Chapter 914: A Rough Start

Like many common folk of the Great Ming visiting Macau for the first time, Xu Housheng, Nie Hei, and their group were first dumbstruck, then filled with wonder.

Setting aside everything else, just the sight of those great Frankish ships moored in the harbor kept them staring endlessly — the hull sides far taller than the Great Ming's blessing ships and Guangdong ships, the soft sails so unlike the rigid sails of Ming vessels, the utterly different masts and rigging, and the various cannons aboard those ships.

Yu Ou of the Yu family and Li Laohai both noticed that Xu Housheng and his guards were intensely interested in these cannons, staring at them without pause.

Macau is an offshore island connected to the mainland by a long, narrow strip of land, and a checkpoint is set upon this land bridge, but this does not mean Macau is Frankish territory — once, when a Great Ming commoner broke the law, the deputy magistrate of Xiangshan County led bailiffs directly into the Frankish trading house and seized the man, and no one dared interfere.

Looking at the full view of Macau from the harbor, what drew Xu Housheng and the others' attention even more were the forts situated one after another at the key points of the harbor and all over the hills.

"If those cannons can shoot far enough, they could probably lock down this harbor completely," Xu Housheng remarked, which made Yu Ou and Li Laohai start — a young gentleman who looked like a scholar actually knew such things.

"Young Master Xu is quite right. These cannons are indeed meant to keep seagoing ships from approaching the shore," Li Laohai said, his Fujian-accented Mandarin thick but still understandable to everyone.

Only after his explanation did everyone understand: after this Xiangshan Bay — that is, Macau — was taken by this group of Franks, several other bands of foreign barbarians tried to seize it. One group claimed to be from a large island kingdom to the west; another was the red-haired barbarians who occupied the islands of Java and others in the Southern Seas. They came in great ships, and their shipboard cannons were fierce, but they could not match the range and accuracy of the harbor forts' cannons. They could only harass and retreat. Later they stopped coming much and began doing business normally.

"These here are called Franks, but they're not the same lot as the Franks over in Luzon. They say they were originally two separate kingdoms, only the Franks in Luzon were larger and annexed the ones here, but the ones here have never accepted it — the two sides still treat each other like enemy states," Li Laohai said. He was truly experienced, well-versed in many such stories. It was also because everyone had gotten along so well on the journey, and his guarantor's silver had fallen easily into his pocket, that he was willing to say a few extra words.

Everyone listened with rapt attention. The Great Ming's terms for foreigners were very vague and derogatory. The first they dealt with were Spanish and Portuguese missionaries and merchants, and both were called Franks. Some called Spain the Great Frankish and Portugal the Lesser Frankish. There was also an absurd way of referring to both as Great Luzon, believing they were the same as the Luzon colony. As for the Dutch, they had never found an opportunity for trade and had little dealings with the Great Ming; they were called red-haired barbarians — a term of contempt, also because the Dutch were always pirating and coveting the Great Ming's islands. But in the Southern Seas, the Dutch were the greatest power, having conquered the largest island nations there. In a sense, the Dutch were one of the masters of the Southern Seas.

The other masters of the Southern Seas were the sea lords of the Great Ming. More than one Great Ming maritime overlord could mobilize over a thousand seagoing ships and tens of thousands of followers. Faced with such strength, even the foreigners, whose ships were not yet so sturdy and guns not yet so fearsome as to hold absolute superiority, had to bow their heads.

As for now, Spain and Portugal had been united for some time, but the wealthy Portuguese, high and low, had always resisted fiercely. In Europe itself they were barely holding on, while here in Macau the conflict had already sharpened — the relationship between Macau and Luzon was no different from that of enemy states.

"This place is much smaller than Xiao County, and a good deal smaller than our He Family Village too," one of the Xuzhou guards who had come along remarked with feeling.

After they disembarked, someone from the ship immediately ran into Macau town to find a guide. The Yu family had connections built on connections; though they had never been to Macau, they could find someone trustworthy. From the harbor into town, and then bringing the man back — altogether it took less than half a shichen. Macau was truly tiny.

Though no one knew exactly what connections were involved, the moment that guide arrived, he was exceedingly polite and deferential. The Yu family must have spent quite a bit.

"This humble one is An Kebao, a native of Xiangshan. I've been knocking about Macau for many years and can count myself a local. Whatever you gentlemen wish to see or do, just say the word, and this humble one will arrange it all." This An Kebao had the look of a native of Guangdong — small, thin, and dark — but his Mandarin was very fluent.

Everyone looked at Xu Housheng. Xu Housheng thought for a moment, then simply said, "Let's just walk around and look first."

"To be honest with you, young master, Macau is too small. Walking around would take less than two sticks of incense. Only Cross Street has anything worth seeing — it's all the foreigners' mansions. If you go to De Street, it's no different from our Great Ming. As for Macau's pleasures, one is the Frankish food and wine, which are quite unique; the other is the foreign women, who have a flavor all their own. Whichever the young master prefers, this humble one will lead the way."

As soon as An Kebao finished his fawning speech, Xu Housheng and his people all frowned. They had wanted to find a guide — how had they ended up with some street loafer? Yu Ou exchanged a few words with the Yu family sailor who had gone to find the man, then turned to An Kebao and said, "Just take everyone around the streets of Macau. Answer what you're asked, and you won't lack for a reward."

