Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

On the 20th day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar in the 46th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, at Dongluo Island.

After two days of hard work, the Lin family's second ship finally completed its hull cleaning.

The barnacles that had originally covered the bottom of the boat were completely removed, the bottom of the boat was refreshed with tung oil, and the gaps between the planks were filled tightly with a grouting material made of tung oil, lime and hemp fibers to ensure the overall sealing of the boat.

"Young Master, both of these ships have already shown signs of corrosion from sea maggots. We need to find some time to sail them into fresh water to kill the sea maggots in the planks," Liu Aniu suggested to Lin Hao. At this moment, the two of them were watching the second ship install its mast and re-enter the sea.

"That's a bit of a problem. The closest place to us is Aojiang Estuary, which is a little to the south, but it's not very convenient for us to go there now given our current status."

Sea maggots are a type of borer in the ocean that gnaws into the planks of ships, causing the hull to rot, much like termites on land. If left untreated, the bottom planks of the ship will soon turn into a pile of debris, and the ship will eventually sink completely on a voyage.

Killing sea maggots is also simple: just sail the boat into a freshwater river and wait a few days. Sea maggots cannot adapt to freshwater environments and will die quickly.

A few years ago, the Lin family's boats would go to the mouth of the Aojiang River every six months to spend a few days dealing with sea maggots, but now, although they can still sneak over there, the risks have greatly increased.

"How about this, once things have calmed down a bit, we'll sail these ships to Zhejiang Province in batches," Lin Hao said to Liu Aniu after a moment's thought.

He was a pirate in Fujian, but not in Zhejiang. He figured the government troops there wouldn't make things difficult for him. This wasn't a nationwide network like in later times; regional barriers were much greater in this era.

Looking at the Haicang ship re-entering the sea, Lin Hao suddenly felt that he should give his ships a name, otherwise it would be really hard to name them.

Perhaps it's not just the names of the ships that need to be standardized; the scope of authority for everyone in the Lin family also needs to be planned. Currently, they basically do whatever Lin Hao designates. As the number of people increases, Lin Hao needs to expend more and more energy, and this method also causes more and more chaos.

Everyone scrambles to do the easy jobs, but no one wants to take on the hard ones. Take, for example, those women who came to the island a couple of days ago. Lin Hao named the place he arranged for them "Red Mansion" and then sent someone to manage it. Goodness, these people almost fought tooth and nail for this managerial position. I've never seen them so willing to take on responsibilities before.

In the end, Lin Hao handed the Red Mansion over to Uncle Fu to manage, and only then did those guys quiet down.

Currently, Uncle Fu and Uncle De are mainly in charge of logistics on the island. They have repeatedly complained that there are too many things to do and hope to increase the number of management personnel. Ideally, they would give them the boys under Lin Hao's command. However, at present, the only ones on the entire Dongluo Island who can skillfully use muskets and master the three-stage rotating firing technique are the boys under their command.

This is also the strongest force on the entire Dongluo Island, and it can only be dismantled after the external situation eases or the new recruits are trained.

The northern section of Dongluo Island extends eastward into a pointed shape, on which a watchtower several meters high was built using wood and planks.

Just as the sailors on Dongluo Island were dragging Zhou Daye's former ship from Shuangfeng Island onto the beach to prepare for cleaning, a guard on the watchtower, who was bored, was carefully recalling the wonderful experience of visiting the Red Mansion the previous night.

On the watchtower, the bored guard was carefully recalling the wonderful experience of visiting the Red Chamber last night.

He was originally a guard of the Lin family, and this time he was rewarded with a full 50 taels of silver. Since there was finally a place to spend money on this island, he naturally had to go there as soon as possible.

If it weren't for the young master specifying everyone's time, he would have liked to book the whole night.

"This girl, SuSu, is really nice; she has a big, perky bottom. Next time, I'll try Peach Blossom Girl; I heard..."

Just as Mei Mei was thinking about it, the guard suddenly noticed several ships appearing to the north.

"Another ship is coming. There have been a lot of merchant ships coming and going lately." The guard didn't seem to care. Dongluo Island wasn't far from the busy waterways, so it was normal for merchant ships to come and go. He saw many of them every day.

The guard lazily adjusted his posture to make his back more comfortable, yawned, and planned to take a short nap, since the ship would soon be going around to the east.

Just as he was about to take a short rest, Lin Hao's daily instructions echoed in his mind: "Carefully examine every ship to prevent government troops from disguising themselves as merchant vessels. If any ship is bypassed by government troops without warning, regardless of the reason, kill them without mercy."

Recalling Lin Hao's serious expression at the time, the guard immediately shuddered and picked up the telescope beside him to look in that direction.

"My God! Government troops!"

The guard was so frightened he almost dropped his binoculars. He saw colorful flags waving on ships in the distance.

Although he didn't recognize any of the characters on the flags, in this era, Ming Dynasty merchants generally flew flags with the sun and moon, and at most their surnames. Only government and military ships would have all sorts of colorful flags.

Looking at the six large ships rushing towards Dongluo Island, the guard's hands and feet turned cold. He frantically pulled out a tinderbox from his pocket, but his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't even open the simple tinderbox after several attempts.

"Calm down, calm down. They're still far away. This is a favor delivered to our doorstep. Maybe we'll even get a reward." After reassuring himself like this several times, the guard shakily lit the tinderbox, carefully blew it out, and then lit the brazier on the side.

A moment later, a plume of thick black smoke slowly rose from the top of the tower.

The guard who lit the fire scrambled and crawled southwards.

......

"The Lin family is quite capable; they even knew how to set up beacon towers at crucial points. No wonder they were able to take down Zhou Daye of Twin Peaks Island."

On the foremost Fujian-style ship, Shen Wangshu was full of vigor and high spirits.

In the previous military council, he successfully won this mission by relying on his already assembled subordinates.

What's even more surprising is that the commander-in-chief not only assigned him to be in charge, but also placed someone he didn't get along with under his command, making him obey his orders.

You should know that although you are a deputy battalion commander, the number of troops you directly command is no different from that of a sentry officer. In addition, you are not from the garrison and are ostracized everywhere. If it weren't for the support of the Shen family behind you, you wouldn't be able to hold onto your position as deputy battalion commander.

If I can make a contribution this time, I might be promoted and removed from the title of deputy, becoming a battalion commander with real power.

"Sir, it's no use for the Lin family to set off the beacon fires now. Dongluo Island is just ahead, and it's too late for them to pack up and run away," one of Shen Wangshu's personal guards said with a smile.

In this era, ships couldn't be set sail on a whim. Even disregarding the time it took to assemble personnel and pack valuables after seeing the beacon fires, just getting the ship moving was a slow process, and that time was enough for them to round the island and reach the bay.

"Haha, I actually hope they just run away. That way, fewer brothers will die or be injured, and they won't have time to collect their belongings and supplies. We just need to keep chasing them, and they'll collapse on their own," Shen Wangshu said with a smile, though he was actually thinking about something else entirely.

According to the results of the confiscation of the Lin family's property by the county government, the amount of silver obtained was only a little over a thousand taels, which was completely inconsistent with the Lin family's income from four years of business. It should be noted that even a random ship could earn several thousand taels by going to the south, while the Lin family went to Japan in the north. A single ship could easily earn tens of thousands of taels per trip.

This means that the Lin family still has a large sum of money hidden away. If he can get his hands on it, Shen Wangshu's future will be much brighter than just being a mere battalion commander.