Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 227 The imperial edict is here, arrest the thief by name!
In the winter of the second year of Jiajing.

Fujian has become the focus of national attention.

Not only Grand Secretary Fei Hong, Chief Constitutional Prince Shizhong, and Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief Zhang Jie were going to lead the troops allocated to them to march south.

Even Wang Hong was given a secret order by Zhu Houcong, and was appointed as the Right Censor-in-Chief, and was ordered to lead the Guangdong navy to Fujian to prepare to deal with the Portuguese.

This was because, after Zhu Houcong learned from Lin Jun's secret report that the Portuguese would invade Fujian under the instigation of local gentry, he had to send him, an "expert" in dealing with the Portuguese, to put out the fire.

What the Fujian gentry guessed correctly was that Zhu Houcong, as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, would not massacre Fujian people, and he even had to ensure that the scholars and civilians of Fujian would not be massacred by foreigners.

to this end.

Zhu Houcong also asked Wang Hong in the secret decree to send someone to contact the Lin family in advance in order to find out the exact situation of the Portuguese invasion of Fujian.

Let’s talk.

When Fei Hong left Beijing, not only did Zhang Jie send fast horses to deliver the news to the Fujian gentry, but the Fujian gentry's own spies also sent fast horses to the south to pass the news to the ears of Fujian gentry such as Chen Lianghan.

Chen Lianghan and others were therefore relieved.

Chen Lianghan specially visited Lin Jun for this purpose and said, "Mr. Zhang wrote to say that he had persuaded Mou Fu to kill Lai Yuan, and that the people who came to investigate the case were him and Fei Hong, and the other person was the Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Shizhong."

"He wants you not to act rashly, so he came here on horseback to tell you this."

Lin Jun said.

Chen Lianghan said, "That being said, everyone knows the character of the current emperor. Once he knows that we want to embezzle his money, he will not give up! We must get something out of sending Lord Fei and his men here this time. If Lord Fei fails to capture a few powerful people, then Lord Fei himself will not be able to complete his mission."

"Then just give out the few powerful people that Zhang Lun knows about."

“It is not necessary to help the barbarians to accomplish things.”

Lin Jun advised.

Chen Lianghan smiled bitterly and said, "How is this possible? Our families, including your Lin family, should rise and fall together. But now that your Lin family has a veteran like Gong who has served for four dynasties, His Majesty may show some mercy to you. But we don't even have the possibility of being shown some mercy by His Majesty."

"Then you must meet Mr. Fei before leaving, right?"

Lin Jun replied.

Chen Lianghan smiled and said, "Of course! Although this Lord Fei was chosen by Yang Xindu, he is extremely treacherous and may not really work for us. Moreover, he is from a big family in Jiangxi. It is better to control him first and force him to promise to let us go. At the same time, he can continue to supply us with his Jiangxi goods and let us purchase goods from the north through his Jiangxi!"

"So, you are going to use force against Elder Fei?"

Lin Jun asked.

Chen Lianghan just smiled slightly.

Lin Jun couldn't help but stand up: "How can this be possible? If something happens here, the entire Fujian nobles will suffer! Don't think that His Majesty dare not strengthen the ban on the sea!"

"We will not take action, but the Western Barbarians are here, and if they want to take action, we will have no way to stop them."

Chen Lianghan said.

"Your Majesty will not blame the Fujian nobles for the mistakes of the Western Barbarians, will you? If that is the case, you should also speak up for the villagers."

Chen Lianghan continued to laugh.

“You are so bold!”

Lin Jun couldn't help but say.

Chen Lianghan's face darkened: "It's not that we are bold, we just have no other choice but to do this!"

"At this point, we can only blame Xia Yan. He didn't even want a million dollars in order to please the emperor!"

At this point, Chen Lianghan gnashed his teeth and brushed his sleeves, saying, "Sooner or later, I'm going to kill this guy!"

"This man is from the same hometown as Lord Fei, and he is also the son of an official. Why do you want him?"

Lin Jun asked unhappily.

Chen Lianghan smiled awkwardly: "Just talking!"

then.

