The emperor's name of the Ming Dynasty was changed three times in just one and a half years, the Manchu army had broken the Yangtze River, Huguang, Jiangxi and Zhejiang had become the front lines of the war, and countless refugees had flocked south.

Emperor Chongzhen, who forced Beijing, and Li Zicheng, who had only been Emperor Dashun for less than a year, was chased and beaten by the Manchu soldiers all the way, and the occupied northern territory was lost in an instant like a flash in the pan. Now Li Zicheng has lost his whereabouts in Huguang, it is said that he may be half of the gang, and it is also said that he died in Huangquan, anyway, now the Dashun peasant army is divided, and the remnants have also defected to the local Nanming forces under the military pressure of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

In the direction of Sichuan, the news about Zhang Xianzhong is even more closed. It is said that Zhang Xianzhong has occupied half of Sichuan, called the emperor in Chengdu, and the country is called Daxi, but his life is not stable, not only did he not take Hanzhong to lock the key points of the northern defense, but also did not completely purge the remaining Ming troops in Sichuan, and he was still constantly suffering from the resistance and counterattack of the local officials and troops of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

At present, Emperor Longwu ascended the throne in Fuzhou, and most of the remaining provinces of the Southern Ming Dynasty have declared their allegiance, even if Zheng Zhilong's power is tilted towards the government and the opposition, and Emperor Longwu cannot display his blood, but the establishment of a new imperial court still has great significance to stabilize people's hearts. At least for the officials and businessmen in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, they are still in the rear, and apart from the sharp increase in food prices in the past few months, the basic pace of life has not changed much.

With the shift of the focus of the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade policy for more than 200 years, Quanzhou City has lost its status as the center of maritime trade in the East since the Song Dynasty, but it is still one of the top commercial towns in Fujian and even along the Ming Dynasty.

In the most prosperous area of Quanzhou City, in front of a large shop with "Wang Ji Hailan Pavilion", more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages were crowded on the side of the street, and servants constantly moved large boxes from the shop to put them on the carriage.

Countless people passing by in Quanzhou were watching from the streets, or pointing fingers, or whispering, as if they didn't believe that the Quanzhou royal family, which had been prosperous for more than ten years, would suddenly choose to close. On both sides of the shop door, there are still more than a dozen soldiers standing to maintain order. It seems that it is specifically protecting the shop from nuisance.

Above the main hall in the shop, Wang Fenglin, who is over fifty years old, is drinking tea and chatting with a young man wearing the costume of a Ming merchant.

“…… Director Zhou, is there really any problem along the way? ”

The corner of Wang Fenglin's eyes was still on the servants who were moving boxes and cabinets in and out, but on the surface, he nodded with a smile on his face to the business director of the Hong Kong branch of Oriental Bank of the Oriental Union Group in front of him.

If you go back to more than ten years ago, Wang Fenglin was just a very inconspicuous small maritime merchant in Quanzhou, and it would be very good to be able to do tens of thousands of taels of silver a year. But now, he is a well-known businessman in Quanzhou, with branches all over Quanzhou and even various prefectures and counties in Fujian, and he has a lot of Nanyang seafood for sale for many years.

Wang Fenglin's transshipment. Just more than ten years ago, through the introduction of Li Guozhu, a Luzon maritime merchant at that time, and Yan Xiaosong, the oriental envoy of Xihaihua and the United States, got in touch with him, and later became one of the few maritime merchants in Fujian who could directly establish a first-class agency qualification with the Oriental Union Group.

It should be said that the Fujian maritime merchants who met with Yan Xiaosong, the special envoy of Huamei Oriental, on a certain day in the first year of Chongzhen, have now made a fortune. Wang's Hailan Pavilion has gradually developed into the largest business in Quanzhou, with high-end and exquisite Nanyang cloth, Nanyang lamp oil and Nanyang balsam soap as its main products, and it is also a large purchase of tea, porcelain, lacquer, pine resin and medicinal materials from all over Fujian. To this day, although Wang Fenglin has to pay Zheng Zhilong a lot of protection fees every year. But his net worth is hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and he owns several small and medium-sized ships, and he is one of the few maritime merchants in Fujian who can trade with Luzon under the nose of the government.

