prosperous age

Chapter 674 Chapter 773 South Australia
In desperation, King Zhu Xian of the Liao Dynasty even hung the banner of "Litigation of Injustice" on the roof of the palace. The original intention was to express that he was persecuted by Zhang Juzheng and was wronged.

He didn't expect that this move of his had another meaning, which was to rise up.

The official who arrived in Jiangling first was Shi Duchen, the deputy envoy of Huguang Press in Jiangxi Province. He was overjoyed when he got the news, because he immediately ordered 500 troops from the nearby guards to surround the huge Liao Palace.

It is not a trivial matter for soldiers to surround the prince's mansion, but Shi Duchen gave the reason that "the king of Liao rebelled".

However, he still knew the depths. Although King Liao had done many injustices and harmed many disasters in the fief, he was a prince after all. Before there was a decree, or before the imperial envoys arrived in Jiangling, Shi Duchen did not order the soldiers to break into the palace of Prince Liao.

But now, Hong Chaoxuan and Cheng Yaoxiang had to face such a scene.

The "Banner of Injustice Litigation" stood there, and both Hong Chaoxuan and Cheng Yaoxiang felt that it was difficult.

Is it at fault for Shi Duchen to lead troops to surround Liao Palace?
No.

Afterwards, they did not send troops into the palace to search or arrest people, but waited for them to arrive and sent them hot potatoes.

From this, the two knew almost instantly that the king of Liao had really hated the local officials in the fiefdom, and everyone hated him, which is why he developed to such a degree.

Otherwise, the Jingzhou guards would not immediately deploy troops after Shi Duchen issued the warrant, which is also a responsibility.

"Lord Hong, Lord Cheng, you are imperial envoys, look, the king of Liao blatantly raised a banner in his mansion, it's not for rebellion or something.

The low-ranking contacted left and right to mobilize troops to surround the palace, just because he was worried that he would hook up with someone outside and cut off their contact, and also worried that troubles would happen again these days.

It's all right now, let the two adults decide what to do next. "

In front of Hong Chaoxuan, the left servant of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and Cheng Yaoxiang, the commander of Jinyiwei, Shi Duchen insisted that the Liao king's uprising in the mansion was a sign of rebellion, and the two of them didn't know what to do for a while.

"Master Shi, is there anything unusual in Liao Palace these past few days?"

Hong Chaoxuan had no choice but to ask.

"In the past few days, people in the palace have tried to buy from the palace many times. I asked the soldiers not to stop them. They just followed the surveillance and found nothing unusual."

Shi Duchen is not an idiot, he knows that too much is too much.

Whether the King of Liao had any plans to rebel, these local officials knew very well.

Therefore, the king of Liao was not forced to death, and normal purchases were not prohibited, but they just kept surrounding the palace.

In fact, they were also betting that Emperor Longqing didn't like King Liao and sent Hong Chaoxuan to make a formality, trying to punish him.

Although Zhu Xian's conduct was poor and he committed all kinds of crimes in the vassal, but because he shared the common hobby of "cultivating immortals" with Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, he did well in the Jiajing Dynasty.

Emperor Sejong not only bestowed him the Daoist title "Qing Wei Zhongjiao Zhenren" and a golden seal, but also gave him a lot of rewards and care. At one time, the Liao clan "palaces and gardens, and the music of singing tricks and dogs and horses was the best among all feudal clans."

However, after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, Zhu Xian's good days came to an end.

All the dao names and golden seals bestowed by Emperor Jiajing before were recovered, even the Tianshi Mansion in Longhu Mountain was not spared, let alone King Liao.

It can be seen from this that Emperor Longqing really does not want to see Taoism at this time.

Although he knew that the new emperor didn't like to practice Taoism, and he was impeached by Huguang officials for the things he did before, Zhu Xian was actually not afraid. This was the confidence brought to him by the Prince Wang Jue.

But when he really sent someone in the capital, he felt restless.

Today I got news from the mansion gate that people from the capital city have arrived.

After all, he is an imperial envoy who handles the case by order, so he still has the guard of honor that he should have.

Soon, Chang Shi, Dian Bo, etc. from the palace rushed to the main hall to discuss, but some of them still smelled of alcohol, and most of them looked haggard.

They were all well aware of the situation facing the Liao Palace. As the old saying goes, there are such servants as there are masters, and the people in the Liao Palace may have been normal people when they were first sent by the court.

But after following Zhu Xian for a long time, he also followed Zhu Xian and began to bully men and women, doing all kinds of evil.

Now that the court is coming, compared to the Liao king, they are actually the most frightened.

Once the king of Liao is convicted, none of them can escape.

Maybe King Liao is fine, but they will all be punished.

But when things came to an end, what could they do in front of King Liao.

Before, they wanted to send people out to threaten the surrounding people, but after being surrounded by officers and soldiers, they knew that the situation was over.

Shi Duchen was very smart, he used this trick to directly put down the uneasy hearts of the people, knowing that the imperial court might be planning to get serious about King Liao this time.

