Chapter 1491 - All Clear

"Liu Xiang is finished?!" The speaker was roughly fifty years old, wearing an eight-panel cap and a lake-blue silk long gown with a jade pendant at his waist—dressed like any prosperous merchant. This was Qin Haicheng, the maritime trader who had represented shipowners trapped in Huangpu during negotiations with the Australians throughout the Canton Campaign.

"Finished indeed!" The middle-aged man sitting opposite nodded vigorously. "Just three days ago, I received word that Liu Xiang's entire gang arrived at Hong Kong Island. Chief Liu himself led his subordinate captains ashore to petition for surrender. The spectacle was reportedly magnificent—four hundred ships, thirty thousand men!"

"I seem to recall Chief Liu commanded even more ships and men than that..."

"Besieged in Chaoshan these past two years—first by Zheng Zhilong, then by the Australians—he couldn't move an inch. With no money coming in, subordinates and vessels must have scattered considerably."

"Truly unbelievable!" Qin Haicheng shook his head and turned his Xiang fei bamboo pipe sideways, allowing a bright-eyed little maid to light the tobacco with a paper spill. "Chief Liu has a Chaozhou temper—the most unyielding of all. When Zheng Zhilong's power reached its zenith, Liu never deigned to acknowledge him. I never imagined he would actually bow his head and submit to the Australians!"

"The Australians are simply too powerful. Even the Zheng family was beaten to total defeat. Chief Liu's forces were far inferior to the Zhengs—what choice did he have but to surrender?"

"To speak honestly, I never expected Zheng Zhilong to be extinguished so quickly!" Qin Haicheng took a puff and exhaled white smoke rings. "The Zheng family's financial resources were like the sea itself—silver beyond measure. They could build ships at will, as many as they liked, and they had official backing besides. Even the Dutch dared not move against them. Yet one moment they stood firm, the next they were finished—their very stronghold raided!"

"Though the Zheng family isn't quite finished yet, by all appearances they won't be hopping about much longer." The middle-aged man was Liu Deshan, a merchant specializing in coastal trade. A Dongguan native, he possessed a northern appearance unusual for the south—the build of a Shandong giant. "I hear Weitou Bay has grown extremely unsettled. The various Zheng factions are secretly maneuvering against one another. Likely enough, before the Australians even launch their next attack, the Zhengs will have started killing each other."

"Though the Australians crushing the Zheng family came as a shock, in truth it was also predictable. The sea, vast as it is, cannot accommodate two dragons."

The downfall of the Zheng forces and Liu Xiang's surrender to the "Kun" represented a seismic shift in East Asian maritime trade. As seafaring merchants, they naturally had to analyze carefully how this would affect their own enterprises.

Since the Zheng family's rout in Weitou Bay, considerable time had passed, but Qin Haicheng had maintained a cautious posture of watchful waiting. In recent months, he had cooperated only with Liu Deshan on short-distance trade along the Chinese coast, hesitant to dispatch ships to Manila. Until it became clear who truly commanded the seas, he had no desire to return to dangerous ocean voyages.

"Exactly so. The Australian offensive can only be described as sweeping away dry leaves. That morning at the inn, we heard cannon fire from the open sea and immediately withdrew with our clerks and sailors to the Dongshanju. Who could have guessed that before we even hoisted sails, the Zheng naval forces were already defeated and retreating? Australian ships blockaded the port at once. In a single day's time, Australian soldiers occupied the entire harbor—nobody knew when they had landed. One day! Just one day to seize the stronghold the Zheng family had painstakingly built..."

The speaker wore scholar's scarf and robes but looked travel-worn, as though just returned from a long journey. He was Chen Huamin, Liu Deshan's cousin. He had obtained his xiucai degree at twenty but failed repeatedly in subsequent examinations. Approaching thirty, with a household established but no career to show for it, he had simply abandoned the path to officialdom through scholarship and turned instead to maritime trade. His family were native Guangzhou residents, maritime merchants for three generations—dealing with foreigners since his great-grandfather's time. Unlike other resident merchants who simply sat waiting for the Franks to arrive, his family belonged to the traveling merchant class: they owned their own ships and personally trafficked goods. They possessed an old-style Guangzhou ship with over ten years of service. Chen Huamin had accompanied his father and uncle since childhood, riding that old ship north to Japan, south to the Southern Seas, trading every manner of cargo. He had visited Taiwan, Nagasaki, Champa, Batavia, and more—spending over half each year adrift upon the ocean. Precisely because of this background, Chen Huamin understood the overseas world better than most commoners of the Great Ming, and even most merchants, developing in the process a distinctive commercial vision. Still young, his father had not felt confident letting him venture alone on long-distance ocean voyages, so he told Liu Deshan to take the young man along on coastal runs first, to gain experience. Fortunately, the family was building a new ship; the old Guangzhou vessel would serve as Chen Huamin's capital for starting his own business.

Liu Deshan owned no ship of his own; he typically rented cargo space on others' vessels. This kept his operations modest and his expenses high. His cousin, by contrast, had a ship—and so the two had hit it off immediately, forming a partnership.

