The villagers of Fandi Village, the servants of the Zeng family, and the group of pirates were fighting with each other. However, although the group of pirates was large in number, they did not seem to have any intention of hurting anyone, and they just surrounded each other.
Yin Feng took out his revolver, raised his hand and pulled the trigger.
The gun didn't go off, and Yin Feng held the gun high in embarrassment, maintaining this posture. Zeng Jingshan rushed forward at some point and said loudly: "Hurry up and light the match!"
Yin Feng was even more embarrassed and said bitterly: "This kind of handgun does not require a match rope." Then he pulled the trigger hard, but still no sound.
Zeng Jingshan didn't believe that a gun could be fired without a match rope even if he was beaten to death. He took out a fire sickle from his arms and handed it to Yin Feng: "Master Yin, light the fire quickly!"
Yin Feng broke into a cold sweat and decided to try again. If it didn't work, he would throw away this useless thing.
"Bang!" The gun finally went off.
Yin Feng's hand trembled and he almost dropped the pistol. He had no experience in using a classical pistol. The gunpowder was obviously too much, and the spring leaf was a little loose after not using it for a long time. However, because there was too much gunpowder, the sound was very loud after firing.
Zeng Jingshan on the side was so frightened that he sat down on the ground. He never expected that this weird handgun could be fired without an open flame.
The noisy crowd suddenly fell silent. Yin Feng took the torch from a nearby villager and strode towards the pirate group.
"Who is the leader of your affairs? Come out and speak!"
He saw that most of the pirates in front of him were in rags and had sallow complexions. They looked more like refugees than local villagers. This completely destroyed his good imagination of pirates in the Ming Dynasty. He thought of Wang Zhi, Li Dayong and Lin Guoxian, Xu Dong and
Xu Chaoguang, the "Flying Dragon Lord" Zhang Lian, Wu Ping, Zeng Yiben, Lin Daoqian and Lin Feng (the above are celebrities in the history of Chinese pirates in the Ming Dynasty), all commanded thousands of miles of sea territory, often with thousands of sails, and their leaders were richly dressed.
Gai claimed the title of king and hegemony, owned countless gold and silver treasures, and was a man of great ability who was frightened by the officers and soldiers.
But the group of local pirates in front of them is almost a collection of beggars. Even the weapons in their hands are only harpoons and clubs. There are very few swords and guns, let alone firearms. Moreover, several of them have brown skin and slightly curly hair.
, are obviously the characteristics of Southeast Asian Malays. Yin Feng thought: "It's still a transnational pirate gang!"
"I am everyone's second driver, who are you?" A big man stood out from the crowd, with a full beard that made it difficult for people to see his age.
"Second driver?" Yin Feng didn't understand. At the same time, Zeng Jingshan came forward and said: "The second driver is the second boss, that's what the slang in the world says."
"I was sent by the Zeng family to redeem people. Are you Li Mao's people?"
The big man grinned: "Did you bring food? We made it clear..."
It seems that they care more about food than money. Yin Feng secretly sneered, waved his hand and said: "They are all on the cart at the back. You can take everyone back and send someone to collect them. I
We have to see if the second young master of the Zeng family is safe."
The bearded man's accent was obviously from Jiangsu. This group of pirates really came from all over the world.
The big man ordered his men to retreat while looking sideways at Yin Feng: "Boy, aren't you tied to your feet?"
"Stuck?" Yin Feng couldn't understand again. He loaded ammunition for his pistol and looked back at Zeng Jingshan.
"Jiujiao is a slang term in Jianghu, which refers to the servants of the government." Zeng Jingshan translated in time.
"of course not!"
When he was taken aboard the pirate ship by several pirates, the person sitting on the bow of the ship was actually a black man! That’s right, he was a black man. He had shiny black skin, curly hair and a broad nose under the moonlight. He was a typical black African! Xiao Yin Feng
Xiao was surprised, and a little pirate who was not older than thirteen or fourteen said: "This is the black ghost our master rescued at sea, and he said he is a Kunlun slave."
This black African was probably a slave of Portugal or Spain. Yin Feng asked casually: "What is he doing on the ship?"
"Having been on the ship for half a year, he has a language barrier and doesn't understand anything he says. But fortunately, he has great strength, which is useful for lifting heavy objects." The little pirate next to him was very willing to talk to Yin Feng, and the "second driver" patted him.
His head cursed: "Talk too much, go and call the elder brother!"
At this time, Yin Feng found that the crew was carrying food. Some people couldn't wait to grab the grains and stuff them into their mouths. Some people shouted: "Let's start a fire and cook!" It seemed that they had been hungry for several days.
The little pirate quickly rushed into the cabin. After a while, under the light of several torches, Zeng Yue and a man of medium build, about 40 years old, appeared on the deck of the ship. Zeng Yue looked haggard, but he was not tied up and seemed to be unharmed.
.
The strange thing is that the two appeared together and seemed to be chatting. There was no sworn relationship. Could it be Stockholm Syndrome?
