Buried alive in the Qing Dynasty

"But..." Jones seemed to be a little worried. He had been a lawyer and knew the laws of England.

So he thought about it carefully, and said worriedly: "But the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Portugal are traditional allies. If we side with the third grandson of Zhu and attack Macau, we may be hanged when we return to England!"

"No, Mr. Jones, look at this." Ji Dabao smiled and took out Zhu Hechi's personal letter to King II of England—it was written in both Chinese and English.

Among them, the Chinese is written in Zhao style block script with a brush, while the English is written in cursive style with a dip pen, both of which are very beautiful!

At the end of the autograph letter, there is also the seal of "Chongzhen Yujian"-Zhu Heqi did not give this private seal of Emperor Chongzhen to Zhu Tianwang, but took it for himself.

His handwritten edicts are all in Zhao style characters plus the seal of "Chongzhen Youjian". If they are handed down, they will be valuable for collection!

In addition to the beautiful Zhao font and the "Chongzhen Youjian" seal, this personal letter to King Charles II also has a very beautiful English cursive font.

As for the content of the letter, there are mainly two aspects. One is to explain the reason for seizing Macau—Macau originally belonged to Ming Dynasty, but it was only temporarily lent to Portuguese merchants to live in, on condition that these Portuguese merchants were loyal to Daming and paid tribute.However, since the Qing soldiers went south to Guangdong, the Portuguese in Macao have not fulfilled their obligations, neither loyal nor money, so the third grandson of Zhu decided to take back Macao.

The second is to explain the reasons for requisitioning the British East India Company's armed merchant ship the Great Eastern and its crew, as well as the subsequent compensation and liability issues.

Jones had finished reading the letter, and breathed a sigh of relief, "With this letter as proof, His Majesty the King should not punish us for being forced to sail for the third grandson of Zhu...and the interests of the British East India Company, too. It can be guaranteed."

Red-necked Smith was relieved to hear what Jones said, so he said to Ji Dabao: "Nicholas, please go and tell that Chinese prince that my people and I are willing to cooperate under his coercion."

Chapter 115 Macau Macau opens soon!

In the 26th year of the Yongli Calendar, on March 25th, China's largest trading port, Macau Port.

The armed merchant ship Great Eastern led nine old lock boats, rolled up the snow-white waves, and slowly sailed into the Qianshan Waterway.

The topography and place names of Macau are somewhat similar to Dahao of the big guy Hui’s family. Macau’s original name is Haojingao, which also bears the word "Hao". It is also a small island close to the mainland.

On the west side of Macau Island, there is a Qianshan Waterway connected to the Xijiang River, on the north side of the island is the Guanzha River, and on the southeast side of the island are Modaomen Haikou and Jiuliang Ocean.

Although Macau Island is surrounded by water, there is no place suitable for building a good port on the southeast side of the island. Although Hanoi, the border gate in the north of the island, can berth boats, it is too narrow after all.Therefore, the most important ports on Macau Island are all located on the west side of the island, which belongs to the front mountain waterway, but is called the inner harbor of Haojiang.

If anyone wants to sneak attack Macau from the waterway, they have to cross the mouth of the Qianshan Waterway and enter the inner harbor of Haojiang.

However, the width of the water surface at the entrance of the Qianshan Waterway is less than one li, and the waterway is very close to the Fortress of St. Paul in Macau. The straight-line distance between the west bank of the waterway and the Fortress of Macau is less than four li.

In other words, the entire Qianshan Waterway is within the firepower coverage of the twelve-pound bronze cannon on the Fortress of Macau!

In addition to the Saint Paul Fortress, the patron saint of Macau, the Portuguese Macau fleet is also an extremely difficult opponent.

It's not that this fleet has many strong ships and guns, but that this fleet is equipped with small galleys that are very suitable for activities in narrow waters.

Moreover, these galleys are also equipped with many mercenaries who are good at fighting gang wars... These people are either adventurers from the West, or Japanese mercenaries who have been fighting on the battlefields of Southeast Asia for many years, all of them are desperadoes.

