Late at night, in the commander-in-chief's tent, a bargaining negotiation was going on.
"Their ship owner said that he did not want to rebel against the imperial court at all. He just wanted to make some money from the territory of Dongfan. He also said that as long as you withdraw your troops, the commander-in-chief will never suffer a loss," Butler Xu said when he came to Penghu I have met Yin Feng before. In fact, Yin Feng has reached a basic agreement with the governor. Now Butler Xu has simply become Yin Feng's steward and spokesperson.
Zhu Zongbing had to maintain his own face. At the beginning, he even mentioned the principle of loyalty to the emperor and the country. Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Butler Xu: "Eunuch Gao has a letter for you."
"Why, this..." Zhu Wenda was stunned; could it be that Eunuch Gao sold him out?
He quickly took the letter, opened it, and sighed: Fortunately, Gao Cai is still loyal and has not turned against anyone. The letter mentioned that the governor and he will jointly report to the court to recommend Yin Feng as a member of the Thousand Households of Taiwan. So Qianhu, Taiwan established an additional inspection department, which was subordinate to Quanzhou Prefecture and was officially included in the imperial territory. During the Battle of Penghu, the imperial court knew that General Zhu led the troops to drive away the pirates, regain Penghu, subdue the pirates and merchants in Taiwan, and conquer them. Returned to the imperial court.
General Zhu read the letter with confusion on his face; although the surrender of pirates and the entry of Taiwan into the territory were great achievements, he felt that he had obtained these great achievements for no reason, and there seemed to be some hidden conspiracy.
The war was so bad, but Chinese officialdom naturally had a way of confusing black and white. Zhu Wenda did not doubt that the governor of a province and the tax eunuch of a province joined forces to turn black into white, but these "great achievements" "Why should it all be attributed to him? This is what General Bing is confused about; it seems that Xu Xueju and Gao Cai are not the kind of people who are high-minded and honest and do not strive for credit.
Steward Xu Huai and Master Xie Huimin looked at each other, and Xie Huimin stood up and said: "Master General, Governor Xu's intention is that if you come to preside over the negotiation with Huaxing Joint Company, you will negotiate this matter according to the opinions agreed upon by the governor and Eunuch Gao. Your unparalleled achievements will be enough to bring you to a higher level. Of course, if the matter is settled, your business income will be taken care of by Yin Feng and others, and the income will increase a lot every year."
The desire for fame, wealth, gold and silver overwhelmed the slightest suspicion. General Zhu became interested and asked with a smile: "This Yin Feng now occupies the coast of Fujian. The victory or defeat of the war has completely depended on him. What do you do?" Guarantee that he will agree to these conditions,"
Butler Xu smiled and said: "General, don't worry, Yin Feng has always wanted to be recruited as an official. My family has made it clear that the official positions of Qianhu and inspection can be given to him when the time comes. When the imperial court officially establishes a county to govern Taiwan, Naturally, there will be court officials to take over,"
"The inspection is just a ninth-grade, low-ranking official. This Yin Feng is said to be a prisoner. How can he agree to it if he has a great reputation?"
"This is limited by the power of Governor Xu. At present, Dongfan is still a wasteland. If Yin Feng wants to have a higher official position, he will have to establish prefectures and counties. It depends on the court's wishes. However, the post of Thousand Households is actually granted and he can lead troops. of……"
Zhu Wenda felt uneasy in his heart: "Is this possible? Let him lead the troops. This..." He knew Yin Feng's ability to lead troops; in more than three years, he organized an excellent army on the southeast coast. The navy and infantry were even able to go to sea to conquer Luzon.
Master Xie sneered: "General Zhu, given the current situation in Fujian, do you have a way to make Huaxing Alliance and Yin Feng completely abandon Dongfan?"
Zhu Wenda picked up the cup with an ugly face, took a sip of tea, and suddenly understood: the governor and eunuch Gao asked him to come forward to negotiate, in fact, they were leaving a way out for them. Regardless of economic or military strength, Yin Fenghe Zhonghua Company already has the upper hand in Fujian Province and the southeastern coast. It is difficult to guarantee that they will be safe and obedient after the recruitment. Zhonghua Company has sprung up at sea like a monster. This is Zhu Wenda using up his limited brain cells. I also can’t understand something. Everything in Taiwan is so strange, but it can bring a lot of gold and silver income to all its supporters. Now, Zhonghua Company and Yin Feng can control the situation in Fujian. They face the entire imperial court. It may have been weak at the time, but now it is a force that the whole province of Fujian cannot contend with. After this recruitment, if Huaxing Alliance or Yin Feng causes trouble again one day, Zhu Wenda and General Zhu will serve as the chief recruitment officer. People will be blamed first by the court; needless to say, Xu Xueju and Gao Cai will definitely add insult to injury.
Zhu Wenda was not a fool, otherwise he would not have been demoted in Mingwei official circles for decades, and his position had been rising steadily. He thought of the conspiracy he suspected before, and immediately understood the identity of his candidate scapegoat. He was about to get angry, but immediately calmed down; he immediately thought that he would not be able to escape the role of the scapegoat no matter what. If he did not agree to recruit An Yinfeng, not only would he be killed on the island, but even if he returned to the mainland, he would be killed by Governor Xu , Yu Shidao said that it was a loss of a teacher and humiliation of the country, and it was possible to be imprisoned. The best ending was to be demoted to a remote border gate to be cannon fodder. Which outcome is better? At least to recruit An Yinfeng, he would not immediately become a cannon fodder. scapegoat.
After thinking about his fate, Zhu Zongbing sighed, his face softened and said: "So, I guess the regular money Yin Feng gives to the governor is quite a lot, or..."