The King of Liao summoned people and asked them to come up with a solution, but when things came to an end, they had nothing to think about, they were all in a daze.

Just when King Liao's anger was about to explode, the guards guarding the gate came in to report that the imperial envoy had arrived outside the gate of the palace.

"Open the middle door to welcome you."

The king of Liao glanced at the gang of wine bags and rice bags under his command, and ordered them to go on viciously.

By this time, King Liao hadn't realized that Shi Duchen's reason for attacking him was the flag erected high outside the palace.

Shi Duchen knew very well that if King Liao knew about this, he would definitely bring down the flagpole first and find a way to destroy it.

Even if there are witnesses, as long as there is no physical evidence, the court and the emperor will not be punished for this.

After welcoming Hong Chaoxuan, Shi Duchen and others into the palace, Hong Chaoxuan's face became very ugly when he saw the big flag erected high in front of the main hall.

Before he was outside the palace, he could see the white flag flying over the palace from a distance, but now when he got closer, he felt different.

The Liao Palace is ready for the ceremony of receiving the decree, all of which are always in stock.

In order to express the intimacy between the royal family, every year the emperor will give rewards to the royal palaces in various places according to the usual practice.

Yizhu, who received the decree, was familiar to the Wangfu.

After Liao Wang's birth mother, the concubine Wang Shi, came out, Hong Chaoxuan delivered the imperial decree in public, which made both the Liao king and the concubine very ugly.

Because the decree has been made clear, order Jin Yiwei to command Cheng Yaoxiang to take down all the officials in the palace for interrogation, and at the same time to investigate the people in the Liao palace. In fact, it has already expressed the crime of the Liao king, and the court has approved it.

Inviting King Liao and Concubine Wang to the side to rest, Prime Minister Cheng Yao first commanded Jin Yiwei to take down all the officials of the palace, and then began to search the palace in teams.

In fact, both Hong Chaoxuan and Cheng Yaoxiang felt that the search was unnecessary, but Shi Duchen insisted on doing so.

The reason, of course, is that the King of Liao may rebel, and it is necessary to search the palace to confirm whether he has hidden armor and other items.

The Ming Dynasty did not prohibit civilians from owning knives and guns, but armor, crossbows, etc. were still prohibited items, and private possession was prohibited. Even the royal guards could only equip them according to the number, not more.

The Huguang government may really have too much resentment towards the Liao king. They actually hoped to find some contraband in the Liao king's mansion, put the Liao king's rebellious hat on, and sent him directly to Fengyang.

There are many benefits to doing this, not only to quell the anger of the people, but also to save the clan Lumi every year.

Huguang has too many patriarchal Lumi, and they can't take it anymore.

However, Shi Duchen's hopes were dashed. He searched the Liao Palace, but he didn't find the armor, bows and crossbows they were looking for.

Although no illegal weapons were found, they preserved the flag and flagpole that King Liao played, which is evidence supporting King Liao's intention to rebel.

By this time, the King of Liao realized the reason for besieging the palace, and immediately regretted it.

However, the affairs of Prince Liao's Mansion are not so easy to end. They still need to check the impeachment of Chen Xing and Gao Guangxian.

Those charges, if verified, will of course be dealt with severely, if not, then Chen Xing and Gao Guang will be punished first, and the reputation of King Liao will be restored.

This is the fundamental purpose of the imperial envoy's trip.

Next, Hong Chaoxuan and Cheng Yaoxiang lived in Jiangling, and issued a notice to let the people redress their grievances, and the court will seriously investigate and clarify the right and wrong.

The people of Jiangling Mansion have been plagued by the Liao Prince's Mansion for many years, and the people's grievances have been suppressed for many years, and finally they have a chance to take revenge.

For a time, the imperial envoys were crowded with people outside the palace, and people came in from morning till night to complain about their grievances.

When Hong Chaoxuan, Cheng Yaoxiang, and Shi Duchen were too overwhelmed to hear the Jiangling people's injustice cases, a fleet of dozens of large and small seagoing ships slowly approached Nan'ao Island.

Nan'ao Island is located at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, and is under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Chaozhou Prefecture. However, because it is isolated overseas, the government's control over it is extremely weak.

Since the Japanese pirates attacked on a large scale in the 31st year of Jiajing, this place has also become a paradise for Japanese pirates, and they often gather and repair here.

Whether it was Yu Dayou or Qi Jiguang, they captured the Japanese pirate camp here several times during the siege and suppression of Japanese pirates, but after the siege ended and left, new Japanese pirates would come back soon.

As an island, the Ming army really did not have the courage to station a large army here for a long time.

Therefore, the local government can only send people to investigate here from time to time, but cannot send troops.

And the troops that were landing on the island at this time were of course not the Ming army. From their chaotic uniforms, one could guess that it was another group of powerful Japanese pirates who came here for repairs.

