Chapter 231: All the Worthy Gather (IV)

For the remainder of the time, Du Dewei and Hu Ao's fleet did not go to Zhongzuosuo to seek membership. Instead, they sailed a wide circle around Xiamen Island. By evening, the fleet had already moored along the mainland coast facing Xiamen Island across the sea.

Early the next morning, the fleet began sailing south along the mainland coast, passing through the strait between Gulangyu and the mainland, rounding Xiangbi Reef, darting into the Jiulong River, and docking at the private port on Haimen Island.

Haimen Island, located at the mouth of the Jiulong River, was originally a gathering place for private merchants. As a transit point between Yuegang and Xiamen, Haimen Island at this point in time had commercial buildings: private ports, warehouses, inns, taverns, brothels... it had them all.

After the fleet anchored, Du Dewei gave a few more instructions to his deputy, left Hu Ba to guard the ships, and then personally took a light Bird Ship, sailing along the south bank of the Jiulong River all the way toward Yuegang.

From the mid-16th century to the early 17th century, with the historical event known as the "Longqing Switch," Yuegang in Haicheng County, Fujian, became the only legal maritime trade departure port of the Ming Dynasty, once flourishing as the premier foreign trade port under heaven where "sea vessels gathered like scales and merchants converged."

But now, Yuegang was a desolate scene, its former prosperity gone.

With Zheng Zhilong's crushing defeat of the Official Army and occupation of Zhongzuosuo, Yuegang had seen no good days recently — Xiamen Island sat right outside the Jiulong River's outer sea, where thousands upon thousands of pirates swarmed, completely sealing off Yuegang's gateway.

After occupying Xiamen, Zheng Zhilong's original strategic intent was to shift the South Sea Trade Center there, so Yuegang became a thorn in his side. Shortly after occupying Zhongzuosuo, Zheng Zhilong personally led a large force charging into the Jiulong River, looting and burning Yuegang, and relentlessly pursuing the Naval Defense Commander / Yuegang Buying Group spokesman / Xu Xinsu.

To be honest, Zheng Zhilong had no personal grudge against his senior Xu Xinsu. The sole motivation driving Zheng Zhilong's relentless pursuit of Xu Xinsu was Yuegang.

Xu Xinsu was the spokesman for the merchant buying groups of Yuegang and the Zhangquan region. For Zheng Zhilong to complete his strategic planning and replace Yuegang's strategic position with Xiamen, he absolutely had to kill Xu Xinsu and destroy Yuegang.

So, this was a public feud. All the other reasons for relentlessly pursuing Company Commander Xu were nothing but excuses.

..... The Bird Ship Du Dewei rode departed from Haimen Island, sailing upstream along the south bank of the Jiulong River. After a short journey of twenty li, it turned into the destination port: a crescent-shaped harbor that connected to the sea tides outside and mountain streams inside, hence the name Yuegang.

Along roughly one kilometer of coastline, Yuegang had seven docks. From east to west, they were: Xiangguan Wharf, Lutouwei Wharf, Zhonggu Wharf, Rongchuan Wharf, Dianziwei Wharf, Agebo Wharf, and Xiwei Wharf.

These docks were all built with stone slabs, extremely sturdy, and each dock had a temple behind it dedicated to a different deity. The seven docks served different purposes, and Du Dewei, who had fenced stolen goods at Yuegang many times before, now swaggered in and docked his ship at the Official Dock, which had only a handful of people around.

The once bustling Pier District now saw only a few lonely fishing boats, the forest of masts on both sides no longer visible.

Disembarking, Du Dewei brought only two attendants and headed toward Fan Alley.

Originally, Yuegang's commercial district covered about five square kilometers, housing numerous trading shops for jewelry, medicinal herbs, cotton cloth, silk, miscellaneous goods, hoops, cauldron casting, sugar, silk thread, fish, paper, timber, and tea.

The seven main commercial districts were all encircled by waterways, which led people to call Yuegang a "Sea Kingdom."

But as Du Dewei walked along today, he found that most shops had already been burned. Ruined walls and broken ramparts were everywhere, pedestrians were scarce, the streets and markets were desolate — even the beggars were gone...

"Ah..." Shaking his head, Du Dewei and his group quickened their pace. Before long, they arrived outside a large stone residence on Fan Alley. This stone mansion was grand in scale, and even though it clearly showed signs of fire damage, it still appeared remarkably imposing.

This residence was probably the only lively place left in Yuegang right now.

A large number of craftsmen were currently climbing on the roof replacing damaged parts, while outside the gate stood many men in sturdy attire. When they saw Du Dewei's group approaching, at least three of them greeted Old Du at the same time.

"Shopkeeper Du, long time no see. How have you been lately?"

"Blessed, blessed. So-so, so-so..."

Amidst a flurry of greetings, Du Dewei smoothly entered the residence. Since the plaque above the gate had been burned and not yet remade, outsiders truly had no idea who the owner of this residence was.

Led by a man in blue clothes with a short knife at his waist, Du Dewei passed through the utterly dilapidated front courtyard, which nonetheless held quite a few people, and left his attendants there. By this point, he already had a clue — among the attendants left in the front courtyard, he spotted a familiar face.

Arriving at the central courtyard, which was no better than the front, Du Dewei was led into the side courtyard's Flower Hall. The Flower Hall was still reasonably intact; at least the roofed corridor overhead remained, so guests were all brought here. Then, as expected, the first person Du Dewei saw was the broad-faced, large-eared, seemingly honest Cao Hu.

