Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 225 Liu Xiang surrenders
As soon as Xu Xinsu fainted, everyone in the Xu family immediately became a mess. People were pinching each other, and others were pouring ginseng soup. It was with great difficulty that shopkeeper Xu was revived.

Xu Xinsu woke up slowly and shouted loudly as soon as she woke up: "Prepare the sedan, prepare the sedan, I'm going to Marshal Yu's house!"

It happened that all the Xu family brothers were there that day, and Xu Letian advised from the side: "Father, it's windy outside. You just woke up, so you should rest at home."

"You are confused. This broken boat of our Xu family is already caught in the wind, sea and rain. Are you still afraid of the strong wind outside?" Xu Xinsu sighed and said to her youngest son, "Yilong, you too Don’t stay at home, prepare a generous gift and go to Mr. Wu’s house in Jinjiang.”

The person Xu Xinsu was talking about was Wu Chunfu, Yu Zigao's relative, one of the Five Tigers of the Eunuch Party.

The gentry shareholders behind the Xu family either have no political stance, or they are loyal to Donglin. For example, Chi Xianfang was a close friend of Huang Daozhou, a member of the Donglin Party. At the same time, his benefactor Nan Juyi was also unwilling to lick the skin of Wei Zhongxian. As a result, he was kicked off the post of governor of Fujian by the eunuchs. .

However, Xu Xinsu later saw that the eunuch party was powerful, so she spent a lot of money to bribe Yu Zigao. Following this line, Xu Yilong developed a friendship with Wu Chunfu's grandson, and the Xu family now had an eunuch as a backer.

"Yes, father." Xu Yilong responded, and then said, "What on earth is Lin Hai doing? I really can't figure out why he would do this?"

Xu Letian heard this and said, "I'm probably just angry that husband Li asked him for money. Brother Lin acted a little too strongly..."

"No, this matter is definitely not simple." Xu Yilong shook his head, "If he couldn't be more angry with husband Li, he could just kill him on the edge of the West Lake. Who would know that he did it?"

Xu Ying saw the look in her eyes that made her heartbroken again, and finally couldn't help but walked over: "He... Mr. He, would you like to take a look at this?"

Xu Yilong shook his head to express his ignorance, then Xu Xinsu said: "Okay, don't guess anymore. Letian, go to Tamsui for yourself and ask him what his intentions are? And what are his plans for the future? Will you still help us deal with Thief Zheng?”

Outside the garden, Xu Ying, who was fifteen years old, was holding Lin Hai's article in her hands. Her palms were full of sweat. She hesitated whether to go in or not.

"Father, do you still want to associate with this man named Lin?" Xu Yilong became a little anxious when he heard this.

In Dongpanjingang, Zheng Zhilong, wearing a thick armor, sweating profusely, asked his clan brother Zheng Zhipeng several questions.

"Of course, my father has now seen clearly that Marshal Yu can only defend the city. To destroy the Zheng thief, we have to rely on Lin Hai." Xu Xinsu sighed helplessly, "It is natural to take risks in dealing with him, but don't There is no other way, besides, your second uncle is probably in his hands now."

At this time, he was practicing the gun in the garden. It was a big gun with a pewter pole that was eight feet long. He could see that his back hand was holding the end of the pewter pole without moving, while his front hand was sliding back and forth on the gun shaft.

He Ying lives in an independent courtyard where Lin Hai lived. He only does two things every day, besides playing with guns and drinking.

"Yes...it's like this..." Xu Ying roughly told what she heard about Lin Hai, and then said, "So, Mr. He, please don't be sad anymore. Your Mr. Lin actually doesn't want to implicate you He." It’s just home…”

"Dad, why don't we let the kid go? From Jinjiang to Tamsui, it happens to be a favorable wind." Xu Yilong went on to say that he actually had no intention of going to Tamsui at all. He just planned to come back and talk nonsense. In short, he wanted to stop Xu Xinsu from continuing to talk to this castrate. The thought of coming and going thorns in the party's eyes.

But for some reason, she couldn't move her feet. Maybe it was because the vigorous figure in the garden was too intoxicating.

The gun was like a living thing in his hand, it could be straight wherever he wanted it to be, and it could be bent wherever he wanted it to be. This is an effect that can only be achieved by masters of spear skills. Some people can even allow the gun body to bypass the opponent's defense and hit the opponent's vital points directly.

"Dad, it's not too late. Let's set off right now." Xu Letian has a fiery temperament and was ready to leave immediately after hearing his father's instructions.

Xu Letian was also asked: "Then what do you think he is after?"

"How about forget it?" The little girl gradually backed down. After all, she had never spoken to He Ying alone before. This was really too abrupt.

"Miss Xu, what's going on?" He Ying asked in surprise after reading the article.

That afternoon, the Xu family's father and son went their separate ways, but the eldest daughter of the Xu family came to the back garden alone.

