Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 547 Chickens and ducks competing for food
"The sun shines in the sky, and the Ming Dynasty dynasties all nations. The sea contains the spring, and the Yuanhua love is everywhere. The Chinese barbarians return to the earth, and the plants, trees, insects, and fish take over."

"I respect His Majesty the Ming Emperor, who is divine, civilized, and mighty, who has wisdom and benevolence, who unites the royal family, and who has the same chariots and books... The minister, Yoshitsugu, was frightened and frightened, so he paused and spoke sincerely."

At the end of August, before officials from the Ministry of Rites set out for Japan to inquire about Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu hurriedly sent someone to explain clearly the matter of Kajii Yoshinori in Kunlunzhou overnight.

Of course, they did not admit that they were the Korean army that took the initiative to attack Kunlun Island. Instead, they said that the Korean army crossed the meridian set by the emperor and invaded Japanese territory. Only then did Kajii Yoshinori lead the army to fight back.

Of course, the subsequent Kajii Yoshinori did take the initiative to invade the land allocated to North Korea by the emperor in Kunlun Continent. This was caused by Ashikaga Yoshitsugu's failure to restrain his generals, so he was frightened and paused to speak.

"I know about this matter. I have also sent the eunuchs of Sanbao and Duke Yue to lead a fleet to Kunlun Continent to investigate. You just have to wait for my decree."

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Gaoxu gave instructions to Ashikaga Yoshitaka who was kneeling in the hall, and Ashikaga Yoshitaka immediately bowed five times and kowtowed three times to express his acceptance of the order.

As the eldest son of Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, Ashikaga Yoshihuai has been studying at the Imperial Academy of Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty for a long time.

Although the Ming Dynasty did not open official schools to the subjects of the country, the Confucianism in Nanjing Imperial College was also a place where one could understand the Ming Dynasty and learn some new knowledge from it.

In addition to normal studies, what Ashikaga Yoshihuai has to do is to act as Japan's microphone in the Ming Dynasty, and he has been doing this for a long time.

Not only him, but most of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, such as Korea, Siam, Kampuschi, Champa, Bo Ni, Sulu, and Manchuria, basically sent their princes to the three administrative offices of the Ming Dynasty close to their own country. study.

Countries in Southeast Asia and Indochina basically sent their princes to Jiaozhi to study. Countries such as Timur, Black Sheep, and Aries sent their princes to Ganzhou to study, North Korea went to Liaodong, and Japan went to Nanjing.

The reason why Zhu Gaoxu is so open is first of all because they are not exposed to the middle school level, and middle school books are not allowed to leave the school.

Secondly, let these small princes grow up in the Ming Dynasty and let them know the prosperity and power of the Ming Dynasty, so it can reduce the chance of arrogance and rebellion in many vassal countries.

Facts have proved that this is useful. Just talking about Nanyang and Northeast Asia, except for Majapahit who insisted not to change his religion, the other ten countries basically did not dare to violate the will of the Ming Dynasty.

Even though Japan and North Korea were about to lose their minds in Kunlun Continent, the fishermen on both sides of the Tsushima Strait were still fishing with restraint and did not dare to have any conflicts.

This is the current deterrent power of the Ming Dynasty. Even in the Little Western Region, coastal vassals mostly bully inland vassals, and they only restrain themselves from friction rather than war.

Once a war breaks out, small countries will find ways to apply for mediation by the Ming Dynasty, and the war must be stopped.

Except for some places where the emperor is far away, no one dares to challenge the authority of the Ming Dynasty.

The mountain is high and the emperor is far away, which refers to Kunlun Continent, which is currently in turmoil...

"Just back off."

"The minister will leave..."

Zhu Gaoxu dismissed Ashikaga Yoshikaei. After Ashikaga Yoshihuai respectfully withdrew from Wuying Hall, Hu Ji and Liu Mian also came to Wuying Hall to ask for an audience soon after.

The two walked into the hall and bowed, while Zhu Gaoxu held a memorial in one hand and a red pen in the other, waiting for the two to report without raising his head.

When the two saw this, they looked at each other and looked at Zhu Zhanhe again.

After confirming that the emperor was not angry, Liu Mian took the lead in bowing and saying:

"Your Majesty, the investigation on the Jiangnan side has almost been completed. Songjiang's Qian's merchant gang is still the leader. However, what they have spread out is to cause trouble in Kunlun Continent instead of surrounding the imperial city with troops."

