Chapter 376: Intrigue, who is right and who is wrong?
After three rounds of wine and five flavors, Hu Zongxian talked about the main topic: "You invited you to come here so early, there are two things to discuss, one is mine and the other is yours, but in the final analysis, it is all our affairs."
Silently smiled, "Then let's talk about Mr. Merlin first."
Hu Zongxian said: "It's about Wang Zhi. In fact, his representative has arrived and he has celebrated the New Year in Hangzhou," he said: "I have been with Shen Jing and attended your wedding."
Chen Mo met Chen Jing and knew that the boy had returned safely. He wanted to meet him, but he actually left in a hurry. It turned out that he had another task. He nodded slowly and said, "Brother, why not tell me the whole story."
"I'll let Chen Jing tell you," Hu Zongxian said: "He is already waiting in the side hall."
"Is that right?" Chen Si said in surprise: "Let him come to see me quickly."
Hu Zongxian ordered his maid to go out and soon understand a young official wearing a seventh-grade uniform, wearing a mustache, and a pretty man-like appearance recently. He saluted and said, "Greetings to the master of the ministry and paying homage to the top scholar."
Chen Si laughed and scolded, "Why are you pretending to be a big-tail wolf with me?" Then he got up and pulled Chen Jing to sit down, patting him on the shoulder intimately. Although Chen Si didn't say anything, he was still worried about this cousin.
Chen Jing laughed and said, "After all, I have been on a mission. Now I am doing diplomatic relations between the Ministry of Rites. Of course, I have to be polite and receive etiquette." He was clearly playing with a pirate leader, but he was just talking so sacred that he couldn't stop smiling.
Hu Zongxian also smiled and said to the silent, "Although you are lazy and generous, you are indeed capable and a capable official," and said with a smile: "I have already appointed him as the counselor of the Governor's Office. Although the grade is not high, he is a background in the end. Sooner or later, he has made contributions and is not difficult to be a magistrate."
Chen Si laughed gratefully and said, "It's really a blessing for us brothers to be favored by the master of the tribe." This is the art of speaking. If Chen Si Guang thanks Lord Hu for his care of his cousin, Chen Jing will sound awkward, because in that way, he will put his position too low; but if he doesn't express gratitude, it is obviously inappropriate, so Chen Si counts himself as being taken care of and thanks Chen Jing, and everyone sounds comfortable.
Hu Zongxian said in his heart: "Look, how good you can speak? No wonder you can make a fortune in the muddy waters of the capital."
After a few cups of wine, Hu Zongxian said to Chen Jing, who was with the last seat, "I will talk to you about your trip to Tokyo, and let's make up for it."
"As for the order." Chen Jing said, "It sounds like it was the summer of the previous year." He couldn't help but sigh, "It's so fast, I've been thinking about it for two years..."
"It's only been a year and a half," said Silently, "Tell me the point."
Chen Jing nodded and said, "Two years ago, Chen Keyuan, the head of the guard of Master Budo, went to Tokyo to find Wang Zhi under the leadership of Jiang Zhou. After several twists and turns, he landed on Kyushu Island in Tokyo and met the local Daming Matsuura family. Unexpectedly, the name of the Ming Dynasty officials was still quite intimidating. Not only did he not make things difficult for us, he also agreed to contact Wang Zhi for helping us contact Wang Zhi."
He said as he said strikingly: "You don't know that the king is doing so well in Tokyo. He is in the southern part of Kyushu Island, seizing the thirty-six islands and becoming kings and dominating. Those Tokyo princes dare not even make a fart." He said apologetically and smiled: "It's uncivilized... It should be that he doesn't even dare to say something."
"Does the Tokyo princes not care?" Chen Si said strangely: "I heard that Tokyo is known to have arisen in this era, and there are many famous generals."
"Those people brag very well." Chen Jing smiled and said, "You think, Tokyo is a small place, but it is known as the 66 great princes. There are countless small princes. There are not many people in the beginning, and they are divided into 180 groups. How many people can be found in a group?" He recalled, "I have witnessed a decisive battle between the Matsuura family and their strongest opponent Ryuzaoji. The number of people on both sides is only about 2,000. From the morning to the evening, more than 100 people died on the other side," he said, "Let us go to our country, the gang fight is larger than this scale."
