Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 341 Nanyang Pirate King

"Come and check out our top hotels!"

"Big fish from the Yangtze River just arrived today, as well as marine fish from the East China Sea. They are fresh!"

"Let's talk about the fact that I, Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, made the trip to Nanjing. I am surrounded by guests from all over the world and prosperous in the five directions. It is really a paradise."

"What about Shennong, Yao, Shun, Ji, Qi, Kui..."

"Crackling!!"

"Which candidate got Jinshi again?"

In April, on the bustling streets, the shouts and storytellers in the restaurants, as well as the sound of firecrackers outside the street from time to time, and the surprised sounds of passers-by formed a picture of fireworks in the world.

Sitting in the private room of a restaurant in the inner city, Zhu Gaoxu listened to the sounds on the street and couldn't help but look up at Guo Yan, who had an unsightly expression in front of him.

"Don't worry, my grandfather-in-law will be fine."

Zhu Gaoxu fell silent, not knowing how to comfort Guo Yan.

"Haha!" Zhu Gaoxu was not angry, but smiled: "Everyone has a love for beauty. It's not strange to see beautiful women."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know whether Guo Ying could survive this test. After all, compared to history, he had fewer months of travel during the Jingnan Campaign, so he lived nearly a year longer than history.

Since the beginning of spring, Guo Ying's health has not been good, so she took a month's leave from the National Defense University.

"I'm staying with you mainly to ask you how your life has been since you came to the capital. Are there any fellow countrymen who came to the capital with you?"

"How is life in the capital? Do you think the capital has changed in the past few years?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked with a smile. The boy swallowed his saliva when he heard this, and after thinking about it carefully, he said:

Today, Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan walked out of the palace and went to the Wuding Marquis Mansion to see Guo Ying. However, his condition was not very good. He was much thinner than before, and the scars on his body began to hurt.

There are 600 draft horses in Beijing, and there are garbage trucks parked in the inner and outer cities. Every day, someone drives a garbage carriage to park the clean garbage trucks in their original places, and then take away the garbage trucks that were placed yesterday.

His current situation is the same as when Zhu Gaoxu saw the sick Fu Youde. The difference is that at that time, Fu Youde no longer had the idea of ​​​​survival, while Guo Ying still had a strong desire to survive.

"The capital is also cleaner. It's much cleaner than when I first came here. The shops on the street throw their garbage into the court's garbage trucks. Occasionally, if someone throws something, it will be cleaned up."

"In the second year of Yongle, I came after the imperial court relaxed the road guide." The boy replied, and the policy of relaxing the road guide in his mouth was also one of the new policies promulgated by Zhu Gaoxu at that time.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu stopped a young boy who was about to leave: "You stay, I have something to ask you, but I won't delay you, and I will reward you."

The so-called garbage truck is one of Zhu Gaoxu’s new policies.

There was a knock on the door, and Yishiha opened the door to the private room and spoke cautiously.

All garbage will be transported to the Yangtze River and dumped there. Since the garbage is mostly stones, sand, kitchen waste and other garbage, there is no fear of pollution after being dumped into the Yangtze River.

Since the wellhead is not large, there is no need to worry about someone throwing large materials into the sewer, causing congestion in the sewer.

"Pass it in." Zhu Gaoxu signaled. Seeing this, Yi Shiha also walked in with a few nervous guys.

He swore that he had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life, not even the Qinhuai River where he often went to deliver goods. No one could compare with her.

"There are more people in the Qinhuai River, and there are more people wearing silk on the streets. Now you can't see many people wearing white cloth in the inner city. Most of the people wearing white cloth are helpers, or they come in from the outer city. Those who work in the inner city.”

"Yes Yes……"

Zhu Gaoxu comforted Guo Yan and mentioned Guo Ying.

Each of them held a plate of food and carefully put it down.

The thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy stood there nervously, while the other boys controlled their steps and nervously left the private room.

"Don't look at what you shouldn't look at." Yi Shiha said in a bad tone, making the little boy tremble and nod in fear.

The boy was very nervous. When Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he smiled and said, "Sit down first. I have something to ask you."

It is now the fourth year of Yongle, and Guo Ying has reached the age of sixty-eight.

