"The imperial court is going to open the sea ban!"

The news spread rapidly in Fujian like lightning, and not only the Fujian government, but even the people of Fujian were stunned by the news.

There is an old saying in China, which is called relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and relying on the water to draft the water. As a province near the sea, the people of Fujian did not get any benefit from the sea, but were forced to confine their feet to the mainland because of an absurd sea ban, starving at the rich sea.

Of course, the imperial court's ban on the sea also depends on who is right. For ordinary people, the sea ban is naturally a shackle that imprisons them firmly on land, but for those gentry and maritime merchants, the sea ban is undoubtedly a dead letter, the vast sea has so much wealth, you actually don't let me go to the sea, is it possible?

As the saying goes, no matter how good the laws and regulations are, they must be enforced, and under the attack of sugar-coated shells, countless court officials fell, and those maritime merchants set sail almost in a semi-public name, and these people naturally made a lot of money one by one.

Now that the ban on the sea has been lifted, ordinary people and fishermen are naturally rejoicing, they no longer have to risk their lives to sneak out to sea to fish, and the imperial court no longer prohibits them from going to sea, which is simply great news.

It stands to reason that it is a good thing that the imperial court has lifted the sea ban, and everyone should be happy, but for those maritime merchants, the lifting of the sea ban is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue.

Why?

The reason is very simple, in the past, the imperial court forbade the sea, and they could use the name of the forbidden sea to buy the government to strictly prohibit the common people from going out to sea to fish, do business, and firmly hold the business at sea in their own hands, after all, there is a good saying in later generations, what business is the most profitable, of course, monopoly is the most profitable.

But now that the imperial court has lifted the ban on the sea, then in the past, they could wield it to their heart's content, and whoever didn't like it was gone, so that everyone was on the same starting line. The ordinary people and the small traders who had been firmly pressed to the ground by them in the past turned over at once, and when they saw that countless competitors were about to emerge overnight, those sea merchants were dumbfounded.

"Lord Governor, why did the imperial court suddenly make this will, but we didn't receive any news in advance!"

In the front hall of the governor's yamen, Xia Dayan, dressed in regular clothes, sat on the first seat, and below him were four or five middle-aged or elderly men, a middle-aged man about fifty years old and wearing a light blue silk robe looked at him with a wry smile.

Xia Dayan held the teacup, slowly flicked the tea leaves floating on it with the tea lid, and after taking a sip slowly, he put the teacup on the table and said with a smile: "President Han, isn't it a good thing that the imperial court opened the sea ban at once, from now on, President Han, you can go to sea to do business generously, and you don't have to worry about the embarrassment and trouble from the government, what else do you have to worry about?" ”

The smile on Chairman Han's face froze, and then turned bitter. Although he had a belly of mom to say in his heart, he didn't know how to speak for a while.

A middle-aged man behind him who looked very rich said with a smile: "Lord Governor, the grass people and others naturally know that the imperial court has opened the sea ban and is also concerned about the people, but my Ming Dynasty has implemented the sea ban for hundreds of years, once the ban is rashly opened, overseas things will pour into my Fujian and even the Ming region, which will inevitably lead to a decline in the price of goods, so that the market of goods in my Fujian area will inevitably fall into chaos, and President Han, as the president of the Fujian Chamber of Commerce, is also worried. So he contacted me and others to meet the governor and ask for an idea. ”

"Asking for an idea?" Xia Dayan couldn't help but smile after hearing this, glanced at these people and said lightly: "President Han, since a few of you are here today, then this official also has a few words to say to you. Your Majesty's decree to ban the sea has been made, and it is impossible to change it. Since you said that you are worried that after the opening of the sea ban, you are worried that the price of goods will fall due to the influx of overseas goods into our Ming Dynasty, this official has an idea here, would you like to hear it? ”

Chairman Han and the others glanced at each other, and said helplessly, "Please show the governor!" ”

Xia Dayan stroked his beard and said: "Now that Fujian is full of bandits, Zheng Zhilong, the leader of the bandits, led the bandits to attack the city and plunder the land, and scourge the people of my Ming Dynasty. Now the imperial court has sent Jiang Ningbo to lead tens of thousands of imperial army to Fujian, and soon it will be a crusade against the bandits, thinking that the army is stationed here, the grain and grass required is a huge amount, and you can ask for Jiang Ningbo to see the army when you turn back, and will provide the army with grain and grass Next, so that you can earn money, and Jiang Ningbo's army can save the hard work of trafficking grain and grass, isn't it beautiful? ”

When the rich-looking man heard this, his face couldn't help but move and he began to groan: "Huh...... This business can be done, but the price is ......."

