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Chapter 165 Undercurrent IV

On the third day after the wealthy Nanyang businessman surnamed Luo came out of the eunuch Gao Cai's house, Yuan Jin and Li Zhong became deserters from the Ming Dynasty's official army. The two of them escaped from Fuzhou City with more than a dozen cronies in the name of training. We boarded a Nanyang merchant ship at the Minjiang pier. That night we sailed out of the Minjiang estuary and headed towards Nanyang.

When the secret information about Fuzhou Huaxing branch code about Yuan Jin and Li Zhong came to Lin Xiao, Yin Feng and the Zhonghua Company were busy preparing a special fleet to sail to Southeast Asia.

The Chinese Company's first main battleship Feilong and the newly renovated Xinxing were accompanied by two three-masted fortune ships and five two-mast fortune ships. They were fully loaded with silk, ceramics, embroidery, tea, cloth, ironware, and books. Waiting for the goods, they are about to start a long journey to Europe. This is the first time in history that the Chinese have taken the initiative to travel to Europe by sea to explore and trade goods. In the history of exchanges between the East and the West, Chinese Catholics visited Europe during the Yuan Dynasty. Since then, Since the opening of new sea routes in the Age of Discovery, no Chinese has ever taken the initiative to travel to Europe by sea. Li Jin, who brought the Dutch to Penghu, may have been the first Chinese to reach the Netherlands and the European continent by sea. But he It was carrying Dutch ships; and this time the fleet led by Ye Hua will be the first time that the Chinese have traveled to Europe along Vasco da Gama's route.

This fleet first arrived in the Nanyang area. From various Western colonies there, you can get guides for the Indian Ocean route. Ye Hua and the Zhonghua Company fleet will become the first Chinese to break into the Indian Ocean after Zheng He. The deputy commander of the fleet The treasurer (property manager) is Mr. Bernardo. There is also Captain Barreto, who is ready to go home and enjoy his wealth. During his tenure at the China Company, he has already earned enough money to spend the rest of his life. So he It's time to return home in glory. Also setting off for Europe are several Dutch sailors, several of Mr. Bernardo's compatriots... "New Christian" businessmen, and Jewish businessmen who have been traveling on the sea routes in Europe and Asia all year round.

The main task of the fleet is to try to open up a new route for direct trade with Europe; at the same time, the fleet will shoulder a diplomatic mission. After arriving in Europe, Li Dan, who is traveling with him, will find a way to submit a document to the highest level of the Spanish Empire: Li Dan, a naturalized Spanish citizen, filed an indictment accusing the Governor of the Philippines and others of massacring legal citizens.

Yin Feng's move made Zeng Qi, Zeng Jingshan, and Han Ping incomprehensible. But Li Dan supported it; this move might disrupt the Spanish Empire's counterattack. I'm afraid there is still news about the loss of the Philippine colony. It did not reach the Spanish mainland. After Ye Hua's fleet arrived in the South China Sea, it took advantage of the winter monsoon in the Indian Ocean to quickly cross the northern Indian Ocean. If everything goes well, it should be able to reach the European continent by this time next year. Winter in the northern Indian Ocean (11 From January to March of the following year), the northeast monsoon prevails north of 10° south latitude. A counterclockwise northeast monsoon circulation mainly composed of the north equatorial current and the equatorial countercurrent appears. Summer is opposite to winter. It begins in May. 10° south latitude The northern ocean is almost controlled by the southwest monsoon. The ocean current changes seasonally with the replacement of the Indian Ocean monsoon. It has always been the biggest driving force for the east-west shipping in the era of sailing. It is now the end of August in the lunar calendar. The fleet arrives in the South China Sea just in the northeast When the monsoon starts to blow.

There is a special person on the ship. Zeng Shan, the newest member of the Zeng family, is now an old member who has failed many times in Beijing. When Yin Feng and the Zeng family got married, he was the only opponent of the Zeng family. This guy was brainwashed after reading the sages' books. He followed Qingliu and the eunuchs in the capital to cause trouble and rebelled against him. He wrote a letter exposing the demon book case and scolded the dignitaries of the court. He was imprisoned and spanked several times.

Zeng Ke sent people to the capital to contact many friends from his hometown. After spending a large amount of money, Zeng Shan was rescued from the prison. However, he was deprived of his status as a judge for making irresponsible remarks on government affairs.

Zeng Shan was disheartened and returned to his hometown in Quanzhou with all thoughts. He almost committed suicide. Yin Feng returned to Taiwan after fighting in the Battle of Manila. He saw his brother-in-law at the lowest ebb of his life. He suggested to Zeng Ke that he should let him go. Zeng Shan came to Zhonghua Company to help with work.

Zeng Ke and Yin Feng dragged Zeng Ke to visit various scenes in Taiwan Port. They visited the training equipment of the military camp and the navy's warships and cannons. Then Zeng Ke scolded Zeng Shan. Then he asked him: "What do you mean when you test for fame? Don't talk empty words. Most of you scholars who are obsessed with studying are villains who pay lip service but don't live up to the facts. There are many hypocrites in the court who are inconsistent with their appearance and their words and deeds. What's the use of reading too much. "

In the past few years, Zeng Shan's innocent soul has been repeatedly attacked. He said somewhat cynically: "The world is declining and we, the scholars, are powerless. The so-called morality in modern times is just fame; the so-called fame is just wealth."

"In that case, what Feng'er does is to seek big things and wealth. Why don't you come and help."

"The so-called morality in modern times is nothing more than fame; the so-called fame is nothing more than wealth." These are the words of Wang Yangming. The founder of mind science wrote cynical words in a letter to a friend. Zeng Shan had been extremely disappointed with the official career and his ideals in life were completely shattered. Therefore, he gave up on himself. Joined Yin Feng's businessman group.

