At this time, everyone realized that the Fujian merchant ship that was damaged at the beginning was missing and had probably escaped.
If there are no accidents, the three ships will sail east together and then separate near the Penghu Islands. When they are about to set sail, Mai Dahai on the Siamese ship shouts: "Ship owner! Ship owner! There are our people on board!"
It turned out that Cutre's Portuguese mercenary brothers found more than 20 Chinese people in the bottom cabin of the Eunice. They were all tied into rice dumplings and thrown there. Fortunately, most of them were not injured, but they had been starved for two days.
.They were taken to the Xinxing, and Yin Feng discovered that one of them was one of the earliest Yazhou Danmin sailors. He was the captain of the "Taixing" ship No. 15 of the Merchant Fleet of the China United Company: in charge of sail cables and canvas
The sailor's head is named Fang Wei.
"Captain, avenge our brothers!" When he saw Yin Feng, he fell to his knees and cried bitterly. Suddenly, he saw the Dutch prisoner on the side of the deck. He got up in anger and snatched it from the hands of the sailor brothers beside him.
With a short knife, he rushed towards the Dutch prisoner. No one noticed it for a while. It was not until he stabbed randomly in the Dutch crowd with the short knife that they all hurriedly stepped forward to catch him.
"Oh! God! You can't do this, we have surrendered!" the Dutch prisoner covered the wound on his arm and shouted in Portuguese.
Yin Feng stepped forward angrily and gave the yelling guy a kick that knocked half of his teeth out of his mouth. He grabbed the Dutch prisoner by the collar and punched him within 10 centimeters, covering him with blood.
His face said sternly: "You are pirates and criminals, do you understand?"
He left the Dutchman who was frightened half to death, turned back to the enemy guard and said: "Don't worry, these red-haired barbarians killed our people and robbed our ships. Sooner or later this revenge will be saved!"
Merchant Ship No. 15 was sent to Pattani for trade at the beginning of the year, and was also tasked with opening a Chinese company's business store in Pattani. Everything was going smoothly at first. Pattani is a vassal state of Siam and has always been very welcoming to the Chinese.
It has great influence there; both the customs commissioner and the commercial director were Chinese. Therefore, the business office was quickly established. After the Taixing ship on the 15th returned to Taiwan, it would be the first to set up an overseas business office and get the company.
of commendations.
The three ships continued to set sail. Since only half of the sails of the Eunice could be used and the Siamese ship was also slower, the three-masted Xinxing ship had a great speed advantage. Yin Feng was in a hurry to go to Penghu and soon joined the others.
The boats pulled away.
Around the end of July in the Western calendar, the Xinxing came to Magong Port, which is located between Penghu Island, Baisha Island and Xiyu Island. This is the best natural harbor in the Penghu Islands. After Yin Feng took people ashore, he found that in addition to the fishing village next to Mazu Palace
Apart from hundreds of fishermen, the barracks of the Penghu Inspection Department's flood soldiers were empty. The flood soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had withdrawn.
The fishermen on the island cannot be considered permanent residents. Although the villagers on Penghu Island graze a lot of cattle and sheep, these villagers are all fishermen from Quanzhou on the other side. They come during the fishing season and return in winter. Contrary to their schedules,
The flood troops of the Ming Dynasty came to Penghu to patrol Penghu in spring and winter; the spring flood lasted ten days before Qingming and stayed for three months; the winter flood lasted ten days before Frost's Descent and stayed for two months. The source of flood troops was Wuyu Island.
Water Village (Shen Yourong's territory), officers and soldiers selected from Tongshan Water Village.
The Flood Troopers and the Inspection Department are both coastal defense forces and police station-like agencies without administrative jurisdiction, so the residents of the Penghu Islands live in a state of anarchy most of the year.
Yin Feng stood outside the Mazu Palace and looked at the dilapidated temples and the desolate scenery surrounded by thatch. He couldn't help but sigh. He said to Lin Xiao and Chen Zhongji: "Look at the desolation here. Who would have thought that this Penghu Island was in the Yuan Dynasty?"
At that time, there were thousands of permanent residents.”
Chen Zhongji hurriedly said: "Yes, I heard my grandfather talk about the migration to the sea and the virtual land in the early days of the People's Republic of China. He said that the imperial court ordered the residents of the Thirty-six Islands in Penghu to move within a three-day period, and those who failed to move within the time limit would die. At that time, Penghu Island
The people were in a hurry and there were not enough boats, so they used wooden doors and wooden beds as rafts to cross the sea, and many people drowned... I heard that my cousin's mother-in-law was a resident of Penghu Island back then."
What Chen is talking about is the policy of relocating coastal island residents in Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang in 1384 in order to implement the "Sea Ban". This policy at that time left the land cultivated by generations of coastal islanders barren and accumulated over the years.
Their family property was destroyed, and even the migration process was very barbaric. Moreover, this move turned China's coastal islands into uninhabited and unmanaged wastelands, and coastal defense measures were ineffective. In the end, they became pirates and Western colonizers.
resting place.
Lin Xiao was surprised: "I thought this place has always been a wasteland, a place where no one lives. Oh, captain, how do those red-haired barbarians know this place? Do they really come back here?"
Yin Feng sneered: "They heard about it from the Folangji people. The Folangji people came here around the Jiajing period and found that the local waters were rich in fish and there were many fishermen living on the island, so they called Penghu the Fisherman's Island.
(Pescadores), Pescadores Island. The red-haired barbarians will definitely come here this year. If these red-haired pirates are allowed to occupy this place, our company's business will be greatly affected."
Yin Feng led people to occupy an open space next to Mazu Palace, cut down trees and erected a fence, enclosing a large area of land, and set up the Chinese United Company's blue background Chinese flag at the opening of the fence.
