, Zhangpu County, Fujian.

This small county town in Haiphong, less than five miles out of the city can see the vast sea, surrounded by many hills and mountains, the land is barren, the soil is too salty and alkaline, not conducive to farming, since ancient times, the people who live here work hard all year round, work in the fields, and the harvest is only enough for the family to survive.

Fortunately, the sea is generous, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the water to draft the water, going to the sea to fish is a good way to supplement the family, replenish the ingredients, dry the fish, store it, and can also rely on it in the winter to satisfy hunger, so the aborigines of Zhangpu, although the days are hard, but still in the millennium gradually formed a coastal more concentrated settlement.

The people by the sea live in such a hard-working and sad way.

This situation lasted until the Tang and Song dynasties, the powerful China attracted merchants from all over the world, and the developed maritime trade from the beginning of the Quanzhou City in the Tang Dynasty led the trend of foreign trade in the land of China, the sea ships coming and going docked at the wharf, the characters of various colors and appearances went up and down, a large number of goods from Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong coastal or open imperial wharves, or various smuggling wharves moved up and unloaded, with the conclusion of a business, boxes of silver and gold were exchanged in people's hands, With a smile on his face, maritime trade is thriving.

Zhangpu's excellent geographical advantage is close to the water, and it developed quickly, the original fishing village is obviously not enough, the houses are built more and more densely, and the population is more and more, and when Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, Zhangpu County as a county seat, finally has the appearance of a county seat.

The huge profits will inevitably produce some bad things, the smell of gold and silver attracts jackals, the ravages of the wolf, and the blood-stained swords, so that Zhangpu County has built a city wall, and the sea outside the city, the force used by the six ao and thousands of households to protect this side is safe.

The people who ate by the sea followed the change in this policy, sometimes they became regular maritime merchants, sometimes they became cruel pirates, the people became fierce, and those who were tanned by the sun learned to solve problems by force.

In the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal defense that had been banned for many years was opened again, known as the "Longqing switch" in history, and the crescent moon port of Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, more than 100 miles to the east, became the port of the imperial court to allow private maritime trade, and set up Haicheng County, the establishment of the Governor's Pavilion, to later generations, there will be a resounding name here------ Xiamen.

Although the imperial court only allowed Haicheng to speak, but the long coastline where is the imperial court can take care of, Zhangpu County, which is close at hand, takes advantage of the unique advantages, and naturally produces many people who take advantage of the loopholes to smuggle, and the high taxes of the Governor's Office make many people take risks, and use the sailors to take care of the time, transporting a shipload of goods.

This business has made many families rich overnight, and an adventure is enough to eat the profits of several lifetimes, crawling their hearts like ants, many of them have all kinds of collusion with the government and bandits, or simply themselves are bandits, bandits and businessmen, after several years of development and all kinds of black, some people died, some families died inexplicably, and the rest were all wealthy families.

For example, the Gan family in Zhangpu County.

The high gate compound, the white wall and the tile, the house that enters several times is larger than the yamen of the county lord, the two mighty stone lions at the door are disgusted and cross-clawed, the high threshold and the vermilion lacquer gate all show the wealth of the master's family, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the low-status merchant family can not be so ostentatious, the county order can cure his family's sin at any time, however, the people in the county know that when the two stone lions moved in, the Gan family sent a banquet, and the county magistrate was a guest.

The county order is very clear that as a foreign official, if he doesn't have a good relationship with the Gan family, he may have his head removed in his sleep at some point.

The Gan family is a maritime merchant, or in other words, it is also a sea bandit, the characters who go in and out have sharp blades hanging from their waists, with a fierce face, and there are clansmen calling for wind and rain on the sea for several generations, I heard that the power of the Gan family on the sea can be extended to Manchurian.

Since it is a big family with strong financial resources, in order to defend against the enemy, the house of the Gan family is also quite majestic, the courtyard wall is tall, there are holes in the wall to put arrows, there are arrow towers at the four corners, the gate is heavy, the door latch behind the door can be comparable to the city gate latch, and the family has one or two hundred families at any time, and they are all strong and strong, which is more powerful than the government officials in the county government.

On this night at the end of July, something happened to the Gan family.

It was night, the moment the moon was obscured by the clouds, a scream pierced the night sky, and a hurried warning and a loud roar followed, and someone shouted: "Enemy attack! Rise up and defend against the enemy! Someone was laughing "haha", and there was a lot of noise, waking up the residents on the left and right.