Liu Deshan and Qin Haicheng shared a long-standing business relationship; much of what Qin Haicheng exported was supplied by Liu Deshan. Chen Huamin had thus followed along to visit the Qin family's foreign trading firm.

"At the time, we all thought our ship and cargo were surely lost—swallowed up by the Australians. But who could have guessed? When the Australians raiding the port came to collect goods, they noticed our Lingao navigation flag, checked the registration plate issued by the Bopu Australian Yamen, and declared we belonged to the Guangzhou 'individual household' category—not part of the 'Fujian Zheng Group'—and were therefore free to leave."

"You departed Xiamen just like that? They didn't detain you?"

"Just like that. The Australian officer in charge even said that as long as we flew the Australian navigation flag, their patrol warships would not obstruct our departure. Afterward I sailed on my own to Taiwan to trade. That business trip actually went smoothly."

Liu Deshan laughed. "I told you there was no need to worry. The Australians always follow proper rules in their dealings—they're reasonable, unlike government officials who act without rhyme or reason. Back during the turmoil at Sanliang Town, they set up cannons in my mansion, used them, then repaired my house afterward—truly committing no offense against civilians!"

Qin Haicheng nodded; this was not news to him. When the Australians attacked Humen, over a thousand ships lay moored in Huangpu Port, their combined cargo worth millions—the Australians hadn't touched a hair of it. What was one old Guangzhou ship worth in comparison? Especially one that had purchased an Australian navigation flag.

After the Canton Campaign, Liu Deshan concluded the Australians were decent trading partners. Hearing they needed various cold goods, he boldly shipped a cargo of Foshan iron ingots to Bopu to trade with the "Kun thieves." In the days that followed, he continuously trafficked native goods along the Chinese coast to Lingao and Kaohsiung, following the Ministry of Colonization and Trade's "Trade Guide." Eventually he even opened a route reaching Longkou in Shandong.

The profits from this trade were not enormous, but the income was extremely reliable. No need to worry about finding buyers; navigation safety was largely guaranteed. As long as one sailed frequently and with diligence, making money was certain.

After accumulating his first bucket of gold, Liu Deshan discussed matters with Chen Huamin: the ship on hand was too old; better to use these funds for a new vessel. Chen Huamin noticed that the Australians operated a shipyard in Hong Kong selling new-style large ships—civilian seagoing vessels specially designed by the yard for commercial sale. These modern craft used cloth soft sails, offered superior seaworthiness, increased cargo capacity, simplified handling, and sailed faster than traditional ships. The only drawback was the price—combined with their novelty, few shipowners dared inquire about them.

At Chen Huamin's urging, the two placed an order for a new-style large ship at Hong Kong Shipyard. Chen Huamin now awaited only the vessel's completion before sailing south to the Nanyang, ambitiously continuing this most promising career as a maritime merchant.

This voyage had originally been planned as a simple affair: procure a batch of silk and cloth in Songjiang, continue south to Xiamen to pick up dried seafood, then return to Guangzhou for sale. Because it was merely short-distance trading, Chen Huamin had stayed behind in Guangzhou, busy planning inventory for the coming half-year, while Liu Deshan led the expedition alone—expected to return within a month. But at Hong Kong Island he stumbled upon the news of Liu Xiang's surrender to the Kun. Though not deeply versed in strategy, he understood this annexation would have enormous ramifications. Without even completing his procurement, he rushed to Huangpu to confer with his partner.

"With Liu Xiang surrendering to the Australians, the entire route from Guangdong to Shandong lies open!" Liu Deshan said with excitement.

In truth, this route had been largely passable since the Battle of Weitou Bay. Especially after the Australians established their Sea Police patrol system in the Taiwan Strait, civilian shipping could count on reasonable safety. But with various powers still interlocked, small and medium merchants of modest capital and limited strength still had to think twice before setting sail.

"Considerable business opportunities indeed." Chen Huamin calmly reviewed the situation and, thinking it through, keenly identified substantial opportunities within this development. With a willingness to accept some risk, the returns could be substantial.

"These opportunities divide into short-term and long-term aspects." Chen Huamin extended two fingers.

"In the short term: due to the Zheng family's internal strife and Liu Xiang's surrender to the Kun, the Australians will be preoccupied with digesting the fruits of victory. This will inevitably cause other maritime merchants to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, reluctant to enter these waters. As a result, freight between Xiamen, Songjiang, and other Jiangnan regions and Taiwan or Kaohsiung has stagnated. This will certainly cause price fluctuations. Outside goods cannot enter—so selling prices will rise. Local goods cannot exit—so buying prices will fall. If we transport cargo there now and sell it, then purchase local specialties to bring back for sale, between entry and exit we can make at least half again more profit."

"One and a half times profit—not small at all. Pity it cannot last! And what is the long-term opportunity?"

"Why do most traveling merchants run only short distances, typically trading between adjacent cities? Do they not realize that long-distance trading yields greater profits?"

(End of Chapter)