Before the rich man finished speaking, he was interrupted by President Han on the side, only to see him arch his hand towards Xia: "Lord Governor, this matter is very important after all, please allow me to wait for a discussion before giving you a reply." ”

Xia Dayan nodded, this is also reasonable, then you will go back and discuss it, but time waits for no one, you still need to reply to the official as soon as possible.

Chairman Han nodded again and again: "Yes, yes...... My lord is right, I'll give you a reply tomorrow at the latest, and I won't make you wait. ”

"That's it!" A hint of imperceptible displeasure flashed in Xia Dayan's eyes, he picked up the teacup in his hand and blew lightly, and a servant standing next to Xia Dayan shouted loudly after seeing this: "Send off!" ”

Seeing this, Chairman Han and the others also stood up and said goodbye to Xia.

When the few of them left the governor's yamen, the middle-aged man who looked like Futai asked, "President Han, what a good proposal from Governor Shicai Xia!" Jiang Ningbo's tens of thousands of troops are stationed in Fujian, and the grain and grass required by the United States and Japan is a large amount, so why don't we wrap up the grain and grass required by the Jiang Ning army, so it is also a big subsidy for us. ”

"You know what!"

Chairman Han glared at him angrily.

"You only see that you can earn money by transporting grain, grass and baggage to the Jiang Ning army, but you forget what the Jiang Ning army came to Fujian for. Don't forget, they are here to exterminate Zheng Zhilong and these thieves, haven't you heard yesterday, Jiang Ningbo has appointed Governor Lu as the new commander of the Fujian Water Division, and a total of 3 million will be used to build a new Fujian Water Division. ”

"Huh...... That's too! ”

When everyone heard this, they were suddenly shocked in their hearts, why did they, the maritime merchants, be able to freely shuttle between the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang and Fusang over the years, earning a lot of money? It's not because they bought off the government, and the Daming Navy Division is like a fictitious one, so they can freely crisscross the sea, if the Fujian Navy Division is really created, their good days are probably coming to an end.

Thinking of this, everyone panicked. The rich man said anxiously, "President Han, what should we do then?" I've heard that this Jiang Ningbo is not a good stubble, I heard that when he was in Liaodong, he killed Jiannu to the point of blood, and even cast several Jingguan. After returning to the DPRK, he advocated the collection of taxes on our merchants, if he really let him gain a firm foothold in our Fujian, our good days will come to an end! ”

"You only know now!" Chairman Han glared at the Futai man fiercely with some hatred, and finally groaned for a while before gritting his teeth and saying, "No matter what, we can't let the sea ban be lifted." Since we can't oppose it openly, we can secretly stumble on them. Listen, let's do this when we get back......"

Not to mention that everyone was discussing how to stumble on Yang Feng, after the news that Yang Feng was going to rebuild the Fujian Navy Division came out, the spies who were going to lurk in Xiamen immediately passed the news out.

In a rather grand mansion in Mawei, Fuzhou, a group of barefoot men wearing short shirts and loose trousers are drinking and eating meat around a table, and the first seat is a young man in his twenties, this young man is fair-skinned and handsome, wearing a cyan robe and a square scarf on his head.

This handsome young man is none other than Zheng Zhilong, a bandit who is now crisscrossing Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

When he was young, he took his younger brother Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao to follow the disciples of Li Dan, an overseas Chinese pirate merchant on Hirado Island, Japan.

A few years ago, after Li Dan's death, his industry and business in Xiaoliuqiu (Taiwan) were owned by Zheng Zhilong, which created conditions for Zheng Zhilong to merge with other Han armed forces existing in Taiwan at that time (mainly in the present-day Yunlin Beigang area) and recruit new forces from the mainland to Taiwan.

