Macao

  "Lord Liu, you were just a deputy general of the Green Camp in those days. It was the Lord who promoted you to be the General of Huaiyuan, which can be said to have treated you with great favor. Now that the northern barbarians are marching into Zhejiang and Fujian, the war has reached its most critical moment. The Lord had no choice but to dispatch troops from Tingzhou to provide reinforcements. However, you, sir, are now hesitating and making excuses at this time. Could it be that you have truly harbored ulterior motives?"

  In the 30th year of the Ming Yongli era, in mid-April, Geng Jingzhong, dissatisfied with the defeat in Zhejiang, issued a proclamation to all directions, mobilizing all available troops to prepare for a final showdown with the Qing army led by Kangxi Emperor's general, Ji Xiang. The order to mobilize troops reached Tingzhou, where the defending general, Liu Yinglin, refused to surrender to the Qing or send out troops, only wanting to defend his territory and be a local emperor. Geng Jingzhong's envoy was furious at this and directly accused him of being disloyal.

  ??

  "Sir," the general of Liu Yinglin's army asked with some unease after seeing off the enraged envoy of Geng Fan, "what if the lord, in a fit of anger, dispatches a large army to attack Tingzhou? Our troops are few and our defenses unprepared, how should we respond?"

  "Geng Jingzhong is already busy dealing with the northern enemy, how much spare energy can he have to plot against Tingzhou?" Liu Yinglin had a composed and confident demeanor. "However, what you said also makes sense, even if Geng Jingzhong doesn't come, the northern enemy will eventually come, it's indeed necessary to make early preparations." Liu Yinglin lifted his head to glance at the sky outside the window. "You go to Quanzhou for me instead."

  "Quanzhou?" The minister's heart skipped a beat. "Your Excellency means to go and contact the Ming Zheng? To ask them to come and assist in defending against the Geng Huai army?"

  "You're wrong, I didn't ask you to contact Ming Zheng, but rather to surrender to the orthodox Ming dynasty." Liu Yinglin sighed. "The world is in chaos, and since we've already changed our allegiance, naturally we need to rely on someone with a strong leg. Wu Sangui's army is far away in Hunan, and Geng Jingzhong is not capable of being a ruler, so the only choice left is Taiwan. Zheng's army has defeated Geng's vassal state in the north and attacked Shang's vassal state in the south, and after eliminating the Huang clan in Zhangzhou, their military power is formidable, perhaps they can provide us with shelter from the wind and rain."

  ??”

  "Get out of the way, you drunkards!" In Jose's tavern in Macau, the drunken patrons who had been stupefied by alcohol were startled awake by a commotion. They opened their drooping eyelids to see several burly men pushing and shoving, clearing a path through the crowded room.

  "Who is it?" a few familiar drunks whispered. "What are you doing here? Are you looking for someone or coming to fight?"

  Soon their speculation had an answer, a yellow-skinned man of indeterminate age stood on the stage loudly proclaiming: "I want to recruit twenty sailors, regardless of nationality, as long as they have experience crossing the ocean, can skillfully manipulate various types of sails, use a sextant or master celestial navigation, and speak Chinese will be given priority in hiring."

  In the tavern, idle sailors from various countries were silently watching the speaker. Just as he was about to leave out of boredom, a voice rang out: "Hey mister, aren't you going to tell us how much we'll get paid? If it's just for free labor, I don't think you'll be able to recruit anyone."

  A burst of laughter echoed through the entire tavern, but the recruiter didn't laugh: "Twenty-five rials a year."

  The whistling grew louder and someone on the side shouted: "Miserly yellow-skinned pig, twenty-five rials, you'd better stay in the lower cabin yourself!"

  The recruiter's eyes turned cold, the corner of his mouth twitched, and two burly men rushed over, understanding the situation. They dragged away the already drunk opponent amidst a flurry of punches and kicks. After this person and another who had resisted alongside him were thrown out of the tavern, the recruiter rushed into the now-quiet tavern and said to the crowd inside:

  "Twenty-five riyals is not for you to go on an adventure across the ocean, but to ask you to be a instructor and train a group of young people who like navigation. The price is already not low, of course, if anyone has special skills as Yu said just now, it's not impossible to discuss salary."

  Looking at the still silent crowd, the recruiter snorted and spat on the floor of the tavern, seemingly muttering a curse under his breath. Just as he was about to get up and leave, someone in the corner stumbled forward, staggering towards the recruiter, saying something in a thick Dutch accent:

  "As I am in charge of training sailors, I wonder if you need an experienced captain? I, Karl von Siedenholen, Imperial Knight from Hanse, have served as the captain of Danish merchant ship Swan and French merchant ship Dolphin, can be hired for 200 rials a year."

  Captain? A captain with ocean-going experience? The recruiter's expression changed, but before he could speak, someone nearby suddenly revealed...

