Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 60 Shen Tingyang

The so-called Qing army refers to counting the troops to fill the gaps. Most of the guardsmen in the Ming Dynasty were as poor as beggars, and countless people have fled since the early Ming Dynasty.Therefore, as long as the civil and military personnel at all levels were in charge of the military, they all had the responsibility of the Qing army. From time to time, the imperial court would send the Qing army censor to handle this matter.

For a civil servant like Hong Chengchou who was in charge of the coastal defense of a province, it was only a matter of one sentence to temporarily grant Lin Hai a military status. When the Qing army was gathered together, he could just copy the general's yellow book to the Zhejiang Dusi. All military records in the province were reported to the Zuo Army Governor's Office.

Hong Chengchou had already known in advance the official position Lin Hai sought from Xie Sixin. Since he promised to help Lin Hai settle down, he also implicitly promoted him to Qianhu.This matter is also very simple for him, because these days there are many redundant officials in the guard office.

According to the system, the team members of the Guard Command and Envoy Department should be composed of one commander, two command colleagues, and four command assistants, but the actual number may be more than doubled.After Lin Hai settled down and promoted the Zhengyin officer of Qianhu Office to the Dinghaiwei team, it would be easy to make room for him.

With Hong Chengchou's status and character, he had the courage to promote Lin Hai, who had no qualifications, to Zhengyin Qianhu. However, this matter still had to go through a process, which took about four or five months based on the efficiency of the Ming Dynasty officialdom.

Hong Chengchou expressed his position, and these specific details were all started by Xie Sixin.Hong Daozun and Xu Yilong exchanged pleasantries for a few more words, then impatiently served tea to see off the guests.Xie Sixin then took Lin Hai and Xu Yilong out and went to a side hall to talk in detail.

As a white-collared staff member, he did not need to use the official tone like Hong Chengchou, but directly made an offer - 500 taels to buy a thousand households in Zhoushan Zhongsuo, and then paid 500 taels every year until Hong Chengchou left office.

The price was quite fair. It was probably because Hong Chengchou had received a lot of benefits from Xu Xinsu, so he gave him a little face, and he opened his mouth without seeing that Lin Hai was a maritime businessman.

Xu Yilong said on the spot that the money would be delivered soon, and Xie Sixin also immediately stated that after the money was received, the promotion would be completed within three months. Then he would come to Xie to receive the official seal and then take office.

After everything was settled, Lin Hai said again: "It's hard for me, old master, to go to Dinghai. I'll pay for all the money I've spent along the way."

Xie Sixin smiled and said nothing, knowing that Lin Hai was looking for a reason to benefit him, and there was a look of appreciation in his eyes.For a powerful confidant like him, even if he spends public funds to visit the brothels, how can he get any Sichuan capital to speak of?

Lin Hai and Xu Yilong came out of the side hall and happened to see Hong Chengchou coming out of the main hall to greet a man about his age.

When Xu Yilong saw this man from a distance, he stopped and said, "Brother Lin will be doing business in Zhoushan in the future. I'm afraid he will have to deal with this man."

Lin Hai was curious about who Hong Chengchou could welcome in person. Hearing what Xu Yilong said, he asked, "Who is this person?"

Xu Yilong replied: "This man's surname is Shen, his given name is Tingyang, his nickname is Ji Ming, and his nickname is Wu Mei. He is a Chongming maritime merchant and has some business dealings with the Han family."

Lin Hai didn't expect to meet Shen Tingyang here, and said hurriedly: "But the young master from Chongming Shenji Shipyard? I happen to be buying a sand boat. Can Brother Yu introduce me to Brother Yu?"

Xu Yilong had nothing to do, and he happened to be planning to discuss business with Shen Tingyang. He nodded in praise after hearing this.So the two of them came out of the back door of Haidao Yamen and waited for Shen Tingyang at the door.

Lin Hai asked: "I think Mr. Shen is not very young, so why did Master Hong go out to greet him in person?"

