In the early summer of the 21st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan.
On the cold sea, several ships with full sails took advantage of the night to leave Wuqi, a small fishing port in central Taiwan. These large ships carried most of the Lin clan in Wufeng away from their hometown where they had lived for generations.
The moonlight is not over yet
Lonely and quiet around
The cold light on the table is unclear
Sitting alone with me in pain and loneliness
Thousands of miles apart, no news
I have never asked, but I have no proof
Please send the message to the bright moon
Send me a piece of paper to express my condolences...
The sea breeze outside the ship was gusting, and in the dark cabin, silver light flashed on the sea from time to time. A young man in black sat by the window, staring at the waning moon in the sky in a daze alone, and he hummed this song softly without knowing why.
A song comes.
Unknowingly, two lines of clear tears flowed down his cheeks. Lin Shuo let out a long sigh. The world is so big, but he can never tell others what is on his mind! It has been nearly two years, and his soul has inexplicably changed from the age of twenty-one.
In the middle of the century, in the late Qing Dynasty, I possessed the body of this young man with the same name as myself, and gradually merged with his thoughts and emotions. In this life and this life, I don’t know what it means to me to have the memories of two lives at the same time.
Is it luck or misfortune?
In my past life, I remember that I was a diver of the Fuzhou Underwater Archaeological Team, and participated in the underwater exploration work of the National Underwater Archaeological Institute many times. Lin Shuo, who likes to repair machines and electrical appliances, has been tinkering with electrical appliances since he was a child.
Sometimes he is also responsible for all the instruments and equipment in the underwater archaeological team.
Operation, repair and maintenance. While conducting an underwater survey of an ancient Ming Dynasty sunken ship in the waters near Xiamen, I was hit by a strange blue light. When I woke up again, my soul possessed the Lin family in Wufeng, Taiwan during the Guangxu period.
Inside the body of a young man with the same name as himself who fell into the sea after falling into the sea.
The Lin family in Wufeng, located in Taichung, started its business with Lin Jiayin, the third generation, which is only one character different from Lin Yingyin, the first generation of the Banqiao Lin family who moved to Taiwan. Lin Jiayin was born in the 47th year of Qianlong's reign, and his father Lin Xun passed away in the same year.
22 years old. Later, due to the "Lin Shuangwen Rebellion", the family business was greatly affected. The Lin family moved from Dali Township to Wufeng.
Under the auspices of the government, land was opened up and homes were rebuilt. Lin Jiayin understood the current affairs, cultivated fields, felled trees and burned charcoal, bought property and started a business. The family business gradually prospered, and he earned 4,000 shi of rice a year, becoming a wealthy man. At this time, the Lin family owned nearly 3,000 hectares of land.
He can be described as a super landowner. In order to commemorate Lin Jiayin, later generations established "Jiayin Village" in Wufeng.
In December of the 18th year of Daoguang's reign, Lin Jiayin passed away at the age of 57. His sons Lin Dingbang and Lin Dianguo inherited the ancestral business and carried it forward. When the property was divided, Lin Dingbang was assigned 1,700 hectares as the eldest son, and Lin Dianguo was assigned 900 hectares.
At that time, Taiwan was in the era of reclamation, and robberies and armed fights occurred from time to time. Lin Dingbang was killed in a conflict, and his second son Lin Wenming was captured. Dingbang's eldest son Lin Wencha avenged his father, killed the murderer Monk Lin, and rescued his younger brother Lin Wenming.
Then he surrendered to the government, but was valued by the Qing Dynasty and used it to deal with civil strife and let him lead the people
He defeated the bandits in Keelung, and later suppressed the bandits in central Fujian. He was highly used, and was appointed as the admiral of the Feng Shui Division. He supervised Taiwan's military affairs with the rank of general. Later, Lin Wencha died in a battle with Li Shixian of the Taiping Army. He was praised by Zuo Zongtang. Lin Wencha
After Wen Cha died, the Qing government granted the prince the title of Shaobao, rewarded him with the rank of Cavalry Commander, and allowed him to build a special temple in Zhangzhou.
After Lin Wencha's death, his younger brother Lin Wenming was assassinated by Wang Wenqi, the magistrate of Changhua. At that time, the Lin family was a wealthy family in Changhua, with more than 3,000 "family braves". However, Lin's mother blocked the request and did not take revenge. Instead, they attacked the Qing government in Beijing.
