Chapter 163: Entering the Pearl River
The "Yong'anju" Tea House is, as usual, bustling with tea drinkers. [Full text reading] The tea houses in Guangzhou are different from the teahouses in Jiangnan and the capital. Not only are the dim sum exquisite, but the tea houses also need to be spacious, and most of them are two or three-story high-rise buildings. Its first floor is as high as the second floor of an ordinary building. It's almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, and every teahouse has hung a mooncake sign seven and a half feet high and four and a half feet wide on the tea hall on the first floor. This signboard is very grand: it is carved with a full set of classical characters, birds, insects and fish. Not only is the carving exquisite, many of the signs are also covered with gold foil. It looks magnificent.
Teahouses and teahouses have always been places where people from all walks of life gather for business meetings. Although there is a red note posted in the teahouse as usual, "Don't talk about state affairs." However, many "state affairs" are not only discussed here, but some are even discussed in such places. Decided.
According to the custom at the time, people with different statuses and professions did not sit together to drink tea. The teahouse is also divided into different worlds based on "hall" units. One of the teahouses was called "Tingquan", and the people drinking tea there were all people in green clothes and hats - although they were slaves, they were different from the ordinary slaves who were beaten and bullied. No one in Guangzhou dares to look down on them: they are the long-term attendants of various dignitaries. The trusted servants and stewards all hold great power, and their words can reach the ears of their masters. Many things cannot be handled in the yamen. If you find someone here to talk to you and give you a sum of money, you may be able to handle them smoothly.
It's morning now, a time when teahouse business is booming. Not only was the lobby on the first floor full, but more than half of the rooms on the second and third floors were also occupied. The entrance to each teahouse is full of noise, with voices, vendors shouting, and singing mixed together, making it both chaotic and full of vitality.
In a bustling and noisy environment, a young man was drinking tea at a tea table. There are several steamer baskets on the table. There are the most appropriate dim sum in this tea house. The guy didn't look around, but his eyes glanced at the entrance of the hall from time to time.
After a while, a middle-aged man came in from the entrance of the hall. He turned his eyebrows and saw the young man sitting alone. Then he came over and sat down. "Qitang" quickly came over to make water and make tea.
"Drink tea." The guy reached for the teapot and poured water for him.
"You're welcome." The person came with great style, "Did you bring the money?"
"Of course. Delong redeems the ticket upon seeing it. It is a universal ticket across the province." The young man said in a loud voice and took out a paper ticket from his sleeve. The complicated pattern, the intricate printing, and the wrapped paper—at first glance, it was Delong’s note. This kind of ticket cannot be faked at all.
The middle-aged man looked at it and saw clearly that Delong's entire province had fifty-two votes that were redeemable on sight. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth:
"Okay, I'm a happy guy." He said and stuffed his i-bag to him from under the table, "Everything you need is in it."
The young man nodded, unwrapped a corner of the package and looked at it carefully. Inside were several hand-folded books, with paper labels attached to each fold. The young man looked at the contents carefully and nodded after feeling convinced.
"Don't worry, it can't be fake." The middle-aged man ate a shrimp dumpling and said with a smile, "These things are not really rare, but they are all stored in the master's inner study. If no one can get in, they will have to go all the way. money……"
The middle-aged man took the note and stuffed it into the zipper of his boot. He kept talking about how difficult this matter was, as if to show that the package was not expensive.
"These are also our friends. We will have to work harder in the future." The young man nodded and said.
"Easy to say, easy to say." The middle-aged man drank tea in a hurry and left.
The package contained copies of Gao Shunqin's memorials in the past month and the manuscripts of his correspondence with the capital. This is a very confidential thing for local officials. It is usually kept tightly in important places such as their inner study and is not allowed to be kept by the master. But it is difficult to guard against house thieves if you guard against them day and night. As long as he pays enough money, the concubines and servants around him can be bribed to steal it.
This outflanking piece quickly reached Lin Baiguang's hands through the channel. Lin Baiguang looked at it carefully and quickly came to a conclusion after eliminating the irrelevant parts. The expulsion of the Portuguese from Macao, which Gao Shunqin had been calling for, was finally officially launched.
What Lin Baiguang was most interested in was not the memorial itself. For a matter to be agreed upon in the imperial court and turned into an imperial edict, it is not enough to just rely on a memorial. A lot of preparation work must be done in advance, and it must be discussed with the bosses of the cabinet, the ministers of various ministries, and other officials from all walks of life. Communicate well and win their support. Some are political persuasion, and some involve the exchange of interests. In the late Ming Dynasty, there were also partisan struggles.
In contrast, letters of communication, exchange of opinions, and entrustment of services have great reference value. By reading the letters exchanged, you can roughly judge how something is going.
