Champa port.
The prosperity here changes almost every day.
Originally it was just a large fishing village, but it became more and more prosperous after the Ming Dynasty opened up the sea and vigorously developed maritime trade.
Starting from Changle, Fujian, Ming Dynasty, it takes ten days with a favorable wind to reach Champa Port, while starting from Hong Kong Island, it only takes five days.
In comparison, trade along the coast of Annan was worse.
Even though the coast of Annan is closer to the Ming Dynasty in terms of distance, the Qiongzhou Island blocks the coast of Annan, and Champa’s coastal geographical location is better.
The key here lies in the influence of wind.
The flow of the monsoon made it easier for ships to reach the port of Champa.
At this moment, at the port.
Several large ships flying golden flags gradually sailed into the port from afar.
The surrounding merchant ships saw this and began to shout at the sailors to turn and avoid it.
Anyone with a little knowledge can recognize that this is the flag of the Ming Dynasty royal family. If someone offends it, it would be a serious crime.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, the territories ruled by vassal states also belong to the territories ruled by the Ming Dynasty.
Soon it was discovered by the Ming navy stationed at the port.
"That is the banner of our Great Ming. Quickly, inform the commander-in-chief."
The soldiers exclaimed, and then ran madly towards the Ming Navy’s garrison.
At this moment, Jin Kaishan was drinking tea with a group of generals. When he heard the news from the soldiers, he immediately stood up and issued military orders.
"Send a military order. Immediately dispatch twelve warships to welcome them. Put the nearby docks under martial law."
"Everyone, follow me to welcome the angel."
Only the Ming imperial family can use golden flags. It is obvious that those few ships are not from the imperial palace. This is too small a show.
Generally speaking, only eunuchs who are responsible for conveying imperial orders would do this.
At the dock, a large number of naval soldiers lined up and ran towards them in unison, and the surrounding merchants and workers all avoided them.
Some foreign businessmen who were confused and didn't know the rules wanted to go forward to watch, but were immediately stopped by acquaintances.
"Do you want to die?"
"Isn't it possible to watch this? In our country, even His Majesty the King can go and watch it when he travels."
"That's your country. These are Ming soldiers. If you get close to them, you will be treated as an assassin. They may arrest you or kill you directly."
After hearing this, the foreign businessman dared not to get any closer because he saw that others on the dock did not dare to go over either.
He didn't know that this rule was made with blood. Many people had been arrested before this. Those who dared to cause trouble after being arrested were killed on the spot by Ming soldiers.
The local government in Champa obviously will not and dare not care about such matters.
Jin Kaishan led a group of thousand households to the dock.
Watching the royal ships in the distance slowly approaching under the escort of navy warships.
As soon as they docked, soldiers came to bring ladders to make it easier for people on the boat to get off.
Jin Kaishan looked carefully and saw that the leading eunuch was wearing the uniform of a junior eunuch. He immediately went up to him and bowed apologetically, saying:
"The commander of the navy stationed in Champa, Jin Kaishan, and his naval officers, are here to meet the angel."
The leading eunuch smiled and replied, "I am Li Youwei, the chief eunuch of Kunning Palace. I am here to fulfill the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Upon hearing that it was the Crown Prince, Jin Kaishan immediately became more respectful.
"Greetings, Eunuch Li. This is not the place to talk. Please move to my navy camp."
Li Youwei nodded, and took four eunuchs and a group of guards, surrounded by Jin Kaishan and other thousand households, and headed towards the navy camp.
After everyone had left, the soldiers lifted the curfew on the dock.
The excitement just now resumed.
The location of the navy camp was still some distance away, and several captains in the back were discussing in a low voice.
"It seems that this eunuch is not here to deliver an imperial decree. From the looks of it, he intends to stay here."
"This is troublesome. Could it be that the imperial court does not trust us?"
"Maybe there are other things, but this person is from Kunning Palace, which means he represents His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Even if he doesn't have an official position, do we dare to disobey his orders?"
"Let's wait and see. This is like having an extra master above our navy. I'm afraid we'll have to be careful in serving him in the future."
The captains of the navy were obviously not friendly to the arrival of Li Youwei, the young eunuch. Just by looking at the word "doing business", even if they were not stationed here, it meant that they would not leave in the short term.
In the navy camp.
Jin Kaishan said respectfully, "Please take a seat, Eunuch Li."
