The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 346: Blackmail Failed
The New Year comes in the first month of the lunar year, and every household is smiling.

The capital city is becoming more and more prosperous, especially after the overseas trade has secretly changed hands, countless workshops have sprung up in the capital city without anyone noticing.

At this moment, the people in the capital don’t have to worry about not being able to find work. As long as they are diligent, there will be no problem in having enough food and clothing.

Everyone is rich now, the roads have been repaired, and travel has become extremely convenient. More people are visiting relatives and friends.

During the New Year holidays, every household in the city was decorated with lights and there was a bustling crowd of people and cars everywhere. The prosperity of the capital was almost catching up with Nanjing.

The streets and alleys were filled with laughter and joy.

At this time, Zhejiang Party officials were on pins and needles.

Because the payment that Kapitan Li Dan gave them for goods was getting less and less, they were a little unable to make ends meet.

This is not a big deal. The key point is that the person they placed next to Li Dan has not sent any news back for a long time.

They seriously suspected that the merchants from Japan and Southeast Asia had not failed to settle their payments with Li Dan, and it was very likely that Li Dan had embezzled their payments.

The problem is that last year the navy suddenly went crazy and implemented a maritime ban in the Zhejiang waters. They sent several groups of speedboats to Japan, but there was no news.

But the South Seas are too far away, and they don't have large ocean-going ships, so they can't go there at all.

Therefore, they had no idea whether the merchants from Japan and Southeast Asia had not paid off their payments or whether Li Dan had embezzled their payments.

Fortunately, during the New Year holidays, it seemed that all the navy officers and soldiers went home to celebrate the New Year, and the maritime ban in the Zhejiang waters was also lifted.

They immediately sent out all their speedboats, braving the biting cold wind, to Japan to gather information.

In fact, Zhejiang is not far from Japan. Songjiang Prefecture is only more than a thousand miles and less than two thousand miles away from Kitakyushu. If the speedboat paddles day and night, it will only take about ten days to go back and forth.

Around the tenth day of the first lunar month, a speedboat rushed back to Zhejiang, and soon the news was delivered to the capital at an express speed of 800 miles.

When Shen Yikuan received the news, he felt very disappointed.

The merchants in Japan have all been paid off. In order to prepare for war, Toyotomi Hideyoshi used the large silver ingots refined from the silver mines as payment.

Moreover, the Japanese merchants also bought a lot of other supplies from Li Dan, which were not their goods at all.

It was obvious that Li Dan had embezzled their payment for the goods.

This is really a big trouble. They don’t know how much money they have lost in the past two years!

Early in the morning on the 16th day of the first lunar month, around noon, Shen Yikuan actually came to ask to see Wanli in person.

Wanli was so confused. Why did this guy come to him at this time?

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Lord Shen, is there something important?"

Shen Yiguan nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the merchants in Zhejiang have reported that a large group of pirates have appeared on the southeast coast again, and much of their cargo has been stolen by the pirates."

what?
Tell me this!

Aren’t those pirates raised by you?

When Wanli heard this, he was stunned.

However, he quickly reacted.

Their plan of extorting goods from others was exposed.

These guys are so fast.

He originally thought that it would take the Zhejiang Party at least a month to get news from Japan.

It seems that he still underestimated these guys.

What did it mean when Shen Yikuan came to tell him that there was a large group of pirates on the southeast coast?

This guy is here to test the waters!
The Zhejiang Party wanted to know whether Li Dan had been recruited by him.

I can't let you know this yet. If I knew, you would go crazy.

You won’t know what trouble you will cause me by then.

The most important thing now is to destroy Japan. We can talk about your matters after we destroy Japan.

Wanli pretended to be stunned for a long time, then pretended to be incredulous and said, "That's unlikely. I remember Pan Jixun said that there are no pirates or Japanese pirates along the southeast coast."

You look at this expression, you really don't know?
Shen Yiguan thought about it and simply gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, there may not have been any in the past few years, but there are now. According to the complaints from the maritime merchants in Zhejiang, the leader of that pirate group is called Li Dan, nicknamed Kapitan. This Kapitan seems to have come from Luzon."

He is no longer called Li Dan.

Upon hearing this, Wanli pretended to be incredulous and said, "What Kapitan? Didn't the navy patrol the Zhejiang waters last year? Why didn't they find any pirates?"