After Chen Mo finished laughing with Hu Zongxian, Chen Jing continued: "Wang Zhi's business was beyond imagination. He monopolized the golden trade route from Fujian, Zhejiang to Tokyo, and to Nanyang. He owned and controlled more than 2,000 ships of various types. More than 100,000 people directly affiliated with or obeyed him. His direct troops were equipped with very powerful Western muskets, so although there were many "famous generals" in Tokyo, no one dared to make any decisions about him."
"On the contrary, they were very polite to him and had to give gifts and pay tribute during festivals and did not dare to neglect them at all." Chen Jing sighed with emotion: "Because he almost monopolized all trade with Tokyo, especially Western muskets, which was the favorite of the princes."
He nodded silently and said to Hu Zongxian: "It seems that our original inference is correct."
"Yes, now Xu Hai is making me anxious," Hu Zongxian frowned and said, "You must not have conflicts with this person anymore." He said to Chen Jing, "You continue talking."
"Later, under the guidance of the head of the Matsuura family, we met Wang Zhi's adopted son Mao Haifeng, and under his leadership, we met Wang Zhi. This man was in his forties, not tall, but his face was very loyal, but he was not friendly at first because he heard from the people below that the whole family was killed by us, so he had to kill us." Although he recalled in a relaxed tone, he could still feel the line of life and death at that time. He also heard Chen Jing say: "When we took out his son's handwritten letter, his attitude changed completely. He was very happy and said that he had been a member of the court for a long time. The reason why he stayed away from overseas was because of the persecution of Zhu Wan, Wang Jun and others. In fact, he always wanted to return and was willing to help the court quell the Japanese turmoil."
Chen Si never expected that such a turning point would occur and asked Hu Zongxian: "When did Wang Zhi become a member of the court?"
Hu Zongxian said embarrassedly, "After I checked and asked, there seemed to be some connection." He told Chen Si that Zhu Wan was in Fujian's iron-fisted ban on the sea. Although she failed in the end, the attack on the Japanese pirates was also very heavy... At that time, there were two major Japanese pirate forces in Fujian, one was the team of Li Guangtou, and the other was Xu Dong, a Hui native. Wang Zhi was Xu Dong's second in charge at that time.
However, after Zhu Wan's clearance, Li Bullow and Xu Dong surrendered the rest, Wang Zhi took over the rest and went north to Zhejiang. At the same time as him, he also had activities in the Zhejiang-hailing area, including Chen Sipan, Deng Wenjun, Wang Dan, Lu Qi and other maritime merchant groups. These people were very powerful and didn't even take the official army seriously. They were not able to compete with Wang Zhi and his group who were severely injured.
In order to avoid being eaten by peers, Wang Zhi tried to approach the officials of the Haidao and the garrison to help them eliminate certain Japanese pirates. In exchange for their favor and support, and using the power of the government, Wang Zhi ate many peers and gradually grew stronger and moved in multiple ways, hoping to legally "trade with each other" and trade with the mainland normally.
But no official in Jiangsu and Zhejiang could bear this responsibility. They just wanted to use him to resist the Japanese and pirates, and did not open the maritime ban. They planned to trade with him, so they deceived Wang Zhi to hunt and kill Japanese and pirates on the condition of "taking the thief to offer the thief to the Shirong pirates". Wang Zhi cooperated with the official army and actually wiped out and subdued Chen Sipan and others one after another...
One morning, officials in Zhejiang suddenly discovered that Wang Zhi had established a monopoly position at sea, and all the ships entering the sea were only able to drive at sea by Wang Zhi's "Five Peaks". However, after behind-the-scenes transactions and excellent cooperation in front of the Taiwan Strait, Wang Zhi was always generous and was very satisfied with the government's management. Zhejiang's maritime defense officials privately allowed Wang Zhi to trade with the mainland, so that they could benefit and benefit each other.