"That means they did it, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu spoke without raising his head. Liu Mian nodded and said, "The evidence is conclusive!"

"Only his family?" Zhu Gaoxu asked again, Liu Mian shook his head and said:

"The Sixteenth Merchant Gang was more or less involved, and this information was also provided by Yang Shanren."

The only person who can be called Yang Shanren is Yang Bin, who is also one of the sixteen merchant gangs.

However, Yang Bin entered the Sixteenth Merchant Gang under the instruction of Zhu Gaoxu, and mainly supervised the Sixteenth Merchant Gang for the imperial court, so although he participated in various actions, he would not be charged with it.

"What's the result of the investigation in the West Factory?"

Zhu Gaoxu did not rush to make a conclusion, but asked Hu Ji from Xichang.

Facing Zhu Gaoxu's inquiry, Hu Ji bowed without hesitation and said:

"The people from Xichang's office in Kunlunzhou also sent the news to Guangzhou and quickly sent it to Beijing. What Qi Sheng said is true, but..."

"But what?" Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly, and Hu Ji then said bravely:
"This matter seems to involve the second son of Duke Liao, Meng Ran, the current Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, and..."

"Be more specific!" Zhu Gaoxu instantly became vigilant when he heard that Meng Zhang's second son was involved.

Although Meng Zhang had behaved since he started following him, he would take everything he deserved and not take anything he shouldn't, but after what happened to Richard and others in the Guimao case, even though Zhu Gaoxu couldn't believe it, he still suppressed his temper.

"Yes..." Hu Ji collected his thoughts and then continued:

"Meng Ran, the young minister of Taichang Temple, served in Kunlunzhou for twelve years. He accepted bribes from the Sixteen Merchant Gang, North Korea, Japan, Siam and other countries, about seventy-six times, and the specific amount is unknown."

"In addition, Meng Ran also supported a business gang composed of retired soldiers from Kunlun Xuanwei Division to operate in the Xuanwei Division area, and paid him a lot of tribute every year. Even if he was transferred back to Beijing, he continued to pay tribute to him every year. "

"In addition, according to various investigations, there are many officials honored by the Sixteenth Merchant Gang..."

"Okay!" Zhu Gaoxu interrupted Hu Ji, and after pondering for a long time, he spoke again:

"Investigate clearly and see if this matter has anything to do with Duke Liao."

"As for the Sixteenth Merchant Gang and the officials they bribed, since the evidence is conclusive, we will handle the case in accordance with the law. Zhang Mengcun, the censor of the left capital, will be the governor, and Ji Shu, the censor of the right capital, will be the supervisor and lead the fifth division to Jiangnan to handle the case."

"In addition, deploy the Little Western Fleet to cooperate with Zheng He and others to suppress the rebellion!"

With the evidence solid, Zhu Gaoxu was too lazy to talk nonsense with the Sixteen Business Gang.

Thirty years ago, these guys were a big business gang that smuggled on the sea. If they dare to do such a thing now, they will have to suffer the consequences.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care what they meant by instructing Kunlun Continent. In short, since the matter had happened, he could take action.

His only concern now is whether Meng Zhang will be involved in this case.

Even though he didn't want to believe it, he couldn't help but doubt it.

"I accept the decree..."

Hu Ji and Liu Mian bowed and bowed before exiting the Wuying Hall, and Yi Shiha followed them, preparing to draft an imperial edict with the eunuchs in charge of rites.

After they retreated one after another, Zhu Zhanhe bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and said:

"Father, Meng Ran's matter should have nothing to do with Duke Liao and Meng Xuan's comfort envoy."

What Zhu Zhanhe is talking about is Meng Zhang and Meng Zhang's eldest son, Meng Mao, who is now the Xuanwei envoy of Beizhou.

Meng Zhang and Meng Mao have a good reputation, and if the Meng family is really a corrupt person, there is no need to let Meng Ran become corrupt. Meng Mao could have gone to Dongzhou Xuanwei Division for corruption long ago.

You must know that the archives of Jinyiwei and Xichang are not lacking in the archives of those who served as propaganda envoys to Beizhou and Dongzhou and were corrupt.

"We'll wait until the people below find out more before making a conclusion."

Zhu Gaoxu had no intention of attacking Zhu Zhanhe, but he was becoming more suspicious as he grew older.

He did not think that the group of people below would think of plotting to usurp the throne, because this was impossible to achieve.

