I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 64: Southeast Affairs Must Be Stable
Xu Jie called Gao Gong and Li Chunfang just to check in with them, without expecting to come to any conclusions.

Not long after Gao Gong and Li Chunfang left, Zhang Juzheng was invited into Xu Jie's duty room.

"Uncle, sit down!"

Looking at his favorite student, Xu Jie said politely.

"Did you go to see Hai Rui?"

"In reply to the teacher, I did go. Hai Gangfeng is in the imperial prison, and he is reading with great interest."

"Reading? He's really into it."

"Haigang Peak is strong without desire."

"Really? Is Hai Gangfeng really selfless?" Xu Jie asked back with narrowed eyes, then waved his hand, "Okay, let's not talk about him anymore. Yang Bo was transferred from the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of War was taken over by Jiang Dong. Do you know about this?"

“I have heard of it.”

"I heard from Mr. Yang that you want to transfer to a local post? Why do you have such an idea? I arranged for you to be the director of the Imperial College. Do you think it's inappropriate?"

"Teacher, I have no objection to the noble post of the Imperial College Director. It's just that since I entered the Imperial Academy, I have held noble posts and have never held a local post.

Prime ministers must rise from the prefectures and counties, and brave generals must rise from the ranks. This is also what I mean when I think of serving in the local government."

"Absurd! Prime ministers must rise from the prefectures and counties, and brave generals must rise from the ranks. That is the fallacy of the Legalists! Confucianism is about self-cultivation, family management, governance of the country and peace in the world. If you can manifest the bright virtue, you will naturally be able to get close to the people, and then stop at the highest good, and the world will be united.

You will be transferred to the Hanlin Academy and other noble places."

As Xu Jie was talking, he suddenly realized something.

"Did the prince say something to you?"

Zhang Juzheng did not give a direct answer: "Teacher, in the 33rd year of Jiajing, I returned to Jingzhou for recuperation due to illness. I traveled around Jingzhou and found that the land tax was uneven, the poor were unemployed, and the people suffered from annexation. After returning to Beijing, I have been thinking about solutions.

During the two years I taught at Xi'an Gate, I had frequent conversations with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and many of my doubts were suddenly clarified.

When the student talked to the prince about some ideas for solving the current problems, he said that the student was too idealistic and had the disadvantage of not understanding the reality. He also suggested that the student take up a post in a local government to understand the operation of the entire Ming Dynasty from top to bottom.

"Ridiculous! Ridiculous!" Xu Jie said bluntly, "What does a ten-year-old child like the Crown Prince know? He lives in the deep palace, surrounded by women and concubines, what can he know?
Oh, when I passed by Nanshi on my way back to Prince Yu’s Mansion, and visited the temple fair, I learned about the sufferings of the people and understood the true situation of the Ming Dynasty?
absurd!

Uncle, you are the prince's teacher of classics, you should teach him carefully and train him to be a modest and virtuous gentleman like Prince Yu. Why are you still influenced by his childish nonsense? "

Seeing Zhang Juzheng silent, Xu Jie felt a headache.

Uncle Zhang, are you the teacher, or is the prince the teacher?

How come after three or four years of classes, you are actually influenced by him?
But Xu Jie also knew that Zhang Juzheng was a very stubborn person, and once he made a decision, it would be difficult for others to change it.

I originally didn't want to care about him, but when I thought about my legacy and the wealth of future generations, which might all depend on him, I couldn't ignore him.

Xu Jie suppressed his temper and asked, "Uncle, what do you mean?"

"Teacher, this is what I think. The Governor of Ji-Liao, Tan Zili, reported that the border from Shanhaiwei to Miyun had been repaired, the broken walls had been repaired, and 160 sentry towers had been added.

According to the rules, the imperial court would send out inspectors to inspect the customs. I want to be this inspector. "

"Okay, go ahead." Xu Jie smiled. "Hu Ruzhen also reported that the Xuanda line had been repaired, and the court would also send an imperial inspector there. Uncle, you are quite alert and know that the situation there is delicate. You don't want to wade into muddy waters, and you have some self-awareness."

Zhang Juzheng smiled bitterly and said, "Teacher, although I live in a noble place, I have heard that in towns like Shanxi and Datong, the Shanxi merchants are smuggling rampantly outside the Great Wall. Behind the Shanxi merchants is the Shanxi Party, and the Shanxi Party includes Gao Gong.

"I and Gao Gong are colleagues in Prince Yu's Palace, and you, my teacher, are secretly at odds with him in the cabinet. I went to Xuanda University, and it caused a huge uproar."

"As long as you know.

When Hu Ruzhen was in the southeast, he made the southeastern people sleepless and eat uneasy, and gnashing their teeth. I put the overall situation first, suppressed them, endured and finally managed to get by. Now Hu Ruzhen has gone to Datong, Shanxi, and it is the Shanxi merchants who are uncomfortable.

But Gao Xinzheng is not as calm as I am. He will definitely not be able to swallow that breath and will fight with Hu Ruzhen. He doesn't know how powerful your student is. Just wait and see, he will suffer a great loss sooner or later!"

