Zeng Qi didn't express anything about Zeng Jingshan's gaffe. He just took out a printed copy from his arms and handed it to Zeng Jingshan.
Zeng Jingshan unfolded the paper and only read a few lines. He raised his head in surprise and looked at Zeng Qi: "Uncle, this, this, this..."
Zeng Qi nodded vigorously and said: "That's right. This is an excerpt from last month's Di newspaper. Xu Xueju, the governor of Fujian, sent an edict from the imperial court. The proclamation to the barbarians of Lu Song: "Edict to Lu Song."
Zeng Jingshan took a long breath and looked down at the newspaper. He couldn't help but read aloud: "Of the four people in China, merchants are the lowest. Why should they be considered untouchables and start a military revolution? Merchants abandon their homes and travel to the sea, never to return until the winter." Fathers, brothers, and relatives are looked down upon and there is no regret in abandoning them. Instead, they serve as soldiers for the sake of the army."
Yin Feng sighed; he painstakingly planned to kill the Spanish envoy in Macau to cut off the contact between the Spaniards in Luzon and the Fujian official. The result of his doing so was to delay the appearance of Xu Xueju's edict for a year. That's all. And it's because of conflicts of interest and contradictions within the ruling class that this announcement has been postponed until now.
Fujian Governor Xu Xueju openly declared that the lives of overseas merchants were the most despicable. Both Zeng Qi and Zeng Jingshan seemed insensitive to this point. Yin Feng couldn't help but sigh again; the Zeng family was angry at this announcement. .It was more due to Zeng Yue's death than to the helpless situation of overseas businessmen.
Zhang Ni and others who encouraged Emperor Wanli to send people to Jiyi Mountain in Luzon to explore gold mines were already executed for the crime of "deceiving the imperial court and provoking quarrels overseas." Emperor Wanli seemed to have forgotten the trip to Jiyi Mountain. It was he who directly issued the edict According to the order, Yanguan Jin Zhongshi, Cao Yubian, Zhu Wubi and others had fought hard, but Emperor Wanli did not listen. He insisted on asking Fujian to send people to Luzon to explore gold mines.
Now, the imperial court's attitude towards trade with Luzon has become clear. In the 34th year of Wanli, the Fujian government will definitely start issuing "shipping guides" to Manila again.
After the ban on Yuegang is opened, all merchants who can go to sea in Yuegang, according to regulations, must first conduct a survey in their neighborhood and then submit an application to the local government. After approval, the coastal defense agency will issue a ship guide. But in fact Usually, Ya merchants (intermediary merchants) and foreign companies (intermediary merchant organizations specializing in overseas trade) come forward as guarantees to apply for ships on behalf of maritime merchants. The so-called "shipping invoice" is also called business invoice. It is the evidence for maritime merchants to legally go to sea.
The government of the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the business introduction must fill in the restricted items, goods, name, age, household registration, address, desired location, and the deadline for selling back; merchants who went overseas to trade were required to submit the introduction every year. After returning to the country, they need to turn it over to the government for review and review; All maritime merchants who apply for permission to receive a "cabin pilot" must pay a "tax pilot". The so-called "tax pilot" is actually a business tax on overseas trade paid by maritime merchants to the government. Initially, the tax amount for each cabin pilot was 3 taels. Later, it was increased to 6 taels. In addition, the Ming Dynasty government controlled the total number of ship guides. In other words, it limited the number of ships going to sea. At first, the total number of ship guides issued each year was 50. In 1575, it increased to 100. The largest number. The period is only 110 boat quotations per year.
Yin Feng stood up, cupped his hands to Zeng Qi and said, "My father-in-law and son-in-law believe that the China Company must not participate in the Manila trade. Otherwise, I will be sorry to the thousands of original shareholders of the China Company. I will also be sorry to the 30,000 Tang people who died in Luzon Island." .When the China Company was founded, it made an oath not to trade with the related Latin people until the injustice of the Tang Dynasty people who died unjustly was redressed."
Zeng Qi sneered: "So, you plan to openly oppose the court. Could it be that you plan to hijack all the ships going to Manila. In that case, you will not only offend the court, but also directly offend many people involved in overseas trade. People in the government."
Yin Feng smiled: "Don't worry. I don't plan to rebel yet. I will never go against the imperial court."
Zeng Qi thought to himself: What do you mean by not planning now? Are you planning to rebel in the future?
Yin Feng did not excuse his poor language. He continued: "Of course, China United Company cannot participate in the trade to Luzon. However, we can get the ship guide for the trade to Luzon."
Zeng Jingshan was shocked: "Brother Feng, how did you..."
Yin Feng continued: "We spent money to buy the boat lure. But our boat is not going to Manila, but to Nanyang. The government only cares that we can pay them taxes after we return. Who will really come to check where we have gone? ."
Zeng Qi shook his head: "This idea is too ridiculous. Coastal defense officials and states and counties will indeed inspect merchants returning from overseas. For example, if you go to Manila and pay business taxes to the relevant Latin people, there will definitely be proof of the head tax. Right. The government will investigate these things."
Yin Feng still smiled. Zeng Qi felt that his smile seemed a bit cunning; "It doesn't matter. Many of us here have been to Manila back then. We can copy these documents and vouchers related to the Latin people in Luzon. A large number are specially provided to the government for investigation."
Zeng Qi opened his mouth wide. It took him a long time to react: "You said imitation. What do you mean..."
Yin Feng summarized his point of view: "What my son-in-law means is that the China United Company will try to get all the shipping leads to Manila. But in fact, it will go to Nanyang, the West or Japan for trade. It just won't go to Luzon: then we will return. The ships and merchants use our own printed textile imitations to cope with government inspections."
