Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1085 Fishing Gang
When the Jinyiwei came in just now, the brothers had already stopped talking.

Now seeing Zhu Su was about to go out, several people immediately guessed that Old Zhu must have made some secret arrangements.

"Could something have happened?" Zhu Gang asked.

"Do you need my help?" Zhu Di also said to Zhu Su.

"No need, brothers, just eat and drink well." Zhu Su waved his hand with a calm tone.

"It's just a few minor matters... and Father has already made arrangements."

After learning that it was Lao Zhu's prior arrangement, they sat down again. Zhu Chong smiled and said, "In that case, you can go and come back quickly."

"I'm back late. Dad will drink up all the wine."

Old Zhu was drinking jar after jar of wine, looking like he was going to drink until the sea and the river were dry. The brothers were chatting and drinking in the side hall, and just now they said that they were afraid that the wine would be drunk by Old Zhu and they would have nothing to drink.

Zhu Su nodded and left the cabin. The river breeze on the deck blew away Zhu Su's slight drunkenness.

On the deck, Jiang Li was standing respectfully with a group of people. When they saw Zhu Su coming, they came forward to greet him.

"Your Highness, Fifth Prince."

"Has the news spread?" Zhu Su asked.

"Dispersed. Behind the fleet, we also found someone chasing us from a distance." Jiang Li said.

"Okay." Zhu Su nodded and glanced behind the fleet.

"Since the fish has been hooked... let's go and change boats."

As he spoke, he walked to the stern of the boat, and Jiang Li and the group of people followed Zhu Su closely.

……

In the deep night behind the fleet, a small flat-bottomed shuttle boat was far behind the Ming fleet.

This type of boat is narrow and long, with a bamboo mast and wooden sail, and can only carry two to four people. Its only feature is that it can come and go as fast as the wind, making it suitable for use as a scout on the river.

On this shuttle boat, a man was standing at the bow, constantly looking at the Ming army fleet ahead with the telescope in his hand.

Although he used a telescope, it was dark at night on the river and the Ming army fleet was on high alert. He did not dare to get too close and could only see a vague outline.

But even so, this man still stared at the deck of the Ming army flagship without blinking, as if he was afraid of missing any important scene.

Finally, after staring intently for several hours, the man suddenly shuddered, put down the telescope, turned around and urged his companion who was operating the boat:

"Quick, quick! Go back and tell Lord Ouchi! The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is leaving alone!"

What he was speaking was actually Japanese.

"Mr. Komatsu, you have to look more carefully." The "fisherman" who was steering the boat said suspiciously.

"It's so far away, and the river is so dark, how can you be sure that what you saw was the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"

"If your information is wrong, all of us will be buried with you because of your mistake... I think we should wait until we see that the Ming people's ships have indeed left before reporting to Lord Ouchi..."

"I'm not mistaken!" The man named Xiaosong was extremely confident. "I saw a group of people taking a small boat to the big ship at the back."

"Although I didn't see Emperor Hongwu, I did see Zhu Su, the King of Zhou from the Ming Dynasty!"

"It's just a silhouette... but I will never mistake the shadow of the Shura who destroyed the shogunate!"

When talking about Zhu Su, the man named Xiaosong was already gritting his teeth.

The "fisherman" thought about it and finally let go of his doubts. "Well, since we saw Zhou Wang Zhu Su, it can be proved that Emperor Hongwu has indeed moved."

"In that case, let's go back and report quickly. We can combine our strengths and accomplish this great task together."

Then the shuttle boat disappeared quickly on the river like a ghost on the sea.

At the same time, the last ship of the Ming army fleet quietly broke away from the main force and headed in a completely different direction.

……

On the boat, Zhu Su, Jiang Li and the Jinyiwei pretending to be Lao Zhu came to the cabin to rest. A Jinyiwei came in and reported: "Your Highness, the commander-in-chief."

"The boat that followed us has already left. It's heading for the east coast."

"Have you arranged someone to follow quietly?" Jiang Li asked.

"Don't worry, Commander. There are already a few brothers who can swim and have quietly followed them." said the Jinyiwei.

"We will definitely be able to find the lair of these Japanese."

"Okay." Jiang Li nodded, hesitated for a while, turned to Zhu Su and said:

"Your Highness, the one who was following us has already gone to report the news."

"I think someone will come and attack the ship soon... Your Highness is worth a lot of money, why don't you take a speedboat to His Majesty to rest first?"