"Isn't it just 200,000 taels of silver, and the Zhangquan General Army sent ships to escort it to Hong Kong. And as long as the contract for opening an account deposit is signed. The security of funds is all taken care of by Oriental Bank, what are you worried about, Boss Wang? ”

The business director of Oriental Bank tapped the stack of papers on the table, with a professional smile on his face, as if this kind of thing that alarmed most of Quanzhou City was not the same thing in his eyes.

"Huh. Yes, yes, the surname of the country is really for the country and the people, and we and other grass people have nothing to worry about. Since your bank values Wang so much. Naturally, it was disrespectful, and I signed an account opening contract ......"

Seeing that the other party brought out someone's name again, Wang Fenglin reluctantly picked up the pen and ink that had been prepared a long time ago, wrote his name on the account opening document of the Golden Diamond VIP user of Oriental Bank, and pressed his fingerprint.

"Well, the formalities are all in place now. Boss Wang, from now on, you are the VIP user of my East West Oriental Bank, and you will have the following privileges......"

After carefully checking whether there were any missing signatures, the business director of Oriental Bank nodded with satisfaction, and then handed a bank deposit certificate that had been issued long ago to Wang Fenglin. Wang Fenglin deposited a total of 300,000 US dollars worth of silver (converted according to actual fineness) in Dongfang Bank this time, of which 200,000 yuan was a three-year term and 100,000 yuan was a current term.

A paper deposit document, the first set of numeric passwords, and the second set of text passwords, constitute Wang Fenglin's user proof at Oriental Bank.

With the deposit certificate and the first set of numeric passwords, it is possible to withdraw funds from any branch of Oriental Bank in the world. If the certificate of deposit is damaged or lost, it can be replaced at the Hong Kong branch of Oriental Bank with the second set of character passwords.

In addition, as a VIP of Golden Diamond, Wang Fenglin also enjoys value-added services in his fixed deposit at Oriental Bank, and the fixed interest will rise step by step, up to 5% of the annual interest on the deposit. Even if it is a current deposit and withdrawal, it will enjoy an annual interest rate of 0.5%, compared to the current deposit of ordinary users in China and the United States, which is interest-free.

Holding the crisp Oriental Bank user Wen Jiàn, Wang Fenglin was happy and apprehensive in his heart. Happily, compared with Daming's bank, the conditions of the Oriental Bank are very kind; What is worrying is that if the other party tries to persuade him to transfer assets to Hong Kong or even Luzon, he will lose most of the foundation he has finally laid in Quanzhou.

Even if Wang Fenglin was suspicious of the strength of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's southward movement, he had dealt with the businessmen of Huamei Oriental Union Group over the years, and he did not find that the other party had said anything inconsequential, but solved the trouble for himself many times. To put it bluntly, my own family business is not a little worse than others, and they also look at years of close cooperation. I gave myself advice and more options.

In the past few months, because the Zheng family in Fujian suddenly took a sharp turn towards Huamei, even with Quanzhou Hailan Pavilion has also suffered a lot of trouble, if it weren't for the usual benefits in place, it is estimated that the Zheng family would have found a reason to end. But even so, Wang Fenglin's business in Quanzhou was still greatly affected, especially since the Zheng family had openly banned all maritime merchants in Fujian from trading with Hong Kong and Luzon.

With the uncertainty of the situation in the world. Or is it the strong dissatisfaction with the Zheng family in his heart, Wang Fenglin divided the family business into three according to the idea of the three holes of the cunning rabbit. In addition to the closure of the Quanzhou General Office, small shops in other states and counties continued to operate, and most of the cash money was deposited in Hong Kong, and a small part of the cash silver was taken to the store in Manila, Luzon, because his personal relationship with Li Guozhu was also very iron.