Xu Yilong smiled and said: "There is a reason for this." Lin Hai said curiously: "Brother Yu is willing to hear the details."

Xu Yilong lowered his voice and said: "When Hong Daozun's family was poor, it was Mr. Shen who helped him complete his career. Hong Daozun was also a man who knew how to repay his kindness. After he won the Jinshi, he even wrote a couplet to each other. The first couplet was 'The kindness is as heavy as a mountain' ', the second line is 'Love is as deep as the sea', I heard it is now hanging in Mr. Shen's study."

Lin Hai suddenly realized that Shen Tingyang was Hong Chengchou's benefactor. No wonder Hong Chengchou was so polite to him.

He knew that Shen Tingyang was determined to fight against the Qing Dynasty after the fall of the Ming Dynasty and was one of the main naval generals of King Lu's regime in the Southern Ming Dynasty, but he did not know that this heroic maritime hero died at the hands of Hong Chengchou.

After the fall of the Hongguang regime in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Shen Tingyang spent all his wealth and recruited Shui Yong from Zhoushan as his base. He led the navy to attack Chongming many times, intending to go up the river and restore Nanjing.Unexpectedly, he encountered a hurricane at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The warship ran aground on a sandbar and was eventually captured by the Qing army.

Shen Tingyang was taken to Nanjing for trial. At that time, Hong Chengchou was a bachelor of the Qing court and wanted to exonerate his benefactor, so he hinted at Shen Tingyang and asked him to falsely claim to have become a monk.

Unexpectedly, Shen Tingyang stood firm and scolded angrily in the hall: "Who is in the hall? How dare you impersonate me, Governor Hong of the Ming Dynasty? Didn't you know that the late emperor once wrote a memorial for Mr. Hong?"

Hong Chengchou was scolded until he was speechless, so he had to put Shen Tingyang in prison.Afterwards, he sent Zhou Lianggong, the Zhejiang Taoist censor who had recently surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, to the prison to persuade him to surrender, and promised him a high official and generous salary.

But Shen Tingyang was determined to die and refused with righteousness.In the end, Hong Chengchou had no choice but to execute his benefactor. None of the [-] captured sailors under Shen surrendered and they were all buried alive.

After Shen Tingyang died in Suzhou, the descendants of the Shen family collected his body and buried him on the west side of the Five Tombs in Huqiu. They also hung the couplets written by Hong Chengchou in front of the tomb, and added a word to the upper and lower couplets.

As a result, this couplet became - the kindness is as heavy as a mountain!Love as deep as the ocean?

In fact, for Hong Chengchou, a murderous executioner, he was extremely kind and righteous to Shen Tingyang.If anyone else had humiliated him like this, they would have been beaten to death with sticks on the spot.

Although Lin Hai didn't know these anecdotes, now that he knew that Shen Tingyang was kind to Hong Chengchou, this person was even more worth getting to know.

It's a pity that he waited and waited until the sun set, but Shen Tingyang didn't come out.Xu Yilong got impatient with waiting, so he said: "Master Shen was probably left to eat by Master Hong. Let's go back first."

Lin Hai had no choice but to go back to the inn with Xu Yilong, and the two of them came to Fequsuo early the next morning.Xu Yilong exchanged a few words with the Qianhu in Feiqusuo, and then took a boat to go south to Fujian, leaving behind Lin Hai a team leader who was familiar with Zhejiang's sea routes.

Seeing the date agreed with Wu Mengren, Lin Hai ordered the recognition flag of Lihai Institute to be hung on the foremast, the Bowang raised anchor and sail, and headed straight for Lihai Institute under the guidance of Captain Xu.

After bypassing the Chuanshan Peninsula, the Bowang gradually sailed into the sea area where Ning and Shao Prefectures meet.Lin Hai invited Miguel to the port side of the open-air deck, pointed to the endless coastal plain and said: "Master Marquis, please look, this is the entire Ming Dynasty... No, I should say the entire earth - the richest place - Jiangnan."

(End of this chapter)