Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 208 East China Sea Pirates
A hundred thousand troops are really a bit useless in front of Ming Dynasty. Although the cost of raising troops is getting higher and higher, Ming Dynasty rarely mobilizes millions of troops to fight, but it still wants to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops. It can be done.

The Russian state is different. One hundred thousand troops may already be their upper limit. Because of the different systems, the effective ruling range of the Romanov dynasty in the Russian state is only the area around Moscow. The further away is the core of the power of the Principle dynasty, the dynasty The control and restraint on it will become weaker.

Therefore, it may be difficult for the current Rus Kingdom to gather an army of [-] to conquer the Ming Dynasty.

Furthermore, the Russian army should have no time to look east at this time. Neighboring Sweden and Poland both occupy large areas of the Russian land. The Tatar cavalry of the Crimean Khanate in the south have also begun to enter the country again to plunder. They must have enough troops to protect themselves. In addition, you can only imagine how many troops they can send.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Tianqi is not worried at all about the Russians using troops against the Ming Dynasty, because even if the Russians can really send a hundred thousand troops, what will it mean to the Ming Dynasty?

After sending away the Ross envoy, a few days later, Kim Sang-heon came to visit the Ming Dynasty again during the Joseon Dynasty. In name, he wanted to congratulate the Ming Dynasty on pacifying Liaodong and wiping out the slaves. In fact, he wanted the Ming Dynasty to send troops to help North Korea annihilate the people gathered on Jeju Island. Mao Wenlong.

For more than half a year, although Mao Wenlong never expressed his intention to conquer the Korean Peninsula after occupying Jeju Island, for North Korea, Mao Wenlong's existence is like a thorn in the back, and it is difficult to sleep at ease.

Before the Ming Dynasty did not send troops to destroy Mao Wenlong, it was because the Ming army was busy recovering Liaodong, so now that Liaodong has been recovered for a long time, it should be time for Daming to turn around and deal with Mao Wenlong.

Zhu Tianqi's attitude towards this matter was that Mao Wenlong must be dealt with, but now is not a good time to deal with him. If the Daming Navy is sent to attack Jeju Island, the imperial navy will definitely suffer heavy losses. For a small Jeju Island is really unworthy of the lives of so many ships and soldiers.

In this regard, Jin Shangxian really couldn't argue with it. After all, Daming didn't say he wouldn't help, he just said he wouldn't help for the time being, and think about it differently, for a small island in the vassal state, he took hundreds of roads. The warships and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers are indeed not worth it.

Therefore, Jin Sangxian had no choice but to leave and convey the Ming Dynasty's wishes to the Korean King Li Zhu. Li Zhu did not get angry because of this. After all, Mao Wenlong had been at peace in the past six months, and there were also people on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The Ming Dynasty's garrison made it safe to come to North Korea.

So what has Mao Wenlong been busy with on Jeju Island these past six months?

Mao Wenlong was not a peaceful master. After occupying Jeju Island, although he did not go north to attack the Korean Peninsula, he would never sit still on the island.

The population of Jeju Island is about 5 to [-], mainly farmers and horse households. The so-called horse households are people who specialize in raising horses for the court. As the royal ranch of North Korea, there are tens of thousands of horse households here.

The arrival of Mao Wenlong did not completely disrupt the lives of the people on Jeju Island. Although just after the capture of Jeju City, Mao Wenlong's men entered the city and looted it, but then Mao Wenlong no longer allowed his soldiers to go out to burn, kill and loot at will. After all, this place will be his territory from now on, and he can't bring trouble to himself.

But even so, the islanders were still oppressed by Mao Wenlong and his tribe. The land still had to be planted and the horses had to be raised. And Mao Wenlong wanted to expand Jeju City. The islanders had endless hard work every day and suffered greatly. Slavery and oppression.

There was not much food on Jeju Island, so Mao Wenlong immediately led his troops south to plunder the Japanese country. Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki and other places along the coast of the Japanese country were unbearable, but there was nothing they could do against them.

At the same time, Mao Wenlong's men were also part-time pirates. As long as they were ships in the nearby waters, they would inevitably be plundered by them. The most popular ones were the merchant ships entering and leaving the Japanese country, because this was the peak period of the Japanese country's silver export. Almost every ship The merchant ships leaving the port from Japan were all loaded with a large amount of Japanese silver, and Mao Wenlong's tribe always returned home with a full load every time.

