Dragon Sea Empire

Baradas was hesitating whether to get out of the car when the door of Yin Feng's house suddenly opened.A thin servant came out, looked around the crowd with dissatisfaction, and said with a stern face: "Captain Yin has not returned home yet, and there are only female relatives at home. It is very inconvenient. You are disturbing here early in the morning. What's the matter?"

The big men looked at each other, and then a man walked out from the crowd, a little older than the people around him, first bowed his hands and saluted, and then said: "I am a fisherman from Zhaojia'ao, Haicheng County, next to Zhao Tie, I am a few brothers from the same clan I did some physical work for people in Luzon Island earlier, thanks to the rescue of Captain Yin..."

When the servant of the Yin family heard that they were survivors of the Luzon massacre, his face became a little better, and he quickly bowed his hands and said: "If that's the case, I've neglected you all. But just now, you guys insisted on seeing my master, and you don't want to see me." Willing to explain the reason, the family is full of female relatives, it is really inconvenient!"

Zhao Tie hastily bowed and said, "I don't care about my elder brother's business, I was really too abrupt to wait. However, we really couldn't make a living, so we came to see Captain Yin. The hurricane in August last year wiped out our Zhaojia'ao All the fishing boats were destroyed, and most of the farmland in the village was destroyed by the flood. My brothers and I escaped from Luzon Island, but we had no means of earning a living, and we couldn’t survive. We were in Dongfan before. My mind was dizzy, I didn't listen to Captain Yin's persuasion, and insisted on going home... But he promised us at the time that if we have any difficulties, we can find him... We all have a lot of strength, we have made friends with him in Luzon Island, and we are willing to go Captain Yin's guards eat food and work."

The servant of the Yin family spread his hands in embarrassment: "Well, there is nothing I can do to help you. My master is so busy that he is so busy that he has not been home for three months since he went to Dongfan. In this way, all the villagers can rush to Shihu, Quanzhou immediately. Hong Kong, find the "Haolai" merchant ship, there is a batch of goods to be shipped to Dongfan recently, you can go to Dongfan together, and you should be able to find my master."

Zhang Yuning pulled Yang Caipu in the carriage, dragged him into the carriage, and said with a smile: "Okay, we don't need to get out of the carriage, let's go directly to Dongfan. Shopkeeper Yang, what do you think? What about Mr. Bao?" explain?"

Baradas came here for Yin Feng, so of course he would have no objection; Yang Caipu arranged for his men to handle business, and returned to Quanzhou Outer Port with them.In this way, the carriage made a circle around Quanzhou Fucheng, and then drove back to the starting point.Baradas just regretted that he had not visited this legendary port city, so he kept looking at the scenery outside the car along the way, and was very impressed by the appearance of the southern Fujian style building with red brick walls interest.He didn't know that this trip had closely linked his fate with Yin Feng and his career, and there would be countless opportunities for him to visit Quanzhou in the future.

……

Tainan of later generations, in a broad sense, includes the entire Tainan area relative to Taipei and Taichung, and in a narrow sense, it includes Tainan and Kaohsiung and other places. Because the transportation with the mainland is relatively convenient, and the largest plain in Taiwan is located here, it is the earliest place in Taiwan. The developed area is also the earliest Han immigration area.

Yin Feng, out of laziness and a kind of YY thinking, directly referred to the current location of the China United Company as Taiwan.The original pirate's den, Yaogang, became "Taipei Harbor" (the so-called Daofeng Inner Harbor by the Dutch), and the former "Dayuan Harbor" in the south (where the Dutch built Chixian City in Yin Feng's previous life) thus became "Taipei Harbor". Tainan Port", Yin Feng shamelessly plagiarized the title patent rights of some people in another time and space, and unscrupulously put on the title.In his sleep, he often dreamed that he accomplished the feat of unifying Taiwan in one fell swoop, taking Taipei and Tainan into his pocket...

Historically, Yaogang, or the so-called Beigang officially in the Ming Dynasty, was diverted due to the rapid water stream, and the flood washed away the entrance and exit of the Wujia Peninsula connecting the land to the outside world, turning Yaogang into an isolated island; human agricultural activities intensified the sediment deposition of the river, resulting in silting of the waterway. , Later its status as a port was replaced by Budai Port next to it.Yin Feng knew this consequence, so from the very beginning, he set the external port as "Tainan Port" in the Anping area in the south, and Yaogang-Taiwan Port was used as a military port for berthing warships.

