Dragon Sea Empire

The residents of Hainan Island had hardly seen a black person. The people in the Zeng family looked at each other, but the black person stumbled towards the crowd.

"Hei Fangui!" Someone screamed, and someone went to get the dick.Zeng Yue waved his hand: "He doesn't seem to have any malicious intentions. Don't move, everyone. This nigga gave me food and water when he was on the boat. It's a kindness to me. Don't hurt him..." Before he finished speaking, he saw When the black man saw them, he suddenly became excited and ran over quickly.

He ran straight in front of Yin Feng, knelt down with a plop, and babbled for a few miles, speaking extremely fast.Everyone was taken aback and looked at Yin Feng and the black man in silence.Seeing Yin Feng's serious face, after saying a few words, he took out the revolver from his pocket and handed it to the black man.

Knowing the power of this gun, Zeng Jingshan yelled "Ah", then covered his mouth, watching the black man holding the gun and crying loudly, he was beyond surprised.

Yin Feng helped the black man up, retracted the gun, walked up to Zeng Yue and said, "I have to take a black man with me."

Zeng Yue rolled his eyes and sighed, "Brother Yin, what kind of play is this?"

This black man is called Magaro. He was originally a Bantu black man captured by the Portuguese in East Africa.Half a year ago, that was the day when Yin Feng crossed, he followed his master, Captain Francisco Baradas of the Portuguese Army, to Macau, but suddenly encountered a storm and the boat capsized and died.With good water quality, he floated on the broken plank, and was rescued by Zeng Erjiao's pirate ship after 5 days at sea.

Last night, he recognized Yin Feng's revolver: it was a relic of his master Francisco Barradas.Therefore, the loyal Magaro went down to the sea secretly, and went ashore to find Yin Feng as soon as the pirate ship left.His Portuguese is very standard, but he speaks very fast, which made it difficult for Yin Feng to understand.He told Magaro that his master might have died at sea.

Ma Jialuo cried for a while, saying that his master had a brother in Macau, the Jesuit missionary Baradas, and he wanted to find this missionary.Yin Feng explained the reasons before and after, and Zeng Yue said helplessly: "So, this black ghost is destined to be with you. Then you can take him with you. But, you can't go into the city, otherwise all the people in the city will come to see it. "

On the way back, Yin Feng suddenly thought that Master Magaro's ship and the merchant ship Tomar might be related to the big storm he set off when he traveled through time and space.So it seems that I am really a butterfly that disrupts time and space, but I don't know how far I can change it.From the current point of view, the damage of merchant ships to wind is an insignificant change compared to the long river of history.

On the seventh day of January in the 28th year of Wanli, Xinhai; on February 1600, 2 AD, the merchant ship Tomar and another smaller merchant ship, the Goa, sneaked into Sanya Port at night. The local navy officers and soldiers excused the storm. , stopped patrolling.In the next few days, various merchants were busy shipping goods to the seaside.

"Why don't you stop at Big Egg Port?" Yin Feng asked Captain Barreto.

"When we docked last time, we found that Dayan Port was very congested, so we stopped here instead." Barreto looked at the vast Sanya Port: "This is a good port!"

Yin Feng felt a little uncomfortable: these western adventurers regarded the coastlines of other countries as their home, and they had no scruples at all.

But the most important thing right now is business.This time there are two merchant ships, and the marketable goods on the whole island of Hainan cannot meet the needs of these two merchant ships.Therefore, Yin Feng brought a batch of iron wares from the Zeng family to be sold in Macau, plus 1000 taels of silver. After completing the deal in Macau, he used the money he earned to go to Fujian and other places to solicit goods; Before coming here, going to Macau for another transaction will make the Zeng family's business grow by leaps and bounds.

Before the trip, Yin Feng persuaded all the merchants in the Yazhou Fujian Chamber of Commerce to raise funds together, and then sent representatives to Fujian and Zhejiang to receive the goods. This will completely change the passive position of Hainan merchants in overseas trade.He suggested operating in the form of a shareholding system, and the income at that time will also be distributed according to the shares.This relatively new approach to the business world at the time made many people skeptical and flinched.However, because he recruited a fan boat, this time he brought the merchants several times the profits of previous years. In the end, 5 merchants still contributed.A total of about 3000 taels of cash was raised, which was brought by Yin Feng and Zeng Jingshan to collect goods.

It was only then that Yin Feng noticed that Chinese businessmen in this era are still accustomed to sporadic family investment businesses, and partnership business is only limited to within the family or very close friends.Although there are regional business gangs and mutual aid activities within the business gangs, each business firm is independent and does not belong to each other, and there is no phenomenon of raising funds to jointly engage in a major project.At the same time, East India companies in Western countries were being established one after another.

In any case, this sea trade means that from January to September in the 28th year of Wanli, Yin Feng almost had to travel around the sea and trek on land.

On this day, the black Magaro, who has been living in the riverside five miles away from the city, also came to the beach. Yin Feng took him, Zeng Jingshan and several others as cargo owners, boarded the merchant ship Tomar, and left at the end of January. After leaving Yazhou, he went to Macau, the trade center between China and the West at that time.

