Smuggling Daming

After more than a month of quarreling among the ministers of the Ming Dynasty over whether to aid North Korea, Emperor Zhengde finally came forward and decided to aid North Korea, and the troops were divided into two groups. Jurchen used the strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao to force the savage Jurchen to retreat, and the second route was the Sihai Navy with illustrious military exploits to go to Korea and Nanyang to suppress the Japanese.

For Ming's assistance, the North Korean envoys were so grateful that they climbed on the Golden Luan Hall and kept shouting "Your Majesty's benevolence".In addition to sending troops, Zhengde also symbolically provided a batch of weapons and food to North Korea. Although the amount was not large, it showed Ming's support for North Korea.

Originally, many ministers in the DPRK objected to Zhengde's insistence on aiding North Korea. After all, Ming's treasury is now empty and cannot support the army's expedition at all. However, when they heard about Zhengde's aid plan for North Korea, they were all wise. Shut up, after all, whether it is going to Jianzhou Jurchen or the Four Seas Navy, the court does not need to spend any money and food, and even the Four Seas Navy brought a huge amount of spoils to the court last time, and the occupied Malacca is a rich land. The land can provide a lot of tax revenue for the imperial court every year, and maybe this time it can also bring some surprises to the imperial court.

After Zhou Zhong received the order to send troops from the imperial court, he immediately organized a navy of 3000 people, including [-] warships, and it is worth mentioning that among the thirty warships, five were captured The Portuguese warships, of course, are currently operated by Zhou Zhong's navy. After Zhou Zhong forced the Portuguese prisoners to teach the Daming Navy how to operate the Portuguese warships, he often sent these Portuguese warships to patrol the sea.This time, five Portuguese warships with the best performance were selected to go out with the army, in order to test the actual combat capabilities of the four sea divisions operating Portuguese warships.

There is no need for Zhou Zhong to lead the expedition to North Korea this time. After all, he, the governor, has countless government affairs to deal with besides military affairs. What's more, he doesn't understand the command of the army at all. The last expedition to Malacca was mainly for the soldiers. They cheered up, but now the morale of the Four Seas Admiralty has been boosted after the last actual battle, so Zhou Zhong, a layman, no longer needs to run around with the army.As long as he sits in the governor's mansion and prevents the army's logistics from making trouble.

Chang Xiao led the army this time, and now he has been promoted to be a general of the Four Seas Navy, and his status is only below Shenying. Chang Xiao and Qu Lie are responsible for most of the affairs.Chang Xiao is a descendant of Chang Yuchun.When Zhengde was arresting the descendants of Zhu Yunqi in Malacca, among them, the Huang family had a subsidiary family named Chang, who was also a descendant of Chang Yuchun. Zhou Zhong was afraid that Chang Xiao would be implicated, so he transferred him back. Chang Xiao also knew that this was the case. The governor's protection for himself.This made him very grateful, and privately vowed many times to repay him with death.He was also very relieved of Zhou Zhong, so he was entrusted with the task of aiding North Korea.

In addition to Chang Xiao, the general who led the army, there was also a young eunuch who accompanied the army. This little eunuch was named Wang Liang, who was close to Wang Gui, who supervised the army.So he simply worshiped Wang Gui as his godfather, even though he was a few years older than Wang Gui.But it didn't affect their father-son relationship. For example, this time Wang Gui sent Wang Liang to Chang Xiao's army as a supervisor. However, Zhou Zhong had already warned the eunuchs Wang Gui and Wang Liang that it was fine to be a supervisor. But you must not interfere in the management and combat of the army, otherwise they will all be driven back to the capital, and Gu Dayong will send other people.Wang Gui also knew that Zhou Zhong was the number one celebrity in front of His Majesty, and he really couldn't afford to offend him, so he naturally agreed.

Speaking of it, Wang Gui also lived very comfortably during this period, especially after Zhou Zhong attacked Malacca Port, he stayed there and never came back. Firstly, Malacca Port was stationed with heavy troops, so he, the eunuch who supervised the army, was needed to personally Sitting in town, he also saw that there was plenty of oil and water in the port of Malacca. Among other things, the ship that Zhou Zhong gave him brought him a lot of income, and almost a few thousand taels of silver came into his account every month. , Sometimes it even reached tens of thousands of taels. He has already taken out his old capital, ordered a few more ships in the shipyard, and asked Zhou Zhong's Nanyang Chamber of Commerce to find some reliable sailors, and is preparing to form a team of his own. It is precisely because of this that he has no intention of following Chang Xiao to a poor place like North Korea.

When the [-] sailors led by Chang Xiao left, Zhou Zhong saw him off in person. Because of the urgent military situation and the need to keep it secret, Zhou Zhong did not prepare any send-off ceremony. I poured a bowl of wine myself, and then drank it with them, and then I shouted: "Let's go!"

Hearing Zhou Zhong's order, Chang Xiao and the others turned around and boarded the ship immediately, the horn on the battleship sounded immediately, and all the sails were hoisted, then Chang Xiao and the others standing at the stern saluted Zhou Zhong on the shore, Only then did he command the warship to advance towards North Korea.

