prosperous age

Chapter 436 Chapter 435
If it is said that before, Emperor Jiajing still had illusions about Hu Zongxian, hoping that he could put down the Japanese invasion, but now, although he still has not given up, he is no longer so persistent.

Emperor Jiajing didn't care whether Hu Zongxian could do it or not, he only looked at the result.

At least so far, Hu Zongxian's answer sheet is very bad.

He has been in power in Jiangnan for many years. Not only did he fail to solve the Japanese problem, but now he has forced Jiangnan to rebel. This is something he cannot tolerate as an emperor.

What's the use of not being able to act as a director and adding to the chaos?

Inadvertently, the support that Yan Song relied on to maintain the throne of the first assistant has collapsed in the heart of Emperor Jiajing, and now the only thing left is that trace of affection.

In any case, Yan Song has tried every means to ensure that Emperor Jiajing has taken whatever he wanted from the Ministry of Households over the years. If there is a replacement, will such days continue?

Huang Jin naturally didn't know what Emperor Jiajing was thinking, but he also felt that Hu Zongxian's official position might be a bit shaky.

Although Hu Zongxian's official position is not small, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a great official in the frontier, but his sympathy with the emperor is very light, and he has never been an official in the court. It's just through memorials that I know there is such a person as him.

As for the others, it is more appropriate to say that it is hard work rather than credit.

In these years, he has made no achievements other than stabilizing the Jiangnan defense line against Japanese pirates and destroying the first few Japanese pirates.

The night in Xiyuan was still quiet, no one knew about the conversation in the hall, let alone understand what was on Emperor Jiajing's mind at the moment.

"How many days have passed, is there no news from Taizhou?"

At this time, Hu Zongxian was also in a hurry in Xingyuanli, the governor of Hangzhou.

This time a large group of Japanese pirates came across the sea, and Hu Zongxian had already sent people to find out their details. They were all under Yuan Wangzhi's command. The difference was that they did not act together with Fujian and Guangdong pirates this time.

However, these are not what Hu Zongxian is really worried about. There are only a few thousand Japanese pirates. There are nearly 4000 battalions trained by Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun at the beginning, as well as soldiers from the local garrison. The Ming army still has the advantage in numbers.

And this does not make him completely at ease, because the government has received news a few days ago that there was a premeditated plan between the Japanese pirates and the coastal people this time. Instead of saying that thousands of Japanese pirates and dozens of warships came to rob Said it was to help them revolt.

The stability of the people along the coast is what worries him the most.

The Japanese pirates were easy to suppress, but the common people rebelled, which directly killed him.

Apparently, the news of Fujian's flag-raising rebellion has spread to Zhejiang, and the suffering people in Zhejiang can't sit still.

Although it is not known how many people will eventually participate in the trouble, Hu Zongxian understands that this person must be exterminated as a Japanese pirate, and the capital must not be allowed to know the real information.

"Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump."

Hurrying footsteps came from outside the house, and Hu Zongxian, who was pacing back and forth in the house, suddenly stopped and stood still.

"My lord, the battle report of General Qi on the front line."

The person outside the door reported loudly with a slightly joyful tone.

"Come in, come in and talk."

When the officials under his command entered the room, before he reached out, Hu Zongxian grabbed the battle report in his hand and couldn't wait to flip through it. Following the description in the battle report, Hu Zongxian couldn't help whispering.

"Fenghua Ninghai Taizhou on the [-]th"

Hu Zongxian couldn't help frowning as he read out the place names one by one.

This battle was different from what he had expected at first. According to the usual practice, the first targets of the Japanese pirates were usually wealthy Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places. However, Qi Jiguang judged that the Japanese pirates landed near Ningbo in order to attract the Ming army to rush to Ningbo for rescue. The purpose may be Taizhou Prefecture and Wenzhou Prefecture, so they sent people to inform Zhejiang General Lu Ting and General Niu Tianxi.

Hu Zongxian knew Qi Jiguang's plan when he thought about it. Lu Tong led the troops to garrison Ningbo at this time, and Niu Tianxi led his troops to garrison Wenzhou. The target of the betting pirates is Taizhou.

After informing the two, he can let go and fight the Japanese pirates in Taizhou Prefecture. No matter whether he wins or loses in the end, he can at least clear the relationship between Ningbo and Wenzhou.

But it doesn't matter, he understands the small ninety-nine in the general's heart, for Hu Zongxian, he only wants the news of victory.

Continue to look down, and soon there will be a report on the battle situation.

The Japanese pirates invaded Taizhou in three ways. One route landed at Lipu, intending to invade Taozhu; the other route landed at Zhouyang Port, intending to invade Xinhe;

Tang Yaochen then ordered the military preparations to lead the Haimen and Taizhou armies to rescue Xinhe. He led the main force to wipe out the enemies in Ninghai first, and then wiped out the Japanese pirates in Taozhu, Jiantiao and other places.

