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February 13, 1622, the fourth day of the first lunar month.

At dusk, a grand banquet is underway in Macau's distant guest residence. The theme of the banquet was Yan Siqi's announcement that he would reopen the maritime business in the Nanyang area, and a bunch of maritime merchants who watched the drama and made a splash were also invited.

After Yan Xiaosong's careful design, a modern buffet was set up in the lobby of the distant guest house. Caterina also appeared at the banquet for the first time, and a beautiful and luxurious palace costume Hanfu once caused the consternation of the Ming maritime merchants present, but she only showed her face and disappeared into the guest house.

Such a strange way of eating and drinking at will made the maritime merchants constrained by the novelty, but there were many more opportunities to meet and communicate with each other as everyone moved around.

A few running hall juniors dressed in clean shirts, acting as attendants under Yan Xiaosong's orders, serving all kinds of tea and pastries to guests everywhere, on call, waving to come, which made the Daming maritime merchants quite interesting.

In the past few months, under Yan Xiaosong's money offensive, the gorgeous country thousands of miles away, as its name suggests, has received a ** character who has come from afar to explore the truth with an incomparably luxurious pomp.

With such a grand pomp today, not only Yan Siqi himself was present, but even his rival Li Dan had to send a son and nephew of the clan to congratulate him. Now, the two groups of people are talking at the banquet like close friends.

"Mr. Li's shopkeeper is the pillar of my Ming Dynasty overseas Chinese businessmen, Yan has admired him for a long time, and he can't wait to be under the door! Even Brother Li Guozhu is also a big man of a generation, who on this sea does not respect your Li family? "Yan Siqi is like his history. It's still a habit of overeating, and now I'm munching on it, and I'm pouring alcohol on the same side.

"The shopkeeper of Yan Da is polite, my uncle has not asked about mundane things for a long time, and now he is living in the land for a long time, and my children and grandchildren are far inferior to him! I heard that the shopkeeper of Yan Da fought with Taixi Hongmao a few years ago, which really increased the prestige of the children of the Han family on the sea! ”

The nephew of the Li family also smiled and gave his hand without smiling. But his eyes quietly looked at a young man in cross-dress who was chatting with others not far away.

"Promote the righteousness of our clan on the sea, the Yan family is duty-bound, which is like some people. Behind the scenes, the wind is ghostly, and the knife is secretly ......"

Suddenly, a man behind Yan Siqi snorted coldly. Everyone looked over and saw that it was Yan Siqi's brother Yan Sihai, who had returned from the Taixi catastrophe not long ago.

"What do you mean?! Could it be that you lost your hand to Fanyi Hongmao, and you still have to rely on our Li family?! ”

The nephew of the Li family's face changed, and he immediately roared, and the atmosphere at the banquet scene suddenly became cold.

The maritime merchants who had been quietly paying attention to these two groups of sea tyrants who were also merchants and thieves all surrounded them, some hurriedly laughed and matched, and some watched silently with gloating expressions.

As for how the Li family dismantled Yan Siqi a few years ago, it has long been tacit among maritime businessmen, and now Yan Siqi has made a comeback with great fanfare, and even rarely pulled in the Macau Franco machine as a backer. Now he is arguing with the Li family again, and it seems that he has made up his mind to make the Li family unable to step down in front of so many maritime businessmen.

"Shopkeeper Yan, there are many strange causes and consequences when that incident happened, and it may not be really the instructions of the Li family. Old Shopkeeper Li has already cleaned up the scum who framed Yan Siye in the first place. Today. It also happened to make a promise to all the business owners present that the Li family is also a son of the Han family, and he will never do anything that hurts his brother. In the future, not only the Li family's subordinates, as long as they find out that there are scum who are ruining our Chinese businessmen, everyone will be punished! ”

Another loud voice sounded from behind the Li family's nephew, a handsome man. Even the young man with a hint of tender hair on the corner of his mouth walked out, and under the impassioned speech, the onlookers nodded slightly, and even more were still applauding.

