Ming Dynasty: He was ordered to give lectures in prison, but Lao Zhu eavesdropped and made people nu

Chapter 688: The Wrath of the Ming Dynasty Could Raise the Sea
Ying Tianfu.

At 3:30 in the morning, before dawn, two groups of civil and military officials were already lined up outside the Fengtian Hall. The Jinyiwei stood solemnly on both sides of the Danchi, holding golden gourds, and the only sound in the morning mist was the rustling of robes.

"Your Majesty has arrived—"

Following the shrill shouts of the Imperial Household Department, Zhu Yuanzhang, wearing a bright yellow robe with twelve emblems and a golden winged hat, stepped onto the throne with steady steps. The 63-year-old founding emperor was majestic without even getting angry, and the fine wrinkles around his eyes showed the vicissitudes of thirty years of war.

"Your Majesty, we are here to see you!" All the officials knelt in unison, and the loud cheers made the bronze bells in the corners of the hall tremble slightly.

Zhu Yuanzhang was about to raise his hand to signal to stand up when he heard hurried footsteps outside the palace. A dusty messenger was stopped outside the palace gate by the guards. He held up a letter with three feathers stuck on it and shouted hoarsely, "Eight hundred miles of urgent news! Urgent news from Japan!"

There was a commotion in the court. Ru Huang, the Minister of War, stepped out quickly and took the blood-stained memorial from the messenger. When he unfolded the scroll, his face turned pale.

"Read." Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was like an ice knife cutting through jade.

Ru Hong's hands trembled slightly. "On March 17, the 15th year of Hongwu, 37 members of our Ming Dynasty envoys were killed in the Japanese capital. The chief envoy Chen De and the deputy envoy Wang Bin were both beheaded and displayed to the public. The Japanese king Ashikaga Yoshimitsu declared,

"What are you declaring?" Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table and stood up, causing the teacups on the table to clink.

"Declared that the Ming Dynasty is just a small country and is not worthy of being on an equal footing with Japan"

"presumptuous!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's roar shook the palace beams and dust fell off. The veins on the forehead of this beggar-turned-emperor bulged, and his fists clenched under the cuffs of his dragon robes made a creaking sound. He was not so angry when Chen Youliang's 600,000-man army approached.

"Your Majesty, please calm down!" All the civil and military officials in the court knelt down in panic, and the official hat of Minister Fan Min was tilted to one side.

The old general Tang He suddenly drew the sword from his waist and said, "I would like to lead a navy of 100,000 to flatten the four islands of Japan!" The sword tip flashed a cold light in the morning light, reflecting the old general's red eyes.

A different voice came from the ranks of civil officials. Imperial Academy Scholar Liu Sanwu stepped out tremblingly: "Your Majesty, Japan is isolated overseas, and a long expedition across the sea may be difficult."

"Master Liu, do you want me to endure this great humiliation?" Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, and the cold light in his eyes made the old minister in his seventies stagger back two steps. "When the Yuan Dynasty envoy was killed, Kublai Khan sent 140,000 troops to the east. Now the head of my Ming Dynasty envoy is hanging high at the gate of a foreign country, and you want me to swallow my anger?"

The hall was as silent as death. Suddenly, Qi Tai, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, found a message on the back of the memorial: "Your Majesty! The clerk accompanying the delegation wrote the secret report in blood!"

It turned out that before his death, Chen De asked the scribe to draw a map of Japan's coastal defense on the back of the silk book. Even more shocking was that the map marked the 19 coastal defense posts of the Ming Dynasty that were attacked by Japanese pirates in recent years, which actually corresponded to the Japanese naval garrisons one by one.

"What a wicked Ashikaga Yoshimitsu!" Zhu Yuanzhang snatched the silk book away, "On the surface he paid tribute, but behind the scenes he condoned the Japanese pirates' plundering!" When he turned around, the twelve strings of tassels on his crown collided with each other, making a crisp sound.

At the beginning of the Chen period, a military meeting was held in Wuying Hall.

A huge map of the East China Sea covered the three-meter-long rosewood table. Zhu Yuanzhang held a red pen and drew a red circle on the Zhoushan Islands: "Last year, Japanese pirates robbed grain ships here and killed more than 200 of our soldiers and civilians." The pen turned to Fujian, "The year before last, 37 merchant ships in Quanzhou Port were burned."

Wu Zhen, the admiral and deputy governor of the navy, knelt down and said: "I deserve death! The troops of the coastal garrisons are scattered, and the Japanese pirates come and go like the wind."