He left behind the bold Lin Xiao and the clever Mai Xiaoliu, leading 50 Dan sailors to set up camp here, and also left 6 Portuguese mercenaries to assist in the defense.
Two days later, the Zhonghua Company’s Penghu trading station began to take shape, and simple shacks were built. The local Quanzhou fishermen heard that the Zhonghua Company in Dongpan had set up a warehouse here, and recognized the sailors as their own, so they came over on their own initiative.
Help - because the company’s boss, Yin Feng, is from Quanzhou!
Well! The son-in-law who is from Quanzhou is also from Quanzhou, right? Didn’t Yin Dadong’s family come here?
Yin Feng had no choice but to drink and get drunk with the local fishermen's leader for several nights in a row. He dealt with the fishermen without any pretensions, which made everyone very happy. They patted their chests and said: If the red-haired barbarians come, we will definitely help.
The people from the Chinese Commercial Bank drove them into the sea! The fishermen always found the term "company" difficult to pronounce, so they liked to call the "China United Company" the Chinese Commercial Bank.
On the third day, the Xinxing left Penghu and headed for Taiwan. Yin Feng left a message to Lin Xiao and Mai Xiaoliu: "Try not to start a war with the red-haired barbarians. Once a war breaks out, take out the captured flag of the Eunice."
, let the red-haired barbarians throw a rat-proof weapon. In short, they used various methods to delay time and waited for Yin Feng to lead reinforcements from Taiwan.
Yin Feng rushed back to Taiwan, where there were countless things waiting for him to do.
A printing workshop has been opened in Taiwan, the company's stock has been printed, and the stock price has been split into 500 taels per share so that more people can buy shares.
There are hundreds of ships moored in the port, including merchant ships, fishing boats, and merchant ships from Ryukyu and Siam. Taiwan's port city has begun to take shape. After Yin Feng returned, he began to let craftsmen from Quanzhou try to bake bricks.
, ready to build the city wall.
Within two months of leaving Taiwan, another 50 merchant ships from various parts of Fujian had joined the Chinese merchant fleet. The shipyard in Tainan Port was busy remodeling the appearance of these ships, with a blue bow and a Chinese flag on a blue background, and every merchant ship must
10 sets of swords, guns and crossbows each. All sailors must be trained at the China United Company's seamen's school: learn the unified China Company's maritime fleet semaphore, as well as world geography classes taught by the former captain of the Xinxing, Barreto Jr., and advanced astronomical navigation knowledge.
There are differences between China and the West. Yin Feng had not yet thought about how to teach, so he let the combat training on the ship take up a large part of his time.
The company stipulates that shareholders who invest in ships can continue to operate their own ships, and in addition to the company's goods, they can also transport goods for others, but they must pay the company an annual management fee, so that if something happens, the company can come forward and take responsibility.
Compensation or recovery of property.
This policy is imitated by the later Zheng Zhilong fleet's method of planting a flag as its name and paying protection fees; however, Yin Feng strengthened his control over these ships. In addition to the two-month training for the crew, each ship is in charge of the financial revenue and expenditure.
The general manager of the ship must be an employee sent by the company. If the company is transporting goods and there is a natural disaster, the owner of the ship does not need to compensate. Of course, if it is caused by man-made reasons, it is a different matter. The general manager posted by the company on the ship is also responsible for supervision. Each ship
The ship must also unconditionally accept the internship of trainee crew members from the seafarer school.
At that time, many of the private overseas merchant ships along the coast were jointly built with funds raised by many small shareholders. The cargo space was allocated in the cabin space in proportion to the amount of capital invested. All costs and expenses were shared by all investors. In the event of a natural or man-made disaster, almost no one would be able to survive.
Competitive ability. Compared with becoming a member of the company's fleet after becoming a shareholder, the income is stable, the risk of sailing is greatly reduced, and the company shares dividends; most small businessmen and ship owners quickly accepted this provision.
There is another key factor: the legendary Jinghai Gang pirates are actually the warship fleet of the China United Company. The small ship owners are not stupid, and of course they know what this means.
The commercial and trade situation that Yin Feng is concerned about is handled by three business executives, Zeng Jingshan and Han Ping and his son. Zeng Jingshan is responsible for the trade northward to Japan, Ryukyu, Korea and other places; Han Ping and his son are responsible for the trade in Southeast Asia and other places. This year, we will send more orders to these places.
Most of the merchant ships dispatched have not had time to return, and the status of trade income is unknown.
Yin Feng checked the information he copied and estimated that last year and the beginning of this year, due to the Dutch robberies in Southeast Asia and the impact of the Manila Massacre, the goods sent from China to various ports were much less than in previous years. Judging from the situation in Macau:
As long as you can ship freight out of China, you can basically get a good price.
Last year, floods and storms occurred frequently in Fujian. Countless farmers and fishermen along the coast lost their land, crops, fishing boats, and the production tools they relied on for a living, and became refugees. The Fujian government was forced to go to Manila due to the lack of mining supervisors and tax envoys.
The merchant ships were cut off, customs tax revenue was greatly reduced, and there was no way to rescue the victims. Yin Feng took the opportunity to recruit a large number of landless farmers in Quanzhou to settle in Taiwan on the conditions of providing each person with a cow, 5 shi of rice, and free farm tools; at the same time, he also used
The recruitment method found a large number of landless and shipless refugees to come to Taiwan to work as cheap labor for the company to build cities and ports, or to work in shipyards and various craftsman workshops.
Weapons production is what Yin Feng is most concerned about, but the progress is very slow and difficult. This is what Yin Feng is most distressed about. Although he bought weapons from Siam, only a quarter of the more than 1,200 people in the escort team can use it.
Owning firearms, weapon repairs and ammunition supplies are a big problem.