However, the sea merchants were not happy for a long time. Soon they discovered that the Japanese pirates and pirates who had been extinct for a long time appeared again. Almost every day, sea boats were looted, and the wreckage of sea boats that were robbed were often seen on the sea surface. Fishermen who went out to sea to fish often salvage sailors and sea merchants killed by pirates. The unprecedented prosperity suddenly turned into unprecedented chaos!

Not only that, due to disorderly competition, the prices of maritime goods fluctuated greatly, especially for the tight maritime goods such as raw silk and tea, which are very popular among Westerners, the prices have changed almost every day. Westerners take advantage of the competing mentality of maritime merchants to desperately lower the purchase price, resulting in the price of maritime goods from skyrocketing to plummeting. Some greedy merchants lost all their money because of too much hoarding, which caused their families to be destroyed!

At this time, the maritime merchants remembered Guo Zhiyuan's good news. When Guo Zhiyuan monopolized the maritime trade business, although Guo Zhiyuan cut off the largest piece of cake, because the acquisition price negotiated with the Westerners was high, there was still profit margin. More importantly, Guo Zhiyuan wiped out all the pirates and Japanese pirates in the coastal waters and sent the Eastern Ban Navy to escort them. They didn't need to worry about safety issues at all. Unlike now, they would lose all their money if they were not worried about it now!

So the maritime merchants turned around and asked Guo Zhiyuan to stand up and uphold justice. Guo Zhiyuan also avoided it and asked someone to reply that since the Xinjun went to Liaodong to conquer the rear of the Later Jin army, he was also powerless. Moreover, because his father passed away, he would resign and return to his hometown to guard the system soon. He would just wait for the imperial edict from the capital to arrive, and he would leave Dongfan!

Of course, Guo Zhiyuan could not come forward. This situation was something he had expected long ago, and it could even be said that he was deliberately indulging. If he wanted Emperor Wanli to issue an order to "take off love" and let him stay in office, he had to let Emperor Wanli understand that he had an indispensable position and role in the southeast coastal coastal areas and even the entire southern waters. If he left, chaos would occur in the southern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty and even threaten the Ming Dynasty's rule!

This is actually a bit unkind, and it means "to raise enemies and respect themselves", but Guo Zhiyuan's intention is far from this. He sees it more deeply. He knows that even if he does not do this, all this will happen sooner or later. Dongbo has a long monopoly on maritime trade business and cannot be hated. Once this resentment accumulates to a certain extent, it will explode. Moreover, when the outbreak is bound to be difficult, Dongbo will be enemies on all sides, and it will be more passive. It is better to take this opportunity to detonate it in advance, and then it can be ruled out after the chaos. Only in this way can the court and maritime merchants know that if China's sea areas are stable, there must be a maritime trade order maker, and he is the best candidate for this order maker. Only then can he come out to clean up the situation and re-establish the new maritime trade order to achieve long-term stability.

Moreover, what Guo Zhiyuan was most worried about was not pirates and Japanese pirates. These pirates and Japanese pirates were just some vicious people on the coast of China, which was composed of some Japanese roninmen. They could not become a big problem. What he was even more worried about was the Westerners. Since the Westerners opened the route to the East, their ambition to interfere with China has never stopped. As early as the 16th year of Zhengde (1521) and the first year of Jiajing (1522), the Portuguese who first arrived in the East had coveted the wealthy China and had the Battle of Tuen Mun and the Battle of Xicao Bay with the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty won both these two naval battles, they rely on ten times the number of opponents and warships. If the battle was damaged, they were actually far more than the Portuguese.

However, it was precisely because of the victory of these two battles that the Portuguese gradually gave up their ambition to invade China by force. They used the excuse of the ships falling into the reefs, soaking tribute items, applying for borrowing land to dry, and bribing Guangdong's seaward official Wang Bai to obtain the right of residence in Macau. (Please note that it is the right of residence, not the ceding of Macau)

Compared with the cunning Portuguese, the Dutch had a more nasty ambition for China. They came uninvited in 1604. Taking advantage of the Ming army's change of defense, they occupied Magong Island (Penghu Island). Later, they were repelled by Shen Yourong and had to withdraw. However, in the original historical time and space, they would make a comeback in 1622, occupy Penghu again, and directly blocked the sea outlet of Zhangzhou with warships, making the Fujian Navy unable to dispatch. The Fujian Navy also knew that the Dutch, who could not defeat the Dutch, who could not defeat the strong ships and cannons, had always avoided fighting, and even gave in to the Dutch to the Dutch and let them leave the Penghu Islands. The Dutch, who had tasted the sweetness, actually disliked the Dongfan (Taiwan) and still occupied the Penghu Islands and refused to leave!

Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty court could no longer bear it. He removed Chen Zizhen, who was inaction, and ordered the successor Fujian Governor Nan Juyi to drive the Dutch away from Penghu. Nan Juyi also knew that the strength of the Fujian Navy could not defeat the Dutch with the strong ships and cannons, so he recruited the pirate Zheng Zhilong (Zheng Chenggong's father) who had begun to emerge at this time to help.

Zheng Zhilong offered a plan to Nan Juyi, asking him to gather troops secretly, while showing weakness to the Dutch, and set up a Hongmen Banquet in the name of negotiations. The Dutch commander Frans was too arrogant. Sure enough, he only took two single-pole boats to Xiamen to negotiate with Nan Juyi. As a result, at the banquet, Frans and all members of the Dutch delegation were drunk and detained. Then Nan Juyi asked the 50 ambushed fire ships to attack the two Dutch boats as planned, but still let one of them escape.

In February of the fourth year of Tianqi (1624), Fujian Governor Nan Juyi personally took a boat to Kinmen and ordered the Ming army (the total force reached 10,000 and 200 ships) to cross the sea to recover Penghu. The battle of Penghu began! Fujian General Yu Zigao (son of famous general Yu Dayou), guarding Wang Mengxiong, led the military ships to Penghu, landed on Baisha Island, and fought with the Dutch army. However, the Dutch army relied on solid fortifications and warships, and Penghu could not capture it for a long time.

The Ming army then increased its troops three times, but the Dutch were unable to support it after fighting with the Ming army for seven months, and finally drove out of Penghu by the Ming army. The Dutch fled to Dongfan (Taiwan) with the remaining troops and continued to occupy the main members.

Although the Ming army won the Battle of Penghu, the winning was really not very glorious. First, he captured the commander with a trick, and later fought for seven months before driving the Dutch away. In this battle, the Ming army mobilized more than 200 military ships, more than 10,000 troops, and spent more than 177,000 taels of military expenditure. It was impossible to wipe out the Dutch. Such victory was really hard to be proud, so the Dutch still did not give up. Ten years later (1633), the famous Battle of the Ming Heliowan broke out!
Chapter completed!