The boy talked about the changes in Nanjing City in his eyes, which all showed the prosperity of Nanjing City in the past three years.

In addition, Nanjing has also built an underground drainage system, and every alley has a wellhead for dumping garbage.

The more polite Zhu Gaoxu was, the more nervous the boy became, because he was worried that the master in front of him was as good as Long Yang.

After the garbage is dumped, when the dusk drum sounds, the sluice gate at the drainage outlet will be opened, and the water from the Qinhuai River will flow into the sewer and wash the garbage into the Yangtze River.

The whole underground drainage system is more difficult. The main thing is to connect it in series, especially to separate the small rivers in the city, so that all the garbage can be flushed into the Yangtze River.

"Our wages have also increased, but not by much."

"Master, the food has arrived."

It would be best if he could survive it, but if he couldn't...

After Yishiha closed the door, he walked back to Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu also asked the boy, "Where are you from?"

He smiled and asked the boy, "When did you come to the capital?"

They didn't know Zhu Gaoxu's identity, but they could tell from the cloth on his body that he was someone their restaurant couldn't afford to offend.

"Also, the prices of vegetables in restaurants have also increased a bit, and the prices of vegetables and meat in the market have gone up and down."

"There are six." The boy said nervously. At the same time, he couldn't help but glance at Guo Yan, who was sitting opposite him.

"Back...back to the master, the younger one is from Jiangpu. He has a road opened by the yamen and came to the capital to work..."

For this reason, Zhu Gaoxu specially asked people to directly block the water inlets in various places in the city with sandbags, and let them be exposed to the sun for a month before digging soil for construction.

This project took two years and used a lot of masonry and cement. It was criticized by the people and officials.

But facts have proven that when the project was announced to be completed, officials and people who had criticized the court began to enjoy these conveniences.

"Have prices increased much?"

Zhu Gaoxu did not feel complacent because of trivial matters, but asked about the young man's life.

"The increase is not much. All types of meat have increased by one penny. Vegetables have increased by one penny per 100 kilograms. Cloth has not increased at all."

"Also, the cost of shops and housing has increased, and many people want to buy houses in the inner city."

The boy told him some things he knew. Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu signaled Yishuha to reward him.

Yi Shiha took out a small sling of money from his arms, worth hundreds of coins.

Originally, the boy thought that Yi Shiha would take out a few coins and give them to him, but unexpectedly, Yi Shiha threw them directly into his arms: "This is the reward given to you by the master of the house."

"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!" Seeing that he had gained such a big advantage, the boy was no longer nervous, and knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Gaoxu excitedly.

"Go out and work hard, and strive to return home in glory as soon as possible."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and waved his hand. Upon seeing this, the boy stood up, bowed to thank him, and then left the private room.

After he left, Guo Yancai, who had remained silent, said: "No matter where your Highness goes, government affairs are still your top priority."

She is not yin and yang, but full of admiration for her husband.

"What if I don't?" Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "I want to pursue my own affairs in my position. If I want to sit in this position, I must be worthy of this responsibility."

"If I get older, feel tired, and don't want to do it anymore, then I can just quit."

Zhu Gaoxu's retirement theory surprised Guo Yan, a woman who had slept with him for so many years, but she did not think Zhu Gaoxu would retire.

"You don't believe it?" Zhu Gaoxu saw Guo Yan's disbelief. Without waiting for her answer, he poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip of the so-called tea, shook his head and said:

"It's really tiring to deal with government affairs. I don't have the energy as my grandfather."

"Whenever I feel like I can't do it anymore and can't go on anymore, I'll just step back and take a rest."

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu was fortunate to have Zhao Jiumei before his father and son.

Although Zhao Jiumei could not control Qin Hui, at least he was more honest after giving the Zen position to Zhao Gou. Zhao Gou did not do anything excessive to Zhao Gou and was very filial.

With this foster father and son in front of him, Zhu Di dared to say abdication, and the same was true for Zhu Gaoxu.

Of course, the abdication relationship between Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty and his son Zhao Dun of the Song Dynasty was very awkward. However, the embarrassment between the father and son was mainly due to the fact that there was a powerful and vicious Li family who was causing trouble in the middle. Otherwise, it would not have been so tense. .

