Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1018 Anping's Master

Fujian, Quanzhou Prefecture
Quanzhou is the capital.Quanzhou prefecture has jurisdiction over seven counties including Jinjiang, Nan'an, Tong'an, Hui'an, Anxi, Yongchun and Dehua, and the government is located in Jinjiang County.The biggest potential enemy of the Senate, Zheng Zhilong's hometown, Nan'an, is in the northwest of Jinjiang County.

Ever since Zheng Zhilong was recruited and became a guerrilla general, and returned home in a stately outfit, the Zheng family has become the richest man in Quanzhou.

The Zheng family bought a large amount of land in Nan'an and planted various economic crops for export. They seemed to be big landlords besides maritime merchants.The Zheng family members in Nan'an also naturally made a fortune and built a magnificent mansion.

However, Zheng Zhilong is not satisfied with Nan'an's geographical location - as a sea hero, he values ​​a good port more.Therefore, he chose to build a city in Anping Town, Jinjiang, as his main stronghold.

Anping Town belongs to Quanzhou Prefecture. Its location is not in Quanzhou Bay where the Jinjiang River flows into, but faces Weitou Bay where Kinmen Island is exposed.It was called Wanhai in ancient times, and was renamed "Anhai" in Song Dynasty, and "Anping" in Ming Dynasty.The word "An" alone was not enough, and the word "Ping" was added, probably because this place is often harassed by pirates.

In the 37th year of Jiajing's reign, it was attacked by Japanese pirates and suffered a lot, and the city wall was built since then.The looting of the Japanese pirates has had such a long-lasting effect that it was already 80 years ago, but this place is still talking about it.

When Zheng Zhilong was not recruited, he continued to attack Yuegang, a traditional foreign trade port in Fujian, completely destroying Yuegang's foreign trade, thus realizing his attempt to transfer the foreign trade port to Anping and Zhongzuo Institute under his control.

He chose Anping as his base after careful consideration.Anping Town, Xiamen Island (middle left), and Kinmen Island under his control constitute a Weitou Bay under strict control.If the enemy wants to attack here, they have to take great risks.

Zheng Zhilong overhauled Anping's city walls and almost rebuilt a new city.Anping became Zheng Zhilong's self-defense military stronghold and maritime trade base.Ships trading with Japan and Taiwan all come in and out from here.The Dutch called these merchant ships "Anhai Ships".

In addition to building walls and dredging the docks, his own enjoyment has not been left behind.From the spring of the third year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong built his own mansion in Anping on a large scale.This luxurious mansion took 3 years and 2 months to complete.

According to "Jiaqing Chidian Local Records": Zheng Mansion is located in the north of Anping Bridge, from Xidai to Xigang in the west, Xidiantou in the north, Anping Qiaotou in the south, and directly connected to Wugang Port, covering an area of ​​138 mu.The main structure is Xieshan style with five bays and thirteen frames, with three gates, double fire lanes and five entrances to the courtyard.Wing halls, pavilions and pavilions on both sides face each other, and the rings are used as barriers.There is "Dunren Pavilion" in the east, "Taiyun Building" in the west, "Catholic Hall" in the front hall, and "Xiaosi Hall" in the middle hall, with a grand scale.There is a "Zhiyuan Garden" behind the big house, surrounded by walls, sparsely surrounded by hills, pavilions, houses, ponds, small bridges, winding paths, beautiful trees, exotic flowers and plants.

At this moment, this luxurious mansion is still under intensive construction. Zheng Zhilong and his family are temporarily living in a smaller mansion in Anping Town.

Zheng Zhilong is currently in his own signing room.Although members of the Senate never forget this person, few people notice that Zheng Zhilong is not very old: he was born in 1604, and he was only 1631 years old in 28.After Yan Siqi's death, he took over Yan's old department. He was only 21 years old at the time.If placed in the old time and space, it would be out-and-out "young talents", "ten outstanding youths" and the like.

Zheng Zhilong in 1631 had already wiped out most of his maritime opponents: including Li Kuiqi, who at one point almost cornered him, completely controlled the trade with Japan, forcing his former employer, the Dutchman, a sea coachman, to trade on his terms.At this time, he was sitting on a huge fleet of powerful ships in the China Sea, monopolizing the trade with Japan and Taiwan: the words "making money every day" and "wealth can rival the country" are not exaggerated when it comes to him.The out-and-out "Gao Fu Shuai" of Ming Dynasty. ——Zheng Zhilong is still a handsome man with delicate features.

He held a paperwork in his hand.

The document was brought by a Zheng family merchant ship that returned from Taiwan a few days ago.The person who wrote the letter was Zheng Zhilong's agent in Taiwan: Guo Huaiyi.

Guo Huaiyi's identity is the leader of the Han immigrants in Tainan.On the surface, he is just the head of Youchehang Village, a local immigrant village.In fact, Guo Huaiyi used to be Zheng Zhilong's subordinate, and it was his idle chess in Tainan.

Zheng Zhilong's fortune has a lot to do with inheriting Yan Siqi's legacy.And Taiwan's power is also one of Yan Siqi's legacy.

Yan Siqi was a sea lord across the Sino-Japanese sea at that time, engaged in trade and maritime plunder.At that time, there were ten main leaders under him, including Yang Tiansheng, Zhang Hong, Lin Fu, Lin Yi, Li Junchen, Chen Zhongji and Zheng Zhilong.