On the 26th, Tang Yaochen led about 2000 troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese pirates in Xinhe. After the enemy was defeated, the remnants of the Japanese fled to Wenling. On the second day, they were defeated by Xintang near Wenling. direction to flee.

At the time of the fierce battle in Xinhe, Qi Jiguang had mobilized his troops to wipe out the Japanese pirates invading Xianninghai, and quickly transferred his troops to reinforce Taizhou. On the 27th, he encountered the Japanese pirates at Huajie near Taizhou City. More than a thousand people beheaded more than [-], captured the first two pirates, drowned many Japanese pirates, seized hundreds of weapons, and rescued more than [-] captive men and women.
"More than 5000 people."

Hu Zongxian was surprised by the number of people rescued mentioned in Qi Jiguang's battle report. What he was most worried about was that these people were the internal agents of the Japanese pirates.

However, it is good to have this battle report, at least it can clear up the suspicion that they are the internal agents of the Japanese pirates. Even if there is a censor who knows the details in the future, Qi Jiguang's battle report can calm the matter down.

Now the remnants of the Japanese pirates from all walks of life have retreated to the seaside. In order to prevent the Japanese pirates from boarding the ship and fleeing to raid other places, Qi Jiguang stationed troops outside the city of Taizhou and planned to wait for an opportunity.

"Good, good, good."

After reading Qi Jiguang's battle report, Hu Zongxian's excitement was beyond words.

With this victory in Taizhou, he can finally give the imperial court another explanation.

Just at this time, there were heavy footsteps outside the house, and soon his staff Xu Wei and others had entered the house. Hu Zongxian handed Qi Jiguang's battle report to Xu Wei and said, "Look, our initial judgment was wrong. It seems that the Japanese pirates The target this time is really Taizhou."

Before, the officials of the Governor’s Mansion believed that the target of the Japanese pirates was Ningbo Mansion. Firstly, it was rich here, and secondly, it was close to the Zhoushan Islands, making it easy to escape. Even though there were news that some people along the coast seemed to be colluding with the Japanese pirates to cause rebellion, they did not dare to fully believe it because of the lack of details. .

Well now, regardless of whether the news is true or not, as long as the Japanese pirates are wiped out, even if the people really have objections, there will be no big waves.

Under the pressure of absolute force, Hu Zongxian did not believe that the people were not afraid of death.

Just like those people in Huajie, before Hu Zongxian worried that they were actually traitors colluding with the Japanese pirates, but now that they think about it, they are still too worried. Judging from their current performance, seeing the Ming army killing them is also becoming a robbery by the Japanese pirates the people?

Soon, a group of staff had read Qi Jiguang's battle report, and then they discussed in a low voice for a while before Xu Wei stepped forward and said to Hu Zongxian: "My lord, judging from the current situation, the main force of the Japanese pirates has appeared in Taizhou. It’s true that there are small groups of Japanese pirates, you can send someone to immediately inform Lu Tong and Niu Tianxi, and let them oversee the army to wipe out those Japanese pirates.”

"That's exactly what I mean, Chief Wen. You will write the official document and send it out immediately."

Xu Wei Xu Wenchang, known as a "child prodigy" since he was a child, was also a writer, calligrapher, painter, dramatist, and military strategist in the mid-Ming Dynasty.

Xu Wei is versatile and unique in poetry, drama, calligraphy and painting. Together with Xie Jin and Yang Shen, he is known as the "Three Talents of the Ming Dynasty".

He is the founder of China's "Splash-ink Daxieyi Painting School" and the originator of the "Qingteng School of Painting". His paintings can absorb the essence of the predecessors and be reborn. Flowers are the most outstanding, creating a style of painting for a generation, which has a great influence on the painting circles of later generations.

He is good at calligraphy and has written a lot of poems and essays. He is known as "a talented man of the Ming Dynasty". He can play the piano, knows the rhythm, and loves opera. His book "Nanci Xulu" is China's first theoretical monograph on Nanxi Opera. "Four Voices of the Ape", "Ge Dai Xiao" and anthologies handed down to the world.

However, Xu Wei's luck in the imperial examination was not good, and he repeatedly failed in the provincial examination.

The township examination was indeed the most difficult hurdle for ancient scholars to pass. It required not only literary talent, but luck as well. Xu Wei's luck was best when he just passed the preliminary examination and failed in the re-examination.

In the winter of Jiajing's 37th year, he was appreciated by Governor Hu Zongxian. After many invitations, Xu Wei finally joined the shogunate and served as Hu Zongxian's staff.

Hu Zongxian admired Xu Wei because of his calligraphy and painting talents. At the beginning of his career, he created "Jin Bailu Biao" and sent it to Xiyuan, which was appreciated by Emperor Jiajing.

Although it was said that Xu Wei was good at military affairs and helped Hu Zongxian plan for Xu Hai, Wang Zhi and other Japanese pirates, but judging from the time when he entered the Governor's Mansion, it seems unlikely.

