Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 231 Operation Recruitment
On August 22nd of the seventh year of Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao, Emperor Xizong of Ming Dynasty, passed away in Qianqing Palace. Two days later, King Xin Zhu Youjian ascended the throne as emperor in the newly completed Huangji Palace. Two days later, the new emperor issued an edict to ascend to the throne, announcing the next year's reign name to the people of the world.

There were four reign names submitted by the cabinet. Zhu Youjian rejected "Qian Sheng" on the grounds that "Qian is Heaven, and the Holy One dares to be the emperor." ", and then rejected "Xianjia" on the grounds that "there was a war between Xian and now we want to stop fighting", and finally chose the word "Chongzhen".

On the first day of September, Wei Zhongxian requested to resign from his post as admiral of the eunuchs of Dongchang, but Emperor Chongzhen made it clear that he would not allow it. Two days later, Feng Sheng's wife Hakka requested to leave the palace to live, and this time Chongzhen approved it again.

The new emperor's attitude towards Wei Zhongxian was ambiguous. Neither the Eunuch Party nor the Donglin Party could figure out what the young emperor meant, so both parties tried again.

First, the second-in-command of the eunuch party, the eunuch Wang Tigan, the eunuch Si Lijian, and the eunuch Wang Tiqian Shangshu asked to resign, but Chongzhen refused. Then an official from the Donglin Party petitioned to repair the Wei Zhongxiansheng Temple in Hangzhou. Chongzhen issued a stern edict and dismissed him from office and exiled him.

Now Wei Zhongxian couldn't sit still at all. On the tenth day of September, he wrote a "Shame on the Construction of Temples for a Long Time", requesting to stop the activities of building shrines for him in various places. After Chongzhen saw it in person, he wrote in red and wrote: "From now on, all the activities of building shrines for him will be stopped." If you want to raise the temple but haven’t done it, you will stop doing it.”

This incident occurred half a month earlier than the original historical time. Lin Hai's destruction of the temple inadvertently affected the Chongzhen Dynasty's overthrow of the Wei Dynasty.

After this round, Chongzhen's attitude towards Wei Zhongxian gradually became clear. Many Donglin or pro-Donlin officials began to gear up to overthrow the eunuchs. Suddenly, several impeachment memorials were sent to the cabinet.

However, no one dared to directly impeach Wei Zhongxian at this time, mainly targeting his party aides Cui Chengxiu and others. After all, the most vehement anti-Wei backbones like Yang Lian were executed during the Tianqi period, so there is a saying in later generations that there was no real Donglin Party during the Chongzhen and Nanming periods.

Lin Hai came to Xiamen secretly amid such political trends. At this time, he was still a prisoner of the imperial court, and it was obviously inappropriate to appear in public. What's more, Yu Zigao is still guarding Xiamen as the Fujian General Soldier.

Nowadays, Mr. Yupingzi is even more active in being a hermit. Every summer, he meditates on Zen and enlightenment on Yuping Mountain in Nanping. In winter, he returns to his mansion in Xiamen to serve his mother.

"I've seen it." Chi Xianfang simply said, "I wonder where in Fujian Donor Lin would like to become an official?"

"I wonder if the president has read Lin's letter?" Lin Hai didn't want to see Chi Xianfang show off, so he went straight to the topic. Anyway, people outside the country don't care about secular etiquette.

"Junior Lin Hai, meet Yupingzi." Lin Hai bowed to Chi Xianfang and saluted.

Hearing this, Chi Xianfang said: "Penghu is not far from Da Yuan. I wonder if Benefactor Lin intends to drive away the red barbarians?"

Lin Hai began to like this jade screen a little bit. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Can I choose this?"

"Pindao is a foreigner, and worldly things are not enough to keep him in mind. However, Pindao was once informed by Nan Gong of Fujian. I still remember that when Nan Gong left Fujian, he often hated the red barbarians who were still lurking on the nearby islands..."

Chi Xianfang paused for a moment, then asked: "Donor Lin, I would like to ask you, are your naval forces confident in driving out the red barbarians?"

Xu Xinsu was so impressed by Lin Hai's foresight that she immediately sent someone to deliver it to Chi Xianfang after receiving the letter.

Chi Xianfang's hermit style actually won him a great reputation. Many gentry in central Fujian regarded him as an outsider. Many people even said that Nan Juyi could command the red barbarians to retreat. To a large extent, It was because of Yu Pingzi's advice.

"The recruitment depends on the direction of the wind. It's still too early to take action at this time. But as long as the overall situation is settled, it will be easy to say where to serve as an official." Chi Xianfang said, flicking the fly whisk in his hand, "See It will be difficult, not to mention guerrillas.”

"Then let's guerrilla in Penghu. I heard that the original guerrilla king Mengxiong was dismissed, and no new members have been appointed yet." Lin Hai said and added, "This place is not far from Zhenggang where the thief is, so it is convenient to suppress the thief."

"Lin thinks that he should be 70 to 80 percent sure."