It seemed that he was very satisfied with his subordinates who took back the initiative, and the nephew of the Li family was full of red light, climbed up along the pole, and bowed his hand to the surrounding maritime merchants: "Yes, the eldest uncle also personally inquired about this matter, that scum was privately bewitched by Fanyi Hongmao, and now the Li family has cleaned up the portal and sunk the sea!" But in the end, it was my Li family's negligence to prevent it, so there was such a mad villain, here, all the bosses witnessed, I will accompany the Yan Sihai brothers for my eldest uncle! ”

After speaking, he bowed slightly, and the people around him appreciated it again.

"Haha, the Li family is really a Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger! I, Yan Siqi, am a rough man, and I used to have a little chicken belly, which made everyone look down on me. Today, I also make an oath in front of the big guy, all my Han family sons and daughters are at sea, they are all my Yan Siqi's brothers! If you have wealth together, if you have difficulties, my Yan family will be the first to carry it! ”

Another round of applause, the two groups of people even the surrounding maritime merchants were in high spirits, patting their chests and saying boundless beautiful words. A tense situation, under the slogan-like statement of a young man, it became a collective friendship oath ceremony for maritime merchants, Yan Xiaosong, who was talking in the corner with several business owners from the mainland, was quietly observing this qiē from beginning to end, seeing that the fire was almost over, and then quietly appeared behind the crowd with a wine glass.

"Hehe, the ancients said it well, laugh at enmity." As soon as Yan Xiaosong's words sounded, the crowd parted ways, and the young man walked to the center of the two groups of people, looking around at the maritime merchants, "In Taixi, I met Brother Yan Sihai by chance, and I was deeply shocked that Yangyi was so arrogant and domineering. I feel that the reason why these Taixi people can roam the South Seas in a grand manner and damage our Chinese businessmen is that there are too many disagreements between compatriots. As the saying goes: Brothers are on the wall, and they are insulted outside. Huamei is also the blood of Huaxia Yanhuang, and is willing to safeguard the fundamental interests of the Ming clan at sea! ”

As he spoke, he also secretly glanced at a young man who had turned the Li family back in the way before, and showed a mysterious smile.

He knew that the young man's name was Zheng Zhilong, who was only 18 years old this year, and he was already an up-and-coming newcomer to Li Dan's family. If history will not change, in the next few years, this young man will eat the family business of Li Dan and Yan Siqi at the same time, and become the absolute hegemon of the Far East Sea, and his son will also become a tragic legend in Chinese history.

"I have heard for a long time that Mr. Yan is a model for my overseas Chinese! But my uncle was cold, and my uncle was with me day and night. I really couldn't come in person, so I was asked to come to accompany Mr. Yan. ”

The nephew of the Li family also stared at the young man of the same race and foreign country in front of him who was not much older than himself, and felt a trace of admiration for the other party's courage to come to Daming to hire displaced people thousands of miles away. Moreover, the other party is still a person who holds a treasure commodity that even the Francois does not have.

An hour later, the banquet ended in an atmosphere that everyone was satisfied with, and the representative of the Li family left in a hurry without any stop. Subsequently, Yan Xiaosong and Yan Siqi had another secret meeting in Yuanlai Guest House.

Yan Xiaosong promised. In three years at most, the American Republic of China will send an official voyage ship to Daming, and the Yan family will receive special care far superior to that of the Furlong people. What is this special level of care? Just a few luxury glass wine sets and French perfumes that Yan Xiaosong sold publicly this time can secretly guess some.

Thinking of the submissive and respectful attitude of the people of Macau Franco to Yan Xiaosong, as well as their continuous generous efforts, Yan Siqi naturally will not take the other party's commitment lightly. So for more than two months. Basically, in accordance with Yan Xiaosong's requirements, he carried out the work of collecting and screening displaced people from all over the country.

Now that everything is in place, only Dongfeng is owed, and as for the person in power in the Li Dan family who is still unwilling to show up in public, Yan Xiaosong does not plan to take the initiative to contact him for the time being.

