Chapter 170: Contradiction Between Ourselves and the Enemy

"If it's raw silk or the like, forget it. The Xie family has been trading heavily with the Yiguan Gang in recent years; I'm afraid we have no surplus goods left to trade at Dayuan."

The moment Xie Chushui said this, Xiong Dao's eyebrows could not help but twitch upward. The very next instant, he plastered his face with smiles: "No matter, no matter! Dayuan Island is barren right now — even a bundle of hemp rope or a crate of porcelain bowls would be good to ship over. We're not picky, not picky, haha." At this, Master Xiong threw his head back and let out a loud, awkward laugh.

Xie Fuqing at this moment chimed in with a couple of awkward laughs himself, while sweeping a stern glance at his clan nephew. After that, the two sides exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Master Xiong rose to take his leave. The Xie clan hurriedly got up to see him off. The group, all harmony and cheer, arrived at the guildhall entrance. Master Xiong bid farewell to the seasoned Xie Fuqing and to Xie Chushui, who for some reason harbored a trace of hostility toward him, then turned and boarded his sedan chair.

"Chushui, you haven't been in Hangzhou long and haven't even figured out the territory yet. How could you spout such nonsense right in front of that man?!" After seeing the guest off, the moment they returned to the private room, Xie Fuqing's face darkened as he glared at Xie Chushui and demanded.

Hearing his clan uncle's accusation, Xie Chushui's dark face revealed a trace of mocking smile: "Fourth Uncle, there's some news you old-timers aren't aware of yet. That bunch has been selling raw silk wholesale to the Japanese on Dayuan Island, which happens to violate Zheng Yiguan's taboo. I fear their days are numbered. Fourth Uncle need not concern yourself."

Xie Fuqing blinked as he chewed this over. First, he steadied himself by the back of a chair and sat down. Then, fixing his eyes on Xie Chushui's, he asked slowly: "Why hasn't Zheng Yiguan wiped out these people long ago?"

"Fourth Uncle, as you know, the Zheng clan has recently made Tongshan their camp and is going back and forth with the Official Army. They can't spare the hand."

"Mm. Then earlier, when the Zheng clan did have the leisure, why didn't they go to Dayuan and raid the Red Hairs' nest?"

"Oh... that, probably... the Red Hairs' firearms and cannons are sharp..."

"How the Red Hairs got to Dayuan Island — others may not know, but you led two boats to Penghu back then to lend a fist. How could you not know?"

Xie Fuqing paused here, then furrowed his brow and continued: "How many men and ships did the Official Army and the Zheng clan have that day? How many did the Red Hairs have? If the Zheng clan had had even the slightest option, would they have politely escorted the Red Hairs to Dayuan?"

"You must have drunk someone's bewitching soup, truly believing that Xiong Dao and his gang took Dayuan by a sneak attack? Red Hair corpses strewn across the field, the city wall blasted apart — how could that possibly be a sneak attack?" Xie Fuqing's face was full of exasperation by this point. "That gang are tigers!... The Zheng clan knows this better than anyone. If Yiguan truly had that ability, he would have flattened Dayuan long ago. Would he still be stuck in Tongshan drinking the wind?!"

Xie Fuqing was growing angrier and more frightened by the moment. With the experience of a forty-year veteran Sea Merchant, he had just moments ago keenly sensed a sliver of risk. Now, after analyzing it further, one thing became utterly clear to Xie Fuqing: his own reckless clan nephew had viewed the people on Dayuan Island as dirt chickens and tile dogs, and with a single sentence had already picked a side for the Xie family...

A strange burnt smell seemed to drift past his nose. Xie Fuqing paced irritably around the room — for some reason, he could not shake a bad premonition: "Some news I'm not aware of? Absurd! That Second Manager of Tangzhuang is the sworn brother of the Hangzhou Beggar Sect's Great Dragon Head, with eight thousand brothers under his command. How many pieces of news like that do you know?"

Turning back to look at his clan nephew, whose mouth hung wide open, Xie Fuqing wasted no more words and asked directly: "Are the ship and cargo all ready?"

"All ready." Xie Chushui nodded.

