The Prosperous Era of Longwan

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, due to the decline of tribute trade and the rise of private trade, many large pirates, or Japanese pirates, appeared.

Initially, the leader of the Japanese pirates was Wang Zhi.

Wang Zhi is Wang Zhi, a native of Tuolin, Xiongcun, She County, Huizhou Prefecture, Nanzhili. His real name is Zui, and his nickname is Wufeng Shipowner.

The imperial court's maritime ban policy disrupted maritime trade. Wang Zhi gathered his gang and Japanese ronin to form a smuggling team and called himself King Hui.

It was under his leadership that the Japanese invasion intensified in the Ming Dynasty, and he became a thorn in the side of the court.

But looking at the actions, from the initial battle with the Ming court, most of the time it was still focused on restoring the maritime trade that was interrupted by the court.

Wang Zhi was later recruited by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province at the time, and his aide Xu Wei, but was captured by Wang Bengu, the inspector general of Zhejiang Province at the time, and was eventually executed by imperial decree.

After nearly twenty years of suppressing Japanese pirates, although the Ming court suffered great losses in Jiangnan, in the Longqing Dynasty, as the great pirate Wu Ping's tribe was wiped out, the remaining tribe was absorbed by Zeng Yiben, leaving the only remaining Zeng Yiben active in Jiajing. , the last great pirate during the Longqing period.

Zeng Yiben was the most powerful in the early years of Longqing, with more than 200 warships and tens of thousands of people. He once kidnapped the magistrate of Chenghai for three months, robbed and killed thousands of people in Chaojun, and also attacked Guangzhou. city.

In order to completely wipe out Zeng Yiben's tribe, the Ming court also spared no effort to send famous generals to participate in the encirclement and suppression.

It was late at night, and on the waterway from Quanzhou to Tuolin, a huge fleet was advancing silently.

In order to annihilate Zeng Yiben, Admiral Yu Dayou is currently leading the joint fleet composed of Fujian Navy and Guangxi Navy on the journey, and further out on the ocean, warships of Guangdong Navy are also arriving quickly.

In a cabin on a huge sealing boat, Yu Dayou did not rest, but sat at the table silently observing a map of Tuoling Port and lost in thought.

The ships he could use in this battle were extremely large. Not only did the Fujian Navy have 24 newly built sealing ships, but there were also 80 Dafu ships and 50 Dragon Clipper ships. There were 154 warships in total, and there were also 40 Dafu ships of the Guangxi Navy. There were 40 Dongzi ships, 20 sentinel ships, and a total of 100 warships.

All warships are fully equipped, with nearly 500 Fran cannons, 20 iron cannons, and more than a thousand muskets. They can be said to be extremely powerful in combat.

Although it is not known how many firearms Zeng Yibu had, his fleet only had more than a hundred ships, including less than 30 large warships. In terms of military strength, the Ming army had an absolute advantage.

After thinking for a long time, Yu Dayou finally made up his mind. He planned to lead the Dafu ship into Tuolin Port with Feng Zhou as the leader, and use the powerful firearms equipped on the ship to destroy the Japanese pirate ships as much as possible. Instead of them escaping again, dozens of Dongzi ships, dragon ships Clipper boats and sentinel boats gathered outside the harbor to intercept the escaping Japanese pirates.

As for whether he was worried that the big ship would be besieged by pirates after entering the port due to its large maneuverability, Yu Dayou no longer cared about it.

More than a hundred large ships entered the port. If the pirate fleet could not be defeated, then there would be no need to mention the encirclement and suppression of the Japanese pirates.

The army rushed in. It seemed that Zeng Yiben's troops were going to be in chaos for a while after being attacked suddenly. They waited until they gathered up their men, fearing that their defeat was already certain.

After deciding on the strategy, Yu Dayou had some difficulties when thinking about how to prevent the pirates in the harbor from discovering the movements of the Ming army.

Today's pirates are no longer the ragtag group they used to be. Even if they stop their ships and rest on the shore, the Japanese pirates' sentry ships will still be on alert. They can only quickly destroy these sentry ships and prevent them from returning to report. Only then can a large army raid be concealed and be able to attack the port. The pirates here caused a huge impact.

Thinking of this, Yu Dayou called the guards outside the door, "Go and ask General Li to come over."

The personal guards followed the order and left, and Li Xi was found not long after. It seemed that he had not slept at this time.

After all, in the Ming Dynasty, when navigation technology was not developed, night sailing was extremely risky.

It might be better if we get lost. What we are most afraid of is entering a certain reef area along the coast. That would be dangerous.

Even though most of the fleet were Fujianese who were familiar with the ocean, Li Xi did not dare to relax.

"General Yu."

After Li Xi came in, he just cupped his fists and saluted Yu Dayou.

"General Li, please sit down and talk."

Yu Dayou stood up, welcomed him over, sat down, and quickly told him his arrangement.

"I plan to use the Fujian Navy Dragon Clipper as the lead in this battle. Once a Japanese sentry ship is discovered, I will immediately pursue and destroy it to prevent the Japanese from escaping."