What he is worried about now is that Meng Zhang and other military attachés who relied on the Bohai Sea will be involved with the Sixteen Merchant Gang in the south of the Yangtze River.

If so, then the matter was much more serious than he expected.

"Father, if it is Liao Guo Gongzhen..."

Seeing his father's silence, Zhu Zhanhe hesitated and then carefully asked about his father.

Facing his question, Zhu Gaoxu gave him a cold look.

At this moment, Zhu Zhanhe understood how decisive his father was on certain matters.

"My son, I know..."

Zhu Zhanhe stopped asking, and Zhu Gaoxu said: "The second brother will arrive in Beijing in half a month. This time he has made great achievements. I am going to give him an additional guard. What do you think?"

"There are many native people in Dongzhou. The two guards only have more than 11,000 people, and including the slaves, they only have 12,000 people. It's reasonable."

Zhu Zhanhe bowed respectfully and replied, but Zhu Gaoxu said: "The third and fourth children have a bad attitude towards you."

"It's true that I neglected them, but in the future they will know the difficulty of being an elder brother." Zhu Zhanhe did not take the third and fourth children seriously.

Although the third and fourth sons were brave enough, in his opinion, they were just generals and were not of any concern.

Moreover, the situation in Indochina is complicated. If the third and fourth sons perform mediocrely, then he only needs to worry.

"Lao Wu, Lao Liu, and Lao Qi are almost ready to join the vassal state next year. Where do you think it would be better to join the vassal state?"

Zhu Gaoxu continued to ask, and Zhu Zhanhe analyzed:

"Lao Wu and Lao Liu have a calm temperament. Although their performance in joining the army is sparse and ordinary, they also have certain outstanding features."

"There are many wars in the southwest, and they cannot handle them with their abilities. It is better to entrust them to the east coast of Beizhou, so that they can resist the invasion of Beizhou by the Western Barbarians and live in peace."

"As for Lao Qi, I heard a few days ago that when he was serving in the Xining Guard, he took the initiative to attack and led more than a hundred cavalry to defeat more than a thousand Xifan tribesmen who came out of Qiangtang."

"Although this battle is brave, there are some rash moves. I think I still need to sharpen my temper."

"It's better to send him to the southwest to join the army for another year, and then preside over the restoration of a county in the southwest, and finally choose the place to become a vassal based on the results."

Zhu Zhanhe followed what Zhu Gaoxu said back then, and the strategy of seeking stability would be to conquer Beizhou, and if he was strong, he would go to Southwest and Dongzhou to divide the territory for his younger brother.

In addition, he continued to add: "If we want to take over Fanbeizhou, we can extend the time they join the army, or extend the time they serve as officials."

"The number of prisoners in the imperial court is no more than 40,000 each year, and the number of widows is less than 20,000."

"Although many criminals have been assigned to my second brother's side, there are still too few."

"I think this year's prisoners will also be sent to Jinghai Prefecture in Dongzhou. When Meng Mao in Beizhou chooses a place to build a city on the east coast, he will recruit civilians and send the prisoners to follow Lao Wu and Lao Liu to the vassal state."

Zhu Zhanhe made a suggestion, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded after hearing the words: "Do it according to your wishes." At the same time as his words fell, the imperial edicts of Beijing, Jiangnan and Kunlunzhou were issued at the same time.

All of a sudden, all the officials involved with the Sixteenth Merchant Gang came outside Wuying Palace to plead for mercy.

"Your Majesty, this matter is just a plan of the Songjiang Qian family. If the rest of the people are implicated because of this, it will be more harm than good, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, Jiangnan has only been stable for five years, and yet it encounters the imperial police again. This is not in line with the ancestral system!"

"His Majesty……"

Hundreds of officials begged for mercy outside Wuying Palace, but their pleas made Zhu Gaoxu more determined to attack the Sixteenth Merchant Gang.

Officials in Beijing counted over 10,000 civil and military officials, but excluding military attachés, there were only over 5,000 civilian officials.

At present, nearly one-tenth of the more than 5,000 civil servants came to plead for the Sixteenth Merchant Gang.

Such a move undoubtedly proved his suspicion.

The official and business capital in Jiangnan is not in its infancy, but has already grown into a seedling.

In contrast, the north and southwest have embarked on the path of state-owned capital under their own care.

The prerequisite for the survival of state-owned capital must be that the centralized power is strong enough. This requires a large number of officials from the north and southwest to join politics to safeguard their own interests.

