King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

As the night deepened, the edge of the island could be vaguely seen on the sea in the distance.

Zhu Tan ordered the ship to slow down, sent someone to meet Duke Xin, and invited him to come to the warship for a chat.

Zhu Tan was not in a hurry to go ashore. Judging from the current situation, the fourth brother Zhu Di seemed to have not yet completely taken over the city.

The huge ironclad warship was resting on the sea, bobbing up and down with the waves.

About an hour later, almost dawn, Tang He came over in a small boat and boarded Zhu Tan's warship.

"Your Highness."

After entering the room, Tang He immediately bowed. Zhu Tan stood up and supported Tang He with a big smile on his face.

"Old Taishan, you've worked hard."

Tang He smiled lightly and said nothing. The father-in-law and son-in-law took their seats as host and guest. After they sat down, Tang He spoke.

"Since Your Highness has arrived here, why don't you go ashore?"

"Didn't the report from Old Taishan say that he didn't want me to come ashore?"

Zhu Tan narrowed his eyes and chuckled softly, "Fourth Brother is attacking the city right now. If I go ashore, he will probably think too much."

Hearing this, Tang He nodded and said, "The Fourth Prince is brave and valiant, but these pirates are too weak to fight."

"I have already ceded most of the Japanese pirate strongholds near Penghu to the Fourth Prince, but considering the Fourth Prince's temper, I guess he is not satisfied yet."

"My fourth brother..."

Zhu Tan's mind suddenly flashed back to the resolute face of the fourth brother, Zhu Di. He shook his head and smiled, "This little bit of merit is really nothing."

"I originally wanted to ask my father for permission to let my fourth brother go to Japan to fight, but now it seems that this cannot be done."

Tang He did not follow Zhu Tan's words, but changed the subject and asked directly: "Your Highness, did you gain anything from your trip to Quanzhou?"

"There are gains." Zhu Tan took a sip of strong tea and said softly, "But some unexpected things still happened."

Tang He was surprised when he heard this and asked, "What's the matter?"

"My eldest brother is here." Zhu Tan looked at Tang He and said, "I called Old Taishan here in a hurry because I wanted to ask for your opinion."

"The old man should have known about the Park family's affairs for a long time. He has been letting it go, just wanting me to break this window paper."

"He is definitely going to use a knife, but I am not sure who he is going to attack."

According to the normal historical process, by the 20th year of Hongwu, the Hu Weiyong case had already been settled and Li Shanchang had long since retired behind the scenes.

But now, Li Shanchang is still active in the court, and the old man has no next move.

This is totally not in line with the old man's temperament.

Even if you want to pave the way for your elder brother Zhu Biao, you should start now.

After Zhu Tan finished speaking, Tang He fell into deep thought, his brows slightly furrowed.

He was a hero in the founding of the country, and he understood the character of old man Zhu Yuanzhang best, and he was also the one who knew when to advance and retreat.

Now that Zhu Tan has said this to him, it is indeed worth pondering.

After thinking for a while, Tang He shook his head and said softly, "I can't think of anyone."

"So many people were implicated in the Hu Weiyong case. Many of them were frightened and dared not to jump around."

"Most of the veterans in the army are very honest, not to mention the ordinary generals, even the old ministers..."

Tang He hadn't finished speaking, but Zhu Tan knew all he meant.

Now that the government is gradually stabilizing, most of the older generation of military commanders are frightened and dare not act recklessly.

As for the civil officials, with Hu Weiyong in front of them, they had to think carefully about what they wanted to do.

Moreover, Crown Prince Zhu Biao is now gaining power and is in control of both military and political affairs, so the old man doesn't have to worry about anything and can help clear the way forward for him.

Therefore, just by looking at the clues from the Park family, it is really hard to tell the old man's specific intentions.

Zhu Tan also thought about it, then sighed and said, "My father thinks too deeply about things and even deceives his son."

"When I saw the prince earlier, even I was shocked."

"But there's one thing I still can't figure out."

"Why would the prince come here in person? It's impossible that he would come here just for Quanzhou."

Zhu Tan looked at Tang He at this time and said quietly, "If it was just the old man using some tricks again, there would be no need for Big Brother to come forward. I can just help Big Brother to gain prestige and win over the people, and then come out to finish it off."

Tang He was frightened when he heard Zhu Tan's words. He subconsciously looked around and said nothing.

"Don't be alarmed, father-in-law. It's just the two of us. No one else will know what we say."

Seeing Tang He being so cautious, Zhu Tan smiled and said, "We are just chatting."

"Your Highness should be careful with your words."