If the large ships coming from the open sea are blocked at the entrance of the waterway by these desperate boats, they will become the live targets of the twelve-pound cannon on the St. Paul's Fort, and it will be a dead end!

Without the British Great Eastern to lead the way, it would be wishful thinking for Zhu Heqi's fleet to enter Macau's Haojiang inner port from the former Shanshui Road!

And now, accompanied by Ji Dabao, Da Boling, and that stupid Qing Dynasty sesame official Zhou Chaoxian who was captured in Jieyang County, Zhu Heqi is standing on the stern deck of the Great Eastern, holding up binoculars and looking at different people. The Fortress of Macau in the distance.

"My son, the location of the St. Paul's Fortress in Macau is very tricky. It happens to be between the entrance of the Qianshan Waterway and the inner harbor of the Haojiang River. Jiang Nei Port is really difficult to deal with..."

The person who was explaining Macau's terrain and defenses to Zhu Hechi was Zhou Chaoxian, the Ninth Grade Sesame Officer.

This guy and that county magistrate, Wu Xiaobao, are probably corrupt officials who are not very greedy for money. The mere 1 taels of ransom has not been raised for several months!

And this Zhou Dynasty was even worse than Wu Xiaobao, Wu Xiaobao was gentle and elegant, and claimed that there was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old lady in his family who could be dedicated to Zhu Tianwang, so he was released without paying the ransom, and became the secretary of Dingwang's mansion.

As for Zhou Chaoxian, who looks dark and not autumnal, it doesn't look like there are ladies in the family!

So Zhu and Qi planned to tear up the ticket, no, they planned to kill him to sacrifice the flag.Everyone mentioned Dahao, and he was about to kill him. When his identity was verified, the home address he reported saved his life.

Zhou Chaoxian turned out to be from Cuiheng Village, Nanlangdu, Xiangshan County!

According to him, his family has been in business for generations, and his father is one of the richest people in Xiangshan County.It stands to reason that it would be a piece of cake to take out 1 taels of silver to redeem him... But even after waiting for a few months, the money never came!

So Zhou Chaoxian had to try his best to save himself!

And his way to save himself is to try his best to lead the way, he is familiar with Xiangshan and Macau!Before he bought it, no, before he was admitted to Juren, he often smuggled it between the two places!

But this week, Zhou Chaoxian would never have imagined that Zhu Hechi was more familiar with Macau than he was.I don’t know how many times I’ve been here in my previous life. I’ve been able to walk twice under the Fortress with my eyes closed, and then go to the Lisboa Hotel to play a couple of times…

Just when Zhu Heqi held up the binoculars and carefully observed the familiar yet unfamiliar Macau in front of him, the Great Eastern had already slowly entered the Qianshanshuidao.

The two Portuguese galleys greeted them as usual, and the ships of the British East India Company can freely enter and exit the former mountains and waterways without restriction.But it was a little unusual for the Great Eastern to have a long line of old lockboats with it.

Seeing the Portuguese ship coming for inspection, Zhu Heqi turned back to Ji Dabao and said, "Mr. Ji, go and watch Smith and the others, and tell them not to talk nonsense. If the Portuguese want to inspect, let them go to the Haojiang River. Check it at the pier in Hong Kong, if you need to spend money to get it, just ask me for it!"

"The grassroots obey!"

Ji Dabao did not accept Zhu Hechi's official position. In his opinion, Zhu Hechi, the third grandson of Zhu, was dishonest, unruly, and especially capable of attracting hatred. The four "world empires" of England and the Netherlands were all offended.

Such a master is not worthy of allegiance, so now he just calls himself a grassroots.

After receiving the words from Zhu and Qi, he saluted and went to the bow of the ship to meet Smith, Gough and Jones.

"My lord," Da Boling saw Ji Dabao leaving, and moved closer to Zhu Heqi, whispering, "Do you really believe in this fake Yangyi? Seeing the twinkle in his eyes, there must be something wrong in my heart!"

Zhu Heqi smiled, "If there are ghosts, there must be ghosts. Anyway, I can't understand Portuguese. Sister Ling, do you understand?"