"With me here, it's more than enough to deal with those rebels..."

"Haha, thank you Commander Jiang for your concern," Zhu Su smiled and shook his head.

"It's a dark and windy night. It's not safe for me to take a small boat back to the flagship."

"Moreover, this arrangement was entrusted to me by my father. How can I leave first?"

"Commander Jiang, rest assured... This ship was built with all my efforts."

"Don't worry, the thieves can't break through!"

Zhu Su said confidently.

That night, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Japanese Emperor to sing and dance at the banquet, which was actually a warning to him to behave himself.

Zhu Yuanzhang ruled the country for thirty years. During these thirty years, the Ming Dynasty was determined to make progress and its territory expanded to a level comparable to that of the Han and Tang dynasties.

But behind the scenes, these places are not all as stable as a rock, there are always undercurrents surging, and the most excited one is undoubtedly Japan.

The Japanese were paranoid and crazy. Since Zhu Su destroyed the Ashikaga shogunate, many samurai who had lost their masters had turned to the daimyo who were against the Ming Dynasty.

Now the Ming Dynasty has basically unified Wa Island. Wa Island was renamed "Yingzhou" and became a fiefdom of the Ming Dynasty. These warriors then turned from light to secret and continued to compete with the Ming Dynasty's forces.

Some time ago, it was these people who contacted Emperor Go-Kameyama who was under house arrest in the Ming Dynasty, wanting to rescue him in order to raise the banner of national restoration.

But in the end, the plan failed, and the warriors who sneaked into the Ming mainland were found and killed by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In fact, there are countless such incidents in the dark. Of course, not everyone in the countries destroyed by the Ming Dynasty would fully agree with the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Biao would deliberately criticize those former foreign monarchs and nobles at the New Year's banquet. His purpose was to enable Zhu Biao to better control these restless foreigners after he abdicated.

Only after they were frightened by the attacks could the Ming Dynasty set up vassal states in these places, and things would go more smoothly.

However, according to the intelligence of the Jinyiwei, there are still Japanese who hate the Ming Dynasty and are lurking in the dark waiting for an opportunity to strike. These people seem to have some helpers in the Ming Dynasty, and even the Jinyiwei cannot catch them all at once.

Therefore, Lao Zhu and Zhu Su directed a play together, aiming to lure out all these bedbugs and catch them in one fell swoop.

"Your Highness, someone is secretly surrounding us."

Not long after waiting in the cabin, Zhu Su and Jiang Lin received a report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"About a dozen flat-bottomed shuttle boats approached us quietly, and it seemed that they were planning to launch a surprise attack on us."

"Your Highness." Jiang Li stood up. "Since the thief has revealed himself, shall we close the net now?"

He was somewhat worried that the ship would really be attacked, which would put His Royal Highness Prince Zhu Su of Zhou in danger.

If something unexpected happened to Zhu Su, or even if he was just startled, then even if he won the battle, he would still lose.

He could not escape the fate of being severely reprimanded by His Majesty.

Rather than doing this, it is better to be safe and launch the attack now. Even if some of the thieves escape, it is safer than letting His Royal Highness the King of Zhou lure the enemy with himself.

Anyway, Jinyiwei has someone following them. It won't be difficult to find the mastermind behind them by following the clues.

"Haha, no problem." Zhu Su was sitting on the Diaoyutai, not seeming panicked at all.

"They are few in number, and if they want to attack a ship at night, they can only climb onto the deck by force, or sabotage the ship."

"If they forcibly climb onto the deck, they will have to face our army head-on, which is unwise. Therefore, they will definitely choose to send good sailors to sneak under the ship with the intention of sinking it."

"Let them dig slowly. Once all the shrimps and crabs are in the water, we can catch them all in one fell swoop."

Zhu Su had reason to be confident. Although this ship was not as large as the Ming treasure ships sailing on the sea.

However, it was a state-of-the-art Ming warship that cost as much as a treasure ship, or even more.

The reason why the cost is so high is that this ship is one of only three ironclad warships that the Ming Dynasty has today.

Although it is not yet possible to make the entire hull of the ship out of iron, the main part of the ship is covered with thick defensive iron plates.

Drilling a boat? Haha. Even if these little devils really became water ghosts, they would never be able to drill through it in their lifetime!
However, it is still possible that if they cannot break through the chisel, they will jump over the wall in desperation and climb onto the deck for a desperate charge.

