prosperous age

Chapter 292 291 Mutation
In the past few years, the Wei family has spent New Years in Jiujiang Mansion. The eldest brother and sister-in-law will return to Jiujiang Mansion to spend the lively New Year with their parents before the year.

Wei Guangde has been in the capital for the past two years, so naturally he couldn't reunite with his family, and this year they are finally together again.

Wei Guangde is teasing with his little nephew Wei Lin. With Wei Guangde in Jinshi, the eldest brother Wei Wencai naturally hopes that his son will have a bright future like Wei Guangde. Although he knows that his identity is destined to inherit the official position of a hundred households, he still hopes to become a talent. Become a unicorn.

The same procedure as that of Bengshan Castle, worshiping ancestors, listening to the old man recite the family history, remembering the ancestors, reunion dinner
Years later, Wei Guangde was finally at leisure. He went to Jiujiang magistrate's office in mid-November to complete the formalities. The marriage period approved by the emperor was two months. Logically speaking, considering Zhengdan and Lantern Festival, he would return in early February. Return to the capital.

However, officials in the Ming Dynasty can be absent from work for three months, which was approved by the previous emperor and approved by the imperial pen. Wei Guangde naturally chose to consciously abide by this official rule, and was ordered to be absent from work for three months, so the time to return to the capital was set in April. In the middle of the month, it is not the flood season, just take a boat and go north along the canal.

In mid-February, the report from the imperial palace also brought about Wang Zhi's final disposal method.

On the 37th of the first month of the 25th year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi was arrested and sent to the Zhejiang Provincial Prison, along with fellow Japanese bandit leaders Ye Zongman and Wang Qingxi.

The ending did not go beyond Wei Guangde's guess at all. Wang Zhi was arrested and imprisoned. His future was already obvious. After Hu Zongxian tried his best to protect him and asked the court to pardon his crimes, he was still taken down.

It's just that Wei Guangde is far away from the capital now, so naturally he doesn't know how to deal with Wang Zhi, and the court is still divided into two factions.

One of the factions supported Hu Zongxian's views and advocated surrendering Wang Zhi to relieve the coastal pirates as soon as possible, while the other faction, headed by the censor Yanguan, resolutely opposed the pardon of Wang Zhi, saying that Wang Zhi was the culprit of the Japanese pirates and could never be pardoned.

After Hu Zongxian received the news, he was also very anxious, and hurriedly went to the court again to ask for the pardon of Wang Zhi. He didn't want to be accused of infidelity and injustice in the future. It cannot be removed no matter what.

However, just when Hu Zongxian was about to defend himself, many people in the court claimed that the news that he himself had accepted a large bribe from Wang Zhi also reached his ears, and it was also because of the large bribe that he tried to pardon the pirate leader. mortal sin.

When this news came out, Hu Zongxian was still in a cold sweat after years of ups and downs in the officialdom. He hurriedly destroyed the original memo, and in the rewritten memo he renamed Wang Zhi as a heinous crime and should be punished immediately. But the situation along the coast is tense now, but please The interrogation of Wang Zhi's matter was overwhelmed.

For a Japanese pirate leader like Wang Zhi, he is naturally not an ordinary person, and it is impossible for the Zhejiang Procuratorate to try him. Naturally, the three divisions will have to interrogate him before convicting him.

What Hu Zongxian can think of at this time is to delay the time as much as possible. If Wang Zhi dies at this juncture, the cause of suppressing Japanese pirates is likely to suffer a huge setback right now, because the previous strategy against Japanese pirates was to "suppress" and "appease". Once you die, you can only fight to the death with the Japanese pirates, and the war will not end until one side is completely wiped out. No more Japanese pirates will believe in the way of the imperial court to appease.

It's just that Hu Zongxian had a beautiful idea. He hoped that after Wang Zhi was detained, the Japanese pirates at sea would collapse on their own because the dragons had no leader, but it did not come true.