Da Boling shook her head, just about to say that she didn't understand, but Zhou Chaoxian who was beside her spoke first: "Master, I can speak a little Portuguese...you can listen to me, my little one."

Zhu Hechi looked back at him and nodded approvingly, "This is a mastery of Chinese and Western! Very good! But...you don't have to listen to what they say, because the lonely family is not afraid of the twelve-pounder gun on the cannon at all! "

Not afraid?

Zhou Chaoxian thought to himself: "Could it be that Zhuge Liang has passed down some tricks to avoid artillery? It must be like this... It seems that this time I got a blessing in disguise, and I can be a hero in the founding of the country in the future!"

"Sister Ling," Zhu Heqi didn't explain much to Zhou Chaoxian, but said to Da Boling, "Go and give orders to Zhao Hongkui and Su Zhanshan! Tell him to prepare smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails!"

It turns out that Zhu Hechi's real killers are smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails!

Smoke bombs are also sugar bombs, but the ratio of white sugar to fire nitrate is different, no rust is added, and it is not afraid of moisture, and the more damp it is, the more smoke!When the smoke came together, of course the ship was covered, and the artillerymen on the fort couldn't see the target clearly, so they could only shoot blindly with their eyes closed.

As for the burning bottle, it is easier to make, that is, add all kinds of raw materials together, then stir them, and pour them into the porcelain bottle.When it’s time to use it, pull out the plug and replace it with a special cloth strip, and throw it away when it’s lit... Those galley boats of the Portuguese will be finished with a Molotov cocktail!

While Zhao Hongkui commanded his brothers to prepare smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails, the three Brits Smith, Charlie Gough and Jones were "forced" to coax the Portuguese who stopped the Great Eastern.

Because they were "forced", the foreigners of all colors on the Great Eastern were unarmed and did not carry any weapons.

And beside every foreigner, there is at least one pro-army soldier in brocade clothes with a sword following him!

Of course, Smith, Charlie Goff and Jones followed Jinyiwei, and they also suspected that the Jinyiwei who followed them were all senior talents proficient in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Latin, so they could only be forced to be honest. Real cooperation, to avoid unnecessary sacrifices...

"Yes, yes, the Great Eastern and the nine old lock ships, a total of ten ships, are all property of the British East India Company. According to the treaty, they can enter the port without inspection."

"The boat is loaded with white sugar and Teochew rum..."

"Yes, ten boatloads of sugar and rum!"

"We have a really great ship of Teochew black rum and gold rum, we'll sell a batch of rum in Macau and then load up on supplies. I can send you barrels of black rum then! That would be great Rum, perhaps the best in the world!"

It is not known whether the friendship between the British and the Portuguese is really so strong, or whether the barrels of black rum promised by Charlie Gough played a role.Anyway, the two Portuguese galleys blocking the way were released in a short while, and one of them led the way by himself, leading the Great Eastern into the narrow front mountain waterway.Then sail all the way to the Haojiang Inner Harbor Wharf, which is full of wooden boats of all sizes...

Chapter 116 Look, Black Magic is Coming!

The British East India Company originally had a dedicated wharf and a dedicated warehouse in Macau!

The dedicated wharf is located in the deepest part of the inner harbor of Haojiang. The location is very good, and it is almost close to the Guanzha River. This Guanzha River is the boundary river between Xiangshan County under the Qing Dynasty and the Macau colony under the Portuguese rule.

At some point in the future, the east side of the Guanzha River will be completely silted up, turning Macau from an island into a peninsula.But now, the Guanzha River is still an east-west boundary river.The south of the river is dominated by the Portuguese, and the north is dominated by the Qing Dynasty!

Although this is not the "city center" of Macau, the gratifying "Xiangshan-Macao Free Trade" is carried out through the Guanzha River.On the north bank of the Guanzha River, Shang Kexi sent people to enclose a large area with a wooden fence on the north bank of the Guanzha River, calling it the "Guanzha Discussion Field".

However, unlike ordinary trading places, this Fragrant Hills trading place is an illegal trading place for smuggling.

