Thursday, May 10, 1645, April 15, the first year of the Ming Empire.

Lingao County, which is close to the Wenlan River, is located on the northwest coast of Hainan Island, with flat terrain, and is the treasure land with the most fertile land and the most suitable climate for tropical crops in the whole Qiongzhou. In the more than ten years of the new agricultural and industrial policy of Qiongzhou Prefecture, the squire of Lingao followed the pace of the squire of Ding'an and set many first records.

The first large-scale rubber plantation, the first pepper plantation, the first coconut oil mill, the first large-scale two-cropping rice farm, the first large-scale pig farm...... In this way, Lingao County has also become the area with the greatest demand for labor in Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Since the Shengli riots more than 20 years ago, the number of immigrants in Lingao County has been increasing, and by the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the population of Lingao County has become the second largest county after the state capital. Pepper, coconut oil, pig bristles, and rubber raw rubber are the four major commodities that are exported the most in Lingao County.

After Zhao Youheng served as the governor of Guangdong, the new home of the old mother, wife and children fell in Lingao County. Zhao Youheng's good reputation in Qiongzhou makes the family live very comfortably in the county. In the process of befriending Zhao Youheng, the Lingao squire also enjoyed the advantage of being close to the water and getting the moon first.

It's late at night, and the lively Lingao County during the day is only left with the monotonous sound of banging and beating.

Outside the courtyard of a large mansion that is said to have excellent feng shui and covers a vast area, several horse-drawn carriages are parked, and the coachman leans into the carriages and falls asleep. In the courtyard of the house, a window is still shining with candlelight, which stands out in the dark county town.

In the main hall, Zhao Youheng, dressed in ordinary clothes, pinched his long beard, and sat on the main seat with his eyes closed. On the left, is Zhao Youheng's brother-in-law Liu Yaoyu, and on the right, is a middle-aged man dressed as a military general and a young scholar under the age of twenty.

"Engong, the Governor Ding Chukui withheld 30% of the second battalion stationed in Guangzhou New Town, Shaoguan, for the second half of the year. and transferred the ordnance baggage in the battalion to the Zhaoqing Governor's Battalion...... Two days ago, Xia Guan received Ding Chukui's warrant, rewarded 500 taels of silver, led the Qiongzhou battalion to Gaozhou to garrison, and sent another Guangzhou coastal defense battalion to Qiong. ”

Zhang Jianye was not overwhelmed by the joy of being deliberately enveloped, but sighed very unhappily in front of Zhao Youheng.

"Brother-in-law, Qiongzhou Tongzhi has privately informed my old Taishan that Ding Chukui intends to investigate the workshops and farms under the Qiongzhou squire and the Nanhai firm. Employees of non-local displaced households are required to pay three years of 'settlement silver', and each person shall receive three cents and five cents of silver per year...... Qiongzhou is vast and sparsely populated, and it is difficult to farm without these foreign flows. How can we start work? It is called the inventory of Dingkou and the protection of the place, but it is actually a clever name and apportionment. Nowadays, the sales and purchase channels of commercial goods in Qiongzhou are all cut off, and three out of ten agricultural workshops in various places are closed, and the people's grievances are accumulating. ”

Liu Yaoyu also shook his head helplessly, adding fuel to the common troubles of the Qiongzhou squires these days.

"The teacher didn't know, that Ding Chukui greeted him with a charming face, disregarding the people's livelihood, and recently sent the former Fubiao battalion to join the Panyu City Bo Division, and blackmailed Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Qiongzhou and other businesses in the name of banning Huamei private salt. and set up a gate at Humen. Ship dealers only need to pay 100 taels of silver to enter and exit Hong Kong without prohibitions, and more than 20,000 taels of merchant and civilian silver have been deprived in more than a month...... In such a wanton expropriation, plundering the people's ointment, the teacher's years of hard work may be ruined! ”

It was the young scholar who sat at the very end. I saw that his face was cold, with a calm and heroic spirit that transcended his age.

Chen Shangchuan, the word Shengcai, was a scholar in Gaozhou, Guangdong, who devoted himself to the Southern Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty in history. He was once appointed by Zheng Sen as the general soldier of Gao Lianlei, and was a famous general who was active in Guangdong Province in the era of Emperor Yongli, and was one of the legends of the Chinese in the late Ming Dynasty who led his troops to colonize the South Seas.