In comparison, Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan were both filial and sensible. Zhu Di dared to say that the Zen position was also under such prerequisites.

If Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan were like Song Guangzong, Zhao Dun and Li Shi, then Zhu Di would probably find a way to take back his power.

"I have to take care of He'er. I can't be like that Zhao Dun. Otherwise, when I get old, I won't dare to give up to him."

When he thought of Song Guangzong, Zhao Dun and the Li family, Zhu Gaoxu clicked his tongue several times, seeming to feel sorry for Song Xiaozong's experience.

"Then I should choose a good wife for you." Guo Yan was also amused by Zhu Gaoxu, and seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, she started talking.

"Let's eat. After eating, go back to the palace. I think He'er has already started crying."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled bitterly and shook his head, picked up the chopsticks and picked up the food for Guo Yan.

The two of them often ate this kind of restaurant food before they got married and went north. Counting the time, it has been almost ten years since they tried it. Today, when I ate it once in a while, I thought it tasted pretty good.

After drinking and eating, the two went downstairs and got on the carriage, escorted by more than 20 guards, they returned to the Forbidden City.

After returning to the East Palace, Guo Yan went straight to the front bedroom because she had heard Zhu Zhanhe's cry.

Listening to the crying, as a father, Zhu Gaoxu also clicked his tongue and said: "This kid has so many tears. I hope he won't be a crybaby like the boss."

When Zhu Gaochi, the eldest brother, was mentioned, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, then turned to Yishiha and asked, "Where is my eldest brother?" After the Lantern Festival, all the kings began to vassalize one after another, and Zhu Gaochi, the King of Han, was naturally one of them.

Before he left, the duplicitous Zhu Di still had someone send him 20,000 copper coins to prevent him from having a bad life in Yunnan.

In fact, Zhu Di was planning to give Zhuang Tian, ​​but Zhu Gaoxu did not agree with giving Zhuang Tian, ​​so he had to give up.

"The news from three days ago was that I arrived in Wuchang, met with the King of Chu, and then went south to Changsha to meet the King of Zhao."

Yi Shiha said, but at the same time reminded: "Your Highness, is it not good to allow the kings to meet in private like this?"

"It's okay. Once they arrive at the fiefdom, they can't leave it casually. It's okay to just catch up on old times on the feudal road."

Zhu Gaoxu sat back in his seat and said nonchalantly.

In fact, he hoped that the vassals would work out something after they met, so that he would have a reason to cut down the vassals.

"By the way, I heard that King Qin and King Jin are being dealt with by my father?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha was ashamed when he heard the words: "Your Majesty sent officials to Xi'an, but King Bing of Qin claimed that he was ill and disappeared. Then his Majesty sent people to capture all the officials of his palace and exiled them to the Hecheng Guards in Daning. "

"King Bing of Qin became much more honest after this battle."

"As for Jin Wang Xi..." Yi Shiha paused. Seeing his hesitation, Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhu Jixi and Zhu Gaoxu remembered clearly that if he hadn't asked Fu Rang's sister to write a letter to Fu Youde, Fu Youde would not have been so targeted by his grandfather.

"His younger brother Zhu Jiyi, King of Pingyang, kept complaining, saying that the King of Jin was often dissatisfied with His Majesty, so His Majesty was very unhappy."

After Yi Shiha finished speaking carefully, Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts were the same as in history.

Historically, Zhu Jixi was definitely not happy about Zhu Di's ascension to the throne, but he was not stupid enough to speak ill of Zhu Di in the palace.

Zhu Jiyi just wanted to frame him and get the throne of King Jin.

It's a pity that even though he framed Zhu Jixi and got the throne, in the end he was deprived of his title and demoted to a commoner because he tried to poison his aunt's mother and colluded with the King of Han Zhu Gaoxu.

In Zhu Gaoxu's own impression, he didn't seem to have anything to do with Zhu Jiyi. It seems that the deviation was caused by his arrival.

"Zhu Jixi is not stupid and would not do that kind of thing. I know Zhu Jixi. He is arrogant and jealous. I guess the above content is all false accusations."

