Dragon Sea Empire

"The problem lies with Zhang Yuyu,"

Before Zeng Qi could react, Xu Xinsu already understood, shook his head doubtfully and said, "Mr. Zhang is our old client, so there is no reason to betray us, besides, it won't do him any good..."

Yin Feng shook his head: "No, there should be nothing wrong with him. One is that it would be beneficial for him to sell the secrets of our merchant ship, and the other is that the Zhejiang government's documents can prove that he was also arrested, so this matter should not be a problem. What he betrayed, if it wasn’t that there were ghosts among us, then someone around Zhang Yuyu, his partner, or the companions who went to sea together betrayed him. Brother Xu, you are familiar with the situation in various provinces in the mainland, and you are familiar with the various families in Fujian. The merchants are also familiar, you should take over the inland trade again, and hand over the Japanese trade to Chen Zhongji of Ryukyu to manage. After returning, immediately investigate the situation of the ships captured by the Zhejiang Navy: which merchants are on board, the captains, and sailors etc……"

Yin Feng's intuition is the gift of the analytical ability cultivated in his career as a reporter before time travel, and because he is better at grasping the overall situation, his intuition was quickly confirmed.

When Yin Feng's Xinxing ship had to turn around along the coast of Zhejiang, Li Lihua looked at the green and green coastline of Zhejiang with melancholy. Yin Feng sighed and said guiltily: "Ali, I have let you down. I wanted to show you my hometown Hangzhou. And the beautiful West Lake, now it seems that we will not be able to go to Hangzhou in a year or so,"

On the way back, Xinxing encountered the main battleship Feilang of the Second Fleet and other brigades on the coast of southern Zhejiang. Fleet Commander Colonel Mai Dahai almost brought out [-]% of the fleet's strength, accompanied by Lin Yue and Luo Aquan's special battalion The troops planned to use force if something happened to Yin Feng.

When Yin Feng returned to Taiwan and Hong Kong, the news from all over the country was quickly fed back. Since Lin Yue and others promptly notified the personnel of Hangzhou Huaxing United by using Feige, the preparation of the shareholders' meeting was immediately stopped, and most of the people who participated in the meeting Shareholders were notified in time, and they left or hid before Shen Yourong sent troops to blockade Hangzhou City. However, several high-profile shareholders were caught by the government, including Yin Feng's earliest business partner, one of the first batch of businessmen who became shareholders Fujian businessman Yang Caipu; and Ye Chenggao, the nephew of Ye Xianggao, the chief minister of the cabinet, who was lingering in the fireworks and willow alley by the West Lake and did not leave Hangzhou in time, was arrested at the same time as several northern businessmen.

At the same time, all parts of Zhejiang started to arrest Chinese companies. In addition to Hangzhou, employees and business partners of Chinese companies were arrested in Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou and other places in the name of Tongwo.

Through Lin Yue's commercial intelligence department and Xu Xinsu's efforts to investigate through contacts, the cause of the incident was soon revealed. The whistleblower who reported to the government should be from Yuyao's Xie family. They were originally Zhang Yuyu's partners. The sailing route and passing date of the ship are well known.

In fact, there have been ships on the route from Quanzhou Bay to Japan, and the officers, soldiers and sailors are not completely unaware of it, but many of the ships and cargo on these routes have insiders from the officers and soldiers along the coast of Zhejiang, so everyone is Turn a blind eye and close one eye, usually no one will seriously search for these merchant ships.

However, one of the leaders of Huatian Company is the adopted son of the Xie family in Yuyao, who used to specialize in Nanyang trade; Yuan Jin and Li Zhong hooked up with the Xie family through the adopted son of the Xie family, and the Xie family has a monopoly on Yin Feng and the Zhonghua Company Hailu had long been dissatisfied, so he reported Zhang Yuyu.

The Xie family in Yuyao is not an ordinary businessman. According to legend, the Xie family was originally the descendant of Xie An, the prime minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Relying on the influence of North Korea and China, the Xie family soon became one of the larger middlemen in the Zhejiang and Fujian regions. They often lowered prices in transactions and defaulted on payment for a long time. The key lies in the status of the Xie family and my power, which made The government and my ordinary businessmen simply cannot hold their people accountable.

During the Jiajing period, the Portuguese and Chinese maritime merchant groups went to Xie’s house many times to demand payment, but they refused, even threatening to report to officials. I can only admit that I am unlucky, but the Chinese and foreign international businessmen sailing on the sea do not accept this kind of behavior of bullying the weak. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty government will not protect this kind of "smuggling trade", so Chinese and foreign merchants are used to With their own solution, they were private, so they went ashore and bloodbathed Xie Zhuang, and left after killing people and robbing wealth. Yuyao local officials were shocked, but they did not dare to report the truth to Shangfeng. Reported to the imperial court, the imperial court therefore issued a strict sea ban policy, which affected a large number of private businessmen who depended on the sea for their livelihood, and caused the "Japanese pirates" riots that stretched thousands of miles and protracted during the Jiajing period.

In fact, the Jiajing pirate incident can also be said to be caused by the collusion of these officials, businessmen and eunuchs.

Now that the Xie family has just recovered, they have participated in overseas trade again. They are very dissatisfied with Yin Feng's monopoly of sea routes, so they colluded with Huatian Company and reported Hangzhou, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Merchants in Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, Guangzhou and many other seaports communicated with the Japanese.

The Xie family has participated in Zhang Yuyu's trade with Japan for three years, and has cooperated with the Chinese company for two years. He knows a lot about the overseas trade of the Chinese company. Yin Feng opened the door to attract The participation of various merchants did not refuse the participation of people with official backgrounds such as the Xie family or Fujian general Zhu Wenda and Zhejiang Ningshao general Luo Qing. Although they have the consciousness of using their power as an umbrella, all trade transactions must be in accordance with The company's rules and regulations, especially after the establishment of the Qianzhuang Bank, changed the habits of people who paid for trade transactions between merchants in the Ming Dynasty. Those officials and merchants who wanted to default on payment or renege on accounts could all be checked in plain text.