At night, after a long bargain, Yan Xiaosong also returned to a certain mansion on the side of the guest house with a tired body, which Yan Xiaosong specially asked Uncle Yan to buy from a local maritime merchant a month ago.

As soon as he entered the door, an elderly man dressed as a housekeeper hurriedly greeted him, holding a lantern in his hand and writing a strict word.

I once went to Xiangshan County to visit Du Zhi County. I met a refugee, and a family of four was selling their grandchildren on the street to beg for food. An old man with his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren looked like they were going to die, which made Yan Xiao feel compassionate. Seeing that the old man was also a person who had read books, Yan Xiaosong brought the whole family to his side, and also bought a few young girls from Xiangshan County to be maids.

Coincidentally, the old man named Qiao Kuan is not just an old showman. He even worked as an accountant for a long time, so Yan Xiaosong simply let the old man Qiao Kuan be his housekeeper, and the old man's daughter-in-law was also in the mansion with a maid to handle all kinds of housework, and the old man's grandchildren were settled properly.

Qiao Kuan's family, who were once a little scared of this cross-dressed young man, were completely moved by the other party's humility and politeness after getting along for a month. The family is even more diligent, and even the Tessie woman next to the young man is completely deferential to the young grandmother of this mansion.

Katerina. Morality. Elanso, the Spanish girl who has fallen in love with Yan Xiaosong to the point that she can't extricate herself, simply gave herself a Chinese name not long ago, Elena. As a result, Qiao Kuan happily called Miss Ai long that day, Miss Ai called away shortly, and even sometimes called the young grandmother directly in private, which made Caterina who understood the meaning of the word smile and squinted.

"Boss, you're back...... Hey, look at my habit, I can't change my mouth! Mr. Yan, Miss Ai doesn't seem to have slept yet, and she is still waiting for you in the study! ”

"Uncle Kuan, it doesn't matter if I'm young, don't wait for me so late in the future." Yan Xiaosong dragged off his coat with a smile, and a maid beside the housekeeper hurriedly reached out to take it. Rubbing his wrists, the young man looked at the housekeeper with a very easy-going look, "Please get me a cup of tea, make it stronger, send it to the study, and you can go to rest quickly!" ”

"Hey, if it weren't for Mr. Yan saving my family in Xiangshan County, Qiao Kuan's family might have ......" The old man hurriedly waved his hand and bowed with both hands, "You can afford to look down on Xiao Lao'er, when you are this housekeeper, Xiao Lao'er must give you a good look at this family." ”

No longer saying anything, Yan Xiaosong just nodded slightly, and walked to the study.

In the study, under the candlelight, Caterina, dressed in Hanfu, was frowning, clutching a brush on a spread of rice paper on the desk and scribbling a few words with difficulty, as if she did not notice that her fiancé had returned home.

"That's not how you take a brush, fool!" Yan Xiaosong walked behind Katarina, grabbed the other party's waist with one hand, and held the other party's pen with the other, and then wrote the crooked word "Elena" on rice paper with a slight movement.

"Why can't women be present at banquets at the same time as men in this country?" Caterina turned around and put her arms around her fiancé's neck, pouting as if dissatisfied.

"This is the etiquette of the Eastern peoples. At least for now, even I must respect it, otherwise it will be rude. Yan Xiaosong spread his hands helplessly, "In their eyes, I may be more like a stranger than you, so to get closer, I have to readjust to these traditions." ”

"Your ancestors don't seem to have let you inherit these traditions, and neither do Mr. Su and Miss Yang Wenwen. You guys seem to ...... How to put it, more like Europeans. Caterina thought for a moment, then smiled and kissed her fiancé on the cheek.

Yan Xiaosong was stunned. Slowly letting go of her hand, she walked back and forth in the study with a strange expression, making Caterina think she had said something wrong. Frightened, he closed his mouth tightly.

"No...... We are not Europeans, we were not and we will not be! We are part of this nation! Katerina, do you like to wear clothes like this? Yan Xiaosong came back to his senses, changed his smile, and took Katerina's hand.

