Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 657 The Battle of Shimabara
In fact, everyone knows that the amount of silver collected by the imperial court is far more than this. Because many people do not want to put silver in the bank, they often exchange banknotes for silver. In order to ensure the credibility of banknotes, banks must exchange them for others. .

It can be seen from the bank's current accounts that there are at least more than ten million taels of silver exchanged from the bank, of which millions of taels are exchanged back and forth with the bank by ordinary people.That is to say, the common people do not trust the bank very much, and distrust of the bank is actually distrust of the imperial court.

It is conceivable that when the common people start to trust the imperial court and the bank, they will stop tossing and turning, and will not exchange money for silver when they save some money, and then go to the bank to exchange banknotes when they need money.

But through the two years of natural disasters, the common people saw that the government took practical actions to help them tide over the difficulties, and gradually began to trust the imperial court.

These changes in Ming Dynasty were noticed by those officials. Many people's thinking had begun to change, and many people asked to come out to do things.

Li Jing is now going to select one of these people who is capable and able to carry out the new policy, and appoint him as the Henan chief envoy.

After flipping through the roster for a while, Li Jing suddenly saw a person named Ni Yuanlu, on the back of which was marked the Jinshi of Renxu Division in the second year of Tianqi, the examiners Sun Chengzong and Yuan Keli.

Li Jing still knew something about Ni Yuanlu. After all, everyone was a student of Yuan Keli, so it was impossible for Li Jing not to pay attention.

There is no problem with Ni Yuanlu's integrity, and he is quite talented. The reason why Li Jing didn't use him was because Ni Yuanlu didn't know Qiangu, and the second was because Li Jing wanted to suppress the Donglin Party and Fushe, but Ni Yuanlu had a relationship with the Donglin Party members. From very close.

If Ni Yuanlu is used, it will send a bad signal to the Donglin party members. This group of people likes to discuss the government affairs indiscriminately, no matter what is right or wrong. He thought that if Li Jing wanted to re-appoint members of the Donglin party, he must speak more recklessly.

Therefore, Li Jing considered again and again, and finally left Ni Yuanlu idle, but transferred him back to Beijing from Nanjing. (Note: Ni Yuanlu was disliked by Wen Tiren because of his close association with the Donglin Party. In the end, Wen Tiren sent Ni Yuanlu to Nanjing to take up a job.)
Now Li Jing has almost suppressed the Donglin Party and Fushe, and Ni Yuanlu may have been enlightened by his classmate Liu Lishun. In the past two years, he has started to learn some practical government affairs, so there is no problem in using him now.

Now Li Jing has almost suppressed the Donglin Party and Fushe, and Ni Yuanlu may have been enlightened by Liu Lishun, who is also a student of Yuan Keli, and has started to learn some practical government affairs in the past two years, so there is no problem in using him now.

Huang Daozhou was also a student of Yuan Keli with Ni Yuanlu. It should be said that these students Yuan Keli accepted had no personality, but except for Liu Lishun who is proficient in practice, the rest are not talents to deal with specific practices.

This should have something to do with the experience of these people. Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou and others were the same Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi, and the chief examiner was Yuan Keli, so they worshiped under Yuan Keli.But Liu Lishun was a student Yuan Keli took when he was banished and returned home by Emperor Wanli in his early years, and he was especially taught by Yuan Keli.

Moreover, Liu Lishun's road to the imperial examination was not smooth. It was not until the seventh year of Chongzhen that he was appointed as the number one scholar by Zhu Youjian, and he was already in his 50s at that time.Being the number one scholar at such an age, Liu Lishun has far more experience and knowledge than those young people, and Liu Lishun is very filial to his mentor Yuan Keli, Li Jing naturally takes care of him, and plans to let Liu Lishun take over the post of Governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang from Chen Dahu in the future.

Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou and others spend their time studying knowledge and learning calligraphy and painting. Among them, Ni Yuanlu is good at calligraphy and painting, and Huang Daozhou is good at calligraphy, especially Huang Daozhou's calligraphy, which can be said to be the best at that time.In addition, Huang Daozhou is also a generation of Confucian masters.

Although Li Jing appreciates their calligraphy and painting skills, he will not appoint them to important positions just because of their appreciation of their calligraphy and painting. As the deputy of Guozijian, when Kong Zhenyun retires, he is going to let Huang Daozhou take over as Guozijian Jijiu.

In Li Jing's view, a person like Huang Daozhou studies knowledge, so he should be arranged to work in the place where he studies knowledge. Letting him serve as a local official or the head of a practical department is to bury talents.

After flipping through the roster for a while, Li Jing decided that the two of them were going to be released.

Just as Li Jing put away the roster, a guard came in and reported to Ai Julius for a visit.

Hearing that Ai Julian asked to see him, Li Jing couldn't help being a little surprised, wondering what Ai Julius wanted to do with him.

Li Jing was about to discuss military matters with Gao Qi, and he didn't want to be disturbed at this time, but considering that Ai Julian had been helping with the translation work at the Academy of Sciences during this time, he not only had to translate the speeches of those scientists, but also helped Translating works can be said to be very hard work.Therefore, after thinking about it, Li Jing asked the guards to invite Ai Julius in.

Ai Julius entered the signing room and hurriedly saluted Li Jing.

Li Jing waved his hand with a smile, greeted Ai Julius to take a seat, and then ordered someone to pour tea for Ai Julius.

After Ai Julius sat down, Li Jing smiled and said, "Why is Mr. Ai Julius so free to come to my place today?"

Ai Julian was also not polite, and said directly: "Master Prime Minister, there is something I would like to ask for your help."

