Daming Yinghua

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Zheng Haizhu walked out of the alley and hurried to the official post along the seawall.

Turning around a tax gate that had just opened, I bumped into a group of soldiers wearing armor and knives.

Zheng Haizhu took a look and saw that the man in the middle was actually a civil servant in a crimson robe with clouds and geese embroidered on his patch on his chest.

Although Yuegang's commercial and military status is important, it is a small county in terms of administration, and the largest local official is only a county magistrate in blue robes.

Zheng Haizhu, who Ma Xianglin had given the news about the banquet yesterday, immediately realized that this red-robed official should be Cai Feng, the deputy envoy of Fujian Xunhai Road who stayed to contact Liu Shimin, and the fourth-rank official.

Zheng Haizhu hurriedly retreated to the side of the road and squatted down with a blessing. After his heart beat faster in an instant, it slowed down again.

This Cai Feng seemed to be patrolling. If he really paid special attention to himself as Ma Xianglin was vigilant, then this is a good time to find out if he has any connection with the Zheng family.

It's better to face him alone than the shrewd and sophisticated Eunuch Liu is also there.

When Zheng Haizhu, who was drooping and erect, was thinking about it, he saw the pair of official boots and stopped motionless in front of him.

"Are you the Songjiang cotton merchant who came with Eunuch Liu?"

Cai Feng opened his mouth to ask, his tone was imbued with the rigor of a fourth-rank civil servant, and there was a hint of the kindness of recognizing Eunuch Liu's servant, which was not unusual.

Zheng Haizhu replied respectfully: "If you go back to patrol, the cotton merchant is the owner of the grass people. The cotton towel blended by the house is favored by the Mongolian Weaving Bureau. The grass people would like to follow the owner's order and come all the way south to the adults in the bureau. Let's fight."

Cai Feng's eyes passed behind Zheng Haizhu, stared at him for a moment, and asked again: "Why isn't the girl waiting for orders at the official post?"

"Oh, Caomin is going to meet Fanshang with his father-in-law today. Because he is afraid that he may not have enough knowledge, he first came to various docks to learn the market customs. If this does not conform to the rules of Yuegang, Caomin will go back to the post station, please Cai. Patrol and pardon once."

"Hehe," Cai Feng raised his robe sleeves, waved his hands with a smile, "Don't be alarmed, girl, I just asked casually. When I was transferred to Fujian last year, I was just like you. The cargo ships at the wharf are very fresh. You, go back quickly, don't miss the court's important event, then you will really be punished."

After all, the majestic sea patrol officer led a group of soldiers and walked forward.

Like the few fishermen around, Zheng Haizhu waited with his back bent for a while before he dared to straighten up.

The exchange of just a few words reassured Zheng Haizhu a little.

Cai Feng spoke Cantonese mandarin with a relatively strong accent, without an accent of Hokkien, so he should not be born in the Zhangquan area.He also said that he had only been in Fujian for a year, so there was a high probability that he would not know Miss A Zhu from Longxi Zheng's family who had never left the county.

But Zheng Haizhu had new doubts.

When Cai Feng raised his robe sleeves just now, Zheng Haizhu smelled a compound perfume.

It is not surprising that there are incense on the robes of the dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty, but what surprised Zheng Haizhu was that he could clearly distinguish the scent of lavender in the fragrance on Cai Feng's clothes.

Lavender, a plant that grows in Arabia and Europe, has not been introduced to China in this life.Could it be that with the sea trade, the lavender compound perfume of foreigners has been introduced to Daming?
But Zheng Haizhu had never seen a lavender fragrance bag or perfume bottle, no matter in the Cantonese Nanhuo shop in Songjiang Mansion or in the big shop in Yuegang yesterday.

……

An hour later, at noon when the sun was brightest, Liu Shimin was sitting in the grand master's chair in the middle of the yard of Yuegang Official Post.

The magistrate of Haicheng stood with his sleeves hanging down, his expression quite awkward.

He glanced at the red-haired foreigners beside him, and carefully explained to Liu Shimin: "Eunuch, I thought that the foreign businessman that Eunuch wanted to talk about was Frankie, but I didn't expect..."