More than 3000 Japanese pirates moored outside Cen Hong Kong were very sad and angry when they heard that Wang Zhi was deceived and arrested by the court.

These people are all dead soldiers who have followed Wang Zhi in bloody battles at sea for many years. Now that their old boss has been tricked into a prison, they muster up their energy and want to fight the Ming army.

And the most unlucky thing was that the commander Xia Zheng sent by the Ming army to Cengang as a hostage.

When Wang Zhi's adopted son Mao Haifeng heard that his adoptive father had been lured into prison by the Ming court, his eyes were red with anger. He immediately tied Xia Zheng, who had been drinking together just now, to the bow of the boat, scolded the Ming army for being untrustworthy, and then cut Xia Zheng with a broken knife.

It is said that Xia Zhengzhi died without saying a word, because he knew that the imperial court's method of trapping Wang Zhi was too unreasonable, but this one was also restrained, so he could only die in silence.

The death of Wang Zhi caused a new round of crazy revenge by Japanese pirates.More than 3000 of his men were crazy Japanese killers with red eyes, drifting all the way on the sea, killing wildly all the way.

Mao Haifeng knew that at this time, a large number of Ming troops gathered around Hangzhou, and he would definitely not be able to attack the prefecture to rescue his adoptive father. He chose to attack other prefectures and counties to put pressure on the court to release them.

At this time, the Japanese pirates attacked Chaozhou first, killed many Ming troops, and then set sail to invade Fuzhou.

However, these news were not from the mansion newspaper, but from Xu Bangrui sent by the mansion of Wei Guogong in Nanjing to send the news by clipper.

The news here is confusing, it can only be said that the big difference is not bad.

After receiving the news, Wei Guangde found the map and looked at it for a long time. After looking at it for a long time, he could only smile bitterly. This group of Japanese pirates also knew how to avoid the real and attack the weak, and attacked the weak areas that the Ming army did not defend.

At this time, the entire territory of Zhejiang had already made full preparations to prevent Japanese pirates from raiding, but Fujian, which is next door, was obviously unaware of this. Mao Haifeng transferred the looting target to Fujian, and the consequences can be imagined.

Ruan E, who had just been transferred from Zhejiang to Fujian as the governor, knew he was invincible, so he chose to stick to the city and abandon other prefectures and counties. Seeing that they could not capture Fuzhou, the bandits turned around and attacked Fuhai.

At this time, Fuhai County was unprepared for the Japanese pirates' attack again. The county seat was destroyed, the county magistrate Ye Zongwen was killed, the Japanese pirates robbed the treasury, killed more than [-] men and women, and burned countless official and civilian houses.

Soon after, this group of Japanese pirates was divided into several groups, climbing steep slopes in Taizhou, Hui'an, Changle, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and other places, coming and going, tormenting places extremely.

All of a sudden, alarms were raised all over the country, and a series of urgent distress memorials were sent to the governor and the governor's desk. After hearing about it, the Sixth Ministry of Nanjing and the Metropolitan Procuratorate also immediately reported the situation in Zhejiang and Fujian to the emperor.

The coastal pirates, which have been stable for several months, have revived. This wave of pirates is not like the previous pirates who mainly plundered, but they wantonly attacked and destroyed, causing particularly heavy losses to the local area. Therefore, the Japanese pirates after 37 years after Jiajing are also called "New Japanese".

Although the capital has not yet responded to the news, the Nanjing Ministry of War has sent a military order to Jiujiangwei to collect troops and prepare for dispatch.

The current Jiujiang Guard is already an important mobile force in the hands of the Nanjing Ministry of War. Its location and transportation advantages determine that it can be quickly recruited and put into the battlefield.

Now that the situation in the south of the Yangtze River has changed drastically, the first thing Nanjing thinks of is naturally to recruit Jiujiang Guards to aid Zhejiang and Fujian.

Years ago, after Wei Guangde reminded Father Wei, he told his uncle Wu Zhankui about the matter that night. The commander of Jiujiang Guard and the first-rank general of Qianhu held a secret meeting on the second day to report the matter internally.

