During the Lantern Festival, there are no fireworks or lanterns on the long street.
Only the light of a spark doubles the desolation.
The salty sea breeze blew his long hair, and even after eight years of breathing, Zhu Qizhen still felt a little uncomfortable.
Standing on the steps in front of the temple, looking down in front of you.
Eight years.
It has been eight years since I escaped from Fujian. After eight years of governance, Taiwan, which was once hopelessly desolate, has organized all the people and indigenous people who migrated from the mainland together, and then defeated and incorporated the numerous pirates. Now it is like a
An independent kingdom.
The darkness in front of him was dotted with sparks, and the city of some size was his royal capital.
Kaohsiung.
Why is it called Kaohsiung? Zhu Qizhen doesn’t know.
I only know that Fan Biao and Xie Wan led their troops here, and the local indigenous people called this place Kaohsiung.
The name is pretty good.
And the location is good too.
Zhu Qizhen and Xie Wan hit it off and chose Kaohsiung as a development base. After eight years of hard work, Kaohsiung now has a population of about 100,000. With the addition of scattered towns in various places that are beginning to take shape, the population of the entire Taiwan under Zhu Qizhen's rule
, there are nearly 200,000.
Basically the entire population of Taiwan.
Zhu Qizhen's power to rule this independent kingdom came from the Huilong Camp built by Xie Wan and Fan Biao.
There are not many troops.
But not a lot.
More than thirty thousand!
When Zhu Zunxi, a remnant of Jianwen, rebelled in Fujian, the Zhendong Guard Wan'an Qianhu Station who followed the uprising was always commanded by Fan Biao to guard Xie Wan and Zhu Qizhen. After the defeat, the remaining 500 soldiers followed them out to sea.
These five hundred people are the main force of Huilong Camp.
In the past eight years, 500 people have been in constant battles or injured, and only more than 300 people are left, all of whom are generals from Huilong Camp.
Even after the Tumu Fort Incident, the combat prowess of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty still stood proudly at the top of the universe.
Five hundred people managed to carve out a piece of the sky in Taiwan, where pirates and Japanese pirates abounded, and the forces were intricately entangled. Even in the few months when they first arrived in Taiwan and were unfamiliar with the place, Fan Biao and his brothers never gave up.
If you don't accept it, do it!
Keep fighting, keep fighting, until the pirates are frightened, until the Japanese pirates surrender!
Only then did it gradually reach its current scale.
But with a population of 200,000, it is difficult to support an army of 30,000.
But Zhu Qizhen did it!
In fact, there is no secret. It is just to loot more pirates and Japanese pirates. The pirates and Japanese pirates who are entrenched in Penghu and Taiwan are repeatedly captured by Zhu Qizhen's troops.
Returned with a full load every time.
And every settlement will not completely wipe out the Japanese pirates.
In a word: I want money, not my head.
Chicken raising flow.
Otherwise, to exterminate pirates and Japanese pirates would be like killing the goose that lays the goose to retrieve the eggs.
Zhu Qizhen is not that stupid.
The pirates and Japanese pirates also figured out the intentions of this mysterious force. Whenever they returned to Longying to settle the collection, the pirates and Japanese pirates no longer ran away. If they won, they would fight. If they couldn't win, they would give the money with both hands.
Some pirates even settled their families in Kaohsiung while they robbed at sea and occasionally returned to Kaohsiung for vacation.
Zhu Qizhen's forces turned a blind eye to this.
As long as you give money, everything is easy to discuss.
Even... Huilongying pretended to be a pirate and went to make extra money many times - Zhu Qizhen discovered that he was lawless in Taiwan, and the Guangdong and Fujian Dusi didn't care!
Thanks to Daming Overseas for its contraction strategy.
Zhu Qizhen looked at the dark sea, so deep. On the opposite side of the dark sea was the Ming Dynasty, so far away.
It's a place he dreams of going back to.
Of course he wants to go back.
After eight years of operation in Taiwan, a place where nothing matters, the population is only about 200,000. The population mainly comes from three directions: immigrants from the mainland, local indigenous people, and family members resettled by pirates.
Although the population and military strength are not large, the money is really large!
Zhu Qizhen never dreamed that being a pirate would be so profitable, and the money would come in so quickly.
In just eight years, Zhu Qizhen accumulated nearly 50 million taels of wealth!
Where did the money come from?
Very simple.
The first method is to loot the pirates.
Pirates plunder a place every time, ranging from tens of thousands of taels to hundreds of thousands of taels. However, there are dozens or less pirates in Taiwan, Penghu and their surrounding areas, and they loot several million taels once a year.
Two!
The second way is to become a pirate.
Huilongying pretended to be pirates and robbed overseas smuggling fleets in the surrounding waters. They did not kill anyone, but only robbed the goods and the gold and silver when they returned. This was a huge fortune.
Moreover, important personnel must be detained and asked to inform the family forces to redeem their people.
What if those powerful overseas smuggling men cut off their arms and no money is given?
Can.
Just hand over the real pirates and evidence to Fujian Dusi and Guangdong Dusi. Can they afford the crime of overseas smuggling?
Even if some nobles among those forces are powerful enough in the government to smooth over this matter, the Guangdong Dusi and the Fujian Dusi will have to bear corresponding risks if they dare to open up the situation.
Relying on relationships alone is not enough. You have to exchange benefits or give money.
What's more, after being manipulated by the local governor, the lion will open its mouth and spend more money than the ransom, which is not safe.
It is better to pay the ransom, pay the money with one hand and collect the person with the other, and then meet each other without knowing each other.
So this method has been tried and tested repeatedly.
The biggest harvest was when they robbed five treasure ships of their goods and various gold, silver, pearls and agate, worth one million taels, and the ransom of the detained people also reached one million taels.
The one-time income reached two million taels!
The force behind that overseas smuggling caravan was the Tang Dynasty King Zhu Qiongjing of Nanyang.
The king of Tang Dynasty, Zhu Qiongjing, was rich.
But Zhu Qiongjing was also afraid that his overseas smuggling would be discovered by Zhu Qiyu - Zhu Qiyu and his son were already crazy poor. If they knew that he, the king of Tang Dynasty, was making so much money from overseas smuggling, it would be a mercy for them not to drain him dry.
Zhu Qiyu is kind and kind.
But Zhu Qiongjing had learned Zhu Jianji's money-grabbing skills during his ten years in Jingtai, so how could he dare to take this risk?
So happily pay and receive people.
Zhu Qizhen looked at Kaohsiung under the night sky and the sea in the darkness in the distance, feeling a sudden surge of pride in his heart.
He has a bold idea!
There are not many people under the rule, about 200,000.
There are not many troops in Kaohsiung under his command, about 30,000.
There is money in the wallet, a lot of money!
But how should the money be used?
Zhu Jianji personally conquered Mobei last year and fought a good battle.
Zhu Qizhen knew the news, but he didn't know exactly how he got it.
He was not convinced.
He even told Xie Wan and Fan Biao that it wasn't because of how powerful Zhu Jianji was, but because Wala Ziye died first and fell into pieces and his power was weakened, so Zhu Jianji established his power in one battle.
Xie Wan and Fan Biao were silent at that time.
They understand.
His Majesty Baozong was trying to save face. After all, Baozong recognized Zhu Jianjiqiang and admitted his own stupidity in the Tumu Fort incident.
Zhu Qizhen didn't know what Xie Wan and Fan Biao were thinking.
He is a little restless now.
Eight years.
He is already forty years old and has long hair.
How many forties can there be in life?
If you don't think of a way to return to Gyeonggi, if you get a few years older, you really won't have a chance.