During that period, Wang Zhi became a guest of Ningbo government. Because of his strong strength and generous personality, Ningbo coastal defense officials relied on him more and regarded him as his strong support, and both sides got along very well.
But this golden years did not last long, because Wang Zhi's "backer" was at best just a favorable local official. Regardless of his character, it was mainly because they could not influence the central government's policy and decision-making. Once the governor changed, everything would return to freezing point.
In the 31st year of Jiajing, Shandong Governor Wang Jun was appointed as the governor of Zhejiang, the military affairs of Fu, Xing, Zhang, Quandao, and the governor of military affairs. He hated coastal officials and pirates like Wang Zhi very much, and appointed Lu Tong, Tang Kekuan and others who were imprisoned due to the Zhu Wan case, as well as Yu Daqiong, the right senator general stationed in Qiongzhou, Guangdong.
But Wang Zhi was still immersed in the happiness of collusion between officials and businessmen. He naively thought that Zhejiang's sea route officials would always treat him as an assistant to maintain sea order. He was careless for a moment and did not notice the obvious intention of the authorities. As a result, Wang Jun was lured and annihilated by his army, causing heavy losses and almost lost his life.
Wang Jun's actions completely shattered his fantasy. Wang Zhi sighed: "This is all sincere and sincere. All the officials have promised meritorious comments. Why do you falsely accused of causing crimes and rebellion to your family?" It can be seen that everyone has a time of innocence... Because they cannot move along the coast of the mainland, he has only gained a foreign Tokyo pioneering stronghold.
Because of the war in Tokyo at that time and the lack of supplies, he was treated with a monopoly maritime merchant like this. So Wang Zhi made friends with many powerful and powerful businessmen in Tokyo because he was loyal, trustworthy, generous and generous, and had read books. He was not as vulgar as ordinary maritime merchants... In the eyes of Tokyo people, he was simply a gentle elder, and thus widely won the trust and praise of Tokyo people.
With the help of the right time, place, and people, Wang Zhi's power flourished, quickly recovered his vitality and achieved a qualitative leap. It has become the most powerful force on the sea without looking at anyone's face.
"This is all I know, so Wang Zhi said that is not completely nonsense." After Hu Zongxian finished speaking, he picked up the teacup and took a sip, and said to Shen Jing: "You continue talking."
Shen Jing scratched his head and said, "Where are you talking about... Oh, yes, I won't say anything else, Boss Wang is really very helpful. Not only does he control food and accommodation, but he also takes us around Tokyo," he said, "I may not believe it after saying it. When the princes from all over the country heard that the 'Five Peaks Boat Master' was visiting, they lined up to welcome him warmly, it was delicious, fun and easy to serve, and they were more enthusiastic than what they treated... the generals were enthusiastic." Even now, Shen Jing still felt incredible and laughed: "I admire the old man for saying it is uncontrollable. Look at how he is doing..."
Chen Jing coughed silently, reminding Chen Jing, who was less and less focused on his words, said: "What happened later? When did you come back? How was the business done?"
Chen Jing then stopped embarrassedly and said, "We are also anxious, but Wang Zhi just asked us to eat, drink and have fun, and refused to reply to us. He only said that he had too many trivial matters and needed to prepare them before he talked about it. It took more than half a year to delay this. It was probably in February last year that he suddenly told us that he could come back with us." He then said, "At that time, he brought his adopted son Mao Haifeng and was on the same lucky boat with us. Who knew that before setting sail, he suddenly forced Chen Qianhu, who was the highest official rank, to jump onto the shore, and told us that he suddenly remembered that there were still some things that were not cooked, so he asked Mao Haifeng to come to the mainland as a plenipotentiary representative first to negotiate with us."
It was no surprise that Guan Shi was silent. If Wang Zhizhen returned to the country like this, that would be strange.
Looking at Hu Zongxian with a disappointed look, he comforted silently: "Although I haven't seen Wang Zhi himself, I finally got on, which is a major progress."