Zheng Zhilong is also a bold person, after he took over Li Dan's industry and career, he soon gathered a large number of subordinates to do pirate business, with the increase of strength he is getting more and more bold, this year it is even more open against the Ming court. Because the Ming Sailor had already existed in name only, Zheng Zhilong had no opponent at sea, and in the end, he was bold enough to gather tens of thousands of people to attack Fujian and Guangdong.

Due to the fact that Fujian, Guangdong and other coastal and other coastal places are almost all eroded, I can only watch Zheng Zhilong lead the thieves to gallop in Guangdong and Fujian, a few days ago Zheng Zhilong led the thieves to capture Fuzhou, and at this time Xia Dayan and others realized that the matter could no longer be concealed, so they reported to the imperial court.

Zheng Zhilong looked at the brothers on the table and was drunk for three minutes, then he gently clapped his palms, and after hearing the applause, everyone who was familiar with Zheng Zhilong's temper immediately stopped their chopsticks and looked at their boss, only to hear Zheng Zhilong say loudly: "Brothers, I will gather all the brothers today, first, why do I drink with your brothers to catch up, and secondly, to inform the brothers of the news I just received." ”

Everyone didn't speak, still looking at Zheng Zhilong quietly.

Zheng Zhilong just said: "The imperial court has sent a large army to exterminate us." ”

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other for a while, and then burst into laughter.

A rough-looking man couldn't help but laugh and said, "Big brother, I thought it was a big deal, the relationship is such a sesame mung bean thing?" ”

Zheng Zhilong shook his head secretly: "Don't you want to know who the imperial court sent?" ”

The rough man wiped the wine stains on the corner of his mouth with his hand, and laughed: "I don't care who the imperial court sends, I only know that the current imperial court is like a grasshopper after the autumn, and it won't last long." ”

"Ah Leopard, your temperament is going to change." Zheng Zhilong pointed at the rough man and shook his head helplessly: "If you knew about the people sent by the imperial court, I'm afraid you wouldn't say that." ”

The rough man who spoke was Zheng Zhilong's fifth brother Zheng Zhibao, and when he saw Zheng Zhilong speaking solemnly, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Big brother, who did the court send this time?" ”

Zheng Zhilong said lightly: "The people sent by the imperial court, their name is Yang Feng. ”

"Yang Feng?"

Zheng Zhibao thought for a while, and said with some confusion: "This name is quite familiar, I seem to have heard it somewhere." ”

The sea bandits also thought about it, and one person suddenly shouted: "I know, isn't this Yang Feng the Yang Feng who was recently named Jiang Ningbo by the imperial court?" ”

"It's him!" Zheng Zhilong sneered: "It seems that you are not ignorant of external affairs. ”

"How can it, big brother!"

Zheng Zhibao also came to his senses, patted his thigh and said: "I remember, isn't this Yang Feng the one who broke Jiannu in Liaodong a few days ago, I heard that this is a ruthless man, he killed tens of thousands of Jiannu in Liaodong, and finally cast Jiannu's head into Jingguan, this matter has spread throughout the Ming Dynasty!" ”

"If only you knew!"

Zheng Zhilong said: "The news says that Yang Feng has come to Fujian a few days ago, and the army is resting, and it will come to us in a few days, planning to recover Fuzhou, what do you think of this, brothers?" ”

"Well...... this"

All the bandits are no longer arrogant just now, as the saying goes, the shadow of a person's famous tree, Yang Feng's reputation is all piled up by him with bloody heads and corpses, especially his hobby of liking to cast Jingguan is known to the world by the Donglin Party people everywhere.

The consequences of the Donglin Party doing this have both advantages and disadvantages, the disadvantage is that Yang Feng's reputation in the eyes of Shilin and the people who don't know the truth has become very bad, and the good thing is that on occasions like now, no matter how fierce the gangsters and bandits are, they can't help but change color when they hear Yang Feng's name, even Zheng Zhibao, a fierce character who usually fights fiercely, no longer has the arrogance just now after learning that the person who came to lead the troops this time was Yang Feng.

Zheng Zhilong looked at the crowd who had all quieted down, and his fair and handsome face sank: "What...... Are you scared, didn't you laugh quite happily just now? ”