A knife in love

Chapter 1578

Although Xiao Dong was gloating in his heart, his expression remained the same as usual, he echoed Li Qiufeng's words, and then continued: "This matter was presided over by a few academicians from the cabinet, and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry jointly handled it. No more than ten people at most. In fact, all these bigwigs know that if this matter gets out, they will inevitably be charged with 'collaborating with Japanese pirates, collaborating with the enemy and capitalizing on the enemy', and the catastrophe of punishing the nine clans cannot be escaped."

Li Qiufeng was puzzled, and said in his mouth: "I really don't understand, these court officials are extremely smart people, they clearly know that this matter is extremely risky, it can be said that there is a hundred harms but no benefits, why should they fight with them?" Fusang country doing this? Even if things are done, Fusang country sent troops to exterminate the Japanese pirates, but they are the same as the Japanese pirates. Once they are not bound by the Japanese pirates and have powerful firearms, they will definitely take the opportunity to attack Daming and cause disaster. It is a hundred times better than the Japanese pirates who harass the southeast coast. If the matter fails and the news leaks out, the lives of these officials will definitely be lost. Such a simple matter, even a warrior like me can figure it out, how can you adults not know?"

Xiao Dong pondered for a while, and said: "Your Excellency works in Jinyiwei. Although you have a lot of eyes and ears, I'm afraid you don't know much about some secrets in the officialdom. The Japanese pirates have wreaked havoc in the southeast and have become a confidant of the court. When the late emperor was there, many times He planned to go on an expedition in person, but he was blocked by his ministers, so he didn't make it. However, the late emperor was ambitious and confident that he would have a battle with the Japanese pirates. Moreover, the late emperor was familiar with military books and strategies, and was familiar with the military affairs. He used the officers and soldiers to fight the Japanese pirates, although he lost more than he won. Rarely, the first emperor rarely slaughtered officials because of this. But after he ascended the throne, he wholeheartedly wanted to get rid of the scourge of Japanese pirates so that he could free up his hands to deal with the Tartar soldiers in the north. In the past ten years, there have been more than [-] court officials Officials were beheaded and killed because it was not good enough to suppress the Japanese pirates, and many of them were killed by the three clans. The situation is so tragic that it can be said to be appalling."

Having said this, Xiao Dong sighed, and continued: "Master Li is in the officialdom, so he naturally knows that the officialdom always pays attention to the mutual protection of officials and officials, and it is not an exaggeration to say 'intertwined' between officials. The beheading and killing of officials by Japanese pirates often involves many people. Not to mention, Mr. An Zheng'an, the commander-in-chief of Fujian the year before last, suffered a defeat at Lianshankou, and was killed by Japanese pirates. More than 20 officers and soldiers. The news spread to the capital, now Shanglong Yan was furious, and not only took Mr. An back to the capital, but also took him into the capital together with more than ten generals under him. Killing Mr. An and these generals today is not counted, and the officials who have been promoted by Mr. An in the past 170 years They also arrested every single one of them. A total of 24 incumbent and retired officials were arrested and brought into Beijing. When the case was finally closed, [-] of them were beheaded, [-] of them died under the court rod, and the rest Most of the officials were ransacked and exiled, and almost none of them was spared. The ministers of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Officials and the left and right ministers were all dismissed from their posts, and there were not a few chief officials in various departments who were ransacked and exiled, and two cabinet scholars were also implicated. Listen It is said that these two big bosses have followed Lord Lu Binglu's line, so they have not been convicted and resigned. In recent years, the urging has become tighter, and officials have been punished continuously, and their involvement has become wider and wider. If this continues, the cabinet I am afraid that they will not be able to escape the disaster of ransacking their homes and destroying their families. They have no choice but to make deals with the Fusang Kingdom. Although the risk is extremely high, it is better than waiting to die?"

Li Qiufeng understood what Xiao Dong said.After Emperor Jiajing came to the throne, he indeed punished a large number of officials for the unfavorable punishment of the Japanese pirates. The official department in charge of selecting officials and the military department in charge of the suppression of Japanese pirates were the most seriously implicated.Often, as soon as the officers and soldiers on the southeast coast were defeated, the officials of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Officials followed suit.Being arrested and imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice for a few years is considered a blessing from the gods and Buddhas. Many officials were punished by the emperor with court rods and were beaten to death and maimed on the spot.Presumably, these people were forced to have no choice but to take the risk. They had to agree to the conditions of the Fusang country, and they were determined to use the power of the Fusang country to cut off the way out of the Japanese pirates.

Xiao Dong went on to say: "Fusang Kingdom is keen on this matter, and sent many envoys to Daming to bargain with us in secret. It was not until two months ago that the two parties finally negotiated the terms and agreed to trade on an island off the coast of Fusang Kingdom. .Thanks to my lords for looking down on me, I appointed me to go to sea to do this matter. But I didn’t expect that this trip would go wrong everywhere, and I was finally trapped in this ghost place.”

Li Qiufeng thought for a while after hearing Xiao Dong's words, and then said to Xiao Dong: "Since this matter is so confidential, it is related to the official positions and careers of the big brothers, and it is even more related to the wealth and life of Master Xiao. Be cautious. With Mr. Xiao’s wisdom, why did you bring shopkeeper Hu and others with you? I see that these shopkeepers are not good people. Once the news is leaked, it can be said that there will be endless troubles.”

Xiao Dong nodded and said: "Your Majesty Li is right. I understand in my heart that if this matter gets out, those big bosses will definitely stay out of it, and I can only push Xiaguan to blame. Just because of the crime of colluding with pirates, The imperial court will be able to punish the nine clans of lower officials."

When Xiao Dong said this, he paused for a while, and then said: "Actually, Shopkeeper Hu and the others looked at each of them as ignorant, they seemed to only know how to eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, and were greedy and lustful. In fact, these people are extremely shrewd, otherwise how could they save money?" Spending thousands of dollars? Some of them trade salt and iron, some trade tea and medicinal materials, and they make a lot of money. But these are all trades on the surface, and those who really bring them a lot of money are actually some shady ones. For example, in the bank business, you can receive up to [-]% of the profit, how can you not be rich? Moreover, these shopkeepers are also doing smuggling business with the Fusang people in the offshore, which is a big business with huge profits. No The officials wanted to take them to Fusang to do this business, but the envoys of the Fusang Kingdom asked these shopkeepers to participate in it by name."

Li Qiufeng was startled, and said in his mouth: "The Fusang people want them to participate? Why?"

Xiao Dong said in a deep voice: "When the adults handed over the iron box to the lower official, although they didn't say what was inside, the lower official guessed that it should be the documents for making firearms and using the firearm array. Fusang people got these After the document, you can make firearms and train soldiers according to the formation. But to make firearms and make projectiles, you must have pig iron and gunpowder. Otherwise, Fusang people get the documents, but they are useless. Fusang is located in the sea. Pig iron and gunpowder, if you want to make firearms and gunpowder, it is more difficult than going to the sky. You can only find a way to buy it in Daming to train an army capable of fighting. I heard that shopkeeper Hu and others are not only in the salt and iron business, In private, they also sold various raw materials for making gunpowder. The envoy of the Fusang Kingdom asked these people to go to Fusang with the officials, most likely because they wanted to do a package deal, and asked these shopkeepers to buy pig iron and gunpowder for them for military use.”

(End of this chapter)