The Prosperous Era of Longwan

If before, Emperor Jiajing still had illusions about Hu Zongxian and hoped that he could put down the Japanese rebellion, but now, although he still has not given up, he is no longer so persistent.

Emperor Jiajing didn't care whether Hu Zongxian could do it or not. He only looked at the results.

At least so far, Hu Zongxian's answer sheet is very bad.

He has been in power in Jiangnan for many years, but not only failed to solve the Japanese problem, but now he has pushed Jiangnan to the point of rebellion, which he, as an emperor, cannot tolerate.

What's the point of not being able to manage affairs and only causing chaos?

Inadvertently, the support that Yan Song relied on to maintain the throne of the chief minister had collapsed in the heart of Emperor Jiajing, and now the only thing left was that trace of affection.

In any case, over the years, Yan Song has tried every means to guarantee Emperor Jiajing's every request from the Ministry of Household Affairs. If there is a replacement, will such days continue?

Huang Jin naturally didn't know what Emperor Jiajing was thinking, but he also felt that Hu Zongxian's official position was probably a bit shaky.

Although Hu Zongxian's official position is not small, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a feudal official. However, his favor with the emperor is very light. He has never even served as an official in the court. He has been exiled since he became an official. The emperor It was only through memorials that I knew there was such a person as him.

As for the rest, it is more appropriate to say that it is hard work rather than merit.

In these years, except for stabilizing the Japanese defense line in the south of the Yangtze River and destroying the leading groups of Japanese pirates, he had no other achievements. The Japanese invasion remained the same, which was a reflection of his ability.

The night in Xiyuan is still quiet. No one knows the conversation in the hall, and no one understands what Emperor Jiajing is thinking at this moment.

"It's been how many days, and there's still no news from Taizhou?"

At this time, Hu Zongxian was also anxiously running around in the residence of the Governor of Hangzhou.

This time a large group of Japanese pirates came across the sea. Hu Zongxian had sent people to find out their details. They were all under the command of the original Wang Zhi. The only difference was that this time they did not act together with the Japanese pirates from Fujian and Guangdong.

However, these are not what Hu Zongxian is really worried about. There are only thousands of Japanese pirates. With nearly 4,000 soldiers originally trained by Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun, as well as soldiers from the local garrison, the Ming army still has a numerical advantage.

And this did not make him completely reassured, because the government had received news a few days ago that there was a premeditated plan between the Japanese pirates and the people along the coast. Instead of saying that thousands of Japanese pirates and dozens of warships were here to plunder, it would be better to He said he was here to help them in their uprising.

The instability of the people along the coast was what worried him the most.

Japanese pirates are easy to suppress, but if the people rebel, it will directly kill him.

Obviously, the news of rebellion in Fujian has spread to Zhejiang, and the people of Zhejiang who have suffered deeply cannot sit still.

Although it is still unknown how many people will eventually participate in the trouble, Hu Zongxian understands that this person must be eliminated as a Japanese pirate, and the true information must not be allowed to be known to the capital.

"Deng Deng Deng Deng."

There were rapid footsteps outside the house, and Hu Zongxian, who was pacing back and forth in the house, suddenly stopped and stood still.

"Sir, General Qi's battle report from the front line."

The man outside the door reported loudly with a slightly joyful tone.

"Come in, come in and talk."

When his officials entered the room, before he could reach out his hand, Hu Zongxian snatched the battle report from his hand and couldn't wait to read it. As the words in the battle report were described, Hu Zongxian couldn't help but whisper.

"Fenghua Ninghai Taizhou on the 19th"

As he recited the place names one by one, Hu Zongxian couldn't help but frown.

This battle was different from what he had originally expected. According to common practice, the Japanese pirates' first attack targets were usually wealthy Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places. However, Qi Jiguang judged that the Japanese pirates had landed close to Ningbo in order to attract the Ming army to Ningbo for rescue. In the end, The target may be Taizhou Prefecture and Wenzhou Prefecture, so he sent someone to inform Zhejiang General Lu Boring and General Niu Tianxi.

