In Luzon, the number of Han people in the Ming Dynasty reached 30,000 or 40,000 at its peak. Later, the Longqing Dynasty was closed, and our Li family, like other Han people, began to engage in maritime trade between the Ming Dynasty and Luzon.

At that time, although our Li family was relatively large among the Luzon caravans, we were not the largest. In addition to Uncle Xu's family, there were at least seven or eight caravans in Luzon that were larger than ours.

However, in the 30th year of Wanli of this dynasty, the emperor listened to the words of a man named Zhang Yi, saying that one hundred thousand taels of gold and three hundred thousand taels of silver could be mined on Luzon Island every year. So the emperor sent people to Luzon

Song, wanted to discuss with the chiefs of Luzon about opening a mine in Luzon. At this time, Luzon had been occupied by Westerners for more than thirty years.

The request made by the envoy sent by the emperor was rejected by the Westerners. Therefore, the imperial court proposed to open a mine in Luzon.

However, the emperor's sudden and unexpected decision caused misfortune to those of us Han people who settled in Luzon.

Since Luzon has always been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, Westerners believed that the emperor’s real purpose of sending envoys to Luzon this time was to find out what was true about Luzon and to send troops to Luzon to help the Luzon people drive them away.

Therefore, the Westerners began to restrict the movements of us Han people and confiscated our iron weapons.

The practices of the Westerners naturally aroused the alarm of us Han people. As a result, many caravans began to secretly organize forces to defend themselves.

After this incident was discovered by the Westerners, they sent a large number of troops to massacre the Han people in Luzon. Their order was to kill all Han people.

At that time, my father had a friend who was a local and was helping Westerners. After hearing the news, he immediately told my father quietly.

When my father got the news, he quickly sent people to report to various Han caravans in Luzon as quickly as possible. At the same time, he began to prepare to escape from Luzon. However, because those seven or eight caravans had just entered the country from the Ming Dynasty,

The goods have just been moved into the store and they haven't had time to sell them yet. They are reluctant to leave the goods. In addition, they have always been in competition with our Li family, so they don't really believe what my father said. They think Westerners are just

For some money, I won't really attack them. Even if the Westerners do come, they can settle the matter with some money.

However, what they didn't expect was that this time, the Westerners really took action. They first blocked the seaport, and then massacred us Han people in Luzon. They really killed everyone on sight, without even giving them a chance to speak.

!

Fortunately, our father has not yet unloaded the raw silk and porcelain shipped from Daming, and Uncle Xu has not yet arrived because their caravan has not arrived yet. He happened to be sick this time, so the trip to Daming to purchase goods was delayed for a few days.

, and he didn’t go with him either.

My father, Uncle Xu, their families, caravans and ships had just escaped from Manila Port when the Westerners blocked the port.

My father and Uncle Xu didn't dare to stay, fearing that the Westerners would chase them out of the port, so they sailed all the way north. Fortunately, not long after they went to sea, they encountered the merchant fleet of Uncle Xu's family that was heading south from the Ming Dynasty. So we all joined forces.

1. Turn north.

They went to Dongyang first. My father settled down there. But Uncle Xu was not used to the life in Dongyang. Soon, he took the Xu family merchant ship back to Daming, intending to do more long-distance Southeast Asian trade.

Since then, all the merchant ships of our Li family and Xu family have begun to be equipped with artillery, and they have also organized their own caravan convoys.

Slowly, our strength developed into the two largest forces in the southeast sea. Even the Westerners now do not dare to attack us easily.

Since most of the goods our Li and Xu families trafficked were private goods, many people in the court called us pirates. However, we have never actually robbed other merchant ships. We are even more so to the merchants along the coast.

Autumn has no style. Sometimes when the weather is bad, our Li family will use the shops located in various places to provide porridge.

Thirteen years ago, in the massacre on Luzon Island, the largest number of people from Zhangzhou died. My mother was among them.