Hu Zongxian shook his head slowly and said, "Look at the letter from Mao Haifeng before talking about it." Then he went to the desk to get a letter and took a silent look at the words. It was still neat. When he looked at the literary talent, he could only say that he was a rough idea. This person should have read a book for three to five years. After a little judgment, he began to read this very distinctive letter:
The letter begins with humble words, admitting that he had committed a crime, but was willing to make meritorious service to completely eliminate Japanese pirates for the country. Then, he changed his mind and boasted that he is so arrogant now, with guns, boats and people. He is very good at making trouble in Tokyo. As long as I lobby for threats everywhere, they will definitely not dare to send people to harass Fujian and Zhejiang anymore.
After reading the full text, I kept talking nonsense. The only sentence that is really useful is: "I hope to capture or suppress the old thieves in Songjiang, or call for returning them to the island. However, China's orders are required to trade currency and trade with each other." He still asked the court to open the maritime ban.
After reading it, he put the letter on the table and asked quietly, "What's next?"
"Seeing the situation at that time," Hu Zongxian sighed and said, "I can't agree to him no matter what. I can't make the decision." He said, looking silent and said, "But..."
"But now the court is preparing to reopen the Maritime Bureau." He smiled silently, "So you feel that the knot is resolved, right?" This is Hu Zongxian's real intention to find him.
Hu Zongxian nodded frankly and said, "Yes, that Mao Haifeng has been here for more than half a year. I heard that the court was going to reopen the Maritime Bureau. He was so anxious that he jumped up and down. Since last year, he has repeatedly urged me to give him a letter of confirmation to go back and report. I want you to talk to him."
In silence, the reason why Hu Zongxian brought himself from Shaoxing with such a big show was to highlight the nobleness of his identity and make Mao Haifeng willing to negotiate with him.
Chen Si did not agree immediately, but hesitated: "The matter of the Maritime Bureau itself is under great pressure. Those censors are staring at it. If I get involved with a Japanese/pirate leader, I'm afraid I'll be beaten up."
Hu Zongxian naturally knew that silence was not easy to fool, so he gave Chen Jing a wink, and Chen Jing hurriedly spoke out and avoided the secret talk.
After Chen Jing left, Hu Zongxian lowered his voice and said, "Who asked you to have a real talk with him?"
"What do you mean?" said silently.
"Fake negotiations really lure the enemy." Hu Zongxian whispered: "Although Mao Haifeng is also a smart person, he is completely incomparable to you. I believe that with your ability, you will definitely convince Mao Haifeng, let him go to Tokyo to do work for Wang Zhi and let him come back to negotiate."
"What can Wang Zhi do when he comes back?" Chen Si shook his head slowly and said, "The pirates regard the strong as the most respected. Although all the forces of all sizes are listened to Wang Zhi, they all have independent force. When Wang Zhi is in, they can still control these people. If he is not here, those will lose control, and things will be even more troublesome at that time."
"Brother, you're too worried," Hu Zongxian said confidently: "You know that you should capture the king first by capturing the thief. In the past, Cao Mengde could have used the emperor to command the princes. Wouldn't I, Hu Ruzhen, use Wang Zhi's ace?"
He was speechless because he knew Hu Zongxian very well and knew that nothing was useful to say at this time. If he said more, it would cause a crack in the originally close relationship between the two parties, which would not be of any benefit...
But this does not mean that silence surrenders... By killing Zhao Wenhua indifferently, you can see how heavy the silence is... So if he does something like lip service, he has no psychological barriers at all.
Hu Zongxian thought that he had agreed silently and said happily: "He is now at Shen Jing's house. You can take the opportunity to stay at Shen Jing's house on the excuse and take the opportunity to talk to him."
"Okay." Chen Shu nodded and smiled, "Who made you the Governor?"
Hu Zongxian smiled embarrassedly and said, "I didn't just come to you for this matter." After a pause, he said to silent seriously: "I want to talk to you about the Maritime Affairs Bureau."
"As the Governor?" Chen Si smiled faintly, "Are he the brother's identity?"
Chapter completed!