"I haven't entered the Great Buddha Temple yet. So where is Obai?"
When Shang Kexi said this, his calves were trembling. This was not because he was young and timid, but because he had always been afraid of Obei to death!
That was Batulu Obai, the number one in Manchuria!
I remember when Shang Kexi was still in the Ming army, he knew about Obai's fierce reputation. This Obai even drove a boat to Phi Island to kill people. He was an "amphibious Batulu". He was so vicious. It goes against the Tatar common sense that they are not good at water warfare.
If the Tatars of Aobai's generation hadn't been so cruel, Shang Ke would not have been so lucky that after being killed by the Tatars and ruining his family, he would have turned over to the Tatars to become a traitor, and he was still the kind of traitor who was determined and unrepentant!
To put it unbelievably, Shang Kexi is now considering whether to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty because he is afraid of Obei.
"Here, here! Amma, look at this."
After Shang Zhixin said this, he handed a piece of paper to Shang Kexi. Shang Kexi picked up the paper and looked at it through the sunlight coming in from outside the meditation room. He couldn't see clearly at all. His cataracts were already very serious, and his eyes were always white. Everything is blurry.
"What is this?" Shang Kexi asked.
Shang Zhixiao said: "This is a notice. Early this morning, the notice boards inside and outside the Great South Gate, Xiao South Gate, and Guide Gate were all posted in the name of 'The Ming Dynasty Fengtian to challenge Hu General Ao' Message!"
Shang Kexi was stunned for a moment, "What? Fengtian is asking for General Hu? Isn't Ao Bai a barbarian himself? Is he still asking for Hu? Is he asking for himself?"
"No," Shang Zhixin continued, "Amma, what Obai wants is not himself but us! He says we are Husbands, and he has already turned traitor."
"We are Hu, and he is Han," Shang Kexi muttered, "Is this considered a traitor to Obai?"
Shang Zhixin nodded: "Of course it counts!" He gritted his teeth and said: "Amma, Obai's appeal is called 'Fengtian begs Shang',' and it's mainly to beg our family!"
"Pleas on us? Why?"
Shang Zhixin snorted: "Why else? Isn't it because you killed too much, Ama? Oboi said in the memorandum that your old man Geng Yinnian led his army to massacre Guangzhou, killing eighteen monks and filling the six-meridian canal with corpses. He also said that Guangzhou All the people within forty miles around the city were slaughtered, and more than 600,000 people died!"
"That's not true. I have already built a large Buddhist temple and became a monk here for several hours every day to atone for my sins!"
"Obai also said that you, the old man, later used the coastal border relocation to commit mischief, causing the coast of Guangdong to turn into a white land. Millions of people in Guangdong starved to death and were massacred! It is really a heinous crime and goes against the law of heaven, so it must be punished by heaven. Ask for it. He also said that there is absolutely no possibility of pardoning you, old man. Once captured, he will be executed without mercy and cut into pieces with a thousand cuts!"
When Shang Kexi heard this, he was so anxious that he cursed: "What the f*ck? This Obai actually brought up the matter of relocating the border along the coast to me? Didn't he order this thing to be implemented after listening to Huang Wu's lies? I You are following orders!"
Shang Zhixiao was also anxious, and said mournfully: "Amma, don't talk nonsense, think of something. Obai and Wu Sanwei have probably arrived at the coast of Guangdong, and will come to attack us soon!"
"What? They've probably arrived already?" Shang Kexi turned around and looked at his second son with another pair of half-blind cataract eyes, "Second brother, what do you mean? You still don't know whether Obai and Wu Sanwei are here. ?”
"He must have come. Otherwise, who posted these messages?" Shang Zhixin said categorically, "Now Gaozhou, Leizhou, and Lianzhou in western Guangdong are all under the control of Wu Sangui's cousin Zu Zeqing, and half of Guangxi province is under the control of Wu Sangui's cousin Zu Zeqing. In the hands of Sun Yanling, Ma Xiong, and Guo Yi. They have all defected to Wu Sangui!
Amma, think about it, after those Ao Bai and Wu Sanwei left Ruian, Wenzhou by water, where else could they go other than going all the way south to Guangdong and joining Gaozhou and Leizhou? I count the days and they should have arrived in Gaozhou and Leizhou last month. After some days of rest, it’s time to take action recently. "
"It arrived last month?" Shang Kexi was sweating on his forehead, "No way? Why don't I have any news?"