Butler Xu handed over a list with a smile: "These are the gift lists that Yin Feng sent to your house. Eunuch Gao has specially ordered his men to deliver them to your house."
…
Yin Feng boarded the Xinxing to go to Penghu, and at the same time ordered the navy to completely lift the blockade on the waters of Fujian. In fact, this blockade did not target ordinary people's fishing boats or merchant ships, but only blocked the government's grain transportation channels to Penghu. To be honest, he and his company The top officials of the Ming Dynasty wanted to end the war quickly, because the long-term war affected overseas trade. Fortunately, although the Ming Dynasty government issued an order prohibiting the export of iron, grain, gunpowder, and silk fabrics to the sea, most of the coastal officials were involved in the overseas smuggling trade. , therefore the channels for transporting goods from other provinces to the coast of Fujian have not been affected. This is a chronic problem of the Ming Dynasty's economic management failure. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were so-called "Japanese pirates" who violated the maritime ban, and there were traders in the north who had secretly communicated with Mongolia to guard the border. The soldiers also made profits from this; until the last moment, before the Manchus entered the customs, there were still frontier generals and mainland merchants selling goods to the northeast for profit.
However, a large number of troops occupied the port and many merchant ships going to sea were stranded in the port. This was a serious problem. Yin Feng did not want to land ashore, so he could only quickly negotiate with the government.
Moreover, there are still a lot of problems waiting to be solved on Luzon Island; such as land distribution for meritorious soldiers, land division for injured and retired soldiers, opening up land sales to major domestic business gangs; and southern Muslims taking advantage of Luzon to change their masters. , the foundation of Chinese rule was still unstable, and a month ago they brazenly sent troops to Cebu to besiege the Zhuangding garrison under Mai Xiaoliu's command.
At the same time, the island of Taiwan is also facing another revolt by the big-bellied tribes in the western plains, and the increasingly serious conflict between the Gaoshan tribe in the eastern mountains and the company's licensed fur traders... Problems such as these make Yin Feng feel physically and mentally exhausted. .
He was standing on the bow of the Xinxing, with an easel erected in front of him. He was sketching with the charcoal pen he invented. You Wenhui was also drawing on the side, but he was using oil paint. There was a companion as an assistant beside him, holding a bottle. Can Guan, the Xinxing is parked at the mouth of Penghu Bay, outside the beach on the south coast of Fengkueiwei.
"Is this the Penghu Islands? The Portuguese call them the Pescadores Islands," You Wenhui's missionary companion, who had not been to Penghu, asked curiously.
"Yes, Captain Yin defeated the Dutch here," You Wenhui introduced to his companions.
Yin Feng asked: "Mr. You, your companion followed us to Luzon. It was very hard to follow us all the way. I don't know his name yet,"
The young missionary, who looked obviously of Chinese and Western descent, imitated the Chinese look and bowed his hands and said: "I am Fei Zangyu of the Jesuits. Father Matteo Ricci sent me to Taiwan to help Father Baradas in his work."
"You are from Macau,"
"Yes, my father is from Lisbon, Portugal, and my mother is from Macau,"
Yin Feng understood that this man, like You Wenhui, was one of the earliest Chinese Jesuits and the earliest Macanese.
Historically, Fei Zangyu was a Chinese Jesuit at the same time as You Wenhui. There were a total of 12 Chinese Jesuit monks in the late Ming Dynasty, among whom were mixed-races Huang Mingsha, Ni Yagu, Pang Leisi, Fei Zangyu, and Fei Zangyu. , complete Chinese, including Zhong Mingren, You Wenhui, Xu Bideng, Qiu Liangzhen, Qiu Lianghou, Shi Hongji, etc. These people are all Macau people or have lived in Macau for a long time. Due to the opinions of some people in the Jesus Society, the above twelve people None of the Chinese monks were promoted to priests. When they accepted the first batch of Chinese monks, the Jesuits made a rule: "They will not be given the priesthood because they are new to the Jesuits and their faith is not mature enough. "
Yin Feng has an idea to let Chinese Jesuit monks preside over the academic affairs of Luzon, Taiwan, so that he can try to cultivate a group of Catholic clergy who are politically loyal to him. However, this is just an idea now. At this time, the Janissaries Captain Lin Yue came to report: "Captain, Butler Xu and Master Xie are here again,"
Yin Feng frowned and shook his head in disgust: "Damn it, they have ruined the nature of my painting today. Xiao Lin, you asked Mai Dahai to talk to them, just say that I am unwell and sleeping."
Lin Yue smiled bitterly, raised his hand in salute and left.
In the past two days, Xu and Xie had to make two or three trips a day between Magong Port and Yin Feng's boat. They were carried back and forth on the sea by sampans and small sailing boats. They became the main force between Zhu Wenda and Yin Feng. As the messenger, the two of them felt dizzy while riding in the boat. Mr. Xie, who was not familiar with water, was seasick and confused, but he could only keep running back and forth.
The negotiation between Zhu Wenda and Yin Feng has completely become a "commercial" negotiation; Zhu Wenda wants to own shares within the China Company and become a major shareholder; under this condition, he can report to the court for Yin Feng and let him become the Taiwan patrol officer. During the inspection by the Inspector General, Taiwan's Qianhu Office is hereditary. Moreover, during his tenure as the Fujian General Army, he will make the Fujian coastline open to the ships of the Chinese Company within the scope of his authority, and will also protect the Chinese Company in Quanzhou. , Fuzhou's business houses, bank branches.
This is a naked power-for-money transaction. Zhu Wenda is far more straightforward and forthright than the governor Xu Xueju and the eunuch Gao Cai. He has bargained for many things that can be done but cannot be said in the officialdom.