Judging from these letters, Gao Shunqin has generally completed all the preparations. Once this memorial is published, it is very likely that it will be approved - the ancients did not understand the importance of sea trade; secondly, the Portuguese and their partners It is not true that good men believe in women. Trade is often accompanied by naked robbery, murder and arson.
To sum up, Emperor Chongzhen's decree next year to ban Portuguese trade is probably going to happen in accordance with the original history.
The question is why was Li Fengjie so unusually nervous about this matter? The Portuguese could not do business with him and had no interest at all. He was so interested in making great requests to the Portuguese that once the news was confirmed by the Portuguese, his request would be rejected.
Lin Baiguang couldn't think of anything that would make Li Fengjie care so much about the attitude of the Portuguese. You must know that in the old time and space, at least in the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese could be considered "submissive" to the local officials in Guangdong. He rushed into the Aomen and arrested the Portuguese in the Aomen Senate and spanked them in court.
New news soon came. The envoy sent to Macao by Li Fengjie was not one of his staff, but Li Luoyou, an old acquaintance of the elders.
Li Luoyou has lived in Macao since i, once studied under the Jesuits, and has a close relationship with the Portuguese. He also had close ties with the officialdom. When Wang Zunde was casting cannons in Guangdong, he had to borrow Portuguese cannons to make prototypes, which was all done by Li Luoyou. Now it was expected that Li Fengjie would send him to contact the Portuguese.
Lin Baiguang decided to call Lingao immediately, asking Jiang Shan and others to immediately arrange for people to go to Aomen to contact Li Luoyou through Gu Baocheng to find out the specific inside story.
On September 20, after several days of rest and waiting for reinforcements to arrive, Chen Haiyang finally launched an operation to enter the inland waters of the Pearl River. Led by the "Haitian" survey ship, he led the task force to leave the Sanmen anchorage and enter the Pearl River inland.
There are two waterways from the Pearl River Estuary into the Pearl River Inland River to Guangzhou. One is the outer route. It goes up from the east side of Aomen, passes through Humen, passes two sandbanks, and goes straight to Huangpu. This is the main route for general merchant ships to Guangzhou. The navigation conditions of this channel are better.
The other is called the "inner route", which goes up from the west of Aomeng, passes through the "Hengsha Shoal", and then reaches Xiangshan. Then go up from Xiangshan and pass through Humen to Huangpu. Because this route passes through many shoals and river branches, it is generally sailed by ships of i tonnage.
Chen Haiyang has the aerial survey data of the Haitian and various information provided by local sailors and veteran boatmen. He decided to take only the outer route for the first time. Ensure the safety of the vessel. The final destination of this voyage was located in Humen. If possible, he will place a stronghold in Humen to ensure that this strategic point does not need to be attacked every time he goes to Guangzhou.
The fleet surveyed the ship with the two masts of the Haitian, weighed anchor from Sanmen, and sailed through the east waters of Aomen. It was a wonderful autumn day, with a gentle breeze, and the newly scrubbed boats sailing in formation with their sails set at Three Men Anchorage. The red imperial flag with golden streamers was raised on the mainmast, and many flags fluttered in the wind. The cannon roared and the bugles sounded. A fleet of steamboats spewing thick black smoke advanced on both sides of the fleet. Then came the swarms of i-boats, towed by large boats. The Navy flag was flying. arrive
The Portuguese in Australia knew that this was the Australian fleet - the Australian Senate had sent people to Hong Kong Island a few days ago, and the two sides also exchanged gifts and exchanged opinions. The Portuguese were no strangers to the Australians because they supported the Jesuit mission in Lingao and trade with the Jesuits. What worries them is the purpose of the Australians' sudden arrival at the Pearl River Estuary - not only did they defeat a group of pirates here, they also repaired a fortress on Hong Kong Island.
Chen Haiyang guaranteed that the Australian fleet had no intention of attacking the Australians. Although the Portuguese were afraid and did not fully believe the Australian guarantees, the disparity in strength between the two sides made them welcome the new arrivals in a peaceful manner. The Portuguese even allowed the Australians to send I-type ships into Australia to obtain supplies.
Chen Haiyang noticed that there were four large Galen ships parked in Macao's harbor, as well as five or six smaller ships. In terms of scale, the Portuguese's naval strength in East Asia is indeed not weak. If one's side does not have new weapons, power and ships as bonuses, relying only on traditional ships and weapons may not be an opponent for the opponent.
A plume of smoke rose from the fort in the distance, and the rumble of artillery was heard. The Portuguese were firing a salute.
A gun salute was fired from the Macao fort, and then the Portuguese ships moored in the harbor also saluted. The fleet responded with a salute. The entire Pearl River Estuary was filled with white smoke and cannon fire. Announcing the official arrival of the Time Travel Group to the mainland. . a! ~!