  "This son of a bitch was a decent captain, but it was under his command that the Swan and Dolphin went down."

  "Who brought the ship onto the reef?" Karl retorted. "Wasn't it you, Mr. Horn, who failed as a pilot?"

  The recruiter furrowed his brow, and the big man beside him leaned over to whisper a couple of sentences in his ear. The recruiter nodded, and then the big man brought over the two people who were still arguing: "I'll give you three months' probation period. If your performance is satisfactory, I'll pay you according to our agreement. But if it's not up to par, I'll throw you into the sea to feed the sharks!"

  The Imperial Knights were fine, but Navigator Horn was yelling: "Who said I wanted to work with this cursed captain!"

  But Da Han didn't listen to his explanation and pushed them out of the bar: "Is there anyone else willing to accept recruitment?"

  The recruiter asked again, seemingly feeling that these people's actions were too rough. The sailors in the tavern just kept their heads down and drank without anyone responding. The recruiter felt quite bored and left as he came, and as soon as they left, the bar immediately became lively again, with everyone discussing this group of strange people.

  As they left Jose's house, the recruiter pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his nose, clearly having been stifled by the thick smoke in the tavern. The big man beside him asked for instructions on what to do with Martin and Horn. The recruiter thought for a moment: "First send them to Huang Chao-feng's outer mansion to be taken care of, and when people come looking for them, we'll send them away together. Next, where should we go? The sailor's house? Damn Macau, such a small place has dozens of taverns, forget it, lead the way ahead!"

  "I heard you've recently landed a big business deal? From the government side?" Macau Governor Antonio Barbosa Lobo was naturally unaware of this scene unfolding in a small tavern on his territory, as he was currently enjoying a leisurely afternoon with an elder from the Macau Chamber of Commerce. "Let's have a drink and wish you an early fortune of millions."

  "What's the big deal, it's just 1,000 taels of yellow hemp and 2,000 taels of canvas every year." Nevertheless, the elder still clinked glasses with the governor. "If I hadn't also taken on the sugar contract to transport red sugar from southern China to Taiwan, I wouldn't have made such a loss-making deal."

  "A thousand taels of yellow hemp and two thousand taels of Indian canvas, well, this business is indeed not big, but fortunately importing yellow hemp and canvas from India is still relatively convenient, at least there's still half the profit in this deal?" The governor put down his wine cup, thoughtfully inquiring. "But the Da Yuan itself produces sugar, and their specialty products are new white sugar and rock sugar, how would they think of continuing to import inferior red sugar from South China?"

  "Isn't white sugar refined from brown sugar?" The elder also put down his wine cup. "Brown sugar in, white sugar out, this is also a profitable business," he said with a smile. "In fact, as long as there's profit, they need whatever we transport, isn't that the reason we came all the way from Portugal to China?"

  "This kind of talk is certainly not wrong, but the current civil war in China should not last for too long a time. Once the winner is confirmed, I believe your business with the governor will not last for too long either." The governor is naturally standing high and looking far, so it's understandable that he would utter such words.

  "This I understand, as the Chinese say, 'when the boat reaches the bridgehead, it will naturally go straight,'" said the elder with his palms together on his chest. "But before a clear victor emerges, even God won't stop us from seizing opportunities for gain." After saying this sentence that would make Jesus think he's being heretical, the elder unconsciously asked God for forgiveness, and after finishing his prayer, the elder opened his eyes. "Now, the big shots are systematically migrating population from mainland China, their market is huge, if we don't seize it quickly, the profits will inevitably be snatched away by the Spanish, British, or even French."

  "Speaking of the market for high-ranking officials, I recently received a report that orders for various types of iron materials and helmets have increased significantly."

  "That's right, for the full-body armor, the preferences of the high-ranking officials have not changed." The elder responded, and the European cold-forged full-body armor was exactly the standard equipment of Zheng Chenggong's Iron Man Army back then. The arrows of the Qing army couldn't penetrate this extremely hard armor at all. "Moreover, according to what the business representative who placed the order with me that day said, the high-ranking officials are also very interested in purchasing Andalusian horses."

  "Oh? The high-ranking officials want to purchase large warhorses? But the loss during transportation won't be small."

  "Who says it's not, but if the other side has enough money, even selling the Victory King's crown to him is not impossible." The elder who had just blasphemed against God now spoke profanely of Afonso VI, the King of Portugal, who was exiled by Pedro, Prince Regent, in the Azores. "Of course," seeing the governor's displeased expression, the elder immediately changed his tone. "We are not mercantile Dutchmen, we know how to deal with these oriental nobles."

  "I hope so." The governor nodded. "But remember, we are only borrowing the land in China, and if the new owner of this land is dissatisfied?" The governor's words were full of warning. "Is the Regent Prince and the government of the kingdom unwilling to see Macau being taken back?"