The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 330: Zhejiang Party Colludes with Ningyuan Hou

No one knew that Wanli secretly appeased the pirate Kapitan.

Li Dan and Li Guozhu both entered the palace wearing the military uniforms of naval officers, so outsiders could not have imagined that they were pirate leaders.

He was stealing the Zhejiang Party's business so secretly that the Zhejiang Party was kept in the dark.

However, the Zhejiang Party did not sit idly by.

They were also secretly stealing Wanli's things.

Wanli was also kept in the dark by them at this moment.

That afternoon, around 5 p.m., when the weather was at its hottest, Emperor Wanli was in Kunning Palace, cuddling the little Princess Zhu Xuanyuan and entertaining her. Li Xuancheng suddenly rushed in and said urgently, "Your Majesty, Yu Zigao is back. He seems to have something urgent to do and is waiting outside the Imperial Study."

what?
Why is this kid Yu Zigao running back in such a hurry?

Wanli was stunned for a moment, and simply carried the little princess Zhu Xuanyan to the Qianqing Palace.

Outside the imperial study, Yu Zigao was stunned when he saw Wanli coming over with a cute little princess in his arms.

Seeing this, the little princess Zhu Xuanyuan couldn't help but ask curiously, "Father, is he the general?"

Wanli smiled slightly and said, "Yes, he is the Admiral of the Navy. Kemai, why did you come back?"

Yu Zigao finally reacted upon hearing this and quickly bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you, Your Highness. Your Highness, Yuan Sheng has sent a secret letter to me."

After saying this, he took out the secret letter and bowed to present it.

Wanli was too lazy to go into the imperial study, so he just tore open the secret letter and read it in the corridor.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but frown.

Shen Weijing actually asked Li Yuansheng to take hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and several ships of valuable gifts to give to Yang Hao, the deputy envoy of Liaohai Road!
The so-called Deputy Envoy of Liaohai Road is just an abbreviation. The full name should be the Deputy Envoy of Liaohai Road of Shandong Judicial Inspection Office.

Dengliaohaidao is the strait that connects Dengzhou Prefecture to Liaodongdusi, which is the coastal defense gateway of the capital. Therefore, a special deputy envoy of the Ministry of Justice was appointed to be responsible for inspecting the defense.

To put it bluntly, it is to prevent pirates and Japanese pirates from entering the inland sea, landing in the capital, burning, killing and looting.

Shen Weijing actually asked Li Yuansheng, who was still the pirate leader on the surface, to deliver hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and several ships of valuable gifts to Yang Hao, the deputy envoy of Liaohai Road!

The Deputy Envoy of Liaohai Road is only a fourth-rank official, and he is also a local official. Is it necessary for Shen Weijing to curry favor with him like this?
it's out of the question!

There are so many second- and third-rank officials in the Zhejiang Party, and the fourth rank is nothing. Besides, Yang Hao is from the Zhejiang Party, so Shen Weijing has no need to curry favor with Yang Hao.

So why did Shen Weijing give so much silver and valuable gifts to Yang Hao?
Wanli frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly realized that these things were not for Yang Hao, but for Ningyuan Hou Li Chengliang.

Yang Hao is Shen Yikuan's favorite disciple. The Zhejiang Party wants to win over Ningyuan Hou Li Chengliang and take control of Liaodong Town!

Historically, the relationship between Yang Hao and the Liaodong Li family was extremely good.

Li Rubai and Li Rumei were as close to Yang Hao as brothers.

The Zhejiang Party did control Liaodong Town through the Li family.

However, what they did was outrageous to both humans and gods!
They swallowed up all the benefits of the Liao army and people, causing the Liaodong economy to gradually decline and the military to gradually become obsolete.

In order to gain merit, Yang Hao and Li Rumei did not even report to the Ministry of War and led their troops out of the border privately, resulting in the loss of more than ten officers and hundreds of soldiers.

These are nothing.

Historically, the only major defeat in the Wanli Korean War was because Yang Hao wanted to leave the credit to Li Rumei in the Battle of Ulsan.

According to the Ming Shilu, in this battle, Chen Yin took advantage of the victory to climb the Ulsan City and beat the drums, which was enough to destroy the enemy at breakfast, but suddenly he sounded the horn and retreated. Yang Hao did not want Yin's achievements to surpass Li Rumei's, so he was about to achieve success but was defeated again.

At that time, the Ming army had already broken through the old city of Ulsan. The 50,000-strong army took advantage of the situation to besiege the Japanese city built by the Japanese pirates. After twelve days and nights of bloody fighting, the guerrilla general Chen Yin led 3,000 Zhejiang soldiers to break through the last line of defense of the Japanese pirates. When they were about to rush into the Japanese city and annihilate the Japanese pirates inside, Yang Hao suddenly ordered his men to sound the horn and ordered Chen Yin to withdraw!

It turned out that Yang Hao saw that victory in the Battle of Ulsan was imminent and the Japanese pirates in the Japanese city could be easily captured, so he wanted to wait for Li Rumei to arrive before launching a general attack and let Li Rumei make this great contribution.

Who knew that before Li Rumei arrived, the temperature dropped sharply and water turned into ice. The Japanese city was located at a high altitude, and the Japanese pirates poured water on the hillside all night, making it like an icy surface and impossible to climb and attack.

Anyone who has seen certain dramas should know how cold the winter was in the vassal state of Korea. The Japanese pirates in the Japanese city relied on the ice and snow to hold out until the first month of the following year.

At this time, the Japanese pirate reinforcements also arrived.

When Yang Hao heard that a large number of Japanese pirate reinforcements had arrived, he actually abandoned his 50,000-strong army and fled to the capital of his vassal state, Korea!

