Lu Ming

Chapter 375 The Origin of the Official Document

Rewind time to March of this year.

At that time, the only remaining group of big pirates, the Liuxiang Group, had to go south from its old nest in the Chaoshan area due to pressure from the north, and finally entrenched in the Pearl River Estuary.

This matter was actually planned by Transcendence.The purpose of letting Liu Xiang go south is to divert trouble to the south, forcing the Guangzhou officialdom to respond under pressure and invite Cao to enter Guangdong to suppress the bandits.

So during this period of time, what happened to the official circles in Guangzhou that they hastily issued official documents to borrow teachers to help suppress them?
Regarding this matter, it is inseparable from Liu Xiang's own efforts and the strong support of the cross-travelers.

What is different from the history is that the Liuxiang Group has occupied the Pearl River Estuary this time, and the depth and breadth of its looting far exceeds that of the past.

Historically, Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong, who had been recruited, turned against each other, and the two sides were always hostile along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong.It was not until seven years later that Zheng Zhilong wiped out the other gangsters, and finally freed up to kill the last pirate Liu Xiang.

In this process, Guangdong, as Liu Xiang's rear, did not feel too strong.Liu Xiang usually retreats to the Chaoshan area during the rest period. At this time, he will divide his troops to rob some ships at the mouth of the Pearl River, and collect some tolls by the way.

However, these harassing behaviors in Guangzhou are less intense than Liu Xiang's invasion of Fujian and Zheng Zhilong's lair in Min'an County, which led to "burning, looting, looting, emptying of Bishe, fleeing of townspeople, and shaking of the provincial capital". Not high.

Because Liu Xiang's strategic focus is always on Fujian: to fight for the control of trade with Japan, attack Zheng Zhilong's trading ships, plunder the coastal towns of Fujian, and promote discord between the government and Zheng Zhilong. All are for trade routes.

But in the plane of Transmigration, history has been completely changed.

This time Liu Xiang, at best, went south under pressure, at worst, he was driven to the Pearl River Estuary like a bereaved dog.

From the moment Chaoshan left, Liu Xiang never had the chance to return to his hometown—the small gunboat with white sails had already included the surrounding areas of Nan'ao Island in the scope of investigation, and would wander around Shantou Port from time to time, provoking The pressed taste is strong.

Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for Chief Liu to think about the bullshit trade with Japan. What is before him is another very realistic question: how to survive?
Although the area around the Pearl River Estuary is a sea trade hub and a place where wealth flows, Lu Xun said it well: You can't catch a sheep but you can squeeze it hard.If a large group of pirates has been entrenched in the Pearl River Estuary for a long time to blackmail merchant ships and go ashore to plunder, then other forces will naturally respond to this and respond.

This includes not only the Guangdong garrison, the regiment training of the guards in various places, but also the Portuguese in Macau and other forces that eat sea trade.In addition, the business travelers are not fools, knowing that there are car robbers and road tyrants, they go to die, so the sea trade that has been hit has also begun to shrink, and the forces behind the business travelers have begun to complain.

Therefore, the longer Liu Xiang entrenched in a certain place, the lower the marginal effect, and he would be attacked by other forces in the future.

Under normal circumstances, he, Liu Xiang, Uncle Liu, pats his butt for a few votes and then leaves. The above situation will not happen.In history, he traveled to the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, and it would take him a year just to grab a lap along the way.

But now he is in trouble: the north of Chaoshan has been sprayed with the fog of war by a certain force, and there is no way to go again.

What about going south?Going south is also a dead end: Vietnam, Khmer, Siam, Luzon, Java. Just look at these names and you will know that it is a place where savages are entrenched.

Even though it was already on the verge of collapse, the Ming mainland in the seventeenth century was still the birthplace of wealth and a real paradise for products.Merchants from all over the world are trying their best to obtain commodities from the Ming Dynasty, such as raw silk, porcelain, and daily necessities.

The opposite is that group of peripheral boys, including those tribute crooks in Japan and South Asia.The daily necessities market in all these small countries has been dominated by Ming products for a long time, not to mention emerging cities like Manila and Batavia. Will the savages produce iron nails and gilded fans?

So for a large pirate group like Liu Xiang, going to South Asia, which is barren, is equivalent to being hit by dimensionality reduction.

In the Ming Dynasty, when Liu Xiang went ashore, he could grab silver, daily necessities, silk, and porcelain in weakly defended townships; while in South Asia, what Malay pirates could grab every day was coconuts and sago. , the brown-skinned wild woman with the milk bucket hanging on her belly is a good one.

The bigger the plate, the stronger the parasite.The wealthy coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty not only supported Liu Xiang, but also supported more pirate gangs in history.

But in South Asia, except for those few cities, the rest of the places, to put it bluntly, even if those savage tribes did not resist, it would not be enough for shopkeeper Liu to rob them.As for those cities blocking Manila Bay, merchant ships can be grabbed, but in addition to merchant ships in the bay, there are also Spanish fleets. Shopkeeper Liu probably doesn't think his life is too long.

