The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 315 Struggle of Interests
Did Wanli favor Shen Yikuan and his gang because of Yu Youcai?
This is pure bullshit.

He never favored Shen Yikuan and his gang at all.

As for the claim that Yu Youcai left and Shen Yikuan and his gang fell out of favor, that was just an excuse.

He supported the Donglin Party in its fight against the Zhejiang Party not just to let these guys fight each other.

In fact, he was mainly motivated by profit, the huge profits from overseas trade.

He knew very well that once he revealed his intention to interfere in overseas trade, the Zhejiang Party would become enemies of him.

This struggle for interests was bound to break out sooner or later. The fact that pirates and Japanese pirates went ashore like crazy, burning, killing and looting during the Jiajing period was a clear proof of this.

The pirates and Japanese pirates at that time were really crazy and had no regard for their lives.

It is nonsense to say that they are going ashore to rob money.

How much money can the civilians outside the city have? Besides, they will run away. If they don’t capture the county town, or even the state capital, they won’t be able to rob any money.

From the 26th year of the Jiajing reign to the 45th year of the Jiajing reign, a period of more than 20 years, pirates and Japanese pirates went ashore to plunder 500 to 600 times, often with hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of people.

As a result, they only captured a few county towns!

With such a large amount of money being robbed, it’s not even enough to cover the round-trip fare, let alone the food wages for so many pirates and Japanese pirates for twenty years.

To put it bluntly, the Japanese pirates in the Jiajing period were aimed at competing for the huge profits from overseas trade. Jiajing wanted to wipe out pirates and Japanese pirates, strictly implement maritime bans, and prevent them from making money by doing overseas business. This was one reason.

Another reason is that the Xie family of Yuyao was wiped out, and the overseas trade of the Ming Dynasty was reshuffled. The wealthy maritime merchants and even pirates and Japanese pirates wanted to seize the profits from it, so the southeast coast became a mess.

At this time, the Zhejiang Party controlled overseas trade and was making a lot of money, tens of millions of taels a year.

If he showed his intention to intervene, it would be strange if the Zhejiang Party did not oppose him.

At this time, his intentions could no longer be hidden, because he was about to start mass-producing ocean-going giant ships this year.

By the time hundreds or even thousands of ocean-going warships are built, it would be strange if the Zhejiang Party still doesn't understand that he wants to steal their business.

Therefore, he took the initiative and began to use Donglin to suppress the Zhejiang Party.

The Zhejiang Party probably still doesn't understand why it is being suppressed all of a sudden.

Shen Yikuan was hit by this sudden blow and was really stunned.

Originally, he was still feeling proud of his entry into the cabinet.

Who would have known that the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Doctor of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Director of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department were suddenly all replaced by people from the upright ranks!

He relied on these positions to place his confidants in the court, so he naturally knew the importance of these positions.

Could it be that the young emperor saw that he was becoming too arrogant, so he wanted to use the clean forces to suppress him?

What should I do now?

Should I go and argue with the little emperor?

That is seeking death!
Who in the court doesn't know the little emperor's rebellious temper?

It would have been fine if he didn't argue, but if he did, the little emperor would have beaten him up, which would have been the least of his problems.

This theory must never be theorized.

Would he run over to flatter the little emperor and say that this was a good blow?
That means there is something wrong with your brain.

The little emperor is addicted to beating people. If you catch him and beat him hard, he will be beaten to death.

Neither this nor that works, he doesn't know what to do.

It was at this time that Deng Zilong and Peng Zungu braved the severe cold and came to the capital.

Early in the morning at about noon, they rushed to the imperial study to meet Emperor Wanli.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked, "How are the 1,000-ton and 2,000-ton ships progressing, Danyang?"

Peng Zungu quickly introduced in detail: "Your Majesty, last year we trial-produced two batches of 1,000-ton giant ships, each batch of 50 ships. These molds are made according to the old molds, so there should be no problem.

In the first half of last year, we also built a mold for a 2,000-ton giant ship, and in the second half of the year we also trial-produced five ships. As for whether there are any problems, we will have to test them at sea to know. "

Then go out to sea.

Wanli simply asked, "Yunqing, when can the navy fleet set out to sea?"

Going out to sea is not something you can just run away from.

Deng Zilong explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this navy fleet will have at least several hundred ships when it goes out to sea. When we are testing the ships, we can't always run on the sea. We need to dock at a port. Also, Your Majesty, the navy is a bit short of soldiers. In the past two years, we have built tens of thousands of octopus ships and centipede ships. 150,000 soldiers are barely enough to operate the ships.