Hearing that Wang Zhi was arrested, many generals were happy at first, but they became restless when they heard what happened later.

If Wang Zhi's matter is not handled well, it may lead to a bigger Japanese problem. As generals, they naturally don't want to have another storm in the coast that has been quiet for several months. It would be nice to lie at home with peace of mind. Why go to the coast to fight Japanese pirates? kill.

Swords have no eyes on the battlefield, and thousands of households died in the last time the Japanese pirates were wiped out. No one wants to be the second unlucky person.

So this year, Jiujiangwei's soldier team suffered a crime, and the holiday time was reduced to only three days. Although the team officer promised to pay more compensation for the army, but if the money is not in hand, who knows if there will be any in the end.

Cousin Wei Wencai and eldest brother Wu Dong only stayed in Jiujiang Mansion until the fifteenth day, and then returned to Pengze by boat to practice the team of the Qianhu Office of the Right Army.

Before the Nanjing military order arrived at Jiujiangwei, Jiujiangwei was actually ready to go to war, although everyone did not want the order to come.

With the resurgence of wars in Zhejiang and Fujian, the number of ships traveling on the Yangtze River also increased suddenly. Many weaving workshops in Songjiang, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places shipped large quantities of goods to avoid losses caused by the Japanese invasion.

The large increase in merchant ships also brought convenience to the transmission of news. Before the notification from the Ministry of War in Nanjing arrived, Xu Bangrui sent someone to send the latest news.

Japanese pirates invaded Wenzhou and Taizhou in Zhejiang Province, among which Yueqing, Linhai, Xiangshan and other places suffered the most serious damage, and from Wenzhou and Taizhou in Zhejiang Province entered Fuzhou, Xinghua, Quanzhou and other places in Fujian, just like before, they all landed and burned. and go.

However, what made Wei Guangde feel a little relieved was that the latest information showed that after the Japanese pirates plundered wantonly, several groups of Japanese pirates regrouped in the outskirts of Zhoushan Cengang, and at this time the imperial court's order also came down to the local area.

Due to the arrival of the new pirates and the resurgence of the sea troubles, the imperial court strictly punished Hu Zongxian, and deprived the generals Yu Dayou, General Qi Jiguang and others of their military posts, and ordered them to first destroy the Japanese pirates in Pingcengang within one month.

So by chance, the regrouped Japanese pirates Mao Haifeng was besieged in Cengang, Zhoushan by the troops of General Yu Dayou and General Qi Jiguang.

The Japanese pirates fortified Zhoushan closely, especially against the Ming army around Cengang.

Although the Ming army was brave, the Japanese pirates relied on the favorable terrain to kill and wound the Ming army. In desperation, the Ming army had no choice but to consider besieging this group of Japanese pirates for a long time, hoping to completely wipe them out.

"The Japanese pirates were surrounded in Cen Port."

Wei Guangde looked at the letter in his hand and felt incredible. It was Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang whom he knew all about fighting the Japanese pirates. This group of Japanese pirates must perish.

In his heart, Wei Guangde gave the Japanese pirates who he thought was the biggest threat a death sentence, and then put away the letter with a smile on his face, planning to write a letter and send it to Father Wei.

Now he is the only male left in the mansion besides the female relatives. Father Wei has returned to the rear army Qianhu to prepare the army, and so has the elder brother.

I wrote a letter and sent someone to send it out, and I planned to go to my uncle's house at night to talk about it.

The alarm was lifted, and the news of Wei Guangde led Jiujiang Guard to heave a sigh of relief.

The news brought back by Wei Guangde a few years ago predicted the resurgence of Japanese riots along the coast. Although it was taken seriously by the senior officials of Jiujiang Guard at that time, of course it was mainly because of Wu Zhankui's firm attitude and his unconditional trust in Wei Guangde.

For those who still had some doubts in their hearts, after seeing the military order of the Nanjing Ministry of War, their previous suspicions about Wei Guangde disappeared instantly.

