The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 413: Southeast Drought Pirates Appear

The traitors who collaborated with the enemy and betrayed their country in the vassal state of Korea have been cleared out.

Pirates are causing trouble again on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty!
Early that morning, around noon, Emperor Wanli was leisurely walking towards the imperial study, his hands behind his back, when the cabinet's chief minister, Shen Li, suddenly approached with a stack of memorials in his hands and bowed, saying, "Report, the King of the vassal state of Ryukyu has submitted a memorial stating that their merchant ship was hijacked by pirates in the waters off Quanzhou Prefecture, and they escaped back on a speedboat."

what?
The Ryukyu Kingdom had several ocean-going merchant ships, and they also bought the Ming Dynasty's Kanhe to purchase goods from the Ming Dynasty and do business in Southeast Asia and Japan.

Wanli knew this a long time ago.

He also had no intention of prohibiting the Ryukyu Kingdom from doing this business.

Because the Ryukyu Kingdom has always been extremely submissive to the Ming Dynasty, most of the maritime merchants and even officials there are from the thirty-six surnames of Fujian people, which means they are equivalent to their own people.

Moreover, Ryukyu is short of resources, and it cannot survive without making some money through overseas trade.

Of course, he couldn't destroy other people's livelihoods just for the sake of robbing a few ships.

Unexpectedly, the merchant ship of the Ryukyu Kingdom would be hijacked by pirates, and in the southeastern waters of the Ming Dynasty!
Wanli took the top memorial and took a look. He found that the Ryukyu Kingdom's merchant ships had indeed been robbed, and both the cargo and the ships were robbed. The Ryukyu Kingdom's only few thousand-ton Fu ships were all taken away by pirates, and only one speedboat escaped.

How is this going?

How could pirates appear in the southeastern waters of the Ming Dynasty?
He didn't have a good understanding of the situation at sea, and he didn't know how many merchants in the southeast were doing illegal business.

Perhaps, Kapitan, once the largest pirate in the Southeast, had a better understanding of this.

The autumn wind is blowing now, and I don’t know whether Li Yuansheng has gone to Southeast Asia.

He thought carefully, then said decisively, "Pass on my decree. Order Yu Zigao to lead the navy with one hundred thousand-ton and two thousand-ton Fuzhou ships, and one thousand centipede ships, to rush to the waters of Quanzhou to search and suppress the pirates. Order Deng Zilong and Li Yuansheng to return to the capital as soon as possible to see me."

This was most likely done by the Zhejiang Party. The question is, where did the Zhejiang Party find these pirates?

Unexpectedly, before Deng Zilong and Li Yuansheng arrived in the capital, urgent news came from Fujian.

A large group of pirates appeared in the waters of Fujian, and merchant ships going to Nanzhili to purchase goods along the coast and even fishing boats going out to sea to fish were robbed.

These pirates robbed the ship, the goods and the people!

Fortunately, as the number of merchant ships and fishing boats that disappeared inexplicably increased, the fishermen who went out to sea to fish became extremely cautious. When they spotted a bunch of black spots on the sea from afar, they tried their best to flee back. Otherwise, no one would know that those merchant ships and fishing boats were robbed by pirates.

In other words, this group of pirates should have appeared a long time ago, but they robbed both the people and the ships, and no one had been able to escape before, so they had not been noticed.

Later, when the fishermen went out to sea, they saw a large number of black spots appearing inexplicably on the sea. Only then did they realize that they were being robbed by pirates.

Where on earth did this group of pirates come from?

Wanli was really puzzled.

If it is like the original Kapitan Li Dan going overseas to do business and make money, then there will definitely be a lot of people who want to go.

The problem is that these pirates are real pirates, not merchants doing business.

There is a difference between pirates and merchants. Merchants simply do overseas business without buying goods that are prohibited. If they are caught, the most they will do is confiscate their goods and fine them.

These guys specialize in robbing merchant ships and even fishing boats, and they rob both the people and the boats. The imperial court will definitely send the navy to encircle and suppress such pirates, and they will definitely be beheaded if they are caught.

Although not all the people of the Ming Dynasty have enough food and clothing now, they should not be so hungry that they would engage in such a life-threatening business.

The fishermen saw a dense mass of black spots, which meant there were at least dozens or hundreds of pirate ships. Even if these pirate ships were all made of 800-ton materials, they would require at least several thousand people to operate them.

Where did the Zhejiang Party find so many desperate criminals who were willing to sacrifice their lives?

This issue must be clarified.

If the Zhejiang Party can incite these people to become real pirates, then they can incite them to rebel!
He waited for seven or eight days before Deng Zilong and Li Yuansheng finally arrived.

Fortunately, the autumn wind had just started to blow in the southeast, and Li Yuansheng was not in a hurry to go to Southeast Asia, so he had not set off yet. If Li Yuansheng, the naval commander who was most familiar with pirates, went to Southeast Asia, it would be a bit difficult to figure out where these pirates came from.

At about 5 p.m. that afternoon, when it was getting dark, Deng Zilong and Li Yuansheng arrived at the palace quietly.

The Grand Council Hall, which was filled with maps, was already brightly lit.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked impatiently, "Yuansheng, do you know anyone else in the southeast who can mobilize dozens or even hundreds of ships and recruit thousands or even tens of thousands of people to become pirates?"

