Chapter 1233 King of the Pure Sea of ​​Nanyang!

Zhang Dapeng, a great pirate from the South China Sea nicknamed King of the Sea, also had a legendary life.
Zhang Dapeng was from Licheng, Qilu. It was said that his ancestors were also from a family of officials. His great-grandfather Zhang Tai was an official in Qilu Provincial Government at that time, and his grandfather Zhang Yingxin was also a county magistrate. However, his father Zhang Wenju failed the imperial examination, so he did not have the official food of the Great Zhou Dynasty...
Although Zhang Wenjuan did not become an official, with the accumulation of two generations of Zhang Tai and Zhang Yingxin, the Zhang family also had a house and a family tree in the city, as well as land outside the city. The family was well-off and had no worries about food and drink, so Zhang Dapeng's living environment in his youth was also very good!
If things had continued to develop in this way, Zhang Dapeng should have continued studying and taking the imperial examinations, striving to be like his great-grandfather and grandfather. However, things happen unexpectedly. The then prefect of Licheng had a brother-in-law named Wang Tao who took a fancy to the Zhang family's shop in the city and thought it was a prosperous shop so he wanted to buy it!
The Zhang family was reluctant to agree to this at first. After all, the shop was in a very good location and could be rented out for more than one hundred taels of silver per year even if it did nothing.

However, the shop was harassed and inspected several times by the officers of Licheng Prefecture Government, and the tenants dared not continue to rent it. In order to maintain peace, the Zhang family had to make a compromise and promised to transfer the shop as long as Wang Tao offered a good price. However, Wang Tao, relying on the support of his brother-in-law, offered a very low price, so the Zhang family could not accept it at all!

Seeing that the Zhang family was still not sensible, Wang Tao resorted to false accusations and other means to send Zhang Wenju to jail. It was obvious that they could not defeat Wang Tao. In order to get Zhang Wenju out, the Zhang family not only gave up the shop, but also paid a considerable price. In the end, in order to avoid Wang Tao, they moved away from Licheng to Jiangnan...
At this point, the Zhang family was also seriously damaged, but as the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, so although their lives are certainly not as good as before, their normal food, clothing, housing and transportation are still guaranteed. However, after this incident, Zhang Wenju also wanted to revive the family, and the developed commerce in Jiangnan at that time also gave Zhang Wenju hope, so he also wanted to learn from others and do business!
However, as a dandy boy, he was not cut out for business. It didn't take long for him to lose all his capital. He even died of depression!
With the passing of Zhang Wenjuan, the entire Zhang family lost their support. As the eldest son, Zhang Dapeng had to stop his studies and start working hard for his family's livelihood.

At first, Zhang Dapeng wanted to go to the port to carry heavy bags to make money, but unfortunately he had never done this kind of hard work since he was a child, so even though he tried very hard and wanted to persevere, he was eventually fired.

Although he could not do manual labor, Zhang Dapeng was very smart and clever. He noticed that the workers at the port were illiterate but needed to write letters to their families, so he set up a calligraphy stall and made a living by writing letters for others.

While helping others write letters at the port, Zhang Dapeng met Xue Shancai, the then owner of the Jiangnan Longyi Xin Trading Company. Xue Shancai saw that Zhang Dapeng was smart and clever, so he took him as an apprentice and took him to do business in Southeast Asia!
However, Xue Shancai appeared to be an upright businessman, dealing in tea and porcelain, but secretly he had deep connections with some pirates in Southeast Asia. He helped the pirates gather intelligence, purchase supplies, and later sell the stolen goods, and made huge profits from it...
As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." As Xue Shancai's apprentice, Zhang Dapeng soon became the backbone of Longyi Xin Trading Company with his intelligence and ability. Finally, Xue Shancai married his daughter to Zhang Dapeng and promoted him to the second manager of Longyi Xin Trading Company!
Just when Xue Shancai and Zhang Dapeng, the father-in-law and son-in-law, were making their HS industry flourish, Lu Jianchao came to Jiangnan and became the governor. At that time, Lu Jianchao was young, strong, smart and capable, so he quickly discovered the tricks of Long Yixin, and joined forces with the Censorate to seal up the Long Yixin company and arrest Xue Shancai, Zhang Dapeng and others.

However, Xue Shancai had been in Jiangnan for so many years and had his own connections. Although he could not change the outcome of the closure of Long Yixin Company, he received the news in advance and fled to Southeast Asia with Zhang Dapeng and other backbone members of Long Yixin, as well as his entire family!