And it is different from ordinary smuggling. The smuggling in Xiangshan must be illegally taxed, and it must also be subject to illegal inspections by the vassals of the Pingnan Prince's Mansion - no goods that may threaten the Qing Dynasty and the Pingnan King Shang Kexi's rule cannot be smuggled into the country!

Of course, even if you pay enough taxes and still traffic in goods that pose no threat to the Qing Dynasty, you are still a smuggler and profiteer!

Because the Portuguese colony of Macau and the Xiangshan market itself violated the Qing Dynasty's coastal relocation order, and they are not allowed to exist at all!

But at the moment, the Xiangshan market and Macau south of the Guanzha River are very lively.The illegal smuggling trade is almost booming!Because everyone has got the news... It is gratifying that King Pingnan will not last long!

Wu Sangui will come to Guangdong soon, and he has already sent people to Guangzhou to look at the houses during the Chinese New Year.

And when Wu Sangui came, not to mention the three fires when the new king took office, he really burned all the Portuguese in Macau into children of the Eight Banners, at least he had to add several times the smuggling tax, right?

Therefore, whether it is the foreign merchants in Macau or the smugglers in Xiangshan, they must seize this last opportunity and go to work quickly... Even the smuggling tax of the Pingnan Palace has not risen to a good level during this period up.

While businessmen and foreigners were busy smuggling, and the officials of Pingnan Palace collected a lot of smuggling taxes, more strong laborers from Guangfu, Zhaoqing, Huizhou and other places gathered in Xiangshan to discuss life—this Xiangshan The business in the market is not small, requiring a lot of labor to help load and unload ships, transport and deliver goods.However, the three prefectures of Guangfu, Zhaoqing, and Huizhou, because of the coastal relocation, created many landless and landless proletarians. Now they have to come to Xiangshan to sell their labor force.

It's just that I don't know how long this hard work can last?Maybe when Wu Sangui came, everyone's jobs would be ruined.

Therefore, the coolies are also working very hard during this time. As long as you still have the strength, work hard!

When the Great Eastern came to the pier with nine old lock boats, there were already hundreds of coolies wearing short clothes or shirtless, passing through a Portuguese and Pingnan Palace from the other side of the Guanzha River. The pontoons jointly controlled by Fan Ding rushed outside the fence of the pier and waited for work.

This made Zhu Heqi, who was watching with a binoculars on the deck of the Great Eastern, so devastated that he almost shed tears... He hasn't seen so many strong men for several months!

At the moment, he was still feeling emotional while watching, "Well, well, they are all good men! They all look young, and none of them are over 35 years old, which is great... Hahaha!"

Although Zhu Hechi also ran a business in his previous life, he worked in a high value-added industry - the profits of the high imitation industry are still very guaranteed!So he paid the workers very high salaries, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to hire people, and he didn't feel at all about the difficulty of hiring.

And in this life, he really understands what "difficulty in employment" is!

Really no one!

Even if half of Jieyang County was taken down, even if every township was searched for people, Zhu and Qi would have a standing army of more than 1000 people, some of whom were underage.

Such a scene of hundreds of strong men queuing up to be hired is like something out of a dream.

"Master," Zhou Chaoxian stood next to Zhu Heqi with a smile on his face, and introduced very dutifully, "How many people are here? There are more! Do you see those shacks on the other side of the Guanzha River over there?"

Zhu Hexi hurriedly pointed the binoculars to the north bank of the Guanzha River pointed by Zhou Chaoxian, and what he saw was a large bunch of simple wooden sheds crowded together...it looked like a refugee camp!

But this refugee camp-like place, in the eyes of Zhu Heqi, is really more pleasing to the eye than the palace.

Because the people living there are all proletarians from Guangfu, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing!As long as they are mastered, Zhu and Qi dare not say they can win the whole world, but at least they can win the whole Guangfu soon!

At this time, the Great Eastern had stopped firmly on the pier and lowered the gangplank.Lin Ahu, who was in charge of commanding the troops to capture the pier, and Zhao Hongkui, who was in charge of leading the battle, all joined Zhu Hexi, waiting for his order.