"Young master, have you come to discuss business? This humble one works at the trading house and has connections," An Kebao said, as if he hadn't heard Yu Ou's words, smiling as he asked Xu Housheng. He had seen from the start that this was the man in charge.

Nie Hei, standing at Xu Housheng's side, coughed, walked over to Yu Ou, and said in a low voice, "This man's off. Look at those fellows behind him."

With this pointer, Yu Ou also noticed that behind An Kebao were several men who looked like sailors, glancing this way constantly — they were clearly not from any other ship.

"Motherfucker! Our Yu family's ships only go as far as Fujian. This is our first time in Guangdong — could we have been set up?" Yu Ou cursed.

"Didn't they say the foreigners keep tight control here?" Nie Hei asked in a low voice.

"Heaven knows. I haven't seen a single foreigner walking about either," Yu Ou muttered. Traveling the sea routes for thousands of miles, separated by vast distances, no one knew anyone else's true background. By the same token, trying to hold anyone accountable afterward was nearly impossible. This made many people utterly brazen in setting traps to swindle, rob, and even kill.

The Yu family had relied on someone else's connections, and the Yu fleet had never been here before — that made trust a scarce commodity. Yu Ou did not want to get entangled. He simply said, "In that case, we'll walk around on our own. We won't trouble you."

When a man is far from home, his spirit shrinks by three parts. Yu Ou was a fierce character who had seen blood and killed, yet now he could only speak with restrained patience.

"That won't do. This humble one has already spent several hundred taels of silver preparing to welcome honored guests. How is this loss and expense to be accounted for?" An Kebao's face still wore a smile, but his expression had turned cold.

So it really was a setup to swindle them. The Yu family had lost face in front of their honored guests. Yu Ou was one of Yu Zhiyuan's trusted confidants and naturally understood the importance of this mission and how critical Xu Housheng was. Yet now, not only had the mission not been handled well, but it might even turn dangerous.

"Thinking of outright robbery? Your grandpa here didn't run into any storms at sea — you think I'd fear your hairy balls on land!" Yu Ou's ferocity surfaced as he spoke viciously.

"How can this gentleman speak so? This humble one is doing honest business, offering guidance in good faith. My master and the heroes of the sea routes, and the foreigners here, all have deep ties. How did this turn into talk of robbery?" An Kebao's smile vanished. As he spoke coldly, he made a hand signal behind him. Seeing this signal, those watching sailors immediately began walking over, weapons already in hand. Behind these men, there seemed to be even more backup. This made Yu Ou hesitate. He turned to look beside him and found that Nie Hei, who was guarding Young Master Xu, already had his hand in his pocket, and the others were also prepared.

If it came to a fight, so be it. What did it matter if people died? For the Yu family, currying favor with Zhao Jin was the most important thing. But this An Kebao had spoken of sea lords and foreigners — though it might be empty boasting, if it were true, the trouble that followed would be no small matter. There was no time to care. Just as Yu Ou was steeling himself, he heard Li Laohai behind him speak up. It was not in Mandarin, but in a dialect of Fujian and Guangdong — it sounded like Cantonese.

Yu Ou had spent years on the sea and had heard plenty of Fujian and Guangdong dialects; he could understand a few phrases. Nie Hei and his companions, however, were completely baffled, unable to understand a single word. But this was a critical moment. Nie Hei asked in a low voice, "Old Yu, what's he saying?"

"Seems like he's sounding him out, asking this bastard boy which family he follows — something about the Liu family, the Zhu family, or the Li family. He also said he's from the Li family, and gave someone's name here in Macau…" Yu Ou answered.

Everyone could see that the moment Li Laohai opened his mouth, the arrogant, shameless An Kebao's bluster shrank considerably. With every question from the other side, An Kebao's body bent a little more, his expression growing more terrified. By the time the questioning was done, An Kebao was kneeling on the ground with a tear-streaked face. This time he spoke in Mandarin, slapping himself across the face with each sentence.

"This humble one was blind, his heart smeared with pig fat, to have done such a disgraceful deed that shames his ancestors. I beg you gentlemen not to take offense." After saying this, he simply kowtowed, his head thumping against the ground without pause.

When An Kebao's accomplices saw him kneeling, they hesitated, then started to move forward. Nie Hei and Yu Ou were both about to call their men to fight, but unexpectedly, An Kebao raised his head and shouted a few words behind him, also in the local dialect. Those men stopped in their tracks, then turned and ran, utterly abandoning their companion here.

"Young Master Xu, this brat is a thug attached to the trading house, specializing in swindling strangers from out of town. This time he didn't watch where he was reaching. Would you like his two eyes removed, or his two hands broken?" Li Laohai asked unhurriedly.

Li Laohai recognized only Xu Housheng as the one in charge of the party. When this question was asked, Xu Housheng couldn't help but shiver, thinking how casually the man spoke of gouging out eyes or chopping off hands. Nie Hei and Yu Ou, however, were thoroughly accustomed to such things — this was how the great overlords of the rivers and lakes and the sea lords of the ocean conducted themselves, deciding life and death amid laughter and conversation. It was nothing remarkable.

Thanks to Qidian friends "Qi Sanwen, User;;;; Bai Shui Xun Ze%, Sweet Sugarcane User, User Light in the Darkness, Yuan Heng Li Zhen" for their tips, and thanks to everyone for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. I had to go out on business today; I might not make it back for a second update, so it'll probably just be one. Don't wait up.