1 - Setting Sail
Not a Shot Missed
Chapter 35
Published December 22nd, 2024The rescue operation brought an endless amount of conversational material back to the bored time travellers back on the base. It was a shot of stimulant to their long and boring preparation work. Every night, the people who had participated in the operation were asked about it until they felt like they’d repeated the same story hundreds of times. Bei Wei, Ran Yao and Lin Shenhe were like three new stars rising in the night sky. Wherever they went in the base people would greet them, and even people they didn’t know before would call them ‘brother’.
Wen Desi underwent a comprehensive check-up at the hospital. This person, who was carried into the hospital by a bunch of people, was actually determined by the doctor to be healthier than average. Just some rest would be enough for his full recovery.
Although they had lost some things, they were mostly insignificant items. The most valuable things lost were Chief Wen’s stab vest and taser. Some of the more romantic people were thinking that the stab-proof vest might become a ‘heavenly silkworm armour’ in the legends of jianghu.[1] There were even some people that further suggested that the Executive Committee start wholesaling this ‘heavenly silkworm armour’–of course, at 10,000 taels a piece.
The Executive committee wasn’t in the mood for such optimistic jokes. Of course, they were not worried about the vest or the stun gun in particular. Stab-proof vests would not stop bullets, and the stun gun would just be a plastic shell when its battery ran out. Rather, what was concerning was the behind-the-scenes information they’d uncovered through this event.
The things found on the bodies of the killed bandits were quite random. There was silver, copper coins, flint, pipes for smoking, and so on. The most valuable thing was actually a letter. The content of it was rather unremarkable: it contained nothing more than greetings and an inquiry about whether some entrusted goods had been sold. However, the signature at the end read: “Zhou Rui of Min’an bows his head”.
If it weren’t for the group of time travellers that had arrived from the capital, one of which was the history graduate student Yu Eshui, this letter would have slipped under their radar. After reading through it, Yu Eshui said that this Zhou Rui of Min’an should be an ‘adopted man’, or maybe nephew, of Zheng Cai, who was in turn the cousin of the infamous pirate Zheng Zhilong.
The so-called ‘adoption’ was a common practice of Chinese sea merchants at the time. Going out onto the sea for trade was relatively risky, so wealthy families would raise these adopted men and sons, and let them go out and brave the wind and waves to trade, while their own sons could relax at home and enjoy the fruits of this labour. Some people became ‘adopted men’ and ‘adopted sons’ because of debt. These adopted men and sons had a low social status, equivalent to half-slaves. They were bound under lifelong service and were not allowed to change jobs. The Zheng family had raised a large number of such ‘professionals.’ Zheng Tai, a well-known household official under Zheng Chenggong,[2] was also such an adopted son.
Zheng Cai, put in modern terms, had long occupied a major executive position in the Zheng Zhilong group. Although this person belonged to a side branch of the Zheng family, his status significantly changed after Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. For a time, the Zheng group was leaderless, and he was able to stand out and retreat to Xiamen and compete with Zheng Chenggong. His power was evidently considerable.
This bandit boss surnamed Wang had a letter from a professional manager of the Zheng family, and his letters also showed that they were from the southern Fujian area. The long shadow of Zheng Zhilong was cast all over this kidnapping.
It would not be funny at all to have to wage a battle with the Zheng family, the largest maritime group in China in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Especially before they even officially travelled over.
Yu Eshui reassured the anxious members of the Executive Committee: “Your worry is groundless.”
He went on to elaborate. There were many pirates on the seas of Guangdong and Fujian in the late Ming Dynasty. Apart from the Zheng family, there were ten to twenty-something other pirate or merchant gangs that were well-known in the historical community. There were nameless little pirates, greedy merchants who were tempted by money and wanted to make a quick fortune, plus people from the Netherlands, Britain, and Portugal... The seas in this area were simply a merciless playground ruled by law of the jungle.
