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Chapter 719 Moon Harbor
October is called the Golden Autumn in later generations, which means the autumn season, but in ancient times, according to the lunar calendar, the beginning of winter was at the end of September. The first day of October is called the Cold Clothes Festival, when people would send cotton clothes to their deceased relatives and friends to prepare for the cold winter.

Thousands of miles away on the South China Sea coast, the first day of October is not the Cold Clothes Festival, but local people are equally busy, especially in port cities, where thousands of sails are lined up on the docks, and densely packed small boats shuttle back and forth on the sea, transporting packages of goods from the shore to the big ships.

The annual monsoon has come, and if the sea merchants from coastal areas want to go to Southeast Asia, October 1st is the start. Although the Ming Dynasty already has large sea vessels that can sail against the wind, they no longer need to rely on the monsoon to go out in winter and return in summer.

However, the new type of soft-sail sea vessels were very expensive, required more manpower, and were more complicated to operate. Only a few large sea merchants with strong capital and close ties with the shipping government could afford them. Ordinary sea merchants still had to sail traditional hard-sailed ships and take advantage of the monsoon to go to sea.

In Haicheng, Zhangzhou, dozens of sailboats are moored in the deep water area more than 200 meters offshore, loaded with cargo. In addition to the piled cargoes, there are tables and chairs on the shore. Around each table sits a group of strong men dressed in shorts, eating hot beef hotpot.

Haicheng, also known as Yuegang, is an inland port located at the mouth of the Jiulong River. It is currently the largest foreign commercial port in Fujian. The amount of goods and taxes entering and leaving the customs each year is comparable to that of Guangzhou Port.

But compared with Guangzhou Port, Yuegang’s history is not too long, and it is even inferior to Quanzhou and Fuzhou, which are also ports in Fujian. The reason why it was able to surpass them is all due to policies.

In the early and middle period of the Ming Dynasty, maritime bans were implemented. Quanzhou and Fuzhou, which were originally very popular, were closely watched by the court because of their fame, and they declined one after another. In order to eat, the people along the coast had to go to sea to risk their lives, so Yuegang, which had geographical conditions, became a new outlet for smuggling.

But during the Jingyang period, the newly established navy marched southward in large numbers. Relying on its strong ships and powerful guns, it took less than two years to wipe out the coastal smuggling groups in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang, including the pirate groups that escorted them.

During that period, Yuegang's smuggling business suffered huge losses, and the people involved all regarded the black sailboats and the black-clad army as mortal enemies. Before going out to sea every time, they prayed to Mazu not for good weather, but to avoid encountering black sailboats. By the way, they would also curse Emperor Jingyang who sent the black sailboats to the coast of Fujian.

But as the new policy took root in Guangdong and its benefits gradually became apparent, more and more people in the coastal areas could legitimately go into business, and Mazu's ears gradually became quieter.

It was not until the new policy was implemented in Fujian and the navy drove away the Portuguese who had harmed the people of Zhangzhou many times in the Port of Manila that the people of Zhangzhou began to pray to Mazu again and began to bless the Black Army and Emperor Jingyang.

It was their perseverance that kept Yuegang in Zhangzhou Prefecture prosperous. Even though Fuzhou and Quanzhou were included in the scope of sea opening, Yuegang was always outshined.

"Brother, why didn't your brother come with us on this voyage?" Lin Liang sat at the round table in his home, eating beef from the pot while shouting to the guys at the table next to him.

"Brother is going to take the reserve examination. If he passes, he can wear black clothes and won't come here anymore!" A skinny boy in his teens swallowed the meat in his mouth with great effort, raised his chopsticks to grab another piece, and responded casually.

"Humph, I've only been training for over a year, how can it be that easy? You're just dreaming!" Lin Liang's face suddenly changed, and he put down his chopsticks heavily, very unhappy. "Brother Liang, what is it like in the reserve? Can you really eat dry food for three meals? You have to be 16 years old to sign up?" The boy didn't care about someone cursing his brother. He poured a large spoonful of broth into the bowl, leaned over and asked in a low voice, his eyes full of expectation.

"...Eat another piece of meat. You're so thin that your ribs are showing." Lin Liang used his chopsticks to pick up a large piece of beef from his pot and put it into the boy's bowl, but did not answer the question.

"...I eat more than my brother. The teacher in the new school said that I am growing and I won't gain weight no matter how much I eat. The teacher also said that you don't need to have too much meat to take the reserve exam. Strength alone is not enough. You need to use your brain well. Brother Liang, you are the only one in our village who has been in the reserve for the longest time. How can you get in?"

The boy stuffed a piece of meat half the size of his fist into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing it for a few times. He still didn't forget the previous topic and kept asking about the details of the reserve.

"...Listen to you, sir. If I had been taught by you, I would have joined the navy and worn black clothes. Go, go, go, pack up quickly after eating, and set off as soon as the ship is loaded. There are more red-haired foreigners in Manila this year, and they need the goods urgently. If you go too late, you won't be able to sell them at a high price!"

Lin Liang wiped his mouth, stared with his eyes wide open for a long time, but still couldn't come up with anything valuable. In order to stop being questioned, he put his bowl into the pot, stood up with the pot in his hand and walked towards the other tables next to him, urging his servants as he walked.

What the boy said was not wrong. Among the several villages with the surname Lin near Haicheng, Lin Liang was the only one who had trained in the Navy Reserve for three years and obtained a military rank. But what he didn't know was that there was a huge difference between Lin Liang, a reserve sergeant, and a sergeant in the Navy, and this was also the eternal pain in Lin Liang's heart.

In the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Jing (1611), the -year-old Lin Liang followed his father Lin Haisheng to Manila Port to do business. They happened to see the local natives and Japanese wanderers massacring Chinese merchants with the tacit approval of the Spanish governor. The father and a group of old boatmen risked their lives to hold back the natives, giving his sons precious time to escape by boat.

After Lin Liang and his eldest and second brothers escaped back, they no longer engaged in business, but instead plunged into the newly established naval reserve, training hard, determined to become a navy officer and one day avenge their father.

He did try hard, but he didn't achieve his goal. Lin Liang had been going to sea with his father and brothers since he was a child. He was familiar with boats and sailing equipment and could learn them quickly. But he also had shortcomings. He was not good at reading and writing, not to mention calculating.

Among the dozen or so young men who came at the same time, some passed the exam in half a year, and some in a year. However, he just couldn't learn no matter how hard he tried. He trained in the reserve for three years and even became an instructor's assistant, helping to train new students, but he could not graduate and join the formal navy.

As a result, before he graduated, the navy captured the entire Luzon Island in the winter of the tenth year of Jingyang. The Spaniards were either killed or fled, and there was no one to seek revenge.

Lin Liang was now completely discouraged, and took the initiative to write a letter to his lifesaver, Huang Nanping, the current commander of the Naval Guard, explaining his situation and asking if he could leave the Naval Reserve.

(End of this chapter)