Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

"What does it mean to be a little unbalanced in your studies?" Lin Hao asked curiously.

Just then, a middle-aged man dressed in a blue robe and carrying a hanging medicine banner boarded the boat. Lin Hao looked up and saw four large characters written on the banner: "Gynecological Master".

Upon seeing Lin Hao, the man immediately approached and greeted him. "My name is Fu Qingshan, and I greet Young Master Lin."

"You're Fu Qingshan?" Lin Hao looked at the other person with surprise and doubt. He had heard of the name before. Fu Qingshan was a famous gynecologist in the Lianjiang area, but why was he here?

At this point, Lin Hao also understood what Uncle De meant by "specializing in one area but not the other." Fu Qingshan's reputation as a gynecological expert was partly due to his unique insights into gynecological diseases, which often cured patients with his medicine, but the other half was due to the fact that he only treated women.

This bizarre behavior led some to spread rumors that he had ulterior motives, claiming that his guise of healing and saving lives concealed sordid intentions. As a result, his reputation was divided, with both praise and criticism. People who invited him to do so had to be fully prepared.

"If the Fu Qingshan you mentioned is from Lianjiang, then that must be me," Fu Qingshan said with a smile.

"So you are the renowned gynecologist, my apologies for not recognizing you. May I ask what brings you to Dongluo Island, Mr. Fu?" Lin Hao asked, bowing respectfully.

"Well, I've gotten used to staying in one place, and suddenly I wanted to travel around. It just so happens that the Lin family's place offers good benefits, so I came here to relax."

This sounded obviously fake, but Lin Hao didn't press the matter further; he would find out later by asking Uncle De.

After exchanging a few polite words, they had someone take him down to rest.

"Young Master, Fu Qingshan has angered Master Zhang in the county town and has come here to avoid trouble," Lin De whispered to him after Fu Qingshan left.

"Okay, I understand." Lin Hao nodded. He had guessed that was the reason before, otherwise why would someone with a little fame come to this desolate island?

"Young master, I bought these women from the Yihong Brothel in the county town at a high price. There are twelve in total. What do you think..."

"Very good. I have prepared a separate courtyard for them. You can arrange for them to go there later. After that, let them entertain customers. Tell them that they will receive a share of the money from each customer. Once they have saved enough money to buy their freedom, they can be free. Those who want to leave can leave, and those who continue can receive a higher share."

Lin Hao then met the blacksmith and carpenter that Lin De had brought back. They had been forced to live in the county town and were now forced to flee their homes.

Lin Hao offered a few words of reassurance and promised a bright future before sending the other party away.

The Lin family is currently in dire need of all kinds of craftsmen. Lin Hao plans to build a large number of workshops, which will require a huge number of workers of all kinds. There are also plans for shipyards, arquebus production, and even cannon production in the future. The number of craftsmen on the island is far from sufficient.

But Lin Hao temporarily suppressed this, and even the existing craftsmen were only asked to do some repairs.

The most important thing right now is to defeat the approaching government troops and establish a firm foothold on Dongluo Island. Only after no one dares to harass us can these plans be carried out gradually.

Things have priorities; while the workshop is important, it's not urgent.

"Did you get the musket I wanted?" Lin Hao asked, addressing his most pressing question.

"We bought the young master's gun, but after checking it according to your method, only fifteen of them were actually of acceptable quality. Each one was tested with 1.5 times the amount of gunpowder, and there was no risk of it exploding."

"Great! With these fifteen muskets, plus the original forty, that's over fifty muskets in total. Let's see who can withstand that!" Lin Hao said excitedly.

"Young master, will the government troops really come? There are countless pirates in this sea, but the government troops don't seem to be managing them all." Lin De expressed his incomprehension.

"Heh, the government usually doesn't care about pirates, but we burned down Ningde County, so the government will find a way to wipe us out no matter what. Just you wait and see, we only have a few more days of peace and quiet."

Lin Hao accompanied Lin De to inspect all the supplies. This time, Uncle De purchased the most rice, and more than 100 shi of rice was enough for the island's people to eat for more than a month.

In addition, there were large quantities of cloth, pig iron, soy sauce, and most importantly, gunpowder ingredients, sulfur and saltpeter.

Dongluo Island has relatively abundant timber resources, and there are several small islands nearby, as well as Xiluo Island, which is about the same size, covered with lush forests, enough to produce charcoal.

But sulfur and saltpeter are different; they can only be purchased from outside.

Whether other pirates needed gunpowder or not didn't matter, since their muskets and cannons were just for show anyway. But Lin Hao's men consumed a lot of gunpowder.

In Lin Hao's view, the importance of sulfur and saltpeter was second only to rice. With the Lin family's current reserves, they could barely support one more small-scale battle before they would have to take up arms and fight.

If the government troops were to blockade the area later, Lin Hao would be in serious trouble, but now that he has these, he doesn't need to worry about gunpowder for the time being.

"Young Master, muskets and saltpeter are easy to obtain, but we haven't been able to buy the cannons you mentioned, not even the smallest tiger crouching cannons," Lin De added to Lin Hao after introducing all the supplies.

"It's not normal that we don't have cannons. We went to great lengths to buy the few cannons on our ship. In the future, we will send people to the Macau cannon foundry to buy them, or even make them ourselves."

The cannon foundry in Macau that Lin Hao mentioned was the Portuguese-owned cannon foundry in Macau, called the Bucara Cannon Foundry. The cannons produced by this factory combined the advantages of both Eastern and Western styles and were even exported back to Europe on a large scale.

The Ming Dynasty also purchased cannons from here, and Lin Hao naturally planned to buy some as well. However, all the people in his family who could travel far away were lying in bed, and he couldn't possibly abandon the Lin family and travel thousands of miles just to buy a cannon. If he did, he wouldn't even know if the Lin family would still exist when he returned.

......

"Steward, what time is it? Why hasn't the order to wipe out the Lin family pirates arrived yet? Could something have gone wrong?" In the Fenghuo Sect's water fortress, Shen Wangshu paced anxiously back and forth, occasionally asking the person beside him.

"Fourth Young Master, you've asked this eight times already. Don't worry, news has come from Fu Ning that the Prefect has received the report and is furious. The arrangements will likely be made in the next day or two. The Lin family is incredibly audacious to set fire to the county town; the Prefect will certainly not let them off so easily."

Steward Shen, standing to the side, was also embarrassed. How could the government make a decision so quickly? Moreover, the governor had been in Fuzhou for five years, and the past two years were a critical time before his transfer. Adhering to the principle of "better to avoid trouble than to cause trouble," he did not want any problems to arise at this time.

If it weren't for the Shen family stirring things up behind the scenes, the governor would have been prepared to swallow his pride and let it go.

Fortunately, news has come from Funing that the governor has finally decided to take military action against the Lin family. He has already consulted with his staff on this matter several times, and good news should be coming in the next day or two.

"I can't help but be anxious. I've gone to great lengths to get those guys training. I even let those poor bastards have some meat soup once. If we don't get any more news, they'll scatter. It'll take another day or two to get them all back together," Shen Wangshu sighed.

Although he was a deputy battalion commander, he could only command a dozen or so personal guards, who were supported by the Shen family's wealth. As for the other soldiers, well, even though Battalion Commander Shen was rich, he still had to drink the blood of his soldiers.

Just then, the drums of the generals' gathering sounded in the water fortress.

"Haha, the drums of war are sounding! Excellent! It must be the order to besiege the Lin family. Steward, please wait here for a moment. I'll go and claim the credit right away."

After finishing speaking, Shen Wangshu straightened his hood and left with a haughty air.