When Li Zhaoji heard this, his face was full of doubts, and he said: "The corpses that my brothers helped you find and the ones you found add up to no less than ten. ”

Yang Yandi laughed and said briskly: "I, Yang Er, grew up on a fishing boat with my father since I was a child, he was forced to hang himself by the gentry, I killed the old man in a fit of rage, and did a headless murder, and since then, I began to travel back and forth between Qiong, Lei and Guangzhou to sell salt.

The water village of the imperial court, the inspection department of each prefecture and the people in the yamen have made trouble with me, they have killed my brothers to make meritorious contributions, and I have also killed them to pay for their lives. Honestly speaking, I, Yang Er, still want to be able to make a name for myself at sea, dominate one side, learn from Zheng Zhilong, be appeased by Zhao'an, and join the imperial court.

Since ancient times, people have been killed and set fire to gold belts, and bridges have been repaired without corpses. Which one on the rivers and lakes is not opposed to the imperial court, but a few will rebel, if it is really a rebellion, I also want to Zhao'an. ”

"If it's really a rebellion, I also think about Zhao'an." Li Zhaoji recalled this sentence and felt more and more reasonable.

Seeing that Li Zhaoji was deep in thought, Yang Yandi asked: "Leader, you accept us, whether you want to fight with the imperial court, we are all up to you." ”

Li Zhaoji woke up suddenly, laughed, stood up and said, "Brother Yang, you have this wish, do your brothers have the same mind as you?" ”

"As long as the princes are willing to avenge their brothers, the brethren will serve you as Lord in the future." Yang Yandi said honestly.

Li Zhaoji was embarrassed: "Revenge? Isn't this still against the imperial court? ”

Li Zhaoji is not loyal to the Ming court, if there are interests, he doesn't care about going against the court, but the problem is that he hasn't seen any major interests yet, although Yang Yandi is a figure in front of him, he insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty in history, and then opened up the Mekong Delta and made a living for the Chinese, but between the Ming court, which is more important, Li Zhaoji is still very clear.

"No, the little brother is talking about the four surnamed pirates, and the leader doesn't even want to provoke the four surnamed pirates." Yang Yandi said in surprise.

Li Zhaoji immediately said: "These four thieves are rampant, killing and looting, and doing all kinds of evil. ”

In fact, where is Li Zhaoji so righteous Ling Ran, he is determined to do a career in the Pearl River Estuary, but the local territory belongs to the four surnamed pirates, if these four local snakes are not cleaned up, how can he have room for survival.

Yang Yandi was enthusiastically boiled by Li Zhaoji's words, he clenched his fists and said: "Boss, you have to be the enemy of the four surnames, and the brothers will do their best to help you, at the cost of their lives." ”

"Brother Yang, what kind of grudge do you have with the four surnames?" Li Zhaoji asked first.

The so-called four pirates are the four pirate forces entrenched in the Pearl River estuary, and their leaders are Shi Bi, Ma Xuansheng, Xu Guixiang, and Zheng Tingqiu. These four pirates have been entrenched in the Pearl River Estuary for many years, and they have been doing evil on weekdays, plundering sea ships, and participating in the foreign trade of the Pearl River Estuary.

The four surnamed pirates and the Ming court have been at peace for a long time, because they are mostly overseas, rarely go ashore to plunder, and have some connections with the gentry from all over Guangdong, just like the sea Shuzu, in the Pearl River estuary to meet the four surnamed pirates, say hello, you can pass.

Speaking of the four pirates, Yang Yandi immediately became angry and roared. After listening to him, I realized that the extermination of this Neilingding Island was related to the four surnames.

“....... Shen Youlong, the governor of Liangguang, wanted Lin Cha to sweep the sea, it was nothing, the new official took office, and he would come so many times after all, catch a few small fish and shrimp, make a gesture, and our seafarers will take the money to redeem it, that is. But this time it was different, Lin Cha, the general soldier of Guangdong, colluded with the four surnames to exterminate Neilingding Island, and the purpose was to arrest people and sell slaves. When Yang Yandi said this, he was extremely angry and his eyes were split.

When the two were talking, Liu Mingde and Chen Liuzi also came over, and Li Zhaoji asked, "Where does the slave trader go?" ”

"Or where, naturally, it is to go to the South Seas. Go to Manila or Batavia, where the foreign people are entrenched. Yang Yandi roared.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly, and Chen Liuzi also said: "Brother Yang is right, these two places really need Chinese, and Hongmao and Da Folang people value Chinese very much. ”

The land of Nanyang is fertile and densely populated, but now it is mostly controlled by the Heavenly Fang Sect, and its people are ignorant and unusable. The European colonists were very disdainful of these Nanyang natives, but they attached great importance to the Chinese, in their eyes, the Chinese were hardworking, capable and willing to endure hardships, and were very honest and easy to control, so in important places, most of them were restrained by the Chinese.

For example, in Batavia, the Dutch East Indian Company implemented the Kapitan system for the Chinese, appointed the Chinese as the leader, and assisted in the management of the Chinese and the natives, and even the city of Batavia was contracted to the Chinese, and in recent years, the Dutch East Indian Company launched a challenge to the Portuguese all over the world, especially in the South Seas to seize many strongholds such as Malacca, which is more needed by the Chinese to build.

