Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The reason why Zhang Tongchang rushed back before May was because he wanted to recruit sailors.

After arriving at Jiangling Principality, he immediately discovered that the most important thing was the fleet.

Whether it is the communication between Jiangling Principality and the Central Plains, or going up the Heilongjiang River into the hinterland of Northeast China, a strong fleet is needed.

As long as the navy is strong enough, he can attack along the river, making the Jianlu people uneasy and completing the court's mission.

So he rushed back before the Dragon Boat Festival in order to recruit sailors to join the fleet of Jiangling Principality during the dragon boat race.

Those who shared the same idea as him included King of Han Zhu Danshen and Ningyuan Earl Li Jia.

Their fiefdom was also in the northeast, close to the Principality of Jiangling, so their needs were naturally the same, and they became competitors.

The lack of sailors from the north made them all set their sights on the dragon boat race and try to recruit participants.

Last year's dragon boat racers have proven that they can be good sailors if they adapt to the conditions at sea.

This year's dragon boat race is therefore larger in scale and has more participants.

As a vassal king, Prince of Han Zhu Danshen naturally has more advantages, especially since Emperor Zhu Youjian will not participate this year. Prince of Han, like Prince of Lu, becomes one of the hosts of the dragon boat race.

The Li family had an even greater advantage, because the dragon boat race was part of the martial arts conference last year, and the martial arts conference was hosted by the Jinyiwei. Li Shunzu worked in the Jinyiwei, so he was naturally close to the water and got the moon first.

If Zhang Tongchang had not come back, the Principality of Jiangling might have really lost in this recruitment attempt.

After meeting the emperor, Zhang Tongchang discussed with his fifth great-uncle Zhang Yunxiu and found Yu Risheng who worked in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Both families were dukes among the Purple Pavilion's heroes. They had dealt with each other last year and were fairly familiar with each other.

Yu Risheng has been in the Jinyiwei for many years, so at least he can avoid being taken advantage of.

After hearing Zhang Tongchang's intention, Yu Risheng said:
"Recruiting sailors is easy. In addition to the dragon boat race, His Majesty also ordered the Royal Guards to organize a sailing competition."

"The sailors recruited from the regatta will be more adapted to the sea, and it won't be too late for you to recruit them then."

Having easily solved Zhang Tongchang's problem and given him a better opportunity, Yu Risheng asked:
"My dear nephew, you have been in the north for nearly half a year. How do you feel about it?"

"Is there much potential in opening up a feudal state?"

Zhang Tongchang hesitated for a moment and said to Yu Risheng:
"Winter in Temple Street is extremely cold, and my nephew stays at home most of the time."

"If we weren't well prepared, many people would have frozen to death."

"Even so, some people were frostbitten and others were attacked by wild animals."

"My uncle's ancestors were from the south. I think if we want to establish a vassal state, it would be best to go to Southeast Asia."

As he spoke, he was still worried that Yu Risheng might misunderstand him, so he added:

"Not only is the north extremely cold, but the better places have all been divided away by your majesty."

"Ningyuan Earldom is the southernmost, but the smallest."

"Jiangling Principality is the northernmost, and the conditions there are arguably the worst."

"My nephew feels it's too cold to survive in Temple Street. If Uncle Yu is assigned to a place further north, it will be even more difficult."

"On the contrary, Nanyang is more suitable."

Yu Risheng nodded slightly, but sighed and said:
“It’s true that Nanyang is warm, but it’s too hot!”

"There are also typhoons in summer and autumn, which makes sailing extremely dangerous." "Yu sometimes wonders if we acted too slowly, as all the better places are being closed off."

Last year he felt a little regretful and felt that it was a mistake not to agree to the emperor's enfeoffment.

This feeling is even stronger this year, especially since the emperor's various preferential treatments for the nobles and the feudal system were truly implemented last year.

As a descendant of the Purple Pavilion, his current position was very awkward. Although he was allowed to establish a principality, he had no title before he successfully established a fiefdom. He could only move around in the capital under the title of Jinyiwei. He could not participate in many interactions between nobles.

