The "Yong'an Ju" tea house is as usual bustling with tea guests. The tea houses in Guangzhou are different from the tea houses in Jiangnan and the capital. Not only are the snacks exquisite, but the tea houses also need to be spacious, most of which are 2 or 3.
It is a two-story high-rise building. Its first floor is as high as the second floor of an ordinary building. It is almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, and every tea house has hung a mooncake sign seven and a half feet high and four and a half feet wide on the tea hall on the first floor.
.This signboard is very grand: it is carved with a full set of classical characters, flowers, birds, insects and fish. Not only is the carving exquisite, many of the signs are also covered with gold foil. It looks magnificent.
Teahouses and teahouses have always been places where people from all walks of life gather for meetings. Although there is a red note posted in the teahouse as usual, "Don't talk about state affairs." However, many "state affairs" are not only discussed here, but some are even held in such a place.
Decided.
According to the custom at that time, people with different status and occupation did not sit together to drink tea. The teahouse was also divided into different worlds according to the unit of "hall". One of the teahouses named "Tingquan", inside
The tea drinkers are all men in green clothes and small hats - although they are slaves, they are different from the ordinary slaves who are beaten and beaten. No one in Guangzhou dares to look down on them: they are all the long-term concierges and confidants of various dignitaries.
The servants are in charge of affairs, all of them have great power, and their words can reach the ears of their masters. Many things cannot be done in the yamen. If you find someone to talk to you here and offer a sum of money, maybe it can be done smoothly.
Done well.
It's morning now, when the teahouse business is booming. Not only the lobby on the first floor is full, but also more than half of the second and third floors. The entrance of each teahouse is full of people, talking, and vendors shouting.
The voices, the singing voices... were mixed together, making it appear messy and full of vitality.
In a bustling and noisy environment, there was a young man drinking tea on a tea table. There were several small steamers on the table and the most popular snacks in the teahouse. The young man did not look around, but
His eyes glanced at the door of the hall from time to time.
After a while, a small middle-aged man came in from the hall door. He turned his eyebrows and noticed the young man sitting alone. He came over and sat down. "Qitang" hurriedly came over to make water and make tea.
"Drink tea." The young man reached for the teapot and poured water for him.
"You're welcome!" The visitor said with great style, "Did you bring the money?"
"Of course. Delong is redeemable on sight, and it is a universal ticket across the province." The young man whispered, and took out a paper ticket from his sleeve. The complicated pattern, the color printing, and the crisp paper - at first glance, it was Delong.
This kind of ticket cannot be counterfeited at all.
The middle-aged man looked at it and saw clearly that Delong's entire province had fifty-two bills that were redeemable on sight. A smile appeared on his lips:
"Okay, I'm a happy guy!" He said and stuffed the small bag under the table to him, "Everything you need is in it."
The young man nodded, unwrapped a corner of the package and looked at it carefully. Inside were several small folds, each with a small paper label attached. The young man carefully looked at the contents and felt convinced.
No doubt he nodded,
"Don't worry, it can't be fake." The middle-aged man ate a shrimp dumpling and said with a smile, "These things are not really rare, but they are all stored in the master's inner study. If no one can get in, it will cost money all the way. money……"
The middle-aged man took the note and stuffed it into the zipper of his boot. He kept talking about how difficult this matter was, as if to show that the package was not expensive.
"This is also a way for us to make friends. We will have to work harder in the future if we have other things to do." The young man nodded and said.
"Easy to say, easy to say." The middle-aged man drank tea in a hurry and left.
The package contained Gao Shunqin's memorials in the past month and copies of the manuscripts of his correspondence with the capital. These are very confidential things for local officials, and they are usually kept tightly in their inner study or other important places. The location is not given to the master for preservation. However, it is difficult to guard against thieves day and night. As long as he pays enough money, the concubines and servants around him can be bribed to steal it.
The outflanking document quickly passed through the traffic station and reached Lin Baiguang's hands. Lin Baiguang looked at it carefully and quickly came to a conclusion after eliminating the irrelevant parts. The expulsion of the Portuguese from Macau, which Gao Shunqin had been calling for, was finally official. 's started.
What Lin Baiguang was most interested in was not the memorial itself. For a matter to be agreed upon in the court and turned into an imperial edict, it was not possible to just rely on a memorial. A lot of preparation work had to be done in advance, and it had to be discussed with the big bosses of the cabinet and various ministries. The court officials and other officials from all walks of life communicated well to win their support. Some were political persuasion, and some involved the exchange of interests. In the late Ming Dynasty, there were also partisan struggles.
In contrast, letters communicating privately, exchanging opinions, and entrusting services have significant reference value. By reading the letters exchanged, you can roughly judge how something is progressing.