Zhang Juzheng looked up and saw his teacher Xu Jie stroking his beard with a look of great pride.

Thinking of what he said and of his student, His Royal Highness Prince Yu, he couldn't help but feel mixed emotions.

The Crown Prince supported Hu Zongxian in suppressing the Japanese pirates in the southeast, aiming at financial power, and has now gained a lot. Now he transferred Hu Zongxian, Tan Lun and others to Ji, Liao, Xuan, Da and Shanxi, aiming at military power.

Only when the financial and military power are in hand will the prince feel at ease.

This is the most important thing in his mind. Whoever dares to stop him will be killed without mercy.

The emperor also supported him. Teacher Xu Jie was very shrewd and judged the mystery inside. He decisively withdrew his hands and only used some small tricks to deal with the questioning of the Southeast family.

But he would never turn against the Crown Prince and the Emperor behind him, so he escaped the disaster and even became the Prime Minister.

It is true that many families in the southeast have made their fortunes through maritime trade, but overseas trade has huge profits and high risks, and it also involves the maritime ban, so it is easy to get into trouble.

The Southeastern families often go through many detours and find white gloves to handle maritime business affairs.

Now that the Japanese invasion had become the mainstream, it was easy to be accused of colluding with the Japanese if one was not careful. The five overly arrogant families were bloody examples.

In this case, the wealthy families who had already made a fortune have temporarily stopped their activities.

After all, in their minds, the most important thing is to own a large amount of land and pass it on to their descendants. There is no need to take risks in the wind.

Gao Gong didn't know the mystery inside, and he still looked down on the prince. For the benefit of the Jin Party, he would definitely fight against Hu Zongxian.

The teacher was right. The prince's scheming, wisdom and tactics are even better than his teacher's.

Gao Gong will definitely suffer a great loss!
The tenth day of the fourth month in summer, the forty-third year of the Jiajing reign.

Lu Tong, the admiral of the Zhejiang Navy, led the Dinghai Camp, the main force of the Zhejiang Navy, with 21 large sea ships of 2,000 tons and 65 other large and small boats.

After leaving Ningbo, we rested for two nights in Dinghaiwei, then set sail eastward to prepare for a routine maritime patrol.

"Report to General Lu!" A speedboat came to report.

"what's up?"

"A merchant ship reported that two merchant ships were hijacked by seven pirate ships in the sea east of Daheng Mountain. One of them was a merchant ship of Xing Ruixiang, and the other was a merchant ship of Suzhou Heng Rentai. The goods were looted, 37 sailors were killed, and 45 were injured."

"Are they all licensed merchant ships?" asked Lu Tun.

"They all have licenses. When they go out to sea, they all get customs clearance from the Ningbo Maritime Affairs Bureau of the Coordination Bureau."

"That means they have paid their dues to our navy. We can't just sit there and watch. Send the signal immediately, all ships weigh anchor and set sail!"

The deputy general advised: "General, the merchant ship was hijacked three days ago, and it is hundreds of miles away from here. If we chase it now, the sea is vast and it will be difficult to catch up."

"No matter how difficult it is to chase them, we have to chase them! Merchant ships are willing to pay membership fees to our navy. Why? Because we can keep them safe!
If we sit back and do nothing now, who will be willing to pay taxes and membership fees in the future? In the future, our navy brothers will have nothing to do but starve!"

Lu Tong scolded a few words and then analyzed.

"We have wiped out a large number of pirates on this sea. Those who can rob two ships at a time are probably Xie Da Naotou and Chi Sanjin who have been hiding in East Japan.

Damn, these two mice finally came out of the mouse hole. This is a rare opportunity, we must catch up with them this time!"

The fleet pursued in the southeast direction. Seven days later, the lookout on the outpost ship of Dinghai Camp saw an island appearing ahead and hurriedly reported to the rear.

"Where are we running to?" Lu Tan asked the deputy general.

"General, the island ahead should be the offering island of Jeonra."

"Find a port to anchor and send someone ashore to ask if there are any pirate fleets passing by?"

Two hours later, the deputy general reported: "General, the local villagers said that a fleet of about ten ships anchored nearby yesterday. They set sail early this morning and headed east."

"Chase!"

"Yes!"

Two days later, the lookout on the Dinghai Camp outpost ship shouted, "Ships spotted ahead! One, twenty-one ships! They're the pirate fleet we're chasing!"

The news spread throughout Dinghai Camp through flag signals. Just as the whole team was cheering, the lookout in front sent another message: "A port has been discovered ahead. It is the East Japanese port. The pirate fleet is desperately trying to escape in."

The whole camp was silent.

The deputy general asked: "General, the pirate fleet escaped into the East Japan port, what should we do?"

Lu Tong was silent for a few breaths, then said decisively: "Chase! We have already chased him here, are we going to turn back?"

"What if the Eastern Japanese lord stops us from taking the thief?"

"What should we do? If anyone dares to stop us from arresting someone, we'll beat him to death!"

(End of this chapter)