Dragon Sea Empire

At this time, everyone realized that the Fujian merchant ship, which had been injured at the beginning, was missing and had probably fled.

If there is no accident, the three ships will sail eastward together and part ways near the Penghu Islands.When he was about to set sail, Mai Dahai on the Siamese boat shouted loudly: "Captain! Captain! There are our people on board!"

It turned out that Kutre's Portuguese mercenary brothers found more than 20 Chinese in the bilge of the Eunice, and they were all bundled into rice dumplings and thrown there.Fortunately, most of them were not injured, but had been starved for two days.They were taken aboard the Xinxing, and Yin Feng discovered that one of them was one of the first Yazhou Danmin sailors.He is the captain of the No. 15 "Taixing" ship of the Merchant Fleet of the China United Company: Fang Wei, the head sailor in charge of the sails, cables and canvas.

"Captain, avenge our brothers!" He knelt down when he saw Yin Feng, weeping bitterly, and suddenly saw the Dutch captives on the side of the deck, became furious, and snatched Yin Feng from the hands of the sailor brothers beside him. A short knife, rushed towards the Dutch captive.Everyone didn't pay attention for a while, until he stabbed randomly in the Dutch crowd with a short knife, and they rushed forward to hold him.

"Oh! God! You can't do this, we have surrendered!" The Dutch prisoner yelled in Portuguese, covering his wound on his arm.

Yin Feng stepped forward angrily and kicked the yelling guy, causing him to lose half of his teeth.He grabbed the Dutch prisoner by the collar and sternly pointed at his blood-stained face within 10 centimeters: "You are pirates and criminals, do you understand?"

He dropped the frightened Dutchman, turned back to Fang Wei and said, "Don't worry, these red-haired barbarians killed our people and robbed our boats. 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 it also took on the task of opening a Chinese company shop in Pattani.Everything went smoothly. Pattani is a vassal state of Siam and has always been very welcoming to the Chinese. The Chinese have great influence there.Therefore, the shop was established very quickly. After the No. 15 Taixing ship originally returned to Taiwan, it was awarded by the company for being the first to set up an overseas shop.

The three ships continued to set sail. Since the Eunice only had half of the sails available, and the Siamese ship was also slow, the three-masted Xinxing ship had a great speed advantage. Yin Feng was in a hurry to go to Penghu, and soon he and others The boat pulled away.

Around the end of July in the Western calendar, Xinxing arrived at Magong Harbor, 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 except for the hundreds of fishermen in the fishing village on the edge of Mazu Palace, the barracks of the Xun soldiers of the Penghu Inspection Department were empty. The Xun soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had already withdrawn.

The fishermen on the island are not 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 opposite bank. They come during the fishing season and return in winter.Contrary to their schedule, the soldiers from Shuizhai in the Ming Dynasty came to Penghu for patrols in spring and winter; the spring flood period was ten days before Qingming, and they were stationed for three months; the winter flood period was ten days before the frost, and they were stationed for two months. , The source of the Xun soldiers is the officers and soldiers selected from Wuyu Water Village (Shen Yourong's site) and Tongshan Water Village.

Both the Xun Bing and the Inspection Department are coastal defense forces and police stations without administrative jurisdiction, so the residents of the Penghu Islands live in a state of anarchy for most of the year.

Yin Feng stood outside the Mazu Palace, looking at the dilapidated temple and the desolate scenery surrounded by overgrown thatch, he couldn't help but sigh in admiration.He said to Lin Xiao and Chen Zhongji: "Look at the desolation here. Who would have thought that Penghu Island had thousands of permanent residents in the Yuan Dynasty."

Chen Zhongji hurriedly said: "Yes, I heard my grandfather talk about the move to the sea at the beginning of the country. He said that the imperial court ordered the residents of the 36 islands of Penghu to move within a three-day period. Those who expired died. There were not enough boats and boats, and many people were drowned when they crossed the sea on rafts with door planks and beds... My cousin’s wife is said to be 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 "maritime ban".Back then, this policy made the land reclaimed by generations of coastal islanders barren, and the family business accumulated over the years was destroyed. Even the migration process was very barbaric.What's more, this move turned the coastal islands of China into uninhabited and unmanaged wastelands, and the coastal defense measures were in vain, and finally became a resting place for Japanese pirates and Western colonists.

Lin Xiao was very surprised: "I thought this place has always been a wasteland, a place where no one lives. Oh, ship owner, how did those red-haired barbarians know about this place? Did 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 sea area was rich in fish. Many fishermen lived on the island, so they called Penghu Fisherman Island. (Pescadores), Pescadores Island. The red-haired barbarians will definitely come here this year, if these red-haired pirates occupy this place, our company's business will definitely be greatly affected."

Yin Feng led people to occupy an open space next to the Mazu Palace, cut down trees and erected a fence, surrounded a large area, and erected the Chinese flag of China United Company on a blue background at the opening of the fence.