The cabins of Portuguese ships are generally small, and the sanitation conditions were notoriously poor in the world's nautical circles at that time. The living conditions in the cabins are better on Dutch ships or British ships. Yin Feng has not yet had a chance to sit.He almost walked into the cabin assigned to him by stepping on the sewage, Zeng Jingshan also came in holding his nose, and the black Magaro seemed very adaptable.Yin Feng sighed: My maritime career started on this stinking Portuguese ship.

Seeing the two ships disappearing on the horizon, Zeng Qi, who was seeing them off, said to Zeng Yue: "Yin Feng, this son must have been a servant for a long time!"

Zeng Yue frowned imperceptibly, carefully searched for the appropriate words and said, "Second Uncle, I don't think there is any need to worry about this."

Zeng Qi looked at him, and Zeng Yue continued: "Yin Feng went to Erjiao Lord to redeem people, but he didn't know the relationship between our family and Erjiao. He didn't know the details of the pirates, but he still took the risk to redeem people, willing to do it for me. Risking his life, it can be seen that this person values ​​love and righteousness. If he is independent, he will definitely not be disadvantageous to my Zeng family, I believe him."

Zeng Qi nodded: "I hope so." He was thinking in his heart: Is there any way to keep this person's heart?

The sea breeze was blowing slowly in the South China Sea, and the Tomar and the Goa arrived in the waters off Macau five days later.Yin Feng stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the whole port of "Haojingao". The weather was fine that day, and the monastery on the top of Guia Hill, the highest point in the city, was very conspicuous. In the middle of the peninsula, there are continuous European-style buildings, neoclassical buildings mixed with Gothic-style churches; during this period, there are a large number of Chinese-style Lingnan-style houses near the inner harbor, and the best berths for boats are from Shalitou to Niangma Pavilion. section of the bay, known as the Inner Harbour.

The Tomar and the Goa entered the port one after the other.At this time, nearly a hundred ships from various countries were moored in the port: Chinese merchant ships and fishing boats, Portuguese large Carrack-type merchant ships, and imitation Chinese-style sailing ships from Southeast Asia.The port and the city are full of Chinese, Portuguese, merchants and adventurers from all over Europe, all kinds of black slaves, merchants from Southeast Asian countries, and a large number of Japanese. It is a typical international commercial city.

Among the permanent population of Macao at that time, in addition to nearly 6000 Chinese, according to the statistics of the Ming Dynasty government, there were 400 Portuguese male household heads and 2,400 black slaves.At present, most of the 4 to [-] people are migrants from various countries who come here to do business for a living and do coolies to support their families.

The transaction went smoothly. All the iron pots of the Zeng family were sold at the price of one pot and a half taels of silver, which fully doubled the money. The rest of the goods were also successfully sold through the business network of the Bernardo family. The small pearl sold at a high price of 500 taels of silver.

After this round of business, including the small pearl business and Yalong of the Zeng family business, Yin Feng already has a worth of 1000 taels of silver.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty government at that time, Portuguese living in Macau could not enter Guangzhou for trade, only Portuguese ships from India could enter Guangzhou; therefore, after completing the transaction, Bernardo boarded the Goa merchant ship to trade in Guangzhou , their family brought many goods from Europe and India, including tobacco: it was imported to China as medicinal materials.Yin Feng became the general manager and temporary agent of the Bernardo family and went to Guangzhou together.

Zeng Jingshan was busy transporting the money he earned back to Quanzhou Prefecture, the headquarters of the Zeng family, and stepped up his contact with the purchase of raw silk and other goods in places such as Fujian and Zhejiang.

Before leaving Macau, Yin Feng visited several churches with the black Magaro and asked about the whereabouts of the missionary Baradas. The result was very disappointing, as if no one knew about it.Finally, they came to St. Paul's College and entered the magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral through someone's guidance. Only then did they find out from several Jesuit missionaries that the missionary Baradas followed Father Matteo Ricci and went to Nanjing to preach.

When Yin Feng heard the name of Matteo Leach (Matteo Ricci's original name), his body shook and he almost didn't cry out.Unexpectedly, the brother who was looking for the owner of Magaro could also be related to the No. 1 cultural exchange between China and the West, Matteo Ricci.However, Matteo Ricci will go north to the capital this year, so he may not have the opportunity to socialize.

When Yin Feng left St. Paul's Cathedral, he looked back at this magnificent Baroque church and regretted it: next year, in 1601, this magnificent cathedral will be destroyed by fire, including the entire college.Although it was rebuilt later, the magnificence and glory of that year could no longer be reproduced in Yin Feng's era.

The business trip to Guangzhou was not going well.If the Goa wants to go to Guangzhou for trading, it has to pay taxes to the Chinese government in Macau. The three parties, Haiphong Tongzhi, Shibo Tiju, and Xiangshan County Magistrate, jointly measure the length and width of the ship, and then calculate the weight of the cargo on board based on the draft of the ship. and amount to determine the amount of taxable silver.Originally, it was possible to rely on bribing officials to leave a lot of tax money, but this time the tax collection process, the government did it very seriously and meticulously, and after receiving Yin Feng’s red envelope, he told him: After the tax supervisor Li Feng arrived in Guangzhou, the annual tax collection will be collected every year. The amount of property and taxation has increased to 20 taels, which was originally only 6 taels; therefore, the tax credit apportioned to Guangdong Shipyard has also increased to 4 taels a year.Therefore, we cannot relax the work of tax collection for those who come to Guangzhou for trading.While speaking, the officials of the Department of Shipping put Bernardo's red envelope presented by Yin Feng into their arms, and at the same time directed the measuring staff to work hard.