"I don't want to apologize now!" Zhu Yuanzhang threw the red brush into the brush washer, splashing a scarlet, "I want a countermeasure!"

The young Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, suddenly spoke up: "Father, when I inspected Dengzhou last year, I found that many Japanese ships took advantage of the southeast wind to attack." He drew an arc with his finger along the direction of the monsoon, "If we set up an ambush in Ryukyu..."

"Your Highness, you don't know." Veteran General Liao Yongzhong smiled bitterly, "The Japanese ships are light and swift, and our warships can't catch up. When the Yuan Dynasty marched east, 100,000 troops were wiped out by a hurricane!" The Minister of Works suddenly remembered something: "Your Majesty, the new warship drawings presented by Marquis Jiangyin last week..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up. He walked quickly to the corner of the hall and lifted the red cloth-covered model - this was a "centipede ship" improved from the Southern Song Dynasty's chariots and ships, with 24 pairs of paddle wheels on each side and a newly developed cannon on the bow.

"Decree!" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice shook the window paper rustling, "From now on, Nanjing Longjiang Shipyard will rush to build 100 centipede ships day and night! Fuzhou and Quanzhou shipyards will each build 50 ships!"

At the same time, the Minister of Rites was interrogating the groom who was released by the Japanese. The old man who had escaped by chance knelt on the ground and cried bitterly: "The Japanese hung the head of Mr. Chen on a bamboo pole and forced each member of our delegation to spit."

"Why did they suddenly turn against each other?" Zhu Di keenly noticed something strange.

The groom trembled as he pulled out a piece of burnt silk cloth from his arms: "Before his death, Lord Chen said that there was a prince named Huailiang in Japan who had always opposed submitting to the Ming Dynasty."

The Ministry of War suddenly sent more shocking news: Japanese secret envoys were active in Goryeo, trying to unite against the Ming Dynasty. And the Liaodong Military Commissioner had just intercepted a batch of Japanese iron cannons shipped to the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

"What a series of tricks!" Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "Northern Yuan, Japan, and Goryeo, they are going to surround our Ming Dynasty from three sides!" He suddenly turned to Zhu Di and said, "Fourth Brother, the hermit you recommended last time."

Three quarters past noon, in a thatched cottage on the Purple Mountain.

After listening to Zhu Di's narration, Lin Che gently put down the bamboo basket he was using to collect herbs and said, "Your Majesty, do you know what Japan fears the most?"

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and said, "I'd like to hear your opinion."

"The four islands of Japan have a lot of gold and silver but little food." Lin Che used a branch to draw a simple map on the ground. "There are 66 states in the country, and each lord governs himself. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the 'Shogun', can only mobilize the troops of the ten states in Kanto."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment: "Sir, you mean..."

"There is no need to send troops on a long expedition." Lin Che broke off a branch, "We only need to send the navy to block the Tsushima Strait. Japanese merchant ships will not be able to go out to sea for three months, and there will be famine in the country. By then, Prince Huailiang will fight with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu."

He then took out a packet of powder from the medicine cabinet: "This is a new formula of saltpeter and sulfur. The explosion sound is much louder than ordinary gunpowder. If you spread this formula in the pirates' nest..."

Zhu Di suddenly realized: "If the Japanese princes get this weapon, they will definitely attack each other!"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly laughed, and his laughter startled countless birds: "What a good way to cut off the firewood from under the cauldron! Pass the order -" His eyes were shining, "From now on, cut off the trade with Japan, and all sea merchants will transfer to Ryukyu! Also order the Jinyiwei to report the new gunpowder formula that was 'accidentally' left to the Japanese spies! "Three months later, Ningbo Port.

Hundreds of new warships were lined up on the sea, with the cannons on the bows of each ship covered with red cloth. On the "Watching the Japanese" platform on the shore, Zhu Yuanzhang personally saw off the expeditionary soldiers.

Wu Zhen knelt on one knee and took over the imperial sword: "I swear to wipe out the nest of Japanese pirates!"

Just as the army was about to set sail, a fast horse came galloping over: "Eight hundred miles urgent! There is civil unrest in Japan! Prince Kamiryoshi has started a rebellion, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has withdrawn all the Japanese pirates!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di beside him smiled at each other. The old emperor turned and looked at the turbulent East China Sea, and said softly: "Order the navy to patrol the sea as planned." He stroked the jade pendant on his waist, "Let the Japanese know--"

A gust of sea breeze suddenly lifted the hem of the dragon robe, and Zhu Yuanzhang's voice mixed with the sound of waves spread throughout the army:
"The anger of the Ming Dynasty can overturn the sea!"

(End of this chapter)