Suppressing the tempting urge to pull out the dagger at his waist and stab it into this loathsome fellow's stern, Du Dewei gave Cao Hu a fake smile and greeted him: "Brother Cao, what a small world, eh?"

"What a coincidence, what a coincidence..."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Du Dewei went to sit off to one side, and shortly after, someone brought him a tea bowl. Lowering his head to drink tea while lifting his eyes to scan the room, Du Dewei noticed that besides himself and Cao Hu, the two shopkeepers, there were five or six other guests in the Flower Hall who looked like merchants.

He didn't have to wait long. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a man in blue clothes entered the Flower Hall with an apologetic smile, begged the others' pardon, and then led Du Dewei into the Back Residence.

The Back Residence still had many craftsmen doing decoration work. Following the man in blue clothes through a festooned gate, Du Dewei finally saw an intact room, along with the owner of the house, dressed in brocade and standing at the doorway smiling at him — Xu Xinsu.

Xu Xinsu was Du Dewei's final fallback. Back when his family suffered a catastrophic upheaval, the fifteen-year-old Du Dewei's first ship when he went to sea was a merchant vessel under Xu Xinsu.

It was on Xu Xinsu's merchant ships that Du Dewei gradually grew into a qualified captain. Even later, after Du Dewei raised his own banner and struck out on his own, he still couldn't break away from Xu Xinsu's support in secret, making him a hidden confidant. So to this day, when meeting Xu Xinsu, Du Dewei still used the old title of "Boss."

"I've been waiting for you for days." Xu Xinsu caught Du Dewei, who had hurried over and was about to cup his fists in salute, and pulled him into the room.

Once the two were seated, the expressions revealed on their faces were both full of deep emotion.

"Boss, you've suffered a great loss this time! Dewei is alone and weak, unable to help much. I beg the Boss's forgiveness."

"Heh heh, a battle of tens of thousands of men — what business is it of yours?" Xu Xinsu smiled and shook his head, then replied: "He burned my residence, burned my shops, and killed my shopkeepers and clerks. That Zheng Yiguan has met his retribution this time!"

Du Dewei naturally would not know at this moment that Xu Xinsu was referring to Zheng Zhilong being ambushed; he assumed the man had met with a maritime disaster: "Ah, it's just a pity about the great enterprise of Yuegang."

"No matter."

The moment this topic came up, Xu Xinsu's aura as a great merchant immediately surged forth: "Business will eventually move to Xiamen. This place will be nothing more than an ordinary sea market in the future. It doesn't pain me."

"Xiamen?" Du Dewei was startled upon hearing this: "Right now Zhongzuosuo is in the hands of Grand Steward Li Kuiqi. Has the Boss perhaps made an arrangement with Grand Steward Li?"

"Hahaha." Hearing this, Xu Xinsu tilted his head back and laughed twice: "Dewei, you've got it wrong. That Li Kuiqi knows nothing of management; his mind is set only on plunder. It's not that I look down on him, but he simply doesn't have the ability to build and grow a business."

Xu Xinsu paused, then added: "A few days ago, Kuiqi sent someone to discuss having me revive Yuegang to make it convenient for him to 'do business' in the future."

At this point, Xu Xinsu couldn't help but sneer: "Truly a man of great foresight..."

Du Dewei was now confused by someone's attitude toward Li Kuiqi: "Boss, Dewei came today to ask the Boss for guidance. This Li Kuiqi — is it convenient for Dewei to join him or not?"

"Convenient, and also inconvenient." Xu Xinsu first nodded, then shook his head.

Du Dewei was now completely baffled.

Xu Xinsu did not explain further. Instead, he first picked up the tea bowl from the table and gestured for Du Dewei to drink. After both had drunk, Xu Xinsu picked up a short, oddly shaped pipe with a glossy black lacquer finish from the table, then pinched a bit of tobacco from a porcelain jar.

"Ting—" A long, drawn-out metallic sound rang out, and Du Dewei watched in amazement as his Boss used a silver-white square fire striker to light the pipe and began puffing on it contentedly.

After taking a couple of puffs, Xu Xinsu finally opened his mouth and asked: "Where's that good brother of yours?"

Du Dewei hurriedly replied: "Oh, Hu Ba is guarding the ships at Haimen Island."

"I figured as much." Xu Xinsu nodded: "You two have always been inseparable. But this time, I'm afraid you'll have to act separately. That is the convenient and the inconvenient part."

Just as Du Dewei was half-understanding, Xu Xinsu pulled an official document from the table drawer and placed it before him: "I know you have a rough grasp of letters. Read it yourself."

After quickly reading the document, Du Dewei couldn't help but widen his eyes: "Boss, the court has ordered you to assist in summoning pacification? But Zheng Yiguan is dead!"

"Heh heh, who told you that just because Zheng Yiguan is dead, the court won't pursue pacification?" Xu Xinsu looked at him with a playful expression: "The court isn't run by the Zheng family. Without that Butcher Zheng, must we eat pork with the bristles still on?"

At this point, someone understood completely, and then he grew excited: "Boss, who does the court intend to recruit and amnesty? Tell Dewei, so I can lead my brothers to join them early and claim some credit!"

But now Xu Xinsu played the mysterious card. Exhaling smoke, he slowly shook his head: "Cannot say, cannot say."

After speaking, looking at Du Dewei, who was waiting eagerly for more, Xu Xinsu laughed silently: "I will write a letter for you here. Take your brothers and go to Fuzhou. Leave Hu Ba with me; I have use for him."