Therefore, this time the news came from Wei Guangde that Wang Zhi's main Japanese pirates were besieged by Yu Dayou's army in Zhoushan, no one doubted the authenticity of Wei Guangde's news anymore.

What they were worried about before was that Wang Zhi was arresting the remnants of Queen Wang Zhi to make troubles, so as to put pressure on the court to release them.

Don't underestimate the destructive power of these Japanese pirates. There are frequent merchant ships on the Yangtze River waterway, and Jiujiang Mansion has more or less heard from the merchants from the mouths of the merchants in Zhejiang and Fujian, and how much the loss was.

This time, several county towns were destroyed in a row. The Japanese pirates not only robbed property and young people, but also massacred and burned the city, doing everything they could to destroy it.

According to Wei Guangde's prediction, the Japanese pirates regrouped in Zhoushan. In addition to dealing with the looted goods, they may also have the intention of going north to attack Nanzhili and the coast of Shandong.

In fact, after looking at the map, Wei Guangde put himself in the situation and considered what tactics he would use to increase pressure on the imperial court if he were the leader of the Japanese pirates. Naturally, he would target the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Go north and enter South Zhili, take advantage of the dense river channels in Huai'an Prefecture to carry out a surprise attack, cut off the Grand Canal in the middle, and the consequences will inevitably shake the world.

Historically, Japanese pirates have haunted Zhenjiang and Huai'an many times, shutting down the Grand Canal that maintains north-south transportation, and causing Nanjing's garrison and central capital Fengyang's left-behind officials to be severely reprimanded by the court.

But apparently there are imperial court informants among the Japanese pirates, Yu Dayou seized the opportunity to surround this group of Japanese pirates here, there is hope for the sudden war to be eliminated, as long as they surround and wipe out this group of Japanese pirates here again.

The time has entered April unknowingly, and the day when Wei Guangde leaves home again and embarks on the road to Beijing is not far away.

The offensive and defensive battle between the Ming army and the Japanese pirates in Zhoushan was still going on, and the military newspaper sent from Nanjing made Wei Guangde unable to understand what the new leader of the Japanese pirates named Mao Haifeng was planning from the very beginning.

According to the comparison of the strength of the enemy and ourselves, the Japanese pirates should be wise to escape before the Ming army encircled them, even if they left behind the looted property, they should run away.

But this Mao Haifeng did not choose to leave after knowing that the Ming army was encircling him, but fought a battle with the Ming army in Zhoushan.

With the arrival of the new battle report, after nearly a month of stalemate, the Japanese pirates finally chose to break out when the encircling Ming army was unprepared, while Mao Haifeng chose to stop until he was defeated and killed by the Ming army in Cengang, Zhoushan. Only slowly came to my senses.

I'm afraid that Mao Haifeng already had a will to die from the very beginning. According to the news received before, the first lobbyist Hu Zongxian sent was to contact Mao Haifeng, and after persuading Mao Haifeng, he persuaded Wang Zhi through him. situation.

He is a man who values ​​love and righteousness.

Wei Guangde smacked his lips and thought about it for a while.

However, at this time Wei Guangde was still considering whether he should write a letter to Yu Dayou to congratulate him on the great event of exterminating the Japanese pirates.

Although they were not wiped out within the time limit of the court, there was not much difference in time. In terms of meritorious deeds, Yu Dayou always rewarded him for his great achievements.

However, the news from Nanjing shocked Wei Guangde again. The Japanese pirates who broke out obviously discarded most of their belongings. After breaking out, they did not choose to go north but went south to Fujian and Guangdong.

At the same time, the news that Wang Zhi was defrauded by the government also spread among the Japanese pirates. The pirate leaders, large and small, began to plunder everywhere along the coast under the banner of avenging the "old ship owner". In the chaos of war.

What stunned Wei Guangde the most was a secret letter from Nanjing at the end of April stating that the imperial court ordered Yu Dayou to be arrested in Beijing for trial.

(End of this chapter)