Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 889
"My health has been getting worse and worse over the past few years. After careful consideration, I plan to meditate on you. I will also rest in peace and enjoy the joy of life for a few years."

In the Hall of Valor, Zhu Yihai told the prince for the first time the meaning of Zen position.

"Father is in the prime of life, why do you say that? But what did the son do not do well when he stayed behind, please teach father a lesson."

Zhu Yihai got up and walked in front of the prince, patted the prince on the shoulder, and looked at his son who was becoming more and more heroic, "I heard that you haven't forgotten to read books when you are regent. Tell me, from ancient times to the present, which dynasty's prince can have such a prince?" To win the emperor's trust, have such power?

In the past few years, I have completely delegated authority to you, without reservation. "

Even if they are father and son, the father and son of the Tian family can never be so pure. As long as the emperor is not dead, it is impossible to truly hand over power to the prince, and he is always on guard. Incurred severe blows, how many princes were forced to rebel, and even many were deposed, ordered to commit suicide, or even executed directly.

It's all about power struggles.

But Zhu Yihai's trust in Hongjia is indeed far more than other emperors. Even at the beginning, regardless of objections, he directly established Hongjia as the prince, which was controversial, and even abolished the third queen Xiaozhang because of this. It's special, and the emperor's delegation of power to the prince in recent years has shocked many people's jaws.

Many people think that this is just because of the emperor's self-confidence, because he is the emperor immediately, so even if he delegated power, the emperor still firmly controls the government, especially the army, and has always been loyal to the emperor.

No one could have imagined that in fact Zhu Yihai did all this because he judged that he would not live long, so he had been planning ahead of time to deal with the aftermath. The princes were young, but Hongjia and Hongju were older, so it was impossible for him to establish a young king .

Hongjia's performance was recognized by him, so he established the eldest son Hongjia without hesitation and then gave full support, and even fully delegated power in the past few years, just to allow him to secure his position earlier and avoid future civil strife.

"Your enthronement ceremony should be prepared on the first day of the first month of next year. There is still more than half a year left, enough preparation."

"Father?"

Hong Jia was at a loss, even a bit of unknown fear, he knelt down in front of his father, hugging his father's thigh.

"I won't hide it from you. I'm afraid time is running out. While I'm still here, I'll help you succeed to the throne and send you off for a while. I'll be in charge of the battle for you. I'll enjoy a few days of happiness."

"Father is suffering from asthma. My son immediately sent people to look for famous doctors and elixir. In the South China Sea, Tianzhu, Africa and Europe, now Daming's clipper ship is extremely fast and can sail to the ends of the world. I will definitely take all the famous doctors and elixir Invite them all, and you will definitely be able to cure your father's illness."

"Everything has a definite number. I know my situation. There is no need to make such a fuss. Don't make such absurd things about Emperor Shaotian looking for immortals. Emperor Qin, Han, Wu and Tangzong are all great emperors that I respect, but they have one thing that I respect. But they don’t support it, they all want to live forever, and they all send people to search for immortality medicine, Tang Taizong even took fifty immortality pills from the Tianzhu demon monk and died.”

"There is no elixir of life in the world, just do your own thing."

"This world will be passed on to you sooner or later, and it will be given to you in advance now."

Zhu Yihai patted his son on the shoulder, "Take out what you should do. From now on, you have a lot of things to do on your shoulders."

······
"General Hussars, Admiral of the Nanyang Fleet, and Duke of Fujian Zhou Rui have an audience!"

"My minister Zhou Rui kowtowed to my emperor, long live long live long live long live!"

Zhu Yihai got up and stepped forward, stretching out his hand to support the old veteran, "Aiqing is alive, and just came from Hainan. It's been a hard journey."

"It's not hard work, it's not hard work." Zhou Rui said quickly, and was led to sit down by the emperor, who personally poured tea for him, which flattered him.

"I know that Aiqing likes to drink green tea, so I specially made this pot of oolong tea with fine Tieguanyin tea, which is a famous product from your hometown. , try."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zhou Rui held up his teacup full of gratitude.

Zhu Yihai smiled and said: "We are all in-laws now, why are we still being so polite? Is that boy Yanchang doing well in Nanyang recently?"

"It's a useless thing, but it has a small temper but a big temper. It makes His Majesty laugh. Now it's just a nonsense in Temasek." Zhou Rui said quickly.