Zeng Yue saw Yin Feng, smiled bitterly and said, "I guess it's you too." He turned to the rough yet shrewd middle-aged man and said, "This is Mr. Yin Feng who has returned from the West."
He introduced to Yin Feng: "This is the owner of our ship, Zeng Erjiao." He coughed and said: "My distant brother..."
"Brother" is a Chaozhou dialect term, which means elder brother. Although Yin Feng expected that these pirates were related to the Zeng family, he did not expect that it was not only the union of officials and thieves, but also the relationship between the officials and thieves' family.
Zeng Erjiao cupped his hands and said, "It happened for a reason. We were forced by the government to take this step."
Zeng Yue was kidnapped on the official road near the sea on the way to Wanzhou. Zeng Erjiao and his gang were long-standing pirates, and indeed they were partners of Li Mao and his gang. Zeng started his business from his hometown of Chaozhou, and worked with many people on the sea.
Other tycoons, either divided or combined, have been haunting the southeastern coastal area for more than 20 years. They are both merchants and thieves, and often do business with the Zengqi family, which has moved to Quanzhou.
Since the opening of Yuegang, Macao's trade has flourished, and it has become increasingly difficult for pirates to do business along the coast. All the major merchants have prepared their own ships to directly trade overseas, and the pirates' re-export business market has become smaller and smaller; in addition,
The last glory of the Jiajing Japanese pirate era, after Lin Feng's fleet failed to attack Manila in Luzon, it was jointly suppressed by the Spaniards and the Ming Dynasty officials, and finally had to flee Nanyang. As a result, Zeng Erjiao's fleet lost its cover and became
He became a thorn in the side of various giant overseas merchants and the government, and was completely reduced to a pirate who robbed families and homes.
In recent years, they have flown the flag of Zeng Benben and Lin Feng. After being driven to Hainan Island by the Guangdong army, they took the name Li Maoyu Party. However, not only were they attacked by the government, but their original partners, the Portuguese
Also started to attack them.
After the merger of Spain and Portugal, the King of Spain ordered that no re-export trade be allowed between the colonial ports of Spain and Portugal. At this time, the Portuguese had gradually lost the courageous pioneering spirit that they had when they first came to the Far East, and were content to keep the port of Macau and Macau.
-Malacca-India-Europe are important trade routes. Therefore, the Portuguese used the papal edict dividing Spanish and Portuguese forces and the charter of King Philip of Spain to monopolize these routes and attack pirates from various countries who threatened the trade routes. At the same time, they also attacked those who
Chinese merchant ships attempting to trade with other countries.
This era was a period of decline in the entire Northwest Pacific, the traditional activity area of Chinese pirates.
Before coming to Yazhou, the pirate gang composed of the two ships of the Zeng family had been hunted by the government for many days, and they did not even have the time to go ashore to grab food. They fled from the coast of Guangdong to Yazhou and stayed in this area for more than 200 years.
Li Xu, evading pursuit in numerous well-developed harbors.
In the past, before Zeng Qi became an official in Yazhou, Zeng Erjiao's pirate gang had maintained a secret trade relationship with the Zeng family. After Zeng Qi took office in Yazhou four years ago, Zeng Erjiao's gang came twice to bring Zeng home.
The goods of the family are sold in Malacca. Zeng Erjiao originally planned to do this kind of smuggling business again, so he quit and went to Nanyang to retire. However, this year, all the merchants in the Zeng family and Yazhou stopped selling goods to him.
Because they are all waiting for the Western ships that will arrive in January next year to trade directly, which will be more profitable and they will no longer need to be middlemen. Therefore, it has been half a month since Zeng Erjiao and others came to Yazhou.
Not a single deal was concluded. They didn't dare to go ashore to plunder, for fear of alerting the officials and being hunted down.
Therefore, in the end they almost became refugees at sea, and dozens of them went ashore without permission to break up the group. Forced, Zeng Erjiao had no choice but to operate on his distant relatives, kidnap people and extort money, get a little bit, and then run away.
Go to Nanyang. In the past few days, Zeng Erjiao and his gang have been hiding in a small bay on the edge of Yulin Port. They have also sent local accomplices ashore to collect supplies, but they have not gained much.
Now this group of pirates was unloading the food that the Zeng family had brought to redeem people, loading it onto the ship, and at the same time eagerly lighting a fire to cook. After listening to Mr. Jiao's intermittent and confusing chronology, Yin Feng couldn't help but sympathize. He couldn't help but feel sympathy.
He sighed and said, "What are Master Jiao's plans now?"
"My font size is considered to be at fault. After I finish this vote, I will go to Nanyang. I just don't know what the situation in Nanyang is like."
Yin Feng enthusiastically suggested: "Go to Malacca, or go south to Banten and Old Port. There are Dutch people there, even the red-haired barbarians, who are doing business and need all the Chinese. As long as I go to Ming Dynasty to do business,
To work on the ground, they want it all.”
He took out a piece of paper from his arms with some Portuguese words on it. "Here is a famous merchant from Malacca. They have business contacts all over the world. You can go to him for help."