As early as when the news of Emperor Tianqi's death reached Fujian, Lin Hai sent someone to Xiamen and asked Xu Xinsu to send a letter to Yupingzi Chi Xianfang on his behalf, expressing his desire to be recruited. Lin Hai also claimed in the letter that if he could be recruited, he would kill the Fujian giant Zheng Zhilong within half a year to serve the court.

"Taoist Master wants to get rid of Hongyi?" Lin Hai didn't know what kind of medicine Chi Xianfang sold in the gourd, so he simply kicked the ball back. After all, Xu Xinsu's business with the Dutch had never been broken, and Hongyi could be considered a member of the Chi family. one of the big customers.

"In this case, if Donor Lin intends to drive away the red barbarians someday, Pindao is willing to go to the army to praise the painting..."

"Donor Lin doesn't need to be polite. Pindao is an outsider and doesn't care about worldly etiquette." Chi Xianfang didn't return the gift, just stroking his beard and smiling.

Chi Xianfang's father and brother were both Jinshi, but he himself did not go to the Ministry of Rites to take the exam after passing the imperial examination in the second year of Tianqi. He refused to become an official because of his elder mother. Later, due to the intrusion of red barbarians along the coast of Fujian, Chi Xianfang served as the counselor of Juyi in the south of Fujian Province. After that, he retired to Linquan.

When Lin Hai heard this, he cursed in his heart: You damned well accepted the gift very happily! But everyone calls him a benefactor, so what else can he say?

On September 20th, Lin Hai came to the Chi family's mansion with generous gifts and finally met the long-famous Yupingzi. I saw this man wearing feathers and a bamboo crown, with a whisk in his hand, and three long strands of beard under his chin.

However, after this letter was delivered to Chi Xianfang, it seemed like nothing happened. It was not until the news of Chongzhen's order to stop the construction of Wei Zhongxian's shrines across the country reached Fujian that Yupingzi asked Xu Xinsu to make an appointment with Lin Hai to come to Zhongzuo Institute for a meeting.

Lin Hai now understood what Chi Xianfang meant. It turned out that he wanted to gain some fame by expelling the Red Barbarians. He also wondered why this Yupingzi had so much confidence in him, Lin?

After coming out of Chi's house, Lin Hai went to Xu Xinsu's house again, and happened to meet Su Minggang from Batavia.

Su Minggang and Xu Xinsu have been old friends for twenty years. His younger brother Su Tingxuan is still in his hometown and has opened many spice shops in various places in Fujian. Xu Xinsu is responsible for his official reputation.

This time, when asked by Cohen to inquire about the origins of Huiyou Company and Lin Hai, Su Minggang first thought of Xu Xinsu, so he came to the Xu family immediately.

Xu Xinsu simply introduced Lin Hai to Su Minggang. When Lin Hai heard that Cohen wanted to enter the Ming Dynasty for trade through him, he was a little bit dumbfounded. This ghost guy was really whimsical.

Lin Hai smiled and said to Su Minggang: "Captain Su, why do you always come back from Ba City just for this matter?" Su Minggang said helplessly: "I also know that Hong Mao is a fantasy, but if the report is based on the truth, then the Yi chief They will definitely suspect that I am unwilling to use my heart."

When Lin Hai heard this, his heart moved. Captain Su seemed to be somewhat different from Hongmao. He recalled the time when Li Dan defrauded Hongmao of his money, so he tried to say: "In that case, I have a business deal that I want to give to you. But I don’t know what Captain Su’s plan is?”

"I would like to hear the details."

"You always go back and tell the Yi chieftain that Lin can pave the way for him, but he needs some favors to support Shangguan. The two of us used this as an excuse to defraud the Yi chieftain of tens of thousands of taels of silver. Later, I will go back to the younger generation and Captain Su for five-five How about splitting the account?”

Su Minggang laughed loudly when he heard this: "The old captain has done this before. I'm afraid Hongmao will not be easily fooled once he has suffered a loss. But it's okay if my nephew wants to give it a try. It's just that I'm not responsible for what I say, so I don't want to Your share."

When Lin Hai heard this, he knew that Su Minggang was just trying to protect himself. He was indeed not loyal to Hongmao, otherwise Li Dan would have exposed him when he deceived Hongmao. But it would be difficult for him to trick the Dutch. After all, they are currently living under the hands of Hong Mao.

"Since Captain Su said so, let's forget it." Lin Hai then started chatting with Su Minggang. The two of them had different positions. Asking some questions directly may arouse the other party's alertness, but casual chatting can get more valuable information. .

Lin Hai was trained in professional speaking skills and quickly learned a few things that Van Diemen said that day. In addition to the fact that the Sultanate of Matalan had shown signs of war with Batavia, there was also the matter of EIC. May join forces with the Sultan of Banten in an attempt to attack Batavia.

Lin Hai knew nothing about the latter incident and secretly paid attention to it after hearing this, but what he was most concerned about was William Jansen's mission to Japan.

According to Sumingang, Cohen asked William Janssen to bring a huge bronze lamp as a gift to Tokugawa Hidetada, and at the same time requested the shogunate to let the VOC execute De Wet personally in Nagasaki, and asked the staff of the Hirado Merchant House in Nagasaki To prove that the Dutch were not Christians.

