Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 122 Minhai
Traveling from Guangdong to Japan was not the traditional route for Ming Dynasty's trade with Japan during this period.

In other words, apart from the wealthy Portuguese, not many Ming Dynasty merchants chose this route.

In order to manage the tribute and trade affairs of overseas countries, the Ming Dynasty set up maritime customs offices in three places: the Quanzhou Maritime Customs Office in Fujian (later moved to Fuzhou) for the Ryukyu Kingdom, the Ningbo Maritime Customs Office in Zhejiang for Japan, and the Guangzhou Maritime Customs Office in Guangdong for Champa, Siam, Malacca, Zhenla and other countries.

Ships from these overseas vassal states could land at their respective ports, and Ming Dynasty ships bound for these countries also departed from there.

In the past, when Emperor Hongwu issued an edict to Japan, he sent people to sail from Ningbo through the Goto Islands of Japan to reach Hakata Port, then cross the Seto Inland Sea, and reach Kyoto via Hyogo Prefecture.

If you want to sail to Japan from Guangdong, you usually go through the Pearl River Estuary, out of Futou Mountain, sail northeast along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian, pass through Kinmen and Keelung Mountain, and then go north along the coastal waters of the Ryukyu Islands to arrive in Japan.

The three large immigrant ships, the "Break the Waves", the "Journey", and the Portuguese "Oriental Hope", followed this trade route that few merchants took, sailed to the east coast of Japan, then entered the Kuroshio Current, then turned around and followed the direction of the current, heading straight east, across the entire Pacific Ocean, and finally arrived at the west coast of the North American continent.

After sailing for several days, the fleet entered the coast of Fujian on June 6 and reached the waters near Nan'ao Island.

To the surprise of the Portuguese, the fleet commander ordered the ships to stop here temporarily, then lowered a small boat and rowed towards the island.

About two hours later, seven or eight small boats full of people sailed out from the direction of the island. After approaching the "Breaking Waves", more than 20 people boarded the ship through the rope ladder on the side of the ship, including women, children and young children.

Afterwards, the sailors on the big ship successively lowered large amounts of daily necessities such as rice, cloth, spices, coarse salt, etc. and loaded them into the small boat.

Some sharp-eyed Portuguese even discovered that more than 30 muskets and several barrels of gunpowder were hanging from the ship.

It is obvious that the residents (pirates) of this small island should be connected with the company that calls itself the Oriental China New Continent Colonization Company and have received funding from them.

The Portuguese, who were well aware of the situation of Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants, did not find this too surprising, because many of Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants had more or less connections with pirates, and some of them were even pirates themselves.

For example, Zheng Yiguan, who monopolized the coastal trade of the Ming Dynasty, was the biggest pirate leader in the region!
However, he used his huge naval power to force the Ming government to recognize his maritime status and grant him an official position, successfully whitewashing his pirate identity.

Not to mention the Ming Dynasty, even in Europe, there were many pirate leaders with notorious crimes. After surrendering to the government and offering part of the looted property, they washed away their pirate identities and transformed themselves into well-dressed gentlemen.

In fact, in the eyes of the Portuguese, few merchants engaged in maritime trade are serious businessmen.

The ocean is vast. If a merchant ship unexpectedly encounters a ship without much weapon power, many merchant ships will immediately turn into pirate ships, rob the other party, and then brutally kill the people and throw them into the sea.

This kind of business with no capital required is done too skillfully!

Well, more than a hundred years ago, we Portuguese set out from Lisbon and headed eastward, doing pirate activities while also working as traders, gradually extending our trade routes to the Eastern world.

I think the Chinese people in the New World continent do the same thing. While actively engaging in trade, they are probably also engaging in maritime robbery.
-
Hong Jing lay on the side of the boat, looking at the endless sea boredly, feeling very suffocated.

I lost more than twenty taels of silver in a gambling den on Kinmen Island yesterday. Thinking about it now, I still feel depressed.