Hu Zongxian knew Qi Jiguang's plan after thinking about it. Lu Bo was leading troops to station in Ningbo, while General Niu Tianxi was stationed in Wenzhou. Qi Jiguang planned to bet that the Japanese pirates would divide their troops into small groups to attack the two places and attract reinforcements from the Ming army, while he Bet that the target of the Japanese pirates is Taizhou Prefecture.

After informing the two of them, he could let go of fighting the Japanese pirates in Taizhou Prefecture. No matter whether he won or lost in the end, he could at least clear the relationship between Ningbo and Wenzhou.

But this is not important. Xiao Jiujiu understands that the general is heartbroken. For Hu Zongxian, he only wants news of victory.

Keep reading, and soon there will be a report on the battle situation.

The Japanese invaders invaded Taizhou in three groups. One group landed at Lipu, intending to invade Taozhu; the other group disembarked from Zhouyang Port, intending to invade Xinhe; the other group landed at Jiantiao and Qitou.

Tang Yaochen then ordered the army to prepare troops to lead the Haimen and Taizhou armies to rescue Xinhe. He first annihilated the enemies in Ninghai and then annihilated the Japanese pirates in Taozhu, Jiantiao and other places.

On the 26th, Tang Yaochen, the military commander of the Tang Dynasty, led about 2,000 troops to fight the Japanese pirates in Xinhe. After defeating the enemy, the remaining Japanese troops fled towards Wenling. On the next day, they were defeated again at Xintang near Wenling. The remaining Japanese pirates took advantage of The fog fled towards Yueqing.

While the battle in Xinhe was fierce, Qi Jiguang had already gathered his troops to annihilate the invading Japanese pirates from Xianninghai, and quickly transferred his troops to reinforce Taizhou. On the 27th, he encountered the Japanese pirates at Huajie near Taizhou City. The Qi army quickly fought and annihilated the invading enemies. He annihilated more than a thousand Japanese pirates, beheaded more than 300, captured two bandit leaders, drowned many Japanese pirates, seized hundreds of weapons, and rescued more than 5,000 captive men and women.

"More than five thousand people."

The number of people rescued mentioned in Qi Jiguang's battle report shocked Hu Zongxian. What he was most worried about was that these people were internal agents of the Japanese pirates.

However, having this battle report can at least eliminate the suspicion that they are Japanese pirates. Even if the censor knows the details in the future, Qi Jiguang's battle report can calm the matter down.

Now the remnants of the Japanese pirates from all walks of life have retreated to the seaside. In order to prevent the Japanese pirates from boarding ships and escaping to raid other places, Qi Jiguang stationed troops outside the city of Taizhou Prefecture and planned to wait for the opportunity.

"Okay, okay, okay."

After Hu Zongxian read Qi Jiguang's battle report, he was excited beyond words.

With this victory in Taizhou Prefecture, I can finally give an explanation to the court.

At this moment, there were heavy footsteps outside the house again. Soon the staff he invited, Xu Wei and others, had already entered the house. Hu Zongxian handed Qi Jiguang's battle report to Xu Wei and said: "Look, our initial judgment was wrong. It seems that the Japanese pirates This time the target is really Taizhou.”

Previously, officials in the Governor's Office believed that the Japanese pirates were targeting Ningbo Prefecture. Firstly, it was rich and prosperous. Secondly, it was close to the Zhoushan Islands, which made it easier to escape. Even if they received news that some people along the coast seemed to be colluding with the Japanese pirates to cause trouble, they did not dare to believe it because it was unclear. .

Now, no matter whether these news are true or false, as long as the invading Japanese pirates are wiped out, even if the people are really rebellious, they will not be able to cause big troubles.

Under the absolute pressure of force, Hu Zongxian did not believe that the people were really not afraid of death.

