While the coolies on the dock were in a daze, a clerk from the Shipping Department shouted from above: "Hey, there are some over there. A ship has docked. Go to work quickly."
Sure enough, a ship docked. It was a ketch in the style of a lucky ship, but it was hung with a colorful Western flag. The young dock coolie asked: "Which country's ship is this? There are also pictures on this flag. Holding a lion."
The man who scolded Crazy Li smiled coldly again: "Say you are ignorant. You still don't accept it. Didn't you see that the bow of this ship is painted blue? Such a ship is probably the Huaxing joint ship in Fujian .It’s just hanging a foreign flag to fool the officials.”
The man who stepped off that suspicious ship was none other than Han Jing, the second manager of the trade department of a super-era freak enterprise called "China United Company" overseas and "Huaxing Alliance" in the mainland.
He had just left Ho Chi Minh City and came to Guangzhou to stand up for Yin Feng's astonishing large-scale operation. The company's executives were very worried about Yin Feng's promotion of strength as everything. After all, the Portuguese in Macau were also the company's big customers. So, Han Jing came to negotiate with him. The Macau authorities negotiated to peacefully resolve the Li Laihua issue.
Ho Chi Minh City is Macau. In fact, Macau's current depressed situation is similar to that of Guangzhou. In the large inner harbor, there are only more than a hundred Southeast Asian and Chinese merchant ships berthed. It is much bleaker than in previous years when ships from all over the world gathered.
The Chinese company suddenly emerged. Its trading power is centered on Taiwan and covers most of China's southeastern coast. The biggest change in ocean ports is that Taiwan Port indirectly replaced Macau and Guangzhou and became the largest cargo distribution center and transshipment port along China's coast. Most of the ships that come to Macau now are ships from small countries in Southeast Asia. Larger European ships and merchant ships from Siam, Annan and other countries. Most of them go directly to Taiwan Port: because merchant ships here do not need to pay water diversion fees and various taxes. And Chinese merchants only need to pay the prescribed transaction tax for trade. The China Company itself is the largest trader. It is also a huge enterprise that transcends the times with one-stop production, supply and marketing. Its largest income is profits from overseas trade. It also sells self-ringing bells and glassware. Income from the mainland provinces, plus various ship protection fees, fur goods license fees and other fees. There is no need or need to collect taxes.
At the same time, Taiwan Port has complete port facilities. The management personnel are honest and efficient, and the service is considerate. It is also closer and more convenient to another important trade port, Nagasaki, Japan.
In the Port of Taiwan, foreigners can go ashore as long as they apply for relevant documents. As long as they do not go to the military sites of the Chinese Company to cause trouble, they can go to other places with their documents. There are Buddhist temples and Catholic churches. There are delicacies from all over the world on the streets. For sale. The lives of merchants and sailors from all over the world will not be inconvenient at all.
Guangzhou was originally the most convenient foreign port in southern China. Unfortunately, the Ming government would rather transfer trade profits to the Portuguese in Macau than run the Guangzhou Port properly. Those Western merchant ships loaded with real gold and silver traveled thousands of miles to Guangzhou and Macau. I don’t care if I have to travel thousands of miles to Taiwan; there are more and better goods there and the tax cost is low.
However, life in Macau is not easy at the moment. The decrease in trade income has put the backbone of Macau's economy in jeopardy. Due to the sudden rise of Chinese companies, Macau, which originally controlled a large amount of profits from Chinese and foreign trade, has seen its economic income drop sharply. That's why it joined forces with Spain. Although the negotiators of the Municipal Council reached an agreement with the Chinese Company, the agreement was not unanimously approved by the Municipal Council after these representatives returned to Macau: a large number of Portuguese The businessmen believed that the concessions made by the Chinese company were not enough. Therefore, as soon as Li Lihua arrived in Macau, she was busy meeting and negotiating with officials of the Macau City Hall. She made appointments with major businessmen and even wanted to make an appointment with the Royal Prosecutor; this is a very important matter in the Macau City Hall. Officials are not elected, but are directly appointed by the Spanish royal family and are stationed in the Macau Autonomous City.
This caused trouble; the current royal prosecutor himself was a noble and big businessman. He colluded with the Inquisition to arrest Bernardo and the main messenger who closed the Chinese company's business building was him: Anthony Dias.
Li Lihua's identity is very special: she is a Chinese born in the Spanish colony of the Philippines. She is a baptized Catholic. Legally, she is a subject of the Spanish Empire. Due to the merger of Spain and Portugal, Macau is a free city in the East Indies Province of the Portuguese colony. Legal It is also under the jurisdiction of the King of Spain. Originally, according to the agreement between the Portuguese and the Ming Dynasty government, legal issues involving the Chinese must be governed by the Ming Dynasty government of China; however, Li Lihua is considered a subject of the Spanish Empire, so Anthony Dias does not need to After paying attention to the Chinese side, they arrested Li Lihua on charges of participating in the Manila rebellion. After hearing that Li Lihua was actually the "wife" of the general manager of the China United Company, Dias hesitated and immediately sent the people from the Inquisition to the police. They came and handed Li Lihua over to the Inquisition on charges of marrying a heretic. They were planning to send her to Goa for trial after the monsoon winds changed direction.