Judging from these letters, Gao Shunqin has generally completed all preparations. Once this memorial is submitted, it is very likely to be approved - first of all, the ancients did not understand the importance of sea trade; secondly, the Portuguese and their partners They are not religious men and women, and trade is often accompanied by naked robbery, murder and arson.
To sum up, Emperor Chongzhen's decree to ban Portuguese trade next year is probably going to happen according to historical facts.
The question is why is Li Fengjie so unusually nervous about this matter? Whether the Portuguese can do business has no interest in him at all. He is so caring and has great demands on the Portuguese, so that once the news is confirmed by the Portuguese His request will be rejected.
Lin Baiguang couldn't think of anything that would make Li Fengjie care so much about the attitude of the Portuguese. You must know that in the old time and space, at least in the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese could be considered "submissive" to local officials in Guangdong. The small Chengdu of Xiangshan County He once stormed into Macau in a grand manner and arrested the Portuguese members of the Macau Senate in court and spanked them.
New news soon came. The envoy sent to Macau by Li Fengjie was not one of his staff, but Li Luoyou, an old acquaintance of the senators.
Li Luoyou had lived in Macau since he was a child. He had studied under the Jesuits and had a close relationship with the Portuguese. He was also closely connected with the officialdom. When Wang Zunde was casting cannons in Guangdong, he wanted to borrow Portuguese cannons to make prototypes. It was Li Luoyu who
It was all done by himself. Now it was expected that Li Fengjie would send him to contact the Portuguese.
Lin Baiguang decided to immediately call Lingao and ask Jiang Shan and others to immediately arrange for people to go to Macau to contact Li Luoyou through Gu Baocheng to find out the specific inside story.
On September 20, after several days of rest and waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, Chen Haiyang finally launched an operation into the inland waters of the Pearl River. Under the leadership of the "Haitian" survey ship, he led the task force to leave the Sanmen Anchorage
, enter the Pearl River Inland River.
There are two waterways from the mouth of the Pearl River to the inner river of the Pearl River to Guangzhou. One is the outer route. It goes up from the east of Macao, passes through Humen, and passes through two sandbanks, directly to Huangpu. This is the main route for general merchant ships to Guangzhou.
.The navigation conditions of this channel are better.
The other is called the "inner route", which goes up from the west of Macao, crosses the "Hengsha Shoal", and then arrives at Xiangshan. It then goes up from Xiangshan through Humen to Huangpu. Because this route passes through many shoals and river branches on the way, it is generally
It is sailing by ships of small tonnage.
Chen Haiyang had the aerial survey data of the Haitian and various information provided by local sailors and veteran boatmen. He decided to only take the outer route for the first time to ensure the safety of the ship. The final destination of this voyage was set in Humen. If possible
, he will place a stronghold in Humen to ensure that this strategic point does not need to be attacked every time he goes to Guangzhou.
The fleet, headed by the two-masted survey ship Haitian, weighed anchor from Sanmen and sailed through the east waters of Macao. It was an excellent autumn weather, with a gentle breeze, and the newly scrubbed ships hung at the Sanmen anchorage.
The sails sailed in formation. The red imperial flag was hoisted on the mainmast with golden streamers, and many flags fluttered in the wind. Cannons roared and bugles sounded. A fleet of steamboats puffed out thick black smoke and advanced on both sides of the fleet.
.Then came groups of small boats, towed by large boats. The flag of the Marine Corps was flying. They arrived.
The Portuguese in Macau knew that this was the Australian fleet - the Macau Senate had sent people to Hong Kong Island a few days ago, and the two sides also gave each other gifts and exchanged opinions. The Australians supported the Jesuit mission in Lingao and the
The Portuguese were no strangers to the Jesuits' trade. What worried them was the purpose of the Australians' sudden arrival at the Pearl River Estuary - they not only defeated a group of pirates here, but also repaired a fortress on Hong Kong Island.
Chen Haiyang assured that the Australian fleet had no intention of attacking Macau. Although the Portuguese were afraid and did not completely believe the Australian guarantee, the disparity in strength between the two sides made them welcome the new arrivals in a peaceful manner. The Portuguese
The Australians were even allowed to send small ships into Macau to obtain supplies.
Chen Haiyang noticed that there were four large Galenic ships parked in the harbor of Macau, as well as five or six smaller ships. In terms of scale, the Portuguese's naval strength in East Asia was indeed not weak. If it were not for their own
New weapons, power and ships are used as bonuses, and relying only on traditional ships and weapons may not necessarily make you an opponent.
A plume of smoke rose from the fort in the distance, and the rumble of cannons was heard. The Portuguese were firing a salute.
A gun salute was fired from the fort in Macau, and then the Portuguese ships anchored in the harbor also fired a salute. The fleet responded with a salute. White smoke billowed across the Pearl River Estuary and the sound of gunfire rumbled, announcing that the crossing group had officially arrived in the mainland.