Liu Shimin stood up, took a few steps forward, patted the magistrate on the shoulder with a pleasant face, and said softly, "It's not a big deal, it's okay, don't fall into the official position."

Then he turned to the foreigners and asked the interpreter to tell them that the soldiers of Ming Dynasty were dedicated to their duties and were always very wary of unfamiliar faces approaching the official post. Once they were familiar with each other, they would come a few more times in the future so that there would be no more misunderstandings. up.

Under the elm tree in the courtyard, Zheng Haizhu, who had just arrived with the willow frame on which the baroque dress was hung, asked Fan Polu in a low voice: "You put the handkerchief here just now, what happened?"

Fan Polu covered his lips with his hand, and told in a low voice that the Hongyi people whom Mr. Liu had met with came on time, but they were stopped at the wharf outside the post station by some high-ranking officer patrolling the sea, and one of them was younger. Hong Yi was torn by the soldiers and beaten a few times. Fortunately, General Ma heard something wrong and rushed out with his soldiers, so the trouble didn't get out of hand.

"Sister Azhu," Fan Polu pointed to a banyan tree behind him, "I climbed up to have a look. The red robe worn by the patrol officer was very rude to General Ma. In terms of official position, it is General Ma. Or is the red robe bigger?"

Zheng Haizhu said vaguely, "It should be better to patrol the sea", but he felt guilty in his heart. Today's Daming is still in the last years of Wanli. There are still several years left, and Ma Xianglin came with Eunuch Liu again. How can a civil servant like Cai Feng, who has already reached the fourth rank, be so impulsive towards military generals?
When we met at the beach in the morning, this man was quite peaceful.

On the other side, the leader of several Dutch people, a tall and burly middle-aged man with red hair, has long since brushed off his anger, smiled all over his face, and kept saluting to Liu Shimin, even serving as an interpreter. Under the demonstration of others, he led his companions to learn Daming's bowing gestures, with an appearance of reverence and enthusiasm.

Zheng Haizhu put aside his doubts about Cai Feng, and carefully looked at the Dutchmen in front of him under the cover of distance.

After the opening and closing of Longqing, Yuegang banned foreign ships and merchants from entering the port for a long period of time due to the lingering prestige of the Jiajing Coastal Defense Edict. Only the merchant ships from the local Ming Dynasty were allowed to carry silk, tea and ceramics accompanied by the government-run dental firm. Waiting for departure.

More than 40 years have passed, no matter how strict the rules are, they are full of holes like long-wearing robes.

Several big families in Yuegang, after controlling the tooth shop promised by the imperial court, have already tacitly agreed with the local governor to allow foreigners to hire Chinese merchant ships to enter the port, land in Haicheng County, and select public and private goods.

But Zheng Haizhu calculated the year, combined with what he saw and heard during the time travel, he thought that the Fanshang who appeared in Yuegang were either Portuguese or Spanish. He didn't expect to see the Dutch, let alone the Dutch. The person who was led by Yaxing to meet Liu Gonggong was also a Dutchman.

"Azhu, come."

Liu Shimin turned around and greeted him.

Zheng Haizhu led Fan Polu, stepped forward generously, and instead of squatting at Wanfu, he bowed his hands to several Dutchmen.

Before the leading red-haired middle-aged man put away the surprise in his eyes, Zheng Haizhu asked politely: "Dutdia pany, geor?"

Now, the middle-aged foreigner's mouth, which was about to close, opened wider, trying to spit out the Chinese that he didn't know who he learned from, word by word: "You, know, Lord Cohen?"

Zheng Haizhu knew that he was right in probing.

For one thing, the Netherlands, which had not long been ruled by Spain, became the earliest regime supported by capitalists in the world. Those sea coachmen who came out to make a living could indeed understand English.

Secondly, I did remember correctly. The current governor of the Dutch East India Company is the colonial dealer who swept across the Asian seas with the support of capital, defeated Spain and Portugal, and occupied Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Siam and even the Gulf of Taiwan, Cohen.