Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 49: To forge iron, you still need to be strong yourself (the fifth update is completed, please follow up)
Xu Xinsu came back to her senses and said thoughtfully: "As a wise nephew, Hongmao just wants to get rid of your father and find someone else to do business with, but this person does not necessarily have to be named Zheng."

Li Guozhu said: "Yes, Hongmao doesn't know the origin of my family. Since they can cooperate with the person named Zheng, they can naturally cooperate with the third uncle. The third uncle has raw silk in his hand, what does the person named Zheng have? It's just a few hundred pieces. Boat, what Hongmao lacks is raw silk, not a boat. If the third uncle makes it clear that he wants Hongmao to choose a side, which one will Hongmao choose?"

Xu Xinsu stroked her beard and said: "What my nephew said is not unreasonable, but I'm afraid that this old thief Huang Mingzuo will sell silk to someone named Zheng. In this case, we can only give some benefits to Hongmao. Let's give it a try. Yu Zi I will also go and do some research on Gao's end, to test his tone and see if he is willing to accept money to avenge us."

Li Guozhu said: "That's all we can do now, just take it one step at a time."

Lin Hai listened to the countermeasures discussed by the uncle and nephew, and sighed silently in his heart. These two people were no match for Zheng Zhilong. He would probably have to rely on himself to eliminate this obstacle.

First of all, Xu Xinsu underestimated the Dutch's force, but Li Guozhu was too afraid.Perhaps he had seen the power of Western Europe's powerful ships and guns and was as afraid of them as tigers. So when he learned that Zheng Zhilong was colluding with the Dutch, his first reaction was to persuade Li Dan to return to Hirado.

In fact, the Dutch were certainly not something that Yu Zigao and his like could deal with, but this did not mean that they were invincible. Later, Zheng Zhilong and his son defeated them many times using arson boat tactics in offshore waters. There are numerous similar examples in the history of naval warfare.

Secondly, and most importantly, both Xu Xinsu and Li Guozhu underestimated Zheng Zhilong.

This person faced two major problems after taking over from Yan Siqi. One was that he could not obtain supplies from Xu Xinsu, and the other was that Li Dan's gang was numerous, but Zheng Zhilong's prestige was too weak to control.But he basically solved these two problems with just one move, which was to plunder the coast of Fujian.

In Li Dan's gang, Liu Xiang, Li Kuiqi, and Zhong Bin were all pirates. If Li Dan hadn't only allowed robberies at sea, these people would have caused trouble like the Jiajing Japanese pirates.

As long as there is such a commotion, Zheng Zhilong, the nominal talker, will naturally increase his prestige, just like the president's approval rating during wartime.What's more, as Li Dan's adopted son and Yan Siqi's son-in-law, Li Dan's direct troops originally commanded by Yan Siqi listened to him.

The proceeds from looting could not only make up for the loss caused by the loss of Xu Xinsu's supply of goods, but at the critical juncture of the Ming-Jin war, Zheng Zhilong could also use force to force the Ming Dynasty to recruit him.This is where he is lucky compared to Wang Zhi. After all, although Anda was raging in northern Xinjiang during the Jiajing period, it was not like losing most of Liaodong directly like now.

Zheng Zhilong saw this clearly and tried his best not to kill indiscriminately during the robbery, and finally succeeded in killing him.This allowed him to directly obtain the supply of goods from Fujian, without even having to work as a white glove for the government or gentry. Of course, it was indispensable to manage the Fujian officials and the big shots in the DPRK.

The countermeasures of Xu Xinsu and Li Guozhu were basically the same as in history. The former was blindly superstitious about Yu Zigao, while the latter placed all his hopes on the Dutch. Their endings proved that neither path would work.

Although Lin Hai knew history, he was somewhat of an afterthought.But he believed that if Li Dan was faced with such a situation, he would never bet all his money on outsiders. To forge iron, you still need to be strong yourself!