The existing situation is too complicated, and Zhu Gaoxu has almost no history to draw from.

Although he can still control the situation, this is because he is a powerful emperor.

If a weak king appears in future generations, that generation will be enough to destroy the state-owned capital in the north.

Thinking of this, his attitude toward Jiangnan gradually escalated from a major case to zero tolerance...

"Woo-"

In early September, amidst the piercing whistle, the train pulled more than 2,000 Beijing and police troops towards Jiangpu on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, a huge fleet was setting off from Songjiang Mansion to Kunlun Continent.

The machine of the Ming Dynasty was running under Zhu Gaoxu's order, and what he had to deal with this time was not the bureaucratic capital of the past, but the official and business capital.

"Throughout the ages, I have only heard of peasant rebellions, but never of merchants."

In a mansion in Beijing, Yang Rong teased the direction of the Beijing inspection team with a hint of teasing.

Yang Pu, who was sitting opposite him, nodded when he heard this and said: "In the final analysis, this is the result of His Majesty's aggressive overseas efforts."

"Although overseas gold and silver are abundant, originally we only needed to use silk, tea, and porcelain produced by the imperial court to bring this gold and silver back. However, His Majesty insists on stationing troops overseas to develop these overseas places."

"If these places are wild, then everyone in the world will want to return to the Central Plains and enjoy the colorful world."

"But if it is developed, people will naturally prefer these places with high mountains and far away emperors."

"This time it was Kunlun Continent that was in trouble. Next time it will be Dongzhou or Beizhou."

There is a certain truth to what Yang Pu said. It is precisely because Kunlun Continent is far enough away that the imperial court has only four thousand soldiers and horses in Kunlun Continent, so it cannot control that vast area.

There are constant disputes between North Korea and Japan, and private businessmen are king in enclosing land.

If the Ming Dynasty only collected taxes in the Manchuria Strait, it would be nothing. But now that the Ming Dynasty wants to set up prefectures and counties overseas, it is equivalent to saying that it wants to strengthen its control over Kunlun Continent.

In this case, how can the merchant gangs become the earth emperors of Kunlun Continent, and how can they mine gold and silver unscrupulously in Kunlun Continent?
The conflict between the merchant gangs and the imperial court will always intensify as the strength of both parties continues to change. Originally, the merchant gangs did not dare to cause trouble.

But Zhu Gaoxu couldn't stand it and suddenly asked Zhu Zhanhe to supervise the country. This move inevitably made everyone doubt whether Zhu Gaoxu had a physical problem, which was why the Suzhou parade took place.

It turned out that Zhu Gaoxu was using the Suzhou parade to show his "weakness" and deliberately let the business gang make the matter bigger.

It's just that he didn't expect that the merchant gang could actually make things so big. Or did they think that with thirty or forty thousand people on their hands, they could challenge the imperial court's authority over the ocean and Kunlun Continent?

In the eyes of Yang Rong and Yang Pu, this group of business gangs were stupid enough. They did not expect that the reason why they could have thirty or forty thousand people was because of the continuous connivance of the imperial court, hoping that they would continue to obtain resources from Kunlun Continent and suppress Japan and North Korea at the same time. It’s just the means of waiting for the country.

Mistaking the court's means and support for their own abilities, once the court takes action against them, there is no way they can escape.

"Their strength indeed exceeded my expectations..."

Sitting at the main seat, Yang Shiqi slowly put the tea cup on the table, coughed and said:

"It's a pity that they have simplified things and actually want to go against the imperial court..."

"But this is fine. After they are eliminated, the gold and silver mining in Kunlun Continent cannot stop, and the court does not have that much energy to take care of it. In the end, it has to let go."

"You mean, support new business gangs?" Yang Rong asked tentatively, Yang Shiqi nodded and said:

"Kunlun Continent is no better than Dongzhou and Beizhou. There are too many foreign countries in contact there. If the court does it on its own, it will be easily recorded."

"Therefore, it is necessary for private businessmen to take action, so as not to tarnish the reputation of the Celestial Dynasty."

"It's a pity that the railway between Jiangxi and Fujian cannot be built, otherwise..."

Yang Shiqi felt sorry, but Yang Rong, who was born in Fujian, bowed and said:
"Although Fujian has moved several times, it still has a population of nearly five million and dozens of maritime merchants making a living at sea."

