Chapter 381: A Dead End

Hearing the visitor announce his own name, Zhang Dongdong, seated in the place of honor, was genuinely a bit surprised. He first let out a drawn-out "Oh—", and only then did it register that the dark-skinned shorty before him was actually Liu Xiang himself.

In previous reports concerning Liu Xiang, the assessment of this man leaned more toward the "pirate attribute." That is to say, Liu Xiang's conduct and dealings tended more toward cunning, violence, faithlessness, and other such behaviors focused on short-term gain.

In this respect, Liu Xiang's starting point when considering problems was completely different from Zheng Zhilong's. Historically, to achieve his strategic goals, Zheng Zhilong did not hesitate to personally risk danger many times, including with the Dutch and the Ming Court alike.

Liu Xiang, however, had never had that kind of thinking. Usually, when Shopkeeper Liu came ashore in person to meet with "good friends," it basically meant he was about to stir up trouble: historically, Shopkeeper Liu not only used the pretext of recruitment and amnesty to kidnap Ming officials, but also exploited an opportunity to visit the Dutch, leading troops in a night raid on the Dayuan Trading Post... Had the Red Hair sentries not been alert, Shopkeeper Liu would have nearly pulled it off.

Therefore, after a comprehensive historical assessment, the Transmigrators had a clear understanding of Liu Xiang: this sort of person typically trusted no one, a textbook Machiavellian.

The first contact between the two sides some time ago had also made this problem clear: the moment the envoy heard the Transmigrators wanted Liu Xiang to come in person for face-to-face talks, there had been no further word.

Yet the world is unpredictable; today, Shopkeeper Liu suddenly showed up in person, truly catching the Transmigrators responsible for receiving him off guard.

"... It seems despair really does change a man fiercely, if even Shopkeeper Liu has started throwing himself into a desperate last stand!" Zhang Dongdong, clad in an official robe and seated in the place of honor, had by now grasped the situation. He let out a "Heh-heh" laugh, then asked with keen interest: "Shopkeeper Liu, have you come around today?"

"I wouldn't dare. With Your Excellency pressing step by step, Liu Xiang has nowhere left to go. Now I can only come to your door to seek guidance, to beg a path of survival for my brothers."

After hearing this official speech from Liu Xiang, delivered in a thick Cantonese accent, Zhang Dongdong couldn't help a faint smile: it seemed this fellow was still full of resentment.

Just as he opened his mouth, about to say something, Ma Yue, the Intelligence Bureau Deputy Director seated beside him, leaned over and whispered a few words.

After hearing the whisper, Zhang Dongdong nodded slightly, then immediately rose and said to Liu Xiang: "Shopkeeper Liu, rest assured, no matter what outcome we can reach in today's talks, you may return safely. This, I can guarantee!"

After speaking, Zhang Dongdong inclined his head slightly, then walked out the door and left.

Since they hadn't known Liu Xiang was coming earlier, the Transmigrators hadn't taken the envoy Yu Xianke seriously at all; Zhang Dongdong and the others had originally still intended to dismiss him with a single sentence: tell Liu Xiang to come himself.

But now that Liu Xiang had actually come, Zhang Dongdong, as the nominal highest decision-maker, was no longer suited for the back-and-forth tug of negotiations — the two sides' ranks were not equal. So Ma Yue, reacting in time, quickly sent Zhang Dongdong out.

After this, everyone moved to a somewhat larger conference room. Ma Yue took the opportunity to have Sha Zhengming and Wang Bo summoned as well. After a flurry of activity, once everyone had arrived, the two sides sat down on opposite sides of a long table and, in a relatively formal manner, began their introductions.

Those who came with Liu Xiang were his Military Advisor Yu Xianke and Deputy Military Advisor Hu Shisi. And when Shopkeeper Liu heard the titles of the three men across from him, his originally anxious heart settled somewhat: since the famously renowned "Monk General" Sha Zhengming himself was seated here, it at least meant the other side was still willing to talk, and hadn't tricked him here just to settle things with a single blade.

Speaking of Shopkeeper Liu's psychological shifts over these past few days, that too was a bellyful of bitter grievances.

In fact, the day the Fast Fleet sailed through Tongluo Bay, Shopkeeper Liu had known a great enemy had arrived — a joke, with Lamma Island and Hong Kong Island visible to the naked eye, how could the several thousand pirates entrenched in the surrounding area fail to see that string of old acquaintances flying White Sails?

After receiving the intelligence, Shopkeeper Liu, as if facing a formidable foe, immediately dispatched multiple patrol ships and disguised fishing ships to tail the old adversary from a distance. Then, not long after, the rumbling of cannon fire, an omen of ill fortune, began to drift back and forth across the skies of the Pearl River Estuary...

While the Fast Fleet, having shattered the fine situation of stability and unity in the Pearl River Estuary, sailed off triumphantly, Shopkeeper Liu was already in the main tent beginning to interrogate Comrade Group Head Fish, the champion diver, who was soaked through and still had seaweed on his head.

Group Head Fish, retrieved by a disguised fishing ship, needed only a few sentences to shatter any wishful thinking among everyone in the main tent: the ones who came were indeed the "Short-Haired Cannon Ships." Respect is directly proportional to strength; by this point, very few pirates still used the term "Bald Bandits" to describe that particular army.

After passing a night heavy with worry, starting from the next day, Liu Xiang began receiving a steady stream of news transmitted from Guangzhou City.

Guangzhou at present had not yet experienced the pirate-extermination triple strike that Fujian had — first bandit suppression, then dragnet annihilation, and finally the creation of public opinion where everyone cried out for their destruction — so there were many connected contacts in the city, and Shopkeeper Liu could receive first-hand news in a timely manner.