"I'll write a letter to the Family Head right now. Take the letter and go to Zhapu. The day after tomorrow, leave for Zhangzhou together with Old Thirteen's ship."

"Old Thirteen?" Xie Chushui said in surprise. "Old Thirteen's ship hasn't finished loading its cargo yet?"

Xie Fuqing no longer wished to say anything to this brainless clan nephew. He pulled over the brush and ink on the side table and began writing the letter on the spot. Once finished, he sealed the envelope with wax and handed the letter to his clan nephew: "Call it old age or muddled senility, but I still call the shots in Jiangnan for now. You leave at once. At the very latest, the day after tomorrow, you and Old Thirteen will return together with both ships. The reasons are all in the letter; the Family Head will know what to do once he reads it."

Just as Xie Chushui took the letter and pulled open the door of the private room, Xie Fuqing, his back to him, added coldly: "Chushui, remember that your surname is Xie, not Zheng. Do not listen to the wrong words and exert your strength in the wrong direction!"

... Watching Xie Chushui walk out the door with a heavy heart, Xie Fuqing's ancient bronze-colored face remained covered in frost. He rose and returned to the courtyard the guildhall rented long-term. After pondering for a long while, he went back to the main hall and began writing another letter.

The content of this letter was very detailed. After Xie Fuqing finished writing, he sealed it while calling his Chang Sui outside the door into the room: "Shitou, take good care of this letter. I'll also advance you twenty taels of silver. Tomorrow morning, go to Zhapu. Don't take our own ship; just take someone else's. Return to the residence as quickly as possible and deliver the letter to the Great Master."

"Shitou understands."

After sending off the messenger, Xie Fuqing summoned another Chang Sui and ordered him to take his name card to Tangzhuang to deliver a visiting card. He needed to set a time for a return visit to Master Xiong.

Old Xie's flurry of operations at the guildhall was entirely unknown to Master Xiong Dao, who had already gone far. To be honest, the moment Master Xiong stepped out of the guildhall, he had already forgotten about the Xie uncle and nephew...

Why remember things outside the scope of his own work in such detail?

From the instant Xie Chushui revealed that the Xie family was a raw silk supplier for the Zheng clan, the nature of this matter had escalated from an internal contradiction among the people to the level of a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy. And matters of contradiction between ourselves and the enemy were not Xiong Dao's to manage — they fell under Lu Cheng's jurisdiction.

In the Ming Dynasty, Fujian's silk weaving industry was highly developed, especially in trade-booming areas like Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, where the silk products made by folk craftsmen were quite famous. Zhangzhou Silk and Quanzhou Brocade sold well both at home and abroad.

However, the silk weaving industry and the silkworm-mulberry industry are two different things... In fact, Fujian does not produce raw silk.

Due to geographical and climatic reasons, Fujian's silkworm-mulberry industry was very underdeveloped. The Eight Min Comprehensive Gazetteer states: "The clustered silkworms and mulberry leaves are inferior and thin; what is produced is mostly coarse. The woven silk and gauze needed by the common people are all supplied by the goods arriving from Wu."

The same record is also found in the Xinghua Prefecture Gazetteer: "The local silkworm leaves are inferior and thin, and the silk is mostly weak. The woven silk and gauze among the people are all supplied by Wu and Zheng."

In other words, Fujian actually operated a two-ended external trade model: on one side, it imported Jiangnan raw silk in bulk from Suzhou Wu County; on the other, it exported finished silk fabrics and raw silk through its local processing industry.

Plain thin silk: using Huzhou first-harvest silkworm silk is best, zhe silkworm silk is next. There are plain weaves, flower weaves, cloud weaves, gold-thread weaves...

Gauze: also uses Huzhou silk. The fine ones include plain gauze, flower gauze, gold-thread gauze...

Silk cloth: uses Huzhou silk. Few weave it nowadays...

End.

Including the raw silk Zheng Zhilong shipped to Japan every year, including the raw silk the Dutch forcibly bought from Old Zheng's hands — ninety percent of these goods came from the same place: Suzhou Wu County... the largest silk wholesale market in the 17th-century world.

