Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 145: The mourning period is over, the nobles are engaged in smuggling!
Zhu Houcong was furious when he heard this.

"Send Wang Jing here!"

"What do Jinyiwei do for a living?"

But as soon as Zhu Houcong finished saying this, Qin Wen, the governor of the East Factory, walked up to him.

"Your Majesty."

"According to the report from the Royal Guards, Lord Shi'an is still alive."

Zhu Houcong suddenly raised his head.

"Zhu Wu is reporting!"

"We have learned that pirates are planning to attack Yuyao and wipe out the entire Wang family, so we have obtained the consent of Shi'an Gong (Wang Hua) to move Shi'an Gong to the county town, and have made preparations with the officials and people of Yuyao County."

"Later, pirates did attack Yuyao, but were repelled by our Jinyiwei and Yuyao officials and people. However, the pirates are still sending more troops to besiege Yuyao and forcing Yuyao to surrender, threatening: Otherwise, they will massacre Yuyao the day the city is captured."

"And Shi'an Gong is still alive, and he has personally submitted a petition to the court requesting assistance to Yuyao."

After Qin Wen made his report, Zhu Houcong took the two copies and read them while listening to what Qin Wen said.

"Pirates harassing Yuyao?"

"Why is it inconsistent with what Fu An played?"

Subsequently.

Zhu Houcong asked Qin Wen to summon Liang Chu, the chief minister of the cabinet.

Liang Chu came and said, "Your Majesty, it seems that the governor of Zhejiang may have received false information, or may have deliberately spread false information."

"What do you think should be done?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Liang Chu continued to reply: "No matter which one it is, in my humble opinion, it is better to expose him directly, report to the Jinyiwei, and send an express 800-mile message to ask Zhejiang Governor Sun Run to send troops to rescue Yuyao immediately!"

Zhu Houcong nodded and approved Wang Yangming's proposal.

He believed that no matter how much political ideas Zhejiang Governor Sun Run had, he would not openly oppose the court.

As long as he, the emperor, insisted that pirates were harassing Yuyao.

Then the Zhejiang Governor Sun Run would have to admit that there were pirates harassing Yuyao.

Because it was easy for the emperor to punish him as the governor of Zhejiang.

Saying.

The news of Wang Hua's death quickly spread among the powerful officials along with the urgent message from the Zhejiang governor to Beijing.

Many powerful bureaucrats who opposed strengthening the emperor's military power could not help but celebrate in secret.

"Wang Shi'an has passed away! Although it is extremely sad, it is also a good thing!"

"Yes, Wang Yangming should be forced to mourn!"

"In this case, the reconstruction of the Mighty Camp can be put on hold."

Because most of these powerful bureaucrats are ritualists.

Therefore, these people also linked this to the previous gift.

At this time, Huang Kai, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of Personnel, said to a group of Imperial Censors who were on good terms with him in the Six Departments Corridor:
"Now, the great etiquette has been set for the emperor to call me the emperor father. According to Zhang Fujing, this is the greatest filial piety! If the emperor takes away the love, it means he does not value filial piety!"

"So, if the emperor takes away our love, we should fight for it!"

Han Zibi from the Household Department followed suit and said, "That's right!"

But this time.

The cabinet sent new edicts to six departments.

And this new decree was the one from Zhu Houcong asking the governor of Zhejiang to rescue Yuyao.

This decree was the imperial edict that appeared on Wang Hua's memorial.

Therefore, Huang Kai's eyes widened when he saw this memorial: "Wang Shi'an is still alive?"

"what?!"

Han Zibi and other officials were also greatly shocked.

Huang Kai said seriously at this time: "Your Majesty has already sent the Jinyiwei to Yuyao, and Wang Shi'an himself also used the Jinyiwei to file a petition!"

After hearing this, Han Zibi and other officials came over to read the imperial edict.

Bang!
Han Zibi himself slammed his fist on the table.

"Who told Your Majesty to be so cautious that he even thought of letting the Royal Guards make arrangements in Yuyao in advance?"

And Han Zibi also said this because of this.

"That's right. This move is not something that a young emperor from a foreign vassal state would think of. Rather, it's something that a seasoned emperor who is well versed in struggle would think of."

"This move is obviously to use the most despicable mind to guess the world's people, so they sent the Jinyiwei in advance to prevent someone from making Wang Yangming mourn in advance!"

Several other officials from the ritual-protecting faction also began to discuss in low voices their opinions on Zhu Houcong's behavior.

