The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 618 National Martial Law
"My grand son was robbed by bandits near Nanjing..." Lu Zhenfei sighed heavily, "What a shame, what a shame!"

He Kai glanced at the mourning courtiers outside the Yongshou Palace, and his expression was also anxious, "Who would have thought that there would be Jianlu's internal response in the palace and the imperial camp, it is really careless."

"The great cause of expelling captives has just seen improvement, but such a major event has happened..." Yang Tinglin shook his head and said, "At the moment, we can only hope that His Royal Highness the Assistant King will return to Beijing as soon as possible, and there may be a glimmer of opportunity."

Several cabinet scholars were talking in low voices, when they saw Pang Tianshou coming out of Yongshou Palace, Huang Daozhou hurriedly went up to greet him, and said, "Eunuch Pang, how is the situation of the Empress Dowager?"

"Back to the old Huangge," Pang Tianshou said with a sad face, "just now the queen mother heard that it was Jianlu who robbed the saint, she was so frightened and angry that she fainted to death... The imperial doctor prescribed a prescription for calming the nerves. sleep."

He waved his hands away from the eunuchs and maids all around, and said in a low voice, "How do the adults plan to deal with the current situation?"

He is the palm print eunuch, the head of the inner court, and since such a big incident happened, it is necessary for the inner court to work together.

Huang Daozhou shook his head with a bitter face, "We are still discussing."

Pang Tianshou said urgently: "Now His Royal Highness the Assistant Prince is not in the court, the Son of Heaven is in danger, and the overall situation depends on your lords."

Several people stood outside the palace gate, braving the cold wind and discussing for a while, but they were still at a loss.

Suddenly a guard from the royal camp rushed over and whispered something to Huang Daozhou, who was immediately surprised, "So, Huguang did it?"

Huang Daozhou signaled the guards to leave, and said to the important cabinet minister beside him: "The Longwei army captured Meng Zhengfa's concubine's room by the Yangtze River. According to his confession, Meng Zhengfa wanted to flee to Wuchang, and he claimed this to his concubine. As soon as Fan enters the land of Chu, he can become a Marquis. In addition, he had secret meetings with people in the mansion many times before, and one of the women seemed to be a prisoner who hijacked the emperor."

Lu Zhenfei frowned, "So, the Holy One was probably sent to Huguang?"

Just as he was talking, he heard that a young eunuch from Yongshou Palace ran over quickly and bowed to Pang Tianshou, "My lord, the Empress Dowager is awake and wants to call several adults from the cabinet to see her."

Huang Daozhou and others rushed into the Yongshou Palace, and before they could salute, they heard the Empress Dowager Zeng's voice hoarse: "My lords, is the emperor's whereabouts?!" .

"Back to the Empress Dowager, just now the old minister got the news that Huguang may have colluded with the captives to rob the emperor." Huang Daozhou said, "The trace of the emperor was cut off by the river again, so it is very likely that he went to Wuchang by boat."

Lu Zhenfei added: "However, according to Huang Jingfang and others' confession, they wanted to bring the emperor into Fujian."

The Empress Dowager Zeng stood up from the bed in a daze, and shouted out of control, "Since you know the whereabouts of the Son of Heaven, then hurry up and send someone to chase after you!"

"Pass down my decree!" She raised her trembling hand and pointed at several old elders, "The whole country is under martial law, and the garrisons in all state capitals have sealed off all roads for interrogation. You must find Yuan'er for me!"

Huang Daozhou and the others looked at each other, and remonstrated: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, the disappearance of the Holy Majesty will definitely shake the world. Here, we should block the news and investigate this matter secretly, so as not to cause chaos..."

"No, no!" Empress Dowager Zeng immediately shook her head and shouted, "I want to ensure Yuan'er's safety, hurry up and dispatch troops! Quickly!"

Huang Daozhou had no choice but to bow and say: "I obey the order."

After several people left the Yongshou Palace, they heard that the palace was in chaos, and there were screams from time to time.Lu Zhenfei stopped several guards who hurried past, "What are you doing?"

"Huihui Pavilion, the Empress Dowager ordered the spies in Dasuo Palace to immediately kill anyone who is suspicious."

Before it was dark that day, the news of Emperor Ming's robbery had already spread.

"The Empress Dowager ordered the whole country to be under martial law, and mobilized all the soldiers and horses in the world to find someone?"

"Yes." Yale cupped his hands and said, "It is said that Nanjing is arresting the courtiers involved in the incident, and if there is any suspicion, they will be imprisoned. In just half a day, hundreds of officials have been affected, and the people in the city are in panic."

Mu Zhiqing couldn't help frowning when she heard the words, "It seems that the queen mother has completely lost her position. If this situation continues, if Meng Zhengfa cannot be stopped, once the emperor arrives in Huguang, she will probably report to He Tengjiao for the safety of her son. compromise."

So she asked someone to fetch pen and ink, wrote a secret letter to Zhu Linmi and Zhen Zhen each, and then went straight to Jin Wu's residence, ordering him to try to send the letter out of the city.

At dusk of the next day, Zhen Zhen led [-] soldiers from the Polu battalion to march back to Nanjing in a hurry to "maintain law and order" in the city.At the same time, the Longwei Army and the Polu Battalion on the line from Zhenjiang to Jiangyin did not follow the order to search for the emperor's traces, but entered the battle state according to the order of Zhen Zhen to prevent the Qing army from sneaking.On the river, the Yangtze River Navy has also greatly increased the frequency of patrols.

……

On the wharf of Ningbo Port, six lucky boats with thousands of materials are waiting to sail.Looking at their extremely low waterline, you can tell that the ship has filled every crevice with cargo.

After investment from the imperial court, clan members and folks participated in the shares, the Ming ocean caravan has received very sufficient funds.In fact, there are nine cargo ships in the caravan, but since the Ming Dynasty has not gone to sea for a long time, to be on the safe side, Huang Zongxi suggested to send some merchant ships to familiarize themselves with the waterway first, and then dispatch all the members on the next trip.

The escort for these six merchant ships was led by the Daming Navy Shaowu, and there were three other five-level frigates, seven six-level Qing frigates, and a powerful fleet including a supply ship with thousands of materials.

In fact, Zhu Linmi also secretly sent the fourth-class cruiser Zhangzhou to follow secretly.He knew very well that the Westerners are weak and untrustworthy, so he prepared for the worst, and was careful not to tear up the agreement with the Orchids and attack the caravan.

Waiting for the assistant king to offer sacrifices to the Dragon King, with a burst of salutes roaring, the Shaowu took the lead in sailing into the vast sea.Behind it, naval warships surrounded six merchant ships and followed closely. There were even several private merchant ships who wanted to borrow the light of the ocean-going caravan and followed them to sea from afar.The people on the shore suddenly cheered.

Looking at the masts gradually disappearing on the sea level, Zhu Linmi couldn't help showing a gratified smile. The maritime trade of Daming finally officially kicked off.

More than half of the warehouses of these six merchant ships are filled with silk, which is the commodity most needed by the Japanese, and it is almost sold out.Selling silk from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Japan, the minimum profit can reach [-]%!If the cost of sailing is not included, it can be regarded as almost zero cost, which is also the most profitable part of the Far East trade with the Orchid people.

In addition, the porcelain, clocks, and luxury goods on board are also extremely profitable.Zhu Linmi probably calculated that with regard to the goods on these six ships, if no ships were lost during the voyage, they could earn more than 100 million taels when they return from Japan!Even after deducting the cost of the escort fleet and ship loss, the profit is around 70 million taels.

(End of this chapter)