Dragon Sea Empire

In the middle of the night, in the commander's tent, a bargaining negotiation was going on.

"Their captain said that he didn't want to rebel against the imperial court at all, but just wanted to make some money from Dongfan's territory. He also said that as long as you withdraw your troops, you will definitely not let the commander-in-chief suffer," said Steward Xu when he came to Penghu. I have met Yin Feng before, and actually Yin Feng has reached a basic agreement with the governor, and now Butler Xu has become Yin Feng's butler and spokesperson.

Zongbing Zhu still had to maintain his own face. At the beginning, he brought up the principle of being loyal to the emperor and serving the country. Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Butler Xu: "Eunuch Gao has a letter for you,"

"Why, this..." Zhu Wenda was taken aback; could it be that eunuch Gao sold himself out.

He quickly took the letter, unfolded it, and sighed: Fortunately, Gao Cai is quite loyal, and he has not turned his face against others. So thousands of households, Taiwan added an inspection department, affiliated to Quanzhou Prefecture, officially included in the imperial court's territory, the battle of Penghu, the court knew the situation: Zhu Zongbing led the army to drive away the pirates, regained Penghu, subdued the pirates and merchants in Taiwan, and subdued them Return to the court.

Zongbing Zhu read the letter with a puzzled face; although recruiting pirates and taking Taiwan into the territory were all great achievements, he felt that there seemed to be some conspiracy hidden in obtaining these great achievements for no reason.

The war was fought so badly, but Chinese officialdom naturally has a way of inverting black and white. Zhu Wenda does not doubt that the governor of a province and the eunuch of a province's guarding tax can join hands to turn black into white, but these "great achievements" "Why should it all be attributed to him? This is where Mr. Zong Bing is puzzled; it seems that Xu Xueju and Gao Cai are not the kind of people who are high-spirited and do not strive for merit.

Butler Xu Huai and master Xie Huimin looked at each other, and Xie Huimin stood up and said, "Master General, Governor Xu's intention is that you will preside over the negotiation with Huaxing Lianhe, and we will discuss this matter according to the opinions agreed by the governor and Eunuch Gao. The great achievements of the world are enough to bring you to a higher level, of course, if the matter is settled, your business income will be looked after by Yin Feng and others, and the income will increase a lot every year, "

The desire for fame, wealth, gold, silver and wealth overwhelmed the slightest suspicion, Zhu Zongbing became interested, and asked with a smile: "This Yin Feng is currently occupying the coast of Fujian, and the victory or defeat of the war has been completely determined by him. How do you do it?" Guaranteed that he will agree to these conditions,"

Butler Xu said with a smile: "Don't worry, Chief Soldier, Yin Feng has always wanted to recruit An to be an official. My lord has said something beforehand. You can promise to give him the official positions of Qianhu and Inspection when the time comes. When the imperial court formally establishes a county in Taiwan for governance, Naturally there will be court officials to take over,"

"The inspector is only from the ninth rank, not a high-ranking official. It is said that Yin Feng is still donating to the prison and has a reputation. How can he agree?"

"This is the limit of Governor Xu's authority. Right now, Dongfan is still a wasteland. If Yin Feng wants to get a higher official position, he has to set up prefectures and counties. It depends on the intention of the court. However, the position of a thousand households is actually awarded, and he can lead troops. of……"

Zhu Wenda felt uneasy in his heart: "Is this possible? Let him lead the troops, this..." He knew Yin Feng's ability to lead the troops; The Chinese navy and infantry can even go to sea to conquer Luzon.

Master Xie sneered: "Zhu Zongbing, given the current situation in Fujian, is there a way for you to make Huaxing Lianhao and Yin Feng completely give up Dongfan?"

Zhu Wenda picked up the cup with an ugly face, took a sip of tea, and suddenly understood: the governor and eunuch Gao asked him to come forward to negotiate, in fact, they were leaving a way out for them. Fenghe Zhonghua Company has already gained the upper hand in Fujian Province and the southeast coast. It is difficult to guarantee that they will be safe and secure after being recruited. I also can't figure it out. Everything in Taiwan is so strange, but it can bring a lot of gold and silver income to all supporters. Now, Zhonghua Company and Yin Feng can already control the situation in Fujian. They face the entire imperial court. It may be weak at the time, but right now it is a force that the whole province of Fujian cannot contend with. After this recruitment, if Huaxing Lianhao or Yin Feng make trouble again one day, then Zhu Wenda and Zhu Zongbing will be the main envoy People will be blamed by the court first; then, needless to say, Xu Xueju and Gao Caina will definitely make trouble.

Zhu Wenda is not a fool, otherwise he would have been in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty for decades without being demoted, and his position has been rising steadily. He thought of the conspiracy he suspected before, and suddenly understood his identity as a scapegoat candidate. He just wanted to get angry, but he calmed down immediately; he immediately thought that no matter what, he would not be able to escape being the scapegoat. If he did not agree to recruit Yin Feng, not only might he die on the island, but even if he went back to the mainland, he would be killed by Governor Xu. , Yu Shidao said that it is possible to lose a teacher and humiliate the country, and it is possible to go to prison. The best ending is to be demoted to a remote border to be cannon fodder. Which one is better? At least go to recruit Yin Feng, and you will not immediately become a scapegoat.

After thinking about his own fate, Zhu Zongbing sighed, his face softened and said: "So, I think Yin Feng gave the governor a lot of regular money, or..."