Chen Shangchuan is young and intelligent. A few years ago, his parents died, and he had to live in Zhaoqing with his relatives, and then he was taken by chance by Zhao Youheng, who loved talent, and was brought into the yamen of the former governor of Guangdong at the beginning of the year, and was recommended to become a petty official from Jiupin, and participated in the secretary work of the new army's baggage procurement, and had more contact with the Huamei Oriental Union Group in Hong Kong. It can be said that butterfly wings have changed the direction of Chen Shangchuan's fate.

The three of you say a word, and everything you say to me has always been dissatisfied with Ding Chukui, the current governor of Liangguang, or even thorny in his words.

"The old man is at home, he is already unofficial, what do you say to do with the old man...... Zhao Youheng sighed, stood up and turned his back to the three of them.

"Teacher, the traitors of the imperial court are rampant, regardless of the feelings of the people in the two regions, if the great cause of the new policy in various places is abandoned, the foundation of the southern Xinjiang of the Ming Dynasty will be gone. If the teacher is famous in the southeast, if he stands by and watches, the student plans to resign and return to his hometown in the near future, so as not to do anything bad under Ding Chukui's account and humiliate the family! ”

Chen Shangchuan stood up awe-inspiringly, bowed deeply to Zhao Youheng's back, and then turned around and walked out of the main hall.

There were three people left in the lobby who were most familiar with each other, and I saw Liu Yaoyu take out a letter from his arms and quietly deliver it to the table beside Zhao Youheng.

"This is a letter sent to Qiongzhou by Qian Sanye of Huamei Oriental Union Group a few days ago, brother-in-law can help see if what is said in the letter is appropriate......" Liu Yaoyu and Zhang Jianye glanced at each other with understanding, and their voices were very low.

"Such overseas people, baht must be compared, not accidents, the ability to provoke right and wrong is rising every year, hey......" Zhao Youheng glanced at the letter in his hand, hesitated, and still took the letter in his hand.

"Breaking the Nanyang grain road and freight road, killing a thousand people and damaging eight hundred, then the Oriental Union Group can also do it!? Ignoring the old man's love for many years, this time he is so vicious! ”

After half a pillar of incense, Zhao Youheng suddenly slapped the letter on the table, and his beard trembled with anger.

Qian Laosan's letter relayed an important business adjustment of the headquarters of the Oriental Union Group: in view of the risk of political uncertainty in the Ming Dynasty and the fact that most of the Oriental Union merchant ships are approaching the maintenance and overhaul period, the Far East Branch of the Oriental Union Group will temporarily cancel the grain transportation in the Far East and the bulk grain wholesale business in Hong Kong, including the purchase of rice at a protective price in Qiongzhou.

In the past three years, in addition to vigorously supporting the grain production of Qiongzhou Prefecture, Dayuan and Luzon, OUCC has increased the expansion of grain trade in Southeast Asia. From Champa and Annam to Chenla, from Siam and Borneo to Myanmar, the total amount of Southeast Asian rice imported from Guò Hong Kong to Liangguang and Fujian exceeds 1 million stone every year.

With the ability of the two Guangxi or Fujian maritime merchants to travel to and from Southeast Asia in the South Seas, giving up other businesses to reach 300,000 stone a year is the limit, once the Huamei Oriental Union Group stops Hong Kong's bulk rice transportation and transit trade wholesale business, it means that the two provinces of Guangzhou, Guangdong and Fujian will lose nearly one million stone of grain supply every year, and the grain prices in the coastal prefectures and counties will rise unpredictably.

In Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces, grain production continued to decrease, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty went south, this kind of thing is no less than a hard kick in the back of the Ming Dynasty, and the already crumbling edifice will become even more dilapidated.

Everyone knows that Da Yuan, Luzon and Temasek are Huamei's secret followers, and as long as these three companies also find reasons to stop shipping grain to the mainland, it is believed that this gap will increase. Not only the two Guangxi maritime merchants who bear the brunt, but also the Zheng family, a super grain trading giant in the East China and South Seas, and Fujian, will also be pushed to the forefront.