The Inquisition has caused a stir in the city during this time. Not only did they arrest people related to the China Company, they also arrested many black slaves. They believed that they were secretly practicing pagan rituals. When Han Jing arrived in Macau, executions and hangings were being carried out on the streets. Several black slaves. He had dealt with black slaves in Manila. He felt that black people were generally easy to interact with. So he asked Chen Zhongji who came to greet them: "What's going on?"
"The heretical inquisitors of the Fan monks executed these gangsters in the name of worshiping heretics. They originally wanted to arrest Uncle Black Horse. Fortunately, he ran fast..." "Uncle Ma" and "Uncle Black Horse" mentioned by Yan Siqi and Chen Zhongji They all refer to Black Magaro.
Han Jing went directly to the Speaker of the Municipal Council, a Portuguese businessman with whom he had dealt with before. However, the Municipal Council kicked the ball off the Li Lihua issue, saying it was a matter of the Inquisition and had nothing to do with them; and the Inquisition was not willing at all. Meet Han Jing and ignore him completely. Needless to say, Han Jing's peace negotiations completely failed.
After he left Macau, he released two homing pigeons, which brought disappointing news to the people waiting for news in Taiwan Port.
Han Jing took a Chinese company merchant ship back from Java and landed outside Guangzhou. He was preparing to carry out another task of this trip: bribing Li Feng, the eunuch of the Guangdong tax envoy. This merchant ship actually also has a special status: it is After Mai Xiaoliu went to Nanyang to vigorously develop his piracy business, the ship where the courier was secretly sent to Taiwan was located.
Because the negotiations in Macau failed, he was in a bad mood. When he got off the ship, he had a gloomy face. Chen Zhongji was responsible for the security of his trip to Guangzhou, so he followed him. Because Chen Zhongji failed to protect Li Lihua in Macau, he was also in a bad mood. So when When they were stopped by a group of people on the pier, Chen Zhongji pulled out the two flintlock pistols he carried without much thought and rushed forward. He kicked away a coolie who was blocking Han Jing and cursed loudly. : "You are looking for death. Don't you have eyes? Don't you see who we are?"
A group of men dressed as coolies surrounded the disembarkation gangway in front of the dock where the Chinese company's merchant ship docked, preventing Han Jing and others from landing. The group of dock porters who were chatting in the sun just arrived had just arrived and surrounded this group. The coolies are at a loss outside.
The young coolie asked the experienced man: "Brother Meng, these people are not our brothers on the dock. They are outsiders who come to steal business."
Someone rolled up their sleeves and shouted: "Brother Meng, there are people taking our territory. Let's fight with them."
Brother Meng grabbed the brother who was about to take action and said: "Wait a minute. Don't move. These people are gangsters in Guangzhou City. They are gangsters. They are not easy to mess with. They have been hanging out outside the pier just now. Now they are surrounding Huaxing. The ship with the serial number is causing trouble. Maybe they are deliberately looking for trouble."
The young coolie asked innocently: "Looking for trouble. Looking for trouble with us?"
"You're so stupid. Of course you're looking for trouble for Huaxing." Brother Meng angrily slapped the young coolie on the forehead.
These fake coolies were obviously not here to work. They asked Han Jing for money when they came up. They said that the loading and unloading of their goods were all handled by them. They had to be paid before they could work.
Han Jing wanted to settle the matter and give him money. But Chen Zhongji quit. He roared. Dozens of Malays and black people rushed out of the ship. These were all foreign crew members of the Chinese company. They were pirate gangs from all over Southeast Asia. The members may have the same fighting spirit as gangsters, but their experience in hand-to-hand combat far exceeds that of these gangsters. Moreover, they all carry swords, sticks, and axes.
I saw flesh and blood flying everywhere on the pier beside the springboard. Sticks and fists were flying. Human bodies were rolling. Soon, all the gangsters who were blocking the road were knocked down on the pier. They lay down in a large area. Everyone was injured and everyone groaned. He kept moaning and screaming. At this time, the government servants and the city guards all came after hearing the news. Han Jing saw that the situation was not good, so he hurriedly asked Chen Zhongji to get on the boat and protect Mai Xiaoliu's messenger. At the same time, he immediately ordered All the people involved in the fight threw the guy into the sea. Brother Meng led a group of real dock coolies and surrounded him. He said loudly: "Sir, please don't panic. Our brothers will testify for you: it was these gangsters who started the fight." "
…
In this era, the Ming Dynasty government always jumped between two extremes of very strict and very tolerant and lax management measures for foreigners coming to China. For example, the Portuguese in Macau. As long as they did not cause trouble to the Ming Dynasty government, the Ming Dynasty would The Portuguese in Macau are allowed to self-manage, collect their own taxes, and legislate their own laws. Generally, foreigners who break the law in China are driven out of the country to make trouble. For example, in the early Ming Dynasty, Japanese people who came to pay tribute often caused trouble in China. The Ming Dynasty government Basically, they just drive things away. They don’t use the law to deal with them.
