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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 229: Ningbo Pirates

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    In the Waiting for Frost Pavilion in the Yuanxiang Hall of the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, the King of Xi and his wife entertained Luo Weilin, Clifford, and Morgana, who were dressed as men, for a banquet. During the dinner, Luo Weilin suddenly talked about the war in Xiamen and spoke frankly about the war in Xiamen.  When the rebel army was already in danger, Xiao Yungui came to his senses and secretly cursed himself for being stupid. Although his own people in Xiamen couldn't get news, couldn't they get news through foreigners?

    In fact, the information obtained by Luo Weilin was similar to that of the Xiwang couple. Merchant ships from major powers traveling to and from Xiamen could dock at Xiamen's outer port. The Qing navy had tightly blocked the sea lanes. Britain, France and other countries knew very little about the news in the city.  , and it is still lagging behind. Because of the landing of a typhoon, many ships did not choose Xiamen for shelter.  At the same time, Xiamen's status among the five treaty ports was relatively low. The war in Xiamen had a smaller impact on the great powers, so the great powers did not pay enough attention.

    Xiao Yungui didn't say anything, but simply asked: "Father, do you have any suggestions?"

    Luo Weilin seemed to be sincere and said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, as far as we know, many of the Red Scarf Taiping Army in Xiamen are composed of local Hui parties. They have close ties with the Tiandi Hui in Guangdong, and the purpose of their uprising is also  Unlike the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, what they want to restore is the previous Ming Dynasty."

    Xiao Yungui touched his chin and said, "So what?"

    Luo Weilin said slowly: "They have temporarily surrendered to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They will inevitably be separated from your army in the future. Moreover, the current war is unfavorable. The main force of your army is far away in Suzhou and Hangzhou. It is difficult to provide real military help to the rebels in Xiamen. Their failure  It¡¯s inevitable.¡±

    Xiao Yungui said impatiently: "Just tell Lord Wenhan what suggestions he has."

    Seeing that the King of the West saw that he represented Lord Wenhan behind him, Luo Weilin stopped beating around the bush and said with a slight smile: "Lord Wenhan felt that Britain and France could jointly put pressure on the Qing court to restore order to the Xiamen Treaty Port as soon as possible, and at the same time,  The uprising personnel in Xiamen City were transported to Nanyang, so as to help them avoid the butcher knife of the Qing army. As for the important figures sent by the Western King to the south, we promise to help them return to Shanghai safely."

    Xiao Yungui was stunned for a moment, and without rushing to answer, he winked at Hong Yun'er, and the couple made excuses to leave.  The two came to a side hall, and Xiao Yungui asked straight away: "What are the British doing? Why do they want people from the Little Knife Society to go to Nanyang? Do they really want to help us?"

    Hong Yuner sighed softly and said: "It's not that simple. Let me tell you about the situation of the Xiamen Treaty Port first."

    Hong Yun'er spoke slowly at the moment. It turned out that Xiamen has been in a rather embarrassing position since the opening of the port during the Opium War. There is the old treaty port of Guangzhou to the south of it.  Guangzhou has all the necessary conditions for Huayang commerce, which is unmatched by Xiamen.  To the north are the emerging trading ports of Ningbo and Shanghai. These two ports are located under the canal network of the inland, with convenient waterway transportation and rich products nearby.  It is also beyond the reach of Xiamen.  Even the neighboring port of Fuzhou has an advantage over it. Fuzhou is close to Wuyi Mountain, the largest black tea producer in China.  The merchant ships of the great powers like to dock in Fuzhou to trade black tea.  The sad thing about Xiamen is that it has been there since it opened as a port.  It operates as a humiliating port for selling Chinese labor.

    After the Opium War, Xiamen opened as a port, and the great powers began to openly deceive and plunder Chinese workers in Xiamen and transport them abroad.  In the 23rd year of Daoguang reign, the British and French companies went to Xiamen to recruit the first batch of 838 farmers to work as contract workers in the sugar cane plantations of Mauritius.  In June of the 25th year of Daoguang's reign, a French ship transported 180 Chinese workers from Xiamen to Popeng Island in Africa.  According to statistics, from the 25th year of Daoguang to the third year of Xianfeng.  A total of 12,261 indentured Chinese workers were exported from Xiamen in 18 batches, many of whom were from Tong'an.  The foreign powers colluded with the evil gentry of the government, deliberately provoked rural fighting in Tong'an, and then lured and robbed the defeated villagers to go abroad.  They even publicly robbed fishermen at sea and sold them.  A large number of Chinese workers became an important part of the early overseas Chinese in Tong'an. Later, Xiamen even became the largest human trafficking center in Asia.  Xiamen's trade did not begin to flourish until the late 19th century, but it has long been the largest port for selling Chinese workers, deeply imprinted on history.

    After hearing this, Xiao Yungui looked angry: "Do the British want those who failed the uprising to be sent to Nanyang as Chinese laborers to do hard work?"