Chen Lianghan stopped smiling again and whispered to Lin Jun: "In short, you just need to remember that on the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Portuguese will first attack Pinghaiwei, and then about 50 Japanese will attack Putian in different directions. It's up to you to resist the enemy and make merit in Putian."

"New Year's Eve?"

Lin Jun couldn't help but lower his voice and asked.

Chen Lianghan nodded: "That's right! New Year's Eve!"

……

……

The 20th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Lin Jun was reading a book at home when suddenly a servant came to report that an old friend from Guangdong was visiting.

After hearing this, Lin Jun immediately realized his intention and hurriedly invited him into the study.

"I am Wang Yunrui, a student, and I have come to see Mr. Lin on behalf of my father."

Wang Yunrui bowed and saluted when he saw Lin Jun.

Lin Junze looked carefully at the post presented by Wang Yunrui and asked:
"Just your father's order?"

"I dare not hide it from you. There is also the order from His Majesty."

Lin Jun smiled slightly: "Sure enough! The only one who knows how to deal with the Portuguese is your father. Your Majesty can't have not thought of him!"

then.

Lin Jun asked again: "Your Majesty, do you want me to cooperate with your father?"

"As you expected, His Majesty said that if my father wants to know the details of the Portuguese invasion of Fujian, he can come and ask you."

Wang Yunrui replied.

Lin Jun put down the post and said, "Now there is an urgent matter that needs to be told to your father."

"Mr. Lin, please speak."

Wang Yunrui bowed.

Lin Jun told Wang Yunrui that the Portuguese were going to attack Pinghaiwei on New Year's Eve.

……

……

"Where did you soldiers come from?"

Wang Hong has led the Guangdong navy to the vicinity of Kinmen.

However, Wang Hong did not allow anyone to fly his official flag on the ship, in order to prevent the military ships and merchant ships along the way from easily knowing his true origin. Fortunately, the world has been peaceful for a long time, and the coastal defense in Fujian has long been in name only, so when Wang Hong and his navy came all the way from Guangdong to Fujian, there was no navy to check.

However, just as his navy arrived at Kinmen Station, a speedboat appeared in front of them and blocked their way. There was a young officer on the boat who was questioning Wang Hong and others with a knife.

Wang Hongze then sent someone out on a speedboat to inform the man and invite him to come on board to see him.

"You can leave your name if you come!"

Wang Hong's men asked this question after seeing the young general.

"Yu Dayou, the captain of Kinmen!"

The young general replied.

"We are soldiers of Wang Qianxian, the Right Censor-in-Chief, who is in charge of coastal defense!"

"Our deputy secretary wants to see you, come with us!"

At this time.

Wang Hong's men threw the cards onto Yu Dayou's boat.

The soldiers around Yu Dayou hurriedly picked it up and gave it to him.

After seeing this, Yu Dayou came to Wang Hong.

He also didn't expect that Wang Hong, the Chief Justice, would meet him.

However, Yu Dayou had heard of Wang Hong's reputation. He mainly knew about it through the newspapers in the capital. He knew that Wang Hong was an official who was good at dealing with the Portuguese.

Yu Dayou, who had been reading since childhood, could understand books and newspapers.

"I didn't fly any flags along the way, and ended up meeting you for questioning!"

"It is obvious that you are a general who works hard and has the safety of the people in mind, so it is necessary for this general to know your name."

Wang Hong smiled and said to Yu Dayou, "Reward him thirty silver dollars!"

Wang Hong's number one general, the commander-in-chief of the anti-Japanese war, Ke Rong, therefore nodded in agreement.

"Thank you for your praise, Your Excellency. However, I have not made any achievements. Even if I have military merits, I can only ask Your Excellency to commend me. Rewarding merits is a favor that the emperor can do. After all, I am a minister of the court!"

"So please ask the Chief Justice to revoke your order!"

Yu Dayou bowed and replied.

Wang Hong, Ke Rong and others were stunned.

Ke Rong even admonished Wang Hong at this time: "You are just a small centurion, how dare you mention the imperial court and the emperor? What good reputation are you trying to establish here! The assistant magistrate showed you his diligence, so he showed you favor, but you don't appreciate it. There is no way to disobey your superior like you!"