And cutting off an enemy's financial resources and striking their transport lines are the most basic operations between hostile powers. Zheng Zhilong, that handsome Grand Commandant Zheng, long since listed as the Crossing Regime's number one arch-enemy for 1628, probably still had no idea at this moment that, from the very founding of the Hangzhou Station, striking at his raw silk transport channels at the source had already been one of the key tasks in the planning.

Well, this is what you call searching everywhere with worn-out iron shoes only to find it without any effort: facing a vast sea of Sea Merchants, the Hangzhou Station originally could not spare the energy to investigate who the Zheng family suppliers were. Who would have thought one would jump out on its own today...

Later that evening, a wave of electricity was sent from Tangzhuang to Moyun Temple.

Not long after, Moyun Temple also sent out two waves of electricity. One's destination was Dayuan; the other pierced into the depths of the void, its direction unknown.

The next afternoon, at the private port outside Zhapu Town.

Zhapu is located on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay, nestled against hills and beside the sea. Its geographical position is superior, making it a necessary passage into Hangzhou Bay.

And the sharp-bottomed Fujian ships sailing from Fujian generally would not venture deep into Hangzhou Bay — the hydrological conditions are complex, with the risk of stranding. Therefore, Zhapu and Jinshan, located at the mouth of Hangzhou Bay, became anchorage points for some Fujian and Guangdong merchant ships.

Two Fujian ships belonging to the Xie family were currently anchored at a private port outside Zhapu Town called Niutou Harbor.

After departing from Hangzhou the previous day, Xie Chushui had traveled nonstop in a small skiff, covering the fifty-plus li to Zhapu Town in half a day's effort. His clansman, Ship Master Xie Shisan, upon receiving the notice at the time, had not dared to be negligent. This morning, he had hastily purchased some miscellaneous goods from Zhapu Town to fill the remaining cargo holds. The Xie family's two ships were now fully prepared and awaiting departure, set to leave first thing the next morning.

Just as the Crewmen on board were sunbathing in utter boredom, two Yamen Runners walked into the private port, followed by a man dressed like a household servant.

These three gentlemen made their way along the port, inquiring at every large ship of various types, and before long arrived in front of the Xie family's ship.

"Is the Ship Master aboard? Come out and answer!" After climbing aboard via the gangplank in a few quick steps, the Yamen Runner spoke in a mouthful of the local dialect and called out loudly.

Xie Chushui and Xie Shisan, who were talking in the stern cabin, came out upon hearing the voice. Seeing it was two Yamen Runners from Zhapu County, they hurried forward to bow: "This unworthy one is the Ship Master. May I ask what business the two honorable runners have?"

Generally speaking, these Fujian and Guangdong ship merchants in the private port and the Zhapu County Yamen kept to their own turf, well water not interfering with river water. As long as the ship merchants paid their customary tribute on time, the County Yamen turned a blind eye to this place.

Seeing the principal come out, the Yamen Runner stepped aside and jerked his thumb over his shoulder: "An errand to deliver a family letter."

A round-faced young man in a blue robe and soft cap, dressed like a Servant, stepped out from behind the Yamen Runners at this moment.

"I'm from the household of Master Lu of East Lake Town. There's a letter from the family that needs to be taken to Zhangzhou Prefecture. I just inquired and learned that your esteemed ship is bound for Fujian, so..." The young man stopped here with a smiling face.

Hearing this, Xie Chushui now understood the reason and let out a hearty laugh: "Good, good. Carrying a family letter is a common matter, a trifle. Gentlemen, please follow me."

... Although he had no idea who this so-and-so Master Lu of East Lake was, Xie Chushui knew that anyone who could dispatch the Zhapu County Yamen Runners to inquire and deliver a letter must certainly be a local magnate. There was no mistake about that.

Xie, in quite a good mood, had already decided at this point to waive the courier fee. Who knew, he might be able to build a connection in the future, right?

After arriving at the stern cabin, the young man opened the bundle he had been carrying on his back, revealing a thick, black-lacquered wooden case inside, several letters, and two pairs of new shoes with satin uppers and fine-cloth soles.