The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 246 Yes, we destroyed a country

The official envoy of the Nanyang fleet during the Ming Dynasty was Zhao Zhi, the young minister of Honglu Temple, who was a descendant of the great calligrapher Zhao Mengfu.

In the early days of Hongwu, he was sent to Japan as an envoy to negotiate with Prince Huairiang of Japan on the Japanese pirates.

Although the effect was not ideal, it allowed Japan to recognize its vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty, which can be regarded as a great achievement.

However, he did not achieve much in the next ten years or so, and relied on his qualifications to take the position of Shaoqing of Honglu Temple.

This time we needed an experienced envoy for our trip to Nanyang, and the officials proposed several candidates.

He successfully won because of his experience as a mission to Japan.

He was naturally very happy about this pie falling from the sky and vowed to make great achievements.

The accompanying military commander was Geng Zimao.

His grandfather was Geng Zaicheng, Duke of Si, one of the twenty-four heroes of the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in terms of pure ocean navigation skills, he is definitely the best among the naval generals of the Ming Dynasty.

A smug envoy, a general determined to take revenge.

"I'm afraid it's impossible to convict Luzon based on this evidence alone, right?"

Geng Zimao said in shock: "You think...this...starting the war without the permission of the imperial court may arouse His Majesty's wrath."

Geng Zimao could only hold his nose and admit it.

Geng Zimao said with an excited voice: "Zhao Shaoqing is not afraid, so why should I be afraid?"

However, Lao Zhu did not get things done, and still awarded Geng Zimao an official position.

However, Zhao Zhi advised: "General Geng, don't be anxious. Let's find out the situation first."

To put it bluntly, Lao Zhu is a bit inappropriate and does not want to fulfill his promise.

But who dares to cause trouble for Zhu Yuanzhang?

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang is not an emotional person. His choice of Geng Zimao is also related to his ability.

Geng Zimao had regained his senses and looked Zhao Zhi up and down, as if he was getting to know him again:

"I finally understand why His Majesty sent Zhao Shaoqing as his envoy."

When these two people saw the evidence of collusion between Lu Song and the Japanese pirates sent by Cen Xintong, you can imagine what their reactions would be.

"The Lord humiliated me and died. If I cannot maintain His Majesty's dignity, we will really have no choice but to die."

Geng Zimao said with murderous intent: "Of course we will kill all those who colluded with the Japanese pirates, and order the Lord of Luzon to apologize to His Majesty."

Zhao Zhi smiled lightly and said: "I'm afraid this credit is not enough for you to inherit the title of Duke Si."

He was transferred back from Liaodong as an escort general of the ocean fleet.

Geng Zaicheng was killed by the rebels, and his son Geng Tianbi inherited the title.

Zhao Zhi smiled complacently and said, "What do you think, General Geng?"

Geng Zimao was determined to avenge his father. After the emergence of new warships, he was the most active general in going to sea.

Especially Geng Zimao's eyes immediately turned red.

Although Geng Zimao often went to sea to fight against Japanese pirates, he never achieved much results due to his total defense strategy.

Geng Zimao was stunned for a moment and asked, "I wonder what Zhao Shaoqing means?"

When he finally succeeded in his studies, Wu Zhen died of illness in the twelfth year of Hongwu.

According to the rules, Geng Zimao should inherit the Dukedom of Si.

Geng Zimao said coldly: "Does Zhao Shaoqing not believe the spy information, or does he have other ideas?"

In the seventh year of Hongwu's reign, Geng Tianbi led his army deep into the outer sea to exterminate the Japanese pirates. Unfortunately, he fell into the water and drowned.

"Now that Luzon is openly colluding with Japanese pirates, it is a humiliation to the Ming Dynasty and a great disrespect to His Majesty."

Zhao Zhi stood with his hands behind his hands, looked at the undulating sea, and said:

He was also asked to train with Wu Zhen, Marquis of Jinghai, and learn the methods of naval warfare while destroying Japanese pirates.