Zhou Rui and general Zhou Cuizhi are two brothers, they are both generals in the navy of the Shaotian Dynasty in Ming Dynasty, and they are the three major generals of the navy with the Zheng family and the Ruan family.Zhou Rui is Zhou Cuizhi's younger brother, and Zheng Chenggong and the others are from the same hometown. Zhou Cuizhi's real name is Zhou Zhi. In his early years, like many fellow villagers, he went to sea as a pirate because of poverty.

Later, after escaping from prison, he took his younger brother Zhou Rui out to the sea to resume his old business. In order not to hurt his clansmen, he changed his name to Cui Zhi. Recruited by Huang Binqing in Zhoushan, he went to Zhoushan to join the army to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

Later, he voluntarily joined Zhu Yihai and became an important general of the navy.

Zhou Rui was also loyal and brave along with his elder brother, and Ruan became a famous general of the Daming Navy on two weeks and three weeks.Zhou Rui has a son, Zhou Yanchang, who is very handsome and has both civil and military skills. He first accompanied his uncle on the boat, and as a young man he was able to jump into gangs and defeat the enemy.Then Zhu Yihai asked him to study in the martial arts hall, but this kid had to go to take part in the civil examination, and passed the examination all the way to Jinshi.

This can be regarded as the head of both civil and martial arts scholars in the Shaotian Dynasty. Zhu Yihai also liked this boy, so he directly summoned this boy to the front of the imperial court, and let the eldest princess watch from behind the curtain. After obtaining the princess's consent, he proposed to recruit him as a son-in-law.

This kid was actually a bit unwilling, but Zhu Yihai didn't care about it, and went directly to Zhou Rui. Although Zhou Rui felt that it was not easy to be a son-in-law of the Tian family, could the emperor refuse even if he opened his mouth?
In the end Zhou Rui agreed, but Zhou Yanchang was unwilling. He had never even seen the princess face, but he had heard rumors that the eldest princess had always been sick and weak, and capable people always had a bit of a temper. Do not listen.

Zhou Rui went to find his elder brother Zhou Cuizhi. Zhou Cuizhi's words were always more useful to Zhou Yanchang, but this time Zhou Cuizhi's words didn't work. The angry brothers asked him to lock him up. He also escaped from prison and ran back to his hometown in Fujian in one breath. The brother sent people to his hometown to arrest him. When he arrived, he found that this guy had ordered a merchant ship from home and went directly to Nanyang.

Brother Zhou Rui was so angry that he had to report the truth to the emperor in the end.

Zhu Yihai was not angry about the accident. Not only did he not question the crime, but he sent Jin Yiwei to send a letter to Zhou Yanchang. There was a letter written by him, a portrait of the princess, and even a collection of poems. The portrait of the princess ordered a picture album. There are many scenes of the princess's daily life, such as writing poems and paintings, playing the piano, even riding a horse and archery, practicing firecrackers, hunting, cooking and weaving and so on.

This album was Zhu Yihai's idea, it was made like a comic book, and it showed the eldest princess very well. Sure enough, that kid Zhou Yanchang changed his mind a bit after reading it, and then he asked the princess to exchange letters with Zhou Yanchang. With more and more visits, Zhou Yanchang completely changed his mind and was willing to be the emperor's son-in-law.

But at this time, Zhu Yihai gave Zhou Yanchang a task, asking him to work hard in the South China Sea before returning to marry the princess.

The task he assigned to Zhou Yanchang was to establish a free port of Ming Dynasty in Temasek, a colony, and a gateway base in the Straits of Malacca.

The three-year period is regarded as his final assessment.

Now three years is coming soon.

Zhou Yanchang's actions in Nanyang were actually all under the emperor's surveillance. He was very clear about Zhou Yanchang's activities there, and he also knew that the Zhou Rui brothers actually supported their son secretly, both from their authority and from the family. .

It's nothing. If you have resources, you need to have the ability.

Zhou Yanchang's ability is still good. He is worthy of being a boy who licked blood on the pirate ship when he was young. Later, he entered the Imperial College, lectured in the martial arts hall, and was able to learn both Chinese and martial arts. Although he is young and energetic, he is also very decisive .

He originally sailed to Nanyang to escape marriage and to do business at sea. Unexpectedly, the emperor did not blame him, and even took the initiative to get involved so that he and the princess could understand and even love each other, and finally gave him a mission.

