At this time, at the mouth of the Qiantang River, with the help of the tide, the fleet in front was traveling at a very fast speed. These Guangzhou ships are probably around a hundred tons. According to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, they are all ships with 300 materials. It was a standard-sized sea-going ship at this time.
According to the standards of this era, Yang Fan's two 1,500-ton ships should cost more than 4,500 tons. It's simply a giant. Because after Zheng He's treasure ships disappeared, there were basically no ships with more than a thousand materials along the entire Ming Dynasty coast.
"The eldest son, the young master, and the second madam. There are two big boats following us." A general came to Mao Chenglu and reported anxiously.
Mao Chenglu, the adopted son of Mao Wenlong, served successively as the right-wing guerrilla of the Pidao Army, the Neding Staff General, and the Deputy Chief of the Dongjiang Army. He once commanded Mao Wenlong's army of servants, consisting of adopted sons and grandsons and Jurchens, for a long time. He ranked first among Wenlong's disciples and was known as Mao Da.
The young master is calling Mao Wenlong’s concubine Mao Chengdou. Mao Wenlong’s parents and children. His mother, Wen, was Mao Wenlong's concubine and was born in the forty-seventh year of Wanli (1619). He is Mao Wenlong's only biological son.
Mao Wenlong was poor in his early years and married very late, while his first wife, Mrs. Zhang, had nothing to do.
Later, he married several concubines. Among them, Mrs. Wen gave birth to a son, this young master Mao Chengdou. I am nine years old this year. This time, Mao Da escorted his belongings back to his hometown in Hangzhou, and at the same time sent his second wife, Wen Shi, and his son to the care of Mao Wenlong's wife, Zhang Shi.
Mao Wenlong has already felt that the pressure from Donglin is increasing, and his own safety is somewhat threatened. Moreover, it is bitterly cold in Liaodong, and his son has reached the age of studying. Naturally, there are more great scholars in Hangzhou than in Liaodong.
Therefore, for the safety of the heir, the second wife and son were sent back by the way.
"Why are you panicking? We've already entered the Qiantang River estuary. Are there still pirates?" Mao Chenglu scolded.
Wen held Mao Chengdou's little hand and looked back nervously. I saw a huge white sailboat, riding the wind and waves as fast as lightning. The bow of the boat plowed the sea surface, stirring up huge waves, and came at high speed with the help of the tide of the Qiantang River.
Suddenly there was a panic on the ship. This big ship looked malicious.
At this time, Mao Da was also shocked when he saw the boat.
This is not a Ming Dynasty ship, and it is too big.
The ship is all white, with three tall masts and snow-white soft sails. There is also the foremast that extends forward pulling the jib.
What's even more weird is that there is actually a tall round chimney in the middle of the ship, which is emitting billowing black smoke.
"My eldest son, this seems to be a Western sail. It can't be the Zheng family's fleet." Mao Fu said in panic. He is a servant of the Mao family.
Mao Wenlong himself had few descendants, but his family was very large. His family was originally from Shanxi, and later went to Hangzhou to work as a salt merchant and made a lot of money. After the family multiplied in Hangzhou, it had a large population and a large industry.
However, Mao Wenlong's father died early and his family fell into decline.
In his early years, he set up a fortune-telling stall on the street and made his way through the world.
There are two types of people in this world who make a living by their eyesight. One is antique dealers. Another one is a fortune teller. This type of people are very good at observing people's words, understanding people's hearts, good at communication and interpersonal relationships, and have very delicate minds.
Although Mao Wenlong was in poverty, his mother came from a prominent family in Zhejiang.
So his uncle is very powerful. Mao Wenlong's uncle Shen Guangzuo was the head of the Ministry of War at the time, and was soon promoted to Shandong Chief Envoy (equivalent to the Chief Envoy).
His eldest uncle Mao Dechun served as a hereditary Liaodong Haizhou Wei Baihu under Li Chengliang. His aunt took pity on him. He was over thirty and didn't even have a wife. He was single and had no children.
Achieving nothing, setting up a stall and telling fortunes is no different from a street wanderer. After discussing with his mother, he was adopted as a son by his eldest uncle Mao Dechun. He became a hereditary member of the Haizhou Wei family and became an official from then on.