After eight years of unsuccessful litigation, the Lin family began to decline.
Lin Dianguo's third son, Lin Wenqin, the father of Lin Xiantang, not only inherited the Lin family's legacy of cultivating crops and practicing martial arts, but also had the ambition to be useful in the world. When the French army invaded Taiwan in the 10th year of Guangxu's reign, Lin Wenqin not only led the troops to support the official army, but also
Providing grain and grass equipment, cousin Lin Wencha
His son Lin Chaodong also led troops to fight against the French army. At the critical moment, Lin Chaodong's wife Yang Shuiping led her family generals and more than 3,000 Xiangyong people to go north to support, and defeated the French army in Keelung. The reputation of the Lin family in Taiwan was even higher. Mrs. Yang of the Lin family was later eliminated by the Qing Dynasty.
The court granted her the title of first-class lady.
In the eleventh year of Guangxu's reign, Liu Mingchuan was appointed governor of Taiwan. Due to his support for Liu during the Anti-French War, Liu Mingchuan placed great emphasis on the Lin family and appointed Lin Chaodong as director of the Reclamation Bureau to preside over the reclamation work in Taiwan. Due to the large amount of land developed,
Baili, outstanding achievements
Afterwards, the Qing court awarded him the title of "Jingyong Batulu". Soon, Liu Mingchuan granted Lin Chaodong the exclusive right to sell camphor in Taiwan and allowed the Lin family to cultivate land in the central mountain line and sea line. The Lin family began to enter the modern era of industrial management.
From this he became a generation of wealthy people.
When the peace talks in Shimonoseki began, news came out that the Qing government was going to cede Taiwan. Lin Chaodong convened a public meeting among the tribesmen. The old lady made a decisive decision to migrate the tribesmen within the country and moved the family to Xiamen. After Lin Chaodong escorted his mother and family members to settle in Xiamen, he hurriedly
Return to Taiwan.
After the Sino-French War, Liu Mingchuan reorganized Lin Chaodong's unit into the Dongjun, which was affiliated to the Huai Army system. It was initially set up with three battalions, and later expanded to six battalions. It was responsible for local security and peace in Taichung, and was provided with food and salary by the Fu Office. The Lin family's "
Jiayong" suddenly transformed into a regular army of the imperial court.
Because he had the memory of the young man also named Lin Shuo, Lin Shuo did not behave particularly abnormally after being rescued. He was very careful to hide himself. In the eyes of others, the third young master of the Lin family was just because of the disaster of life and death.
, his temperament changed drastically, he became taciturn and acted cautiously.
Lin Shuo's father passed away when he was six or seven years old, so he lived with his mother. Fortunately, the family business was managed by his uncle and great-uncle, and his grandmother regarded him as the apple of her eye since he was a child. As the Lin family grew increasingly prosperous, so did his family.
The property in the house's name also turned into hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
The Lin family started out with military exploits. The younger members of the family have been practicing martial arts since they were young. Lin Shuo's body is quite strong. When he was twelve years old, he joined the Dongjun Army to train like his elder brothers. When he was fifteen years old, he followed his uncle
Start learning how to run the family business.
Since his rebirth, Lin Shuo has gradually revealed his special talents in business. At the age of sixteen, his elder brother Lin Chaodong finally felt comfortable leaving the three-bedroom property to him to take care of alone.
When Lin Shuo first took charge of the family business, he caught up with the Sino-Japanese War during the Sino-Japanese War.
From the memories of later generations, Lin Shuo already knew the outcome of the war, and that Taiwan would be easily ceded to Japan by the repressive court. But what was the use of knowing it? A sixteen-year-old boy was powerless to change all of this.
As an archaeological team member in his previous life, Lin Shuo had quite a wealth of historical knowledge. Although some specific details were not very clear, the general trend was still very clear. According to the original historical trajectory, Taiwan was ceded after the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894, and Wufeng
The Lin family moved to the mainland. A few years later, the Japanese confiscated most of the Lin family's property in Taiwan. The story of the Lin family's wealth in Taiwan would end here.
But this life was a little different because of his existence. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Lin Shuo began to sell most of the properties under his name into cash, and later used the Lin family to control most of the camphor business in Fujian and Taiwan.