The most important thing is the channel problem.The pirate group seems to come and go like the wind and move thousands of miles away, but they still need logistical support.The "house owners" all over the coast of the Ming Dynasty helped the pirates sell their stolen goods while providing supplies and information to the pirates; leaving these nest owners, the pirate group would become deaf and blind. In addition, shopkeeper Liu could not allow his subordinates to fill their stomachs with porcelain ?And this kind of nest owner does not exist in South Asia.

All in all, all in all, as the decision-maker in charge of the Gang of Ten Thousand People, Liu Xiang is actually in a dilemma for his future strategy after occupying the Pearl River Estuary: he will be taught to be a man if he goes north, and if he goes south, let alone he can't take it away. Many people, even if he can take them away, these people will be consumed like sand in the archipelago of South Asia, savages and diseases, and there will never be such a comfortable life as Da Ming.

So shortly after settling in Guangdong, Liu Xiang immediately made a series of decisions: the first was layoffs.A large number of peripheral shopkeepers were released immediately to fend for themselves.This kind of gathering and separation among pirates is normal, so soon more than half of the troops scattered and went their separate ways.

Then Liu Xiang contacted the Portuguese.In addition to hoping to get some military support, Liu Xiang also tried to get some commercial cooperation from the Portuguese.

In addition, Chief Liu is also considering a way out: the relationship between Portuguese and Spanish who also believe in Catholicism has always been relatively close. Liu Xiang believes that if there are more connections with Spain and Portugal through the bridge of Macau, if it really comes, he has to choose On that day, at least he can find another way to go to Manila to work for the Spaniards, instead of having to surrender to those thieves.

Of course, while looking for a way out, Liu Xiang is still carrying out his main business: looting.

It is impossible not to loot.Even if more than half of the peripheral pirates were let go, Liu Xiang still has 4000 men and [-] ships under his command.The supplies consumed by these people and ships every day is an astronomical figure. If they don't do business, they will soon be empty.

In addition, the thousands of people who were let go will not disappear out of thin air. Most of these people will still form scattered gangs to "do business" nearby.Therefore, for the prefectures and counties in Guangdong, it means that on the basis of the original banditry, a gang of [-] people suddenly increased in a short period of time, and the situation suddenly deteriorated.

Soon, snowflakes of report documents flew into the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi, the chief envoy, the procurator, and the general army's office.These documents include reports from local prefectural and county officials, as well as letters of complaint from maritime merchants and people behind them. The business travelers are complaining a lot, and I hope you guys can quickly figure out a way to deal with it.

But the big guys have a fart way.The governor's yamen of Guangdong and Guangxi couldn't come up with any good ideas other than strictly ordering the guards in various places to strengthen their defenses and increase the number of watchtowers.

As for Liu Xiang setting up cards abroad to pump water, let him go. Anyway, there is no Liu Xiang in the Pearl River Estuary, and there are Wang Xiang and Ma Xiang. With the strength of the imperial court's navy, it is better to "watch its own defeat".

However, Liu Xiang could not "self-defeat" this time, because the road to the north had been blocked by the thieves, and the head of Liu Xiang didn't want to go south. The looting incident far surpassed the same period in history.

Of course, the help of a certain vicious regime is indispensable: the actions of the Liu Xiang Gang at the mouth of the Pearl River only brought scale effects, but to make the word "painful" feel in Guangdong official circles, it depends on romantic figures.

The "Debang" special pirate squad, which was originally fighting against the hostile business routes along the coast of Zhejiang, was transferred to the Pearl River area by the Intelligence Bureau before that.Due to the relatively generous meeting gift, the small team joined the big gang smoothly as soon as Gang Leader Liu came to Guangdong.

The pirate team that was headed by Chen Erye back then, except Comrade Ma Liu is still the head of the pirate team, the rest of the sailors and ships have already been updated several times, and the strength of the small fleet can be said to be reborn.

After the pending order was under the command of shopkeeper Liu, the Debang squad began a precise attack full of technological content-the agents at Guangzhou Station would telegraph the travel information of certain sea-going ships to the squad, and then these sea-going ships The ship will be accurately intercepted, regardless of day or night, regardless of location, even if it does not leave the Pearl River, it will be robbed.

Naturally, the hijacked ship did not end well.It is certain that the goods will be robbed, and the ship will be pulled away or scuttled. The vicious "pirates under Liu Xiang" might even kill two sea merchants to serve wine.

After this the rest of the unlucky ones are let go.Then soon the shopkeeper of the firm will get the news, and then the major shareholders of the firm will also get the bad news-these major shareholders are all officials and gentry in Guangzhou without any surprise.

It is impossible to collect the goods on a sea ship without tens of thousands of 10,000+ taels of silver, so whenever the team easily makes a deal, there will always be a certain "powerful person" in Guangzhou who is in pain. Heartfelt.

So when Liu Gangzhu's large-scale operations and the small team's precise strikes were carried out at the same time for several months, Comrade Wang Zunde, "Governor of Guangdong, Guangxi, military affairs, food and pay, management of salt law, governor of the Guangdong Military Department, and the right censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate" Under the pressure of many officials under him and the gentry in the city, he finally couldn't sit still.

(End of this chapter)