The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

Zhang Juzheng heard that Long Qing didn't plan to hold Zhang Fan accountable, so he didn't put any effort into this matter.

The same goes for several other people, even Gao Gong because of Xu Jie's matter. Although Gao Gong seems to have won that matter now, the court has recently started an investigation on Xu Jie, but Gao Gong still started to hate Zhang Fan. , just now he felt that this was a good opportunity to impeach Zhang Fan, but when Long Qing said this, he immediately gave up. Obviously, Long Qing would have forgiven Zhang Fan for this behavior, and even Zhang Fan This kind of behavior was allowed by Long Qing.

But now is not the time to think about these things. At present, it is important to care about the real thing.

"Your Majesty, judging from the note that Lord Zhang handed over, this matter is really big or small." After all, the purpose of Zhang Fan's note was to ask the court to agree to send warships to sea to protect the returning merchant ships. Let me speak first, "If you look at it in a small way, this incident is nothing more than a rebellion by the Japanese pirates. Although I am an official of the court, I can't help but say that the casualties are too small. The only difference is that the Japanese pirates are not driving this time." Instead of directly attacking lonely and helpless merchant ships at sea, it was a bit of carelessness. If this was just a whim of Japanese pirates, it would be too much for the imperial court to dispatch warships.

"It's just that if this matter gets bigger, it's not normal. If this is a new method of plundering that Japanese pirates came up with because my Daming switch allowed merchant ships to go to sea, then we must pay attention to this matter. If If we don't take precautions, it is inevitable that there will be another scene like Wang Zhi's chaos."

What Tan Lun said was reasonable, but everyone present, including Long Qing, frowned upon hearing this.

The Wang Zhi Rebellion had lasted almost ten years, and those days are not far from everyone's memories.

I think that Wang Zhi built a sea-going ship with a few accomplices in Guangdong in the 19th year of Jiajing. Despite the strict order of the imperial court to retreat, he still trafficked prohibited items such as nitrate silk cotton to Siam, Japan, and Western countries to make huge profits.

For this reason, the imperial court attacked Wang Zhi and others many times, but they couldn't catch him every time. After Wang Zhi's companions were all arrested, Wang Zhi had no intention of being afraid at all. The gangsters, even the Japanese pirates, built their own huge ships and became the leader of the largest armed maritime group at that time, and set up a base in Matsuura, Satsuma, Japan.

Afterwards, Wang Zhi became more and more powerful and courageous. As long as it involved the ocean, he did not dare to do anything. Emperor Jiajing, who didn't bother much about state affairs, only knew that he was guarding his throne, knew about it.

In the end, it was Hu Zongxian, the censor of Zhejiang patrol at that time, who planned to trap Wang Zhi, and then he captured the king of pirates who had traveled across the sea for decades. From Zheng Qipin to Zheng Sanpin, it can be seen how much energy Wang Zhi generated.

Now that the Wang Zhizhi Rebellion had passed only ten years ago, the memories left in everyone's minds were still very clear. When Tan Lun mentioned the name, several people, including Long Qing, immediately became solemn, and immediately imagined it in their minds.

"Master Tan cares about the safety of the world, so he really is an example, but is Mr. Tan a little too alarmist?" Gao Gong came back to his senses, and was the first to say, "Wang Zhi's chaos could have such a big impact back then. The most important thing is to rely on Wang Zhi. He has financial resources and a very flexible mind. The most important thing is that he has some housekeepers on Fusang Island to help him. That's all, they are just playing small fights, but they can't make a big difference.

"Weichen still remembers that since Wang Zhi put down the law, the Japanese pirates had no leader, and the Japanese pirates became seriously ill. However, they were just making small troubles, and they were quickly put down by Mr. Qi. Now these pirates have no leaders. Such a character must be difficult to achieve, so why should Mr. Tan be so panicked?"

It's not that Gao Gong didn't think about the situation Tan Lun mentioned, but he didn't know why, he just didn't want to agree with this point of view, maybe it was because of Zhang Fan's invitation to fight.

Hearing Gao Gong's words, Tan Lun was very upset: "I don't object to you Gao Gong attacking political opponents, but it's a bit too much for you to make a fuss about this kind of thing." Thinking of the consequences, Tan Lun deeply hated Gao Gong misled the country, but Tan Lun is not the kind of reckless man who is returning to Qingzheng. He knows that if he offends Gao Gong, he will definitely trip him up. He doesn't have too much attachment to his reputation and official position. , but in that case, there would be no place to display his ambitions. Thinking of this, Tan Lun didn't intend to argue with Gao Gong, but just said: "What Mr. Gao said is that the lower official is just talking about the possibility of this matter." For your majesty's reference, there is no other meaning, and I hope your majesty will forgive me."

After listening to the conversation between the two, Long Qing didn't know what to do. He was not an emperor who was passed down from generation to generation. If that was the case, he would have made his own decision a long time ago. There was no need to call these people to discuss it, so he just listened. The words of the two of them seem to make sense.