Zhao Zhi knew the hatred between him and the Japanese pirates, so he was not angry. Instead, he asked:

"What are you going to do, General Geng?"

His father drowned in the outer sea, so he wanted to conquer the outer sea.

"I will punish the traitors and traitors."

"Since ancient times, there has been no greater merit than the savior. The second is saving the country, and the third is destroying the country."

Lao Zhu might have changed his mind, might be a little embarrassed, or might be both.

However, title inheritance is a very complicated matter...

It wasn't until this year's campaign in Liaodong that he gained some military merit and re-entered Zhu Yuanzhang's sight.

Zhao Zhi said: "Before leaving, His Majesty granted us the right to make decisions on the fly, and let us protect the dignity of the Ming Dynasty to the death."

The Ming Dynasty's war against Japanese pirates began to enter a comprehensive defensive stage, and in the 14th year of Hongwu's reign, a sea ban was issued.

When it was Geng Zimao's turn, he shelved the matter on the grounds that he was too young and had not made any achievements.

"We have no chance to save the country. The chance to destroy the country is right in front of us."

Zhao Zhi smiled and said, "Why do you think the Jinyiwei secret agent passed this evidence to us?"

"Besides, once Luzon is destroyed, there won't be as much evidence as you want."

Geng Zimao looked at him again: "You are nothing like the civil servants I know. I would like to ask, are you really a descendant of Mr. Songxue?"

Zhao Mengfu was called Taoist Songxue, and some people also addressed him as Mr. Songxue.

"Haha..." Zhao Zhi laughed endlessly.

After that, they slowed down the speed of the ship, and soon Cen Xintong and Xu Chailao were ordered to board the ship.

After learning about Xu Chailao's identity as a businessman, Zhao Zhi did not discriminate, but praised:

"Since ancient times, there have been many people who have made great stories about building rice and cattle. I hope you can follow the example of the forefathers and serve the country with loyalty."

Xu Chailao was very moved: "Thank you Zhao Shaoqing for your encouragement, the common people will never forget it."

Afterwards, Zhao Zhi asked Lu Song carefully about his collusion with Japanese pirates.

Xu Chailao originally wanted to say that this was framed by them, but Cen Xintong said first:

"This matter is extremely hidden, and we only found out about it recently."

"After being discovered by us, the Luzon barbarians no longer covered up the matter, openly discussed the matter, and even threatened the Nanyang Ming people with nonsense words."

Zhao Zhi's face was full of anger: "How brave! Those barbarians are afraid of power and have no morals. They dare to be so disrespectful to our Ming Dynasty."

"As ministers of the Ming Dynasty, we should uphold the dignity of the Ming Dynasty."

Xu Chailao on the side was a little dumbfounded.

This Zhao Shaoqing must have guessed that it was a frame-up, but he pretended not to know anything.

If there is no problem, no credit will be lost.

If something goes wrong, the responsibility can also be put on the two of them. At most, it is an oversight.

Cen Xintong also fully cooperated and pretended that everything was true.

Why?

Only if you are willing to take responsibility can you have the opportunity to share the credit.

This is the basic quality for those in lower positions to climb up.

Do all officials communicate like this? Learned learned learned.

The general tone has been set, and the remaining question is how to fight.

These days Cen Xintong and Xu Chailao are not only framed, but also collecting all information about Luzon.

For example, the situation of tribal divisions, how many available troops there are, and where it is more convenient to send troops.

Where would the natives flee after being defeated, where would the Ming army intercept them, etc.

With this detailed information, Geng Zimao was overjoyed and quickly formulated a comprehensive plan.

Xu Chailao did not forget his old friend, so he told Zhao Zhi about Li Qiyi and asked to return to his hometown.

Originally, he thought that this matter would go through some twists and turns, but Zhao Zhi agreed happily:

"They are all Han people. Since the puppet emperor Zhang's family has been destroyed, they are now all common people of the Ming Dynasty."

"As long as they are willing to serve the people with peace of mind and not cause trouble, there will still be a place for them in Ming Dynasty."

