Chapter 284: A Secret Visit to Bopu (Part 1)

Ignoring it seemed to work. After a while, the pleas from Lin’gao, which used to come every seven or eight days, stopped. Tang Yunwen was deeply afraid that the county town of Lin’gao had fallen—if that were the case, and some rival impeached him for “failing to rescue,” things would be troublesome. He sent someone to inquire at the yamen in the prefectural city, and the report came back that the postal route to Lin’gao was still open, and the county town was fine. This was a relief. Since everything was peaceful, there was no need to worry.

Tang Yunwen simply put the matter of the large iron ship out of his mind. Compared to this large iron ship in Lin’gao, he had more pressing matters to attend to: first, Liu Xiang, the rising star on the Guangdong seas, was harassing and robbing the waters of the Pearl River Delta, trying to monopolize Guangdong’s overseas trade, and occasionally came to the waters of Qiongzhou, Leizhou, and Lianzhou to plunder salt and sugar ships. The old pirate Zhu Cailao was not to be outdone and fought fiercely with him on the Guangdong seas. The chaos on the Fujian seas also disturbed the coast of Guangdong. For a time, they came and went, with smoke rising everywhere. Orders to mobilize his troops for “joint suppression” came one after another. Tang Yunwen led his men to fight everywhere, moving between the seas of Fujian and Guangdong, so busy that he had no time to rest.

With Zhu Cailao’s defeat and death at Nanri, Tang Yunwen finally had a chance to breathe, and he withdrew his troops to his old camp to rest. But not long after returning to the Baisha Naval Base, he received disturbing news. The scattered and defeated pirates captured by his patrol boats confessed that a remnant of Zhu Cailao’s old subordinates had gone to Lin’gao, with seventy or eighty ships and more than a thousand men.

These pirate remnants who had already gone to Lin’gao were now sending people to the Guangdong seas to recruit and accept defectors, constantly luring the remnants of Zhu Cailao’s old subordinates to Lin’gao to “join the Australians.” This was the first time Tang Yunwen had heard the name “Australians.” He quickly sent spies to Lin’gao to gather information again.

The news that came back surprised him greatly. It turned out that the Australians who had come to Lin’gao with the large iron ship had not left, but were building houses and wharves in Bopu, seemingly intending to stay in Lin’gao for a long time. This reminded him of the past when the Franks tried to build a city and stay in Tuen Mun—they later established a foothold in Xiangshan’ao. Could it be that these Australians were also planning to use the same old trick as the Franks?

This was a major matter that could not be ignored. Tang Yunwen became nervous. He knew very well the court’s attitude towards these overseas people—except for Macau, they were absolutely not allowed to stay on the land of the Great Ming, let alone build cities and wharves. Whether it was Shuangyu and Tuen Mun in the past, or Penghu in the Tianqi reign, the court’s attitude had always been consistent: for Westerners who wanted to stay and build cities on the land of the Great Ming, there was only one word: “fight.”

Thinking of this, he dared not pretend to be deaf and dumb any longer. Counting from the arrival of the iron ship in Lin’gao, this group of overseas “Australians” had been in Lin’gao for almost a year. In this year, they had probably established a firm foothold in Lin’gao, which was why they were now recruiting Zhu Cailao’s remnants to expand their strength.

In this case, the situation in Lin’gao was worrying! Tang Yunwen quickly sent people everywhere to inquire about the news in Lin’gao. The result surprised him. Not only had Lin’gao not sent out a single plea for help against pirate invasions in the past year, but it had also repeatedly presented the heads of captured pirates and various captured seals, flags, and documents to the prefecture. Among them were many notorious pirate leaders wanted by the government. They had even presented the heads of Western pirates several times.

“The Lin’gao County Magistrate, Wu Mingjin, is a top red official recently,” Jiang Youling told him. Currently, pirate activity in the waters of Lin’gao has almost disappeared, and the prefectural governor thinks highly of him.

“What about the so-called Australians?”

“That’s where things get strange,” Jiang Youling said. “Magistrate Wu has never mentioned the Australians in his letters to and from the prefectural yamen.”

“You mean…” Tang Yunwen said in a low voice, “Magistrate Wu is colluding with the Australians?”

“It’s hard to say if there’s collusion, but at least there’s a tacit understanding of mutual non-aggression.”

“Wu Mingjin is too bold,” Tang Yunwen said. “But it seems that Lin’gao is still quiet.”

“It’s more than quiet,” Jiang Youling said. Now Lin’gao has become a major destination in Qiongzhou Prefecture. There is an endless stream of local merchants going to Lin’gao to do business, and every day there are many merchants from the mainland who transfer to ships in Shenying Port to go to Lin’gao.

“Now there is an outer counter of the Gao Guang Shipping Company in Shenying Port. Anyone who wants to go to Lin’gao can buy a ticket at the counter and take a boat there, which is very convenient.”

Lin’gao was experiencing a rare period of prosperity and prosperity on the island, which was obviously related to the Australians. Wu Mingjin had been the magistrate of Lin’gao for several years without achieving this situation. After the arrival of the large iron ship, it had developed by leaps and bounds in just one year. No one would believe that the Australians had nothing to do with it.