"How come you have news?" Shang Zhixin snorted, "Except for Qiongzhou Prefecture, you have cleared fifty to one hundred miles along the coast of Guangdong. Even Qiongzhou Island has been fenced off by people with wooden fences, leaving only One Haikou leads to Leizhou, and no sail is allowed to enter the sea from other places!
The Guangdong Navy rarely goes out to Lingdingyang now, and the islands farther away from the mainland have also given up, including Nan'ao Island, the former coastal defense center! Even if the fleet of Ao Bai and Wu Sanwei walked close to the seaside and beat gongs and drums as they walked, we wouldn't know it! "
Shang Ke was happy to hear his son's analysis and felt that it made sense. He murmured in a low voice: "It's really damned. This coastal migration has made me blind and deaf. What should I do?"
"Amma, why don't you hurry up and do the Thirty-six Strategies!" Shang Zhixin said with a filial look on his face, "I will help you clean up the mess in Guangzhou, and you can go back to Beijing to retire. You are going to be blind anyway. , even if Obai comes, you can't command the army to fight him. You couldn't defeat him when you weren't blind, and now you can only command blindly, let alone you."
Shang Kexi was very unhappy when he heard this, but the anger couldn't come out. He really couldn't see it now! And even if he could see, he would have no choice but to run when he saw Obai!
"Wait, wait." Shang Zhixiao saw that his "blind Ama" was speechless and seemed to really want to run away, so he quickly spoke, "We don't know whether Obai and Wu Sanwei are coming, but someone must know. !”
"Who?" Shang Kexi asked.
"Where are the Franji people from Hao'ao!" Shang Zhixiao said, "There's nothing they don't know about the sea in Guangdong!"
Shang Kexi patted his forehead, "I almost forgot about that group of people. Hurry up, send someone to Xiangshan County, and ask Pan Hong to go to Haoao to ask that Shi Bingtou if there have been any recently. A large number of pirates are transporting people to the coast of Guangdong!"
Of course people have arrived!
Just arrived!
But instead of going to Gaozhou and Leizhou, we went to a small island called "Xiang Island" off the coast of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture. This is the small island opposite Hao'ao that was later called Hong Kong Island!
This "Xiang Island" was a good place in the Ming Dynasty. It was once a distribution center for the spice trade. The word "Xiang" in Hong Kong and Xiang Island came from here.
Like other coastal areas in Guangdong, Xiangdao is also within the scope of coastal relocation. The residents on the island have long been forcibly relocated by the Qing forces sent by Shang Kexi. So when Wu Sanwei and He Tianran arrived at Xiang Island on the ship of Zhu Tiangui, commander of the Taiyuan Island Navy, the island had long been deserted, and even the traces of its once prosperity had almost disappeared.
However, there is a Kowloon pier on Beacon Hill on the Kowloon Peninsula across the bay from Hong Kong Island. There are also several flood soldiers stationed in the pier, led by a foreign affairs commander named Zhou Mo.
This foreign affairs committee member surnamed Zhou threw the General Assembly to "squatting" on the Jiulong Pier in Beacon Hill. Naturally, he could not be a member of the vassal Shang Kexi. Nor was he a Green Camp soldier from the north, or even Wu Liuqi was a powerful soldier from Guangdong who took refuge with the Qing Dynasty. He was the most worthless soldier of the Guangdong Coast Guard of the Ming Dynasty. He was only recruited after the Qing Dynasty invaded Guangdong.
That's why he and his men were thrown on the most desolate beach, holding the least money and food, guarding a dispensable pier, and never getting ahead. If nothing unexpected happens, these people will continue to work as soldiers in Jiulongdun, Nantou Village, Nanshan Village, and Yantian Village for generations.
But the accident that changed the trajectory of their lives was coming!
When General Zhou Mo came out of his barracks yawning that morning, carrying a fishing rod and basket, carrying a bow and arrow, and thinking about getting some seafood and game to make soup, he suddenly heard A soldier under my command was shouting: "Boss, there are many ships on the sea!"
The voice of this flood soldier sounds very cheerful!
Of course they are not here to protect the country, but to help businessmen engage in smuggling.