At present, there are still Japanese pirates of this scale in Jiangnan, but in fact there is only one left, and that is the pirate group led by Zeng Bensuo.

In June of this year, Zeng Yiben found out that Yu Dayou ordered the Guangdong navy to go to Fujian, so he led troops to attack Guangzhou in a sneak attack, intending to plunder.

The sneak attack was very successful. After defeating the nearby Ming army, they plundered outside Guangzhou and nearby areas, and then defeated the Ming army in Chiwan and Dongba.

Originally, I wanted to take advantage of the trend to attack other nearby coastal counties, but I heard that Yu Dayou ordered the assembled naval warships from Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces to go south to help, and there were also armed merchant ships assembled by Macau Chinese maritime merchants to come to the rescue, so I decided to choose Withdraw to the sea and first sell the spoils looted from near Guangzhou.

When retreating, he also picked out dozens of new warships built by the imperial court and drove away the few that were about to be completed, and burned all the others.

This battle was undoubtedly the most embarrassing for Yu Dayou since he joined the army. He was besieged by pirates Zeng Yiming in the city of Guangzhou and dared not fight.

The incident happened so suddenly that he had no time to prepare for battle.

And this time, it is also because I haven't chosen a target to attack for the time being, so I temporarily stop at Nan'ao Island, planning to investigate the movements of the Ming army and make calculations.

The geographical location of Nan'ao Island is too special. If you go north, you can attack Fujian, and if you go west, you will go to the coast of Guangdong. If the Ming army is strong, you will immediately flee south.

As for the navy of the Ming army, to be honest, Zeng Yiben really didn't even look at it.

The Navy of the Ming Dynasty, also known as the Daming Navy, was once the number one Chinese navy in the world. It originated from the Chaohu Navy, one of the two main forces under Zhu Yuanzhang at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

During the heyday of Ming Chengzu, the Ming Dynasty owned more than 400 ships of various types, including more than 400 cruise ships, more than [-] warships, and [-] large ships and [-] grain transport ships stationed at the Xinjiangkou Base in Nanjing. Among them are many ocean-going treasure ships, in addition to a large number of security law enforcement ships and order ships that guard the ocean and patrol the river.

The famous Zheng He fleet was actually just a maritime mobile fleet of the mighty Ming Empire navy.

In the early Ming Dynasty, a navy battalion was set up in Xinjiangkou, the capital city of Nanjing, and [-] ships were built. It governed the counties along the river, from Jiujiang and Guangji to Suzhou and Taizhou, including Anqing and Taiping.

In order to solve the intrusion of Japanese pirates, 24 guards, including the navy, were set up, with 350 ships for each guard, and [-] sergeants to repair them. The navy of the Ming Dynasty was officially established.

Later, Fang Mingqian proposed that "when the Japanese come from the sea, the ear of the sea emperor, please measure the distance and set up guards, gather soldiers from land, and warships with water, and put them in the wrong place, so that the Japanese pirates cannot enter, nor can they land on the shore, so they can be restrained. "

This suggestion was affirmed by Zhu Yuanzhang and became the basic idea of ​​coastal defense construction in the early Ming Dynasty.

It's just that now, the guard system has already collapsed. Since the Japanese pirates attacked again in the Jiajing Dynasty, the coastal government has felt the pressure of coastal defense doubled.

In a hurry, they had no choice but to search for recruits as much as possible, especially in Guangdong, where the marine economy is developed, where a large number of smuggled maritime merchants were used as firefighters.

In the end, it was simply incorporated into the establishment and became a navy recognized by the court.

And Zeng Yiben used to be one of the smuggling sea merchants, so he was naturally called into the navy by the government.

If the military salary of the Ming Dynasty can be paid in full without deductions or arrears, for most of the boat people, although the income is certainly not as much as in the past, it can still be accepted.

However, regarding the government's logistics for the Ming army, Zeng Yiben was soon separated from the Ming army system and started his old business.

Maritime smuggling is both business and robbery, so Zeng Yiben, who returned to his old business, didn't feel any discomfort at all, but was just wanted by the government.

At sea, the government couldn't catch him.

And his opponent, the navy of the Ming army, apart from some soldiers recruited by the coastal guards, many of them are his old colleagues.

Even with Yu Dayou in command, he is not afraid at sea.

What's more, with the opening of Moon Harbor, the patrol and defense center of the Ming army navy has been moved to the vicinity of Moon Harbor, which made him feel that he had an opportunity to take advantage of.

Standing on the bow of the big ship and watching the boats approaching Nan'ao Island one after another, Zeng Ben was very ambitious for a while.

"Boss, it's time for us to land on the island."

Footsteps sounded behind him, and a burly man stood behind Zeng Yiben and said.

"Have all the people sent out to inquire about the news been arranged?"

Zeng Yiben didn't look back, he still looked at the big ships in front of him and asked.

"It's been arranged, boss."

The big man behind him replied.

"Okay, let's go to the island then."

Zeng Yiben replied.

(End of this chapter)