Tang Yunwen decided to go to Bopu himself to see the situation. The news he heard from hearsay was always unreliable. He would make a decision after seeing it for himself.

This was the scene of him disguised as a fisherman, personally sailing out to sea to investigate the situation.

“Hoist the sails, let’s go to Changgong Bay,” Tang Yunwen ordered his men.

Changgong Bay was just west of Lin’gao Cape, a traditional fishing ground of Lin’gao, with many fishing boats operating. The sea was dotted with sails, and it should be easy to blend in.

Unexpectedly, the boatman who acted as a guide shook his head and said, “Sir! It’s not that I’m unwilling to go. To fish in the waters of Lin’gao, you need something called a ‘license’ and a small flag to hang on the mast. I haven’t applied for one. If the boat goes there and casts a net, the Australians’ fast boats will come to inspect. At best, the catch will be confiscated. At worst, even the boat will be confiscated.”

“What’s this license about?”

“I’ve also heard that you can only fish in the waters of Lin’gao with a flag, and you have to pay one-fifth of your catch as a tax every day.”

Tang Yunwen nodded. The Australians were indeed good at making money. The seafood catch in this area of Lin’gao was very rich. By controlling this area and extorting the fishermen, the income would be considerable. He himself could receive more than three or four thousand taels of silver from the fishing masters all over the island every year as a tribute.

“In that case, we don’t need to cast a net. Just get the boat a little closer.”

The boatman was helpless. He didn’t know Tang Yunwen’s specific identity, but it was certain that they were military officers from the Baisha Naval Base. People who made a living on the water naturally couldn’t afford to offend such people. He was also tempted by the promise of “more silver,” so he risked taking the boat towards Lin’gao Cape.

The boat quietly approached Lin’gao Cape under the push of the large oars. It was the fishing season, and there were many fishing boats on the sea. This two-masted fishing boat quietly blended into the fleet, inconspicuous.

But the boatman was very worried, constantly looking around and urging him to “hurry up.” Tang Yunwen secretly laughed at the boatman’s cowardice. With so many boats, how could the so-called Australians keep an eye on them all? He also used his telescope to observe Lin’gao Cape.

Tang Yunwen had passed by this place, Lin’gao Cape, at least dozens of times with his patrol boats. It was a natural embankment of scattered rocks with nothing on it.

Now Lin’gao Cape had completely changed. At the tip extending into the sea, a circular fort had been built, with several protruding bastions on the outside. The fort was not high, but it was built very sturdily and thickly, all made of large stones. On the platform, a huge iron cannon could be vaguely seen. It looked much larger than the Hongyi cannons bought by the court.

Many piers had also been built on Lin’gao Cape, all paved with large stones, as wide and flat as a great road. Large and small ships were docked there, and the embankment was bustling with people and carts. On the embankment, there were also many identical tall wooden frames with large wooden wheels, with long booms extending out to lift and transport goods back and forth, seemingly a kind of shadoof.

Tang Yunwen was secretly shocked. Not to mention the power of this cannon, just building such a sturdy fort on Lin’gao Cape, and these stone piers… If the government were to do it, even with sufficient funds and no worries, he estimated it would take at least two or three years.

“My lord, the beacon tower!” his trusted general Zhang Wen reminded him in a low voice.

The beacon tower had also changed its appearance. Originally, this beacon tower not only had most of its surface bricks and stones fallen off, but in some places, the earth had collapsed, and it was overgrown with weeds and small trees, like a small earthen hill. Now, the beacon tower had been re-bricked all over, the trees and weeds had been cleared away, and a small house had been built on top. A very large iron cannon could be vaguely seen on it.

Tang Yunwen found it strange: although the beacon tower had a wide field of vision and could see very far, it seemed meaningless to set up an iron cannon on it—the largest Hongyi cannon bought by the court could only shoot a distance of four or five hundred zhang, and it was not accurate at all. This beacon tower was five or six li away from the sea at Bopu. If the cannon was fired, wouldn’t the cannonball land on the land?

Could it be that the cannonball could reach the sea? This meant that this cannon could shoot at least five or six li away! Tang Yunwen was a military general with practical combat experience and had dealt with Europeans. He was different from the literati who wrote about firearms warfare in a chaotic manner. He knew that the so-called Western-style cannons “reaching ten li” was complete nonsense, but this group of Australians had such heavy cannons! At this thought, he couldn’t help but feel a chill. The largest cannon on his own ship was not as good as the Franks’ Hongyi cannons. If he came to Bopu to suppress the Australians, he would probably be blown to pieces before he got close.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but be glad that he had listened to Jiang Youling’s words. If he had really come to suppress them, a defeat would have been a light outcome. The entire army could have been wiped out.

On second thought, his mood became very heavy again. Looking at the situation, the Australians were playing the same game as the Franks and the red-haired people in the Tianqi reign, preparing to build a city in Bopu and stay for a long time. If so, the court would sooner or later issue an edict to suppress them.

But it wouldn’t be this year, Tang Yunwen thought. Recently, the Eastern barbarians had suddenly bypassed Mongolia and entered the pass, capturing several cities in a row. Their forces were pointing directly at Zunhua, and the capital was in shock. The court probably had no time to deal with this matter now. If the local authorities were to carry out a suppression, it would most likely be a joint suppression by Guangdong and Fujian…