If someone comes to smuggle, they can only collect money!
It is a pity that Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan who has killed thousands of people, has carried out coastal boundary relocation in Hong Kong, Kowloon, Tuen Mun, Kwun Chung and Yantian. Not to mention the smuggling boats, the fishing boats are all gone!
How many years have we not had money from private traders!
So when Zhou Mo heard his subordinates reporting the arrival of many ships, his first reaction was that his subordinates were definitely dazzled. But then a second person shouted: "Boss, someone has landed. It seems to be coming towards us!"
Come to give money?
As soon as he thought of collecting money, Zhou Mo forgot about "making soup" and ran back to the barracks as fast as he could, and then climbed up a rickety staircase to the pier of Jiulong Pier.
Two of his soldiers had already climbed onto the pier ahead of him, and were staring dumbfounded at the beach six or seven miles away. One of them raised his arm and pointed to the southeast, and stammered: " The Red Scarf Army, the Red Scarf Army is coming.”
Red scarf army? Is it the end of the Yuan Dynasty now?
Zhou Mo quickly looked in the direction of the man's finger, and saw that dozens of big bird boats or big fortune boats had arrived in the southeastern bay at some time. Some of them were close to Xiang Island in the south, and there were ten more boats. Lai Tiao is close to the bay on the Kowloon Peninsula side. These bird boats and lucky boats also put down many small sampans. They should have been carrying out barge landings for some time.
Because Zhou Mo discovered that there was a large group of red scarf soldiers on the beach carrying spears, shotguns, and swords. They had formed a quite neat square formation. Under the guidance of red military flags, they drove towards the Kowloon Pier.
Vaguely, Zhou Mo also heard the singing of "Ying Ming King"!
"The morning seeks promotion and the evening seeks harmony. It is difficult for Han'er to survive these days. Open the door early to pay homage to King Ming. King Ming will come to divide the fields."
"Boss, something doesn't seem right. They are, they seem to be rebels!"
Zhou Mo was already in tears at this time, "No, they are the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty has finally come back! They are rebelling against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty! Hahaha."
The two soldiers beside him were still in a daze, as if they didn't know that the biggest opportunity in their lives had come!
Zhou Mo looked around and opened his throat again and shouted: "Shang Kexi, that dog thief who killed a thousand swords will be punished soon!"
It’s great that Shang Ke is about to receive retribution!
In today's Guangdong, especially along the coast of Guangdong, there are few people who don't hate Shang Ke to the point of joy!
So even though these two flood soldiers didn't feel much about fighting against the Qing Dynasty, restoring the Ming Dynasty and making contributions, when they mentioned that they had captured Shang Kexi and cut him into pieces, they were full of energy. Jiulong Pier, the maritime outpost in the southeast of Guangfu, was like this The beacon fell without even lighting up the smoke.
Due to the instant collapse of the Kowloon pier and the desolation of the Guangfu coast, not only was Shang Ke happy not to know that the Ming Dynasty was back, but even Hao'ao, which faced Lingding Ocean and Xiangdao, did not know that the world of Guangdong was about to change until The envoys sent by Xiangdao took a note issued by "Fengtian of the Ming Dynasty to challenge Hu, General Ao Bai" and "Minister of Nanyang Trade of the Ming Dynasty Wu Sanwei", and boarded a bird ship with the flag of "The Navy of the Prince of Yanping of the Ming Dynasty". Arriving at Hao'ao, I asked to see Shi Bozhi, the Portuguese soldier in Hao'ao.
"What?"
In the Governor's Mansion in Hao'ao Castle, Shi Bozhi, the governor of Hao'ao, who was called the "Portuguese Soldier" by the Ming Dynasty people, looked at his deputy, the fortress commander Rodoni. He was stunned for a while and then asked seriously: "Antonio." (Rodoni’s full name is Antonio Barsabo Robert), what did you say?”
"The Governor-General of the Ming Dynasty, or to be more precise, the envoys of Wu Sangui's Nanyang Minister Wu Sanwei and General Aobai came to Haoao. The Chinese sailing ship they boarded was parked at the pier of Haojiang Inner Harbor. This is Please take a look at the note translated by Pastor Luo Wenzao."
