When the gentry heard this, they shouted one after another: "Lin Cha, why did he do this, he disrespected his orders and started a war without authorization, this is a big crime. ”

"What's more important is that our strategy is bad, if the four surnames escape, or if the evil is not exhausted, Lin Cha must be responsible."

"If he is responsible, it would be fine, if he is not careful, the court is afraid that he will blame the governor."

Everyone shouted endlessly, this is to find a punching bag that can not only breathe, but also dare to vent.

Shen Youlong knocked lightly on the table: "The matter has come to this, and I have to move." But the military situation was urgent, so the old man could only let Li Zhaoji act first, attack Po Tai, seize the base in the pirate's lair, and cut off his retreat. ”

The gentry nodded, and Master Huang asked, "Lord Governor, what should you do next?" ”

Shen Youlong clapped his hands, Chen Ping walked outside and came in, and put out a map, the map covered the Pearl River estuary, and the large and small islands were written one by one, Shen Youlong said: "Although Lin Cha is reckless, the plan is changed, but the goal cannot be changed.

The Oriental Trading Company and the Francois have been preparing for a long time, and have captured Po Toi, taking the lead and attacking the Hong Kong thieves' nest, mainly these two parts for the time being. Since Lin Cha was already on the left, he was placed under his command.

Guangdong's superintendent and town standard start from Xin'an, go straight to Kowloon, and press the cover from the land. The elite soldiers and sailors of the water village set out from all over the country and fought from the outside to the inside, just like peeling cabbage leaves, clearing layer by layer, and progressing layer by layer, all the way to Hong Kong Island.

This was to prevent the thieves from escaping, and it was also to allow the armies and battalions to clear out the small groups of pirates. ”

Shen Youlong explained the strategy according to the map, and the gentry mostly nodded, now that the Ming Dynasty is in the era of war, the literati are mostly proud of knowing soldiers, of course, the so-called knowing soldiers are just talking on paper. But it also allowed these scholars to distinguish between east and west, north and south on the map, and understand Shen Youlong's meaning by comparison.

"Your Excellency the Governor, the Oriental Trading Company and the Francois are both foreign soldiers, and Lin Cha has a disagreement with him, is there any obstacle to being under his command?" Master Lin asked.

Shen Youlong smiled: "The old man has asked Lin Cha to atone for his crimes, and detained most of his town mark, if he wants to make meritorious service, he must rely on Li Zhaoji, and he must let go of his old grudges." ”

Everyone nodded one after another, praising Shen Youlong for knowing people and being good at his duties. In fact, Shen Youlong handed over the command of the attack on Hong Kong to Li Zhaoji from the beginning.

The army that can be fought in Guangdong is the two branches of the supervision standard and the town standard, and the water villages are not well prepared, and the water division has not experienced a battle, so the water war cannot be fought. If Lin Cha had not been captured, Shen Youlong would have been prepared to slowly figure it out, and then fight after training the troops and going through martial arts, but now it can only be the main battle of foreign soldiers, and the soldiers and horses of this province have beaten the side drums.

The gentry have no objection to this, they don't want to lose too much in group training, they beat the side drum on the side, help out, win is a credit, lose is not a big fault, and can still preserve their strength, why not do it.

A gentry said: "Some time ago, the old nephew came back from Macao, saying that the soldiers of the Macau Yiying and the Oriental Trading Company were training at the foot of Mazu Mountain in Macau, and the guns and cannons were endless. The nephew went to see it and said that his army was strict and quite majestic.

And after a year of attrition, the pirates are not as strong as before, and there is an old enmity between the four surnames, and the old man thinks, if it is a careless, let the foreign soldiers break the enemy camp and take the main credit, but how can it be good? ”

"What's wrong with this, anyway, the coach is Lin Cha, and they beat the enemy camp, which is also Lin Cha's first credit." Someone said with a smile.

The old gentry shook his head: "That is an explanation to the Ministry of War, but not to Guangdong Province." Li Zhaoji is willing to send gunboats to suppress thieves for the imperial court, for the sake of the authority of Yuehai, and the old man is afraid that he will make great contributions, arrogant and domineering, and put forward conditions that we cannot meet.

Alas, it's all because Lin Cha is good at starting wars, if he waits for a few months, the battalions are well trained, and there is Wang Shitu's training in hand, even if Li Zhaoji makes meritorious contributions, he will not dare to ask for anything. ”

In this way, everyone's faces changed, and Shen Youlong clenched his fists and said, "Gentlemen, please take a seat, please take a seat." This is exactly what the old man wants to discuss with you, if you don't come, you have to invite each other, fortunately, we are gathered today, so everyone can speak freely and give advice to the old man. ”

The gentry sat down, and Shen Youlong took out a few pages from Chen Ping and said, "Li Zhaoji has indeed put forward a lot of conditions, and they are all written here. Speaking of which, it was originally planned to negotiate before mobilizing the troops, but the matter was in a hurry, so it could only be discussed while fighting. ”

Shen Youlong asked Chen Ping to give these terms to the gentry, all of which were mentioned by Li Zhaoji when they met at the melon stall that day.