Kaohsiung Port, which has long been ranked among the top three in the world's ocean freight for later generations, is still in an embryonic state at this moment; the predecessor of Kaohsiung Port, Taku Port, was still a small fishing port for indigenous fishermen at this time, and the surrounding area is full of aboriginal Tingpu people. The territory of the Kadao people is basically all swamps and dense forests, which have not been developed yet, so Yin Feng had no choice but to set up a foreign trade base in "Tainan Port".

The "Haoli" ship carried dozens of cows, hundreds of agricultural tools, and countless ceramic products fired in various kilns in Fujian, plus dozens of men from Zhaojia'ao, international friends Baradas and others, Arrived at Tainan Port three days later.Of course, two businessmen Zhang and Yang were also on board.

Everything here is under construction in full swing; there are dozens of large and small merchant ships in the harbor, which proves that the trade activities in the port are very busy; there are trestles and approach bridges under construction by the sea, and neat stone roads are being laid on the shore of the port. There are a large number of workers digging sewers and laying ceramic sewer pipes;

Enter the gate of the wall built with bamboo fence. There are five-meter-high brick watchtowers on both sides of the gate. On the watchtowers, soldiers in black are holding matchlock guns and looking at the sea vigilantly.

Baradas was surprised to see that there were cannons placed on the watchtower and outside the gate.On the watchtower are two huge 24-pound bronze cannons, and outside the gate are two small six-pound cannons, which are placed on movable gun mounts.After he entered the city, he walked around for a while. In this small town under construction, a total of 24 cannons were placed in the defense facilities facing the sea and the land.

Baradas has been to many Chinese cities, and like his mentor Matteo Ricci, he also felt that the defense system of Chinese cities was in trouble.There are too few cannons, and the structure of the city wall is not suitable for exerting the power of the cannons.Even the Quanzhou City Tower doesn't have cannons like this; what kind of organization is this joint company?With such firepower, why just build some fences for defense?

As soon as he arrived in Taiwan, Baradas was only surprised by the construction scene here, and because of this, Baradas began to feel puzzled and puzzled.

He didn't know that Yin Feng was an advocate of cannons and giant ships. These cannons were bought from Siam and Malacca during this period, and they would be installed on warships in the future. Das was taken aback.

The real cannons used to defend the city were also bought, but they are still being manufactured in Siam.

Along the newly paved flat stone road, the two businessmen Zhang Yang, Baradas, Chinese missionary You Wenhui, and dozens of members of the Zhao family were curiously looking forward to it like country bumpkins entering the city.Zhang and Yang followed Yin Feng to "understand the Japanese"—when they went to Japan to do business, they went to places such as Dongfan Port and Dayuan Port, and saw that the settlements of Han refugees here were nothing more than thatched huts and tall bamboo huts. .And now the port of Taiwan is becoming a real port city.

According to Baradas' estimates, there are more than [-] artisans and laborers working in the entire town that looks like a large construction site. All of them are working, and no one is idle.

He looked curiously at the buildings on both sides of the street. They were all the southern Fujian-style residential buildings in Quanzhou that he had just seen. The red brick buildings had obvious characteristics. Most of them were newly built, and most of them were not yet completed.

Yang Caipu inquired about several workers in Quanzhou dialect, and then told everyone: "The residence of Yin Feng's boss is in the west district, adjacent to the headquarters of the United Company. However, no one knows whether the owner of Yin Feng is in Dongfan. Oh, Taiwan."

It doesn't matter what to say, coming here across the sea, you can't just take a trip, everyone decided to go to the company headquarters to inquire first.

On the way to the company headquarters, many people who come and go are businessmen, and they seem to be very busy.A Jinjiang businessman recognized Yang Caipu: "Hey, shopkeeper Yang, you are here too? Okay, are you planning to buy shares too? Take a look here, it's only been less than half a year, and it's already quite large. Yin Dadong's family is A capable person... Hey, I have to go to the port to load the goods, and I will go to Japan to trade immediately. When I come back, I will treat you to a drink at the best restaurant in Quanzhou!"

