Smuggling Daming

In fact, not only Wang Shouren saw the religious contradictions in Old Port, but Zhou Zhong also noticed the Muslims in Old Port. I still hear conflicts between Muslims and Han people from time to time, not to mention that Old Port was a Muslim city at the beginning, and now there are so many Han people suddenly, if there are no conflicts, it will be called ghosts.

It is precisely because of this that Zhou Zhong immediately summoned Jiao Fang and Zhang Cai to discuss the matter after receiving Wang Shouren's report on the religious conflicts in Jiugang. Among them, Zhang Cai is from Gansu, and there are many Muslims in his hometown, so for To deal with this religious conflict, he quickly thought of a way to deal with it.

Zhang Cai’s suggestion is first to divide the residential areas, that is, to divide the old port into two parts. The old city is still for those Muslims to live in, and a new city is built outside the old city to accommodate the arrival of new immigrants.

Of course, just living separately is not enough. Zhang Cai’s second suggestion is to use the government as the main force to teach new immigrants to know how to respect other people’s customs and habits, especially some taboos of Muslims. As for violating the other party's taboo unknowingly.At the same time, the government should also teach those Muslims to learn tolerance. They can maintain their own customs, but they cannot force others to follow their customs, even if they see others violate Muslim taboos in front of them. Step forward to accuse, after all, except for the government, no one can force others to do things according to their own code of conduct.

Zhang Cai's way of dealing with religious conflicts is not brilliant, but it is quite satisfactory.And this is the best way Zhou Zhong can do at this stage, so he quickly sent an official document to Li Yi, the prefect of Jiugang, asking him to deal with it according to the several measures proposed by Zhang Cai in light of the actual situation of Jiugang. An official document was also issued to Wang Shouren, asking them to supervise the religious conflicts in the old port according to the person left by the procuratorate.

After helping Li Yi deal with the religious conflicts in the Old Port, Wang Shouren finally completed his inspection of the state capital under the Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas, so he took a boat directly from the Old Port to Shuangyu Port, and shared what he had seen and heard along the way. .And write a document on the future development direction of the Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas and hand it over to Zhou Zhong, and then start to really start to rectify the administration of the Governor's Mansion.

As soon as Wang Shouren made a move, he pointed the finger at Zhang Cai, who had a lack of personal morality. Speaking of Zhang Cai, he was lustful when he was young, and even asked his subordinates for concubines. It can be said that his character is very problematic.Now that I am old, I don't have the energy to be lustful anymore, but I have become greedy for money. Originally, officials of the Ming Dynasty had very little salary, and they all relied on various gray incomes to support them. This has even become an unspoken rule in the officialdom.Everyone knows it but no one dares to tell it.

Zhou Zhong is very disgusted with this kind of gray income in the officialdom, so officials accept these gray income.It is easy to breed greed. Secondly, this kind of gray income is not transparent, and it is difficult for him to monitor it as the governor. Therefore, when the Governor's Mansion was first established, Zhou Zhong strictly prohibited the lower-level officials of the Governor's Mansion from accepting property without permission, that is, all The gray income was cut off at once, but Zhou Zhong also knew that officials could not support the whole family with their salary alone.So after he cut off those gray incomes, he simply turned from darkness to light.Turn the gray income of various names into subsidies for the governor's office, so that the income of officials can be more transparent, and it will also facilitate Zhou Zhong's supervision of lower-level officials.

Zhou Zhong reformed the finances of the Governor's Mansion, and most officials welcomed this reform. After all, they don't have to worry about collecting money as before, and their income has not decreased, and they don't have to take risks. Therefore, most officials strictly abide by the rules set by Zhou Zhong, and dare not accept any gray income.

But Zhang Cai has healed his scars and forgotten the pain. After he and Jiao Fang gained a firm foothold in the Governor's Mansion and gained Zhou Zhong's trust, his greedy thoughts rose again and he began to accept bribes from others. Although he takes money, he will not do too much. For example, some things Zhou Zhong ordered, even if he is paid by others, he will not dare to discount the slightest amount, because he knows very well that his young The boss is not easy to fool, if Zhou Zhong doesn't trust him because of some money, then his future future will be ruined.

Although Zhang Cai was very careful in accepting bribes, it was a pity that he met Wang Shouren. In history, Wang Shouren was famous for his treachery in military affairs. Now he uses his wisdom in military affairs in officialdom, and it is also invincible. For example, Wang Shouren makes people He pretended to be a businessman and offered a bribe to Zhang Cai, but Zhang Cai accepted it without noticing it for a while. Now Wang Shouren caught his personal stolen goods and got them. This should be the predecessor of fishing law enforcement in later generations.

