The Star slowly sailed into the dock of Jeju Island, which turned out to be a pirate lair. The pirates established a small town on the west side of the island.
The Korean official offices and the main cities on the island are all in the east. Jeju Island is not small, covering an area of 1,825 square kilometers. There are mainly 34 subordinate islands including Niudao, Wudao, Brother Island, Chagui Island, Mosquito Island, and Tiger Island. On the island stands Halla Mountain with an altitude of 1,950 meters.
The government offices that can fully accommodate the Koreans and the pirates live in peace, one is in the north and the other is in the southeast, keeping a sufficient distance.
Jeju Island was the largest island in the Kingdom of Korea at this time, also called Tamna Island.
Jeju Island is located in the East China Sea, the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, 100 kilometers southwest of Jeollanam-do, across the Jeju Strait from the peninsula, and more than 90 kilometers north of the southern coast of South Korea. It strangles the gateway to the Korean Strait, and its geographical location is very important.
Pirates, officers and soldiers are inseparable from each other. Everyone was in peace, and the Korean officials and a small number of navy pretended to be deaf and dumb to the existence of pirates, pretending not to see it.
It is true that the Joseon Dynasty was too weak. In this marginal place, the strength is negligible.
This island was originally a horse breeding place for the Yuan Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it became the property of the Ming Dynasty. The Koreans shamelessly took over it, and Zhu Yuanzhang was told to manage it on his behalf.
There are many islands like Daming. Even the entire island of Sumatra was the old port of the Ming Dynasty. The Strait of Malacca belongs to the Ming Dynasty. A small place like Jeju Island is really nothing.
They didn't take it seriously. It's been more than two hundred years, but even now the Koreans don't dare to say that this island belongs to them, they just say that they manage it on behalf of the Celestial Dynasty.
During this period, the sailors attacked everywhere and defeated many groups of pirates in succession. A large number of pirates had no choice but to surrender.
Yang Fan ordered all their families to be moved here, and the pirates were reorganized to form a standard pirate group with 3,600 people. The supervisors were all sent by Yang Fan.
A battalion of musketeers is responsible for garrisoning and controlling the pirates' families. Because there are family members at hand, they are very obedient.
The pirates were divided into squadrons every hundred men. Officers elect themselves. Every five squadrons are organized into a battalion. This pirate regiment has a total of six battalions, and the battalion-level officers are all sent by Yang Fan.
The leader of the pirate group has been decided. Ruan Qingzhu used to be responsible for the security of Governor Wei, and transferred Li Huaishu back to serve as the leader of the pirate group.
In fact, the life of pirates is very difficult. They often have one meal but no next meal.
This time I robbed a fat sheep. After more than ten days of leisure, I may go hungry for more than ten days. These people only join pirates when they have no other choice. If there is a way out, who would be willing to do this?
They were captured by Yang Fan's people and moved here, where they had three full meals a day for the first time. They mainly eat fish at sea, but now they can actually eat food three times a day. They are so happy that they don't need it.
Their wives and children have begun to gain weight and are no longer skinny. Now that they are driven away, they will not leave.
Lin Yueru stood on the corridor at the stern of the ship, looking at the simple port, the temporary wooden trestle, the houses on the shore made of simple stones, clay, and wood, groups of children running around naked, and many ragged clothes. woman doing laundry.
Because there is no salt to eat, the hair of young people turns gray. It's ironic that they guard the sea but can't buy salt.
Lin Yueru suddenly sympathized with these thieves. This was really not a human life.
Although when Yang Fan was happy or drank too much, he would tell them bedtime stories under the coquettishness of the little girl.
In Yang Fan's story, pirates are always a world of wealth, women, and glory. But Lin Yueru knew that real pirates were like this.
Lin Yueru made up her mind not to get off the ship. Her VIP cabin was very comfortable and she was determined not to live in these shabby houses on the shore.
She was very worried that there would be bed bugs in those houses.
Soon, Cao Wei, the commander of the Jeju Island base, came up to meet the second lady. The word commander was also brought by Yang Fan. Lin Yueru understood that this word probably meant a local governor.
Cao Wei is a servant, he is the commander of the base, and he is not the same as the pirate group. To each his own. He is mainly responsible for managing ports, docks, warehouses, stevedores, and garrison teams.