After fleeing to Nanyang, Xue Shancai was still unwilling to be lonely and wanted to make a comeback. However, on the way back and forth, he was attacked by the local Tu ethnic group, the Bazhe tribe. After Xue Shancai's death, Zhang Dapeng, as his son-in-law, inherited his father-in-law's connections, wealth, and manpower, and eventually started a pirate business. After nearly ten years of continuous battles and alliances, Zhang Dapeng, now 50 years old, has become the King of the South Sea with tens of thousands of people and hundreds of ships...
As early as when Huo San was still the director of the Coordination Office, Ye Mingsheng began to lay out his plans in Nanyang. In order to complete the task assigned by Ye Mingsheng, Huo San had contact with various major forces in Nanyang, including Fang Zhi, known as the Black Dragon King, Zhang Dapeng, the King of Pure Sea, and Wang Le!

Among them, Zhang Dapeng gave the best feedback. Due to geographical and historical reasons, his relationship with the Bazhe tribe of the Nanyang native ethnic group was very tense. The two sides had fought many times before and both sides suffered countless casualties.

At that time, the chaos in the Great Zhou was in full swing, so Zhang Dapeng also heard about the firearms of the Fengwu Army. In order to deal with the Eight Zhe Tribe, he obtained some of the Fengwu Army's Weiyuan guns and Polu guns through some channels!

These firearms performed very well in the battle with the Bazhe tribe, so after the war Zhang Dapeng wanted to get more firearms. However, his channels were all HS channels, and he could only get 20 to 30 at most, and no more. This could not satisfy Zhang Dapeng's idea of ​​large-scale deployment.

Therefore, when the people from the Coordination Office came to Nanyang, Zhang Dapeng also intended to buy it from the Yijing court. However, because he was a pirate and a wanted criminal by Da Zhou, he used a white glove. However, his trick was quickly discovered by the Coordination Office, and then the two sides began to have a certain degree of contact...
It was at this time that Huo San was captured by Ye Mingsheng, which forced the Coordination Office's work in Nanyang to be interrupted for a period of time.

After Wang Xuecheng became the director of the Coordination Office, in order to promote Da Zhou's overseas trade, Ye Mingsheng also intended to speed up the layout in Nanyang, so Wang Xuecheng also attached great importance to the situation in Nanyang, and the Coordination Office also resumed contact with Zhang Dapeng.

After learning about the tense relationship between Zhang Dapeng and the Bazhe tribe, Wang Xuecheng specially approved two hundred Weiyuan guns for Zhang Dapeng as a gesture of goodwill, and also sent instructors to help the pirates under Zhang Dapeng train musketeers!
After tasting the sweetness of the Great Zhou firearms and learning about Ye Mingsheng's idea of ​​promoting overseas trade, Zhang Dapeng took the initiative to propose the idea of ​​exchanging firearms for safety!
The specific idea is that Da Zhou will give him firearms, and then he will use these firearms to protect Da Zhou merchant ships from being invaded in Southeast Asia. Of course, in addition to firearms, he must also pay the protection fees and bribes!

After learning about Zhang Dapeng's idea, Wang Xuecheng wrote to Ye Mingsheng and proposed the idea of ​​recruiting Zhang Dapeng!
Based on the current reality that the Great Zhou navy is unable to protect the safety of Great Zhou merchant ships in Southeast Asia, Ye Mingsheng agreed after comprehensive consideration.

After getting authorization from Ye Mingsheng, Wang Xuecheng proposed the idea of ​​recruiting pirates to Zhang Dapeng. Zhang Dapeng was somewhat resistant to this at first. After all, there were cases of recruiting pirates in the Great Zhou Dynasty in history, but there were not many cases that ended well...
Therefore, Zhang Dapeng initially refused to be recruited and wanted to stick to his plan of exchanging firearms for safety. However, after Wang Xuecheng firmly equated the sale of firearms with being recruited, Zhang Dapeng's position softened and he stated that if the Yijing court agreed to his conditions, he, Zhang Dapeng, could accept the Yijing court's recruitment!
And now Zhang Dapeng’s conditions include.

First of all, the Yijing court must pardon him and all his brothers, and promise not to pursue him in the future. It is worth noting that on this point, Zhang Dapeng asked the Yijing court to announce it to the world in the form of an imperial edict!