"If we can rub it in one place, we may not be able to take over the blank space of Kunlun Continent."

"Although there is no railway between Jiangxi and Fujian, the porcelain from Raozhou can only travel over 900 miles to Fuzhou by land, and it can take at most one month to arrive."

“Zhejiang can change rice to mulberry, so why can’t Jiangxi?”

Yang Rong wanted to fight for some benefits for his hometown. Yang Shiqi was silent when he heard this. He did not answer in time, but thought for a moment before speaking:

"You let the people below do this matter. Whether it succeeds or not depends entirely on whether the people below can live up to their expectations."

"Okay!" Yang Rong nodded. He knew that Yang Shiqi couldn't make it too obvious. After all, his son Yang Ji was still in the hands of the emperor.

However, if this matter is accomplished, the emperor will not have to worry about Kunlun Island, and Fujian and Jiangxi can also benefit from this.

Jiangdong and western Zhejiang will be squeezed out of the maritime market in a short period of time, and Fujian will take over this market.

"On the Guangdong side, if you can win over, you can also try to join."

"In terms of sea routes, Fujian and Guangdong are much faster than western Zhejiang."

"What's more, the Huguang Railway will be completed in six years, and six years is enough to grow a mulberry tree."

Yang Pu spoke at the right time, Yang Rong looked at Yang Shiqi, and when he saw him nodding, he immediately followed suit.

Not long after, the results of the three people's discussion were sent to the people below, and groups of people ran towards the south.

All of this was seen by Zhu Gaoxu. In addition to him, Wang Hui, who was also the Minister of Household Affairs, was also able to grasp the information.

"Looking at Sanyang's movements, he is probably planning to take over the business in Kunlun Continent after we clean up the Sixteenth Merchant Gang."

"Wei Zhonggong, do you think we should..."

Standing in the study, an official in regular clothes was questioning Wang Hui, who was wearing a Taoist robe and standing on the desk writing with a pen.

In response to this, Wang Hui did not reply in time. Instead, he put the brush aside after finishing writing for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief.

When the official saw this, he immediately stepped forward, picked up the basin and walked to Wang Hui.

Wang Hui stretched out his hand to wash his hands in the basin, wiped them with a coarse cloth and then said:

"The climate and environment determine that we cannot get involved in Kunlun Island's affairs."

"Even if the merchants in the north can be organized into merchant gangs, since the north does not produce silk or porcelain, the merchant gangs will eventually have to buy from the people in the south of the Yangtze River."

"To put it harshly, this group of people can legally and legally make the business gangs we work with become dealers selling goods for them."

"Instead of paying attention to these, we should pay more attention to what the court has gained after this Beijing inspection, and also see how much of this gain can be invested in the north."

"Although His Majesty has not made it clear, so many mining areas in the north don't even use steam pumps. Once they are used, the output can be doubled."

"Relying on the railway, we can sell all these outputs to the south. This is the long-term political achievement we can gain."

Wang Hui is not going to consider the market in Kunlun Continent. What he wants to do now is to change the minds of northern officials and use the developed transportation in the north to dump some expensive products in the south and cheap products in the north to the south, so that the people in the north can get a piece of land to hold on to. market.

"Then if we do this, won't we hand over Kunlun Continent to them?"

Officials cannot accept the consequences of doing this kind of dirty work themselves and benefiting the enemy.

But in response to his words, Wang Hui chuckled and said: "Although we can't take the north, don't forget that there is still the southwest."

"As far as I know, Longchuan, under the governance of Jiang Wenqing, is famous in the southwest for planting 200,000 acres of mulberry."

"Since Longchuan can plant mulberry trees, there is no reason why Yunnan and Yunnan Xingdusi can't plant them."

"If we want to fight for Kunlun Continent, Southwest is thousands of miles closer than Jiangnan."

"I will discuss this matter with Xu Shuo and Jian Yi in a few days. You don't have to worry."

"Yes" the officials breathed a sigh of relief. For them, they would rather give up benefits to Southwest than give up benefits to Jiangnan.

"These words are given to you, take them away."

Wang Hui picked up the dried rice paper on the table and handed it to the official. Seeing this, the official quickly put the basin on the shelf aside and took the rice paper with both hands respectfully.

He opened it and a look of ridicule instantly appeared on his face.

However, this attitude does not mean that Wang Hui's words are not good, but the meaning of the words.

Chickens and ducks competing for food...

(End of this chapter)