Dragon Sea Empire

Just when the officials of the imperial court were urgently discussing the spies case of the Huaxing Lianhao, riots among hungry people related to the Huaxing Lianhao occurred again in Shandong and Henan.

The shopkeeper of the Huaxing United branch in Luoyang and Jinan is Jinping, a Chaozhou small businessman rescued by Yin Feng from Manila. During his tenure, he helped the victims in the countryside of Jinan and Luoyang, and encouraged refugees to immigrate to Taiwan and other places. After the ban was issued, , He had already received the evacuation order from the headquarters, but he still wanted to take some more hungry people with him. These refugees were all tenants of Fuwangzhuang, and they couldn't survive and wanted to flee. Zhuang's Zhuangtou sued the officials.

When the government servants came to arrest him, the hungry people rioted. Jinping took the opportunity to escape the pursuit of the Luoyang government servants and fled to Jinan. The refugees are waiting for Jinping to take them out to sea. Hearing that he was caught by the government, they also set off a riot and attack the prison in an attempt to rob the prison.

In the end, the hunger riots were suppressed, and Jinping was sent to the capital for execution on charges of treason.

At the same time, the hungry people on Rizhao Beach who were waiting to go to sea to escape were driven away by force by officers and soldiers. The first fleet that had just arrived on the coast, that is, the fleet of the Northern Fleet to respond to immigrants, discovered the tragic scene on the beach. The angry crew members Violated the prohibition of the company headquarters not to actively attack the official army, and decisively fired bombardment at the official army. The official army that showed its prestige on the hungry people came from the Denglai Naval Battalion. They were just holding cold weapons to scare the people, and they fled quickly after hearing the sound of the guns.

Afterwards, the Shandong General Soldier reported to the imperial court, exaggerating that more than a hundred pirate ships attacked Jiugang, and all of them flew the Chinese company flag with Chinese characters on a blue background.

The turmoil related to the Chinese company mainly occurred in the north to relieve the hungry and immigration issues, while in the southern coast, those private businessmen who smuggled out to the sea simply ignored the sea ban and continued to trade at sea, and many of them hung the Chinese flag on a blue background All the merchant ships are equipped with the small French machine guns provided by the Chinese company, and some merchants even raised funds to buy the old bronze cannons retired by the Chinese army. The Chinese Army Squadrons on Suan Island and Nanji Islands also took the initiative to escort the merchant ships. A series of small-scale naval battles broke out along the coasts of Zhejiang and Guangdong these days, all of which were conflicts between the Chinese company's merchant fleet and the official navy.

The only exception is the coast of Fujian, which is under the absolute control of the Chinese navy. The five major naval battalions have either disappeared into patrol teams with only a few small sailboats, or they have simply peacefully evolved into the Chinese company's navy supernumeraries. fleet.

Yin Feng received a large number of such reports, and felt very strange: this time the sea ban, it seems that the imperial court is going to take it seriously, and it seems that the imperial court has made up its mind to go to war with the Chinese company.

At this time, Yu Anfu, the Macao director of the Military Intelligence Department who had been monitoring Guangzhou, sent an urgent message: at the Pearl River Estuary outside Guangzhou, and at Tsimshatou on the South China Sea in Dongguan County, shipbuilding was underway, and there were officers, soldiers and sailors stationed around.

Tsim Sha Tau is the Tsim Sha Tsui of later generations. The Hong Kong area of ​​this dynasty has gradually flourished in commerce and trade, and the population has also increased. From Nantoucheng, Dongguan County, "Chufotangmen, Shizimen, and Lengshuijiao Zhuhaiao" included the Hong Kong area of ​​later generations. Hong Kong, Stanley, and Huangnaichong were marked in the "Coastal Map of Guangdong" in the Wanli period. , Tsim Sha Tsui and other place names.

Through activities in Danmin at the mouth of the Pearl River, the Chinese company found out that the government and the army were manufacturing new warships; several shipwrights provided some information: this batch of warships was manufactured according to Western methods, and the official name of the supervisor was Yuan Enter.

The spies of the Guangzhou Military Intelligence Department also reported that Yuan Jin and Li Zhong, who had been living in the governor's office in Guangzhou, suddenly disappeared and escaped the surveillance of the Zhonghua Company.

Yin Feng handed this information to Xu Hongji, Xu Hongji looked at it for a while, and exclaimed in a fuss: "My lord, this Yuan Jin must have learned the technology of building gunboats from Westerners, and the Guangdong government should be building one. The new fleet is what you call gunboats that fight mainly with artillery,"

Yin Feng spread his hands helplessly: "It seems that the imperial court is going to take action. I used to say that it would take four years to accumulate strength. Now it has only been two years. Now we have to meet the imperial court's swordsman."

Also in Yin Feng's study were Zeng Shan, Chen Zhongji, and Zhao Tie, commander of the First Brigade of the Chinese Army.