The problem is that Zeng Shan is too bookish. He has never been exposed to business and trade. His ability to do practical work is really poor. The commercial and trade department that Zeng Jingshan is in charge of has a construction department, a material department, a transportation department, a money and grain department, a branch department, and an inspection department. There are many departments and departments such as arithmetic, hydraulic engineering, taxation, etc. Zeng Shan is good at none of them. It is really unfair to ask him to copy and write every day. He is not willing to teach literacy classes in Meng Xue. Yin Feng, who is distressed by this, is organizing When Ye Hua sent the European fleet, he specially arranged for Zeng Shan to join the fleet with Zeng Ke's consent. He asked him to serve as a secretary to record everything he saw and heard during the journey. At the same time, he also went overseas to broaden his horizons. Don't always read in the Four Books and Five Classics spinning around in the small frame.

Zeng Shan indeed had the desire to escape from the secular world. It would be good to leave the chaotic situation in the Ming Dynasty for a while. Therefore, Zeng Shan agreed to go to Europe on the ship without much hesitation.

The scene that created history unfolded before Yin Feng's eyes. The sensational scene of thousands of people was repeated again since Yin Feng's triumphal return from Manila. This time, there were about 1,000 Chinese sailors participating in the voyage. Portuguese, Dutch, British and Malay people There were more than 300 sailors, so there were also many foreigners who came to see him off. Almost all the foreigners living in Taiwan were present at the dock.

Yin Feng stood on the watchtower of the North Fort. He used his binoculars to watch the sails of the Feilong and other ships disappearing into the distance.

Lin Xiao went upstairs and stood gently behind him, holding a roll of paper in his hand.

Boom, boom, boom. The forts on the north and south sides of the harbor fired at the same time to see off Ye Hua's fleet on its long voyage.

"This is history. We are making history." You Wenhui stood on the other side of the observation tower. While sketching on the drawing board, he shook his head and sighed.

"If I were not the big owner of the company, I would definitely be a part of this fleet." Yin Feng sighed. He turned back to Lin Xiao and said: "Ye Hua has long wanted to see the outside world. I promised Now he has got his wish. I wish I could go to sea with him and travel across the world..."

Lin Xiao scratched his scalp and smiled: "Shipmaster, is that bigger and farther world you mentioned really so interesting? I think following you around all these years is really eye-opening. This world is so interesting to me. It’s said to be old enough.”

"Haha. The overseas world we have seen is not even one-tenth of the entire world." Yin Feng said with a smile.

"Why do we need to dock in Malacca? What should Li Dan do if he wants to go ashore?" Lin Xiao suddenly asked.

Yin Feng looked at the pile of documents that Lin Xiao brought. He pondered for a moment and said: "Brother Li will not betray me. Even if he meets with Li Huayu, he is not necessarily dealing with me. Leave him alone. Mai Xiaoliu has already Went to Malacca. He will watch Li Huayu. As for Yuan Jin and Li Zhong, you send someone to deliver a message to Xiaoliuzai. Once you find these two people, arrest them and try to capture them alive."

He looked through the work reports of the company's security department for a while; the official documents of the company, farm, army and various places under his rule were all written in half-written words. In order to adapt to the generally low cultural level of company employees, status quo.

"What? There was a conflict between the Ryukyu Chinese Merchant House and the local Japanese samurai." A report caught his attention.

"According to the report, that group of Japanese were the same group we drove away a month ago. The envoys of the Satsuma Domain."

After Yuuki Kayama and others left Taiwan Port in despair, they encountered several typhoons in succession. They originally wanted to stop at the coast of Taipei for rest. However, the Chinese Company had strengthened the defense of Jilongshui in advance and increased the number of patrol warships. Quantity. He just drove his fleet away from the Taipei area.

Kaguyama Yuuki's fleet lost another ship halfway. The remaining ships were damaged to varying degrees and had to temporarily dock in Ryukyu. In order to repair the ship and replenish supplies, they went ashore to ask for various supplies from the Ryukyu people. But at the moment, there are nearly 20 Chinese merchant ships taking shelter in Ryukyu. Many ships also need repairs and supplies. Most of these ships belong to the China United Company. They have a very close relationship with the King of Ryukyu and the civil servants, so they can get supplies first. Satsuma The people of the feudal clan were used to running amok in Ryukyu. After waiting for several days, they became impatient. They called directly on the door and sent people to grab wood from the Chunghwa Company's wharf. As a result, they had a fight with the Chunghwa Company's sailors.

In terms of personal combat effectiveness, most of the Chinese sailors were not as good as the Japanese samurai. The sailors of the Chinese Company who suffered a loss at the beginning took out the muskets and crossbows in the bottom cabin and began to form a formation to deal with the samurai. As a result, the samurai's advantage was reversed. They were quickly defeated on the dock. Hundreds of people were killed or injured. Fights also occurred between merchant sailors from non-Chinese companies and Japanese people. Even the Ryukyu sailors and dock guards were involved in the group fight. Of course, they all sided with China. On the company's side, it was not until the Ryukyu Kingdom King's Guard arrived that the commotion was stopped.

Subsequently, the Satsuma Domain's fleet received corresponding supplies as a priority and was sent away as gifts by the Ryukyu people. There were many casualties among the Chunghwa Company. However, the Ryukyu Kingdom took the initiative to send people to express condolences and also provided pensions.

"It seems that the Ryukyu people still want to have two boats." Yin Feng shook his head and sighed: "It seems that we have to turn our attention to the north."


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