How to say this? Shen Yiguan thought for a moment, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, the navy seems to be banning the direction of Japan, not the South China Sea. The pirate Kapitan came from the South China Sea, and he also hid from the navy's speedboats, so the navy has not discovered it."

You let it slip, you know?
I never said which direction is banned.

If you don't send people to investigate at sea, how can you know which direction I am banning?
Wanli pretended to be confused and said, "Nanyang direction? Really?"

It seems that the young emperor really didn't know about the existence of Li Dan's pirate group.

Is this good or bad?
If Li Dan still listened to them and paid them the money for his business, it would naturally be a good thing for the little emperor not to know about the existence of this group of pirates.

The problem is that Li Dan no longer listens to them.

This guy has swallowed up 20 to 30 million taels of their payment for goods!
Moreover, this guy also found other supply channels or backers. Not only did all the profits from overseas trade get taken away by others, but they also lost a huge amount of goods.

If the little emperor didn't know about the pirates at this time, it would be bad. Now they have no soldiers and no ships.

They also wanted to use the little emperor to summon the navy to eliminate the damn Kapitan so that they could regain the benefits of overseas trade.

Shen Yiguan nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, it is absolutely true. Many of the goods of Zhejiang merchants have been robbed by this group of pirates."

Li Yuansheng didn't rob other people's goods, it was your goods that were stolen from you!

Wanli pretended to be confused and said, "What should I do? Should I send a navy fleet to Nanyang to help them recover the goods?"

What nonsense are you talking about?

What did the navy fleet do in Southeast Asia?
Shen Yiguan said helplessly, "Your Majesty, I think we have to wipe out this group of pirates. Otherwise, even if the Zhejiang merchants buy the Kanhe, they won't be able to do business overseas."

How many Kanhe tickets do you buy in a year?
That little bit of money is just for feeding beggars!

I want all the benefits of overseas trade!

Do you still want me to help you eliminate Li Dan, and then train a group of pirates to continue to help you do overseas business and make a lot of money?
Go dream!

Wanli pretended to hesitate and said, "Right now, the Beijing Camp and the Border Army are fully engaged in the campaign against the Tumed Tribe. Moreover, the Tuman and Jurchen tribes are also ready to make a move. I must devote all my energy to dealing with the Northern Tartars.

Besides, I haven't even seen the shadow of the pirate navy you mentioned, so how can I suppress them?"

You must wipe out this Kapitan Li Dan for us!
Shen Yiguan thought about it carefully, and then urged: "Your Majesty, I have heard that the sea navigation mainly depends on the monsoon. In the summer, the south wind blows, and the pirate Kapitan will definitely lead his fleet north to Japan to do business.

At that time, the navy ships only need to lie between Quanzhou Prefecture and Dongfan, and they will definitely be able to intercept these pirates."

You wish.

Can I help you kill Li Yuansheng?
No, summer!
These guys also want to help the Japanese pirates to lure all the navy ships to the southeast waters!

Okay, I'll give you a trick on your own.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then pretended to hesitate and said, "Well, I have to order someone to investigate first. The navy fleet seems to be still in the Fuzhou area. I will order them to investigate first."

What else are you checking?

Shen Yiguan thought for a moment, then asked, "Your Majesty, how about I have someone send the petition from the Zhejiang merchants to the capital for you to see?"

Do you think you can fool me with just a few forged petitions?
Okay, I'll let you fool me.

Let’s see who is fooling whom then!

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Okay, pass the petition over to me first."

I don’t believe you won’t be fooled!

You little guy, you actually support the Qingliu to suppress us. Do you really think we are easy to bully?

I will also transfer your navy to the southeastern waters.

By the time the Japanese pirates kill their way through our vassal state of Korea and reach Liaodong, you will know how powerful they are.

The three major families in Puzhou will definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble for you. Let's see how you can clean up this mess.

This time, it is very likely that the three major families in Puzhou are competing with us for overseas business.

By then, we will put some pressure on the officials of the three major families in Puzhou and let you destroy them along with the pirate Kapitan. Then the overseas business will be under our control again.

Shen Yikuan was still dreaming about the Spring and Autumn Period while he bowed and took his leave.

He really thought Wanli knew nothing.

Wanli looked at his back and couldn't help but smile coldly.

Just wait, I will deal with the Japanese pirates first and then I will deal with you.

(End of this chapter)