What Wang Fenglin didn't know was that not only did he make a small disturbance in Quanzhou, but also in Zhangzhou, Fuzhou, and even Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Many small and medium-sized businesses have received letters from their counterparts in Guangzhou, Luzon and other places. Both inside and outside the letter are reminders in unison, persuading various firms to transfer assets in order to avoid the risks of the current situation.

It is said that in the following months, about 20 large and small maritime merchants in Fujian and Zhejiang accepted this kind of private collusion. In various ways, the store pù or cash money was divided, most of which were transferred directly or through guò intermediaries to the Oriental Bank of the Governorate of Huamei Hong Kong, and a small number to Luzon.

……

In Tong'an, dozens of miles away from Quanzhou City, a huge military camp is surrounded by mountains and rivers. There are two big flags standing at the camp gate, the big flag on the left is embroidered with "Daming Zhangquan General Soldier Zheng", and the big flag on the right is embroidered with "Yu Ci Guo surname Zhu Chenggong".

Zheng Zhilong was a mess in the Battle of Nanjing. Not only did it not weaken the influence of the Zheng family in Fujian, but because of the basic preservation of strength, Zheng Zhilong finally stepped onto the pinnacle of the political arena in the Southern Ming Dynasty.

In terms of politics, using Zhang Kentang and Huang Daozhou and other civil officials, Zheng Zhilong supported Emperor Longwu and took a resolute suppressive stance against the small court of King Lu in eastern Zhejiang.

Militarily, Zheng Zhilong used the signboard of Emperor Longwu, plus his own financial resources, to basically control all the military towns in Fujian in his hands, and now Zheng Zhilong almost has more than sixty percent of the military strength of the Longwu court. As for He Tengjiao, another powerful faction far away in Huguang, he did not waver in Zheng Zhilong's position in the Longwu regime.

Emperor Longwu, who was bent on winning the hearts of all parties and reviving the Ming Dynasty, gave Zheng Sen, who was only 21 years old, an evaluation that exceeded others' expectations when Zheng Zhilong brought his son Zheng Sen to meet him.

"It's a pity that there is no female match, you should be loyal to my family, don't forget each other!"

In order to show his favor to the Zheng family, Emperor Longwu gave Zheng Sen the most revered surname Zhu of the Ming Dynasty and changed his original name to Chenggong. Zhu Chenggong, or Zheng Chenggong, is Zheng Sen's personal identity that has changed dramatically in the past few months.

Different from the chaos of the ordinary Ming army garrison, the Zhangquan General Army Camp stationed in Tong'an at this time was in an orderly manner. With the financial support of the Zheng family, the supply of materials for this Ming army of more than 10,000 people is quite sufficient, not only every officer and soldier is a brand new mandarin duck battle jacket, but even the small soldiers are standard red tasseled eight-petal helmets. Because of the abundant supply of grain and grass, the faces of the officers and soldiers were much better than those of other military towns.

On the school field outside the camp, columns of officers and soldiers dressed in bright red were marching to the beat of drums, but in addition to a large number of cold weapons such as knives and guns, hot weapons such as muskets were very rare.

"Lord Commander, the baggage from the Anhai Wharf has been transported outside the camp! Master Cao is back too! A small colonel hurried to Zheng Chenggong, who was observing the drill of officers and soldiers, jumped off the horse and knelt on one leg in a standard Ming military posture.

As soon as they heard the news, the two young military attachés beside Zheng Chenggong were overjoyed.

