Smuggling Daming

"Oh, then what can you do to intensify the civil strife in the Wa Kingdom?" Zhengde himself is not a good person, and even in the words of later generations, he is a black-bellied man at all, otherwise he would not be manipulating Liu Jin behind the scenes after he ascended the throne. It turned the court upside down, so Zhu Houzhao was very interested in Zhou Zhong's proposal to intensify the civil strife in Japan.

"Your Majesty, although the Ashikaga family is weak now, they are not willing to be manipulated by others. The current general Ashikaga Yoshisai has been secretly accumulating strength, but the strength of the two ministers is too strong, and the Ashikaga family has lost all prestige, so He didn't dare to act rashly, but if we, Da Ming, are willing to intervene, we don't need to give the Ashikaga family too much substantive help. We just need to give them a title of righteousness, so that Ashikaga Yoshiki can use this title to win over a group of forces. Then there will definitely be a wonderful conflict waiting for us to enjoy in the future!" Zhou Zhong squinted his eyes and said sinisterly, what could be more gratifying than being able to manipulate the political situation of the Wa Kingdom?

Zhengde pondered for a moment when he heard this, and finally clapped his hands and laughed loudly: "Not bad, this plan is indeed very feasible. Although the Japanese kingdom did not pose much threat to our Ming Dynasty, they disrespected Emperor Taizu at the beginning, and the Japanese rebellion also caused great harm. I, Ming, have caused quite a lot of losses, and now if I use my hands to disrupt their political situation, it would be a very good way to relieve their hatred."

At the end, Zhengde also had a sinister expression on his face, which seemed to be exactly the same as Zhou Zhong's sinister expression.But soon Zhengde showed a smile with ulterior motives, and then turned his head to Zhou Zhong and said: "Zhou Zhong, you want to mess up the Wa Kingdom so that you smugglers can profit from it. I don't object to this, but If you follow your plan, I must send someone to contact the Ashikaga family, but most of the officials in the court are not familiar with the Wa Kingdom, so after much deliberation, there is only one person who can do it!"

When Zhengde talked about the competent person, he kept looking up and down Zhou Zhong.The meaning is also self-explanatory.But Zhou Zhong still couldn't believe it and said: "Your Majesty, you don't want to leave this matter to the grassroots, do you?"

"Haha~, why not, Zhou Zhong, don't forget, you are still a scholar of my Ming Dynasty, and you also presented Franc machine guns and telescopes. As well as corn and sweet potatoes, which are beneficial to the country and the people, in my opinion, you Your contribution is even greater than most of the officials in the court. Just now I was still thinking about how to reward you, but now I finally figured it out, it is better to simply give you an official position. This is my reward to you, two Come on, you can also use this official status to deal with the Japanese country on behalf of the imperial court and implement your plan to disrupt the Japanese country!" Zhengde said again with a proud face.

"This..." Hearing this, Zhou Zhong hesitated for a while. It is natural for Zhou Zhong to get the support of the imperial court to intervene in the Wa Kingdom. However, when he heard that Zhengde wanted him to be an official, Zhou Zhong couldn't help hesitating. There is already a lot of understanding.Knowing that if you want to gain a foothold in the officialdom, it is not enough to rely on talent alone.You must also learn how to communicate with your superiors and subordinates. To put it simply, you need to give gifts, eat, flatter, and a series of officialdom survival skills. I can't move an inch.

Thinking of these bad habits in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Zhong finally shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Your Majesty, grass people are lazy by nature, and they are really not suitable for being an official. Can you see if this is okay? I will still be a businessman, but However, on behalf of the imperial court, they are in contact with the Japanese kingdom, and with the assistance of Jinyiwei and Wu Shan, the grass-roots people will be able to communicate with His Majesty at any time."

Hearing Zhou Zhong's reluctance to be an official, Zhengde was not angry, instead he glanced at him with a smile and said: "You don't want to be an official, I have heard Wu Shan and the others talk about this, so I don't intend to force it, as for It is not impossible for you to use your identity as a businessman to represent the imperial court to contact the Wa country, but this matter can only be done in secret, otherwise if people know that you are a businessman but represent Daming, you will not know what will happen. How many imperial censors have been impeached."

Zhou Zhong was relieved when he heard Zhengde's agreement. As for the impeachment of Yushi, he didn't take it seriously at all. Anyway, he didn't plan to be an official, so what's the use of impeachment by others?

Then Masanori asked about the situation of the Japanese diplomatic mission this time, and Zhou Zhong also answered them one by one, especially the three parties represented by Tayama Shangyoshi, Hatano Hideko and Ashikaga Ikki, and he also gave a solemn introduction , As a result, Zhengde laughed loudly after hearing this: "It seems that General Ashikaga is not an incompetent person, and he has already joined forces with two powerful foreign aids. If I show support for the Ashikaga family this time, then Tian Shan The Clan and the Hatano Clan will definitely pay more attention to the alliance with the Ashikaga Clan, and it is not difficult to even encourage them to send troops together, and the political situation in the Wa Kingdom will probably be in chaos again."