Only then did Xu Chailao feel completely relieved, and his senses for Zhao Zhi were also very good.

If all the officials in the Ming Dynasty were able to distinguish right from wrong, why worry about it?
-

The arrival of the Ming Dynasty envoys was naturally welcomed by Luzon.

Benigno Aquino, the nominal leader of Luzon, brought the country's dignitaries to the port early to greet him.

Those who could come from Nanyang Ming Dynasty naturally came.

When the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet slowly sailed into Manila Bay, the ships that covered the sky made everyone exclaim.

Especially the 5,000-material treasure ship, which was more than 100 meters long, deeply shocked everyone.

In the hearts of the natives, the arrogance caused by bullying the Nanyang maritime merchants disappeared in an instant like frost and snow under the scorching sun.

Inferiority and awe of the Heavenly Kingdom came to mind again.

Aquino was so humble that he could hardly straighten his waist.

Xu Guangxian and others were not much better.

They had discussed for a long time before and came up with a way to use the identity of the leader of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce to establish a line with the Ming Dynasty Ocean Fleet. Maybe there will be some benefits.

Only now did they realize how ridiculous their thoughts were.

In front of a fleet of this size, they are not even qualified to be a local leader.

Zhao Zhi did not show any signs of strangeness, and kept his expression as usual while chatting with Aquino and others.

After that, there was a grand welcome ceremony, and everyone in Luzon who could get on the stage came to participate.

Even the weak tribes wanted to come over and witness the splendor of the Celestial Kingdom.

It would be even better if we could use this to establish a friendship with the Ming envoy.

After the ceremony, there was naturally trade. Daming took out the goods brought from the country for exhibition and sale, and purchased special products locally.

"In order to protect our cargo, please allow the Ming Dynasty escort officers to land ashore to maintain order."

Faced with this request, Aquino agreed without any hesitation.

So Ming Dynasty sent two battalions of soldiers ashore... Of course, they were two battalions in name only.

A few days later, Zhao Zhi sent out an invitation again to entertain the dignitaries of Luzon.

Almost all tribes in Luzon, large and small, received the invitation.

This was an invitation from the Great Tomorrow Angel. All the tribal leaders who received the invitation were flattered and came to the banquet one after another.

Many of them brought their families to participate.

However, halfway through the banquet, Zhao Zhi suddenly turned his back and accused Lu Song of colluding with the Japanese pirates, which was a great disrespect to the Ming Dynasty and His Majesty.

All the dignitaries of Luzon Kingdom were stunned. This change was really too big.

But until then, they had not realized the seriousness of the matter.

I thought it was a private deal with Japanese pirates, but the angel noticed it.

But what big deal is this? The most you can do is apologize and say a few nice words and that's it.

Could it be that the Ming Dynasty could destroy Lu Song just because of this matter?

However, before they could explain, Zhao Zhi broke the wine glass in his hand.

"Crash..." The Ming army, armed to the teeth, rushed into the venue and captured everyone.

Some who tried to resist were killed on the spot.

Aquino stared at all this with his mouth open, feeling shocked and angry.

Even if Luzon is a vassal state, you, the Ming Dynasty, have gone too far.

Especially you, Zhao Zhi, how dare you humiliate me like this.

Okay, okay, when I get free, watch me...watch if I don't impeach you to the emperor.

Again, the whole country of Luzon has not realized the seriousness of the matter.

Until they learned that the Ming army was attacking tribes one after another indiscriminately.

Now, even the most stupid people know the true purpose of Ming Dynasty.

However it was already too late.

The natives on Luzon Island are still in a semi-primitive society with low productivity.

Naturally, the weapons and equipment were not much better, and they could not defeat the Ming army.

What's more, most of the leaders are gone now, and they are even more leaderless.

Facing the Ming army, which was armed to the teeth, they could only be massacred unilaterally.

In just half a month, the great Nanyang country Luzon was destroyed.

Most of the natives were captured, some were killed, and some fled into the mountains and forests and resumed their primitive life.

This change also shocked everyone.