If the time travellers wanted to gain a foothold in Hainan, they must defeat all of them. So whoever they made enemies with, be it early or late, it would be all the same in the end. These merchants and thieves wouldn’t care about whether you had a grudge against them or not. If there was even a whiff of money they would be drawn to it like sharks to fresh blood. If one didn’t have strength they would just rob. Peaceful relations with such people was based completely on the deterrence of mutual force. So there was nothing wrong with their confrontation this time. At least they had let the pirates know in clear words that they, the travellers, were not easy to mess with. That way the pirates of these southern waters might not be so unscrupulous in the future.
Even so, in order to guard against possible retaliation by the Zheng family, the Executive Committee still put the Guangzhou base on level one alert. The residence was repaired, new fences and security doors were installed, and even a few fire extinguishers were stockpiled.
Xiao Zishan visited Gao Ju and told him the gist of the story. Master Gao was shocked - he didn't expect that Australian merchants had such a hand hidden up their sleeves, and even had such a comprehensive understanding of the supposedly unfamiliar Guangzhou. After the incident erupted, although he had sent sedan chairs and mule carts to them after they requested, he was still a little hesitant and unwilling to help them with all his might. He had originally planned to wait for them to come to him for help after the ransom letter came so that he could sell a big favour to them.
Gao Ju truly didn't expect this group of Australian merchants to be so strong! He couldn't help but be very upset: when Xiao Zishan asked him for help with the sedan chairs he had hurriedly agreed without even asking for anything in return.
Xiao Zishan used the excuse that the house was obviously vulnerable to attack and proposed to buy another place. This time Gao Ju had no choice but to agree. Fortunately, this purchase request was still handled through him, and the Australians didn't appear to have lost their trust in him yet. So he patted his chest and said that he could even pay for it as a gift to compensate Master Wen. Xiao Zishan said: "I’ll humbly accept it this time, but please do not give us more gifts!"[3] and accepted the Gao Ju’s offer graciously.
As Xiao Zishan finished speaking, Master Gao took out another list and passed it over.
Xiao Zishan unrolled and read the following: 10,000 cigarettes, 200 black silver lighters, 30 goose egg-sized mirrors, 200 powder box mirrors, 2 full-length mirrors, and a bunch of other miscellaneous Australian goods of all kinds.
"This is?"
"Alas!" Master Gao sighed, with a very painful expression on his face, "It's a little gift for Beijing. I need it urgently. Brother, can you deliver it within ten days?"
"Not a problem." Xiao Zishan agreed easily. The list didn’t contain any truly rare goods. Except for the cigarettes, the rest could be bought at a small commodity market. But this lift of stuff was really not small for a gift! In total, Master Gao would have to pay nearly 20,000 taels of silver. Who was so important to warrant such a gift?
Xiao Zishan thought that such a powerful person would definitely be of use in the future if he could get in touch. So he deliberately said, "Naturally then we have to bring out some new things. I wonder what interests this big boss in the imperial court has? Wouldn't it be better if we could give him something that fits his taste?"
"Thank you, brother," Master Gao smiled bitterly, "Of course, new things are a must. That’s what they specifically asked for."
It's really fucking corrupt. Xiao Zishan cursed in his heart. Not only did they accept bribes, but they even openly asked for bribes. And when asking you for bribes they just gave you list of what they wanted.
"How could they ask for so much?" Xiao Zishan pretended to be surprised.
"Not that much actually. There’s two in the palace, twenty-four in the yamen, there’s also the ministers in the cabinet..."[4] Gao Ju muttered and stopped, "I forgot that you are not from the Ming Dynasty. Even if I explain it all, I won’t be able to make it clear."
Xiao Zishan listened carefully. The level of this gift was really not low. Gao Ju had such great influence? He wanted to probe a little further, so he asked quietly: "Was it the Nine Thousand Years Old who made this list ?"
Gao Ju was startled, and looked around hurriedly. Seeing that there was no one else, he whispered:
"Be careful! Apart from the head eunuch of the Eastern Depot, who else could it be?" He asked back, "How do you even know of this title?"