"No matter how small the rank of a hundred households is, I am still an official appointed by the imperial court. I cannot accept any favors from the emperor. I also ask the imperial judge not to show any favors from the emperor, and to prevent the censors from impeaching the imperial judge for favoritism and forming a clique!"

Yu Dayou not only continued to argue but also advised Wang Hong.

"you!"

Ke Rong could not help but point angrily at Yu Dayou, and Wang Hong said at this time: "Forget it! There is no need to embarrass him!"

"I am now transferring you to Pinghaiwei. Will you obey my order?"

At this time, Wang Hong asked Yu Dayou about other things.

Yu Dayou said, "I dare not disobey the order of the Minister of Justice, but I still need to report to Ye Qianhu of Jinshan Station of Zhenhai Guard."

"No need to report it! I will issue a ticket later, saying that you are not allowed to report it!"

Wang Hong waved his hand and said, "You will now be under Ke Rong's command!"

Yu Dayou nodded in agreement, looking very excited.

Because he guessed that there might be a war to be fought.

What's more, he knew that it was impossible for Wang Hong to come to Fujian to supervise the coastal defense for no reason.

Twenty years of Hongwu.

After Zhou Dexing, Marquis of Jiangxia, inspected the coastal areas of Fujian in accordance with Zhu Yuanzhang's order, he recruited 15,000 soldiers in Xinghua, Fuzhou and other prefectures, and built Pinghaiwei City in a strategic location.

The Acropolis has a circumference of more than 806 zhang, a width of 14 chi, a height of 24 chi, and has four city gates.

The Acropolis is built with stones and is solid and tall.

Pinghaiwei City formed a pincer attack with the Puxi Qianhu City and Nanri Water Fort, becoming an important gateway to central Fujian.

However, the country had been at peace for too long, and the local garrison officers and soldiers had long since become corrupt and decadent. Most of the military households had fled, and those who remained had become increasingly negligent in training and patrolling. The upper-level officers naturally joined forces with local wealthy families to engage in smuggling, and the lower-level military households had been reduced to slaves of the officers.

In addition, the military landlords of these garrisons were the main participants in the recent attempt by the Fujian local gentry to seize the Donglai gold mine, so they had been waiting for the invasion of the Western barbarians for a long time, and they did not need to be more careful to guard against invaders from the sea.

Therefore, after Wang Hong arrived here, he did not encounter any effective obstacles. He easily passed the Nanri Water Fort, controlled the Pinghai Wei City and the Putian Qianhu City, and also captured the Wei Commander Ling Yuanhui and others and put them into prison.

Not long after Wang Hong arrived at Pinghaiwei City, Wang Yunrui met with Wang Hong based on the information provided by the person Wang Hong sent to Putian, and informed Wang Hong of the information provided by Lin Jun.

"New Year's Eve?"

After hearing the news, Wang Hong said thoughtfully, "It is already the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the day after tomorrow."

"Let the soldiers get ready! There will be an invasion on New Year's Eve!"

Wang Hong therefore called Ke Rong and other generals to give them instructions.

……

Let’s talk about the day of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Fei Hong and his group have arrived in Fuzhou.

Lin Jun, Chen Lianghan and other well-known wealthy and powerful families in Fujian also came to Fuzhou City in advance to welcome Fei Hong and prepared a welcoming banquet for him.

Fei Hong even asked a question at the welcoming banquet: "Have all the famous officials from your hometown arrived?"

Lin Jun smiled and said, "All the students and above are here, but only those who have passed the imperial examination can enter the room to accompany the guests. The students who are filial and honest are all waiting outside. If you want to test the young people, you can summon them in to listen to your instructions!"

"No need!"

"Catch the thief first!"

Fei Hong suddenly waved his hand and ordered Dai Yi, the commander of the camp, who was ordered to lead 3,000 elite troops from the Beijing camp, "Commander Dai, have your soldiers surround this place and take over the defense of Fuzhou immediately!"

Dai Yi nodded and immediately started to make arrangements.

Except for Lin Jun, all the Fujian bureaucrats and wealthy people present were shocked.

Including Wang Shizhong and Zhang Jie who came with Fei Hong.

(End of this chapter)