Zhou Zhong was very relieved of Chang Xiao leading the troops. Chang Xiao performed very well when he attacked the Portuguese in Malacca last time. It seemed that Chang Xiao had inherited the military talents of his ancestor Chang Yuchun. Xiao also attaches great importance to Portuguese warships, and even personally learned from Portuguese prisoners of war for a long time, and has a lot of experience in the application of Portuguese warships. The reason why he brought five Portuguese warships this time is for Chang Xiao to practice. After all, the shipyard in Shuangyu Port is already building the Warren warship designed by Chilawa. This kind of warship combines the advantages of Portuguese warships and Daming Fuchuan warships. It is impossible to understand the operation and application of Portuguese warships.

Before sending Chang Xiao off, Zhou Zhong deliberately found the other party for a long time to talk secretly, mainly to tell him not to fight recklessly when encountering the enemy, and everything is based on the premise of preserving his own strength. After all, North Korea is not Ming, and it is not worth it. They go for it.

In addition, for Chang Xiao's strategic goals this time, Zhou Zhong also gave Chang Xiao a lot of freedom. For example, Chang Xiao's army nominally helped North Korea to suppress the rebellious Japanese, but Zhou Zhong only let Chang Xiao attack the Japanese. The back road, that is, Tsushima Island in the Tsushima Strait, just needs to occupy this place, and in case of a Japanese counterattack, fight if you can’t beat it, leave if you can’t beat it, and then station on Jeju Island. As the territory belonging to the Koreans, Ming, as the suzerain country that assisted them, has the right to station anywhere in the Korean territory.

In fact, when Zhou Zhong gave Zhengde the idea of ​​letting the Four Seas to help the Koreans encircle and suppress the rebellious Japanese, he had no good intentions at first, but wanted to put a stick between North Korea and the Japanese country. It will be very convenient to change, or to contact the Ashikaga family of Wa country.As for those rebellious Japanese, in Zhou Zhong's view, there is nothing to fear at all. As long as Chang Xiao and the others circle around Tsushima Island, those Japanese will not dare to stay in North Korea for a long time. As long as the Japanese withdraw from North Korea, Ming will agree to North Korea's strategy The purpose is also achieved.

After sending away Chang Xiao's army, Zhou Zhong returned to his Governor's Mansion to continue handling government affairs, the most important of which was to ask Zhengde for a batch of sweet potato seedlings to be sent to Taiwan Island, because there were the most disaster victims there, and although Taiwan's land It is fertile and the climate is very suitable for farming, especially rice, which is almost cropped three times a year.But it's a pity that the land there is wasteland, and it will take at least a few years to truly become a field, but in these few years, the food produced by those wastelands may not be enough to feed the immigrants.

However, although the wasteland is not suitable for growing rice, it is no problem to plant sweet potatoes. After all, this thing does not choose land, and the yield is large, so as long as the victims pick out a few pieces of land to plant sweet potatoes, I am afraid that there will be enough food for a year. up.Originally the sweet potatoes were dedicated to Zhengde by Zhou Zhong, and he also kept a lot of sweet potatoes in his family, but there are too many people in Taiwan, and the sweet potato seedlings provided by his family alone are not enough. Fortunately, Zhengde's Huangzhuang planted a large area Sweet potatoes had a bumper harvest last year, and they also stored a large amount of sweet potato seedlings. They are planning to find several prefectures to promote them, and it happens that Taiwan Island can be one of the pilot projects.

After writing the memorial, he sent someone to send it to Zhengde immediately. In addition, Zhou Zhong also took out all the sweet potato seedlings stored at home last year and sent them to Taiwan for planting. When the weather is warmer, it is enough to plant them. The sweet potatoes that grow for one year will bear more, and the sweet potatoes that grow for half a year will do, but the sweet potatoes will grow less, so there is no need to worry.

After dealing with government affairs, Zhou Zhong stood up and stretched his waist. Recently, it was either military affairs or government affairs. He came to work every day at dawn, and he could only go back at night when the lights were on. The two pregnant women, Jinxuan and Lingyun, were fine. The whole family regards the two of them as treasures, it doesn't matter whether they are themselves or not, but Bai Mengwan, who just entered the family some time ago, is a little cold.

Thinking of Bai Mengwan, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but put a smile on his face. Before, he only thought that this woman was beautiful and smart. The reason why he was willing to be his concubine was actually just to repay his kindness, but after accepting her to enter the door, he realized that Bai Mengwan was real. She likes herself, and this kind of liking is very pure, and she also takes care of herself meticulously. It can be said that she is the one who cares most about herself in the family.

"I've finally finished my military and government affairs today, and I can relax for a few days. Let Mengwan cook two small dishes, and then have a drink with me. Just relax!" Zhou Zhong said. Stretching his stiff body, he said to himself with a smile, since he has neglected Bai Mengwan these few days, he should make up for her today. Thinking of Mengwan's fair and exquisite body, Zhou Zhong also felt a burst of heat in his heart.

Next week he left the study room and went straight to the courtyard where Meng Wan lived, but he had just entered the courtyard when he heard a burst of crying from inside the house. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)