The powerful began to hoard camphor in large quantities. Because as the world's main camphor producing area, Taiwan's camphor production could not return to normal within two or three years of the war. Due to the sharp drop in production, the entire camphor market is bound to skyrocket. The only thing Lin Shuo can do now
I just want to take advantage of this opportunity to get more money from foreigners.
Sometimes when he looked at the muzzle-loading guns equipped by Dong Jun, which used iron drills to load bullets from the muzzles, he also wanted to have this army replace them with advanced breech-loading repeating rifles, but this idea did not work for Lin Chaodong.
First, each of the latest breech-loading guns with bullets costs forty-six, seven taels of silver on the market. Dongjun has more than 4,000 people. Replacing all breech-loading guns with bullets costs nearly two hundred thousand taels of silver. Lin Chaodong is reluctant to spend so much money.
The price. Secondly, the weapons in Dongjun's hands are more than enough to take care of local security. If they are replaced with the latest guns and ammunition, it is quite suspected of "rebellion". The imperial court can treat this "private army" composed of rural warriors.
I'm really not very reassured.
Lin Shuo also wanted to quietly order thousands of rifles from foreigners like in some novels, but later found that this road was not feasible at all. First of all, rifles and artillery are prohibited items, and inspections at sea are very strict, so large transactions can only
It is almost impossible for the government or the army to purchase it privately. Even if it can be smuggled, it can only be a small part of the quantity. Moreover, for a young man to buy thousands of rifles for no reason is too shocking in itself to be done.
The possibility of losing your head if someone reports you is quite high.
The future is long, so why rush for the moment? Lin Shuo could only console himself in this way.
Logically speaking, his life is quite valuable, but if it falls into the hands of the Japanese, he will lose a lot of money. The only thing he can do now is to hoard as much camphor as possible.
The imperial court has begun peace talks with the Japanese, and there is news that Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula will be ceded to the Japanese. The Lin family discussed the future, and the old lady of the Lin family decisively decided to move her family to the mainland. The Lin family is in Xiamen
There are a lot of industries in the ancestral areas such as Hezhou and Zhangzhou, so you don't have to worry too much about your future life.
Thinking of the future, Lin Shuo didn't sleep much all night. After dawn, the fleet arrived in Xiamen, and everyone began to get busy settling in. After Lin Shuo paid his respects to his grandmother, he found Lin Chaodong again.
Now Lin Chaodong is sitting in the lobby of his new house on Gulangyu Island. Because he damaged one eye while practicing martial arts when he was young, he wears a black eyepatch on his head. His appearance is very much like a legendary Western pirate, with a shining light in his single eye, which is daunting.
"Uncle, are you going back to Taiwan?" Lin Shuo asked knowingly.
Lin Chaodong looked at Lin Shuo and said: "You also know the current situation. Either we all become Japanese slaves, or we take up swords and guns to defend our country to the death like we did in the past! Our Lin family has been loyal for generations, and we don't want to sell ourselves to become Japanese slaves.
And if the Lin family wants to gain a foothold in the mainland, I have to go back!"
Lin Shuo said: "The hundreds of thousands of Huai troops in Beiyang cannot defeat the Japanese, and the situation in Taiwan is even more dangerous. However, we cannot let go of the tribesmen in Taiwan and the villagers who want to return to the mainland."
Lin Chaodong didn't say anything. Dong's army alone had ten battalions of more than 4,000 soldiers. If you add the tens of thousands of villagers who followed the Lin family, the placement of these people would be a big problem.
"Most of those people are descendants of the Lin family. They have been loyal to the Lin family for so many years, and these people are also the guarantee of the Lin family's wealth. Our Lin family relied on military merit. Dongjun is the foundation of the Lin family. If Dongjun is not in our hands, we will
Nothing."
Lin Chaodong was a little moved and was silent for a long time. Then he raised his head and said, "Well, we have to ask the foreigners for this matter. We have to find a way to use their ships. It is best for the foreigners to come forward, even if they pay a little more money. I still have to go.
Taipei, it’s up to you to take care of the transportation of people back to the mainland!”
Lin Chaodong handed a token made of ebony to Lin Shuo. Holding this token, Lin Shuo could mobilize Dong's army in an emergency to coordinate his actions.
A few days later, Lin Chaodong returned to Taiwan by boat, while Lin Shuo stayed in Xiamen to contact the foreign merchant ships in preparation for picking up people from Taiwan.