After the man finished talking like a cannonball, he hastily bowed to Yang Caipu, and without waiting for Mr. Yang's reaction, he left in a hurry, as if his house was on fire.

Yang Caipu laughed: "This big businessman from Jinjiang, I heard that he also escaped from the death of Luzon Island, and his short-tempered temper has not changed at all."

The company headquarters is not very eye-catching, it is just an ordinary three-story brick and wood structure building, traditional Chinese style, if you don’t notice the plaque hanging on the side of the gate: "China United Company", you will definitely regard it as an ordinary inn or shop.It's just that everything is new here, the doors, walls, stairs, and furniture are all new, and even the paint doesn't seem to be dry.

Can't help but be new, because five months ago it was a wet low-lying grass.One month ago, before the completion of this house, Yin Feng, Zeng Jingshan, Han Ping, Li Lihua, Xu Xinsu and other main shopkeepers of the company all worked in a temporary tall bamboo house.

On the plaque at the gate, there is someone's handwriting engraved on it. It is very common and neatly written in regular script: "Opening the sea to enrich the country, and doing business to benefit the people".

Everyone was a little surprised when they saw the facade of the so-called Zhonghua United Company; the entire port was very gorgeous and beautiful, but the facade of this super "big firm" was so simple, which was really unexpected.

Yang Caipu looked at the plaque, shook his head and said: "It's right to keep a low profile, but here, the imperial court can't control it. The United Company is a local snake. Isn't it superfluous to do this!" He pointed to the plaque and asked Zhang Yuning: "Brother Zhang , What do these eight characters mean?"

Zhang Yuning, who had taken the imperial examination, had read a lot of books, but he couldn't remember the allusion of "opening the sea and enriching the country". However, doing business and benefiting the people was a topic that scholars in the Ming Dynasty also talked about.He shook his head and remained silent, thinking: "Opening the sea and opening the sea, Wang Zhi sacrificed his life for it back then, and now there is finally Yuegang who can go abroad. It is not easy for the court to truly "open the sea" completely! Shopkeeper Yin Ah shopkeeper Yin, what on earth do you want to do?

He didn't know that "opening the oceans and enriching the country" was derived from the Song Dynasty's national policy of "opening the oceans and enriching the country".For the first time in Chinese history, the rulers of the Song Dynasty put forward the national policy of "opening up the oceans and enriching the country", thinking: "The profits of the market are the most abundant. If the measures are appropriate, the income will be tens of thousands. Wouldn't it be better for the people?" But , this policy of focusing on overseas trade was strangled to death during the Ming Dynasty.

Yin Feng deliberately used these eight characters as a plaque, which can be regarded as setting the general direction of "enriching the country and benefiting the people" for the development of Zhonghua Company.Of course, the elements of publicity here accounted for the bulk.

Since both Zhang and Yang are Yin Feng's business partners, Zeng Jingshan personally received the group.Of course, Yin Feng is not in Taiwan, he went to Macau two months ago, and will return to Taiwan within a few days.He asked everyone to rest in the inn run by the company for a few days, and then go to Yin Feng when he comes back.

Helpless, everyone had no choice but to stay at the Huaxing Inn, which is separated from the company headquarters by a wall.

Early the next morning, Baradas, who was very tired from the long journey, was awakened by a rush of drums!Then, bursts of passionate shouts came, shaking the window frames trembling.

Baradas was so angry that he jumped out of bed and threw open the window.The scene in front of him surprised him: Behind the headquarters of the China United Corporation, there is a leveled ground, and now nearly 1000 shirtless men are conducting military exercises on this flat ground.That's right, it's military drills, because these big men are holding a wooden model musket, practicing aiming and assassination, everyone is training very seriously and hard, and there is an instructor who looks like a Westerner directing.Wait, practice assassination with a musket?

Baradas did not understand military affairs, but fortunately he had an older brother who served in the Portuguese army.He also watched the Portuguese army training, so he found that some Chinese were doing military training in the way of the Portuguese army.

Is this China United Company still training the army?What kind of business organization is this?What kind of person is Yin Feng?