Then, as the information was continuously compiled, Liu Xiang knew that what was meant to come had finally arrived: if these Short Hairs were going to do big business in Guangzhou City, they would inevitably have to suppress bandits first and open the trade routes... The same play from Fujian was about to be staged again.

This time, however, Liu Xiang did not know where to retreat. Shopkeeper Liu was now very confused. Should he truly lead his men to the South Seas, teeming with natives? Or turn around and fight the Short Hairs to the death?

No matter which choice, it was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils... suicide. Liu Xiang was certain that the moment he opened his mouth, a large number of his men would abandon him, and the Great Gang would disintegrate before his very eyes... Those shopkeepers actually had a third path: buy out their seniority and seek their own livelihoods.

In fact, some were already planning to escape; Liu Xiang was very clear on this. Countless clashes along the Fujian coast had already broken the pirates' spines; a mighty gang of several thousand men, and yet not a single person could come up with an idea to defeat those strange ships.

It was at this moment that Shopkeeper Liu's last hope — the envoy from Macau — arrived.

The moment the Fast Fleet appeared at the Pearl River Estuary, besides Liu Xiang, the Franks entrenched in Macau were likewise as if facing a formidable foe: the hostile political and commercial relationship with the Xiamen General's Office made the Portuguese extremely sensitive to this fleet.

After this, while Liu Xiang was gathering intelligence on Guangzhou, the Portuguese were, in fact, also constantly gathering intelligence. And then this pair of brothers in misfortune arrived at the same conclusion: a certain power was about to enter Guangzhou in force, and would not be leaving again.

Thus, in these short few days, not only were the Transmigrators extensively networking with the local natives in Guangzhou, but the two locations of Macau and Lamma Island at the Pearl River Estuary were likewise in close communication, with envoys traveling back and forth frequently.

The day before the Fast Fleet departed Guangzhou City to escort the Support Fleet, the envoy from Macau brought Liu Xiang two critical pieces of intelligence.

The first was bad news: Manila had explicitly stated they would not permit Liu Xiang to lead his men southward for refuge.

The Spanish taking this stance was beyond doubt: the Spanish in this timeline, due to the slave trade, were now deeply engaged with a certain power, and so they were certain not to allow Liu Xiang to go south for refuge.

Furthermore, the Spanish at this moment had committed the bulk of their troops to the sacred endeavor of purifying heretics, so the broad-faced men truly did not see what use there was in sheltering a pirate force that could rebel at any moment.

In short, whatever the benefits, the usefulness of sheltering Liu Xiang could not outweigh the harm of offending the Transmigrators. So the Spanish explicitly rejected Liu Xiang's proposal.

The second piece of intelligence the Portuguese envoy brought was this: thirty superior bronze cannons of various calibers, produced by the finest Macau Bocarro Cannon Foundry in East Asia, were already prepared. Liu Xiang only needed to send men to haul them back, and they could be equipped and put to use... Most importantly, these cannons were completely free of charge.

At the same time, the Macau envoy also conveyed the latest stance of the Macau Council: since the warships of the Liu and Ao factions were mismatched in speed and firepower, in any potential future battle, the two sides would not fight together.

After this, the envoy also secretly told Liu Xiang the real reason the two sides could not cooperate further: the Portuguese feared a land offensive launched by the Ming... One had to know that the Ming possessed inexhaustible manpower; Macau's forts could block the Dutch and the British, but they could not block the Ming. Therefore, the Portuguese could only covertly support Liu Xiang with a large sum of free munitions, so that Shopkeeper Liu would have the confidence to fight it out with the Transmigrators.

Laughing heartily, Liu Xiang pounded his chest and swore fierce oaths that he would definitely kill the Transmigrators to the last, personally escorting the envoy out of the main tent.

After this, the chief shut himself inside the rear tent, refusing to see anyone.

The next day, the chief emerged from the tent: standing on the hilltop behind the main tent, he witnessed the imperialist conduct of the Fast Fleet as it flaunted its might around Lamma Island, sinking multiple pirate ships and killing or wounding numerous pirates.

Thus, under the pressure of "imminent betrayal by all and abandonment by followers" and "looking around with nowhere to go," Liu Xiang finally boarded a ship and, accompanied by a few trusted aides, set out on the road to Guangzhou City.

The Transmigrators might not know the intense psychological turmoil Liu Xiang had experienced in these short few days, but the moment Chief Liu sat down in the Daoist Temple, everything became clear — had he not reached a dead end, Shopkeeper Liu would never have come here.

Therefore, Ma Yue and the others now appeared at the negotiating table with the bearing of victors, and the words they spoke carried the firmness and pride befitting victors:

"Retaining your retainers is impossible, Shopkeeper Liu, you can forget about that. If you wish to command thousands upon thousands of troops again, the only path is to start anew from the ranks of the army, then climb up step by step; the General is giving you this opportunity."

"Becoming a wealthy man is even simpler. Any ship in which you personally hold shares, we can convert to silver for you at market price. That, plus your privately accumulated wealth, should be enough to buy the agency rights for one or two best-selling goods... Once you've familiarized yourself with the distribution channels, you can buy upstream factories in the future. Heh heh, Shopkeeper Liu, making a fortune is just a thought away!"

"The General's Mansion protects the lives and property of all who surrender. You've planted quite a few spies in Dayuan; you should know that those pirate shopkeepers who surrendered are all living quite well now. You don't deny that, do you?"

The intense negotiations between the two sides lasted an entire night.