He sent many jewels as gifts.
After he came here, these pirates bribed him a lot, and he accepted them all, otherwise they would not feel at ease.
But he registered all these gifts in front of the supervisor and placed them in the base's safe. He didn't dare to take a little bit for himself. He knew that the master liked honest subordinates.
Lin Yueru was very happy. As long as you are a woman, there is no one who does not like jewelry.
He talked to them for a while and gave them a few bottles of red wine as a gift in return. They had already packed up the official office and welcomed the lady and her entourage to the invitation, so they politely declined.
The pirates' lair is not short of gold, silver and jewelry, but what they lack is cloth, food, and medicine. It's funny, the pirates really starved with their gold and silver jewelry.
Because of the mainland's blockade and the navy's siege, they have been in a dilemma of shortage of supplies.
After many people got sick, they died quickly due to lack of medical treatment.
Many people even starved to death holding gold and silver.
The death rate for children born to pirate women was frighteningly high. Young children are also prone to die due to malnutrition. In addition, various disasters such as typhoons and heavy rains
, the average life span of pirates is very low, far inferior to that of residents in the mainland.
After they moved here, they at least had a fixed residence and would no longer be wandering around.
After all, people have peace of mind, and after they moved here, they quickly fell in love with this stable life.
Yang Fan established a management organization here, brought in thirty recruited doctors, and established a school that could accommodate a thousand students. Provide free medical care and education.
Shops and banks were opened in the central square of the town. There are also hospitals, schools, hotels and government offices.
There are all kinds of supplies in the store. They no longer need to risk their lives and run to the shore in disguise to buy supplies.
It's just that this store doesn't accept gold, silver, jewelry, or copper coins.
The store only accepts one kind of banknotes, which are the soft girl coin practice coupons that Yang Fan got from modern times.
It was exactly the same as the soft sister coin used in modern times, except that the words "practice coupon" were printed diagonally on it. In modern times, this thing is used by banks and accountants to count money. The state does not control it and you can buy it at will.
However, in the late Ming Dynasty, it was impossible to imitate.
This is Yang Fan's test of using banknotes, starting with this pirate town. After all, banknotes are a big problem, and if something goes wrong, it won't end well.
Try it out on these pirates' territory first, after all, the impact will be very small.
At first, the pirates who were recruited found that after arriving here, not only were they not sent as coolies to mine, nor were their wives and children sold, but they were given salaries, cloth, and food.
They had heard that many of those who had been arrested were sent to Diaoyutai Island to dig up guano.
It's just that the salary is not copper coins, but scraps of paper.
The treasure banknotes of the Ming Dynasty had been completely abandoned by the people by the end of the Ming Dynasty. Due to excessive circulation, this thing has devalued to the point where those who hear it are sad and those who see it cry.
This thing is just like the pay stub of later generations. It looks angry and wipes the butt too thinly.
But they soon discovered that this thing should never be used to wipe one's butt.
Because all kinds of goods in the store can be purchased with this small piece of paper, and only with this piece of paper. If you spend all the paper money, you need to take the gold and silver hidden at home to the bank and exchange them for paper money before purchasing. .
In this way, the pirates slowly accepted paper money because it could be exchanged for real things. On the contrary, on this island, gold and silver could not be converted into commodities needed by the family. And the value and credit of banknotes are very strong. It has never depreciated in value after purchase, and it is easy to carry. Not only is it safe to store it in a bank, it also gives you interest.
Yang Fan recruited these pirates in order to use them to do dirty work.
Ming Dynasty’s overseas trade was basically monopolized by civil servants. They controlled the production of raw silk, silk fabrics, porcelain, and tea, and organized armed smuggling groups behind the scenes.
Yang Fan is also in the system, so it's not easy to deal with them directly.
So we recruited and armed these pirates, gave them equipment, and let them rob any merchant ships on the East Asian sea. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, so there were no ships on the sea that needed the protection of the Ming Dynasty law.
From now on, Jeju Island will be known as the central stronghold of pirates in Northeast Asia. Yang Fan sells stolen goods to them. In the future, any goods transported not by Yang Fan's merchant ships will face robbery by pirates.