The Nanyang Mingjin Chamber of Commerce has completely lost its voice. They originally tried to find opportunities to get in touch with the envoys several times, but now they are hiding in despair.

However, there are also those who are brave enough to try to take advantage of the fire.

Then they lost everything, including their lives.

The Ming army did not care about their identities and regarded them as traitors.

Four or five wealthy Nanyang clans were wiped out, allowing the people in the Chamber of Commerce to learn what the rules were.

Facing the slaughter of his former allies, Xu Chailao thought he would soften his heart, but in fact he did not.

He also highlighted the hidden power of these families. Considering his status, it was really inconvenient to sell people directly.

He sent someone to pass this information to the Ming army privately.

This is also the reason why those families were cleaned up so thoroughly.

As for why he did this, the reasons were very complicated, and he couldn't explain the details himself.

In short, he saw the strength of the Ming Dynasty and saw the fear of the Han people again in the faces of the natives.

In the past, those natives were arrogant and domineering, extorting money from them every day.

At this time, when I saw the Han people's clothes, I shivered and didn't dare to raise my head.

The more this happened, the more disgusted he became towards the merchant group.

Cowardly people do not deserve to be tolerated.

The Ming Dynasty wiped out the Luzon Kingdom so neatly and swiftly, which caused violent repercussions in Southeast Asia.

The actual rulers of the Sulu Islands are three large families, and their leaders are known as the East King, the West King and the Dong King respectively.

At this time, they had not yet formally established a country, and their regime model was even looser than that of Luzon. The affairs of the islands were jointly managed by three families.

When the Great Tomorrow Angel arrived in Luzon, they naturally wanted to meet him.

If they can be recognized by the angels, they can rule here more legally.

Therefore, the three families jointly sent an envoy to Luzon to meet the angel.

But as soon as their envoys arrived, they were shocked by the killings on the island.

Not daring to stay, he quickly returned to the Sulu Islands and informed the three families of this situation.

You can imagine how frightened the three families were when they learned about this, and they immediately made preparations to flee into the mountains.

However, they did not escape directly, but waited for a while.

Seeing that Ming Dynasty showed no signs of attacking them, they felt relieved a little.

Then he sent an envoy again to meet the angel of heaven and express his surrender.

Zhao Zhi naturally received their envoy cordially and expressed Ming's righteous stance.

We are not here to invade, but to fight against injustice.

"Not only did Luzon collude with the Japanese pirates, but after we found out about it, they actually wanted to take advantage of the banquet to assassinate us."

"I had no choice but to do this..."

"Countries need not worry. The Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette and will not attack vassal countries without reason."

The three kings of Sulu naturally didn't believe these words, but they also got the answer they wanted. Daming would not beat them.

So the three kings jointly issued a statement condemning Luzon's shameless behavior.

The Ming Dynasty's destruction of its country was a just act in accordance with etiquette and law, and we support it.

They also took the initiative to send this statement to various countries in Southeast Asia.

Zhao Zhi naturally knew their purpose, which was both to please and to kidnap them morally.

Because Luzon colluded with the Japanese pirates, you sent troops to destroy them.

We have nothing to do with the Japanese pirates, and we are very respectful to the Ming Dynasty.

Taking action against us is not in line with justice and will cause panic among the Southeast Asian countries.

Zhao Zhi himself had no intention of expanding the war.

His mission was to go to Southeast Asia and promote the majesty of the Ming Dynasty to other countries, not to open up new territories.

Most of the members of the envoy were sailors and officials, and there were not many real soldiers.

The destruction of Luzon was the result of deliberate calculation and unintentional calculation. If we attack other countries again, we will probably lose the war.

Besides, the credit for destroying Luzon was enough for them to get what they wanted.

No need to add extraneous details.

Therefore, quitting as soon as possible is the best choice.

The capture of Luzon was not finished yet, Zhao Zhi immediately sent an envoy to Yingtian to report the situation.

And asked the emperor to send someone to take over the place.

When the ministers heard that the envoys to Southeast Asia had wiped out a country, they immediately became excited.

(End of this chapter)