"General Yu, are you being too reckless by sealing the boat and entering the harbor to fight?"

Li Xi didn't think anything was wrong at first, so he just dispatched the Fujian Clippers to lead the attack. After all, it was just a sentinel ship facing the Japanese pirates.

Only by fighting quickly can you have a chance to destroy the enemy ship instead of escaping back to report the news.

But Li Xi found it a bit difficult to accept Feng Zhou's charge into the port. Although Yu Dayou's reasons were very strong, with Feng Zhou's firepower suppressing the Japanese ships in the port, and with the Dafu ship guarding him, the danger had been greatly reduced. Low.

"What if we seal the ships and block the sea routes, and use Dafu ships and clippers to enter the harbor to fight?"

Li Xi also expressed his plan.

"The firepower is too weak and it is difficult to completely seal off the enemy ships in the port. Once they are allowed to go out to sea, Tuolin Harbor is too wide and it is difficult to prevent the enemy ships from escaping."

Yu Dayou expressed his worries.

Unlike many ports that only have one or several narrow channels, Tuolin Port not only has three channels to the sea, but it is also extremely wide.

It is also because it is very convenient to escape, so the Japanese pirates in the late Jiajing period often stationed here to rest and recuperate. Even if they encountered the Ming army, they were not afraid and could easily escape.

"As long as most of its warships are destroyed on the shore, we can also pursue a few escaped ships calmly.

At that time, try to drive it southward and hit the Guangdong Navy fleet. The thief will be unable to escape. "

Yu Dayou continued his analysis.

In this battle, Yu Dayou's goal was to destroy Zeng Yiben's large ships as much as possible and make them lose their ability to go to sea.

Once there are no big ships, the Japanese pirates' ocean-going maneuverability will be greatly damaged, and it will be easier for the Ming army to gather and annihilate them.

After all, their legs are short, so as long as they find a trace and pursue them for a few days, they can be killed at sea.

"Okay, it's all up to General Yu."

Li Xi finally agreed, not because he didn't want to refuse to allow Feng Zhou to enter Hong Kong to fight, but because he saw the determination in Yu Dayou's eyes that could not be changed.

Now that he had made up his mind, he didn't bother to persuade.

It was the imperial court's ship anyway. If Fengzhou's losses were too great and the imperial court was held accountable, it would be best to blame Yu Dayou. He had the backing anyway.

Li Xi did not object, and then the two men adjusted the formation of the fleet, and drew out the dragon boat and sailed forward to guard the pirate sentries.

Military orders were issued one after another from the cabin, and orders were issued through the messenger boat cruising back and forth in the fleet.

But it was late at night after all, and by the time this order was issued and executed, the sky was getting brighter and the fiery red sun had already appeared on the eastern horizon.

In Fujian, not only Su Yu, the supervisory censor, was worried about the safety of the fleet, Liu Tao, the censor of the right capital of military affairs in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, and Tu Zemin, the censor of the right capital of Fujian Province, also knew the news and were nervously waiting for news about the Ming fleet.

Wei Mansion in the capital.

"Sir, there have been rumors spreading in the capital these past two days."

When Wei Guangde was about to go out to the cabinet, as soon as he walked out of the backyard gate, the housekeeper Zhang Ji followed him and said.

"Rumors? What rumors?"

Wei Guangde was a little strange and asked, but he was also wondering why he didn't tell the rumors yesterday and chose to tell them at this time.

As Wei Guangde said this, he continued to walk towards the door of the mansion without stopping.

"It's a rumor about Governor Tan."

Zhang Ji quickly followed and whispered.

"What? Is it about Tan Lun?"

Wei Guangde suddenly stood still, and Zhang Ji almost bumped into him.

He turned to Zhang Ji and asked, "What kind of rumor is it? Please tell me in detail."

"Sir, it's about Governor Tan's report at the beginning of the year about the construction of piers. There are rumors in the capital that building piers on the border will not prevent the Tatar invasion and is a waste of the court's money.

He even said that instead of building 3,000 piers, it would be better to cut down the trees on the border and make a fence to block the horse roads in and out of the border, so that the captives could not come and go smoothly. This would not waste the court's money, and the border towns could do it themselves. . "

Wei Guangde listened to Zhang Ji's words silently and just frowned.

"Some people say that instead of building more than 3,000 piers and abutments, it is better to build them on the main road of Tongma. Building so many piers and abutments is actually because someone wants to embezzle the imperial court's money."

"knew."

When Zhang Ji said this, Wei Guangde said, then turned around and walked quickly towards the door of the mansion.

Although I don’t know where this rumor came from, it is obviously aimed at Tan Lun. Someone is interested in the official position of Governor Jiliao?

Wei Guangde left the mansion and sat in the sedan, still thinking about this question. Who wanted this position and wanted to get Tan Lun down.

You know, political struggles in the Ming Dynasty often started with rumors.

Now rumors are spreading all over the capital, and then the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate hears about it.

As for the future, of course, if the background is strong, it will be fine, and there is no fear of impeachment by the censor, but if the background is not too strong, the court may reconsider the candidate.