"Oh? Want me to help? No problem, as long as I can do it, I will help." Li Jing smiled.

Ai Julius hurriedly said: "Thank you, Prime Minister, only you can help with this matter."

"Let's listen to it." Li Jing smiled.

Ai Julius said: "That's right, our Catholic believers in Dongying were persecuted by the regime of the Shogunate in Dongpu. The congregation couldn't bear it and raised troops to fight against the Shogunate. However, the Shogunate's army is too strong. The congregation is outnumbered. Now they are besieged in In Shimabara Castle, I hope that the Prime Minister can write a letter to the shoguns in Japan to let them stop suppressing and persecuting us Catholics."

Li Jing couldn't help being startled when he heard the words, he pondered for a while and said: "Mr. Ai Julius, you are talking about the rebellion between Shimabara and Amakusa in Waguo, right?"

Ai Julius was startled when he heard the words: "Master Prime Minister, do you know about the rebellion that happened in the Eastern...Wa Kingdom?"

Li Jing smiled: "I know a thing or two."

"How do you know?" Ai Julio asked in surprise.

Li Jing smiled and said nothing.

After Li Jing abolished Jinyiwei and Dongchang, he established the Security and Vigilance Department. The Security and Vigilance Department has two departments, one is the National Intelligence Bureau and the other is the National Security Bureau. The names of these two departments are not known to ordinary people. As for There are even fewer people who know what these two departments do specifically, and it is naturally even more impossible for missionaries like Aleulio to know.

Among these two departments, the Security Bureau is responsible for inquiring about domestic intelligence matters, and the Intelligence Bureau is responsible for inquiring about foreign intelligence matters.Of course, the current task of the Intelligence Bureau is mainly to spy on the intelligence of the countries and regions around Daming where Li Jing plans to use troops.

Among the countries where Li Jing wants to use troops, the country of Wa is naturally indispensable, and the country of Wa is the target that Li Jing wants to focus on.

Li Jing wanted to attack the Wa country in order to avenge the war of aggression launched by the later generations of the Wa country. Li Jing only wanted to plunder all the wealth of the Wa Kingdom, so that the Wa Kingdom could only survive on the breath of Ming Dynasty.

However, using troops against the Wa country is not something that can be done just by slapping your head. You have to do what you can. The so-called know yourself and the enemy and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles. With the current economic situation of Ming Dynasty, it is not yet time to use troops against the Wa country, especially if you don’t understand the situation of the Wa country. You can't send troops easily.

To understand the situation of the Wa country, it is natural to send intelligence personnel to the country to collect information in person. Therefore, after the establishment of the Intelligence Bureau, Li Jing asked Ma Wu to send a group of intelligence personnel to the country of Wa to infiltrate the country in the name of doing business to inquire about information.

At that time, the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty were mainly concentrated in Nagasaki and Hirado Island. Zheng Zhilong did business in Nagasaki and Hirado when he was young, and later married the daughter of Hirado Hou's retainer, who was also Zheng Sen's mother.

After Zheng Zhilong developed, his power spread all over the southeast waters, and merchant ships from all countries had to look at Zheng Zhilong's face to act, and Japan was no exception. Under the protection of Zheng Zhilong, the Ming maritime merchants enjoyed a lot in Nagasaki, Hepingo and other places.Even though the Wa Kingdom began to close the country, it did not cut off the trade with the Ming maritime merchants.

Shimabara Castle is located on the Shimabara Peninsula in the southeast of Nagasaki, and Baicao Castle is located on the Baicao Peninsula in the south of the Shimabara Peninsula. When the Ming Dynasty merchants trade in Nagasaki, they will also go to these two places. Businessmen went to these two places to spy on intelligence.

Li Jing's request to the intelligence bureau's spies is that no matter what kind of information, as long as it is valuable, it must be collected. Some information may seem useless, but it is actually very useful.

Therefore, the spies of the Intelligence Bureau will basically collect all kinds of information, and then send it back to the capital for analysis and sorting.This is how Li Jing learned about the situation in Shimabara City and Baicao City.

In fact, the reasons for the outbreak of Shimabara and Baicao's rebellion are very complicated. If you look carefully, it should be traced back to the time when the Portuguese and Spaniards came to Wa.

After the Portuguese and Spaniards came to the country of Wa, they simultaneously spread the teachings of Catholicism to the country of Wa. Unlike Ming Dynasty, it was very difficult for Catholicism to spread in Daming, but it spread quickly in the country of Wa. For decades, people who believed in Catholicism in the country of Wa The congregation reached more than [-] people.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu founded the Edo Shogunate, he saw that Catholicism was getting stronger and stronger, and felt threatened, so he ordered the ban on Christianity.At that time, the Shimabara Peninsula was held by Matsukura Shigemasa as the feudal lord, and Matsukura Shigemasa carried out cruel and bloody suppression of Catholics.After the death of Matsukura Shigemasa in the third year of Chongzhen, his son Matsukura Katsuya succeeded as feudal lord. Matsukura Katsuya was more brutal than his father.

On the other side of the Shimabara Peninsula, the Karatsu Domain to which Amakusa Island belongs, Catholics are also treated inhumanely.

Seven years after Chongzhen, natural disasters occurred in Shimabara Peninsula and Baicao Peninsula for several years in a row.

Under the leadership of Amakusa Shiro, the rebels quickly occupied Hara Castle in the southern part of the Shimabara Peninsula, erected a cross on the city, and hung banners with crosses and icons.According to statistics, a total of more than [-] farmers from Shimabara and Amakusa participated in the rebellion, of which more than [-] were capable of fighting.

(End of this chapter)