This was a bit beyond Lin Hai's expectation. The Hamada Yahei incident was very famous in the history of Asian trade in the Age of Discovery, so he was very clear about the ins and outs of this incident in the original history. Cohen's performance was completely different from that of another time and space. different.

In that time and space, Hamada Yabei's kidnapping of Peter Nuiz was not intentional, but the latter put the former under house arrest first. Therefore, after Hamada Yabei led his men to kidnap Nuizi and his eldest son Lawrence, he had no chance to escape from the officers.

In the end, after negotiations between the two parties, Hamada Yabei took Nuiz's son as a hostage and returned to Japan by boat, while Nuiz was recalled to Batavia by the East India Council.

Afterwards, although Cohen sentenced Nuizi to prison, he was determined not to extradite him to the Japanese country, and he was even more unwilling to carry out the shogunate's order requiring the VOC to demolish the fortress under construction by the generals - even though the Hirado commercial building had been forced to close at that time, and the large Members have been suffering serious losses.

Later, the matter was resolved in the hands of Cohen's successor, Jacques Spex, who extradited Nuizi to the Japanese country to be dealt with by the shogunate. At the same time, he gave a bronze lamp as a gift, and finally obtained the shogunate's understanding. Japan-Dutch trade reopened after a four-year hiatus.

After chatting with Su Minggang, Lin Hai said goodbye to Xu Xinsu. It was not suitable for him to stay in Xiamen for a long time. As a result, He Ying somehow learned that Lin Hai was coming and ran over to block him.

"Chief, I request to rejoin the company's Army Department." He Ying has not drank in the past few months and stood as straight as a javelin in front of Lin Hai.

Lin Hai had long heard that He Ying had moved into the Xu family after the Battle of Dongshan. Before he destroyed the temple, Xu Xinsu had written a letter to say good things for He Ying. But he didn't expect that this kid would still be living in the Xu family after that incident.

"Master He, please take a step to speak." Lin Hai saw that Xu Xinsu and Su Minggang were still chatting, so he moved to a deserted place, and then said to He Ying, "Have you thought about it? Lin is now an imperial prisoner."

"Think about it." He Ying nodded heavily when he heard this. It seemed that he didn't know that Lin Hai was working on recruiting people.

Xu Ying said that day that Lin Hai was afraid of hurting their He family. This was a woman's opinion. Even if He Ying, a descendant of the He family with no official position or position, became a thief, he would not let the dignified Guangdong General Soldier suffer.

He Ying knew very well that Lin Hai was actually worried about him, but he didn't care about it. What Lin Hai did was completely normal. After destroying the temple, who would dare to use him, a third-rank official who has been hereditary for 200 years in his family?
"Don't be impatient. You can stay in the Xu family for a while." Lin Hai planned to wait for the recruitment matter to be completed before accepting He Ying, so he patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, as long as you are willing to come back, the company will The door will always be open for you.”

Unexpectedly, He Ying held his sleeve and refused to let go. Lin Hai couldn't laugh or cry and said: "Mr. He Bai, I'm going to visit the Japanese country now. You can wait until I come back to talk about this matter. If you hold any position in the Ministry of War, I will also Have to think about it.”

"Seriously?" He Ying's face softened slightly, and she finally heard Lin Hai call him Mr. He again, but he still didn't let go.

"Seriously, if what I just said was half-truth, the discipline heaven would be struck by lightning." Lin Hai had no choice but to swear a poisonous oath on the spot.

"Forgive me, sir." He Ying let go of Lin Hai's sleeves, crossed her hands and saluted him.

"Have a good time." Lin Hai encouraged He Ying and left the Xu family to take a boat back to Tamsui.

After returning to Tamsui, Lin Hai didn't even have a night's rest. After adding some supplies, he set sail directly to the Japanese country. The purpose of this trip was to disrupt William Jansen's mission.

The reason why Cohen behaved completely differently in the Hamada Yabei incident was obviously because he knew that De Wet was a secret Catholic. This was absolutely intolerable to Cohen, who had strict control over him, not to mention that he himself believed in strict Calvinist doctrine.

According to Cohen's current attitude towards dealing with things, it is very likely that this matter will be settled by the VOC like the Spex period in history. This is something Lin Hai absolutely does not want to see.

After all, the greatest significance of the existence of the Taiyuan Merchant Store is to provide the Hirado Merchant Store with supplies from the Ming Dynasty. As long as the Hirado Commercial Center is there, VOC cannot easily give up on East Asia. This commercial center accounts for at least half of the weight in the stock-cutting plan.

Anyway, according to Chi Xianfang's intention, it was still early to recruit people, and Lin Hai knew that historically it would take several months for Wei Zhongxian to be overthrown.

At this time, it had been two years since Lin Hai last returned from Japan. The Ziyi incident he predicted to Zhang Jingquan had come true, so Lin Hai had the ability to influence the shogunate's final attitude towards the Hamada Yabei incident.

(End of this chapter)