Often in the end, you may not know who is behind this move, because the successor may not actually be the one who started the rumor.

Doing these things is either to get promoted or simply to have a grudge against someone.

Wei Guangde doesn't think there is anyone in the court today who is more suitable for this position than Tan Lun. After all, it is very difficult to rely on military merit.

However, when the sedan chair arrived outside the imperial city, Wei Guangde had a vague idea of ​​a direction.

The person may not be in the capital, but may be the governor of Xuanda or other places.

In fact, Tan Lun's time in the capital was not long, and I never heard of anyone he had any grudges with.

Purely for revenge, the chance that someone would use this method to mess with him was slim.

However, when Tan Lun took over as governor of Jiliao, some people raised objections and wanted to transfer other border town governors to station in Jiliao.

Could it be that Zhang Juzheng took action?

Or is it the one who wants to cause trouble?

But no matter what, Zhang Juzheng should have known about this in advance.

Although Wei Guangde was suspicious, after all, this kind of thing was difficult to investigate, so he could only help Tan Lun clean up the official affairs. Wei Guangde also hoped that Tan Lun would take over the position of Minister of the Ministry of War in the future, just like Yang Bo's promotion route. .

He regarded the position of Governor of Jiliao as a springboard for promotion to Minister of War. I guess Zhang Juzheng thought the same way.

Wei Guangde just reminded himself in his heart to pay attention and beware of Zhang Juzheng's little moves.

After entering the cabinet, Wei Guangde did not seek support immediately. After all, it was still in the early stages, that is, spreading rumors everywhere, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate had not yet taken action.

Wei Guangde entered his room and began to think about the matter.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate must also pay attention to see which censors Zhang Juzheng contacted to come forward for impeachment, and then find an opportunity to get rid of these people.

The censor's official position is not big, but he is really disgusting.

With this idea, Wei Guangde also began to think about whether he had a suitable candidate in his pocket who could take over Wang Ting's position if something happened to him.

Wei Guangde did not want to give up the official position of Zuodu Yushi to someone else.

After the secretary in the cabinet distributed the memorials delivered yesterday, and after a cursory look at the catalog, Wei Guangde did not find any urgent business that needed to be dealt with immediately, so he got up and went to Chen Yiqin's duty room.

After briefly explaining the matter, I asked Chen Yiqin if he had arranged for a candidate for the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

After all, the current Wang Ting was originally installed by Chen Yiqin, so if Wei Guangde wants to reach inside, he still needs to say hello to Chen Yiqin beforehand.

"Send a letter to Tan Lun and let him know about the rumors in the capital. When it's time to submit a memorial, write a memorial and see what the palace's attitude is."

Regarding the rumors about the capital, Chen Yiqin thought for a moment before giving his opinion, "Seeing that His Majesty is about to recall Gao Gong, it is best to prevent some things in the bud. Try not to delay, and deal with it quickly."

Chen Yiqin's opinion was the same as Wei Guangde's. Even if he didn't talk about it today, Wei Guangde planned to ventilate Tan Lun and let him know about these things and be more careful in Jizhou.

Wei Guangde nodded, indicating that he understood.

"As for the imperial censor of the capital, in addition to the royal court, I actually arranged for a back-up later. Zhao Zhenji, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, is a Qingliu official. If necessary, he can be transferred from the Ministry of Rites to the imperial censor."

Hearing that Chen Yiqin already had a candidate, Wei Guangde felt a little regretful and a little unwilling, but he didn't say much. His expression didn't change at all and he still nodded.

After leaving Chen Yiqin's duty room, Wei Guangde went back to his room to handle government affairs. Some of his previous plans came to nothing.

Originally, in Wei Guangde's plan, if Chen Yiqin had not arranged for the Metropolitan Procuratorate's back-up, then he would have considered transferring Si Laokan, the inspector general in Guangdong, back to the capital and joining the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Wei Guangde's original arrangement for Lao Kan was to have him go to the Chief Envoy in Fujian. After all, the only thing Wei Guangde had accomplished now was to urge the imperial court to open the sea, and Fujian, which opened the sea, was naturally where Wei Guangde needed to focus.

Wei Guangde always feels uneasy if he does not arrange for trustworthy people to govern there.

Shaking his head, Wei Guangde looked through the first official business to be dealt with today, the memorials for local disaster victims in Beizhili and Shanxi to leave stolen goods, fine them two silvers, and provide relief. Of course, such disaster relief memorials must be approved.

As long as it is not asking for money or food from the court, the cabinet will almost never refuse.

Because the Ministry of Revenue is actually unable to control the money left in the local area. No matter how tight the finances are, there is no way it can be transported back to the capital.

As for where the money is now, Wei Guangde doesn't even bother to think about it. It just adds to his worries.

If the local government wants to write off the accounts, just write them off. Anyway, it has been divided up long ago.

At noon, after finishing the official documents on the table, Wei Guangde wrote a letter and sent someone to Jizhen to deliver it to Tan Lun. He was still waiting for the approval of the Dayue Yi Note that was sent to the palace yesterday.