Chapter 182: Borrowing Troops

These negotiations were still ongoing. The Portuguese Municipal Council of Macau showed some interest in the Guangdong officials’ proposal—after all, securing their trade with China was their utmost concern. The Australians’ brazen entrance into the Pearl River estuary, with cannons firing and flags flying, had also made the Portuguese feel an unprecedented threat.

These so-called “Australians” in Lingao had not yet directly harmed Portuguese interests. Apart from granting a few ships special trading permits for the India-Lingao route, they had made no major moves in overseas trade. Their transactions with the Chinese in Guangdong mostly involved bulk commodities of little interest to the Portuguese, such as grain, cotton, various minerals, metals, and timber—basic goods for the people’s livelihood.

Overall, the Portuguese and the Lingao Australians had maintained a peaceful coexistence, each getting what they needed from the other. The Australians sold a large quantity of high-quality, low-cost industrial goods to the Portuguese, allowing them to make substantial profits in many distribution and resale markets. In turn, the Portuguese sold many “Indian goods” to Lingao. This had piqued the interest of the Portuguese, who had previously despaired of breaking into the Chinese market. They believed that establishing a stable trade relationship with the Australians might open up a new sales channel.

However, the Australians’ decisive victory over the Ming army in Lingao, followed by their fleet’s entry into the Pearl River, put the Portuguese on high alert. The Australians were clearly not a band of pirates or merchants content with occupying a remote, small county; they had greater ambitions.

A vague rumor had already reached the ears of the Portuguese from among the Chinese in Guangdong: the Australians were descendants of Chinese who had gone overseas centuries ago, and they had now returned to reclaim their ancestors’ thrones, titles, and lands.

Geronimo received the latest updates on the council meetings every few days. This was hardly surprising, as the intermediary for the Guangdong officials was Li Luoyou. Li Luoyou had lived and studied with the Jesuits in his youth, and although he had his own residence in Macau, he would still visit his familiar priests at the Jesuit house every few days.

Li Luoyou made no secret of the purpose of his visit or the content of the negotiations. In Macau, the Jesuit Society held immense influence over the Municipal Council, so he believed that keeping them informed was beneficial.

Li Luoyou was shocked by the Ming government’s attack on Lingao. He hadn’t expected them to act so rashly. Didn’t they think to send scouts beforehand? If only they had sent someone to see for themselves, he thought with regret, this war might have been avoided, and the government forces would have preserved some of their strength. From his perspective, the Guangdong troops were no match for the Australians. He knew that without a numerical advantage, the Ming army might not even be able to handle the motley crew of the Portuguese forces, let alone the Australians, whose weapons, training, and organization were ten times better.

While the wealthy merchants and officials in Guangzhou were scrambling for control of the “Zi” brand businesses and many merchants were cutting ties with the Australians for various reasons, Li Luoyou had calmly continued his trade with Lingao. Ship after ship of medicinal herbs, metals, grain, and cloth was sent to Lingao in exchange for the Australian goods he needed. This trade only ceased when the government forces blockaded the Qiongzhou Strait. The business had filled the coffers of his Qionghai Trading House in Lingao, much to the astonishment of Gu Baocheng, who was managing a business for the first time.

In the grand scheme of Li Luoyou’s enterprises, the Qionghai Trading House was insignificant in terms of scale and profit. However, he had established it as an important operational base and as Gu Baocheng’s first venture. He intended for it to be the starting point for the Gu family’s future revival, so he had invested lavishly.

Li Luoyou had spared no expense to buy a large plot of land in the newly developed area of the East Gate Market. Part of it was used to construct the Qionghai Trading House, and he instructed Gu Baocheng to hold on to the rest, not to rush to use it or sell it cheaply.

“Isn’t it a waste to let such prime land lie fallow?” Gu Baocheng had asked.

Li Luoyou instructed him to find some vegetable farmers and lease the idle land to them. Vegetable farming was a highly profitable business in Lingao, as the large non-agricultural population in mining, industry, administration, and the military required a massive supply of vegetables.

“Growing vegetables isn’t just about earning a little extra money,” Li Luoyou taught him earnestly. “It’s also to prevent gossip! If people see good land left to grow weeds, they won’t think of anything else but that we are being wasteful.”

“I understand, nephew.”

“The fact that you thought the land shouldn’t be wasted is a good sign,” Li Luoyou said, expressing his approval.

On the eve of the government blockade of the Qiongzhou Strait, Li Luoyou, having received the news, secretly dispatched a messenger to Lingao. The government’s campaign against Lingao was being trumpeted with great fanfare, causing some of the clerks and managers at the Qionghai Trading House to panic. They constantly urged Gu Baocheng to return to Guangzhou to wait out the storm.

“The master said that if you feel the situation here is critical, you may return. He will not blame you,” the messenger relayed.

“Go back and tell the master,” Gu Baocheng said with great confidence, “that although the Australians face a tough fight, the government forces have no chance of victory.”