Shen Youlong carefully observed the expressions of the gentry, trying to see some clues, and the gentry had already discussed in a whisper after seeing the terms.

Listening carefully, Shen Youlong found that the end point of the gentry's argument was not whether to agree to Li Zhaoji's terms, but directly turned to the newly established customs to collect taxes and how to collect taxes.

Just imagine, the purpose of these gentry assisting in the regimental training is not to suppress thieves and reassure the people, but to sweep away the Guangdong Sea so that they can trade abroad, and customs tariffs will inevitably fall on their heads, which involves vital interests, so it is natural to focus on discussion.

Chen Zizhuang smiled: "Don't stop chattering, let's talk about it one by one." First of all, Hong Kong Island is under the control of Lee Siu-kee, what about this matter? ”

Someone said: "That is a desert island where thieves are entrenched, in the past, most of the smuggling merchants and pirates came and went, the four surnames were in chaos, and most of the original facilities were destroyed. Such places, not anointed places, are given.

This customs office may not be located on the island. ”

"No, no, no." Master Lin got up and said: "This customs should be set up on Hong Kong Island, this is the customs, and it collects import and export taxes.

However, if the Guangzhou cargo ship sells goods to the west and east of Guangdong, it does not need to pay taxes, if the customs is set up in Guangzhou or other prosperous ports, how do you know that the big ship going to sea is going to sea or trading in this province?

Those shipowners and shopkeepers, everyone claims to be trading in this province, so isn't there no one to pay taxes, and this customs is not set up. ”

"But if the Customs is established in Hong Kong, will it solve this problem?" Someone asked.

Master Lin nodded: "That's natural, based in Hong Kong, since then the goods entering Guangdong or Cantonese goods going to sea must go through the customs, and the big ships entering and leaving Hong Kong can be charged." ”

"But what if ships come in and out of other ports to trade between the two oceans?" Someone asked again.

Master Lin said: "How can this ship go to the sea be a small boat with leaves? Li Zhaoji did not say that the establishment of a customs office in Qiongzhou and Chaozhou was for the purpose of anti-smuggling. If it is a foreign ship, it will go directly to Hong Kong, and it is not allowed to trade in other places, and my Ming ship, returning from the South Seas, must first go to Qiongzhou Customs to report and obtain a ship license, and the ship of the Oriental Ocean will be reported in Chaozhou. So Chaozhou to Qiongzhou, on the Guangdong Sea, as long as the big ship does not have a ship license, it is a smuggling ship.

Of course, not all smuggling ships can be caught, but once they are caught, they can be loaded into customs with their cargo. ”

Everyone nodded slightly, all of them were in the heart of Master Lin to be able to compete for the financial power of the regimental defense bureau from Chen Zizhuang's hands, which is really not low.

Chen Zizhuang asked: "Li Zhaoji proposed two methods, following the example of Macao, taking Hong Kong as a foreigner, or letting the Dongfan barbarians call them ministers and pay tribute, and administer Hong Kong in the name of berthing tribute ships. Brother Lin, which do you think is more suitable? ”

Old Man Lin fell into deep thought, as if he was hesitating, but it was the eldest who raised a question: "Lord Governor, colleagues, you have more to deal with Li Zhaoji, but the old man wants to ask, is this Li Zhaoji considered a person of our Ming Dynasty?" ”

"I heard that his ancestral home is Shandong, and he has been trading abroad since he was a child, and he has been adrift for many years."

"Regardless of whether he counts or not, the people in the trading company are mainly Ming people, especially the Cantonese people, but there are some Nanyang Chinese. But the old man heard that the Oriental Trading Company did not serve foreign religions and did not respect the king. The old man previously recommended a letter to the account office of the Oriental Trading Company saying that they were running a school in Tamsui, teaching the Four Books and Five Classics, supplemented by arithmetic.

Even when speaking, in order to accommodate Li Zhaoji, he can learn the official dialect of the north.

This trading company is a Daming trading company after all, by the way, it is rumored that the Kai Tadasuke family is not its shareholder. ”

Master Huang waved his hand again and again: "It can't be counted like this, if he Dongfang Trading Company is a trading company of the Ming Dynasty, he is reorganizing his troops in Tamsui, and he is making guns and cannons, wouldn't that be a rebellion?" Moreover, he is still fighting with the Wa Kingdom, if he is our Ming trading company, wouldn't the Wa Kingdom seek mediation with the imperial court.