The eldest lady of the Xu family is named Xu Ying, and she wears a double bun on her head, which represents Yunying's unmarried status. Recently, the little girl suddenly has a lot on her mind, all because of the young and heroic young master living in the backyard of her home.

After a while, He Ying finished playing with guns and began to sit under the tree and drink.

~~~
"What? That fellow Lin Hai actually did such a thing? Isn't he afraid that it will cause the Xu family to lose its supply of goods?"

Unexpectedly, Xu Xinsu saw through the youngest son's thoughts at a glance: "No, if this matter can't be handled well, I'd better handle it happily."

Jijia is not a rare thing. During the Chongzhen period, the peasant army and the Hou Jin army were equipped with a lot of equipment, and it was very common in the arsenal of the Ming army.

Zheng Zhilong was training his troops when his clan brother suddenly called him over and said it was an urgent matter, so he didn't even have time to take off his armor. Since the defeat of Dongshan last year, he has devoted himself to military training. He even did not go when his gang went to Chaozhou, Guangdong to plunder two months ago. Instead, he ordered Zheng Zhipeng to take charge of military affairs on his behalf.

Of course, a lot of things have happened recently, which forced Zheng Zhilong to divert his energy from military training.

First, Huang Mingzuo, Huang Hexing's big shopkeeper, suddenly stopped supplying him with goods, and at the same time asked Zheng Zhilong to kill Xu Xinsu, otherwise he would not be able to get a single thread from Huang.

Zheng Zhilong was offended, and he immediately sent Zheng Zhiwan to lead a team to Yuegang, and directly kidnapped Huang Mingzuo's only son to Yuegang.

This time, Huang Mingzuo's fate was sealed. This old man had been plotting all his life, but he didn't expect Zheng Zhilong to directly lift the table for him, so he had to hand over the goods obediently.

Immediately afterwards, something happened again on Hongmao's side, and De Wet was kidnapped by Hamada Yabei. Zheng Zhilong went to the chief officer again to prevent Hong Mao from being won over by Xu Xinsu.

The acting chief newly elected by the Council of Members told Zheng Zhilong that the Dutch would never intervene with force in the dispute between the Zheng and Xu families. At the same time, they were also open to trade and welcomed anyone to sell goods to them.

Zheng Zhilong originally planned to win the military support of senior officials in water warfare, but this plan fell through before it could be implemented. This made him more determined to train an army that could fight Lin Hai in land warfare. At this time, his sworn brother Wang Mengxiong was arrested. This lonely Penghu guerrilla was finally exposed for various crimes, and Fujian Governor Zhu Yifeng was furious and threw him into prison.

Zheng Zhilong read all the military books recommended by Wang Mengxiong. After reading them, he realized that what his sworn brother said to him that day was indeed good advice. However, when he started training according to the military books, he always felt that something was wrong.

At this time, Master Du happened to come from Penghu and join him, talking about Wang Mengxiong. So Zheng Zhilong simply found Huang Mingzuo and threatened his son's life to force him to rescue his adopted brother.

This was nothing more than a trivial matter to Huang Mingzuo. He bribed the jailer and sent Wang Mengxiong and the jailer directly to Singang. Finally, he reported the jailbreak incident to Mr. Zhu Du, and the matter was considered completed.

Since Wang Mengxiong came to Yingang, Zheng Zhilong has been like a fish in water, and his military training career is finally on the right track. However, he still insisted on participating in the training in person. He had already paid too much for this selected Marine Corps.

It takes a lot of money to train strong soldiers, and Zheng Zhilong's resources are limited. For this reason, he changed his style of spending a lot of money in the past two years, stopped paying salaries to Li Kuiqi and Liu Xiang's troops, and spent all the money on his direct troops.

In order to appease these two people, Zheng Zhilong abolished the military discipline that prohibited indiscriminate killing during looting in the past. Apart from not killing Fujian gentry, there were no other restrictions.

Therefore, in the early seventh year of the Apocalypse, Chaozhou suffered a major disaster. Zheng Zhipeng, Li Kuiqi, Liu Xiang and others plundered all the wealthy households along the coast of Chaozhou.

The governor of Guangdong was furious and ordered He Rubin to fight in person. At the same time, he also invited several Portuguese ships. However, when the fleet arrived in Chaozhou, Zheng Zhipeng and others had already gotten the news and escaped.

"Master, this is a good opportunity!" When Zheng Zhipeng heard about Lin Hai, he immediately came to see his clan brother.

"You're right." Zheng Zhilong's delicate face was covered with beads of sweat, but it was still full of uncontrollable excitement. "Without the helper named Lin, the Fujian officers and soldiers are just a bunch of chickens and dogs. As long as I fight a few more victorious battles in Fujian, I predict that the imperial court will definitely recruit troops..."