Just like the people in Huajie, Hu Zongxian was worried that they were actually rebels colluding with the Japanese pirates. Now that he thinks about it, he is still too worried. Judging from their current performance, seeing the Ming army kill them is like being robbed by the Japanese pirates. the people?

Soon, a group of staff had read Qi Jiguang's battle report, and then discussed quietly for a while, before Xu Wei stepped forward and said to Hu Zongxian: "Sir, judging from the current situation, the main force of the Japanese pirates has appeared in Taizhou Prefecture, and Ningbo and Wenzhou are responsible for It is true that they are a small group of Japanese pirates. We can send someone to notify Lu Borong and Niu Tianxi immediately, so that they can supervise the army to exterminate those Japanese pirates."

"That's exactly what I meant. Sir, I'll let you write the official document and send it out immediately."

Xu Wei and Xu Wenchang, known as a "child prodigy" since childhood, were also writers, calligraphers, painters, dramatists, and military strategists in the mid-Ming Dynasty.

Xu Wei was versatile and unique in poetry, drama, calligraphy and painting. Together with Xie Jin and Yang Shen, he was known as the "Three Talents of the Ming Dynasty".

He is the founder of China's "Splash-ink Freehand Painting School" and the originator of the "Ivy Painting School". His paintings can absorb the essence of his predecessors and be completely reborn. He does not seek resemblance in form but resemblance in spirit. He is meticulous in his work on landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, bamboos and stones. Flowers are the most outstanding, creating a generation of painting style and having a great influence on the painting circles of later generations.

He is good at calligraphy and cursive writing, and has written a large number of poems and essays. He is known as "a talented person of the Ming Dynasty". He can play the piano, is familiar with music, and loves opera. His "Nan Ci Xu Lu" is China's first theoretical monograph on Nan Opera. There are also The dramas "Four-Voice Ape", "Song Dai Xiao" and anthology are handed down to the world.

However, Xu Wei's luck in the imperial examination was not good, and he repeatedly failed in the provincial examination.

The provincial examination was indeed the most difficult test for ancient scholars to pass. It required not only literary talent but also luck. When Xu Wei had the best luck, he only passed the preliminary examination and failed in the re-examination.

In the winter of the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, Xu Wei was appreciated by Governor Hu Zongxian. After many invitations, Xu Wei finally entered the shogunate and served as Hu Zongxian's staff.

Hu Zongxian admired Xu Wei for his calligraphy and painting talents. When he entered the imperial court, he created "Into the White Deer Watch" and sent it to Xiyuan, where it was appreciated by Emperor Jiajing.

Although it is said in later generations that Xu Wei was good at military affairs and helped Hu Zongxian plan Xu Hai, Wang Zhi and other Japanese pirates, judging from the time when he entered the shogunate governor's palace, it seems unlikely.

However, Xu Wei was indeed respected by Hu Zongxian, and many official documents behind the scenes were handled by him.

Naturally, the capital does not know about the affairs in Zhejiang. When Wei Guangde entered Prince Yu's palace as a lecturer, he had fulfilled Emperor Jiajing's request, but he still stayed in the palace and did not miss any scheduled classes.

However, what neither Yin Shizhen nor Zhang Juzheng knew was that every time Wei Guangde gave a lecture to King Yu, it was more of a discussion than a lecture, and they even conspired on how to safely lift the maritime ban and make money for the court to solve financial problems.

To increase the imperial court's fiscal revenue, the first choice was naturally to increase taxes. However, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty customized the very light taxes and duties, which were not allowed to be changed by future generations. After that, the burden of taxes and duties borne by the people was shown in various places. In fact, it was the early Ming Dynasty that actually turned over to the court. Zhu Yuanzhang's number has not changed much.

However, his "customization" cost the lives of future generations. The Ming Dynasty had low taxes and heavy taxes, but it only enriched the local area and impoverished the central government.

With the ancestral system, it was naturally impossible to increase the court's income through taxes and servitude, unless the emperor had extraordinary prestige.