"Great, they still keep their word, with these Nanyang ordnance, they can train their troops well!" Liu Guoxuan, who was dressed in officer clothes and armor at a young age, his eyes lit up at this time, and he couldn't wait to tiptoe to look towards the east of the camp, "General Shi, don't rob me when the time comes!" ”

Seeing this young colleague in such a hurry, Shi Lang smiled very calmly, turned to Zheng Chenggong and bowed: "Guo surnamed Ye, it seems that it is really right to invite Lord Cao out of the mountain." Now in Fujian, when it comes to friendship with Miyi maritime merchants, I am afraid that Mr. Zheng may not be better than Mr. Cao. ”

The Lord Cao in Shi Lang's mouth is naturally Cao Xiulin, who once resigned from the senior and returned to Zhangzhou to live in seclusion. I don't know how I learned that Cao Xiulin had sent Huamei to the Xuanwei Division on behalf of the senior officials, not long after Zheng Chenggong was appointed as the commander of Zhangquan. Zheng Chenggong personally visited Cao Xiulin, who opened a private school in Zhangzhou.

Zheng Chenggong's enthusiasm to resist the Qing Dynasty or his eagerness to build the Fujian New Army in his mind finally moved Cao Xiulin. After Zheng Chenggong solemnly expressed his willingness not to participate in the internal struggle and resolutely resist the Qing Dynasty, Cao Xiulin reluctantly accepted the status of the counselor of the Zhangquan General Military Office to help Zheng Chenggong take care of the most important affairs - the introduction of military weapons from Hong Kong and the United States.

At the moment when the relationship between the Zheng family and Huamei in Fujian has fallen into an ice hole, it is likely that Huamei has already left a foreshadowing with Fujian cooperative businessmen and the Yan family, and began to conditionally provide Zheng Chenggong with the materials he needs. Among them, the largest is naturally a large number of Chinese military weapons urgently needed by Zheng Chenggong for the formation and training of the new army.

The condition that Zheng Chenggong had to pay was to ensure that the Fujian maritime merchants in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou could trade to and from Hong Kong normally within the scope of his authority, the most important of which was to ensure that the Fujian maritime merchants in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou could travel to and from Hong Kong normally. It is to escort those Fujian and Zhejiang businessmen who "move and change production".

Advanced weapons such as the 34A breech-loading flintlock pistol and the new 8-pounder gun were only possible to obtain through official channels in Huamei, so Zheng Chenggong's dream of keeping up with the equipment of the new army in Guangdong was shattered. Under the "smuggling" of some Fujian businessmen, Zheng Chenggong could only slowly obtain relatively old-fashioned 21B breech flintlock pistols and 12-pounder guns, but even so, compared to his father Zheng Zhilong, who was basically out of stock, Zheng Chenggong's armament procurement still had a way.

"I heard that the Yan family refused to accept the edict of the imperial court and turned to King Lu, so I borrowed the hand of the maritime merchant to transfer guns and cannons from the master. How could my father not know...... Now that maritime merchants from all over Zhangquan have moved out, how long can my Zheng family be alone......

Thinking of his father Zheng Zhilong's indifferent attitude towards him still dealing with Huamei and the big people, Zheng Chenggong knew that this also implied the truth that his father kept a hand in doing things. It's just that I don't know that at the moment when my father's eyes are all over the place, this latest batch of Chinese military weapons smuggled from Fujian businessmen. How much can you end up with.

In the distance, large cars slowly approached, and a man in ordinary clothes smiled at him.

"Brother Cao, it's hard for you to run again this time." Seeing the other party's slightly tired face after running at sea, Zheng Chenggong returned the salute embarrassedly. Then he looked at the dozens of oxen and carriages behind the other party, "I didn't suffer any trouble this time, did I?" ”

"Fortunately, I am not dishonored, and the adults know that Lord Yan also knows that I am a master of the Ming Dynasty and will fight against the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the price has not been raised. However, he repeatedly asked Cao to return to the office. Cao Xiulin smiled, raised his hand and took the account book from the hands of others, "Four thousand steps, although they are all old products, there are also eight finished products." Nine pounds of heavy artillery and eight guns, brand new, are from Luzon. ”

The whole army now only has more than 4,000 gorgeous rifles and a few nine-pound cannons, and now the batch of arms brought by Cao Xiulin is considered to be a huge amount.