Seeing that Emperor Zhengde had grasped the political situation of the Wa Kingdom so accurately just after listening to his own introduction, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. In fact, he had already noticed it just now. It's not as simple as the rumors say, at least his political mind and sense of smell are much stronger than ordinary people.

After finishing talking about the Wa country, Zhou Zhong took the opportunity to talk about the overseas situation again, especially the situation in Nanyang and India, and how Portugal came from Europe with huge ships and cannons, which has opened the door to India. It is also eyeing.This was the second time Zhou Zhong had mentioned the Portuguese. With Zhengde's shrewdness, he naturally noticed that there was something in Zhou Zhong's words.

"Zhou Zhong, if you have anything to say, just say it directly, you don't have to go around in circles like this with me!" Zhengde sipped his tea and said.

"Your Majesty, forgive me!" Zhou Zhong paid a salute first, and then said solemnly, "Your Majesty, my Ming Dynasty implements a tribute policy towards neighboring countries, among which many small countries in the Nanyang region are my Ming's vassal states, so In some respects, Nanyang also belongs to my Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence."

Zhou Zhong paused when he said this, and then said: "But now Portugal has come from afar. Although they are few in number, they have strong ships and powerful guns. The previous Francine artillery was made by them. Now they are in the India has a firm foothold, and the next step is to invade Nanyang. After all, the spices produced in Nanyang are the goods they urgently need. Last year, they tried to occupy the city of Malacca, the gateway to Nanyang, but failed. However, the Portuguese were not reconciled. We have received definite news that the Portuguese will attack Malacca again next year, and with the strength of the locals, it may be very difficult to hold the city of Malacca again."

Hearing Zhou Zhong's introduction, Emperor Zhengde asked calmly, "Oh, if the city of Malacca falls into the hands of Portugal, how will it affect my Ming Dynasty?"

"Your Majesty, if the Portuguese are allowed to invade Nanyang, it will have two impacts on our Ming Dynasty. The first is the reputation. After all, many countries in Nanyang are my Ming's vassal states. If they are allowed to be wiped out by Portugal, It will deal a serious blow to Daming's reputation overseas, and the national prestige of Daming that Eunuch Zheng made seven trips to Nanyang will be wiped out."

Speaking of this, Zhou Zhongchang took a deep breath, and then said: "On the other hand, it is about the economy of my Daming. Presumably Your Majesty also knows that smuggling is very active along the coast of Daming, and Caomin is a smuggling businessman. Although smuggling does not need to pay taxes to Daming. , but the smuggled goods are all from Ming Dynasty. During the production and transportation of these goods, a lot of labor is required, and at the same time, a lot of taxes are paid to the court. But if the Portuguese occupy Nanyang, the smugglers will inevitably suffer Even how to price the goods in the future must obey the orders of those Portuguese, so that it will inevitably cause fluctuations in the trading of Daming goods, which is definitely not a good thing for Daming China!"

When Zhengde heard this, he was just about to say something, but at this time Zhou Zhong said first: "The last thing is that the Portuguese from Europe are afraid of power and do not care about morality. In their hearts, there is nothing They are benevolent and moral, they put interests first, and if they have enough interests, they will even sell weapons such as Frang machine guns to the enemies of Ming Dynasty. Even for the convenience of transactions, Portugal is likely to be entrenched somewhere along the coast of Daming, with their strength , This is undoubtedly a major threat to the coastal areas of Ming Dynasty, so Caomin believes that no matter how you look at it, the Portuguese should not be allowed to enter Nanyang!"

After hearing Zhou Zhong's words, Zhengde became silent all of a sudden. He didn't care much about the government, and his eyes were always on the domestic side of Daming. In his opinion, there are two threats to Ming. The first is It is the natural disasters in the Ming Dynasty, and the second is the inexhaustible remnants of Yuanmeng on the northern grasslands.But now Zhou Zhong opened another door for him, telling him that there is also a threat to Daming above the endless sea, which made him unable to digest this information for a while.

After a while, Zhengde woke up from his contemplation. He looked at Zhou Zhong with serious eyes and said, "Zhou Zhong, tell me honestly, what is Portugal's strength? They will really pose a threat to me, Ming Dynasty." ?"

Zhou Zhong heard that Zhengde cared most about the threat of the Portuguese to Daming, and he was shocked and said: "Your Majesty, the number of Portuguese is actually not many, and the population in the country is only ten million, but they have strong ships and powerful guns. Your Majesty, you are also very aware of the power of the French cannon. Now Portugal has [-] to [-] warships in India, and thousands of soldiers. With the naval power of our Ming Dynasty, if we want to defeat the Portuguese head-on at sea, I am afraid that we will have to pay a lot. A small price!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)