After all, Tang Laosi was a battle-hardened young military leader and a capable commander. Under his order, three to four hundred people lay down together in the muddy water. The Shachuan Gang's Ban Jiujiao and his fire blunderbuss really couldn't hit them. If you can't fight, of course you won't fight.
When Tang Laosi saw that the other party did not open fire, he started shouting: "I am General Qian of General Tang Zhen of Tianjin Wei Guoyi of Dashun Dynasty. I was ordered to patrol the river. Who are you working for? Do you know that the world has returned now?" Have you become king?"
He had someone beat him up today. He lost seven or eight brothers. He had to ask for his name, right? There were no flags on those sand boats, so no one knew who they belonged to!
Shen Tingyang, who was standing behind a shooting hole and looking around, heard Tang Laosi's call and immediately answered. He did not speak formal Mandarin, nor did he speak Chongming's hometown dialect, but Quanzhou accent.
"The people on the shore heard that I am a businessman from the Zheng family in Anping. The eldest brother of an official asked me to transport grain for the Ming Dynasty..."
Tang Laosi didn't understand and asked: "What the hell are you talking about? Does anyone understand?"
Someone next to me actually understood and explained: "Boss, they seem to be some kind of merchant ship belonging to the Zheng family in Anping. They were sent by a man named Yiguan Da Ge Gong to transport food for the imperial court. No, they are transporting food for the Zhu thieves."
"Damn it! All the pirates have perished..." Tang Laosi cursed and spoke again, "People on the boat, listen, the Ming Dynasty has been destroyed, and now the world is ruled by the Dashun Dynasty. You businessmen need to know each other. Just hurry to the shore and donate all the food on the ship to Dashun! I will spare your life!"
"I know that Beijing has ordered the bandits to be defeated, but Tianjin is still in the hands of the imperial court." Shen Tingyang continued to answer in Quanzhou Mandarin, "I am a businessman, so I should be honest. Since I have received money from the imperial court, The grain must be transported to Tianjin..."
"Damn it," Tang Laosi said another national curse after understanding what the other party meant, "What does honesty mean? These days, all officials are looking at Qin Muchu. If businessmen still have integrity... If you don't come here, I can go back. Report to King Chuang!"
"Whatever you want!" Shen Tingyang said solemnly, "Elder Brother Yiguan is a good businessman based on integrity. He will never go back on his promises to his customers!"
"Mom, there are times when you cry!" Tang Laosi was so angry. This year has been really unlucky. Not only did I follow Tang Tong to join the useless Li Zicheng, but I also encountered a group of unreasonable and honest businessmen... Integrity sucks! How can any honest businessman kill someone with a blunderbuss? These guys are not good people at first glance, they must be pirates!
Bang bang bang...
When Tang Laosi was getting angry, the gunfire started again. But it wasn't Shen Tingyang's boat that fired again, but the sand boat following behind. More than a hundred boats were passing by, and when each boat passed the place where Tang Laosi and the others were lying, they all fired twenty or thirty cannons. Three to four hundred people could only lie in the cold muddy water and didn't dare to get up. They didn't know if they would catch a cold?
…
"The Zheng family in Anping, the eldest brother, the official... what kind of businessmen are they? Why aren't they afraid of E Dashun's army?"
Outside Tianjin Wei City, inside the Dashun Army's central tent, Li Guo also looked astonished after listening to Tang Laosi's report.
Weird things happen every year, especially this year!
Li Guo has been a rebel for more than ten years, and this is the first time he meets a businessman who is not afraid of rebels! It’s fine if the officers and soldiers are not afraid of bandits, but why aren’t the merchants afraid? Could it be that after entering the city of Beijing and turning from rebels to officers and soldiers, the deterrent effect of the "Chuang" flag would no longer be enough?
"Master Hou, I have heard about the Zheng family in Anping."
It was Tang Tong who spoke. Now that Tianjin Bingbei Daoyuan Yuzong and patrol patrol Yang Weihan are still there, they will definitely guess that it is Shen Tingyang's Shachuan Gang who came to Tianjin Wei. But those two people had just been called to Beijing by Li Zicheng - Li Zicheng wanted to find out whether Zhu Cixiang and Wu Sangui in Tianjin Acropolis were real or fake, so he called them there. But Tang Tong didn't understand the situation and really thought it was Zheng Zhilong's people.
"Where are they businessmen from?" Li asked.
"They are either serious businessmen or pirates." Tang Tong shook his head and said, "The leader's surname is Zheng. His name is Zheng Yiguan, also known as Zheng Zhilong. He was originally a giant pirate on the Nanyang Sea! In the first year of Chongzhen, he was captured by Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan. He was recruited and became a coastal defense guerrilla. Later, he was promoted continuously because of his merits in fighting thieves at sea, and became the chief military officer of Fujian."
