A large group of ragged and dejected "former" pirates were surrounded by armed escort soldiers in an open space beside Zhuoshui Creek.
Right now, they are prisoners of the China United Company. There are about 1,000 people in this group, mostly people born in the coastal areas of Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang. Hundreds of them are tied up and under strict supervision. These people are the sailors who rebelled at the beginning of the year. Sailors from the former war fleet who fled.
This time Yin Feng broke the taboo and no longer worried about alarming the Ming Dynasty officials. He launched a full-scale attack on the coast of Fujian with the main force of the navy. After two months, the Chinese Company destroyed most of the bases of Yuan Jin's thirteen pirate alliances in one go, basically wiping them out. He conquered various pirate forces along the coast of Fujian.
From then on, there were no civil forces along the coast of Fujian that dared to challenge the authority of the Chinese Company by force.
Along the coast of Fujian, the only opponent left by the Chinese Company was the navy, the navy, and the army.
Yin Feng rushed down to the prisoner camp with forty personal guards shouting at him. After the assassination incident, Lin Xiao insisted on increasing the number of personal guards for Yin Feng. Even the major shareholders on the company's board of directors also requested this, so Yin Feng had no choice but to accept it. As a result, whenever he appears on stage, there will be a huge crowd of people shouting from front to back.
Yin Feng observed the group of prisoners nearby and asked Mai Dahai, who was in charge of prisoner screening: "How many of these people are willing to work for us?"
Dahai looked at the group of captives and sneered: "Only more than 200 people are willing. Of the remaining people, about one-third want to go home to farm and fish, saying that they have quit; and nearly half of them want to go home to farm and fish." If you want to stay on the island of Taiwan, go to the Tuntian Manor or the newly opened sugar cane plantation,"
"Do you want to be a village servant?" Yin Feng asked.
"Most of them want to be farmers, and a few want to change their career to farming."
"They are all short-sighted people. Let them go. Leave those who are willing to go to manors and plantations to Brother Lu and An Heping and let them make arrangements. In this way, we can call those who are willing to work for the company. Come," Yin Feng said a little uninterested. Originally, he thought that those former pirates should be very aggressive and could make good use of them, but he didn't expect that most of them didn't want to live on the sea anymore, which made him feel a little bit disappointment.
"Ship owner,..." Mai Dahai hesitated.
"What's the matter, don't hesitate,"
"Of the more than two hundred people who are willing to work for the company, dozens of them are sailors who defected at the beginning of the year,"
Yin Feng said coldly: "These people cannot be trusted. They go back on their word and are unpredictable. Forget about these dozens of people. Send them all to Lu Shitou and let him kill them."
Somewhere in the infantry barracks of the escort team, in a large bamboo shed, more than 160 captured pirates gathered here. Everyone was uneasy and didn't know what would happen next.
Suddenly, a group of black-clad soldiers marched neatly into the bamboo shed, raised their flintlock muskets with fixed bayonets, and shouted: "Back up, back up," and drove the pirate captives away from the door. Then, Someone shouted: "Yin Dadong's house is here,"
Yin Feng slowly entered the bamboo shed. Many pirate prisoners knelt down and shouted: "Captain Yin," "Big Boss,"
Yin Feng glanced at the pirate captives majestically, smiled and said: "You are all heroes, heroes on the sea. Mr. Yin admires you."
Everyone looked at each other.
Yin Feng then sneered: "But what you did is very unethical. What you robbed and burned were all ships of your own country and fellow countrymen. Why didn't you dare to rob the ships of those Hongmao Fans? Why? Instead of dealing with the Greeks, the China Company has never robbed a ship belonging to the people of this dynasty since its establishment, but aren't we still getting rich?"
Some pirates boldly said: "Captain Yin, we know that we did something wrong by robbing your ship, but we have no choice but to let our brothers drink from the northwest wind. Captain Yin, please show us a clear way." Let’s go,”
Some people also said: "Our Wu family in Nan'ao only robbed those government ships. It's not that we didn't want to deal with the red-haired barbarians and the Folangji people, but they had sharp firearms on their ships. When we went to trouble them, we always suffered a loss." …”
Yin Feng laughed: "Yes, the red-haired barbarians' ships are big and equipped with cannons, so you only dare to rob our own people in Fujian,"
Those people were speechless for a moment. Originally, these things were just unreasonable for them and there was nothing to defend.
"Right now, there is an opportunity waiting for you," Yin Feng continued: "I have decided to reorganize the Jinghai Gang. However, the Jinghai Gang will not work along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, but will go to Nanyang to work."
Yin Feng nodded to Yan Siqi, who quickly hung a large map on the wall. Yin Feng pointed at the map and said: "Many of you have been to Nanyang, so you should be familiar with these places. This is Borneo. ,"
Yin Feng specifically pointed to the center of the map: "Here, there is gold produced. There are no big kingdoms here. The red-haired barbarians have only begun to explore this area." He pointed to the direction of Australia in later generations: "Over there, is it still there? Jinzhou, which no one has ever been to, is a legendary place rich in gold."