The commander's sudden flight threw the Ming army, which had been besieging the Japanese city, into chaos. The retreat was a chaotic mess. The Japanese pirates seized the opportunity and attacked, killing over 20,000 of the 50,000 elite Ming soldiers and injuring the rest. If Wu Weizhong hadn't led thousands of Qi's troops to the battle, the entire 50,000-strong army would have been annihilated!
This was the only major defeat of the Ming army during the Wanli War to Aid Korea, and it was also the capital for the Japanese pirates to brag that they had fought a draw with the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, there is a big trick here. Wu Weizhong later interrogated the captured Japanese pirates and found that the total number of the Japanese pirates' reinforcements and the defenders in the Japanese city was less than 50,000.

Yang Hao did not send anyone to investigate the enemy situation and just ran away, leaving the 50,000-strong army leaderless and without anyone to command. It would be strange if they were not defeated.

Perhaps, he deliberately caused the defeat of the Ming army because the Zhejiang Party was in collusion with the Japanese pirates, and Shen Weijing was leading the Japanese pirates in the vassal state of Korea at that time, and was even caught by the secret guards of the Jinyiwei!
Yang Hao was protected by Shen Yi Guan, so after this great defeat he was only dismissed from his post and investigated.

Later, when the Jiannu attacked Liaodong, he was reappointed as the governor of Liaodong because he was familiar with the military affairs of Liaodong. To put it bluntly, he had a good relationship with the Li family. No one else in the Liaodong army could command it, only Shen Yiquan's favorite disciple Yang Hao could command it.

As a result, in a battle that could have been won with a simple push, Yang Hao inexplicably divided his troops into four groups. He actually let the generals of the other three towns lead their troops to rush forward first to consume the strength of the Jiannu, and then let the Liaodong general Li Rubai lead the main force of the Liaodong army to take advantage!
Moreover, because Liu Jing had publicly scolded him for deserting the battlefield after the defeat in the Battle of Ulsan, which had wasted the lives of more than 20,000 soldiers, the two became enemies. He actually ordered Liu Jing to lead a lone army into the heartland of the Jiannu and attack the Jiannu's old nest, Hetuala!

This time, the three armies were defeated one by one by the Jiannu. Before the main force of the Liaodong Army led by Li Rubai arrived at Sarhu, news of a great defeat came from the front line. This guy actually led his troops to turn around and run away. The main force of the Liaodong Army was immediately in chaos, and thousands of people were trampled to death by their own people!
The Battle of Sarhu was such an inexplicable defeat.

Does Yang Hao really not know how to fight?
That's impossible. This guy has served as governor and general manager many times, so he must have read some military books. Under normal circumstances, he would not do such an incredible thing.

He did it on purpose!

He deliberately lost to the Japanese pirates in the Battle of Ulsan.

In the Battle of Sarhu, he deliberately sent Liu Jing to his death in order to avenge his personal grudge!

This beast has killed countless Ming army soldiers.

Those are the elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who have experienced many battles.

Can I still allow you to harm my elite border troops?

Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then instructed: "Go tell Yuansheng that the things must be delivered to Yang Hao on time, but ask him to write a list and bring it back to you."

what?
Yu Zigao was a little confused. He rubbed the back of his head and said innocently, "Your Majesty, I dare say these things are very valuable. They must be planning something big. Liaodong is a border town. Sending them there might cause disaster."

You are really smart, kid.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, I guessed what they were going to do. Nothing serious will happen. If Yuan Sheng doesn't deliver the things on time, it will be exposed. That would be a big deal, don't you understand?"

Oh, Li Yuansheng cannot be exposed at this time.

Since His Majesty has guessed what it is, there is no problem.

Yu Zigao nodded innocently and said, "I understand."

Wanli waved his hand and said, "Hurry and go. At this time, I'm afraid you can only encounter Yuan Sheng's fleet at the mouth of the Huai River. Bring more fast boats and go there. Be sure to find Yuan Sheng's fleet, bring my oral instructions, and bring me the list."

Yu Zigao quickly bowed and said, "I understand. I will take my leave."

The little princess Zhu Xuanyan just stared with her big eyes, watching curiously, without interrupting or crying.

This is the good thing about the little princess, she is well-behaved and obedient. If it were a little prince, he would have been like a little prince with lice on his body by now, and it would be impossible to hold him.

Wanli kissed her pink little face and then said in a loud voice: "Pass on my oral order and order Luo Sigong to come to the audience as soon as possible."

When Luo Sigong hurried over, Wanli had already carried the little princess into the imperial study, took out a copy of "Compendium of Materia Medica", and sat down to look at the illustrations on it.

When he saw this scene, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, then he bowed and said: "Your humble servant greets His Majesty, and Her Royal Highness the Princess."

Wanli nodded slightly, then explained in detail: "The Zhejiang Party wants to collude with Ningyuan Hou through Yang Hao, the Deputy Envoy of Liaohai Road. In a few days, they will send a batch of gold, silver and precious gifts to Liaodong to Yang Hao in order to win over Ningyuan Hou.

Send secret guards to keep an eye on Yang Hao, and tell them that they only need to watch him from a distance. After Yang Hao receives the batch of gold, silver and several ships of valuable gifts, he will definitely send them to Ningyuan.

What I want to know is when exactly he was sent there, who came forward to pick him up at the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, and how long he stayed there.

Don't worry about the rest. Once the secret guards find out, they will report back to the capital immediately."

Is it that simple?
Luo Sigong quickly bowed and said, "Your humble servant understands."

After Wanli arranged all this, he suddenly realized a problem.

If he can place secret guards everywhere, the Zhejiang Party will definitely place people around Li Yuansheng to monitor him.

If these people don’t get rid of Li Yuansheng, they will soon be exposed!

(End of this chapter)