However, Xu Wei was indeed respected by Hu Zongxian, and he handled many official documents behind the scenes.

Of course, the capital doesn't know about the things in Zhejiang. Now when Wei Guangde entered Prince Yu's Mansion as a lecturer, he had already fulfilled the requirements of Emperor Jiajing, but he still stayed in the mansion and didn't miss the scheduled class time.

However, what Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng didn’t know was that every time Wei Guangde gave lectures to King Yu, they were actually discussing rather than giving lectures, or even plotting how to safely open the sea ban and make money for the court to solve financial problems.

To increase the fiscal revenue of the imperial court, the first choice is naturally to add taxes, but Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang made a very light tax and service, and future generations are not allowed to change it. After that, how much tax and service burden the people bear will be a showdown in the local government. In fact, it was the early Ming Dynasty that actually turned over to the court The figure of Zhu Yuanzhang has not changed much.

However, his "customization" will cost the lives of future generations. The Ming Dynasty had low taxes and servitude, but there were a lot of levies and miscellaneous taxes. It just enriched the local area and impoverished the central government.

With the ancestral system, it is naturally impossible to increase the court's income from taxation, unless the emperor has extraordinary prestige.

In addition, there is naturally only one way to open source, and now Yu Wang and Wei Guangde are optimistic, naturally it is to increase the maritime trade, so as to collect tariffs and earn money.

Opening the sea ban is actually robbing the coastal gentry of money, and there must be great resistance, so it will definitely not work if you let it go at the beginning, and you need to establish rules on how to distribute the money collected.

For this reason, Wei Guangde, who came from later generations, naturally knows how to solve it, that is, boil the frog in warm water, little by little.

First set up a special zone, let the court see the benefits, and naturally the resistance will be reduced, especially Wei Guangde proposed that if the tariff revenue is sufficient, he can use the increase in salary as a bait to get more officials to support Kaihai.

In their discussions, it is natural to choose a place first, and the scale must be deliberately controlled in order to reduce income.

The trade volume is not large, and the tariffs are not much, so the local governments will naturally not come in to compete for shares. At that time, the inner court and the Ministry of households can get the biggest cake, and the remaining small pieces can be thrown to the local governments.

The rules have been established, and after seeing the effect, we can decide whether to increase our efforts and seek the benefits.

Regarding the things they talked about, even the eunuch Li Fang was kept in the dark by King Yu, which was what Wei Guangde wanted to achieve.

Only in this way, his position in King Yu's mind will be more important, one of his own.

Unlike Gao Gong, who has shared weal and woe with King Yu for many years, without the support of Zhang Juzheng, he can only think of these methods.

The time has quietly entered July of the 40th year of Jiajing, and the Japanese pirates who invaded Ningbo, Taizhou and Wenzhou were wiped out. Hu Zongxian called the generals under his command in the governor's office to discuss matters. We ask for credit.

At this time, publicly declaring meritorious service, naturally there is also the purpose of attracting these people.

Everyone can discuss it face to face, and rank the meritorious service according to the results of the battle, the first merit and the second merit. Everyone can see that the heads handed in and the captured ones are full of confidence, and those who are frustrated do not dare to make sarcastic remarks in private.

In fact, for these generals, the first victory in the suppression of the Japanese is not in dispute. Naturally, it was Qi Jiguang who fought in Taizhou Prefecture.

After defeating the Japanese pirates of the three groups, they defeated the Japanese pirates in Daejeon again in early May. When the Japanese pirates fled westward, they set up an ambush at Shangfengling, the place where the Japanese pirates must pass, and waited for the Japanese pirates to pass through the narrow valley.

In the middle of the month, in Changsha, southeast of Wenling, the remnants of the Japanese pirates were wiped out in one fell swoop with the cooperation of water and land.

This battle was also the first time that Qi Jiguang commanded the water army to fight. Hu Zongxian was delighted that after Yu Dayou was convicted, he finally discovered that Qi Jiguang also had the ability to command water warfare.

Although Qi Jiguang was humble and didn't know much about water warfare, he still couldn't stop Hu Zongxian's determination.

Qi Jiguang is a good man, knowledgeable and interesting, this is the consensus of the officialdom in Zhejiang, and there will be no great resistance to his promotion.

Hu Zongxian is also more optimistic about Qi Jiguang than the already old Lu Tong, and this time the [-] recruits he drilled are of good combat power and should be of great use.

In April, May, and June, the Japanese pirates made a big fuss about Zhejiang and Fujian. When the time entered July, the government could finally let the government live in peace for two months. After that, there will be a small flood season in September and October. There will also be Japanese pirate activities in these two months. , but generally on a much smaller scale.

Looking at the civil and military officials from Zhejiang who were sitting in the hall, Hu Zongxian was full of spirits, raised his wine glass, and shouted: "Everyone, thank you for your majesty Hongfu, everyone has made great contributions to the eradication of Japanese pirates this time. Drink this cup first, and we will discuss the merits later. Report to the capital."

(End of this chapter)