At that time, everyone in the capital heard the bad things about the Oriental Trading Company, how could we cooperate with him, and not treat him as a pirate and let Guangdong Province suppress him? ”

"Brother Lin, what do you think?" Shen Youlong still looked at Master Lin.

"Brother Weiyuan, you are well-informed, you can say whatever you want." Chen Zizhuang also said.

Lin Weiyuan smiled: "Li Zhaoji's identity, the old man thinks that it is not necessary to break it, it will save trouble." As for the reason for entering Hong Kong, the old man thinks that the eastern tribute seems to be more appropriate. ”

"What's the explanation?" Shen Youlong asked.

Lin Weiyuan said: "To act in Hong Kong, we take care of us, and we don't necessarily need a name. Lee Siu-kee's demand for Hong Kong is only to serve the fleet, not to tear the ground off, and his fleet acts in the name of a trading company, and the armed forces act in the name of customs.

It doesn't matter, the key is that he is willing to help the imperial court in the future and go north to level the imperial captives. That is to leave Guangdong Province and enter and exit the northern border, to imitate the example of Macao, Li Zhaoji and others are all Ming people, how can it be said. It's better to let him pay tribute to the east, you think, although Li Zhaoji and others look the same as us, they all have broken hair and shaved hair, and their clothes are different from ours. Let's just say that it is the habit of the East, and people who don't know the inside story may not be able to tell it. ”

"That's right, that's right." Shen Yulong said with a high-five.

"Then this first thing is decided. The second thing, customs revenue, Li Zhaoji wants 70%, what do you think? Shen Youlong asked.

Chen Zizhuang coughed lightly: "No, if you set up a customs office and unify the entry and exit of Guangdong Province, its income is huge, how can it be used by Li Zhaoji?" Most of it belongs to him, where will our regimental training and Wang's military salary come from? Ladies and gentlemen, did the old man say that? ”

"Yes, yes. We are the court and the gentry, he is a businessman, how can he take the lion's share? ”

"Well, it really shouldn't, it really shouldn't."

Shen Youlong saw that many gentry said this, so he looked at Lin Weiyuan.

Lin Weiyuan smiled: "I was pulled by Brother Huang early this morning, I didn't even eat breakfast, and after I arrived, I drank too much tea, and now it's close to noon, I don't know if Old Chen can entertain me?" ”

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, then prepare drinks and food, and talk while eating." Chen Zizhuang said.

Many people also drank tea, and their stomachs were anxious, and they went to solve it as soon as they heard about the banquet.

Lin Weiyuan went to the toilet and solved it, but it was in the garden outside, and Master Huang and the others were waiting.

"Brother Lin, you took the opportunity to interrupt, do you have something to say?" Master Huang asked.

Lin Weiyuan motioned for these acquaintances to come to the bamboo forest on the side, and he said: "As far as I can see, Li Zhaoji wants seventy percent, so let him go." ”

"Oh, how do you say that?" Everyone was puzzled.

Lin Weiyuan said: "That's the tariff, which is obviously used to raise troops to aid the north, let me ask, can this money fall into your hands and me?" ”

Everyone shook their heads, and Lin Weiyuan said: "Do you think that for the imperial court and the Oriental trading company, the more tariffs, the better?" ”

"That's natural, the money goes into their pockets, and of course the more the better." It was said.

Master Huang waved his hand: "Not really, Shen Youlong wants to use this money to rectify the soldiers and horses and aid the Northern War, but Li Zhaoji may not be wholeheartedly like this." Just imagine, if there are more taxes, there will be more tax evasion, and the more tax evasion, the more money he Li Zhaoji will spend on anti-smuggling.

In addition, he also had to pay taxes on the ships of the Oriental Trading Company, and the ships were the only ones, and there were many customs duties, and he paid more for each ship.

What's more, have you seen that Li Zhaoji and Shen Youlong have a gentleman's agreement, using musketeers as the standard, and making an appointment to serve together. There are many tariffs, there are many soldiers and horses in Guangdong Province, and he Li Zhaoji will also send many troops in the future.

In and out like this, Li Zhaoji may not want to levy more, while Shen Youlong is more and better.

Therefore, what Brother Lin said is right, if our regimental defense bureau takes most of it, Shen Youlong will be even more unscrupulous in levying tariffs, and if Li Zhaoji takes most of it, he will have less motivation. ”

Lin Weiyuan nodded slightly: "What Brother Guanlou said is very reasonable, but in the other section, Brother Tai didn't understand it." ”

"Oh, please Brother Lin to solve your doubts."

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