    Hong Yuner nodded and said: "It is very possible that once we agree, the foreign merchant ships can help these people leave, but as long as they disarm and get on the ship, they will be no different from the piglets being trafficked. On the vast sea,  Aren¡¯t the foreigners with foreign guns and cannons the final say? Moreover, Nanyang has high mountains and high waters. Once they go to Nanyang, we are beyond our reach. It is impossible to care about what they do after they get to Nanyang. The great powers will not do anything for free.  , the biggest possibility is to trick them into boarding the ship first, and then drag them to Nanyang to be sold as Chinese laborers. In Nanyang, these people have no roots and no family. In order to make a living, they can only sell themselves and sign a selling contract with foreigners. Even if we know about it in the future  lodge a protest??Foreigners can also be said to have signed a contract of prostitution voluntarily.  Wenhan made a good plan. Firstly, he bought us a favor and helped us rescue those people. Secondly, he restored order at the Xiamen port as soon as possible. Thirdly, he was able to make a lot of money from human trafficking.  "

    Xiao Yungui uttered a series of national curses, his face became livid, he walked back and forth a few steps, then stood up and said angrily: "No, these people can't be treated like this. We can't be bewitched and deceived by foreigners, and we can't be deceived by foreigners."  Their accomplices! Son-of-a-bitch foreigners, do you really think we are easy to deceive? Immediately send Li Xiucheng¡¯s troops to attack south and go to Xiamen to rescue them!"

    Hong Yun'er said hurriedly: "Calm down, Xiamen is more than a thousand miles away from here, and there are Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and other important towns along the way. How can we get there in such a hurry?"

    Xiao Yungui sat down slumped and murmured: "Then, let's organize the fleet to go by sea" At this point, he himself didn't have the confidence to continue. Going by sea, not to mention that there were Qing naval forces on the sea, even if there were not  How could the Qing navy organize a large fleet of sea-going ships to go south in a short period of time?  What's more, the sea is very rough and there are too many unpredictable situations. It's no joke to accidentally cause a shipwreck.

    "Don't worry, King Xi. It's feasible to take the sea route!" Zuo Zongtang's voice floated in, followed by a pair of green shirts. The King of Xi and his wife looked back and saw Zuo Zongtang already standing in the side hall.  .

    Xiao Yungui was overjoyed. He knew that Zuo Zongtang would never speak big words. He immediately stood up and asked, "Mr. Zuo, what good ideas do you have?"

    Zuo Zongtang stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The Xiamen Little Knife Rebellion is insurrection, and we should provide support, but we are far away in Suzhou and Hangzhou, beyond our reach. It is too far to go by land, but it is still feasible to go by sea. We have captured Shaoxing, and the west  Wang Ke ordered Li Xiucheng's troops to move east to attack Ningbo. After taking Ningbo, we can organize a skilled fleet of sea-going ships to go south."

    Xiao Yungui asked curiously: "Ningbo has a fleet of sea-going ships?"

    Hong Yun'er came to some understanding and said happily: "It is very possible that in addition to Ningbo being a treaty port, the Zhoushan Islands off the coast are a gathering place for pirates. Ningbo is also the largest smuggling port. Piracy and smuggling are very important in Ningbo.  It occupies most of the sky."

    Smuggling and piracy in Ningbo actually have a long history. In the early Qing Dynasty, smuggling activities in Ningbo were very popular. At that time, smuggling merchants gathered in Shuangyu Port, Liegang Port, Cengang Port, etc. under Ningbo Prefecture, and Portuguese,  Businessmen from Britain, Japan, and the Netherlands conducted smuggling transactions, and there were countless people who got through.  Smuggling and piracy have always been inseparable. There are countless large and small islands in the Zhoushan Archipelago off Ningbo, which provide natural hiding places for pirates. Pirate groups composed of Portuguese, Guangdong, and Fujian people have gathered here and have been doing this for hundreds of years.  Traveling across the sea, the Qing Navy was powerless against them. Even many Qing Navy generals were pirates.

    Today, the pirates engaged in smuggling and robbery in the waters of Ningbo and Zhoushan are still mainly Chinese pirates from Guangdong and Fujian and Portuguese pirates. In addition to smuggling and robbery, the pirates even work as bodyguards.  Many merchants often hired pirates to escort them in order to travel safely by sea. However, Chinese pirates and Portuguese pirates openly collected protection fees from merchants passing through Ningbo and Zhoushan.

    Xiao Yungui said strangely: "But are these pirates willing to help us?"

    Hong Yuner smiled and said: "It will definitely work, as long as we spend some money and take advantage of the contradiction between Chinese pirates and Portuguese pirates."

    Zuo Zongtang smiled and continued: "Yes, in the early years of Xianfeng, a serious conflict broke out between Chinese pirates and Portuguese red-haired pirates due to conflicts of interest. The Portuguese pirates who occupied the hills of Ningbo originally came from Macau.  The Portuguese, due to the busy maritime trade in Ningbo, this Portuguese pirates can be said to have made a lot of money. Zuo once heard that the Portuguese red-haired pirate fleet, which serves as the "protector god" of merchant ships in and out of Ningbo Port, has been  , you can get a huge protection fee of up to 750,000 silver oceans. Since they are foreign pirates, they meet the fellow villagers of the Portuguese consul in Ningbo, and they are a family of officials and bandits. As for the local Chinese officials in Ningbo, the foreigners naturally look down upon them.  Even the dime bonus will not be distributed. Then the local government came up with a vicious plan and instigated a naval battle between the Chinese pirates and the Portuguese red-haired pirates. Naturally, the result was that we Chinese pirates won, and at least it made a difference during the Daoguang Year.  However, the Portuguese red-haired pirates are still planning a counterattack. If our Taiping Army captures Ningbo and supports the Chinese pirates in attacking the Portuguese pirates, and provides them with financial and food support, Zuo believes that the pirates in Guangdong will be willing to help us.  ." (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!</dd>
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