"Hmmm! It's beautiful, it's noble, it's silk! In Europe, only Lyon, France! But here, almost everywhere! No wonder the Doge of New Spain has always said that the land of the East is all gold, silk and spices! Caterina nodded hurriedly.

"In their eyes. It's not just wealth here, so Europeans are all flocking here. Yan Xiaosong muttered silently, thoughtfully.

"Am I not right? Yan, why didn't your ancestors come back to such a rich country? Caterina was a little curious.

"Because. I don't know. Yan Xiaosong thought about it carefully and sighed, "Katarina, if the Europeans want to invade this beautiful country, who will you support?" ”

"Oh! This can't be, this empire is too powerful! And your country is also allied with this empire. I don't think any European is going crazy! Caterina covered her mouth in surprise, thinking that her fiancé was talking nonsense after drinking too much.

Yan Xiaosong smiled bitterly and was speechless.

What Caterina didn't know was that in the past, a certain madman in the Kingdom of Spain really formulated a crazy plan to conquer the Ming Empire at the end of the 16th century, trying to use more than 20,000 troops to occupy Guangzhou, and then devour the entire Ming Empire.

Of course, these were whimsical ideas at the time, and with the defeat of the Spanish Navy's Invincible Armada, the battle plan was also lost.

But such a powerful empire, which made the whole of Europe awe and jealous, was buried by the natural disasters, bureaucrats, landlords, starving people, and Jurchens of this century in just over twenty years, and the entire history of the East entered another fork.

On February 24, 1622, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival.

On this day, dozens of armed Portuguese merchant ships in the port of Macao raised their sails one after another and left the dock one after another.

After several months of careful preparation, under the covert operation of the Portuguese and Macao Council, Yan Siqi and others, the first batch of more than 3,200 Daming refugees who had undergone preliminary screening were concentrated on a small island outside Macao.

Under a large amount of bribes, the magistrates of Xiangshan County and the officials guarding Macao also turned a blind eye, and some maritime merchants secretly assigned by Yan Xiaosong recruited displaced people and craftsmen in the surrounding counties under the guise of going to the outer islands to reclaim famine.

With the help of the Macau Council, together with the ships gathered by the Portuguese colonies along the way, Yan Xiaosong gathered a total of 32 Portuguese armed merchant ships this time.

In addition to more than 2,700 ordinary Ming refugees from all over the country, there are more than 500 craftsmen of all kinds who came from the disaster area in Yanzhòng, and these miserable military households or artisan households that originally belonged to the local military station became Yan Xiaosong's key targets after being ruthlessly abandoned by the famine year. From blacksmiths and carpenters to shipwrights, stonemasons, and even more advanced craftsmen such as potters, silversmiths, and locksmiths, there are almost all kinds of craftsmen.

In addition, the fleet was also loaded with a large number of crops, medicinal herbs and other Ming Dynasty specialties and seeds, which are believed to be very welcome in North America. In order to prevent patients who may be hindered by long-term voyages along the way, Yan Xiaosong also specially ordered a large number of dried fruits, candied soybeans, and other easy-to-preserve vegetables and fruits.

A second convoy of more than 1,500 Ming immigrants will also depart from Manila in a few days, consisting of merchant ships anchored in the Spanish colony of Manila, where they will join the Portuguese fleet at the Indian port of Goa. For this reason, Abbot Martos of the Convent of St. Paul also made another trip to Manila, using his personal connections to hire 12 large and small Spanish merchant ships.

The exquisite set of glass wine utensils that Yan Xiaosong gave to the Spanish Governor of the Philippines through Matos played a key role in this process.

In addition to the 150,000 Spanish silver dollars that he brought with him, in the whole IOM operation. Yan Xiaosong sold all the rare goods in his hand and obtained a total of 600,000 Spanish silver dollars worth of silver. got nearly 4,800 Ming Dynasty immigrants, and the total capital of 750,000 was finally left with 400,000. Nearly 50 Spanish silver dollars were spent on each Ming settler, not including the final shipping costs that would have to be paid when they finally arrived in Brazil.