When Tan Lun mentioned the word Wang Zhi just now, Long Qing was indeed taken aback. He was very clear about what happened to Wang Zhi back then. Naturally, he knows much better than Tan Lun. What surprised Long Qing most about Wang Zhi's matter was that his father, Emperor Jiajing, actually let go of the relentless surveillance of him because of Wang Zhi's matter. How could Long Qing not Surprised, after hearing Tan Lun's words just now, he even wanted to immediately order to send warships to wipe out all threats at sea.

However, the words of Gao Gong who followed Tan Lun made Long Qing change his mind again. Yes, this matter is just like what Gao Gong said, but it is actually just a trivial matter, so why take it so seriously? Long Qing's approach is also a big problem. The emperor, if he mobilizes the army just because a few Japanese pirates are in trouble, it would be too petty.

Long Qing hesitated for a long time but couldn't make up his mind, so he asked, "Tan Aiqing, you also participated in politics in Fujian, you should be very familiar with the situation there, tell me about it."

"Your Majesty, when it comes to the looting of scattered Japanese pirates, Fujian suffered the most. The Japanese pirates didn't have big ships, they were only in small boats. It is precisely because of this that Fujian was the hardest hit," Tan Lun listened to Long Qing's instructions, Immediately he said, "Fujian is the closest to Xiaoliuqiu, and most of the Japanese pirates are from Ryukyu. After a short stop in Xiaoliuqiu, they came to plunder along the coast of Fujian. The reason is that the distance is close, even in Guangdong and Zhejiang nearby.

"In other places, such as Jiangsu and Shandong, there are very few scattered Japanese pirates, and many Japanese pirates went ashore on large ships to plunder. This kind of scattered Japanese pirates in the land are tireless, and it is difficult to wipe them out,"

As soon as Tan Lun's words fell, Zhang Juzheng stood up before Long Qing had time to think about it, "Your Majesty, I think that we should send warships to sea to escort merchant ships."

Gao Gong didn't allow Zhang Juzheng to speak, so he immediately came out and said, "Master Zhang, what is the meaning of this, that you want to mobilize teachers and mobilize people because of such trivial matters?"

"It's not about mobilizing the army, but now we are in trouble for the people, and the Japanese pirates are attacking the ships directly at sea. It's hard to guard against." Zhang Juzheng didn't say anything to Gao Gong, but just stated the facts.

"Common people," Gao Gong seemed to sneer at these two words, "these are all self-inflicted by those profit-seeking merchants. Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants are already at the bottom, chasing profit without faith, and now these people are even risking their lives." No more, just asking for money, besides the things, didn’t they ask for it themselves? If they didn’t go to sea, how could they encounter such a helpless situation,”

"Mr. Gao's words are wrong," Zhang Juzheng immediately retorted, "It is true that scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants are ranked at the bottom, but Mr. Gao seems to have forgotten that these people were already born when they were born, before they became merchants. I am a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, and now the people are in trouble, but the imperial court does not make decisions for them, so what is the matter of the people?"

Zhang Juzheng's words were not loud, but they made sense, and Gao Gong was originally out of a momentary mood, but now he didn't know how to refute.

Seeing that Long Qing was still undecided, Zhang Juzheng decided to add fuel to the fire: "What's more, the tax money that these merchants hand over to the court every year is bought with their own lives, and the tax reported by the Ministry of Households every year, even if they pay No matter how many people there are, they will not have their names on it. Now that they are in trouble, is the court just watching with cold eyes and not asking about the matter?"

These remarks can be regarded as grasping Long Qing's weakness. As the saying goes, like a father, like a son, in fact, the reverse is almost the same. Zhu Yijun loves money so much, and Long Qing is not bad. Although Long Qing likes women, he can't do without luxury Enjoyment, and all of this requires money. When he first took the throne, Long Qing discovered that the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was too little. In addition, the land was heavily annexed by the local tyrants, and since the founding of the country, the Ming Dynasty had never received money from merchants. Taxes, Long Qing can't be too extravagant relying on his own internal treasury, and he was too embarrassed to ask the treasury for money, so he had to think of a way to switch and collect taxes. Not to mention, in the first year after the switch, Long Qing I rejoiced for a while for my decision, so much money is enough for myself.

Thinking of this, Long Qing no longer hesitated: "I have made up my mind to allow Fujian's warships to go out to sea to escort the returning merchant ships." Seeing that Gao Gong wanted to say something, Long Qing added: "This matter is just a matter of time." If you do this, there is no need to discuss it," he said, then turned and left.

Seeing Long Qing leave, Gao Gong, who was a little annoyed and turned into anger, gave Zhang Juzheng a hard look, turned around and left, and Guo Pu also left behind him.

Tan Lun looked at Zhang Juzheng with a good impression, only Li Chunfang looked at Zhang Juzheng with something meaningful in his eyes, but he never said anything.

Zhang Juzheng looked at the sky helplessly, and thought in his heart: "Fan'er, no matter what you want to do, as a teacher and trust you, you should do it yourself."