Huang Kai also said at this time: "The emperor is young and mature, and with the advice of treacherous people like Liang Shunde and Wang Yangming, it is not surprising to think of these. What we need to worry about now is that the governor of Zhejiang reported this news in advance, which may give the treacherous officials an excuse to attack them."

Everyone nodded and became quite worried about the governor of Zhejiang.

……

At the same time of the day.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

Zhejiang Governor Sun Runzheng and Inspector-General He Yue were resting in the backyard of the Fuyuan Yamen.

Moreover, Sun Run was saying to He Yue: "Our joint express delivery should have reached the capital!"

"That's right. The sooner the express reaches the capital, the sooner the bad policy of rebuilding the Weiwu Camp can be ended."

He Yue nodded and said something.

Sun Run then said to He Yue: "But, do you think there will be any unexpected changes?"

"As the saying goes, if a person is alive, we must see him; if he is dead, we must see his body. We are sending the news of Wang Shi'an's death to the capital based on a message from a wealthy businessman from Yuyao. It is indeed risky."

Sun Run frowned.

He Yue couldn't help but frown: "What risks could there be?"

"He's a businessman, how dare he cheat us?"

He Yue then asked Sun Run in return.

Sun Runze said: "Let's go to Yuyao to pay our respects first, otherwise we won't be able to put people at ease."

He Yue said: "Let's go!"

Sun Run and He Yue issued tickets to the prefect of Shaoxing and the magistrate of Yuyao.

then.

The two of them came to Yuyao together.

But before Sun Run and He Yue arrived in Yuyao, the guard Gu Lin stopped them on the way:

"Yuyao has been surrounded by pirates! I have come to inform the governor now."

"what?!"

Sun Run was shocked after hearing this, and then he looked at He Yue.

He Yue was also surprised: "Pirates?"

"This is an urgent report from Yuyao!" Gu Lin hurriedly handed an urgent report from his sleeve to Sun Run, saying, "I was just about to come and report to you two, but I didn't expect to see your tickets on the way, so I just came to intercept them halfway."

Sun Run read the urgent report, his eyes blurred, and he sat on the ground, muttering: "It's over! It's over! We were too impatient. This gave the emperor a reason to suspect that we were colluding with the thieves!"

"Trickster!"

"Shameless profiteer!"

"I'm going to destroy his clan!"

He Yue roared in rage.

original.

The reason why Sun Run and He Yue hurriedly submitted a memorial to the court saying that Wang Yangming's father had passed away was because He Yue learned the news of Wang Hua's death from a wealthy businessman in Yuyao.

It stands to reason.

He Yue shouldn't have trusted this wealthy businessman so rashly.

But this rich businessman was very familiar with him. Moreover, he was able to be appointed as the Imperial Censor thanks to the introduction of this rich businessman, so he did not doubt this rich businessman very much.

More importantly, He Yue himself was subjectively willing to believe that this was true.

What's more, Wang Hua is indeed old and has been ill in recent years.

Therefore, He Yue could not wait to inform Sun Run of the news, and persuaded Sun Run to report it to the court together with him.

The reason why He Yue wanted Sun Run to go with him was to prevent Sun Run from resenting him in the future for not sharing such important news with him in time.

Therefore, He Yue persuaded Sun Run to join the express delivery.

Sun Run himself was also an official of the ritual protection faction. He hoped that Wang Hua would die as soon as possible and that Wang Yangming would go into mourning as soon as possible so that the reconstruction of the Weiwu Camp could be stopped as soon as possible.

However, Sun Run was more cautious than He Yue. He was not in a hurry to submit a memorial at the beginning. However, he agreed to it because He Yue asked him to report it to the court as soon as possible.

But now.

The situation turned out that Wang Hua was not dead, but some pirates wanted to break into Yuyao City.

"do not care."

"We must send troops to rescue Yuyao immediately."

"If anything goes wrong in Yuyao, or even if Wang Shi'an really dies at the hands of pirates, we will be suspected by our superiors of being the culprits who murdered Wang Shi'an!"

After Sun Run came to his senses, he immediately started talking.

then.

Sun Run looked at Gu Lin and said, "There is no time to lose. Gu Bingxian, you must immediately take our seal and go to the annex to mobilize troops!"

then.

Sun Run looked at He Yue again and said, "Inspector He, you must go to Shaoxing immediately to prevent the pirates from heading towards the city!"

Gu Lin and He Yue both nodded and left.

Yuyao, Zhejiang.

Although it is March.

But Yuyao County Magistrate Qiu Yang was standing on the battlement, sweating as if it was the hottest time of summer, looking at the huge group of pirates outside the city. He watched helplessly as these pirates captured nearby villagers, killed them in front of him, and even pinned them to the ground and raped them.