The messenger reported Gu Baocheng’s words verbatim to Li Luoyou, who nodded in silent approval. The boy’s judgment was still a bit lacking, but at least he no longer just followed the crowd. He had developed his own perspective—and not a bad one at that.

He Ruyin’s entire army being wiped out at Chengmai, followed by the siege of Qiongshan, did not surprise Li Luoyou. Nor was he surprised when Li Fengjie secretly summoned him to act as an envoy to Macau. The governor’s rash campaign was bound to fail, and after the failure, someone had to clean up the mess. That someone, of course, was Li Fengjie himself.

Li Fengjie was Li Luoyou’s biggest backer in Guangdong. Li Luoyou managed many of the governor’s business affairs, including investments and loans, and fronted many ventures funded by the governor—pawnshops, maritime trade, and smuggling—industries that were either disreputable or forbidden to officials but highly profitable. Their collusion was tight. When Li Fengjie expressed his ambition to become the Viceroy of Liangguang, Li Luoyou immediately arranged for five thousand taels of silver to be sent to the governor’s liaison office in Beijing as lobbying funds.

This was no small favor. So, as soon as Wang Zunde fell ill, Li Fengjie, while arranging Guangdong’s defenses on one hand and secretly preparing for peace negotiations on the other, called upon his “business partner” to negotiate with the Portuguese for the defense of the Pearl River estuary.

“My dear brother, I’m afraid you already know,” Li Luoyou said to He Chengzong, who had traveled overnight to visit him in Foshan. He Chengzong looked grim. “The Kun thieves have entered the Pearl River! They are now looting and burning everywhere! Dongguan, Xin’an, Shunde, Nanhai—all counties are in a state of alarm…”

“I heard they’ve taken Humen?”

“Humen is a natural fortress, and the Kun thieves took it in two days,” He Chengzong said, both dejected and anxious. “A complete rout.” He briefly recounted the battle of Humen. When he spoke of the Australians’ “sturdy ships and powerful cannons,” Li Luoyou was secretly alarmed. From his words, he gathered that the Australians had used neither their large ironclad ships nor their iron speedboats. With just fifty or sixty ordinary sailing vessels and some small, smoke-belching, self-propelled boats, they had captured Humen with its multiple forts and hundreds of cannons, routing 2,000 government troops.

He hadn’t expected the Australian navy to be so powerful! Li Luoyou had initially felt a secret satisfaction at Guangdong’s defeat, thinking it a good lesson for those arrogant officials. But now he grew worried. With such military might, and now at odds with the Ming, who was to say they wouldn’t become another Manchu threat in the future?

“My patron has an important matter to entrust to you,” He Chengzong whispered. “Only you can handle this. Upon its completion, my patron will reward you handsomely!”

“I dare not accept a handsome reward,” Li Luoyou said, seeing his strange expression. He knew it must be an important matter, likely related to the Australians. Could it be that he wanted him to negotiate peace with them? He also lowered his voice, “What does His Excellency wish me to do?”

“This is not for outsiders’ ears,” He Chengzong continued.

“Rest assured!”

Only then did He Chengzong whisper his purpose. Li Fengjie wanted him to personally go to Macau and persuade the Portuguese to dispatch troops to blockade the Pearl River estuary.

“…The Franks in Macau have seven or eight ships as large as castles, with cannons like a forest. Even the Kun thieves’ warships would likely be no match for them,” He Chengzong said. “The Kun thieves are running rampant on the river, but their gunpowder and cannonballs are all transported from Lingao, a thousand li away. If the Franks cut off their supply line, the Kun thieves will run out of ammunition and have no choice but to retreat.”

Li Fengjie chose Li Luoyou for this mission first because he was a trusted confidant; second, because of his deep ties with the Portuguese; and finally, because he was a merchant, not an official or a member of his staff.

Asking the Portuguese for military aid, to put it bluntly, was colluding with a foreign power. If the imperial censors found out, it would cause a huge uproar. Only a merchant like Li Luoyou, with no official background, could handle this discreetly. If the news leaked, the officials could deny everything—after all, he was a genuine “commoner,” not even a “temporary worker.”

Li Luoyou fell silent, deep in thought. He felt the matter was extremely tricky. He had no confidence that the Portuguese would be willing. As a Chinese who was very close to the Portuguese and understood their way of thinking, he knew they were willing to protect their commercial interests, but the extent of their determination and capability was questionable. Furthermore, since the Portuguese established their port in Macau, the relationship between the Ming and the Portuguese could hardly be called harmonious—at best, it was mutual tolerance. Calls within the officialdom to expel the Portuguese had never ceased. Recently, rumors that Censor Gao was going to expel them and ban trade were spreading like wildfire, so vivid and detailed that even the Portuguese had heard them.

Under these circumstances, asking the Portuguese for troops… he had no idea how they would react.

“This is a very difficult matter,” Li Luoyou decided to be frank. “Censor Gao’s memorial is the talk of the town. The Franks have most likely heard of it. How should I respond when they ask?”

“Just say it’s completely untrue.”

