King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

On the armored warship, Zhu Biao's guards withdrew one after another, and Zhu Tan's personal soldiers were able to board the ship.

Zhu Tan himself stood on the deck, watching the prince's procession gradually moving away, his eyes slightly narrowed.

He pretended to be stupid in front of Zhu Biao, but that didn't mean he was really stupid.

He believed everything Zhu Biao and Zhu Tan said, but he was thinking about something else now.

Why did Crown Prince Zhu Biao come?

Just to talk to me? Why not just send an order or a letter? Why did you have to come all this way?

Besides, it seemed like Zhu Biao had done nothing when he came to Quanzhou. He just came to see me so that I wouldn't embarrass Jiang Li.

Why mobilize such a large army, even the crown prince's guard of honor, just to say a few words to protect the commander of the Imperial Guard?
This is totally inconsistent with Zhu Biao's style of killing people without spilling blood.

Zhu Tan thought about it and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong, but he just couldn't grasp the root of the problem.

He walked slowly to the couch, sat down cross-legged, picked up the wine glass and took another sip, and continued to think carefully. Zhu Biao's words kept circling in his mind.

"The Jinyiwei knew about this a long time ago."

"Father said that you suffered a loss in the Park family's matter, so you should keep the silver you got for now."

"After we finish the work here, let Lao Si return to the capital."

"How about giving you a fiefdom in Dongying?"

As Zhu Tan continued to think, his ideas became clearer, as if he had seen part of the old man's plan.

The Park family is not a concern. The reason they have been kept until now is that he intends to use this opportunity to stir up a big storm in the court.

As for who the old man is targeting, or who the prince is targeting, Zhu Tan doesn't care at all, as long as they are not targeting him.

Zhu Tan was originally thinking about how to conquer Japan by taking down the Park family and the Japanese pirates along the coast.

But now, what he is thinking about is what will happen after conquering Japan.

By letting the fourth son Zhu Di return to the capital and allowing him to lead the armored warships to wipe out the Japanese pirates, did the old man intend to let Zhu Di take charge of Japan?
Or is there another candidate in the court that Zhu Di is in charge of?

Before leaving, Zhu Biao asked Zhu Tan to build a port near Penghu, and later moved the construction of warships here.

Something is wrong, something terribly wrong.

When the old man established the Ming Dynasty, didn't he set up a number of non-contested countries? But looking at the current situation, it seems that he wants to swallow up the world.

Zhu Tan thought so and scratched his chin, feeling that many directions were possible.

Now he has too little information and can't analyze it clearly.

Even though Zhu Biao talked to him a lot, his words were flawless and Zhu Tan had no way of verifying many things.

Hey!
When it comes to playing with people's hearts, controlling the overall situation, laying out subtle clues, and making vast fertile fields, he is not as good as Zhu Biao.

Zhu Tan couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it and sat on the ground drinking, starting to think about how to deal with Zhu Di next.

At this moment, Ma He came over with light footsteps, stood beside Zhu Tan and spoke softly.

"Your Highness, the prefect of Quanzhou, Sun Junchu, has been captured by the Crown Prince."

"Yeah." Zhu Tan nodded, not surprised at all.

Just now he was thinking that Zhu Biao had done nothing since he came, but it turned out that he was not in a hurry at all.

"A total of 43 people, including officials of all ranks in Quanzhou, were arrested and put into prison carts by the prince's personal troops."

"Also, all the people in the Pu family stronghold have been captured by the prince's men and are being taken to the capital."

"Got it." Zhu Tan nodded and asked, "Have we handed over the people we detained to the Crown Prince?"

"In compliance with the prince's orders, all have been handed over."

Ma He said softly, "I am incompetent and have not been able to get any useful words out of that thief Pu."

"It's not your fault."

Zhu Tan took a sip of wine and chuckled, "What he is hiding is so huge that he would rather be skinned alive than tell anyone easily."

Upon hearing this, Ma He stopped talking and just stood quietly by the side.

"Pass the order and prepare to set sail."

Zhu Tan spoke again: "Go to Penghu."

……

The sun has set and the sky is blood red.

The sea surface was sparkling, reflecting the red glow of the sunset, like a huge boiling pot.

Penghu main island, coast.

Zhu Di did not get off the boat, but looked at the ruins of houses stretching along the coastline and the corpses of Japanese pirates that were blown to pieces, with a calm expression.

"Your Majesty."

Zhu Neng came hurriedly from behind him, and when he got close, he clasped his hands and said, "Got it."

"We killed more than 300 Japanese pirates and destroyed all the houses in the stronghold. Our casualties were negligible."

"Ah."

Zhu Di responded and turned to look at Zhu Neng.