Alas, it’s all my fault for being too greedy. I couldn’t control myself for a moment and lost my temper in gambling.

Now, I have nothing left and I don’t know how to spend this month.

Fortunately, he had a job at Zheng's and also commanded a ship, so he didn't starve.

However, he had no salary and even owed Zheng Heizi more than ten taels of silver. How could his wife and children at home make a living?
It's possible that when they encounter some merchant ships passing by at sea, they will borrow our Zheng family's flag to take advantage of them and make some money to supplement their family income.

"Ghost!" Thinking of this, Hong Jing raised his head and shouted to the lookout on the mast: "Did you spot any ship?" "..." A head popped out from above the mast, "No! ... Not even a bird!"

"Watch carefully, don't let the fat sheep that's in your grasp get away!"

“…I understand!”

"Damn it, it's been half a day and I haven't found anything!" Hong Jing spat at the sea impatiently, and looked at the several Haicang patrol boats sailing not far away, feeling even more anxious.

Even if we find a merchant ship, with so many brothers, there are probably too many wolves and too little meat, and there won’t be enough for everyone to share!

What if some merchant ships spent a large sum of money and received official defense documents from the Zheng family? We cannot take any action against them and can only let them pass. I am afraid we will not get any benefits.

Since September of the first year of Chongzhen (1628), Zheng Zhilong was under the tutelage of Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian, and was appointed as a coastal defense guerrilla and served as the general of the Five Tiger Guerrillas. With the support of the Ming government, the Zheng family's maritime power and trade scale expanded rapidly.

The number of troops increased from more than 18,000 to more than 23,000, and the number of ships of all sizes increased from more than 800 to more than 1,300, making it the undisputed maritime overlord in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to monopolize maritime trade and eliminate dissidents, Zheng, having just been appointed as a guerrilla commander, immediately announced to all merchants: "Shipboards are prohibited from traveling under the Zheng family's flags."

He ordered all merchant ships passing through Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong to declare to Zheng, obtain coastal defense documents, and assume the responsibilities of the "anti-smuggling team" of the Ming Dynasty Customs.

In the name of the imperial court, Zheng began to unify the entire Ming Dynasty's maritime forces and attempted to establish a maritime order dominated by Zheng.

Zheng directly collected taxes from merchant ships, regardless of whether they were Chinese or foreign, and regardless of their destination. Any ship passing through the Min Sea for trade was not allowed to pass without Zheng's permission.

Even a powerful company like the Dutch East India Company had to pay "protection fees" to Zheng when it entered the Minhai area.

Zheng also clearly marked the price: 1000-3000 taels of silver for a ship, and they were fair to everyone. After paying the "protection fee", you could move freely in the Min Sea (later, as your power expanded, the covered areas gradually included the Guangdong Sea and the South China Sea). Otherwise, they would rob you without any negotiation.

"Beep beep..."

Suddenly, a horn sounded faintly from a bird boat with a displacement of 150 tons in the distance, which immediately called Hong Jing back from his wandering mind.

He stood on the high platform at the bow and looked around. He saw three large ships coming from the southwest, with their sails inflated and flags fluttering, slowly heading towards their location.

"Damn devil, he's slacking off up there again!" Hong Jing raised his head and stared fiercely at the lookout position above the mast.

"Brothers, cheer up! ...Three big fat sheep have arrived from the southwest. Today's income depends on them!"

"Everyone, move quickly and put in some effort! ... Follow the direction of Boss Zhou's ship and capture those large ships ahead!"

On the vast sea, more than 20 patrol boats of various sizes quickly formed a wide fan-shaped surface and rushed towards the three oncoming large ships.

On the mast, flags fluttered in the wind, and a huge "Zheng" character kept dancing in the wind, like a dragon leaping out to devour its prey.

"Wow! Look, we've met our old friends again at sea!"

"…Nikola Ichiguan!"

(End of this chapter)