For this, the Japanese shogunate was very annoyed. Although there were pirates on the coast of the Japanese country, they had never been as fierce as they are now. It has seriously affected the foreign trade of the Japanese country. The ships of the Japanese country dare not go out. Ships from other countries did not dare to come over, and the trade volume dropped sharply.

Zheng Zhilong is equally anxious as the Japanese shogunate. Nagasaki is one of his strongholds in Japan. It has been robbed repeatedly recently, but there are actually pirates who dare to rob him. This makes Zheng Zhilong feel that he is in this area. The authority of the sea area has been provoked and defied, so no matter what, you have to teach them a lesson.

After some planning, Zheng Zhilong used a merchant ship as bait to lure Mao Wenlong's fleet to plunder. Then Zheng's fleet, which had been prepared in advance, quickly surrounded it and bombarded Mao Wenlong's fleet.

After all, being a pirate is not Mao Wenlong's current main business, so every time the fleet sent out to plunder nearby seas is a small fleet composed of a dozen or dozens of ships, facing the well-prepared Zheng Zheng The large fleet of the Zhengzhou Group was naturally unable to withstand it, and was completely wiped out in the blink of an eye. Some who were lucky enough not to be drowned were also captured by Zheng Zhilong's men.

After some interrogation, Zheng Zhilong found out that this wave of pirates was not a ragtag group, but members of Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town. On Jeju Island, he is not an easy person to deal with!
Zheng Zhilong also hesitated a little. He was not completely sure that he wanted to level Jeju Island and eliminate Mao Wenlong. Moreover, even if he could do it, he would definitely "injure the enemy one thousand and lose eight hundred to himself", which was not worth the loss.

If he goes to Mao Wenlong to negotiate peace, I am afraid that Mao Wenlong's ambition is too big and he may not be able to satisfy it. What's more, now that he has surrendered to the imperial court, it would not be appropriate to associate with a traitor to the imperial court like Mao Wenlong.

After much thought, Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to go to see Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian, to report the matter.

After Xiong Wencan heard about this, although he was a little surprised, he just smiled slightly and said to Zheng Zhilong: "General Zheng, I think you are really worried about this matter. The traitor Mao Wenlong robbed the people of the Japanese country. These are Japanese merchant ships, what does it have to do with our Ming Dynasty? Could it be that you, a dignified Ming general, still want to help the Japanese people?"

Zheng Zhilong was slightly startled, and naturally he could understand the meaning of Xiong Wencan's words, which was to let him avoid provoking Mao Wenlong, so as not to bring this trouble to himself. As for whether the Zheng Group's business in Japan was affected, it was not him. This is something Xiong Wencan should be concerned about.Zheng Zhilong thought for a while and then spoke again: "Master Futai, the last general would not dare to stand up for the Japanese rashly, but the traitor Mao Wenlong robbed not only the Japanese merchant ships, but also many others among them. You are my Ming Dynasty’s merchant ship!
And from the general's perspective, I'm afraid that even if we don't provoke the traitor Mao Wenlong, there's no guarantee that he will come and cause us trouble. If he is left here, he will always be a disaster for us! "

Xiong Wencan frowned and thought for a while, and then said: "In your opinion, I should report this matter to the court and request the court to send a navy to wipe out the traitor Mao Wenlong's tribe!"

"If Mr. Futai is willing to go to Datian to listen, it would be best for the imperial court to send troops!" Zheng Zhilong suddenly beamed with joy after hearing this.

Xiong Wencan tapped the table lightly, thought for a long time, and then said: "Okay, then I will write a memorandum to inform the emperor about this matter, but whether the imperial court is willing to send troops to suppress the bandits? Not necessarily!”

But even so, Zheng Zhilong's goal has been achieved. As long as this matter attracts the attention of the court, the court will no longer be able to ignore the traitor Mao Wenlong. Even if it is just a pretense, troops must be sent to suppress the traitor. Otherwise, if it cannot be done Killing one person to serve as a warning to others and letting Mao Wenlong go unpunished, wouldn't it set an example for those who have rebellious intentions?
As long as the imperial court sent the navy to encircle and suppress Mao Wenlong, then Mao Wenlong would naturally look southward indefinitely, and then send people to rob merchant ships at sea, or plunder in the Japanese territory. Moreover, after Mao Wenlong was restrained by the imperial navy, he might still be able to find the right opportunity. , annihilate them in one fell swoop!

Xiong Wencan let out a long sigh, stood up and murmured to himself: "The Liu Xiang guy in the west has not been dealt with yet, and another Mao Wenlong has appeared in the east. When will the sea be calmer?"