In previous years, there were fights between Chinese and foreign people outside Guangzhou. That's why the Guangdong Governor's Office moved the address of the "Canton Fair" to a remote place away from the city to prevent foreigners from having too much contact with the people.
Therefore, although the government officials and people in the business knew that the ship belonged to the China Company, it was registered as a Portuguese ship when it was collected and registered in Xiangshan County. Therefore, after the fight, because no one was killed, the ship belonged to the China Company. This merchant ship was driven away by the Municipal Shipping Department and the Guangzhou Government. Even Han Jing's bribery mission could not be completed.
Facing Han Jing's complaints, Chen Zhongji said confidently: "This time the shipowner sent us here to show his strength. If we show weakness to those ruffians, how can our Chinese company dominate the sea?"
Han Jing smiled bitterly: "Are we going to dominate the sea? Did Captain Yin say so?"
"He didn't say that. But he said that the China Company protects the interests of all Chinese people at sea. That's probably what he meant."
Han Jing shook his head: "You kid is making excuses. However, these gangsters are obviously coming for our company. They must be Guangdong businessmen or other forces secretly instigating it. We have more and more enemies. We have to go and fight with them." Captain Yin told me."
…
Now, the biggest problem facing Chinese companies is still in Macau.
The Sheriff of Macau City Hall is selected from a list of 24 people by the Municipal Council every year. Two people from the list are on duty every month. One of the Sheriffs this month is the nephew of Royal Prosecutor Anthony Dias.
Dias looked serious and aristocratic. He was patrolling the inner harbor pier with a dozen guards from the Municipal Guard.
Since the beginning of the year, the number of merchant ships from various countries coming to Macau has been decreasing day by day. I heard that a large number of new pirate gangs have appeared in the Southeast Asia. They are well-equipped with weapons and equipment, experienced and ruthless in style. They specialize in robbing European ships. They are targeting China, Siam, and Peking University. Ships waiting for Asians are usually let go. This simply makes the trade environment of Macau Port worse and worse. Of course, this is all thanks to Mai Xiaoliu's men.
Dias was able to come to Macau only because of his uncle's relationship. It was originally a good job that he could do both as an official and as a businessman. But now due to the troubles caused by the Dutch in the early stage and the trade competition between Chinese companies, the good job has become He did the hard work. He acted like an aristocrat and looked at the merchant ships and fishing boats on the dock angrily. He sighed while inspecting.
Suddenly, there was a commotion all over the dock. Chinese sailors and fishermen boarded the ship one after another. Businessmen from various countries fled the dock one after another. Someone was shouting like ghosts crying and wolf howling: "Fleet. Fleet."
This was in Chinese. Dias couldn't understand it. He quickly asked the Chinese general who was following him: "What are they shouting?"
The Chinese general said in panic: "They said: A fleet appeared on the sea."
Dias took a breath: "The Dutch are here again."
Now, this year's Sino-Japanese trade fleet is still trading in Nagasaki, Japan, or Taiwan Port. If a large number of ships appear in Macau Port at this time, it will definitely not be a fleet with good intentions.
Diaz rushed to the pier, jumped on a Malacca merchant ship, ran straight to the bow, and looked at the sea for a moment. He turned back with doubts on his face. He saw the Chinese general stumbling over and followed him. He said with a smile on his face He greeted the general with an incredulous expression and said to him: "What is going on? Why is it a Junk ship?"
"What?" The Chinese general was startled. He quickly leaned on the bow of the ship and looked at it: "Really, it's our Ming Dynasty ship. Could it be a pirate?"
"Dang...dang...dang..." church bells rang from the direction of Notre Dame Cathedral. For a moment, "dang dang dang---" church bells rang throughout Macau. All churches were ringing bells to announce the enemy. Invasion. The monks on Guia Mountain first discovered a large number of neatly arranged sailing ships surrounding the port. This was after Macau repelled two attacks by the Dutch. It was once again attacked by foreign armed forces. Moreover, this At one time, 60 warships from the China United Company came to besiege, as well as the main battleship Feilong.
This is the second time since Lin Feng's attack on Manila that the Chinese maritime power has actively attacked the territory of a European maritime power.