Regarding Zhang Cai's acceptance of bribes, Zhou Zhong was actually aware of it. After all, Shuangyu Port was originally his territory, and any disturbance could not escape his eyeliner. He would not take the money that should be taken, and Zhou Zhong valued Zhang Cai's talent very much, so he turned a blind eye to Zhang Cai's bribery.

But Zhou Zhong could pretend not to know before, but now Wang Shouren has caught Zhang Cai accepting bribes, so Zhou Zhong can no longer pretend to be stupid. If he really wanted to put Zhang Cai to death, he just wanted to use this matter to show his prestige to the northern officials, so he didn't report it to the court, but handed it over to Zhou Zhong in private, and finally Zhou Zhong had to accept Zhang Cai. The bribes were confiscated, and then the family members of Zhang Cai's family who directly accepted the bribes were dealt with. Although this punishment was not severe, Wang Shouren did not pursue it.

By dealing with Zhang Cai's matter, Wang Shouren quickly established his prestige in the Governor's Mansion. After inquiring about Wang Shouren's past and his investigations in Taiwan, the scheming Jiao Fang wisely chose to back down. The southerners who were suppressed before can finally stand out, but Wang Shouren did not dare to push too much. After all, neither Jiao Fang nor Zhang Cai is easy to deal with, and among the southern officials, only he can barely compete with them However, Yang Tong, who was at the same level as him, was no match for the two of them at all, so Wang Shouren accepted it as soon as he saw it, and the forces of the North and South officials in the Governor's Mansion slowly restored their balance.

It is also worth mentioning that after living in Beijing for nearly half a year, the Portuguese mission headed by Vasco da Gama finally left Beijing with a commercial document signed by Zhengde. The agreement that has been reached is now only confirmed by Zhengde's signature again, and at the same time, it also guarantees the legitimacy of this treaty.

After Da Gama left Beijing, he came to Shuangyu Port to bid farewell to Zhou Zhong, and after meeting Zhou Zhong this time, his attitude became more respectful, emphasizing many times that he would pay the rest immediately after returning At the same time, I also hope that Zhou Zhong will abide by the contract signed by the two parties and vigorously promote the development of trade between Daming and Portugal.

Zhou Zhong was not very happy about Da Gama's respect, because he knew that the reason why Da Gama became respectful before was because during the half a year he stayed in Da Ming, he must have seen clearly the reality of Da Ming and knew The whole of Da Ming is just a weak giant, not as powerful as they imagined before, and everyone in Da Ming has a dispensable attitude towards Hai Yang, even now that Da Ming has earned countless wealth from Hai Yang, but Da Ming Still not paying much attention to the ocean, this discovery was a godsend to Da Gama.

However, although Da Ming didn't pay much attention to the sea, there was one exception. This exception was Zhou Zhong. Da Gama had stayed in Shuangyu Port for a while before, and he knew that Zhou Zhong's Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas had extremely strong power on the sea. , it is no exaggeration to say that just one Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas already has the power to defeat their Portuguese Kingdom, and what is even worse is that the young Governor seems to be very trusted by the Emperor of Ming, and the Ming Dynasty also has a lot of trust in the Governor's Mansion. The development of China has provided a lot of support, and it is precisely because of this that the strength of the Governor's Mansion on the sea is almost rapid.

It can be said that Vasco da Gama's trip to Beijing this time not only allowed him to figure out the reality of Daming, but also figured out the significance of Zhou Zhong, the young governor, to Daming. It is even no exaggeration to say that Zhou Zhong is Daming's The emperor of the sea, all maritime activities related to Ming Dynasty, cannot do without Zhou Zhong's support. If the Portuguese want to trade with Ming Dynasty in the future, they also need to maintain a good relationship with Zhou Zhong. If possible, Vasco da Gama They also hope to find Zhou Zhong's weakness. As long as Zhou Zhong can be defeated, the entire coast of Ming Dynasty will be open to their Portuguese Kingdom.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that when Da Gama saw Zhou Zhong again, his attitude became very respectful, even humble. After all, the strength of the Portuguese in Asia has been greatly weakened, and they are powerless to compete with Zhou Zhong in a short time. Ming Dynasty is fighting for the top, not to mention that Zhou Zhong's Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas is developing rapidly. God knows that the opponent will enter the Indian Ocean one day, so maintaining the necessary respect for Zhou Zhong now will only benefit and not harm in the future.

Regarding Da Gama's respect, Zhou Zhong is very sober, especially he knows that the Portuguese in front of him has seen clearly the reality of Da Ming, if the Portuguese accumulates the strength to defeat him again in the future, then they will definitely not hesitate Hesitantly, as long as he loses, the entire coast of Daming will be over, so now he can only desperately develop the sea power of the Governor's Mansion, and even take the initiative to compete with Portugal. It is best to drive the Portuguese power out of the Indian Ocean. . (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)