This was practically a farce! Li Luoyou thought. The matter of Censor Gao’s memorial couldn’t have come from nowhere. To deny it outright without any explanation… if the Portuguese later got concrete proof, wouldn’t they see the Ming officials as completely untrustworthy?

“This… if it turns out to be true later, wouldn’t it be a great loss of face for the government…”

He Chengzong smiled faintly. “When did the government ever say such a thing?” His expression was quite smug.

Li Luoyou looked at him in disbelief. He fully understood He Chengzong’s meaning: these words wouldn’t be spoken by any Guangdong official, but by him, the representative. And since Li Luoyou was not an “official,” there was no question of the government lying. When the time came, the government could completely deny any connection to him.

These people’s thinking was absurd! To treat lying as a strategy! And from the way He Chengzong said it, smugly and without reservation, it was clear he thought a few lies from a merchant were no big deal. Li Luoyou felt a sudden chill in his heart.

“This bunch of scholars, all their learning has gone to the dogs. They can come up with any despicable, shameless idea,” Li Luoyou raged internally. But his face remained impassive. He just smiled faintly, “Is that… really appropriate?”

He Chengzong, still looking smug, replied, “What’s inappropriate? You’re a merchant. What does it matter if you misspeak a few times? Just get us through the current crisis.”

“Haha, haha,” Li Luoyou laughed hollowly. His standing in the business world was built on “integrity.” If he deceived the Portuguese this time, it would be difficult for him to maintain his footing in Macau’s business community. Therefore, he absolutely could not tell this “bait-and-switch” lie.

If the Portuguese really did ask about Censor Gao’s memorial, he decided he would be direct: he would say he was unaware of the matter and let them make their own judgment. Guangzhou was full of people willing to sell anything for foreign silver. They would find out the truth on their own.

After He Chengzong left, he began to seriously consider the task. Of course, unless he wanted to stop doing business in Guangdong, he couldn’t refuse Li Fengjie’s request. In fact, he had to try his best to accomplish it.

Although he was a business partner of the Australians, he felt they had gone too far this time. Disturbing Guangdong would only cause the already severely weakened body of the Ming to bleed further. In his view, it was better for the Australians to stay in Lingao and sell their goods. While the Portuguese might not achieve immediate success, applying some pressure could be useful.

The tricky part was that it would be very difficult to achieve. The Portuguese might dispatch warships for patrols to protect their commercial interests and attempt to drive away the Australians. But their naval power—though considerable in East Asia, enough to make even Liu Xiang wary of attacking their merchant ships—was pitifully weak against the Australians. He had no doubt that a single one of those four fast ships appearing at the mouth of the Pearl River could single-handedly defeat the entire Portuguese naval force in Macau.

Regardless of whether the Portuguese had the ability to expel the Australians, the government was asking for a favor without offering any beneficial conditions. The high-ranking Ming bureaucrats had a “don’t forget the well-digger” mentality, always seeing themselves as the well-diggers. In the eyes of Li Fengjie and his advisors, the Portuguese were able to reside in Macau entirely due to the grace of the Ming. If they wanted to stay, they had to serve the local officials unconditionally.

If they couldn’t understand this, the bureaucrats were prepared to use threats to make them realize it.

In other words, this was not a negotiation between equals, but a constant stream of threats like “if you don’t do this, you might suffer the consequences.”

Of course, threats were a negotiating tactic, as long as one had the power to back them up at any time. But to be issuing threats to a potential ally when one was in dire need of help… it put him in a very difficult position. The Macau Municipal Council would surely want to know: what benefits would they receive for spending a fortune on military expenses and sending their warships to fight the hitherto friendly Australians?

After much thought, Li Luoyou decided he could only use the overarching theme of protecting the China trade, the Portuguese’s greatest concern, to persuade them to dispatch their warships: to maintain Macau’s status as the gateway for the Ming’s foreign trade, they had to maintain maritime security in the Pearl River Delta and ensure the safety of shipping.

The request from the Guangdong governor, brought by Li Luoyou, was immediately submitted to the Macau Municipal Council for discussion. The Portuguese nobles and leading merchants of the chamber of commerce debated the issue at length, forming two sharply contrasting opinions.

Although the Portuguese disliked the Ming government, it was this government that had granted them their settlement and, under its reluctance to deal with foreign merchants, had handed them a monopoly on the China trade. If the Australians and the Ming became embroiled in a long-term war, the lucrative trade the Portuguese conducted in the Pearl River Delta would be difficult to sustain. Therefore, the call to help the Guangdong officials fight the Australians was strong.

However, another faction believed that the Ming was not a good trading partner. They constantly restricted Portuguese trade, limited the types and quantities of goods they could buy, restricted the cash they could carry, and even forbade them from hiring or buying servants locally in Guangdong. Moreover, there were constant proposals to expel them from this small colony. Some even believed that this “arrogant” government should be taught a “profound lesson.” If the Australians were willing to do it, the Portuguese had no need to interfere. On the contrary, they could even use their detached position to act as mediators between the two sides and reap greater benefits.