In Luzon, the Han Chinese of our Ming Dynasty reached 30,000 or 40,000 at its peak. Later, the Longqing Dynasty switched, and our Li family, like other Han people, began to engage in maritime trade between the Ming Dynasty and Luzon again.

At that time, although our Li family was in the Luzon caravan, it was relatively large. But it's not the biggest. In addition to Second Uncle Xu's family, there were at least seven or eight caravans in Luzon that were larger than ours.

However, in the thirtieth year of Wanli in this dynasty. The emperor listened to the words of a man named Zhang Wei and said that on Luzon Island, 100,000 taels of gold and 300,000 taels of silver could be mined every year. Therefore, the emperor sent people to Luzon to discuss with the chieftains of Luzon about opening mines in Luzon. At this time, Luzon had been occupied by Westerners for more than thirty years.

The request of the envoys sent by the emperor was rejected by the Westerners. So, the imperial court's proposal to open mines in Luzon did just that.

However, the emperor's sudden and whim decision hurt us Han Chinese who settled in Luzon.

Since Luzon has always been a subject of my Ming Dynasty. Westerners believed that the real purpose of the emperor's envoys to Luzon this time was to find out the truth of Luzon, and planned to send troops to Luzon to help the Luzon people drive them away. Therefore, the Westerners began to restrict the movement of our Han Chinese, and confiscated our iron weapons.

The practice of Westerners has naturally aroused the vigilance of our Han people. As a result, many caravans began to secretly organize forces to defend themselves.

When the Westerners discovered this, they sent a large number of troops to massacre the Han Chinese in Luzon. Their order was to kill all Han Chinese.

At that time, my dad had a friend who was a local and he was helping Westerners. When he got the news, he immediately whispered to my father.

When my father got the news, he hurriedly sent people to report the various Han caravans in Luzon as quickly as possible, and at the same time, began to prepare to escape from Luzon. However, because the seven or eight caravans had only recently imported a batch of goods from Daming. The goods have just moved into the trading house, and they haven't come to sell yet. They are reluctant to leave the goods, and in addition, they have always been in competition with our Li family, and they don't believe my father's words. They think that Westerners are just for some money, and they don't really do anything to them. Even if the Westerners really came, some money would be settled.

However, what they didn't expect was this. This time, the Westerners moved in earnest. They first blockaded the seaports, and then massacre us Han Chinese in Luzon. That's really killing people when they see them, and they don't even give them a chance to speak!

Fortunately, our father has not yet unloaded the raw silk and porcelain transported from Daming this time, and Second Uncle Xu has not yet come because their caravan has not come. He happened to be sick this time, so the matter of going to Daming to buy goods was delayed for a few days, and he didn't go with him.

My father and second uncle Xu, with their families and caravans, had just escaped from the port of Manila when the Westerners blocked the port.

My father and second uncle Xu didn't dare to stay, for fear that the Westerners would chase them out of the port, so they sailed all the way north. Fortunately, not long after they went to sea, they met the merchant fleet of Second Uncle Xu's family, who was heading south from Daming. So, everyone became one and turned north.

They went to the East first. That's where my dad settled. However, Second Uncle Xu was not accustomed to the life of the East, and soon, he took the Xu family merchant ship back to Daming, intending to do more far-distance trade in the South Seas.

Since then, the merchant ships of our Li family and the Xu family have all begun to be equipped with artillery, and they have also organized their own caravans.

Slowly, our strength has developed into the two largest forces in the southeast sea, and even the current Westerners do not dare to attack us easily.

Since most of the goods trafficked by our Li and Xu families were illicit goods, many people in the imperial court called us pirates. However, we have never robbed other merchant ships. For the coastal merchants, we have no example. Sometimes when the year is bad, our Li family also has to use the shops set up in various places to make soup kitchens.

Thirteen years ago, in the massacre on Luzon Island, we Zhangzhou people died the most. Among them, there is also my mother.