Yin Feng turned to Chen Zhongji and said, "When you go to Ryukyu, you must quickly gather the garrison troops in Ryukyu. When Colonel Zhao's main force arrives, be ready to attack the important areas of Beijing and Quzhou at any time. The reason why you are in charge of Ryukyu is because you are familiar with the situation in Ryukyu. , this time after the Ryukyu Zhongshan King is brought back to Taiwan, let’s get rid of the Zhongshan Kingdom, this country should have perished a long time ago.”

Chen Zhongji and Zhao Tie stood at attention, saluted with their left hands and the military salute on their chests, and then exited the study.

Zeng Shan waited for the two to go away, and said: "Brother Feng, our Chinese army has only 4 infantry and [-] naval troops. Now we are going to fight the Ming court. The number of troops is really too small."

Xu Hongji shook his head and said: "Otherwise, although the imperial court has hundreds of thousands of troops south of the Yangtze River, it is impossible for all of these troops to be transferred to deal with us. What is more important is that the Ming army lacks naval forces, and without them they cannot control the sea route. If we cannot control the sea routes, then Taiwan, Ryukyu, Luzon and other places will not face direct threats. In other words: we have a navy that can land and fight anywhere along the coast of Ming Dynasty, while the imperial army can only passively defend ,"

Yin Feng nodded approvingly: "That's right, Mr. Xu is right; we have command over the sea, so we have the strategic initiative in the sea, whether to fight or not, and where to fight, all depend on me, but, simple Launching an attack on the coast is harmless to the court; during the Jiajing period, Wang Zhi and others succeeded in attacking the coast many times, but they were finally defeated by the official army because they could not go deep into the inland and defeat the main force of the official army; Backed by the vast interior, the recovery ability is almost unlimited, as long as they are given time, they will be able to recover and continue to block the coast to cause trouble for us,"

Xu Hongji and Zeng Shan's vision is not as good as this. It's not that they are short-sighted, but that Yin Feng took advantage of the traversers and was able to see problems from a broader historical perspective.

"The words of the captain of the ship are really enlightening, and it makes me suddenly understand," Xu Hongji gave a rare flattery.

Yin Feng chuckled and said: "What I mean is that we can't be satisfied with making small troubles at the seaside. We must directly hit the vital points of the imperial court in order to force the old Zhu's family to negotiate with us." The court and the royal family have no respect anymore.

Zeng Shan asked suspiciously: "Will the imperial court negotiate with us?"

"We can't eat the entire Ming Dynasty with one breath, and the court can't eat us either. Negotiations are certain," Yin Feng said confidently.

Xu Hongji said: "Where are the key points of the imperial court? First, the taxes in the south of the Yangtze River; second, water transportation; third, the safety of the capital. So, where should we start?"

Yin Feng smiled: "Just wait and see, we will surprise the imperial court. Zhao Tie and Chen Zhongji went north. You should have guessed that they were going to threaten the important places in Beijing and Quzhou. I also arranged a few other surprise soldiers. Hehe, let's go Just wait and see, there is still a problem, which is to pass a statement at the shareholders meeting, declaring to the world that our confrontation with the imperial court is just and in line with God's will,"

Xu Hongji and Zeng Shan immediately guessed that Yin Feng wanted them to draft this proclamation. They looked at each other, and at the same time saw the flame of enthusiasm in each other's eyes: no matter what, this proclamation will make their names last forever, or It will last forever.

……

The general meeting of shareholders was held in the Chinese military training field, which was something that all shareholders did not expect.

And Yin Feng announced from the very beginning that apart from discussing the dividend issue of the previous year, other topics will be put aside at this shareholders' meeting, and the main discussion will be how to deal with the imperial court's sea ban.

At the meeting, Zeng Jingshan announced the news on behalf of the Zeng family: the old house of the Zeng family in Quanzhou was set on fire by officers and soldiers the day before yesterday, including Yin Feng's house, which was all turned into white land.

At the same time, businessmen from the capital, Luoyang, Jinling, Hangzhou and other places have shown that the Ming government has begun to attack wealthy businessmen with their own experiences.

When everyone was panicking, angry, panicking, and complaining, Yin Feng added fuel to the flames again, announcing several news: Zhonghua Company Luoyang, Jinan branch manager Jin Ping had his head beheaded in the capital; Luo Jing was also sentenced to be the prison marquis.

"Is the imperial court really going to do something?"

"What nonsense, the government has already dealt with us. A few days ago, my silk warehouse was sealed by the government,"

"Then what to do, let's hide from the limelight in Taiwan and Ryukyu,"

"Hiding, when we want to hide, our family's gold and silver can be moved here, but what about our business, is it just sitting on the sea and eating nothing?"

"No, the money we earned through hard work didn't offend the imperial court, and we didn't underpay those corrupt officials. Does the government want us to go bankrupt?"

"We have suffered a lot in the past few years, and now the imperial court wants to cut off our livelihood, what should we do?"

……

No one proposed tit-for-tat confrontation with the imperial court.

Although after more than ten years of nurturing, shareholders and company employees have become accustomed to relying on force to protect their own interests, but that is mainly to exercise such power against the external forces of the Ming Dynasty. The court, there is still a big psychological barrier,