In Nanyang at that time, Portugal, the earliest western colonizer, had fallen. Malacca, an important colony, was captured by the Dutch. Portugal captured the Kingdom of Malacca in those days to establish an important trade transfer station in the strait. Qi's attack did not expect that after the arrival of the Dutch coachmen on the sea, because the two sides belonged to different camps, one was Protestant and the other was Catholic. After a long siege, the Dutch captured the city of Malacca.

While the Dutch established the Batavia Port in Java, they seized Malacca and controlled the waterways of the two major straits, the East and the West. The Portuguese could only pay high fees for entry and exit.

The indigenous peoples of the archipelago in Southeast Asia, after the death of Sri Lanka and the collapse of the former great powers, gradually formed the Malay tribe from Sumatra to the Malay Peninsula, and occupied the Malay Peninsula, that is, the Malays, while the Javanese occupied the Malay Peninsula. Come to the pattern of the archipelago.

The natives of these archipelagos have almost converted to the Crescent Sect.

The Dutch conquered the Java Islands, but the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Siam also turned five countries including Kedah in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula into its vassals.

As Malacca was taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, the Malay Peninsula began to be designated as their own sphere of influence by the Dutch. They intended to monopolize the spice trade exclusively, and even the British were rejected by them.

And for the Ming Shao Dynasty, which formulated a trade strategy, this situation is unacceptable. Over the past few years, Ming's merchant ships have spread across several oceans, sailing directly to America and Europe.The navy of the Ming Dynasty also continued to open up new strongholds in North Korea, Liuqiu, Japan, Annan, Champa, Luzon and other places, renting, grabbing, and occupying, and now it has become a new force in Nanyang.

The Spanish and Dutch wanted to cooperate in trade with Ming Dynasty, but they also had deep fear, and their control over the Chinese in their colonies was getting stronger and stronger.

The Dutch do not want Ming to enter the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Sunda.

Merchant ships from Britain, Portugal and other countries had to pay heavy taxes when they came to Daming and passed through the straits, and they were even robbed sometimes, which was very unsafe.

Although the Nanyang Navy Fleet has established a fortified military port on Natuna Island, it cannot directly control the strait after all, so Daming has actually been planning to build a territory in the Malacca Strait for a long time.

It's just that the territory is owned by the owner, especially the Dutch have long regarded Johor and other countries around Malacca as their vassals, so they don't allow others to get involved.

At that time, the Sultanate of Johor was at the southeast corner of the Strait of Malacca. After Malacca was occupied by the Portuguese more than 100 years ago, Sultan Mahmud Shah fled to Bintan Island, Johor. , Instead, the Portuguese fleet was transferred from Goa, India, and destroyed Bintan Island. Ma Mosha fled to Ganpa, Sumatra in a hurry, and soon died.

After his death, his eldest son, Alauddin II, gave up the title of Sultan of Malacca and established the Johor Dynasty with the royal blood of Malacca. The area ruled by the Malacca dynasty was divided into two, and Malacca was completely occupied by the Portuguese.

However, in addition to facing the Portuguese colonists, the Johor dynasty also had to face the powerful enemy Aceh on the other side of the strait. The three parties have been fighting each other for many years, and Johor has always been at a disadvantage. It was even burned by Aceh several times and the Sudan was taken captive. humiliating incident.

Zhou Yanchang wandered around Malacca for more than a year. He was not in a hurry to start a business. He traveled all over the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java Islands, and the Nei Islands in the name of doing business. The aboriginal countries communicated, and even contacted the Baba Nyonya (Peranakan) who immigrated from the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and gained a good reputation in the local area.

He finally took a fancy to Temasek, which belongs to the country of Johor, but it is a big island, but there is only a not-so-wide strait from the peninsula, and the conditions and resources are good in all aspects.

He needs an opportunity.

Under his plan, after being approved by the emperor, he seconded Jinyiwei, Nanyang Navy and others to cooperate, and successfully planned a coup d'etat in Johor. He established his own son-in-law, and the little prince Alauddin came to the throne.

But the throne should have been inherited by the eldest prince Ibrahim, but when his father died, not only was he not inherited the throne, he was exiled to the Inner Islands instead.

Inner Islands are actually just south of Temasek (Singapore).