Li Youwei glanced at the seat at the top that represented the naval commander, smiled and shook his head, walked to the left side of the bottom seat, but did not sit down, and then said: "Commander Jin has misunderstood. We are here on the orders of the Crown Prince, not to snatch military power from Commander Jin."
After saying that, he glanced at the eunuch beside him, and the eunuch immediately took out a book from his pocket and handed it to Jin Kaishan.
After Jin Kaishan took over, Li Youwei said, "This is the appointment letter from the Ministry of Personnel. Commander Jin, please take a good look at it."
When Jin Kaishan opened the appointment letter, he saw the first sentence: Li Youwei, the junior supervisor of Kunning Palace, was appointed as the inspector of the navy stationed in Champa.
When Jin Kaishan saw this sentence, his heart skipped a beat.
However, the content that followed made Jin Kaishan feel much more at ease.
It explains the supervisory powers in detail.
Supervise naval soldiers to train according to military laws, monitor military regulations and atmosphere, and inspect naval logistics, military pay, corruption and other illegal acts.
They shall not interfere in the military operations of the navy, shall not intervene in the navy's staff affairs, and shall not have the right to command the navy's various units.
The first three sentences made Jin Kaishan a little nervous, but the last three sentences made him feel at ease.
Although there is no war here, it is still a headache for an amateur to guide the experts, and it is even more so since this eunuch Li comes from the Kunning Palace of the crown prince.
Jin Kaishan returned the appointment letter to Eunuch Li, then bowed slightly and walked up to the seat of honor.
The thousand households felt a little relieved when they saw this.
It is obvious that the navy is still under the command of Commander Jin, and the power has not been seized by the eunuchs.
After Jin Kaishan took his seat, he talked about the appointment of Eunuch Li. After hearing his words, everyone felt relieved.
One thousand households expressed their intention to hold a grand welcome banquet for Eunuch Li, which made everyone applaud.
"Let's not worry about the banquet for now. Our main purpose of taking up this position is to handle a few matters according to the Crown Prince's wishes. This requires the assistance of Commander Jin and the other thousand households." Li Youwei said with a smile.
Jin Kaishan said quickly: "Please tell me in detail, sir."
No one dared to neglect what the Crown Prince wanted to do, and the other thousand households also leaned forward slightly, listening attentively.
Li Youwei was very satisfied when he saw this.
When he was in Kunning Palace, he was just a junior eunuch in charge. Above him was the chief eunuch. The chief eunuch of Kunning Palace was naturally Guo Zhong, the chief eunuch of Silijian.
Guo Zhong naturally served the Crown Prince at any time during the day.
When the Crown Prince was not in Kunning Palace, the Chief Eunuch was in charge.
As the chief supervisor, he was responsible for the period from early morning to dawn.
To put it simply, after the Crown Prince went to bed, he was responsible for the arrangements of the eunuchs and palace maids in Kunning Palace. From another perspective, it was like working the night shift.
It sounds good, but I hardly have the chance to contact the prince on weekdays. He goes to sleep during the day, and the prince also goes to sleep when I go to work in the evening.
This is very embarrassing.
As a eunuch, I cannot show my face in front of the Crown Prince, so how can I have any chance of promotion?
Li Youwei did not complain. In fact, it was a very good position. Although the promotion was small due to less contact, the risk was also small.
Among the group of eunuchs and palace maids, Shaojian was already a very high position.
After the current salary system reform, Li Youwei has extra money to send back home to take care of his relatives and clansmen.
Sometimes I can also help do things that do not violate the law.
Perhaps because of Li Youwei's diligent performance, the task of supervising the Champa navy fell on him, and it was the crown prince who nominated him.
This made Li Youwei flattered.
Before leaving, the crown prince specially summoned him and gave him some instructions on arrangements and the main tasks in Champa in the future.
Among them, it was particularly pointed out that one should not look down on the navy by virtue of one's status as a eunuch in Kunning Palace, but should live in harmony with the navy and not interfere in matters concerning military power.
Li Youwei naturally kept the Crown Prince's instructions in mind and did not dare to overstep his authority in the slightest.
That's why he behaved so approachably after arriving here, without relying on the Crown Prince or taking advantage of the power of another.
This also won the favor of a number of naval commanders including Jin Kaishan.
After thinking for a while, Li Youwei began to tell the prince about his arrangements.
First, it is about the Governor of Champa Port.
This is Concubine Na's biological father. We must give him appropriate help in the navy and not make things difficult for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with Concubine Na.