Tang He gritted his teeth and said, "You should think less, talk less, and ask less about this matter."

"It is not for us, as subjects, to guess what the Emperor wants to do or what the Crown Prince wants to do."

"If the Emperor orders Your Highness to eliminate the Japanese pirates, then eliminate the Japanese pirates. If the Emperor orders Your Highness to conquer Japan, then conquer Japan."

"You'd better not think about other things."

Hearing this, Zhu Tan smiled silently and said nothing more.

In fact, he didn't care much about what his elder brother Zhu Biao would do. It's just that this matter was a little strange, and he was in the middle of the situation. He would feel uncomfortable if he didn't figure it out.

However, he also knew that the old man and the prince were not targeting him, they were just using him as a gun, and the hush money they paid was not small.

"Father-in-law, how long do you think it will take for my fourth brother to capture the city?"

Tang He didn't dare to discuss this with Zhu Tan, so Zhu Tan stopped asking and changed the subject, "My eldest brother said today that after things here are over, I will let my fourth brother return to Beijing."

"We will definitely take it down before dawn."

Tang He said softly, "The city on the main island of Penghu is not even a strong city."

"The Fourth Prince has not withdrawn his troops yet. He may be... collecting the spoils of war."

Tang He spoke very implicitly, but Zhu Tan knew what he meant.

Collecting the spoils was certain, but Zhu Di also had to do another thing.

Eliminate the Japanese pirates.

On the other side, the main island of Penghu, the city.

Zhu Di still had a frown on his face, but he was sitting in a small square in the city, looking into the distance with an unfriendly look.

The battle was actually over when he landed with his army.

Although there were many Japanese pirates left in the city, most of them had lost their will to fight and had been frightened by the Ming army.

Facing an enemy with no intention of fighting and a city that was almost unprepared, the war was naturally won with ease under the attack of the fierce and vigorous soldiers of the Beiping Military Commission.

The city was breached in a very short time. A large number of soldiers rushed into the city looking for the Japanese pirates, but there were almost no Japanese wearing that strange armor in the city. At first glance, they were all civilians.

How could such an obvious trick escape Zhu Di's eyes?

What he wanted was the credit of breaking the city and wiping out the Japanese pirates, not just taking over a broken city casually.

With such little merit, how could he speak in front of the old man?
Therefore, Zhu Di directly ordered a city-wide search to capture all the Japanese and not allow any to escape.

In addition, Zhu Di also knew that some people in the Ming Dynasty were secretly colluding with the enemy, so he also issued an order to search and arrest them, trying to eliminate all the scoundrels at once.

As a result, after Zhu Di's army broke into the city, the whole city was in chaos.

There are still quite a few Japanese in this city, including men, women, young and old.

Judging from their posture, they were planning to settle down here. After hearing the news, Zhu Di gnashed his teeth in hatred and directly ordered all the Japanese to be captured, regardless of whether they were male or female.

At this moment, a lot of Japanese were squatting near the city wall, no less than a thousand men, women, young and old.

The soldiers under Zhu Di also found a number of Japanese pirates among these people, and pulled them aside and killed them directly.

Of course, things have come to this point, and if we say they are Japanese pirates, then they are Japanese pirates, and we can just kill them.

When they harassed the Ming Dynasty's coast and killed innocent Ming people, they had no mercy at all, so there was no need to be polite to them.

Those who are not of my race must have different hearts. Zhu Di did not intend to keep these people as prisoners, but he still gave instructions to his men to find out their origins as much as possible and keep the Japanese in charge.

It’s not that Zhu Di was soft-hearted, but that he wanted to keep these people for the old man to see.

It had been several hours since the city was captured, and Zhu Di had roughly understood the situation of the city.

In this city, the Japanese make up the majority, but there are also quite a few people from the Ming Dynasty among them. Counted, there are hundreds of them.

"Your Highness."

At this time, Zhu Neng, the most powerful general under Zhu Di, stepped forward quickly, came to Zhu Di's side, and said in a deep voice: "I have almost figured it out."

"Those Japanese people came here from Japan in the past decade or so, and some have already lived here for two generations."

"As for the Han people in the city, almost all of them came from the coastal area of ​​Fujian. I asked, and some of them mentioned a surname."

"Your last name is Park, right?"

Zhu Di looked into the distance, not at Zhu Neng, but smiled gently and said, "Old Ten went to Fujian just for this Pu family."

"How many people were arrested?"

"It hasn't been completely cleared out yet. A rough count shows that there are 423 people."