Tun Abdul Charley was originally pro-Holland. After he supported his son-in-law, he became the prime minister and took over the power. In fact, Zhou Yanchang secretly participated in the planning of his coup. He deliberately instigated him to kill the king and seize the throne, and provided him with intelligence support , and even provided weapons and mercenaries. After the event was completed, it was originally agreed that Temasek would be leased to Zhou Yanchang to build a merchant house to open a port.

But Tun Abdul Charli, who was pro-Holland afterwards, was stopped by the Dutch, so he broke his promise and only leased the small island of Zhangqishan in the southeast of Singapore to Zhou Yanchang. Strict, etc., but it is too different from Temasek.

Temasek Island is bigger than Zhoushan Island, and this is what Zhou Yanchang wants.

Seeing that Tun Abdul Charlie turned his back on his promise, Zhou Yanchang was not polite. He first pretended to compromise and accepted Zhangqishan Island, took people to the island, built a pier and a small fort there, and recruited Baba Niang from the islands. People from Jalan, Bugis, and Arabs came, and soon over a thousand people gathered.

Turning around, he secretly contacted the great prince Ibrahim who was exiled to the Inner Islands, sent mercenaries to secretly protect him, blocked several assassinations by the prime minister for him, and after gaining his trust, proposed to him He proposed to hold him as the Sultan of Johor, and revealed his identity as an envoy of the Ming Dynasty.

The eldest prince was also driven to a desperate situation, and seeing that there was no reason why the thick rope that Daming handed him could not be connected, the two hit it off immediately.

Zhou Yanchang may not look young, but his skills are indeed good. With the private assistance of Jin Yiwei and Nanyang Navy, he also won over Temasek's Johor hereditary vassal Temenggong and successfully persuaded him to join.

They quickly welcomed the eldest prince to Singapore Island.

The eldest prince recruited his own army ministers there, and then officially ascended the throne as the Sultan of Johor, and issued a public statement saying that Tun Abdul Chali had killed the king and conspired against him.

Immediately afterwards, he officially declared that he would belong to Ming Dynasty and become a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, and requested that Ming Dynasty send a fleet to station for protection.

The prince still has some influence, and with the support of Zhou Yanchang and others, he also won the support of most of the Singapore Islands and the Inner Islands for a while, and quickly made Singapore the new capital.

And Zhou Yanchang also obtained a special status, not only became the deputy admiral of the navy of Johor, but also obtained the concession of Ming to set up a trade port in Singapore.

The Ming Dynasty rewarded the Sultan of Johor with 5000 silver dollars every year, and gave Singapore's original Temenggong Abdul Rahman 3000 silver dollars every year.

When the Kingdom of Malacca was destroyed by Portugal, the Sultan fled to the Riau Islands and sent his bodyguards to lead Temenggong to rule on his behalf in the territories on the mainland, namely Johor and Singapore. Actual rule over the Riau Islands and Singapore.

Tian Menggong is a hereditary lord, and he is also an important force to support the eldest prince, but his strength is not strong, and he also hopes to embrace Daming's thick legs. The main reason why Zhou Yanchang persuaded him at the beginning was that he supported the eldest prince after he ascended the throne. The eldest prince will marry his daughter as queen and appoint him prime minister.Secondly, Daming will open a port in Singapore, and Tianmenggong's territory will become more lively at that time.

And Daming gave Tianmenggong 3000 silver dollars every year.

3000 silver dollars is not a small amount, not to mention that after the bustling here, Tianmenggong will have more benefits if he is close to the water and the tower first.

This is how Zhou Yanchang supported Ibrahim as the Sultan of Johor, and then signed the Singapore Treaty with the Sultan of Johor and Temenggong, and Singapore officially became a colony of Ming Dynasty.

Zhou Yanchang's father, Zhou Rui, the admiral of the Nanyang Fleet, also immediately sent a squadron south to Singapore. By the time the Dutch reacted, the raw rice had already been cooked, and Singapore and Riau Islands rose The Ming Sun and Moon Flag, the Ming army fleet has been stationed, and began to build palaces and fortresses there.

Both Malacca and Batavia in the Netherlands sent people to protest, but Daming would not respond. In the end, the Dutch had to acquiesce in the entry of Daming into Singapore, but they did not recognize Ibrahim as the Sultan of Johor, and only called him the Sultan of Riau.