At that time, my mother went to my grandmother's house. My grandmother's house is not in the port of Manila. As soon as my father got the news that the Westerners were going to attack us, he immediately sent someone to find my mother. However, it was still too late. In the end, neither my mother nor the domestic servant who was looking for someone could escape. ”

Speaking of this, Li Ying's voice choked. Her emotions were slightly excited, and her eyes showed crystal tears.

"I once swore to Matsu that I would kill all the Westerners on Luzon Island in this life to avenge my mother."

Yu Ren moved closer to Li Ying and reached out to gently hold her in his arms. He felt her body tremble slightly. Obviously, that massacre had a great impact on Li Ying's psyche, even though she was only a six or seven-year-old child at the time.

"Don't worry, if Westerners dare to do such a thing that people and gods are angry with, God will not let them go." Yu Ren comforted her.

"But the ships of the Westerners were so strong that they operated in Luzon for more than forty years. You say, "Can I avenge this revenge?" "Li Ying is obviously not very confident in defeating Westerners.

"Don't worry! As long as we work hard, this revenge will be avenged sooner or later. Yu Ren gently patted Li Ying's shoulder and comforted.

"When you return to China, are you preparing to expand your forces to take revenge on the Westerners in Luzon?"

Li Ying nodded.

"A few years ago, our family was always in the East. Five years ago, when I was fifteen years old, my father allowed me to return to my hometown of Zhangzhou with a number of warships and merchant ships. My dad said that he was getting older, and he no longer wanted revenge, and just wanted his wife to spend the rest of his life peacefully.

However, I can't, and this hatred is not in my heart for a moment. In revenge, I grew up on a sea-boat, and by the time I was fifteen years old, my father had entrusted me with most of the family's business. On my fifteenth birthday, I suddenly proposed to my father that I would bring a group of people back to my hometown to develop.

My father didn't speak for a long time, but he saw my thoughts, but he didn't object.

In this way, I took away most of the Li family's strength in the East at that time, forty-seven merchant ships and fifteen warships. I took these ships to Zhangzhou first, and we still mainly rely on sea transportation. But secretly, I recruited a lot of descendants of my fellow villagers who were killed in Luzon that year. From there, I began to organize a team to report back.

I originally planned to develop directly in Fujian, and then lead the team to Luzon.

However, then I met Mr. Qu.

Mr. Qu was originally a talent on the ground. Later, he also learned from others to follow the ship to the South Seas to sell goods. He has been to Luzon several times.

However, Mr. Qu's luck was not good, and his business was getting worse and worse. By the time I met him, he couldn't even afford to pay for the boat back to his hometown. I saw that he was a good talker, and he was a fellow of our Zhangzhou, so I asked him to take our Li family's boat to go overseas to depreciate goods, and also exempted him from the fare.

Later, Mr. Qu volunteered to join our Li family's caravan. After he found out that I was going to seek revenge on the Westerners in Luzon, he took the initiative to find me. He said that he had been to Luzon many times, and that the Westerners there were very powerful, and their ironclad ships, with large hulls, and their artillery were much more advantageous than ours.

If we want to defeat them, with our current strength, it is still too far away. So, he proposed to me that I should unite with the Xu family to take all the pirates on the southeast coast under his banner, and then monopolize the overseas trade on the southeast coast.

In this way, huge profits can be obtained. With the money, the boat is no problem. I then followed Mr. Qu's advice and began to concentrate on maritime trade in the southeastern half of the country. Until today. ”

Yu Ren listened to Li Yu, no, it should be Li Ying's narration, so that they had some real understanding of the Li family. But he also has a puzzle.

"Then, with an expansion force like your family that is making a big show on the southeast coast, the imperial court doesn't care?"

Li Ying smiled lightly. "The Imperial Court? The high-ranking officials in the imperial court will not know about our Li family at all. Because we have never done anything that violates the laws of the Ming Dynasty in China. Although we have shops in many state capitals on the southeast coast, the people in our shops are serious businessmen, and they also pay business taxes to the imperial court according to the regulations.

As for the chief soldiers of the guard, we also have filial piety every year. They are the rich and the masters of everything, as long as we don't cause trouble for them, they will be too lazy to care about us! Moreover, there is money to take. ”