Zeng Erjiao was overjoyed, and he took the new Christian Bernardo's note in surprise - it was originally the contact address Bernardo left for Yin Feng - and said in a trembling voice: "Is this person reliable?"
"Don't worry, as long as you tell me my name, he will receive you. Their family is a famous family in Malacca."
Zeng Erjiao summoned a Malay waiter and said, "Ah Er, look what's written on it."
The young Malay pirate took the note in embarrassment, looked at it, scratched his scalp, and said in Cantonese with a weird accent: "This is the writing of the Folangji people. I can't understand it. I can't recognize a few characters."
of……"
"Go to hell, you useless thing." Master Jiao pushed away the Malay pirates, turned around and said with a smile: "It's a Western word, that's right, I believe you."
Yin Feng thought to himself: What an old pirate, he acts so carefully...
"I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, Brother Yin. I will repay you if you have the opportunity in the future!" Zeng Erjiao stood up and said to Zeng Yue: "Brother, don't blame me for acting recklessly. There is really nothing I can do about it. Now,
You can leave. Go back and tell your second uncle that if I leave this time, I won’t trouble him again, and the grudges will be settled from now on."
Zeng Yue sighed, silently clasped his fists in salute, and nodded to Yin Feng: "Brother Yin, I'm sorry."
Just as the two were about to get off the boat, there was a commotion on the boat, and a group of people were dragged out from the low cabin. These people were tied together with ropes. There were about ten people, and some people kept struggling and resisting.
The pirates who were carrying food to the bottom of the cabin stepped forward one after another, punching and kicking them.
Zeng Yue saw Yin Feng standing and frowning, worried that his sense of justice would overflow again, so he quickly grabbed him and whispered: "These are the people that Lord Jiao is going to Nanyang to sell, you can't save them! Leave quickly!"
!”
Indeed, during this period, both Chinese and foreign pirates were also engaged in the business of human trafficking. Like the kidnapping business conducted by Zeng Erjiao and his gang, if the corresponding ransom was not obtained, the kidnapped meat tickets might be sold to Southeast Asia.
Go to port cities and become slaves of Western colonists or Southeast Asian natives.
Yin Feng's sense of justice from another time and space made him completely unable to accept this kind of human trafficking, but now he had nothing to do. He shook his head and said: "These are all people of the Ming Dynasty, are they being sold to Nanyang like this?"
Suddenly a shrill scream came from the "living cargo", and Yin Feng couldn't help but trembled; on the night when the Portuguese landed in Yazhou to look for food, he had heard this shrill scream before, in Da Dan Port.
I heard it outside Uncle Mai's house.
Yin Feng pulled out his revolver, turned around and ran towards the boat. Zeng Yue failed to hold him back and stamped his feet in a hurry. He had no choice but to follow him and run back.
"Stop!" Yin Feng shouted, kicked away the Malay pirate who was beating Mai Wan'er, and held a gun to the head of the "second driver" - the bearded man who was drawing a knife: "Be careful with the musket!"
"Stop!" Zeng Erjiao was shouting. He separated from the crowd and walked to Yin Feng. The pirates surrounded Yin Feng in the center.
Yin Feng pushed the bearded man away, put down his gun and said, "Master Jiao, you can't take this girl away."
The bearded man was furious: "We're going to hit you, it's your fault, you..." Master Jiao raised his hand, and the bearded man immediately shut up.
(Hands-on: Ming Dynasty lingo refers to the buying and selling of young women)
Zeng Erjiao looked at the shivering girl behind Yin Feng and frowned: "This is Dadangang Dantou's daughter. Mai Dantou and I still have some unsettled accounts, so I tied her up.
"
He waved his hand and asked the pirates to stand back: "I regard you as a friend. As long as you tell me a reason, I can let you go."
"The Mai family is kind to me. They are my saviors. I can't watch their girls being sold to Nanyang." Yin Feng took out a few silver coins from his arms: "Master Jiao, I know that you are in trouble right now."
If you are stuck in the shallows and life is difficult, I will not let you suffer any loss. I will pay for how much money you need to ransom someone."
Zeng Erjiao nodded: "Okay, you know how to repay your kindness and are loyal; so I don't want your money, so let's take this Mai family's lackey. Let me know the old man Mai; the 50 taels of pearls, next time
Accept it from him again." (Zouzai: the meaning of daughter in Chaozhou dialect)
…
The sky was dimming, and the Zeng family had experienced a tense night. Now they were standing on the beach of Fandi Village, watching two shabby pirate ships sailing towards the end of the world.
Yin Feng watched the blue sea gradually unfold in the morning light, and the few sail shadows on the endless water gradually disappeared. This vast South China Sea is now a paradise for Western adventurers to travel freely, and the world before Yin Feng traveled through
However, the South China Sea does not live up to its name and has not completely become a sea of China.
Yin Feng's dream of getting rich also rests on this sea.
"There is a man in the sea!" Suddenly, a servant of the Zeng family shouted, and everyone looked towards a reef: Sure enough, a figure was standing up from the sea, covered in black.
It was the black man on Zeng Erjiao's pirate ship.