In Manila, three years ago, the Spaniards carried out a massacre of the Chinese, killing more than 20,000 people, and seizing the wealth accumulated by the Chinese for decades.

But also because of the Manila massacre, the Fujian and Cantonese people did not dare to go south in recent years, resulting in a shortage of Chinese in Nanyang.

Obviously, this made the Guangdong general soldier Lin Cha and the four surnamed pirates have bad intentions, Lin Cha is nominally cleaning up pirates, but in fact secretly cooperating with the four surnames, Lin Cha's department, in the name of cleaning up the pirates, looted the entire Neilingding Island, and the captured prisoners are all handed over to the four surnamed pirates, who are sold to Nanyang, East Indian Company, Spaniards and even Nanyang Chinese Kapitan, Hong Kong owners, are buyers.

After listening to what Yang Yandi said, Li Zhaoji smiled, hugged Yang Yandi's shoulders, and said, "Everyone, today is the day when Yandi joins the gang, let's get some wine and food first, let's talk while eating." ”

The men who beg for a living at sea are not those men whose hands are not touched by the spring water, and they all have craftsmanship on their bodies.

Liu Mingde caught a few fresh fish and started to make fish tart, Chen Liuzi led people to find green onions and ginger to accompany the meal on the island, Yang Yandi was a good hunter, made a slinging rope with bark at will, and hunted two pheasants, Li Zhaoji carried an arquebus, walked around in the mountains and forests, and was also ready to hunt, but he didn't catch anything, but he was the luckiest, he met a fleeing goat, and hung his horns on a branch and was captured by them.

Everyone cleaned up, set up tents on the beach, fried and cooked, barbecued stews, and it was very lively.

The wine has passed three rounds, and the dishes have passed five flavors.

Li Zhaoji picked up a bowl of wine and said: "The world is very big, the four fields are vertical and horizontal, our brothers are all good men, and we should establish a career." The top can help the world and protect all the people, and the bottom can glorify the ancestors, wealth and glory, brothers, what do you think? ”

"As soon as I saw the leader, I knew that a weapon like you was extraordinary, and it was definitely not a thing in the pool, with such ambitions, I, Yang Er, really met the master." Yang Yandi joined newly and was the first to come out and express his position.

Li Zhaoji laughed and continued: "Back then, there were Liu Guan and Zhang Taoyuan who formed a righteous alliance, helped the crisis and the difficulty, and helped the Han family. The Taizu of this dynasty started from the recklessness and won the world with his white hands. Although our brothers only have this one sea ship today, with three or five iron cannons, which is a little shabby, compared with Guan Erye and Tai Grandpa, they have taken a big advantage.

Nowadays, there are eight rows of Yao in the southwest of our country, there are thieves in the Central Plains Lake, and the slaves in Liaodong are in trouble, and they often loot the Guannei. Born in troubled times, it is just conducive to my good boy to achieve a great cause. ”

"yes, yes. We are just fools, and if we achieve great things, we still have to listen to our eldest brother. Chen Liuzi said in a deep voice.

"Boss, just say, what are we going to do?" Liu Shun said immediately.

Liu Li also said: "Yes, what do you say, we will do it." ”

Li Zhaoji was in a good mood: "The most proud thing in my life is to have a group of brothers like you who are of one heart and one mind. Just now, Yandi said that he hopes to become Zheng Zhilong, run rampant in the sea, and be cared for as an official. But I don't think so, he Zheng Zhilong is a treacherous villain, only seeking to favor the southeast and compete for the interests of the people.

Sitting in a high position, he has no loyalty to the court, and he has no righteousness to stabilize the people, what kind of hero is he! We can learn his way, but he is a man and we can't learn it. ”

Liu Mingde asked: "What does the leader mean, let's also fall into the grass first, and when we have the territory, our strength will increase greatly, and we will be taken care of as officials?" ”

Li Zhaoji waved his hand: "But we are not in a hurry to fall into the grass, our first priority now is to gain a foothold in this Pearl River estuary and find a place for the brothers to live." And to do this, we can't be like the four surnamed pirates, otherwise we will be hated by the people, the court will be jealous, and it will be difficult to enter the house.

What I mean by this is that we should first set up a trading company so that we can deal with the government and the private sector. But he doesn't seek innocence, he has to fight with a sword to do business, so that he can eat both black and white. ”

"Well, the leader thinks long-term."

"Yes, then the brothers will have more peace of mind and a better life."

After everyone discussed, Liu Mingde said: "Boss, what do you call our trading company?" ”

"You and my brother, conspiring for a great cause is in this land of the East, and it is also on the side of the Orient, and the plot is even more of a great cause, and the trading company is named after the East." Li Zhaoji had already planned and said.

Everyone nodded one after another, and Yang Yandi shouted good: "Okay, others choose names, seek blessings, seek profits, and seek comprehensiveness, we can't be so vulgar, have great ambitions, and dare to call the East!" ”

When a group of people applauded, Chen Liuzi frowned and was silent, Li Zhaoji was puzzled, it stands to reason that among these people, the closest to him is this sworn brother, why is it supported by others, he is silent?

"Sixth brother, what do you think, but this name is not good?" Li Zhaoji asked.

Chen Liuzi said: "Big brother, dare to ask, do you set up this trading company mainly for profit and wealth, or do you give priority to great ambitions?" ”