As Rodoni spoke, he handed Shi Bozhi a document written in Latin - a translation of the note jointly issued by Obai and Wu Sanwei. And the priest Luo Wenzao he was talking about was a Dominican missionary, a Chinese, and a popular candidate for the bishop of Macau!
Of course, it's impossible for him to choose just "popular". Not because he is Chinese, but because the Catholic "protection power" in China belongs to the Kingdom of Portugal!
And "protection power" includes the appointment of bishops! In other words, the bishop of Macau who is responsible for academic affairs must be nominated by the King of Portugal. The Kingdom of Portugal was annexed by the Kingdom of Spain decades ago. Although the King of Spain concurrently serves as the King of Portugal, there is a question within the Roman Church about whether the King of Spain has a Chinese apologist. rights are in dispute.
Therefore, after the death of the last Bishop of Macau, the post of Bishop of Macau has been vacant for nearly 40 years. If history does not change, it will continue to be vacant for more than 20 years, and the next Bishop will not appear until 1692.
However, the absence of a bishop does not mean that there is no one to preside over the academic affairs of Macau. The person currently in charge of the academic affairs of Macau is Luo Wenzao, a Chinese.
"Father Luo didn't translate it wrong, right?" Shi Bozhi took the note translated by Luo Wenzao and read it once, then raised his head and looked at Luo Dongni with a surprised look on his face.
"Fr. Luo is Chinese and is proficient in Latin. How could he translate it wrong?" Luo Dongni smiled and said to the Governor of Macau, "Your Excellency, I think what is before us is a historic opportunity! If we If we can provide help to Wu Sangui's army, then the Roman Church will be able to spread the gospel of the Lord freely in China in the future, and Portuguese merchants will also be able to gain the privilege of entering the hinterland of China for trade! This will mean that Portugal will be great again!"
It turned out that Wu Sanwei and Ao Bai put forward a condition in the note that the Portuguese colonists in Macau could not refuse - free missionary work by the Catholic Church and free trade by Portuguese merchants!
This is a good thing that the Portuguese have been thinking about for countless years. Is this going to "come true"?
And for the Portuguese who are currently struggling for the country's rejuvenation, China's free trade and free missionary work are really pie-in-the-sky good things - so-called "free" trade is of course exclusive to the Portuguese. free!
And freedom to preach. This is big business!
Religion often means large donations and slow penetration into the country's economy, politics, and education. Portugal has the right to protect religion. If this business is to be done well, it must not become rich again?
"Is this true?" Shi Bozhi frowned, "Will they regret it after getting the weapons we provide? Those Easterners who don't believe in God often do such things."
"It's possible!" Rodoni said, "But they don't take our things in vain. They will give us money and sign a binding treaty. In addition, according to reliable information, the Ming Dynasty Western King is the original King Ping Xi of the Qing Dynasty is currently winning! His army won a complete victory in the summer battle and wiped out tens of thousands of the Qing's most elite Eight Banners soldiers.
At present, the troops supporting Wu Sangui have controlled half of Guangxi and Wu Sangui himself is also preparing to attack Shaanxi. Maybe in a year or two, Wu Sangui will become the master of all China. And that Nanyang minister Wu Sanwei might replace Shang Kexi as the king of Guangdong! If we reject him now, then when he becomes the king of Guangdong, we may be driven out of China! "
"But wouldn't we betray the Qing Emperor by doing this?" Shi Bozhi still hesitated, "If Wu Sangui is unable to win for a while, we may face serious consequences!"
"What serious consequences could there be?" Luo Dongni said with a smile, "With the current situation of the Qing Dynasty, is it still possible to drive us away from Macau?"
"this."
Now the Qing Dynasty seems to have no such strength.
Thinking of this, Shi Bozhi nodded, "I can sign a formal treaty with them and provide them with as much help as possible. But I must see the Nanyang Minister. Antonio, do you know where he is?"
"He is in Xiangdao." Luo Dongni said, "The army he led has arrived at Xiangshan Island on the opposite side of the Lingding Ocean aboard the fleet of the Yanping Palace on Da Yuan Island. The number of people is said to be more than 10,000!"
"Arrived at Xiang Island?" Shi Bozhi thought for a while, "Okay, I'll go there to meet that Nanyang Minister Wu Sanwei. If he is really that powerful, then I will provide him with arms and sign a treaty."
(End of chapter)