Thinking of this, Lin Hai, who had been silent for a long time, said: "Brother, I just listened to your and Uncle Xu's plan. I also have some insights. Can you also listen to what I have to say?"

Li Guozhu said hurriedly: "The wise brother is very wise, but the foolish brother is about to listen to the wise brother's clever plan."

Lin Haidao: "The eldest brother just said that he wanted to use Hong Mao, and the younger brother agreed very much. However, with the old thief Huang Mingzuo here, I don't expect Hong Mao to really contribute even if he agrees to Xu Sanshu. Let's stabilize Hong Mao first, and at least win over him. If the two don't help each other, after Zheng Zhilong is eliminated, the accounts that need to be settled will have to be settled with Hongmao."

When Xu Xinsu heard this, she raised her thumb and said, "Okay! Nephew Lin Xian is ambitious!" Li Guozhu wanted to argue, but he gave up after seeing what Xu Xinsu said. Anyway, it was still early, and it would not be too late to persuade him in the future.

Just listen to Lin Hai say again: "In addition to Hong Mao, we also need to consider the side of Hirado, at least to prevent the Matsuura family from helping each other. So the eldest brother must return to Hirado as soon as possible. The position of the Matsuura family should not be difficult to win, right?"

Historically, Li Guozhu had been living in Hirado when he was an enemy of Zheng Zhilong, so Lin Hai expected that this would not be a big problem.This is actually what he is most concerned about. Japan's market channels are too important to him.

Sure enough, Li Guozhu nodded and said: "As long as there is a supply of goods from Uncle Xu, Hirado will definitely not fall out. But it is difficult to get them to send troops. Our grudges with Zheng Zhilong can only be resolved by ourselves. The Matsuura family has to do business with both companies at the same time. "

Lin Hai said: "That's enough. Dealing with Zheng Zhilong won't happen overnight. Our business cannot be cut off. Otherwise, everything will stop without money. Just to mobilize the Fujian Navy, Uncle Xu will have to spend a lot of money. I don't know when he will be able to do it." It works."

Hearing this, Xu Xinsu said: "What Nephew Lin said is true. I will load two shipments tomorrow. I will send it to Lord Matsuura as soon as possible. This line cannot be broken."

Lin Hai added: "It is not appropriate to let Zheng Zhilong know that my eldest brother is still alive at the moment, so Uncle Xu has to have a fight with this thief to prevent him from robbing a ship at sea. Including the matter of fighting for Hongmao, we should wait for a while. Everything will wait for me. Brother, we’ll talk about it when we get to Hirado.”

Xu Xinsu nodded and said: "Of course, I asked Inuzi Lotte to go to Hirado, and the official disguised himself and hid on Lotte's boat. As for Hongmao, we have to wait until Lotte comes back to find out the situation."

"This is best." Lin Hai nodded. Xu Xinsu should have some maritime power in his hands. It seems that his eldest son Xu Letian is in control.

He continued: "I used to do business in Western Europe. I am very familiar with the warships of various Western European countries. I have fought several battles with their navies. I still have some experience in naval battles. Just now, Uncle Xu said that he would use the Fujian Navy, but I don't know if there are any Don’t you have any way to find an official position for your nephew?”

Xu Xinsu heard this and said: "What's so difficult about this? Is my nephew really good at naval warfare?"

Lin Hai smiled and said: "Maybe it's not as good as Mr. Yu's military background, but I should be able to deal with a kid like Zheng Zhilong with ease."

He deliberately praised Yu Zigao and belittled Zheng Zhilong, but in fact he was just praising Xu Xinsu's bad feet.

Although Xu Xinsu knew this, she still felt quite relieved. She immediately patted her chest and said, "It's up to me. My nephew just wants to find a position in the Fujian Navy?"

Lin Hai smiled faintly: "I'm not talking about the Fujian Navy, but the Zhejiang Navy."

(End of this chapter)