Like many famous sea masters at that time, Yan Siqi used Japan as his main base.As the authority of the shogunate continued to increase, the leader Yan Siqi took precautions and considered establishing his own base outside Japan.

There are many places to choose to establish a base on the islands along the coast of China, but the remaining prestige of the Ming Dynasty still exists, and the military power has not declined to the point where it was vulnerable to a single blow, and the islands along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang cannot be touched. Lessons learned.Even in Penghu, the Dutch built fortifications several times and were expelled by the Ming army several times, so they could only choose overseas isolated islands-the "land outside the culture" Taiwan, which came into their sight.

In 1624, Yan Siqi led his subordinates and immigrants to Beigang, established a camp there, and recruited Zhangquan immigrants from the mainland to pioneer and cultivate here.In September of the following year, Yan Siqi died of a cold while hunting in Zhuluo Mountain.

Yan Siqi's sudden death is quite suspicious, but no matter what, Zheng Zhilong, who was only 21 years old, inherited Yan Siqi's position as the leader and got most of Yan Siqi's inheritance.

After Zheng Zhilong succeeded Yan Siqi as the leader, he did not put much effort into the expansion and reclamation of Taiwan.The Dutch expanded rapidly in Taiwan, and the Spaniards also came to intervene: in 1626, the Spaniards built the city of San Salvador near Keelung.Two years later, Spain built the city of Santo Domingo in what is now Tamsui.At that time, Zheng Zhilong was in the midst of constant battles with major maritime powers, vying for maritime supremacy, and was unwilling to go through the muddy waters. He once decided to abandon his immigration stronghold in Taiwan and withdraw to Fujian.Later, he gave up this idea and continued to operate Taiwan instead. In 1628, there was a severe drought in southern Fujian, and many people were hungry.With the support of Xiong Wencan, Zheng Zhilong recruited tens of thousands of disaster victims in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and other places. "One person will be given three taels of silver, and three people will be given a cow", and they will be transported by sea boat to Beigang for reclamation and settlement.Greatly expanded the number and power of Fujian immigrants in Taiwan,

However, from beginning to end, Zheng Zhilong never sent armed forces to Taiwan, nor did he clearly declare his ownership of Taiwan.He only supported the leaders of the Fujian immigrants in Taiwan, and used them to control the local immigrant villages—but he did not interfere much in local affairs over the years.The Dutch charged the Chinese with a poll tax, and he did not interfere.

Through the local settlers, Zheng Zhilong continued to control Beigang, the earliest landing and development area for mainland immigrants.Guo Huaiyi, who was in the area ruled by the Dutch, would write to him almost every month to report the local situation.Guo Huaiyi was the local Chinese leader, and the Dutch had to rely on him for many local administrative affairs. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong knew almost every move of the Dutch in the local area and the status of their trade.

The Dutch colluded with Liu Xiang secretly, and he had already grasped the information of support, but now, he still can't make up his mind to turn against the Dutch.

The Dutch are at both ends of the head and rats, and they are also half-hearted towards Liu Xiang, and they will never really do their best-their only goal is to have both sides and maintain checks and balances on the sea.If they turn their faces immediately, it will only force the Dutch to openly stand on the opposite side of themselves.

Although he, Zheng Zhilong, was not afraid of the strength of the Dutch—he taught the Dutch a lesson a few years ago—he was not a person who enjoyed war after all: he was a businessman first.If the Dutch really stand on the opposite side of him and try their best to support Liu Xiang on ships and guns, it will bring him a lot of trouble.

What Guo Huaiyi's letter mentioned was not about the Dutch: his report was about the Australians.

The letter mentioned that he had learned from the Dutch and the local natives that last month, that is, on the third day of September, the Australian fleet suddenly arrived at Tagou Port, and then landed at Tagou Port.A large number of people and materials have been transported ashore, and forts and walls have been built locally.There appears to be an attempt at local colonization.

Zheng Zhilong is no stranger to Australians or thieves.A few years ago, he knew about Australian products and Australians - Li Siya once reported to him about them, and also presented several rare "Australian products".Although the origin is quite mysterious, there are still many strange things-such as the huge iron ship.

However, it is the opposite of the Senate: the Senate regards him as a confidant, but Zheng Zhilong does not take them seriously: the Australians are entrenched in Lingao—the Guangdong Ocean is not his sphere of influence, and he has no intention of extending his hand there. .In the past few years, he has been busy dealing with all kinds of opponents vying for supremacy at sea. The Australians in the east and west corners of Guangdong are no threat to him, but they are a thorn in Zhucai's back.

It was only last year that the Australians defeated the army of the whole province of Guangdong, and then entered the Pearl River Estuary to defeat the army, and retreated when they pushed down to the city of Guangzhou. This made Zheng Zhilong really pay attention to them for the first time.At least, the opponent is a team that is not inferior to him in strength and will.He began to focus part of his attention on this group of overseas visitors who claimed to be descendants of the Song Dynasty.

　Whether Guo Huaiyi is Zheng Zhilong's subordinate is controversial.However, there is no strong historical evidence to prove this.This is pure novelist's words
　　
　
(End of this chapter)