"Let's do this. You send someone to replace the chief historian of the Jin Palace and let him judge whether what Zhu Jiyi said is true or false."

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Jixi were relatively close friends. For the sake of Lao Zhu and Fu Youde's daughter, it was nothing to do him a favor.

Seeing His Highness intervene, Yi Shiha nodded in agreement, and then arranged for someone to resolve the matter.

But while they were all busy because of this, Nanyang seemed very chaotic at the moment...

"Boom boom boom——"

When the ferocious sound of cannons sounded on the sea, hundreds of granite stone bullets hit a lucky ship with five or six hundred materials like a shower.

In just an instant, the lucky ship began to take in water and sank under such a covering attack, causing numerous casualties among the sailors on board.

"Quick, move closer, don't let it sink!!"

On the deck, Yang Zhan watched the fortune ship that was about to sink with interest and directed the fleet to move closer to it.

Not long after, several horse-drawn boats surrounded the ship and threw dozens of hooks to catch the sinking ship.

On the sea, many thrashing sailors looked desperately at the tall ships surrounding them.

"Pull one person up to ask questions, and the others will help me pick up the cargo on the ship."

Yang Zhan laughed loudly, and the sailors also waved flags and asked the horse boats to begin to capture them.

A quarter of an hour later, when a middle-aged man who was soaked and dressed like a Confucian scholar was escorted to the ship of the Pacific Fleet, he immediately knelt down and was dejected.

Yang Zhan sat back in his seat, with Cui Jun and Zheng He sitting next to him.

"Which merchant group are you from? I wonder if you can't do sea trade now. Even if you want to leave, you have to stop the ship for inspection and pay taxes?"

Between Yang Zhan and Cui Jun, Zheng He spoke kindly, but the captured chief said:

"Replying to your lord, we are all overseas Chinese in Nanyang. We have been doing business in Nanyang for many years. We really don't know these things. Please, for the sake of the king, please let us go and return our goods..."

"Fuck your mother!" After hearing this, many generals around him cursed. However, Yang Zhan raised his hand to stop the farce around him and then said, "Who is the leader of your country?"

"The name of the leader of Bolin State cannot be mentioned." The manager hesitated, but Cui Jun sneered: "Chen Zuyi, right?"

"You..." The captain's eyes widened, but Cui Jun cursed, "A pirate actually dares to call himself the king."

"Look at the fleet behind me. How does it compare to the leader of your family?"

Cui Jun said a few words, leaving the boss speechless.

Needless to say, Chen Zuyi's strength is one of the best maritime forces in the world, but that was before he met the Pacific Fleet.

Judging from the Ming army's bombardment just now, not to mention one 500-year-old fortune ship, even ten ships could not survive a single bombardment.

Faced with the overwhelming power of the Pacific Fleet, the commander-in-chief who used to have a tough attitude towards the Southeast Asian countries now seemed so weak.

"Give him a sand boat with two hundred materials." Yang Zhan spoke and said to the officer: "The imperial court has issued a decree. Chen Zuyi will either accept recruitment or be exterminated on the spot. You can bring this to him."

"Yes...yes..." The minister's face turned pale. He really didn't expect that the imperial court would issue such a severe decree.

Judging from the strength displayed by the Pacific Fleet today, if the two sides really fight, then their side may not have any chance of winning.

"get out!"

Cui Jun cursed, and the commander could only take the 200-material sand boat in despair to rescue his sailors, and then led them to escape from the northern waters of the Malay Peninsula in embarrassment.

Seeing them leaving, Zheng He said, "The prince didn't say he wanted to recruit him?"

Facing the problem, Yang Zhan touched the mustache that he had raised for some time: "Try it. If you can recruit him, then his more than 10,000 people will be useful to us."

"That's true." Zheng He nodded and acknowledged this statement.

Since leaving the Champa Kingdom in the twelfth lunar month, they have been heading south, passing through three countries including Chenla, Siam and Manchuria.

None of these countries dared to think wrong when facing the Pacific Fleet, because they all knew the news of Annan's destruction.

We must know that the Hu family of Annan and his son had completely suppressed Champa before, and Champa and Siam attacked Zhenla. It can be said that Annan's combat power is undoubtedly superior to that of the Three Kingdoms.