In this kind of situation, everyone knows that someone came into the city to kill people, and those who dare to move the Gan family must also be strong, and no one dares to rescue at this time, people hide in their own homes, holding weapons against the gate, and listening to the movement outside.

The sound in the direction of Gan's house became louder and louder, and the sound of "clanging" weapons colliding became denser and denser, and when it reached a certain peak, it slowly descended as the screams broke through the air.

The sea heroes seek revenge, generally kill someone and break the house and leave, it will not harm the innocent, people nearby think so, this is also a common practice.

Unexpectedly, the situation tonight is a little different, the voice of the Gan family is quieter, but the voice in the direction of the county government and the city gate is louder, and it is getting louder and louder, the sound of fighting and shouting can no longer be described by noise, but the noise of war, several flames are burning in the city, and the firelight illuminates half of the sky.

The people in the city spent the night in fear, and when it was dawn, a man on horseback ran through the city, shouting as he ran: "Gan Hui, the general under the command of the king of Yanping County of the Ming Dynasty, has recovered Zhangpu, and the villagers must not go out, and the remnants of the eastern captives in the city are not exhausted, so as not to hurt the innocent!" ”

Da Ming?

The king of Yanping?

It turned out to be a real war! People were frightened, what about the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty? Did you get killed and run away?

In the courtyard of the Gan family, the Ming soldiers wearing hats and red uniforms guarded it, and a large number of people came and went on the street, carrying the corpses on the street, extinguishing several fires.

A burly man sat in the hall, with Erlang's legs crossed, covered in blood, a bloody steel knife casually placed on his thigh, holding his head in a loose bun and looking at the group of people kneeling in front of him.

"Patriarch, you didn't expect that, did you? I'm back. He grinned: "When you took advantage of the death of my parents, robbed my family property and drove me out, you didn't expect today, right?" ”

Kneeling in front of his head was an old man with a white beard, his body was very strong, his dark skin knew that he had wandered on the sea all the year round, his hands were full of calluses, and he didn't know how many times he had pinched the knife when he was young.

He stared at the big man sitting with some surprise, but his waist was straight, his lips trembled, and even the braid at the back of his head trembled slightly, he seemed to want to speak, but his mouth was blocked by a rag.

Gan Hui listened to it: "Huh? What did you say? I can't hear me? Well, say it louder. ”

The old man's Adam's apple moved up and down, his expression was excited, his shoulders shrugged, and he seemed to be about to stand up and pounce, but unfortunately his legs were tied and he couldn't move.

Gan Hui pretended to listen for a while, and then laughed happily, laughing so much that tears were about to come out, and while laughing, he waved his hand: "Kill them all!" Push it out and kill! ”

The soldiers came up to drag people, and the crowd was full of "whining", and the gagged mouths tried to make a sound, but they couldn't shout anything in the struggle. Gan Hui ignored it, turned around, and without blinking his eyes, swept the spirit cards full of a table on the spirit table behind him to the ground, vacated the table, took out two spirit cards from his arms, put them on respectfully, took two steps back, and tears burst out of his eyes.

"Father, mother, the child is back, respect the second elder." He choked up and said, incense.

……

Outside the city of Zhangzhou Prefecture, a hundred miles away from Zhangpu County, on the edge of a high post, thousands of Ming soldiers in red tasseled hats are crawling in a ravine, as quiet as a stone.

Zheng Chenggong, the king of Yanping County, hung his sword in iron armor, squatting among the grass, looking at the towering city of Fucheng from afar.

Shi Lang, Liu Guoxuan, Zhou Quanbin, Feng Xin and other generals were beside him, and their shining eyes were staring in the same direction.

"There is no sign of the Qing army, and the city gate has not even been opened."

"There is no banner of the Eight Banners Army on the head of the city."

"It seems that the news of the flag soldiers pulling out the camp and leaving is true, otherwise Zhangpu will change hands, according to the past practice, there would have been Qing troops out of the city to crusade at this moment."

"....... Eight Banners have really retreated."

"The fine work sent into the city has not come out yet, and wait until there is accurate information, and then make a decision!"

In the voices of the people, there was an incomparable joy, and a kind of relieved joy jumped between the lines.

The twenty-five-year-old King of Yanping had blazing eyes, and his eyes were shining like flames, and he clenched his fists and landed heavily on his thighs.

The sea breeze blew, bringing a burst of salty smell of seawater, and Zheng Chenggong knew that it would not be long before the smell would change, and the bloody smell would fill every corner of Fujian.

(End of chapter)