Chapter 28: The Oriole Society
The southern city of Guangzhou faces the Pearl River, a hub for sea merchants and foreign ships. In the Song Dynasty, it was a bustling commercial center, protected by the east and west Yanchi (Goose Wing) cities. Destroyed by war in the Yuan Dynasty, it was rebuilt in the Ming, only to be ravaged again by the Tuolin army mutiny. In the 42nd year of Jiajing, the Censor-in-Chief Wu Guifang, seeing the suffering of the residents, initiated the construction of a new city, for the purpose of defense.
With the protection of the city walls, the new southern city, though the smallest of Guangzhou’s three cities, became the commercial and economic heart of the region, home to the foreign ship area, the wharf, the commercial district, and the wealthy residential area.
On the bank of the Pearl River, outside the Jinghai Gate, several men in straw raincoats and bamboo hats stood, seemingly on patrol.
A misty rain fell, obscuring the dozen or so sailboats on the river. In the distance, Shicui Island and the White Goose Pond were hidden in the mist, as if connected to the clouds and sky.
“Damn it, where did these Australian sea ships come from?” one of them spat.
“Boss Wang, we’ve been searching for ten days. We’ve looked at every ship on the river, but there’s no strange big ship.”
The man called Boss Wang said nothing, his eyes fixed on the river. Not far from them, a foreign ship was unloading cargo, a line of porters carrying goods from the ship to the wharf.
“Big Brother Wang, I don’t understand. The master is doing well in the Central-Left Guard. Why did he suddenly send us to find some Australian sea merchants? I’ve traveled to the East and West Seas, but I’ve never heard of any damn Australia!”
Boss Wang snorted. “What are you blabbering about? Do you want your head?”
The men fell silent.
After a long while, Boss Wang spoke. “The things sold in the Gao family’s shop on Haopan Street didn’t just fall from the sky. The whole city of Guangzhou is in a frenzy. Who doesn’t know about the strange goods from Australia? Since this profitable business passes through the sea, how can we brothers not make a fortune from it?” He grinned. “This time, we must find out the background of this group of sea merchants.”
These men were the subordinates of the “great pirate” Zheng Zhilong, who was currently terrorizing the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong. He had gathered a force of over thirty thousand men and had become a hegemon on the seas of the southern Fujian coast.
They walked along the wharf towards the city. The streets grew more crowded. They passed the Dragon King Temple and entered the city through the Jinghai Gate. In front of them was the magnificent Tianfei Temple, the transportation hub of the southern city, a bustling marketplace filled with a clamor of voices and endless rows of stalls.
Boss Wang led them down an alley to a small, greasy tavern at the base of the city wall. It was dim inside, the air thick with the smell of food, wine, smoke, and sweat.
He asked for a private room and ordered some wine and dishes. The curtain was left half-open, so the men at the door could watch the tavern.
A moment later, a fair-faced, beardless middle-aged man walked in. Their eyes met, and the newcomer sat down without a word.
“Is there any news from the brothers on Haopan Street?” Boss Wang asked in a low voice.
“We’ve been tailing them for almost half a month, but there’s nothing. We’ve only seen goods being carried out of the Gao residence, but we’ve never seen any special goods go in, nor have we seen any strange people.”
“Damn it!” Boss Wang had no appetite. “How did so much cargo get in?” Could it be a diversion?
“What about the Gao family’s warehouse at the wharf?”
“We’ve asked about that too,” the man said, shaking his head. “The rules in the Gao family’s shop are very strict. We asked around for many days and only found out that the manager of the warehouse has a lover who is a prostitute. It took some silver to get some news from that woman.” He paused, taking a long drink of his wine.
Boss Wang knew he was being extorted. He cursed inwardly, but said, “The silver is not a problem. What did you find out?”
“The manager said that the Australian goods are never received or dispatched at the warehouse. They are all dispatched from Gao Ju’s private warehouse in his main residence. Each time, not much is dispatched, only a few boxes of goods. But each item is worth a lot of money.” A greedy look appeared in the man’s eyes.
“How often are the goods dispatched?”
“No fixed time, but it’s usually around every ten days.”
So the goods did come from the Gao residence. But how did they get in? The Gao family was not by the sea. Did they fall from the sky?
“Have you investigated the goods transported into the Gao residence?”
“For this matter, we asked Feijiao Laosan from the porters’ guild for help. He asked for a lot of money…”
“No problem,” Boss Wang said, his hand on the short knife in his sleeve.
“Ten taels of silver,” the middle-aged man said, testing him. Boss Wang’s face was a blank smile. The man, remembering who he was dealing with, quickly continued, “Feijiao Laosan ordered his men to secretly inspect the goods transported into the Gao family, and indeed there was something strange!”
“Oh? Were the goods smuggled in?”
“No, it’s that the goods transported in and out are a bit strange.”
For the past month, they had been secretly inspecting the cargo going in and out of the Gao residence. Usually, it was porcelain, ironware, and the like. But this month, a lot of musk, ambergris, and sandalwood had been transported in, and had never been transported out. It was as if they had vanished into thin air.
After all this time, they were no closer to figuring out where the goods came from. Boss Wang sighed in disappointment.
He paid the man and sent him away. He could only wait for the report from the men sent to infiltrate the Gao family.
After a long wait, the two men returned, one with a bruise on his face.
“The back street over there has a fence, so it’s not convenient to get in. We went up on the city wall and circled around, and after hiding there for a few days, we finally discovered something strange.” The two men were former thieves, wanted for murder, who had sought refuge with the sea pirates.
They had observed the people and cargo going in and out of the back gate of the Gao residence and found that they were all coming from the backyard of another house. They found a way into that yard and saw the Australian sea merchants.
“There were four of them in total, all wearing the clothes of this dynasty, but with shorn hair, like monks.”
They had discovered that the courtyard was a secret residence of the Gao family, now being used as a guesthouse for the Australian sea merchants. All the goods were transported from this secret residence to the Gao family, and the Gao family also transported goods to the secret residence.
The problem remained. They still didn’t know where the goods came from.
“I originally wanted to listen to their conversation,” the man with the bruise said fiercely, “but there’s a martial artist among them. As soon as I tried to get close, he discovered me and threw a rock, fast and hard.”
“I say, let’s just ‘scoop them out of their nest,’” someone said in a low voice. “Let’s grab the Gao family’s Manager Yan, or even Gao Ju himself. Won’t we be able to ask everything clearly then?”
Boss Wang snorted. “Grab them? Which of the merchants on Haopan Street is easy to mess with? Their connections reach to the heavens, and their household guards are enough to give you a hard time.”
“Then let’s grab one of the sea merchants,” the man chuckled. “Even if we don’t mess with the Gao family, it shouldn’t be a problem to mess with these rootless sea merchants, right? I heard there’s only one martial artist among them, and they don’t have the Gao family’s guards. Even if he’s made of iron, how many nails can he make? We’ll gather a few more brothers with good skills, go in and tie one up, take him to the ship. Not to mention coming from Australia, even if he came from Mount Kunlun, he’d have to talk. Besides,” he laughed greedily, “if we want to let him go, won’t he have to give us some good things?”
Everyone roared in approval. Kidnapping a sea merchant was not a big deal. Gao Ju would not necessarily be furious, and they could still leave some room for maneuver in the future.
The men put their heads together and began to plot.