Sure enough, someone came to report that there was a sound of drilling under the ship. A little later, the thieves failed to drill the ship, so they used a hook to climb up the side of the ship and tried to attack the deck.

On the deck, the Jinyiwei and Zhu Su's own troops were already on full alert. Several rows of gunshots were fired, and the Japanese who had finally climbed onto the deck fell into the water one after another.

Then, the ironclad ship started moving, pulling the fishing net that had been set up underneath, and caught all the dozens of assassins in the net.

Zhu Su didn't care about the assassin leader. After asking Jiang Li to imprison these people, he ordered someone to drive the boat back to reunite with the main fleet.

When we returned to Zhu's flagship, Zhu was still feasting with Xu Da and Tang He. The three old men were reminiscing about the glorious past, chatting and laughing, looking very happy.

Seeing Zhu Su coming, Old Zhu waved his hand, his expression didn't even change much, he just asked calmly: "Is it resolved?"

"Solved, dozens of thieves were caught." Zhu Su nodded. "There are Japanese, but more than half of them are Ming people."

"Commander Jiang conducted a rough investigation and found that the Japanese were samurai ronin who took refuge with the daimyo Ouchi clan."

"Most of the Ming people here are the trusted assassins of local tyrants. They are a bunch of rabble, clowns, and they dare to come and assassinate the king... hehe." Having said this, Zhu Su snorted a few times with some anger.

"The Ouchi clan... remember that they surrendered to our Ming Dynasty and were appointed as commanders? Let the people in Yingzhou send troops to pacify the Ouchi clan." Old Zhu said lightly.

"And these samurai... using weapons to forbid anything is really annoying. Let's have Yingzhou capture the samurai. Anyone who carries knives privately and spreads that stupid Bushido spirit will be arrested and put in jail for attempting to assassinate us."

"What kind of a samurai is this... annoying thing."

"Brother, what happened?" On the other side, seeing Zhu Su and Lao Zhu talking, Tang He asked Lao Zhu with some concern.

The Mansion of the Duke of Xin has already decided to establish a fiefdom on Kyushu Island in Yingzhou, so he naturally pays more attention to the affairs of Yingzhou.

"Nothing, just a small matter." Old Zhu waved his hand and said, "These days some warriors from Yingzhou are jumping around happily."

"I used a little trick and spread the news that I was leaving the fleet and going incognito. These people thought they had found an opportunity and wanted to assassinate me in secret, but Xiaowu caught them all just now."

"How courageous! This group of people have really been blinded by greed. What's wrong with being the subjects of our Ming Dynasty?" Xu Da was also a little drunk. There was a lot of old-time heroism in his words. He slammed the table and said.

"Dingchen, let me tell you something." He suddenly put his arm around Tang He's shoulders, speaking in a sincere tone as if he was imparting his experience.

"I heard that in the Yingzhou that your family has sealed off, there is a kind of Bushido that will peel off the belly at any time."

"This thing is not a good thing! It should be changed! What warriors... I think it's better to let them study, so that they don't wield swords and knives. Let them read the sage books of our Ming Dynasty and learn what it means to be loyal to the emperor and love the country."

"Books of sages are good things... I let those herdsmen read books of sages. Now, many of them have realized that they should be Chinese people and should not eat raw meat and drink blood on the grassland! They must read, and they must read well..."

While Xu Da and Tang He were chatting, Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and asked Zhu Su, "What about those local tyrants you mentioned? How did they get involved with the Japanese?"

"Oh, they are nothing more than some enemies who are dissatisfied with the new policies of our Ming Dynasty. They want to muddy the waters so that they can fish in troubled waters..." Zhu Su said.

These so-called local tyrants are the ghosts of the old party literati and representatives of the traditional landlord class.

In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has implemented many policies that are fatal to the landlord class: while vigorously expanding territory and developing commerce, it has also greatly centralized power. The landlord class, who used to rely on the fact that the emperor is far away and acted arrogantly in their own little piece of land, is now finding it increasingly difficult to move forward.

At the same time, the imperial court promoted new high-yield crops to dilute the profits of landlords and encouraged self-cultivating farmers to form farms and farmhouses to curb land annexation, all of which achieved very good results.

As much as the common people admired Zhu, these old landlords hated him... The reason why they wanted to assassinate Zhu was as obvious as lice on a bald man's head.

(End of this chapter)