"Chaoxian, Zhanshan," Zhu Heqi first named Zhou Chaoxian and Su Zhanshan, "You take a leader brother, a hundred catties of broken silver, and Molotov cocktails to the outside of the wooden fence. Hire everyone!

When the smog rises, you will drive them to the other side of the Guanzha River... and tell them in northern Mandarin that we are from the Pingxi Palace. We have come to recover Macau under the order of the prince, so they should not panic and turn back to the prince. There is still good work to be done for them! "

This nonsense was taught to Zhu Hechi by the military adviser Zhuge. The great military adviser is lying in the cabin because of seasickness, but the job of the military adviser must be done well!

Zhou Chaoxian and Su Zhanshan immediately received the military order, and they were the first to disembark with the young soldiers who had been ready for orders.

Zhu Heqi then said to Zhao Hongkui, Yu Xiaoqian, and Lin Tianbo: "Hongkui, Xiaoqian, and Tianbo, you three, take your brothers from the headquarters, carry the smoke barrels, get off the boat and set up an ambush!"

"Order!"

Zhao Hongkui and others got the order, and immediately led the troops from the headquarters to carry dozens of round wooden barrels and disembark along the gangplank—these wooden barrels also contained sweet gunpowder, but the formula was different from that filled in the grenade hammer. It is specially used for smoking.

"Ahu," Zhu Heqi then said to Lin Ahu, "you go and command the brothers on the old lock ship A No. [-], and when the smoke on the shore rises, you take them off the ship to occupy the wharf and the East India Company's business. Hall."

"Order!"

Lin A'hu got the order and got off the ship to go to the old lock boat No. [-]. There were four soldiers in brocade clothes, plus four young artillery soldiers commanded by Su Zhanshan, Zhao Hongkui, Yu Xiaoqian, Lin Tianbo and others. A total of eight elite soldiers will be thrown into this dock ambush.

After finishing the arrangement, Zhu Heqi finally turned to the leader of the Jinyi army on the Great Eastern with a relaxed face. The first leader of the Ma Jun, Su Zhanhai, said: "Go and invite me to come here for Goff, Smith and Jones." ...I want to witness the history of the end of colonialism on Chinese soil with them!"

……

Zhu Hechi is very tall and wants to witness the historical moment of the end of colonialism in China with the three Yangyi, but the three "white right" Yangyi only want to see China's "black magic"...you have to figure it out Is there a "black magic" before we can decide whether to colonize standing up, or make money on our knees?

So when more than a dozen "smoke barrels" on the pier and on the Great Eastern were ignited, and a large amount of white smoke gushed out from the small wooden barrels as if by magic, the eyeballs of Goff, Smith, and Jones It's almost falling out!

This is really black magic!

Otherwise, how could such a large amount of smoke be hidden in such a small wooden barrel?The smoke covered the pier and the Great Eastern, and those who didn't know thought it was on fire!

No, you have to report to His Majesty the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury immediately!

Chapter 117 Governor, the Great Eastern is on fire!

The governor of Macau, Antonio Bassabo Romario, is really in a bad mood during this time!

Because he was very worried that he would become the last governor of Macau... This is not because he has the ability to predict the future, nor is it because the news of Zhu and Qi's conspiracy to seize Macau has leaked out, but because the news of "Shang Wu and Chang Fan" has spread to Macau .

The Qing court moved the coastal borders in Guangdong, which originally included Macao.According to the instructions of Emperor Kangxi and Obai, the Portuguese in Macau had to move to the mainland as well.

Of course, the Qing Dynasty gave preferential treatment to people from far away, and would not allow Portuguese people from Macau to move to the mainland to become farmers.

When Obai was still there, Li Qifeng, then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was asked to discuss the issue of relocation with the Portuguese authorities in Macau.Moreover, a generous condition was offered-after the inland relocation, the collective flag will be raised!Directly join the inlaid yellow flag and weave three Portuguese collars.

All Portuguese in Macau, including yellow-white mixed-race Portuguese, went to Beijing to serve as bannermen, and Portuguese of other colors all served as banner slaves with yellow flags.

From now on, all Portuguese people in Macau will be servants of the Qing emperor!