At that time, my mother went to my grandmother's house. My grandmother's house was not in Manila Port. As soon as my father got the news that the Westerners were planning to attack us, he immediately sent someone to find my mother. However, it was still too late. In the end, I

Neither my mother nor the servant who was looking for someone could escape."

Speaking of this, Li Ying's voice choked up. Her mood was a little excited, and there were crystal tears in her eyes.

"I once swore to Mazu that I would kill all the Westerners on Luzon Island in this life to avenge my mother."

Yu Ren came closer to Li Ying, stretched out his hand to hold her gently in his arms. He felt her body trembling slightly. Obviously, the massacre had a great impact on Li Ying's soul, although at that time

She is only a child of six or seven years old.

"Don't worry, if Westerners dare to do such things that are outrageous to both humans and gods, God will not let them go." Yu Ren comforted her.

"However, the Westerners' ships are so strong, and they have been operating in Luzon for more than 40 years. Do you think I can avenge my revenge?" Li Ying was obviously not confident in defeating the Westerners.

"Don't worry! As long as we work hard, this revenge will be avenged sooner or later." Yu Ren gently patted Li Ying's shoulder and consoled her.

"Are you going back to China to expand your strength and take revenge on the Westerners in Luzon?"

Li Ying nodded.

"In the past few years, our family has been in the East. Five years ago, when I was fifteen, my father allowed me to bring a group of warships and merchant ships back to my hometown of Zhangzhou. My father said that he was old and he would not

I no longer think about revenge, I just want to live the rest of my life in peace.

But, I can't, I keep this hatred in my heart every moment. In order to take revenge, I spent my childhood on the ship. By the time I was fifteen, my father had handed over most of our family's business to me.

Li. On my fifteenth birthday, I suddenly proposed to my father that I would bring a group of people back to my hometown for development.

My father didn't speak for a long time. He saw what I was thinking, but he didn't object.

In this way, I took away most of the Li family's strength in the East at that time, forty-seven merchant ships and fifteen war ships. I took these ships to Zhangzhou first, and we still focused on shipping. But secretly, I

I recruited many descendants of my fellow villagers who were killed in Luzon. From this, I began to organize a revenge team.

I originally planned to develop directly in Fujian and then lead the team to Luzon.

But then I met Mr. Qu.

Mr. Qu was originally a talented scholar. Later, he followed other people's example and went to Nanyang to sell goods. He visited Luzon many times.

However, Mr. Qu's luck was not very good, and his business was getting worse and worse. By the time I met him, he could no longer even afford the boat fare back to his hometown. I saw that he talked well, and he was a fellow Zhangzhou fellow.

, so we let him take our Li family's ship to go overseas to sell goods, and he was also exempted from shipping fees.

Later, Mr. Qu voluntarily joined our Li family's caravan. After he learned that I wanted to seek revenge from the Westerners in Luzon, he took the initiative to find me. He said that he had been to Luzon many times, and the Westerners there

The people are very powerful, their armored ships are larger, and their artillery is much more powerful than ours.

If we want to defeat them, with our current strength, we are still far away. So, he proposed to me a plan and asked me to join forces with the Xu family to bring all the pirates on the southeast coast under his banner, and then monopolize the southeast coast.

overseas trade.

In this way, we can get huge profits. With money, the ship is no longer a problem. So I followed Mr. Qu's suggestion and began to concentrate on the maritime trade of the southeastern half. Until today."

After listening to Li Yu, no, it should be Li Ying's story, Yu Ren gained some real understanding of their Li family. But at the same time, he also had a confusion.

"Then, will the imperial court not care about expansionist forces like yours that are vigorously expanding along the southeastern coast?"

Li Ying smiled softly. "The imperial court? The senior officials in the imperial court will not know about our Li family at all. Because we never do anything that violates the laws of the Ming Dynasty in the country. Although we have shops in many state capitals on the southeast coast

, but the people in our shop are all serious businessmen, and they also pay business taxes to the court in accordance with regulations.
Chapter completed!