He left behind the brave Lin Xiao and the clever Mai Xiaoliu, led 50 Danmin sailors to set up camp here, and left 6 Portuguese mercenaries to assist in the defense.

Two days later, the Penghu Commercial Station of the Chinese Company took shape, and a simple hut was built.The local Quanzhou fishermen heard that Dongfan's Zhonghua Company had set up a warehouse here, and they identified the sailors as their own, and they all came to help - because the company's big owner, Yin Feng, is from Quanzhou!

Um!The son-in-law from Quanzhou is also from Quanzhou, right?This, this, isn't Yin Dadong's house here?

Yin Feng had to drink and get drunk with the leader of the local fishermen for several nights in a row.He dealt with the fishermen so unassumingly, which made everyone very happy. They patted their chests and said: If the red-haired barbarians come, we will definitely help the people of the Chinese business to drive them into the sea!Fishermen always feel that the name "company" is a mouthful, and they like to call "Zhonghua United Company" Zhonghua Dachang.

On the third day, Xinxing left Penghu for Taiwan.Yin Feng left a message for Lin Xiao and Mai Xiaoliu: "Try not to start a war with the Hongmaoyi. Once you start a war, take out the captured Eunice's flag and let the Hongmaoyi throw it at you. In short, use various methods To delay time, wait for Yin Feng to lead the reinforcements to come from Taiwan.

Yin Feng hurried back to Taiwan, where there are countless things waiting for him to do.

A book printing workshop has 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 and fishing boats, as well as merchant ships from Ryukyu and Siam.Taiwan's Hong Kong City has begun to take shape. After Yin Feng came back, he asked craftsmen from Quanzhou to try firing bricks to build the city wall.

Two months after leaving Taiwan, another 50 merchant ships from all over Fujian joined the Chinese Merchant Fleet. The shipyard in Tainan Port was busy renovating the appearance of these ships. The blue bow and the Chinese flag on the blue background are necessary for each merchant ship. 10 pairs of knives, guns, crossbows and arrows. All sailors must be trained in the seamen's school of the China United Company: learn the unified semaphore of the China Company's maritime fleet, and the world geography class taught by the former captain of the Xinxing Ship. China and the West are different, Yin Feng has not yet considered how to teach, so let the fighting training on the ship take up a large part of the time.

The company stipulates that shareholders who buy shares with ships can continue to operate their own ships, and can also transport goods for others in addition to the company's goods, but they must pay the company an annual management fee, so that if something happens, the company can come forward and be responsible for it. Compensation or recovery of property.

This policy is to imitate the method of Zheng Zhilong's fleet in later generations paying protection fees under the tree flag; however, Yin Feng has strengthened his control over these ships. In addition to the two-month training for the crew, each ship is in charge of financial revenue and expenditure. The chief executive must be a staff member sent by the company.The owner of this ship does not need to compensate for losses caused by the company's cargo transportation and natural disasters.Of course, if it is due to human reasons, it is another matter, the company's chief executive stationed on the ship is also responsible for supervision.Each ship must also unconditionally accept the trainee crew of the seaman's school for boarding and internship.

At that time, most of the private ocean-going merchant ships along the coast were built by many small shareholders who raised funds and shared the cargo space in the cabin space in proportion to the amount of investment. All costs and expenses were shared by all investors. 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 small ship owners quickly accepted this regulation.

There is another key factor: the legendary Jinghai Gang pirates are actually the war fleet of the China United Company.The small boat owners are not stupid, of course they know what this means.

The business and trade that Yin Feng is concerned about are in charge of the three business managers Zeng Jingshan, Han Ping and his son; Zeng Jingshan is in charge of trade in Japan, Ryukyu, North Korea and other places;Most of the merchant ships sent to these places this year have not had time to return, and the trade income is unknown.

Yin Feng checked the information he transcribed. He estimated that last year and the beginning of this year, due to the Dutch looting in Nanyang 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 goods from China, you can basically buy them at a good price.

Last year, Fujian suffered from frequent floods and wind disasters. Countless coastal farmers and fishermen lost their land, crops, fishing boats, production tools for their livelihood, and became refugees.The Fujian government has been fished out by the mine supervision tax, and the merchant ships going to Manila have been cut off this year, and the customs tax has been greatly reduced, and it is completely unable to help the victims.However, Yin Feng took the opportunity to recruit a large number of landless farmers in Quanzhou to Taiwan for reclamation under the condition that each person provided a cow, 5 shi of rice, and free farm tools. At the same time, he also recruited a large number of refugees without land and boats to work in Taiwan. , Contribute to the company's city building and port building as cheap labor, or work in shipyards and various artisan workshops.

Weapon production is what Yin Feng is most concerned about, but the progress is very slow and difficult. This is what worries Yin Feng the most.Although he bought weapons from Siam, only a quarter of the more than 1200 people in the escort team can use them to own firearms, and weapon repair and ammunition supply are both big problems.