Everyone present was looking at Yin Feng, as if they suddenly didn't recognize him. Lin Xiao sighed in his heart: He is indeed a profiteer. He can think of such black-hearted ideas. It's amazing.
Zeng Qi looked at Yin Feng very alertly. He thought that this guy could actually come up with such an idea. Could he really be a hero? The fate of the Zeng family is worrying.
Yin Feng comes from an era when everything can be "copycatted". From hymens to government documents, everything can be forged. At that time, businessmen of the Ming Dynasty were very fond of honoring promises and keeping promises. Businessmen could make promises only by verbal promises. A business worth hundreds of thousands of taels was made. Therefore, among the people present, only people like Yin Feng could come up with such a bad idea that was hidden from the public.
It still took Yin Feng a few days to convince Zeng Qi and others to support his plan.
Starting from when merchants and people apply for a ship's bow, until they obtain it, this process is actually a process of corruption by officials at all levels. As long as you have money and connections, it is not difficult to obtain a ship's bow. Therefore, after the Fujian government resumed trade with Luzon The first batch of ship invitations to Manila contained a total of 30. China United Company and Huaxing Alliance bribed relevant officials with large sums of money. In addition, Zeng Qi mobilized connections within the government. 28 of these 30 "ship invitations" were used. The Huaxing joint number was obtained in the name of different merchant ship owners. The other two, one was obtained by the Wang family in Nanmen, Fuzhou, and the other was obtained by a wealthy Anhai businessman through connections.
…
The season for sea trading has arrived. A large number of merchant ships are leaving Yuegang. Near the center left, the Fuzhou Wang family's ship "Lu Fu" is sailing. The Anhai Lu family's big ship "An Lu" is following the Wang family's ship. The two families went to Manila for trade together. This year, the Chinese United Company handled a large amount of goods from merchants in Fujian. Taiwan Port has become the largest foreign trade transit port along the coast of China.
Regarding these two merchant ships that were determined to go to Manila for trade, Yin Feng had no intention of letting them go. However, he decided to wait until they returned from Manila before taking action.
Because the two Chinese merchant ships going to Manila each have more than ten sailors arranged by the China Company. Their task is to investigate the current situation on Luzon Island. At the same time, they must also defend the ships of the China Company that come to "rob" Tell the news.
Yin Feng was studying the candidate for the head of the Chinese Commercial Store stationed in Japan. A clerk from the Communications Department of the Military Intelligence Department held a pigeon and rolled into Yin Feng's office at the company headquarters. "Ship owner. Ship owner... "
Yin Feng raised his head with great dissatisfaction: "Is it you, the boss of the Luo family? What are you doing?"
The military intelligence clerk surnamed Luo swallowed his saliva and said loudly: "Inform the ship owner. This is a homing pigeon from Luzon Island."
"Da'an's carrier pigeon." Yin Feng was surprised. He quickly raised his hand to take the carrier pigeon. He carefully took out a thin roll of paper from the hollow bamboo tube at the pigeon's foot. He carefully unfolded the paper and took a look. His eyes widened, he raised his head and asked, "Where is your Minister Lin? Go and call him over."
At the same time, Yin Feng summoned all the board members who are currently on the island.
This small piece of paper from Luzon Island came across the ocean. It just said this sentence: "It has nothing to do with the Luzon envoy coming to Taiwan to have big guns and ships."
"Is this news reliable?" Zeng Jingshan asked.
"How do the wax people know about us?" Han Ping asked.
"Since you are an envoy, why are you bringing cannons and giant ships? They are obviously here to attack us." Li Yue said, "We should make preparations immediately. Mobilize all the warships..."
Yin Feng knocked on the table. Everyone stopped talking. Although Yin Feng personally felt that he had not changed much, his reputation inside and outside the company was growing day by day. He was already a powerful figure who carried authority anytime and anywhere. Everyone looked at him together. Wait. He asked him to explain that the intelligence work on Luzon Island has always been under Yin Feng's direct jurisdiction. No one else has had the opportunity to contact it, so now they are all waiting for Yin Feng to explain the situation.
"This is the first intelligence from Luzon Island." Yin Feng sighed and shook his head: "It's not easy. We will fight back to Manila next year. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle. Everyone knows this. But... it's related. The Latins came to Taiwan this time. What was their purpose, how many people came, and when they set off. We don’t know these important things at all.”
"Who wrote this note? It's so brief. It means it doesn't say anything." Lin Xiao said. Suddenly his face changed and he said to Yin Feng: "Could it be? Could it be..."
Yin Feng nodded approvingly at Lin Xiao; Lin Xiao was really smart. He immediately thought of the person who wrote the note. Yin Feng said: "It is indeed the Da'an who came back to us last time. The one from Tortoiseshell Port in Luzon He is a mixed-race Chinese-Yi man. He is only fluent in Chinese characters. He is located in a remote mountainous area. His tribe is often hostile to the Ganlu people. It is already great to get this information in time. We really can't ask too much of them."
The others had no idea who they were talking about and were embarrassed to interrupt. Yin Feng turned to Zeng Jingshan and others and said: "In my opinion, the so-called Qianla envoy is indeed true. And the Qianla people have indeed been here before. Taiwan has also thought about occupying Taiwan Island. It is estimated that they got the news about us from the Francois in Macau. I have sent a letter to Mr. Bernardo in Macau and asked him to check whether there is any relationship in the near future. People come to Macau.”