"Nanyang rice and grain are exhausted, not to mention hundreds of civilian families, I am afraid that the new army's ordnance and grain will be unsustainable." Seeing that Zhao Youheng was moved, Zhang Jianye hurriedly struck while the iron was hot, with a trace of innocence on his face, "At the moment, the situation is urgent, Governor Ding blocked the grain and trade routes in Hong Kong, offended friendly maritime merchants, and was inconsiderate of the military soldiers, wantonly detaining the military, if the people made a fuss, and the Xinzhen battalion soldiers did not obey the imperial court order, the lower officials would be very embarrassed......"

The implication is that the act of embezzlement and wealth accumulation provoked by Zheng Zhilong and taken advantage of the situation by Ding Chukui in Liangguang has created a huge hidden danger to the social livelihood and safety and stability of Liangguang.

"Today, Qiongzhou, Gaozhou, and Leizhou have accumulated hundreds of thousands of quintals of refined sugar, hemp cotton, coconut fruit, coconut oil, and coal and stone, which are useless and empty of financial resources. If the Nanhai business is still unable to resume business and go to sea, the squires in Qiongzhou will deliberately suspend their business and destroy half of the redundant goods......"

"Huamei Qian Sanye still has a message that the Oriental Union Group has equity in all the commercial workshops in Qiongzhou, and if the local government wantonly loses it, it should ask the Nanyang Huamei warships to enter Qiongzhou to protect the property. In this way, it will inevitably lead to the disaster of swordsmen, but it will be really difficult to clean up......"

Liu Yaoyu muttered softly, as if these aggressive statements of the Huamei Oriental Union Group were the best result in the eyes of the South China Sea firm.

"What a ruthless move...... Zheng Zhilong is domineering, Ding Chukui is dim, and the erector is not enough and scheming! If it is not handled properly, wouldn't it be a huge chaos between the two people, and he Ding Chukui's head will be waiting for the court to collect it! ”

At a time when the Oriental Union Group is almost controlling the import and export of bulk commercial goods in Liangguang and Nanyang, whether it is Ding Chukui, the governor of Liangguang, who shamelessly takes advantage of the fire to rob him, or the Oriental Union Group fights back tit-for-tat, it is undoubtedly a disaster for the ordinary people of Liangguang. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and Zhao Youheng couldn't help but walk around the lobby in a hurry.

Seeing that the heat was almost over, Zhang Jianye finally laughed, and then faced Zhao Youheng's anger and said, "Xiaguan feels that things still have a turnaround. Ding Chukui has just arrived, and it is not surprising that he does not know the civil affairs of Liangguang and Nanyang. Engong is famous, and the gentry and the common people have been blessed with Engong for many years, as long as Engong is willing to come forward to persuade one or two, it must be not too late for Ding Chukui to get lost and return...... The lower officials have discussed with their colleagues in the left and right battalions of Guangzhou and decided to do their best to protect the land and the people when there are many things, and Ding Chukui will not let Ding Chukui mess up......"

"You have been in the military and civil affairs of Liangguang for many years, you should put the national body and people's livelihood first, don't live up to the emperor's grace, and live up to the tens of thousands of fathers and elders in Liangguang......"

Turning around abruptly and looking at the faces of Zhang Jianye and Liu Yaoyu, Zhao Youheng remembered the Baihuaju fire case that led to the tragic death of a large number of new officials in Qiongzhou many years ago, and a trace of pain rose in his heart. After all, Zhao Youheng knew that the Qiongzhou squires and even the Guangdong New Army were ready to attack Ding Chukui in private.

This kind of big and small forced palace is not uncommon in today's half of the small imperial court. But this time it is different, but Guangzhou Maritime Merchants, Qiongzhou Nanhai Merchants, and Guangdong Xinzhen will be linked together with the help of the statement of Huamei Oriental Union Group.

The bloodless economic war to express its position to the current Southern Ming Dynasty is probably a carefully arranged position by the Huamei side. It's just that the receivers are not only Zheng Zhilong and Ding Chukui, who are carried away, but also ordinary people in Liangguang and Fujian. (To be continued......)