But no matter what Sudan is called, Zhou Yanchang and Daming will not care about it. What Ming wants is to obtain a real territory in Malacca, and to station troops here to protect the interests and safety of Daming's maritime trade. Others are at odds.

With this base camp, Ming immediately reversed the previous plight of being controlled by the Dutch when entering and exiting the strait. Zhou Yanchang even directly turned Singapore into a free port, soliciting merchant ships to park here for supplies, and even processing, manufacturing and storing spices here without taxation.

In the year when the port was opened, there were more than 800 people in the island of Singapore, with a foreign trade volume as high as 2000 million. This year, it is the third year that Zhou Yan went to Nanyang, and it is also the second year that they opened the port in Singapore. There are already [-] small, and the foreign trade volume has reached [-] million silver dollars.

The Penang Port on the west side of the strait has a long history, but only has a trade volume of more than 800 million, which is directly left behind by Singapore, and even Malacca is greatly affected.

The Dutch practiced a heavy tax policy, and even often pretended to be pirates to rob merchant ships. Now that Daming opened a port in Singapore, it not only made it a free trade port, but also sent a military fleet to escort it. As long as the ships departing from Lion Harbor, the Ming flag , the strait can be unblocked. If there are pirates who dare to attack, the Daming navy will chase them to the end.If those ships pay an insurance premium, then their ships are hijacked, and Lion Harbor will also be responsible for compensation.

In just three years, Zhou Yanchang went out to sea on a single boat, and now he has become the governor of Daming Longyamen and the deputy admiral of the Nanyang Navy. It is indeed a legend.

Although behind this is the powerful support of Ming Dynasty, but there must be enough ability.

Today, the entire Singapore Archipelago and Riau Archipelago, including the Longyamen Islands to the south, are included in the Longyamen Governor's Mansion, and even made Johor a new vassal state of Ming Dynasty.

As early as the Yuan Dynasty, people were sent to Longyamen to look for elephants, and then Longyamen sent envoys to China. This Longyamen is Longya Island, a small island in the Linga Islands. Later, the navigator Wang Dayuan of the Yuan Dynasty When I came to Singapore for the first time, it was called Shan Masek. Zheng He's navigation chart called it Temasek, and also recorded the name of Lion Harbor.

Singapore was originally a good trading port, and it has been a trading port between China and the Malay Peninsula for a long time.

There used to be a very powerful Sengapura Dynasty here, also translated as the Singapore Ra Dynasty, but later Siam and Majapahit in Java competed for the control of Singapore, which hit the place hard.

Later, the Sultanate of Malacca incorporated Singapore into its own territory, and later became the fiefdom of its Temenggong, and became an important port again.

However, after Portugal occupied Malacca, it sent a fleet to burn down the stronghold at the mouth of the Singapore River. Since then, Singapore has been weakened day by day, and finally there are only a thousand people left, and there are no more ships to trade.

Zhou Yanchang opened the port again. With the help of the powerful Ming Dynasty, this place quickly became an important trading port of Ming Dynasty in Nanyang. Countless Ming ships and Ming goods went south, making this place famous for Dutch, Portuguese, Spaniards, British, Aceh, The speed that Siam and others are envious of is flourishing.

But they can only watch helplessly and there is nothing they can do. After all, the Ming army’s giant ship cannons are not weaker than the Dutch. Their castle cannons and Ming soldiers in red are far superior to the Dutch. Daming, a trade opponent, doesn't have much confidence in winning.

"This kid has performed well. I am very satisfied with this result. The three-year agreement is completed ahead of schedule. Let him come back quickly and officially marry the eldest princess after autumn. If you wait any longer, the princess will go to Nanyang by boat." Chase him down."

Zhu Yihai knocked on the table, "Zhou Yanchang has made great contributions to the country, and I bestow upon him the title of Marquis of Min'an, and seal eight hundred households in the world."

"The other Longyamen Islands granted the small island a hereditary fiefdom."

Zhu Yihai took out a map, circled a small island on the edge of Xinji Island in the south of Longyalin Islands, and rewarded this son-in-law.

"The situation in Japan is now stable, and the Andong camp will be cancelled. I have another value for success, so how about letting you take over as the admiral of the East China Sea Fleet?" Zhu Yihai asked Zhou Rui.

"Your Majesty will listen to you."

(End of this chapter)