vstars Chapter 281 The Situation in Fujian
Chapter 281 The Situation in Fujian
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At a corner of the dock, Shimazu Chiyo, accompanied by several samurai, watched Liu Ye and his group leave. The samurai who had instigated the trouble behind her asked, "Miss Chiyo, are you just going to watch them leave like this?"
Chiyo Shimazu coldly replied, "What else can we do? This is the territory of the Hizen Domain, and there's nothing we can do about the Nabeshima family's insistence on favoring them. However, the Shimazu samurai cannot be humiliated in vain; we must avenge this. Remember what these strange ships look like. The next time they appear in any port in Japan and are spotted by the Shimazu family, that will be our time for revenge."
"Yes, sir! I know what to do."
The "Voyage" sailed against the wind and waves, returning to Lingao in just over ten days. Thanks to the convenient transportation and the relatively smooth journeys in Suzhou and Japan, the trip only took a little over two months, which was within Liu Ye's plan.
Upon arriving at Bofu Port, Liu Ye first arranged for 800,000 taels of silver to be transported back to the Qiongzhou Money Shop in Guangzhou to repay 600,000 taels of principal and interest. The remaining 1.4 million taels of silver were left in Lingao to operate the Qiongzhou Camp, a war machine that was about to be put into operation.
Because of the successful trade, which brought back a huge amount of silver, the high-ranking officers of the Qiongzhou camp were overjoyed. In the jubilant atmosphere, Sun Yuanhua, who was left behind, was summoned by Liu Ye and briefed on the situation over the past two months.
To Liu Ye's surprise, he learned from the imperial gazette that Zou Weilian, the Fujian governor who had taken a hard line in upholding the maritime ban policy, had been dismissed. His successor changed his previous harsh approach and adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards Zheng Zhilong. In addition, with Liu Xiang's death in battle and the Dutch in a state of decline, Zheng Zhilong, without government constraints and maritime adversaries, almost monopolized the control of the sea in the southeast.
Liu Ye was not surprised by Zheng Zhilong's fate; that was how history was originally written. It was just that Zou Weilian had rendered meritorious service in expelling the Dutch, yet he ended up in such a state, which was truly perplexing.
Sun Yuanhua explained: "According to the official gazette and the rumors circulating in official circles, it should be that the current Grand Secretary Wen Tiren was jealous of his merits and instructed officials from Fujian to frame and impeach him. The emperor believed the slander, which is why the meritorious official was wronged."
Why would Wen Tiren go to such lengths to deal with a meritorious governor?
Sun Yuanhua sighed: "Wen Changqing has always considered himself a 'lone minister,' while Zou Dehui is a member of the Donglin Party..."
"So that's how it is!" Liu Ye immediately understood. After Chongzhen eliminated Wei Zhongxian, the deeply entrenched Donglin Party became a major concern for him. Wen Tiren, who appeared as a "lone minister," immediately gained favor, ousted Zhou Yanru, and became the Grand Secretary. Zou Weilian, as the Governor of Fujian, had made great contributions and would certainly be given an important position. This would greatly benefit the Donglin Party in the court, which would inevitably arouse Wen Tiren's suspicion. It was to be expected that Wen Tiren, who was fighting against the Donglin Party alone, would frame and ostracize him.
However, Zou Weilian's fate was of little concern to the Qiongzhou Camp. Regardless of whether anyone slowed Zheng Zhilong's advance, a decisive battle between the Qiongzhou Camp and the Zheng family was inevitable; this trend was unchangeable. Liu Ye stopped discussing the former Fujian governor's fate and instead asked, "Has Wang Qinian sent any news?" Whether Wang Qinian could successfully infiltrate the Zheng family and deliver crucial intelligence in time was the more pressing matter.
Sun Yuanhua cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations, General. Wang Qinian has lived up to expectations and has infiltrated the Zheng family's old residence in Anping to become the accountant. Liang Dong also took advantage of the Zheng family's opportunity to replenish their manpower to infiltrate the Zheng family's fleet."
Liu Ye was overjoyed upon hearing this. With the two of them working together, one inside and one outside, it wouldn't be difficult for them to detect the Zheng family's movements in advance.
"Wang Qinian is really cut out for this job. How did he end up in Anping as the inner quarters accountant?"
Sun Yuanhua replied, "According to the message sent by Zhou Baihu through the Fujian Jinyiwei, Zheng's fourth son was neglected by Zheng Zhilong due to repeated mistakes and returned to his old house in Anping to recuperate. Just then, the Zheng family built a new house in Anping Town, and this matter was handed over to Zheng's fourth son to manage. Several capable accountants were needed, and Wang Qinian took this opportunity to sneak in."
“Very good. Have Zhou Guoxin keep in touch with the Fujian Imperial Guards so that Wang Qinian’s messages can be relayed over. Tell him not to be stingy with money and to feed his colleagues in Fujian. If he needs more money, he can ask me for it.”
Sun Yuanhua agreed, then mentioned another matter: "The Red Hairs sent someone over, saying they wanted to ransom their commander, but the general isn't here, so I can't make that decision..."
Liu Ye snorted. "If you want to ransom Putmans, wait until I defeat Zheng Zhilong. Releasing him now might incite Batavia to send more ships to fight like cornered beasts, ruining my plans." As long as Putmans is alive and there's still hope of returning to Taiwan, the East India Company might not be in a hurry to appoint a new administrator, and the war between the Qiongzhou Camp and the Zheng family wouldn't be interfered with by a third party. Although the Dutch have almost completely destroyed their influence along the Chinese coast, a weakened giant is still formidable. If the people in Batavia are pushed too far, they can still muster a considerable number of armed merchant ships in Luzon and the Netherlands.
"There is another piece of good news to report to the general: the shipyard manager reported that the two 2,000-ton ships can be launched before the end of the month."
Liu Ye stood up excitedly: "A thousand-ton warship can be launched? That's great! This way we can catch up with the battle against Zheng Zhilong."
As Liang Xiaoming stated, the existing 500-ton displacement Wuyi-class warships and 280-ton displacement Wuxiang-class patrol vessels, relying on their more advanced hull design and superior artillery performance, could gain an advantage over the Dutch fleet, but not enough to create an overwhelming dominance. Furthermore, the Dutch fleet, both in later history and in this timeline, was defeated by Zheng Zhilong. Therefore, the Qiongzhou Camp, relying solely on its existing fleet, had no guarantee of victory against Zheng Zhilong. Unable to defeat the Zheng family at sea, the Qiongzhou Camp was forced to remain confined to its islands. This was a fatal blow to Liu Ye, who aspired to control the Chinese coast, amass enormous wealth through maritime trade, and expand from the ocean to the mainland. Being a local tyrant on a peripheral island was not his ultimate goal.
Warships with a displacement of 1000 tons are the trump card to change the balance of battle. Combined with the large-caliber bombardment guns that Liang Xiaoming mentioned, they are enough to change the rules of naval warfare in the 17th century.
Liu Ye couldn't wait to call Liang Xiaoming over and inquire about the progress of the cannon's development.
Liang Xiaoming replied helplessly, "I just got back with you, and I haven't even had a chance to go inside yet. But I just looked at the data the craftsmen recorded. We've made some progress in the past two months. We've got the water temperature and cooling control pretty good. If all goes well, I should be able to produce the first prototype cannon for testing within half a month."