And his mother also wrote a letter to her brother, asking Shen Guangzuo, who had just been promoted to Shandong Chief Envoy, to say hello to Li Chengliang. Let Li Chengliang take care of Mao Wenlong who went to Liaodong to serve as an official. Li Chengliang also gave him face and directly promoted him to a thousand households. It can be said that he was at his peak when he debuted. It's not something that ordinary people can compare to.
There are more than 100 members of his family in Liaodong, all in Anshan. Later, Nurhaci became comatose in his later years and killed Han people indiscriminately. There are basically no people in the Mao family in Liaodong.
. But there are still many clans in Hangzhou.
His father, Mao Wei, gave up business and became a Confucian scholar. He accepted donations as a supervisor and married his wife, the Shen family. The Shen family is a prominent family in Hangzhou, and is known as "the first family in Hangzhou, with Shen as the most important". Mao Wei and Shen had four sons together. The third son died in infancy, and the remaining sons were Mao Wenlong, the eldest son, Mao Zhonglong, the second son, and Mao Yunlong, the fourth son.
At this time, both brothers followed Mao Wenlong to make a fortune. Run a secret smuggling business for him.
Because he had no future, he didn't find his wife Zhang until he became an official. However, Zhang did not give birth to a child, and later took two concubines in Liaodong. Among them, Wen gave birth to Mao Chengdou. This is his only flesh and blood.
In order to build his personal power, he adopted many adopted sons and raised grandchildren in Liaodong. There is Mao Chenglu, the eldest son. Geng Zhongming, also known as Mao Youjie. Shang Kexi, also known as Mao Yongxi. Kong Youde, also known as Mao Yongshi. They are all adopted descendants of Mao Wenlong.
The deputy commander-in-chief Chen Jisheng and the staff general Shen Shikui both had their daughters as concubines for Mao Wenlong. They were in-laws, and his two younger brothers did business for him and were in charge of smuggling matters. He weaved a dense network of power in Liaodong.
Later in his life, he met three noble people one after another. When Yang Gao was conducting military campaigns in Liaodong, Mao Wenlong made great achievements in fighting against the Hou Jin army, so he was given the title of Dusi. Xiong Tingbi admired Mao Wenlong very much and actually gave him the position of Dusi.
After Yuan Yingtai became the Liaodong manager, he actually looked down upon Mao Wenlong. Although he was given the title of guerrilla, he still refused to reuse him. However, Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, was very interested in Mao Wenlong because Mao Wenlong's uncle Shen Guangzuo recommended Mao Wenlong to him again. This time he was given the real power and jurisdiction of Liaodong Dusi.
Dusi is not a small official. What Yang Fan has done so far is just the emperor's promise that if the Tumut and Ordos tribes are eliminated, the Suiyuan Capital Command and Envoys Division will be established in the newly established Suiyuan Province, and Yang Fan will be appointed as the head of the department. The provincial military affairs commander-in-chief holds the position of commander-in-chief, and the commander-in-chief is referred to as the commander-in-chief.
In the blink of an eye, the big ship rushed over. Parallel to Mao Da's boat, it then began to slow down. Keep driving parallel.
The Mao family's servants suddenly fell into chaos. Wen picked up her son and ran back to the cabin, and a large number of musketeers ran out of the cabin. One tiger cannon each at the bow and stern was also loaded urgently.
Several other boats behind also approached quickly, trying to assist Mao Da's boat.
Yang Fan was on the bridge, watching the chaos on the ship. Said: "Ask them to stop the boat, we want to check it out.
Mao Da looked at the huge and scary ship next to him, opened the gun window, and huge red cannons stretched out from the window. Almost scared him to death.
This is the sea. If it is sunk, everyone will have to feed the fish.
"Listen to the ships below. Uncle Dingyuan, General Zhengxi, and Commander Jinyiwei know that Lord Yang has an order. You will stop the ship immediately and undergo inspection. If you resist, you will be killed without mercy."
When he heard that it was an official from the Ming Dynasty, Mao Da felt relieved. It would be better if he was not a pirate or a member of the Zheng family. They crossed the border and were not satisfied with the smuggling of Jiannu and North Korea, but also extended their hands to Japan. When they came to Zheng's house to grab rice, the two sides were already at odds with each other.
But when he heard that the person coming was Jin Yiwei, he immediately frowned again.