Secondly, Zhang Dapeng asked the Yijing court to confer him the title of the real King of Jinghai and to establish the Governor-General's Office of Nanyang. He, Zhang Dapeng, would serve as the governor-general, and the throne of the King of Jinghai and the title of Governor-General of Nanyang would be hereditary and inherited by his descendants from generation to generation!
The third point is that the Yijing court will build a factory capable of producing muskets in Ba Harbor, Zhang Dapeng’s old nest, and will also send a large number of instructors to train qualified musketeers for Zhang Dapeng!

Fourthly, when the merchant ships of the Great Zhou pass through Southeast Asia, they must pay 50% of their profits to Zhang Dapeng as protection fees!

Fifthly, the Yijing court will hand over Wang Tao, who once persecuted the Zhang family, and Lu Jianchao, who sealed up the Longyi Xin business, to Zhang Dapeng for disposal.

These five requirements could be said to be too much, but Wang Xuecheng believed in his memorial to Ye Mingsheng that Zhang Dapeng was sincere in his offer of amnesty. After all, he had sent his adopted son Zhang Kaishan over, which meant that there was room for adjustment of these conditions...

At this time, Ye Mingsheng looked at Song Haibo who was standing beside him and seemed to be hesitant to speak, so he said to Song Haibo: "What do you think? Why don't you tell me?"

Song Haibo did not hesitate to continue speaking:

"Marshal, compared to the other two big pirates Fang Zhi and Wang Le, Zhang Dapeng is not too cruel, and he still has some credibility. I heard that some merchants in Jiangnan have a lot of secret dealings with him. As long as the merchant ships pay the protection fee, they can still pass through his territory safely!"

"As for Fang Zhi and Wang Le, they don't care about morality at all. Even if you pay the protection fee, whether the merchant ship can pass safely depends on their mood. So I think this is the reason why Director Wang actively strives for Zhang Dapeng!"

"But I think that we should be led by the imperial court in the negotiation, instead of being led by the nose by this pirate Zhang Dapeng!"

Hearing Song Haibo say this, Ye Mingsheng also became interested and asked:

"Tell me how to lead the negotiations?"

"I think the reason why Zhang Dapeng dared to ask for such a high price is because he believed that the court could only recruit him, so he was fearless and had a speculative mentality towards the court's recruitment. He thought that if there were benefits, he would accept the recruitment, and if there were no benefits, he would refuse the recruitment!"

"So if you want Zhang Dapeng to compromise, you must make him feel a sense of crisis!"

"The imperial court can spread the news in Nanyang, saying that it will give Zhang Dapeng 10,000 muskets. In addition to firearms, it will also provide Zhang Dapeng with great support in terms of personnel and ships to help Zhang Dapeng unify Nanyang!"

“I believe that once this news gets out, the other major forces in Nanyang will immediately become nervous under the intimidation of the imperial court, especially the Bazhe tribe who have always had a grudge against Zhang Dapeng. These Nanyang natives will definitely be uneasy, and in this way, Zhang Dapeng will become the target of public criticism…”

"These pirates and native tribes in Nanyang all have ulterior motives. I believe that by then Fang Zhi and Wang Le will take the initiative to find the court and express their willingness to accept the amnesty. With competition, Zhang Dapeng will no longer be so confident!"

Listening to what Song Haibo said, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and said:

"Your idea is very interesting!"

Song Haibo was a little excited when he heard this, but he still spoke very respectfully in front of Ye Mingsheng:
"I am sorry for making you laugh at my shallow knowledge!"

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and ordered:

"Put your ideas on paper, refine the details, and send it to Wang Xuecheng. Let Director Wang review it!"

Song Haibo was stunned when he heard this, then quickly took the order and said:
"Yes! I will start the action now!"

After saying this, seeing that Ye Mingsheng had no other instructions, Song Haibo tactfully bowed and left the room. After he left, Ye Mingsheng picked up Wang Xuecheng's memorial again.

Looking at the conditions offered by Zhang Dapeng, Ye Mingsheng could feel that this great pirate in the South China Sea wanted to maintain his independence. Zhang Dapeng hoped that the relationship between him and the Yijing court would be a nominal relationship. In fact, he did not want to accept the leadership of the Yijing court.

But this was unacceptable to Ye Mingsheng. As the saying goes, "How can one allow others to snore beside one's bed?" Ye Mingsheng hoped to take this opportunity to intervene in the situation in Nanyang, so as to enhance the influence of Da Zhou in Nanyang, and lay a solid foundation for the Da Zhou navy to rule Nanyang after forming a strong combat power in three to five years...
(End of this chapter)