"At that time, I am an official and he is a bandit. Let's see who is the master of the Fujian Sea?" Zheng Zhilong became more and more excited as he talked. He believed that as long as he got official resources, he would be able to beat Lin Hai until he cried for his father and mother.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong is indeed very talented in this area. In another time and space, during the Chongzhen period, after he was stabbed in the back by Li Kuiqi, he was pushed to the ground and rubbed hard. In the end, he turned defeat into victory by integrating official resources and killed Li Kuiqi in one fell swoop.

While Zheng Zhilong was dreaming of his spring and autumn dream, there was a problem within his gang.

Liu Xiang also heard about what Lin Hai was doing in Jiangnan, and immediately called Huang San over: "Did you say last time that Lin Hai wanted to recruit Liu?"

When Huang San heard this, he immediately became excited: "Xiang Lao, have you changed your mind?"

"Yes, he worked for the emperor in the past, and I was not willing to serve him. But now that he has become a pirate, you can consider this matter..." Liu Xiang's words can be said to be half truth and half false. It was true that he did not want to be recruited by the imperial court, but the main reason was that he smelled a hint of danger in Zheng Zhilong.

This man has stopped paying the troops who are not directly affiliated with him, and at the same time he is making great efforts to train troops. Will he and Li Kuiqi be able to be accommodated in the future?

However, Liu Xiang still had great concerns about joining Lin Hai. He then said to Huang San: "I will arrange a foreign mission for you in a few days. Then you will go to Tamsui for a walk and tell Lin Hai that if you allow me, Liu If a person maintains a semi-independent status, then I will surrender to his stupid plan!"

Huang San set off from Yingang two days later, and Lin Hai returned to Tamsui at this time.

This trip from north to south of the Yangtze River took a total of one and a half months. When Lin Hai returned to Tamsui, two more people were waiting for him to receive him.

One is Xu Letian, who came to Tamsui from Xiamen, and the other is Father Mao Lie, who came to Keelung from Manila. Based on the principle of proximity, Lin Hai met Xu Letian first, and at the same time he called Xu Xinlan over.

"Both of you, please sit down, please sit down..." Lin Hai smiled and made a gesture of invitation, and sat down at the top.

"Brother Lin, why on earth did you act like this? And why didn't you discuss it with my Xu family?" Xu Letian stood there without moving, with unconcealable sullenness in his tone. However, Xu Xinlan bowed her hands to Lin Hai without saying a word, and then sat down.

As the Xu family member who cared most about Lin Hai, Xu Letian was really angry this time. On the contrary, Xu Xinlan already looked calm after these days of house arrest.

"Brother Letian, why have you turned into Xu Bijia? Calm down, calm down, sit down first and then talk..." Lin Hai saw Xu Letian standing there upright, and stood up with a smile and walked over to pull him to sit down.

"Speak clearly first!" Xu Letian slapped Lin Hai's hand away, his eyes blazing with fire. It seemed that the more heartfelt a person was, the more difficult he would be to deal with once he was angry.

But the boss of the Xu family was tough enough, and he dared not give him face like this on Lin Hai's territory. It should be noted that Lin Hai can be said to have dug a big hole for the Xu family this time. Since he can do this, he is naturally ready to break with the Xu family.

"Okay, I'll listen to you, I'll listen to you..." Lin Hai simply stopped sitting, "Hey, I really don't know where to start with this... I want to say that the emperor's son is about to die, and the eunuch is about to die. Being liquidated, do you believe it?”

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Xu Letian thought Lin Hai was just perfunctory, and suddenly became even more angry.

"Letian, please sit down first." At this time, Xu Xinlan stood up, dragging Xu Letian to sit down, while looking at Lin Hai with a face full of surprise.

"In short, I am not harming your Xu family, but saving your Xu family. You are too close to the eunuchs. Wei Zhongxian can still dance for half a year at most. Letian, you go back and tell your father, if it is because of my behavior The Xu family has suffered a lot, and I welcome him to come to Tamsui to avoid the limelight at any time..."

After all, Lin Hai's official status was bought for him by the Xu family, but now he directly slapped the powerful official in the face. It’s hard to say how serious the impact this incident will have on the Xu family. At best, it can be trivialized, but at worst, it could kill the Xu family’s father and son. It depends on whether anyone wants to take advantage of this matter. The Xu family went to death.

"Letian, since Lin Hai's nephew has said so, you should go back and return your life to your father." Xu Xinlan said to his eldest nephew after listening to Lin Hai's words.

"Second uncle, aren't you going back with me?" Xu Letian was a little surprised when he heard this.

"I won't go back. If I go back, I will throw myself into a trap and it will not be good for your father..." Xu Xinlan is telling the truth. After all, he is Lin Haiming's number one confidant and directly manages the affairs of Qianhu Office for Lin Hai, so he is It's impossible to clear it up no matter what, but Xu Xinsu and his son are better off.

He then said to Lin Hai: "Dong Weng, Xu has had nothing to do for a month and a half. It's time to arrange something for me."

(End of this chapter)