As he spoke, Xiong Wencan walked towards the back room. Zheng Zhilong knew that this was to see off the guests, so he saluted Xiong Wencan's back: "I'll leave at last!" and left.

After leaving Xiong's Mansion, Zheng Zhilong quickly returned to his home. Now he has sent troops to annihilate one of Mao Wenlong's fleets. I believe that it won't be long before Mao Wenlong will find him, and he will definitely not give up at that time, so He must take countermeasures in advance.

It was already October when Xiong Wencan's memorial was handed to Zhu Tianqi. After reading Xiong Wencan's memorial, Zhu Tianqi suddenly felt that things seemed to be a little out of his control. He did not expect that this Mao Wenlong He actually got involved with the Zheng Group.

Ten days ago, a large ship just arrived at the Datong River in the capital. Jinyiwei personally received it. Dozens of boxes of things were unloaded from the ship and sent to the palace. These dozens of large boxes were filled with Japanese silver. The total amount is over one million taels.

After the silver was sent to the palace and counted, it was recast into silver ingots and collected into the internal funds. Then, Zhu Tianqi would send people to send some rewards to Mao Wenlong's family living in the capital.

This is not the first time such a thing has happened. In the past year, this mysterious ship has come at least three times, and each time it has brought back a lot of goods. And every time the things on the ship are transported into the palace, the Mao family There will be some rewards.

It is not difficult to see that there must be a great connection between the two. The large ship that often transports goods to the capital was obviously sent by Mao Wenlong, and since Mao Wenlong would continuously send goods back to the emperor, naturally This means that he is still loyal to the emperor.

This is indeed the case. Before Mao Wenlong was released from the imperial prison by Zhu Tianqi, it was naturally conditional, that is, in the future, Mao Wenlong would do some "dirty work" and "tiring work" for the emperor that was inconvenient for the court, and Mao Wenlong He also knew that once he agreed to the emperor's conditions, he would embark on a path of no return, and it was likely that he would not end well.

But the emperor did promise him a condition that he couldn't refuse, which was to keep his family safe and even his son Mao Chengdou to have a good future in the future.

It was obvious how to choose, because if he rejected the emperor, he would be prosecuted according to the impeachment memorial that Qian Longxi read. When the twelve major crimes are accumulated, he is likely to be punished. The fate of the Nine Clans was not only his own, but also the whole family had to be buried with him.

But if he agrees to the emperor, not only can he save his life now, but also the whole family will be safe, and his favorite youngest son Mao Chengdou will also have a bright future.

Therefore, Mao Wenlong did not hesitate and decisively agreed to the emperor. Then he followed the emperor's instructions and led his people to leave Pidao and occupy Jeju Island in North Korea.

Taking advantage of the fact that North Korea's Jeju Island was occupied by Mao Wenlong, North Korea quickly agreed to the Ming Dynasty's conditions for stationing troops in North Korea and welcomed the Ming army into North Korea.

After that, Mao Wenlong began to harass the Japanese country conscientiously, in order to create conditions for the Ming Dynasty to attack the Japanese country in the future.

Generally speaking, Zhu Tianqi is very satisfied with Mao Wenlong's work in the recent period. The money that Mao Wenlong has sent back is getting more and more each time. Sure enough, the money comes from the sea faster. The money earned through Mao Wenlong is almost as much as that of the young man. Qing’s monthly revenue is up.

As a result, Zhu Tianqi had to consider whether he should speed up the construction of Daming's maritime industry. If all the plans he planned before can be implemented, how many times will Daming's fiscal revenue be doubled!
However, now is not the time to think about this, but to think about how to respond to what Xiong Wencan said.

Although the previous memorial in which Mao Wenlong's twelve crimes were written has not been made public, it is true that Mao Wenlong led his troops to defect to the Ming Dynasty and captured Jeju Island. The Ming Dynasty could not have ignored it. If Mao Wenlong was not eliminated, it would not be enough to clarify the law. How could it be true? Isn’t it to invite all the Ming Dynasty’s generals to imitate Mao Wenlong’s rebellious behavior?
But if we attack Mao Wenlong now, wouldn't the "evil forces" and "money tree" that he finally built up be gone?
Zhu Tianqi was also in a dilemma, so he had to read Xiong Wencan's memorial carefully again to see if he could find a way to postpone it first.

Suddenly, Zhu Tianqi discovered a breakthrough in this matter in Xiong Wencan's memorial, and that was Zheng Zhilong, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Coastal Defense!
(End of this chapter)