Apart from this, there is naturally only one way to open up the country, and what Wang Yu and Wei Guangde are looking forward to now is naturally to increase sea trade, so as to collect tariffs and make money.

Lifting the sea ban is actually robbing the coastal gentry of their money. The resistance will definitely be great, so it will definitely not be possible to relax it from the beginning, and rules will also need to be established on how to distribute the collected money.

For this reason, Wei Guangde, who came later, naturally knew how to solve it, that is, boil the frog in warm water, little by little.

Establish a special zone first and let the court see the benefits, and the resistance will naturally decrease. Especially when Wei Guangde proposed that if the tariff revenue is sufficient, he can also use increased salaries as bait to get more officials to support the opening of the sea.

In their deliberations, they naturally chose a place to carry out at the beginning, and the scale had to be deliberately controlled in order to reduce their income.

The trade volume is not large and there are not many tariffs, so the local governments will naturally not come in to compete for share. When the time comes, the inner court and the Ministry of Revenue can get the biggest piece of the cake, leaving a small piece to the local governments.

Once the rules are established, you will decide whether to increase the intensity and reap the benefits after seeing the results.

Regarding the things they talked about, even the eunuch Li Fang was kept in the dark by King Yu. This was what Wei Guangde wanted to achieve.

Only in this way will his status in King Yu's mind become more important. He is one of his own.

Unlike Gao Gong, who had shared weal and woe with Prince Yu for many years, and without the support of a big shot behind Zhang Juzheng, he could only think of these methods.

Time quietly entered July of the 40th year of Jiajing. The Japanese pirates who invaded Ningbo, Taizhou and Wenzhou were wiped out. Hu Zongxian convened his generals in the governor's office to discuss, not only to summarize the results of the Japanese suppression in these two months, but also to prepare for the trip to the capital to prepare for the war. The generals asked for credit.

Publicly expressing his merits at this time naturally has the purpose of winning over these people.

Everyone can discuss in person and rank the merits according to the results of the battle, first merit and second merit. Everyone can talk about the heads handed in and the seizures, which will give them confidence, and those who are frustrated will not dare to make sarcastic remarks in private.

In fact, for these generals, there is no dispute that the first victory in the suppression of Japanese pirates was Qi Jiguang, who fought in Taizhou Prefecture.

After defeating three groups of Japanese pirates, they defeated the Japanese pirates in Datian again in early May. When the Japanese pirates fled westward, they set up an ambush at Shangfengling, a place where the Japanese pirates must pass. When the Japanese pirates passed through the narrow valley, they suddenly attacked and defeated the Japanese pirates.

In the middle of the month, in Changsha, southeast of Wenling, water and land cooperated to annihilate the remaining Japanese pirates in one fell swoop.

This battle was also the first time Qi Jiguang commanded a naval and land battle. To Hu Zongxian's delight, after Yu Dayou was convicted, he finally discovered that Qi Jiguang also had the ability to command a naval battle.

Although Qi Jiguang modestly knew nothing about water warfare, he still could not stop Hu Zongxian's determination.

Qi Jiguang is a good person, well-informed and knowledgeable. This is the consensus among Zhejiang official circles, and there will not be much resistance to his promotion.

Hu Zongxian was also more optimistic about Qi Jiguang than the already old Lu Ti, and the three thousand soldiers he had trained this time were of good strength and could be of great use.

In April, May, and June, Japanese pirates caused great trouble in Zhejiang and Fujian. Now that July has entered, the government can finally have some peace and quiet for two months. After that, there will be a small flood season in September and October. There will also be Japanese pirate activities in these two months. , but generally the scale is much smaller.

Looking at the Zhejiang civil and military officials who were all sitting in the hall, Hu Zongxian was in high spirits, raised his wine glass, and shouted loudly: "Everyone, please thank your majesty for your great blessing. You have made outstanding contributions in wiping out the Japanese pirates this time. Please drink this cup first, and we will discuss the merits later." Report to the capital again."