Steward Xu smiled and handed over a list: "These are gift lists, the gift lists that Yin Feng sent to your house, and Eunuch Gao has specially ordered his subordinates to send them to your house,"

……

Yin Feng boarded the Xinxing Ship to Penghu, and at the same time ordered the navy to completely lift the blockade of the sea in Fujian. In fact, the blockade was not aimed at ordinary people's fishing boats and merchant ships, but only blocked the government's grain transportation channel to Penghu. To be honest, he and the company The high-level officials wanted to end the war quickly, because the long-term war affected overseas trade. Fortunately, although the Ming Dynasty government issued an order to prohibit the export of ironware, grain, gunpowder, and silk products to the sea, most of the coastal officials were involved in overseas smuggling trade. Therefore, the channels for transporting goods from other provinces to the coastal areas of Fujian were not affected. This was a chronic disease of the Ming Dynasty’s economic management failure. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were so-called “Japanese pirates” who violated the sea ban. Soldiers also used this to make profits; until the last moment, before the Manchus entered the customs, there were frontier generals and inland businessmen selling goods to the Northeast for profit.

However, a large number of troops occupied the port and many merchant ships were stranded in the port. This was a serious problem, and Yin Feng didn't want to go ashore, so he had to quickly negotiate with the government.

Moreover, there are still a lot of problems waiting to be dealt with on Luzon Island; such as the distribution of land for meritorious soldiers, the division of land for veterans due to injuries, and the opening of land sales to major domestic business gangs; and southern Muslims who took advantage of Luzon to change their masters However, the foundation of Chinese rule is still unstable. A month ago, they brazenly sent troops to Cebu to besiege the Chuang Ding garrison of Mai Xiaoliu's Sixth Division.

At the same time, the island of Taiwan is facing yet another rebellion by the Dadu Fan Kingdom in the western plains, and the conflict between the Gaoshan tribe in the eastern mountains and the company’s franchised fur traders is becoming more and more serious... Such problems make Yin Feng feel physically and mentally exhausted .

He is standing on the bow of Xinxing, with an easel in front of him, and he is drawing a sketch with a charcoal pen he invented. You Wenhui is also drawing at the same time, but he is painting with oil paint, and there is a companion beside him as an assistant, holding a bottle Canning, Xinxing is currently parked at the mouth of Penghu Bay, off the beach on the south coast of Fengguiwei.

"Is this the Penghu Islands? The Portuguese call him the one from the Pescadorles Islands," You Wenhui's fellow missionary asked curiously, having never been to Penghu.

"Yes, Captain Yin defeated the Dutch here," You Wenhui introduced to his companions.

Yin Feng asked: "Mr. You, this companion of yours followed us to Luzon, and it was very hard to follow along the way. I don't know his name yet."

The young missionary with the appearance of a Chinese-Western mixed race imitated the appearance of a Chinese and bowed his hands and saluted: "I am Fei Zangyu of the Society of Jesus. Father Matteo Ricci sent me to Taiwan to help Father Baradas work,"

"You are from Macau,"

"Yes, my father is from Lisbon, Portugal, and my mother is from Macau,"

Yin Feng understood that this person, like You Wenhui, was one of the earliest Chinese Jesuit members and the earliest Macanese.

Historically, Fei Zangyu was a Chinese Jesuit in the same period as You Wenhui. There were a total of 12 Chinese monks in the Jesuit Order in the late Ming Dynasty, including Huang Mingsha, Ni Yagu, Pang Leisi, Fei Zangyu, and Fei Zangyu. , complete Chinese, including Zhong Mingren, You Wenhui, Xu Bideng, Qiu Liangzhi, Qiu Lianghou, Shi Hongji, etc., these people are all from Macau, or have lived in Macau for a long time. None of the Chinese monks were promoted to priests. When accepting the first batch of Chinese monks, the Jesuits made a rule: "They will not be given the priesthood because they are new to the Jesuits and their faith is not mature enough. "

Yin Feng had an idea to let Jesuit Chinese monks preside over the religious affairs in Luzon, Taiwan, so that he could try to cultivate a group of Catholic priests who are politically loyal to him. However, this is just an idea now. Captain Lin Yue came to report: "Captain, Steward Xu and Master Xie are here again,"

Yin Feng frowned, and shook his head in disgust: "Damn it, the nature of my painting today has been disturbed by them, Xiao Lin, you ask Mai Dahai to talk to them, just say that I am unwell and sleeping,"

Lin Yue smiled wryly, raised his hand and left in salute.

Xu and Xie have to run two or three times a day between Magong Port and Yin Feng's boat in the past two days. They are carried back and forth on the sea by sampans and small sailboats, and they have become the bridge between the general Zhu Wenda and Yin Feng. The messenger said that the two of them became dizzy from the boat ride, and Mr. Xie, who was not familiar with water, got dizzy from seasickness, but he could only insist on running back and forth.

The negotiation between Zhu Wenda and Yin Feng has completely become a "commercial" negotiation; Zhu Wenda wants to own shares in Zhonghua Company and become a major shareholder; During the inspection by the inspection department, the Thousand Households Office in Taiwan has hereditary thousands of households. Moreover, during his tenure in the Fujian General Army, he will open the coastline of Fujian to the ships of the Chinese Company within the scope of his authority, and will also protect the ships of the Chinese Company in Quanzhou. , Fuzhou's commercial halls, bank branches.

This is a naked power-money transaction. Zhu Wenda is far more straightforward than the governor Xu Xueju and the eunuch Gao Cai.