I'm afraid it was that guy who took action this time.

Li Yuansheng said solemnly, "I've been thinking about this all along the way. The only one in the southeast who can make such a big noise is probably Xu Xinsu from Zhangzhou."

Xu Xinsu?
This guy seems to have been Zheng Zhilong's enemy in history.

Zheng Zhilong seemed to have emerged during the Tianqi Dynasty. Now it was more than 20 years away from the Tianqi Dynasty in history. Did Xu Xinsu emerge already?

Wanli couldn't help but ask, "Who is this Xu Xinsu?" Li Yuansheng sighed slightly, then gritted his teeth and said, "I dare not hide anything from Your Majesty. This Xu Xinsu is my sworn brother.

I became sworn brothers with him when I was helping Shen Weijing and his gang with their overseas business. He was in charge of stocking up in Fujian, and he seems to have some kinship with some wealthy maritime merchant families. I'm afraid he might find out about us, so I haven't had any contact with him in a long time."

It turns out that this guy is somewhat related to the wealthy maritime merchant family.

Now the leaders or backers of the wealthy maritime merchants are the Zhejiang Party. This guy is most likely a member of the Zhejiang Party.

Wanli nodded slowly and asked, "Does anyone under his command already own a ship?"

Li Yuansheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, he is actually a maritime merchant. He is not only responsible for stocking our goods, but also doing business with the Dongfan people. He also has business dealings with the Portuguese. He originally had dozens of 400-ton and 800-ton speedboats under his command, and a crew of over a thousand."

This guy already has dozens of ships and thousands of people?

It seems that the Zhejiang Party is still using the shipyards in Zhejiang and Fujian to build ships for pirates.

He had no way of preventing this. The shipyard craftsmen from all over the country had to stay because the sea was open now. Although not many people were doing overseas trade, more and more people were going out to sea to fish and transporting goods along the coast.

The Grand Canal only reaches Southern Zhili. It is extremely inconvenient to do business between Zhejiang, Fujian, and even Guangdong and Guangxi by land, so the only option is sea transportation.

If he closed all the local shipyards, it would be difficult for business in the southeast to develop.

Therefore, he kept all the local shipyards, which gave the Zhejiang Party another opportunity to take advantage of.

He knew clearly how the pirates got their ships, but the question was, where did they recruit these thousands of desperate criminals from?

Wanli simply asked, "Then do you know where he recruited these thousands, even tens of thousands, of desperate criminals? Are there still people who are so hungry that they are willing to take such a risky business?"

How do you say this?

Li Yuansheng thought for a moment, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, in recent years, droughts have often occurred along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian, especially in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. In some places close to the sea, it simply doesn't rain.

So, many of us went abroad to become merchants, and some even became pirates. There was no other way. Since we couldn't grow food on the land, we had to rely on other means to make a living."

Are we experiencing consecutive years of drought now?
Why is it the southeast coast and not the northwest?
This question is indeed a bit strange.

During the Little Ice Age in history, the first place where drought broke out was the southeastern coast.

There is no record of this in official history because the impact of the drought was not very great. In fact, there are records of this in the annals of many coastal prefectures and counties.

For example, the Pinghu County Chronicles record that in the 16th year of the Wanli reign, there was a severe drought and the water in East Lake dried up.

For example, there are records in Taizhou Prefecture that there were severe droughts and no rain in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, and 21st years of the Wanli reign.

In many places of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, droughts began to break out during the Jiajing reign and continued until the Chongzhen reign.

Zheng Zhilong took advantage of the drought in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou prefectures to mobilize a large number of people to go to Dongfan to open up wasteland and cultivate land.

The reason why the droughts in these places did not have a great impact, not serious enough to be recorded in official history, was because of overseas trade.

Overseas trade requires both people and goods. There are a lot of workshops along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian. Even if a drought breaks out, you can earn some money to support your family by working in a workshop. If that doesn't work, you can go out to sea and follow merchants to transport goods, or simply become a pirate, which will earn you more.

This is also the reason why there are so many maritime merchants and pirates in Zhangzhou Prefecture and Quanzhou Prefecture.

When the Little Ice Age struck, the drought in the southeast did not have much impact, but it was a different story in the northwest.

The current water and land transportation in the northwest is not very convenient, and it is impossible to support so many people by making money from business. If the northwest suffers from severe drought for consecutive years, money alone will not be able to save the country, and there must be enough food.

It seems that we need to quickly develop Dongfan, grow more food, and prepare for the upcoming small ice age disaster.

However, before that, we must first deal with the pirates in the southeast.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Yuansheng, if Xu Xinsu hid overseas, could you find him?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuansheng couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Are we going to wipe out these sworn brothers too?

There is no way. This guy has been listening to the Zhejiang Party's evil deeds and has now caused unrest in the southeastern waters.

He thought about it, then gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "I should be able to find him. If he wants to hide, he can only hide in Dongfan. I have been to all the villages in Dongfan that he often goes to."

Then I leave it to you.

Upon hearing this, Wanli decisively said, "Yunqing, prepare the navy fleet. Let Yuansheng secretly investigate first. Once Xu Xinsu's fleet is found, you will immediately surround and destroy it with all your strength."

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong quickly bowed and said, "I obey your order."

(End of this chapter)