Zhu Neng said, "Many of these young men are not surnamed Pu. They say they are hired tenants. If they work for the Pu family for three years, they can get a few acres of land in return."

"Ah."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di was so angry that he laughed. He turned to look at Zhu Neng and said, "This Pu family is really gutless."

"Who do they think they are using the land of the Ming Dynasty to make a deal?"

"Do you think you are the emperor?"

Zhu Di dared to say this, but Zhu Neng was a little afraid to listen.

There is only one emperor in the world, and that is the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. If any of the remaining foreign countries dares to claim to be the emperor, it would be a great treason, and destroying his country would be the least of the punishment.

"Catch those who deserve to be caught, and kill those who deserve to be killed."

Zhu Di narrowed his eyes and looked towards the sky again.

At this time, there was a hazy light in the sky and dawn was approaching.

“All the wealth, gold, silver, and other supplies in the city were counted and gathered together.”

Zhu Di added: "When the Tenth Master comes, he will definitely sue me."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Neng immediately clasped his hands and said respectfully, "Yes!"

After saying that, he turned and walked away with big strides, but Zhu Di still sat there, squinting his eyes slightly.

He also vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

……

After a few more hours, the sky became bright.

The soldiers under Zhu Di's command had completely captured the city and had done everything they needed to do.

The three warships of Zhu Tan and Tang He then slowly approached the shore. Zhu Tan himself got off the warship under the escort of his personal soldiers and walked towards the city not far away.

This city is even more dilapidated than Zhu Tan had imagined, and is not even as good as Changguo County.

At this time, outside the city, there were a large number of corpses piled up in a mess, but those corpses were obviously Japanese, and there was not a single corpse of a Ming Dynasty soldier.

There were two teams of soldiers on duty at the low city gate. Zhu Tan led his team directly in and they did not stop him. They must have received Zhu Di's order long ago.

Zhu Di was easy to find. He never entered any house and was always sitting on the armchair in the small square.

There was another chair in front of Zhu Di, which should be prepared for Zhu Tan.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Tan's heart skipped a beat.

I guess Zhu Di has realized what's going on now and is planning to sue me.

Zhu Tan walked forward slowly with some trepidation, and deliberately did not let his personal soldiers follow him.

This time he did not bring Ma He with him. He was worried that Zhu Di would suddenly remember this matter and ask him for Ma He again, which would be difficult for him to do.

"Fourth brother, why are you sitting here?"

When he got closer, Zhu Tan spoke softly and bowed to Zhu Di first.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Tan and said, "Sit down and talk, Your Highness Prince Lu."

"Fourth brother, you are scolding me."

Zhu Tan's heart tightened, and he quickly said, "How dare my younger brother claim to be king in front of my fourth brother?"

"But you dare to plot against your fourth brother, don't you?"

Zhu Di narrowed his eyes with a hint of coldness in them. He only took one look at Zhu Tan, and Zhu Tan's heart skipped a beat.

The fourth brother's eyes are so much like the old man's, with murderous intent in his eyes.

He immediately replied: "Fourth brother, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"It was you who did all the work of wiping out the Japanese pirates. I will also..."

"If you tell me that again, don't blame me for kicking you in front of your servants!"

Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Tan and said, "Sit down and talk!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Tan sat down immediately and behaved very well.

When he met Zhu Biao the day before yesterday, Zhu Biao said that the fourth brother might kick him when he realized what was happening, and Zhu Tan had no doubt about it at all.

The fourth son, Zhu Di, had a temper similar to that of the old man. Once he got angry, he would not care about anything else and would definitely take action on the spot.

"You are asking me to go and eliminate the Japanese pirates. Are you planning to make me take the blame with you?"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Tan and spoke with narrowed eyes. Zhu Tan wanted to speak immediately but was glared at by him.

"Are you quibbling?"

Seeing this, Zhu Tan said nothing and just nodded.

"I've seen this a long time ago." Zhu Di looked at Zhu Tan and snorted coldly, "But because the old man is watching, I have to come even if I don't want to. I have to win and fight well!"

"The old man wants to flatter you and ask me to be your thug, but I tolerate it."

"But you are hiding something from me, and you want me to take the blame with you, what does that mean?"

"Do you really think I'm a three-year-old kid and you can fool me however you want?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Tan roughly knew why Zhu Di was angry.

It must be because of the matter of the Park family. Zhu Di should have vaguely guessed that something was unusual behind this. He told him this now just to confirm it.

Therefore, Zhu Tan said, "Fourth brother, it's not that I want to hide it from you."

"It's really... I have no choice!" (End of this chapter)