Seeing that there was still blood on Zhu Neng's armor, he smiled and asked, "How many did you cut off?"

Zhu Neng heard this and chuckled, "Your Majesty, four."

"But it's not very interesting to chop it."

"These pirates were so frightened when they saw our Ming warships that they only wanted to escape and had no intention of fighting at all."

"These pirate strongholds along the coast are not very interesting."

Zhu Di smiled, turned his head to look at the sparkling sea, and whispered, "Where is Duke Xin?"

"Oh, Duke Xin's fleet has set sail from the east and should be nearby soon."

"Send the order to land on the island."

"Respect!"

At that time, there were no large cities on the main island of Penghu (Taiwan), only fortresses built by the indigenous people.

However, due to repeated harassment by Japanese pirates, they occupied a large amount of coastal land, built castles, established strongholds, and oppressed the indigenous people, so that the Penghu area was actually controlled by the Japanese pirates.

Moreover, the Park family also has assets on the main island, and many members of the Park family are among them.

Zhu Di and Duke Xin of Xin Tang He attacked from both sides at the same time, one in the east and one in the west. At this time, they had basically wiped out a large number of Japanese pirate strongholds along the coast, but they did not land on the main island.

As for the Japanese pirate strongholds on the islands along the coast of Fujian, they had long been completely destroyed by the devastating offensive of the armored warships.

It only took three days from the time Tang He and Zhu Di set sail to attack here, and the Japanese pirates who had been circling the coast for decades were basically eliminated, leaving only one last place.

At this time, Zhu Di was located in the northern part of Penghu, where the rudiments of a city already existed and it was also one of the main gathering places for Japanese pirates. By taking over this place, the threat of Japanese pirates could be eliminated at the root.

Taking this place will be the first achievement.

Following Zhu Di's order, thousands of soldiers quickly left the two warships and gathered on the devastated coast.

Zhu Di slowly left the ship, climbed onto his horse, drew the long sword from his waist, pointed directly at the fortress in the distance, and shouted in a deep voice: "We must wipe out the Japanese pirates in this one more battle."

"After conquering the city, I will not take a penny of the spoils and will use them as rewards for the three armies."

"Everyone, follow me and charge!"

"Kill! Kill!" The shouts were deafening. Zhu Di narrowed his eyes slightly, lightly squeezed the horse's belly, and the warhorse slowly moved forward.

Thousands of soldiers in front of them immediately turned around and, led by their respective generals, headed straight for the distant city.

This is the final battle to wipe out the Japanese pirates.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"Master, why don't we move?"

Tang He's deputy general looked anxious. Looking at the fire on the distant coast, he said anxiously: "If we don't take action now, the city..."

"No rush, just wait."

Tang He was somewhat helpless and said softly, "There is no need to confront the Fourth Prince."

"Master!"

The deputy general spoke again, "How can I explain this to my men?"

"What are you in a hurry for?"

Tang He turned to look at the deputy general and frowned, "It's a broken city with almost no city walls. Even if we rush in, what military merit can we get? Is it enough for our men?"

"Just wait if I tell you to!"

"But the father-in-law..."

"Send out all the boats!"

Tang He frowned and his tone became serious: "Block the sea surface, and if you see anyone trying to escape, capture them directly!"

"If you refuse to surrender, kill you!"

The military order had been issued, and the deputy general did not dare to say anything else. He turned around and went down to pass on the order.

The two ironclad warships under Tang He's command had already cleared out the Japanese pirate stronghold in eastern Penghu and had been staying nearby for a day.

Contrary to the original conception, the Japanese pirates' power in Penghu was not as great as imagined, and their strongholds in the east were scattered and small in number, not as many as those near Changguo.

Their main gathering place is in the north, which is the city not far away.

On this day, Tang He's soldiers had intercepted many Japanese pirates who wanted to escape at sea. Their large ships had long been blown to pieces, and they could only escape in sampans.

How could a small boat be a match for the Ming Dynasty navy? Some were captured, some were killed.

Tang He had already written down the entire battle situation here and ordered his soldiers to send it to Quanzhou Port, thinking that King Lu should have received the report by now.

There were two main reasons why Tang He did not let his soldiers attack the city.

One reason was that he did not want to compete with the Fourth Prince Zhu Di for the credit of breaking the city, because the city was not a big deal, and even if there were Japanese pirates inside, their number would definitely not be large, and they could be taken down with ease.

Second, Tang He was still considering Zhu Tan.

The outcome of Zhu Tan's trip to Quanzhou this time is unknown; the Pu family has been doing business in Quanzhou for many years and was found to have connections with Japanese pirates. Tang He absolutely does not believe that they have no industries or hidden populations near Penghu.