After paying taxes and bribes twice as much as in previous years, the Goa was able to dock in Guangzhou.The officials of the Maritime Department clearly ordered that foreigners are not allowed to disembark at will, and only the general interpreter is allowed to disembark for transactions.Fortunately, under the guidance of Bernardo who has been to Guangzhou many times, Yin Feng privately stuffed a lot of gold into an official of the Shibo Department surnamed Wang, so the next transaction went relatively smoothly, and the Shibo Department did not make things difficult for Guo. A Hao bought a chime bell at a high price for the goods, saying that it happened to be dedicated to Li Feng, the tax supervisor.

According to the rules at the time, the crew of foreign ships were not allowed to enter Guangzhou City, and they only had to trade by the river.This year, this regulation was strictly enforced, and people were not allowed to enter the city even if they were on business, which disappointed Yin Feng who wanted to see the city of Guangzhou.

Half a month later, Yin Feng, who was not allowed to enter the city of Guangzhou, got a large amount of raw silk through the relationship of the Zeng family's fellow merchants.However, the numbers were far from enough to fill the cargo bay.The reason is that since last year, the mine supervision tax has crossed the land of south of the Five Ridges, suddenly there are many checkpoints, merchants are struggling to transport goods, and the raw silk transported by land has been reduced a lot; Raw silk shipped by sea has also decreased.

There are already typhoons along the coast of Guangdong in March of the lunar calendar.At this time, the wind was already very strong, and the wind was blowing to the northwest, and at this time the Goa was sailing against the wind with difficulty.

The Goa is much smaller than a Karak-type ship like the Tomar, but it is only 400 tons, and it is even weaker in the face of the power of nature.It was not raining at this time, and the guide Lin Ashui hired from Guangzhou was watching nervously at the bow of the boat, and at the same time kept ordering: "Okay, you can turn the rudder to the north, crosswind, and zigzag."

Yin Feng on the side translated his words word by word to the captain of the Goa, Rodriguez, and at the same time desperately grasped the side of the ship to stabilize his body.

"Okay, Mr. Yin, you can go down now. The bottom is heading north until Yuegang, and there is no need to adjust the direction."

Yin Feng raised his voice to drown out the wind: "Mr. Captain, I'd rather stay on the deck!"

Captain Rodriguez laughed.

Because of the small size of the ship, the Goa's cabin is even lower, with only two steerages; one for the crew and one for the cargo owner and passengers.Everyone sleeps in hammocks and eats almost rotten food.With no ventilation, the cabin became stuffy, making it difficult to breathe, and everyone's clothes were soaked and never dry, and there was a lack of water; the water in the boat had a stench, and everyone had to wring their noses Drink water.

It is said that Li Feng, the tax supervisor, colluded with pirates to rob along the coast, and in order to avoid possible patrols by the government, the Goa only stayed for one day after returning to Macau. look.After two days away from the coastline of Guangdong, I turned around and headed north for an adventurous voyage to Fujian and Zhejiang.

There were 30 crew members on board, as well as the employers, the Zeng family and the Bernardo family, each with 5 to 8 accompanying servants.The Goa was built by Duarte Gomez Solis, another new Christian family. Because they are often discriminated against by authentic Portuguese Catholics, the crew is almost Indian except for the captain, first mate, and second mate. people, blacks, Southeast Asian Malays.

As the boat rocked, Zeng Jingshan vomited profusely, as did several other servants of the Zeng family.The cabin was filled with a mixture of flowing vomit and sewage, and Yin Feng didn't want to go back to the cabin to suffer.

Bernardo thought the same way, staying on the deck as long as he could.It is not the first time for Yin Feng to go out to sea. Years of traveling made him quickly adapt to the life on this classical sailing boat.But in any case, he didn't want to go down and smell the disgusting stench.However, soon the wind, waves and heavy rain rushed to the Goa.Due to the crosswind, the Goa was forced to furl half of its mainsail, but the ship was still heeling badly.Suddenly, the wind blew violently to the north, and the Goa was almost gliding on the water and sailed northward at a high speed, which was almost out of control.

At this time, the sky was dark and the surroundings were covered with rain and waves, and the guide Lin Ah Shui also lost his bearings.Further north, we will pass through the Taiwan Strait, Yin Feng thought to himself, and asked loudly: "Boss Lin, can we reach Penghu in this direction?"

"About that?" Lin Ah Shui said unsurely: "In the past, there was a ship that was caught in the wind here, and deviated from the course until it reached the country of Wa."

"Ah!" Yin Feng was taken aback.

"Come down to drain the water, the bilge is flooded!!" A black crew member popped up from below the deck and shouted loudly.