"In addition, the red-haired Batavia only occupies such a small piece of Java Island, and there is still a large amount of open land waiting for us to develop. You can now choose for yourself: go to Nanyang for development, or stay on Taiwan Island for cultivation. Land, when the villagers beat the natives, there are two ways, you choose this way,"
"Let's go to Nanyang," almost all the pirates present shouted. Yin Feng looked at them with satisfaction, nodded and said, "As I expected, the men at sea are good after all. Very good. You can do it." Get the firearms from the Chinese Company to fight against the red-haired and Folangji people; I will also give you some money and provide you with firearms and gunpowder on a regular basis. Your mission is to open up the situation for the Chinese Company in Nanyang. The gold you developed Mine, and the land produced will be sold by China Company for you. You only need to hand over one-fifth of your income as company management fees. After all, your weapons and gunpowder must be supplied by the company---the remaining four-fifths. , it’s all your own,”
There was a commotion among the pirates below; among the thirteen pirate gangs, most of the pirates could only get a small share of the scraps left by the leaders for each vote, but now the conditions offered by the China Company were fair and reasonable.
Yin Feng continued: "When you work for China United Company, you must abide by my rules: The most important point is that you are absolutely not allowed to rebel within your nest. Robbery of the company's ships, personnel and goods is absolutely not allowed. Anyone who violates this rule will be killed." No forgiveness,”
The pirates were very sensible and shouted together: "I will obey the captain's order."
Of course Yin Feng would not let these "former" pirates go to Nanyang alone. He selected 50 volunteers from each of the navy and infantry teams to develop Nanyang. The general person in charge was Mai Xiaoliu, and his deputy was this time. During the operation to encircle and suppress thirteen pirate companies, Wu Shuihui, the leader of the Wu family of Nan'ao Island who voluntarily surrendered, one hundred members of the Zhonghua Company and nearly two hundred pirates were mixed up and assigned to five warships. In name, it set off for Nanyang. This was the advance team of the China United Company to intervene in Nanyang colonial affairs.
When the ships of the first batch of Southeast Asian colonists set out on the road, the first batch of farmers officially recruited from the mainland were divided into several groups and arrived in Taiwan one after another.
During the same period when Yin Feng launched the Nanyang colonial campaign, in the thirty-third year of Wanli, the troubled Central Plains experienced floods, wind disasters, and droughts in the Yellow River. Among the refugees who were half-dead from starvation in the disaster-stricken areas of Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi, A legend began to spread: go to the seaside, where someone will give them food and clothing, and then take them to a rich island, where there is a large area of empty and ownerless land waiting for them to cultivate.
Don’t underestimate the enthusiasm and diligence of traditional farmers in reclaiming new land. All the arable areas in East Asia were cultivated by these hard-working farmers. Often because of the emotion of being reluctant to leave their homeland, farmers will not be able to survive unless they really can’t. It is really difficult for them to give up everything they have been familiar with for generations and start over in an unfamiliar environment thousands of miles away. However, now is the period when the turbulent years of the Ming Dynasty are gradually beginning to unfold, and these farmers happen to encounter a situation where they cannot survive. Dilemma: At the end of this year, hundreds of farmers who were victims of the typhoon in Quanzhou the previous year arrived in Taiwan with their families as the first batch of agricultural immigrants. The biggest headache for the Chinese company's farmland was that it could not recruit people. There are enough manpower, and most of the farmers who farm the land cross the sea to Taiwan as agricultural day laborers. After completing their farm work and earning enough money, they return to their hometowns.
Now, a large number of farmers who have nothing are being recruited from all over Fujian, Shandong, and Henan. They are working in Tuntian farms and sugar cane plantations as long-term workers with ten-year death terms, and they will be allocated by the company upon expiration. The land became the tenants of the China Company; in each factory, they signed three-year apprenticeships or coolies. Now, first of all, the China Company can completely achieve self-sufficiency in food, and the labor force in various factories, especially weapons The labor force in the factory is guaranteed.
In the third year since the Chinese company began to develop rapidly, the resident Han population on Taiwan Island has also surged to more than 50,000.
Regarding the Fujian government, the China United Company no longer flinched; it was still an ironclad principle not to take the initiative to conflict with officers and soldiers, but the China Company's armed merchant ships and warships began to regularly patrol the waters north of Nan'ao to southern Zhejiang, chasing and suppressing pirates. No longer avoiding coastal areas.
At the same time, Yin Feng was also displeased with the imperial government's proactive request for peace and peace.
In fact, most of this trick was learned by Yin Feng from the actions of later generations Zheng Zhilong; he first showed his strength to the government, letting the government understand that it could not be dealt with by force, and then took the initiative to seek peace from the government and recruit peace. Yin Feng's advantage The reason is that he has a father-in-law, Zeng Qi, who is an official and gentry. At the same time, the China Company has not officially confronted the government yet.
Therefore, on the premise that the Zhonghua Company can ensure that the interests of the Fujian government are not harmed, Governor Xu Xueju is very willing to let Yin Feng join the official gentry class. However, there is a fundamental difference between the Fujian government and the Zhonghua Company: Manila’s trade issues.
Regarding the restoration of trade in Manila, the bargaining process between the two parties was very secretive. Apart from Yin Feng and Zeng Qi, only Lin Xiao and Zeng Jingshan knew about it.
…
"What, reopening the Greek trade with Manila, this, this won't work, will Zeng Yue's death be in vain?" Zeng Jingshan jumped up and shouted at Zeng Qi, regardless of whether Zeng Qi was his elder.
This is the study room of Yin Feng's inner house. Chen Zhongji and Yan Siqi have driven all the idlers out of the courtyard. Even Zeng Jing and Mai Waner are not allowed to enter this courtyard. There are only four people in the study room: Yin Feng, Zeng Qi, Lin Xiao and Zeng Jingshan. ,