Therefore, instead of competing with Prince of Yan Zhu Di for the credit of breaking the city, it would be better to stay at sea and ensure that no fish escape the net.

After all, this matter is of great importance. Based on Tang He's understanding of Zhu Tan, it is impossible for Prince Lu to keep things peaceful after going to Quanzhou. He will definitely make a big deal out of it.

The matter has become a big deal, and the court will have to investigate it. It will be very important to ensure that no one in the Park family escapes the net at that time.

After the military order was conveyed, small boats sailed out of the two warships and quickly lined up on the surrounding sea.

Although it is called a small boat, it is much larger than a normal fishing boat.

This is all Zhu Tan's design. Dozens of small boats can be docked in the cabin of the ironclad ship. Flexible use can solve many problems.

Tang He was standing on the deck at this time, looking at the fire in the distance with his eyes slightly narrowed.

Zhu Di, on the other hand, had already begun attacking the city.

The castle in front of us is called a city, but in fact it is not a city at all. It has no solid walls. If you stand a little higher, you can see the layout of the entire city clearly.

Perhaps the Japanese pirates never thought that the Ming Dynasty would cross the sea to Penghu. After all, the Ming court had issued an order that no ships were allowed to enter the sea, and merchants without strong connections did not dare to touch maritime trade.

The Ming Dynasty’s coastal defense force had very few ships before, and it was simply not worth it to cross the ocean to Penghu.

But they never expected that the Ming Dynasty would not only come this time, but also come with a devastating force, forcing the Japanese pirates to flee in panic.

……

In the early night, a breeze blew from the sea.

Zhu Tan sat in the house, pulled his clothes and said softly.

"Close the door, it's a bit cold."

Upon hearing this, Ma He immediately turned around, closed the door, and then stood respectfully beside Zhu Tan.

Zhu Tan had been looking at the report in his hand, which was sent by the soldiers under Tang He before the warship set sail.

Now Zhu Tan knew that the area near the main island of Penghu had been completely cleared, and the largest stronghold of the Japanese pirates on the coast of Penghu had also been found.

Tang He wrote that Zhu Di was attacking the fortress, but his men were passive and stayed on the sea to ensure that no fish escaped.

As for the situation on Penghu Island, we are not clear about it because we have not landed on the island.

Zhu Tan had read this report several times. Now he was no longer reading the news, but his thoughts were flying, and he began to think about what would happen next.

If I remember correctly, at this time, Penghu was far from being developed and there were only indigenous people on the island.

Even if Japanese pirates invaded, these robbers who could only rob and plunder would not be able to take action at all, and Penghu Island should still be in its original state.

Zhu Tan was not worried at all about what the Park family would do on Penghu Island. Even if there were a lot of them, where could they hide?

Besides, the Park family lacks military force, and they cooperate with the Japanese pirates and rely on them for protection.

The Pu family should have occupied a lot of land on Penghu Island and had a large population, but they were definitely still in the early stages of development.

Otherwise, the Pu family in Quanzhou would have moved away long ago. Would they still need to guard the camp deep in the mountains?
What Zhu Tan is considering now is how to build and develop Penghu Island in the future.

In the previous life, after the Age of Discovery began, Penghu Island had more contact with the outside world, and it was only after the Qing Dynasty that it became part of China's territory.

This place has had a tragic fate. The Japanese have always coveted the land of Penghu and even occupied it for a time. Many heroic deeds have also taken place there.

But now, because Zhu Tan is here, he will never let history repeat itself, nor will he let the island be separated from China's territory again.

"picture."

Zhu Tan waved his hand at this time, and Ma He immediately stepped forward and spread the sea chart on Zhu Tan's desk.

This nautical chart is very rough. It was found in Quanzhou Prefecture and was drawn and remade by an early fisherman. There are many errors in the markings, but it is sufficient for now.

According to his memory, Zhu Tan drew two circles at two places on Penghu Island.

He planned to build ports at these two locations, one in the north and one in the south, so that he could intimidate Japan in the north and travel thousands of miles in the south.

The old man now has the idea of ​​swallowing up the world, but no one knows how he is going to do it specifically.

What Zhu Tan can do now is to lay a solid foundation as much as possible and prepare for possible cross-sea battles in the future.

In the near future, this will be the main base for the conquest of Japan, and below...

Zhu Tan moved the sea chart and set his sights on another archipelago.

Ryukyu islands.

This archipelago is located just south of Japan and is considered the gateway to Japan.

Moreover, Ryukyu had long since surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and its king was one of the old man's favorite vassal kings to surrender. In history, he had written to the emperor more than once to request to be included in the territory of China.

At that time, it was not possible due to various reasons, but now, it must be done. (End of this chapter)