After carefully looking through the account book, Zheng Chenggong turned around and showed a stern expression to Liu Guoxuan: "Sightseeing, you immediately send someone to transport two thousand foot guns and four nine-pound cannons, go to Fuzhou by sea, and hand them over to my father in person!" ”

"The eldest prince...... The surname of the country! It's obviously something we've managed to ......."

Liu Guoxuan, who was bent on changing the clothes of the officers and soldiers in the battalion, immediately became anxious, and reached out to pull Zheng Chenggong's arm without knowing how serious.

"Guoxuan, Hugh is presumptuous! Didn't you hear the orders of the country's surname! If there is no help from the boss, what will this battalion eat, drink, and raise soldiers! Shi Lang on the side frowned, and immediately scolded.

"Hey!" knew that every tael of silver in Zheng Chenggong's camp was actually from Zheng Zhilong in Fuzhou, but Liu Guoxuan was still unhappy, so he could only leave hastily with his fists hugged.

The people at the scene slowly dispersed with the convoy, and when only Cao Xiulin was left, Zheng Chenggong lowered his voice: "Brother Cao, how is Liangguang now?" ”

Knowing that the other party was concerned about the situation in Guangxi and Guangzhou, Cao Xiulin sighed: "Don't hide the surname of the country, I heard that the king of Jingjiang pretended to be the prisoner of the country according to Guilin, and there were many rebels, and the life and death of Qu Shiyun, the governor of Guangxi, was unknown...... Nowadays, the two Guangxi are in turmoil, and the prices in Zhaoqing, Gaozhou, Leizhou, and Guangzhou are soaring, and people everywhere are unstable. The camps in Xinzhen, Guangdong, have been in trouble for a long time, refusing to accept orders to rebel, Ding Chukui, the governor of Liangguang, is not out of the door, and most of them are Zhao Youheng, Xiao Yifu and others are running......"

Emperor Longwu ascended the throne, and the edict arrived in Zhaoqing as soon as possible, but Ding Chukui, the governor of Liangguang, has not yet given a clear attitude to feedback. The farce of Liangguang can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye that it is a kind of backlash from a local squire, and there is even strong dissatisfaction with the Zheng family in Fujian, the initiator.

It is said that in order to deter the two Guangzhous, Zheng Zhilong also sent a fleet to Nanao Island, where the Guangdong General Military Office is located, and arrested Chen Qian, the Guangdong General Army, under the pretext of "violating the order", and annexed the Guangdong Naval Division.

"Liangguang is not subject to the edict of the imperial court, I'm afraid it's not Ding Chukui's intention...... The gentry of Liangguang are increasingly dissatisfied with my father, if it is difficult to maneuver, and the court loses Liangguang, how many years can it stand? ”

Zheng Chenggong frowned, helpless to the current situation to this point. Although his father Zheng Zhilong was rich and rivaled the country, he was well aware of the current status of the two Guangzhous, especially Qiongzhou and Hong Kong, which had close ties with Huamei, and were likely to be a powerful channel for external support for the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty in the future.

In addition, Xia Guan heard the news from the maritime merchants of Fuzhou that Lord Chen (Chen Zilong) had been martyred in Jiangbei (Qiantang River), ...... "Seeing that the other party's relationship was not good, Cao Xiulin still gritted his teeth and told the latest news he heard.

Regarding the bad news of the martyrdom of his old boss, Zheng Chenggong's eyes only darkened.

"Forget it, let's wait and see." After being silent for a long time, Zheng Chenggong sighed and squeezed out a bitter smile at Cao Xiulin, "Maybe Brother Cao will have to work hard to go to Hong Kong and the big people...... This year, floods have occurred in the prefectures and counties in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, the autumn grain harvest has failed, grain prices have risen in various localities, and the army has become increasingly embarrassed. If we want not to hurt the people's hearts, we must buy grain and grass from other places before we can resolve the situation. ”

Hearing this, Cao Xiulin's face immediately became solemn, and he didn't reply, but just bowed deeply. (To be continued......)

PS: The third round of sincerity ~~~