On the dock, the housekeeper Qiao Kuan's family reluctantly wiped their tears and stayed by Yan Xiaosong's side, and Yan Sihai also saw him off at the scene instead of Yan Siqi.

"Mr. Yan, the owner! Here you go. It will be at least a year before I see you again...... Take care! I'll help you watch this house, and you can stay comfortably when you come back at any time! ”

"Master, this is a few feet of cloth that I gave to my young grandmother. Don't be disgusted! ”

Joe band and daughter-in-law, you and I, Katerina said a word, and Katerina was moved to tears.

"Mr. Yan. I'll give you a toast for my eldest brother! Big brother said, and you are already a brother's friendship! Waiting for you to come again next time, I will definitely take you to have a good tour of the Ming scenery! This time the hospitality was not good, and my eldest brother and I were very ashamed! ”

Yan Sihai had a straightforward temperament, directly brought a big bowl of wine, took a sip of it himself, and then held it in front of Yan Xiaosong.

"Well, next time you come over, just don't be scared." Yan Xiaosong smiled and drank all the wine in one sip. Just as he was about to turn around, he suddenly thought of something, and then quickly lowered his voice, "Sue your eldest brother, don't overeat in the future." Pay attention to your body. Also, be careful of the Li family's man named Zheng Zhilong. ”

"That Zheng Yiguan who entered the Fanjiao? That kid is the one who tops my mouth with my big brother that sky? Well, it's a sharp-toothed person, I'll take the words back, Mr. Yan, don't worry! ”

Yan Sihai was stunned for a moment, and quickly nodded. But there was clearly a look of disdain in his eyes. As for persuading his cousin to pay attention to the issue of diet, Yan Sihai disagreed, his cousin was born with a big stomach, and everything he ate was about the bucket, shouldn't heroes be like this?

It's just that what he didn't know was that his big-appetized cousin was overjoyed when he occupied Taiwan a few years later, and died of intestinal obstruction due to overeating, and a huge Yan Clan Maritime Group fell apart in a short period of time, and finally cheapened Zheng Zhilong.

"Oh, God bless you for your journey, Your Excellency Councilor Yan, I hope you can bring better news next time!" The abbot of St. Paul's Monastery in Macau, Mattos, came up at this time and drew a cross on his chest, "The Macau Council will always maintain and pay attention to your efforts in the Far East!" ”

"Hopefully, given our deep friendship, I can give you a piece of news. Maybe the news doesn't sound great to you, but you'll definitely thank me later. ”

As he spoke, Yan Xiaosong leaned into Mattos's ear and muttered for about a minute.

"Oh my God! That's impossible! How could the Dutch come and attack Macau?! Do they dare to come after two defeats?! Mattos's face changed drastically, and he could hardly believe that the laughing young man in front of him would "fabricate" such a frightening news, as if the other party had an unpredictable prophet.

"That's what I received before I left the country, and you'll know that it might not be possible. Perhaps the Dutch have now gathered their forces in Batavia. ”

After speaking, Yan Xiaosong took Caterina's hand, stepped onto the board without looking back, and boarded the flagship of General Ricardo, the commander-in-chief of the Portuguese fleet.

The bulging sails slowly propelled the massive hull of the ship, and the Portuguese armed sailing ship slowly slid off the dock and headed towards the sea to the south.

At this time, in the far south, Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies colony of Java, a colony that had only been in Dutch hands for just over two years, about a dozen sail warships with more than 1,000 Dutch East India Company mercenaries were galloping into the harbor to prepare for rest.

According to the course of real history, they will appear off the coast of Daming in June, intending to capture Macao, which has not been taken twice.

But this time, the history that was revealed in advance may cause them to suffer a greater defeat, and may even lead them to have no chance of retreating from Penghu in defeat. Because a young man had spread the news to both Manila and Macau like an "unpredictable prophet". The Spaniards and Portuguese, who believe in "brotherly friendship", will not let go of this good opportunity so lightly.

However, there is another situation that Yan Xiaosong would never have imagined that in distant North America, it would not be long before a fierce controversy about the beginning of a new country would turn a new country upside down.

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