"What? It's good that the giant thief didn't do it, so he surrendered to the giant thief and became a lackey? Is it because he can't beat him or what?" Li Guo just felt incredible, "And he still asked that stupid supervisor Xiong Wencan to recruit...could he not know how? Fake surrender?"
"It's not that they can't be defeated," Tang Tongtong said. "On the southeast sea, the Yiguan Party is the most powerful. It is said that it has many large Western ships, with powerful cannons and strong ships. The navy of the Red Thief is no match at all... Why is he willing to be the lackey of the Red Thief? , the lower official doesn’t understand either.
However, after Zheng Yiguan took refuge with the Zhu thieves, he was indeed loyal and did not pretend to surrender. In a few years, Zheng Yiguan defeated the Guangdong invaders, conquered Shengli, repulsed the Heyi invaders in Xiamen, and eliminated Liu Xiang, the giant pirate on the sea. The governor of Fujian at that time reported this to the imperial court: Zhilongguo has made extraordinary achievements and captured its ugly species, which has not been done at sea for more than ten years. "
"You're really working hard!" Li Guo rolled his eyelids, "How much did Emperor Zhu Thief give the man named Zheng?"
"They won't give you a penny," Tang Tong shook his head and said, "Zheng Yiguan's navy doesn't take any pay from the Zhu Thieves. Zheng Yiguan builds and supports himself, but the military pay is quite generous..."
Li Guo couldn't believe his ears, he stared at his eyes and said, "What? Are there such loyal ministers on the Zhu Thief side?"
Tang Tong smiled and said: "Master Hou, Zheng Yiguan is just a profit-seeking businessman. He is willing to work for the Zhu thieves like this. It must be profitable. But we don't know where the profit lies? As long as we find out, we can recruit him and surrender." Just come here."
Li Guo waved his hand, "That's something for later... What should we do now? The emperor and the prince won't escape by boat, right?"
"You can't run away," Tang Tongtong said. "The wind has been southeasterly these past few days, and the wind is quite strong. The ship coming from Dagu has a tailwind, but if you want to go to Dagu, you have to go against the wind. And even if you get to Dagu, the wind direction is wrong." I can’t go out to sea either.”
"But the wind won't blow forever!" Li Guo frowned, "As soon as the wind and rain stop, the red thieves will go downstream... What should we do?"
"Don't worry, Lord Marquis, Li Yan is here to help the general defeat the red thieves!"
Before Li Guo finished speaking, the curtain of the Chinese army tent was lifted up, and at the same time a male voice with a Henan accent sounded. Then a man and woman walked in. The woman is dressed in red, as charming as a spring flower and as mature as a peach. She is none other than the famous female general in the King's Army, the Red Lady. The man with her is Li Yan.
Seeing Li Yan and Lady Hong arriving, Li Guo's frown suddenly unfurled, and he laughed and said, "I just received the news from Tang that Zhixian and his wife were going to lead troops with Chen Yongfu to come for reinforcements. I didn't expect them to come so soon..." …Now that you are here, you won’t have to worry about not being able to defeat Tianjin Wei!”
…
"Chief Rudder, there is something wrong with this Tianjin Guard!"
"What's wrong?"
"He's so murderous...the chief helmsman doesn't realize it?"
"Well, it's a bit. It's raining so hard and there are soldiers patrolling... Someone is coming, and the leader seems to be someone from the Jin Yiwei! Are you ready?"
"Already prepared."
"Bring it here."
Shen Tingyang, a loyal businessman based on integrity, stretched out his hand and took the ultimatum from a steward beside him. It was an order from Zhu Cixang, the prince of Fujun. There was also a gold leaf in the ultimatum.
Walking towards Commander-in-Chief Shen was Ren Yizhou, a Qianhu official from the Jinyiwei North Town under the Grand Marshal's Mansion, and a dozen of his men. He was a "loyal minister" who took refuge with Zhu Cixang during the Huangji Gate Incident. He was a member of the Hundred Households at that time, but was now promoted to the rank of Thousand Households. It is one of the ten thousand households under the reorganized Beizhen Fusi (the official title is Qianhu, and there are no more than a hundred people under its jurisdiction). It is ordered to take charge of the security of Tianjin Weihe Wharf.
"Shen Tingyang, Secretary of the Imperial College, Manager of Shipping and Liaodong Pay Service, came to Tianjin Guards with an order." Shen Tingyang smiled and handed the order with gold leaves to Ren Yizhou who walked up to him.
Ren Yizhou opened the decree book and saw the gold leaf inside. He stretched out his fingers to hold the gold leaf, which was at least one or two heavy, and handed it back to Shen Tingyang. He smiled bitterly and said: "Shen Siye, your gold leaf I can’t take it.”