Standing with Qiu Yang were Jinyiwei Captain Zhu Wu and Captain Zhu Qi.

Zhu Wu held the knife, looking at the scene with a frosty face, and pointed at the pirates and said to Qiu Yang: "County Magistrate Qiu, look, these pirates actually have cannons, which shows that they are not ordinary pirates."

Although civil officials and the people from the factory guards have always been at odds with each other, they often have to target each other.

But Qiu Yang is still very grateful to Zhu Wu and other Jinyiwei.

because……

If it weren't for the large number of Jinyiwei who sneaked into Yuyao County in plain clothes in advance, and detected the outsiders with unusual behavior through careful daily inspections, they would not have discovered that the pirates and spies had infiltrated Yuyao City in advance, allowing him to work with these Jinyiwei to eliminate the spies in the city in time.

I am afraid……

The present Yuyao has long been conquered by pirates.

And now.

Qiu Yang's only worry was whether the soldiers and civilians on his side and the Jinyiwei could defend Yuyao City.

When Zhu Wu told him about the pirates outside, County Magistrate Qiu smiled and nodded, but he became even more worried. He said, "It seems that these pirates are not ordinary thieves. They are secretly helped by the government troops, or by the nobles and wealthy families!"

"That's right. They are probably local government soldiers in disguise, because many of them are holding government-made swords."

Zhu Wu followed up.

The reason Qiu Yang was able to become the magistrate of Yuyao was because he was a disciple of Wang Xue.

Therefore, Qiu Yang was quite indignant and said: "This matter must be related to their unwillingness to let the emperor have a strong army, so they want to pretend to be pirates, kill Shi An Gong, and let Mr. Yangming mourn for his father as soon as possible!"

"What Magistrate Qiu said is correct. We must defend Yuyao. Even if we can't defend Yuyao, we must find a chance to send Master Shi'an away tonight!"

Zhu Wu said.

Qiu Yang nodded.

Soon, the pirates launched their first siege.

However, when the pirates started the first wave of siege, Qiu Yang discovered that the magic guns with muskets held by the Jinyiwei from the capital were really fierce, which caused the pirates to suffer a great loss. They were unable to attack the city and had to continue the siege.

"hateful!"

"It would be fine if these Jinyiwei gathered in Yuyao secretly, but they actually took out such powerful firearms!"

Among these pirates, a student named Qian Zhide couldn't help but curse when he saw that Yuyao City had not been breached.

Then...

He said to a pirate leader who was on the same boat with him, "Chief Min, the Jinyiwei came to Yuyao ahead of schedule, which not only deprived us of internal support, but also made the soldiers and civilians in Yuyao more powerful in firearms than the Duzhihuisi. Now it seems that we can only send people back to Suzhou ahead of schedule to let you know that our hope of using pirates to wipe out the nine clans of the Wang family no longer exists."

Chief Min nodded.

……

Capital.

After the news that the former Nanjing Minister of Personnel Wang Hua requested the court to send troops to rescue Yuyao spread like wildfire in the court.

On this day, Gu Dingchen, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, secretly met with the Imperial Censor Tao Zhongfu:

"What you are planning is over!"

"Now it seems that we can only go to the emperor and request to strengthen the maritime ban on the grounds that pirates are rampant!"

"It is said that many wealthy families in Zhejiang are involved in smuggling with the Japanese, especially the Xie, Wang, and Zhang clans!"

"Blame the pirate problem on these Zhejiang smugglers!"

"Let the emperor know that the pirates' attack on Yuyao was all their own fault!"

After Gu Dingchen said this, Tao Zhongfu nodded and went to court the next day to talk about the matter.

Smuggling is common among the big families along the coast.

Among the examples recorded in history, the most famous one is that the family of Grand Secretary Xie Qian was wiped out by pirates because of a conflict with pirates over smuggling.

This was also the first time that Zhu Houcong heard in the court that an imperial censor impeached the families of Xie Qian, Wang Yangming, and Zhang Cong for participating in smuggling.

"His Majesty!"

"Not only have the wealthy families in Zhejiang colluded with the pirates to engage in smuggling, but now the pirates are wreaking havoc on the sea borders due to the uneven distribution of spoils. I request that you send a capable minister to patrol the seaside as soon as possible and strictly investigate the smuggling to quell the maritime troubles and restore peace to Zhejiang!"

At this time, Tao Zhongfu also put forward his own suggestions.

(End of this chapter)