Yin Feng's insistence on monopolizing the sea routes is actually to prevent those officials and businessmen from messing around. In case of economic disputes, they can force them to abide by the rules by cutting off their trade routes.

However, whether it is the Xie family or Zhu Wenda, overseas trade is only the chicken that lays golden eggs, and it is one of many chickens on hand; they can get rich just by accepting bribes and protection fees, and overseas trade is just icing on the cake , not to mention that there is still a vast domestic market where people can make money.

Therefore, at the instigation of Huatian Company's promise to sell some of the overseas trade routes, Yuyao Xie's family was the first to attack. They did not hesitate to use part of their own goods to report the merchant ships of Zhang Yuyu and others. For Xie's family, They thought that if they could break the monopoly of the Chinese company's air routes and no longer be bound by the many rules of the Chinese company, the Xie family relied on their own power. and status, at least he can become the largest middleman in Zhejiang, Nanjing and other places, and do whatever he wants.

Xie Yuan, the patriarch of the Xie family, was born as a scholar, but there are more than a dozen people in his family who are officials in the capital, and there are also more than a dozen people who are local officials in various places. , It can be said that the hands and eyes are open to the sky.

The case of Tongwa in Zhejiang also involved Ye Xianggao. As a member of Donglin, he was immediately attacked by many bureaucratic factions at the Zhejiang Party and Chu Party levels-including people from the Xie family in Yuyao.

Ye Xianggao was very embarrassed: At that time, some smuggling merchants pretended to be the Ye family in order to avoid inspection, but this time Ye Chenggao who was arrested in Hangzhou was the real Ye family.

Fortunately, the Zhonghua Company did not disclose the list of shareholders, and Ye Chenggao himself did not have the handle in the hands of the government. He was released after being released on bail by the governor of Fujian. It is also reasonable to come forward to protect Ye Chenggao this time.

Ye Xianggao specifically wrote a letter to Ding Jisi, the governor of Fujian, requesting the local authorities to conduct a strict investigation. There is also a statement of capture, which means that we hope that our neighbors will work together, and now we are in the lower ranks, so we must follow suit."

This letter was published as an official document in the Jingshi Mansion Newspaper. This was Ye Xianggao's deliberate action. He said that he had drawn a clear line from the Tongwa incident and had nothing to do with it. Only by taking a more aggressive attitude can they show their innocence.

Just as Yin Feng gathered the company's major shareholders for a board meeting for several days in a row to discuss how to rescue those shareholders who were captured by the government, even more shocking news came from the capital.

Xu Xinsu's subordinates and Lin Yue's Ministry of Commerce and Intelligence obtained the latest copy of the mansion report. Ye Xianggao, the chief assistant of the Ming cabinet, was very worried about the increasingly prosperous smuggling trade in Japan in view of the painful lessons of the "Jiajing Japanese Invasion", and had instructed the Fujian authorities to Strictly prohibiting it, he said in a letter to the Fujian authorities: "It is the matter of cooperating with the Japanese that is of the greatest interest. In the early days, it was still a traitor who shot at the profit, and now the good people are also accumulating for it. Not only the Japanese can harm Fujian, but also Fujian Everyone is a fool, at this moment, only a strict sea ban can make a turn for the better..."

"Fujian people are all Japanese, this is a theory of condemnation," Yin Feng looked at the mansion newspaper with a sneer, and raised his eyes to Zeng Qi intentionally or unintentionally. Not long ago, the old man who advocated direct contact with Ye Xianggao was quite In order to look at the roof in embarrassment, Yin Feng reluctantly passed the report to Li Lihua and said: "Everyone should take a look. It is obvious that the imperial court is not only going to set up a prison for Tongwa, but also to strictly enforce the sea ban." , how should we deal with it,”

Yin Feng was sighing in his heart: In the end, he had come to this point. Wang Zhi and other seniors all died on this road.

Although the Chinese company's profit points include bank bank accounts, domestic silk trade, and Taiwan island agricultural product trade, etc., the main profitable project is overseas trade. If the maritime ban policy is strictly enforced, the Chinese company will die, unless it immediately turns against the court. Raise the banner of rebellion.

However, although the Ming Dynasty is on the verge of collapse, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Moreover, the ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty has not yet been shaken. , although the Chinese company that has mastered the sea control cannot be destroyed, but procrastination can also drag Yin Feng to death. As long as the Chinese company can't get the goods on the mainland smoothly, can't make trade smoothly, and can't transport overseas silver into the mainland, then the capital turnover Sooner or later, problems will arise, and the enlarged "ultra-modern" army will not be able to maintain. Sooner or later, it will be besieged by Westerners, Japanese, and the imperial court, and it will be completely finished.

Yin Feng said distressedly: "The officials and merchants of the Xie family in Yuyao can make a fortune without relying on overseas trade, but our company and the coastal merchants in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places can't do it. We can't stop overseas trade; those silk merchants in Hangjiahu lose our overseas market. We went to the mainland to look for customers, but we had to request to go to them to get the goods... In short, if the sea ban policy becomes stricter, our Chinese company will face a life-or-death decision,"

Zeng Qi said bitterly: "Either we go to land to rob goods like Wang Zhi and Li Guangtou, and openly confront the court; or we maintain the status quo and wait for death slowly..."

Yin Feng smiled bitterly: "Father-in-law, you have finally understood; there is a fundamental conflict between us and the court,"