Jin Kaishan and others expressed their opinions on this matter.
Although the previous support was not strong, the navy had never deliberately targeted the port governor of Champa. They also knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was involved.
Now that the Crown Prince has spoken, we must of course obey his arrangements.
The second is the issue of establishing a base for the Ming Ocean Trading Chamber of Commerce.
There are now many gangs in Champa. Even in the capital of Champa, there are many gang members gathered.
The lives of the lower-class people in Champa were already very difficult. They were often exploited by the higher-caste nobles, and even having food was a big problem for them.
After feeling the benefits of joining a gang, many young and middle-aged people began to join gangs to seek shelter. However, the gangs from the Ming Dynasty did not care about these Champa nobles at all. They needed more thugs, and of course they would not refuse these lower-class people.
According to incomplete statistics, the total number of gang members in Champa now exceeds 500,000.
For example, almost all of the porters at the dock are members of the Cao Gang.
If you don’t join the Cao Gang, you are not qualified to be a porter at the dock.
The Champa nobles who were originally local tyrants have now become major gangs.
Some of the Champa nobles also formed their own local gangs to fight against the Ming gangs.
Under such circumstances, the development of the Ming Ocean Trade Chamber of Commerce was not very smooth.
Anyone who does business in Champa is subject to gang restrictions, and the Ocean Trading Chamber of Commerce is not allowed to do things in the name of the Crown Prince. After all, there are too many shady deals involved, which can easily affect the reputation of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Ying felt helpless after receiving the news. He didn't expect Champa to become like this.
Originally, he just planned to send a message to Champa to ask Jin Kaishan to help Na Fei's father, the governor. Later, after thinking about it, he simply sent a eunuch over and provided some help in other aspects.
As the military of the Ming Dynasty, the navy naturally could not get involved in gang disputes.
As for the port, with the suppression of the navy, it has been relatively peaceful except for the initial chaos.
"Will Eunuch Li come in person?" Jin Kaishan asked.
Li Youwei shook his head: "Although our family cannot act on behalf of His Royal Highness, we are from Kunning Palace after all. We can only avoid suspicion in such matters. The specific contact should be made by Commander Jin."
Jin Kaishan understood that this was intended to get him involved in the gang.
That is to say, support a gang to cooperate with the Ocean Trading Chamber of Commerce.
The process is not important; what the Crown Prince wants is the result.
In addition to these things, Li Youwei also told Jin Kaishan about the undercover plan.
In the event that the undercover agent is exposed, Jin Kaishan’s navy will need to provide certain support.
Zhu Ying is called an undercover agent, which in Jin Kaishan's view is a spy planted in the gang.
This is naturally the right thing to do.
In addition to asking his subordinates to learn about the situation of the Champa gang, Jin Kaishan naturally hosted a banquet for Li Youwei.
Although Li Youwei could not interfere in military affairs, he had the power to supervise corruption, abuse of power and other aspects within the navy.
If he really had to report to his superiors, Jin Kaishan would not be able to bear it.
There is a long way to go. Apart from normal affairs, the navy has a lot of benefits in Champa.
Since Eunuch Li is here, this portion cannot be missing.
After eating and drinking, the naval commanders were relieved.
"I didn't expect this eunuch to be so easy to get along with. I heard before that this eunuch had a very bad temper because he lacked the man's tools. Now that I see this, it doesn't seem to be the case."
"Of course there are some, but you don't even look at where they came from. They came from the Crown Prince, so they are certainly different from other eunuchs."
"I'm telling you two, stop talking about eunuchs all the time. In the capital, these things are taboo. If anyone doesn't have some sense of propriety, it will hurt others. If the news gets out, you will make a big mess out of nothing. You should call him eunuch, Eunuch Li."
"Yes, please be more polite and don't talk about it behind people's backs, lest it cause trouble."
A group of drunken thousand households were walking and chatting, arm in arm, staggering.
What they didn't notice was the eunuch who was eavesdropping in the corner.
After the thousand households left, the eunuch went back to report to Li Youwei.
Eavesdropping was the most normal thing in the palace. Even after arriving in Champa, this skill was engraved in their minds.
After listening to the eunuch's report, Li Youwei showed a bit of satisfaction on his face.
There is no eunuch who does not care about his dignity as a man.
The word "eunuch" is a deep insult.
Li Youwei, who had drunk some wine, went to bed early. When he was in the palace, he didn't dare to drink. Now that he was out, he wanted to enjoy himself more.