When he met nobles now, he felt that they were pointing fingers at him, as if they were mocking him. So when he saw that there were more and more nobles in the capital, and the manors in the royal palaces were getting bigger and bigger, but the Yu family was not qualified to participate in them, Yu Risheng was extremely anxious.

Since the beginning of this spring, Yu Risheng has used the Jinyiwei's channels to look for a suitable fiefdom, hoping to implement the title bestowed by the emperor and join the ranks of nobles.

After communicating with Zhang Tongchang, he excluded the north from the list of fiefdoms and began to pay more attention to Southeast Asia, looking for a suitable fiefdom.

As Zhang Tongchang said, his ancestral home is in the south after all, so Nanyang is more suitable, and he can also recruit people from his hometown over there.
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Hai Rui's stepson Hai Shuzu also had the same idea as Yu Risheng.

As the heir of Hai Rui, he did not become an official, but instead engaged in maritime trade business between Qiongzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and Nanyang.

Relying on his ancestors' reputation, he had a good relationship with the officials of the Maritime Customs and was able to obtain tickets to do trade.

However, this business started to become difficult last year because the imperial court changed the Sibosi into the Customs. The external explanation was that this was to strengthen customs restrictions, but in fact the function of the Customs was to levy taxes, and in order to collect more customs duties, maritime trade was greatly liberalized.

Tickets were also distributed on a large scale, and anyone who paid taxes according to the law could get one. Many smugglers turned to formal trade under the crackdown by formal merchants and the navy.

Hai Shuzu's profit margin was therefore greatly reduced, and he had to face countless competitors competing with him for business.

Therefore, Hai Shuzu was very dissatisfied with the change of the Maritime Customs Office to the Customs Office. Fortunately, at this time, he got a great opportunity:

That is, Hai Rui was awarded the title of Purple Pavilion Meritorious Official, was conferred the title of City God of Suzhou and Songjiang, and was posthumously awarded the title of Earl of Qinglian. His descendants inherited the title of Commander-in-Chief.

If he is willing to establish a fiefdom overseas, he can also inherit the title of Earl of Qinglian.

Hai Shuzu did business in the Nanyang area and was well aware of the dangers of the ocean. He also knew the potential of the Nanyang area and that there was a lot of room for development.

If he could really get a fiefdom of 300 li in area, close to the size of Qiongzhou Prefecture, Hai Shuzu felt that his life would not be in vain, as it would have far more prospects and status than being a maritime merchant.

Especially after he was ordered to go to Suzhou and Songjiang to renovate the City God Temple and arranged the descendants of the Hai family to be priests, he got to know many celebrities in Suzhou and Songjiang, including many businessmen engaged in maritime trade.

These people were very supportive of his going to Nanyang to establish a fiefdom and were willing to provide all kinds of help. All they wanted was to get a foothold in Nanyang and use Hai Shuzu's fiefdom as their base.

What they wanted was to cooperate with the Zheng family and own a fiefdom in Borneo.

The Zheng family welcomed this because they alone could not occupy Borneo at all.

If two million square li were divided among the two princes as arranged by the emperor, the remaining one million square li could be used to enfeoff eleven earls or several dukes and marquises.

Zheng Zhilong thought that his family had at most two or three barons, and even with the viscounts and barons, it would not occupy one million square miles. So he wanted to bring in other barons, lest the emperor thought the remaining area was too large and conferred a few dukes and marquises here.

At that time, all the kings, dukes and earls of Borneo gathered together, and his status was relatively low as a mere earl.

Therefore, he wanted to introduce the earl to separate his territory from the vassal states. Not only could he form an alliance with them, but he could also prevent the vassal states from invading his fiefdom and causing disputes on the border.

Hai Rui's reputation made his descendants very suitable for this. The two families hit it off and agreed to work together.

He has even planned to establish a fiefdom when conditions are right.

But at this time, something happened to the Zheng family, causing them to turn their attention to Japan. (End of this chapter)