When these more than one hundred giant ships go out to sea, people must be arranged to operate the artillery, and more musketeers must be equipped, otherwise there will be little combat effectiveness. By this calculation, at least 20,000 troops are needed.

We simply can't spare any manpower right now. If we mobilize 20,000 men to operate the giant ships out to sea, then at least a thousand octopus ships and centipede ships will be stuck there."

Alas, there are not enough naval officers and soldiers again.

It is a good thing that the ships are built quickly, but the ships built must also have enough naval officers and soldiers to operate them.

The problem is that he has recruited too many troops now. The Beijing garrison, border troops and navy total over a million people. Even among them, there are still several border towns that are only paid half salary, not full salary.

The food and salary were too horrific. The money that the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty could earn was almost reaching its limit.

Moreover, this year he is planning to gradually equip the border troops with cavalry. Now they are not short of war horses. The problem is that after the border troops are equipped as cavalry, they need to be given food and wages.

This is also one of the reasons why he is eager to seize overseas trade interests.

Because only the huge overseas trade interests can support him to continue expanding his navy and border troops.

This is another contradiction.

If there are not enough naval officers and soldiers, we won’t even be able to gather people to go out to sea for ship trials.

How do they grab the profits from overseas trade?

Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly an idea struck him: "Where are the navy's octopus ships and centipede ships now?"

Deng Zilong said without hesitation: "The navy's octopus ships and centipede ships are mainly divided into two groups. One group is under the Governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, Li Hualong, helping to develop the river and transport timber. The other group is under the command of Xinjian Earl Wang Chengxun, transporting grain, coal, oil and iron."

Upon hearing this, Wanli said without hesitation: "Doesn't Yuye need a large number of ships? They need 100-ton and 200-ton speedboats, and they certainly need 400-ton octopus boats as well. If you send them 2,000 octopus boats first, wouldn't those 20,000 soldiers who are testing the boats be ready?"

Uh, you are so generous, giving me two thousand octopus boats at once!
Li Hualong must be so happy that he's going crazy.

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand. Your Majesty, where should we build the harbor for the navy to dock?"

You're asking me this too?

Wanli simply took out a map of the southeast, put it on the table, and then asked, "Where do you think it would be best to build it?"

Li Hualong pointed at the map and explained in detail: "Your Majesty, there are too many mudflats at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Large ships can easily run aground there. There are also not many islands there to form a harbor to shelter from storms at sea. Therefore, a harbor terminal cannot be built there.

I believe the most suitable place to build a harbor is at the mouth of the Qiantang River. There are many islands here, and there are many harbors. If that doesn't work out, we can build it in the harbor between Zhoushan Island and Ningbo Prefecture. There is definitely no storm there, but it is a bit far from the Yangtze River estuary.

Do you still want to directly confront the Zhejiang Party?

It’s better not to confront others at this time.

We have to test the 2,000-ton giant ship first, and then build more.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then pointed to an archipelago southeast of Songjiang Prefecture and said, "Then let's build the navy's harbor here. It's close to the Yangtze River estuary, making it convenient for the navy's ships to pass through."

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Then there was the question of shipbuilding.

Wanli asked again, "Danyang, have the ships been launched this year? How many have been launched?"

Peng Zungu nodded repeatedly and said, "The first batch has been deployed this year. There are still fifty thousand-ton giant ships, four hundred octopus ships, two hundred centipede ships, and one hundred small speedboats built for Lord Li."

There are already enough octopus ships. According to the original shipbuilding ratio, among the more than 10,000 octopus ships and centipede ships, at least 6,000 to 7,000 are octopus ships.

Wanli thought about it carefully, and then said decisively: "After this batch of Octopus Ships, we will not build them anymore. We can build 200 Centipede Ships at a time, and we can stop building 200 1,000-ton giant ships. After Yunqing has tested the 2,000-ton giant ships, we will build the remaining 2,000-ton giant ships. We will build 100 of them first."

Peng Zungu bowed repeatedly and said, "I understand."

As soon as this huge navy ship was pulled out, the Zhejiang Party would probably guess his intention.

What will be the Zhejiang Party’s reaction next?

Will pirates and Japanese pirates wreak havoc on the southeast coast again?
Wanli thought about it carefully, then instructed: "Yunqing, when you go out to sea for ship trials, send the octopus boat to scout around to see if there are any pirates or Japanese pirates in the southeastern waters."

Deng Zilong bowed repeatedly and said, "I understand."

The overseas trade dispute is about to begin. I hope it will not be like the Jiajing Dynasty, where the southeast coast was in chaos and full of pirates and Japanese pirates.

Wanli sighed inwardly, then waved his hand, signaling the two to leave.

(End of this chapter)