As powerful as Annan was destroyed by the Ming Dynasty in half a year, they naturally did not dare to act recklessly, so the voyage fleet saw the envoys sent by these countries before they arrived.

The envoys of the Three Kingdoms were all shocked by the size of the Pacific Fleet. After returning home, they even boasted that there was no fleet in the sky and no one on earth.

It was obviously a combined fleet of 20,000 people composed of hundreds of treasure ships, warships and horse boats, but when it was heard by the kings and ministers of the three kingdoms, it became a thousand warships, each one hundred feet long and dozens of feet wide, carrying hundreds of people. people, the size of the army is 100,000.

This scale gives people the impression that they are not here for diplomacy, but to destroy the country.

Because of this, the kings of the three countries took their ministers to the port city where the Pacific Fleet had agreed to anchor in advance, and saw the huge fleet that could not be seen at a glance.

Along the way south, Zheng He and his friends also started doing business, and the Ministry of Rites' embassy in the subordinate countries was also built and established. The kings of various countries visited the major cities of each country with Xiao, and also agreed to send people or personally go to Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute.

In fact, they didn't want to go, but when they looked at the Pacific Ocean Fleet that could not be seen at the port, they suppressed their refusal and could only smile and say that they were willing to go to the Ming Dynasty, but they felt uneasy in their hearts that they were willing to go to the Ming Dynasty. There is a possibility that I may not come back.

Zheng He and the others had no way of knowing how they felt. They were only immersed in the pride of our heavenly country being polite and our fleet crossing the sea as they moved forward.

Because they are so proud, they will give a warm bombardment to any ship that refuses to cooperate along the way.

Among them, the one who has suffered the most bombardment is undoubtedly Chen Zuyi of Nanyang Pirate King at the moment.

"Chen Zuyi is in Sumatra. At this rate, we should arrive in three days."

Cui Jun talked about the general situation. At this moment, they had just sailed from Manchuria and were not far from Sumatra.

"Parimisura has already given us Managa (Riau Islands). Now as long as we take Palembang, he can give Palembang to us in his own name."

Zheng He, who was acting as a diplomat on the fleet, took out a map, pointed to the location of Palembang and said: "Palembang is currently occupied by the overseas Chinese Liang Daoming. He calls himself King Srivijaya, and his attitude towards the court is still unclear."

Zheng He mentioned Liang Daoming, and he is the king who now occupies Palembang, the old port area painted by Zhu Gaoxu.

After Srivijaya was destroyed by Majapahit in the 30th year of Hongwu, the Chinese and Malays in Palembang did not obey the rule of the Javanese and raised their troops to regain their homeland.

Faced with the resistance of the Chinese, Majapahit chose to directly send troops to suppress it.

After the incident broke out, the Malay prince Parameswara led his people to first flee to Singapore Island, and then to the Malay Peninsula to establish the Kingdom of Manchuria.

After Paramesollah escaped, Palembang fell into chaos. More than a thousand local Chinese supported Liang Daoming, a native of Nanhai, Guangdong, as their leader.

Under the command of Liang Daoming, the local Chinese and local Malays began to resist the invasion of Majapahit, and the regime established by Liang Daoming was called the Srivijaya Dynasty.

Because of his identity as a Cantonese, people from Nanyang, Guangdong and other places crossed the sea to join him.

Now Paramesura has agreed to hand over Palembang to the Ming Dynasty, which means that the Ming Dynasty has the qualifications to take over the local area.

As long as Liang Daoming honestly accepts the recruitment, one of the four missions of the Pacific Fleet going south this time will be completed.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhan looked at Cui Jun: "When did the ship to recruit people set off?"

"Yesterday afternoon, I calculated the time and should have arrived at the Malacca Islands. It can take at most two days to reach Palembang."

After Cui Jun answered, Yang Zhan also looked at Zheng He: "First recruit Liang Daoming, and then deal with Chen Zuyi."

"Okay!" Zheng He nodded without raising any objection.

Soon, the huge Pacific Fleet began to move towards the old port, riding the wind and waves...

(End of this chapter)