"I have been in the Great Ming for a while now, and I have learned a little about the Great Ming." Xiao Zishan put on an expression of ‘I know more than I can tell you’ to whet the appetite of Gao Ju.
Gao Ju responded, "Brother, you know what kind of business I'm in," he sighed, "The smooth going of my business so far is all thanks to Eunuch Yang in the palace."
He then briefly described his relationship with Eunuch Yang, saying that Eunuch Yang was his backer. Naturally, the division of spoils wasn’t mentioned. Xiao Zishan could have guessed it anyway - this kind of relationship is something that no Chinese would be unable to imagine, even if one said they had a purely platonic relationship between them.
"But now Eunuch Yang’s status is not as good as before." Gao Ju whispered again, his voice was almost as low as the buzz of a mosquito wing, "He is not liked by the minister of the Eastern Depot."
"So this batch of items is to please the head of the Eastern Depot?"
"I don’t dare say ‘please’. The best I can do is to burn incense everywhere and pray for peace." Gao Ju wiped the sweat from his forehead, "The fates of Eunuch Yang and I are really closely bound together, so no matter how much it costs, I must do my best to serve."
"Brother, I am willing to help."
"There is one more matter, please help me brother." Gao Ju bowed.
"Pray tell." Xiao Zishan thought Gao Ju’s face was so sincere, and his tone was so sincere, does he want to also borrow money?!
"Recently there is one thing that is causing me great trouble, and I’m afraid that I won’t have enough cash to move around..."
Fuck, what I fear is really coming true. Xiao Zishan was still nodding and smiling on the outside, but his smile was beginning to stiffen.
"...I would like to ask you to convince the other Australian merchants to change the settlement to once a month. If you can, I would be endlessly grateful and will reward you separately."
So he wanted to buy on credit, and he even wanted to extort me for goods. Yet Xiao Zishan’s thought that Gao Ju's proposal overall was not excessive in any time or space. Most companies in the 21st century would laugh in their dreams: settlement every 60 days at the end of a month was already an accepted rule, and merchants in Taiwan were even still strongly promoting 120 days. In the early 17th to 19th centuries, foreign merchants who came to China for trade could only settle the payment one or two years after the goods were entrusted to Chinese merchants, and they often could not settle a payment in the end, leading to many trade conflicts with foreigners.
The problem was that their trades were for the sole goal of raising money as soon as possible, and selling their stuff on credit would definitely increase the uncertainty of their income. The Executive Committee may not agree to this.
Xiao Zishan suddenly realised that Master Gao had been manipulating the conversation, and used his curiosity to lead the topic step by step to this–what an old fox!
"Is it difficult for you brother?" Gao Ju saw Xiao Zishan’s expression change and knew that this matter was difficult to handle.
"I need to think about this matter carefully." At this point, Xiao Zishan had no choice but to feign civility, "But if you want to buy goods on credit, you must first provide a clear reason. Only after that can we decide whether or not it is possible."
After hesitating for a while, Gao Ju told him about Yang Tianliang's visit to Guangzhou and brought up the construction of the shrine to the Nine Thousand Years Old.
"This shrine should have been easy, and would only cost at most five thousand taels of silver. But Yang Gonggong wants to build it at a "grand scale" and mobilise all the merchants and citizens of Guangzhou. I'm afraid the cost of such a shrine will be at least 70,000 or 80,000 taels." Gao Ju's face twitched slightly, and he was obviously very distressed at this sum.
Xiao Zishan’s knowledge of the shrines of Wei Zhongxian came entirely from reading the "Five Tombstones Inscriptions" back in high school. He had no idea whether Guangzhou had built such a shrine for Wei Zhongxian, and he was not interested in old-world history. However, this matter would still need to be reported to the Executive Committee as soon as possible, so that Yu Eshui could make a judgement and see if there was any value in helping out.
[TN]
In this chapter Wei Zhongxian is referred to instead as ‘Nine Thousand Years Old’. See footnote in Chapter 27.