Chapter 308: Patching Up This Ragged World

How important is the "having a famous teacher" that Qi Jiguang repeatedly emphasized?

The Great Ming navy's voyage to Ryukyu this time to pacify Japanese pirates and bandits on a large scale and station troops to coordinate defense is an inevitable military action for the Great Ming to strengthen military control. Then, if this military action has no famous teacher, without considering the internal, only considering the external, several problems must be solved.

First, who to kill? How many people to kill? And how many more people to kill?

An army is the most precise killing machine in human history. When this machine starts to operate, it is the most intuitive embodiment of violence.

First is the question of who to kill. The local ruler does not recognize the Great Ming's claim of pacifying Japanese pirates, and the local military and civilians do not recognize it. Then what is the difference between the Great Ming navy and the Japanese pirates? Will the local military and civilians also treat the Great Ming navy and the Japanese pirates equally? When the military and civilians of Ryukyu attack the Great Ming army, the navy will absolutely not sit still and wait for death, and the slaughter will begin.

When the Great Ming navy begins to slaughter the military and civilians of Ryukyu, the seeds of hatred are buried. How many more people must be killed to achieve rule? Killing all thirty thousand military and civilians in the Ryukyu region would indeed achieve rule. However, who will kill these thirty thousand military and civilians? The navy cultivated by the Great Ming at a huge cost is no longer the "King's Army" that reports to the Son of Heaven and saves the people below, but has become executioners and butchers. Who will be responsible for this?

Most crucially, once the slaughter begins, how to distinguish between the good and the evil? When the slaughter begins, blood feuds begin to spread.

The second question: how to rule?

If all the people are killed, this place will become a dead land. Then, moving thirty thousand people from the Great Ming hinterland to Ryukyu—if they are all exiled criminals and desperate people, then after a few years, the Great Ming will have to kill them all over again. If they are good people, how will these people face the out-of-control violence that is like wolves and tigers?

If they don't kill everyone, but while killing, they shout "King's Army," bringing order to Ryukyu, bringing medical clinics, community schools, academies, and farming techniques—do people really not have eyes, ears, or brains to distinguish between good and evil?

The third question: how to achieve the goals of war?

Taking the pacification of Japanese pirates in Ryukyu as an example, the Great Ming is to pacify Japanese pirates and stabilize the Great Ming's maritime borders. Without a famous teacher, intense conflicts occur with local military and civilians. These Ryukyu military and civilians instead stand on the side of the Japanese pirates, becoming the most unstable factor in the Great Ming's maritime borders. Pacifying Japanese pirates and stabilizing maritime borders instead forces a tributary vassal state to become the Great Ming's enemy. Is this the Great Ming navy's strategic goal?

When the King of Ryukyu, Shang Jiu, finally could not hold on and asked the Great Ming for help, these internal and external problems of having no famous teacher were solved.

The Great Ming navy set sail. The Songjiang Regional Commander Chen Lin led the five-masted ocean-crossing ships, swaggering through the streets.

When the Great Ming navy arrived, everyone was dumbfounded looking at this scene in front of them.

Naha Port is the gateway to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Along the banks of the river that stretches for nearly ten *li*, there are all broken walls and ruins, and traces of burning everywhere. The ships sailing at the mouth of the sea are actually sailing in ruins.

This is the "Bridge of All Nations." Whether going to the Great Ming, Japan, or Luzon, one must transfer and resupply here. In the maritime trade of hundreds of years, the area around Naha Port was very prosperous, even forming the Naha nobility.

The Great Ming navy had already come for the third time. The first time was to escort the seal ship to enfeoff Shang Jiu, and the second time was the Great Ming's armed cruise. The prosperity of the first two times and the current ruin formed a very strong impact.

"What did these Japanese pirates do?" Antonio asked Xu Fan with a frown.

Xu Fan said somewhat dejectedly: "Japanese pirates have always been doing what they have done."

Xu Fan had seen the horror of Japanese piracy with his own eyes. Every living thing he saw would be played to death. The Great Ming was still better because the Great Ming had been actively eliminating Japanese piracy. Indeed, Zhejiang Provincial Governor Zhu Wan was forced to commit suicide to show his ambition, but the moment the smoke of Japanese piracy was lit in many southern provinces, Zhu Wan's ambition to pacify Japanese pirates was recognized by everyone. Even the powerful and wealthy families of the Great Ming who invited the wolf into the house had to admit that they had underestimated the destruction of the Japanese pirates.

The Great Ming navy finally found a berth and parked the ships. The trestle bridge had been completely burned down, and the military and civilians on the small boats took an hour to build a temporary trestle bridge for all the navy crew to disembark.

A group of people saw the Great Ming navy's Big Dipper flag and began to approach. The Great Ming army stood ready. After seeing the attire of the people, they chose to step forward to inquire.

The Seven-Star Flag is the Great Ming's navigation flag. Any ship that has obtained the Great Ming's ship permit can hang it. This represents the Great Ming, and the Great Ming ship flag fluttered again at the port of Naha Port.

A group of people approaching the Great Ming army was the King of Ryukyu, Shang Jiu. After learning that the Great Ming army was coming, Shang Jiu had been waiting nearby. Seeing the Seven-Star Flag logo, he was willing to come out.

Chen Lin frowned and looked at Shang Jiu, who was wearing a five-tassel crown. The whole body, only this crown was clean. He had only a dozen guards around him, and each one was terrified, sallow and thin.

When the seal ship arrived at the port last time, Shang Jiu held a grand welcoming ceremony. The entire Naha Port was crowded with people, and the officials and guards around Shang Jiu were in groups. Shang Jiu followed the etiquette of the "Vassal State Rituals," met the Great Ming angel, and obtained the five-tassel crown.

After Shang Jiu saw the attire of the Great Ming court officials, he immediately ran forward a few steps. These few steps were a bit urgent, and he fell to the ground. But he still didn't care, rushed over, staggered and fell to the ground, and burst into tears.

"What happened?" Chen Lin pulled Shang Jiu up and said sharply, seeing Shang Jiu still crying: "Don't cry, speak!"

Chen Lin particularly hated cowardly people. When Japanese pirates come to the door, just fight them to the death like a man. Crying like this is really hard to accomplish anything.

Xu Fan could understand Shang Jiu's cowardly appearance. Ryukyu is different from the Great Ming. The Great Ming pacifies Japanese pirates, and the imperial court can build ten thousand bird guns a year for the pacification of Japanese pirates. Ryukyu, let alone bird guns, cannons, and other things, even long and short weapons have to be imported from the Great Ming and Japan. This is a port with very prosperous maritime trade, and there is no military force at all.

Ryukyu once organized an army of thirty thousand, but it was all disbanded very quickly because an army of thirty thousand was very expensive. For Ryukyu, which had only thirty thousand people, it was really too huge.

Ryukyu has always relied on the Great Ming, and occasionally on the Shimazu family of Japan.

In the 10th year of Zhengde of Emperor Wuzong, the Japanese pirate Mikuni Kunihide of Bitchu occupied Ryukyu. This group of Japanese pirates returned after plundering and was killed by Shimazu Tadataka, the guardian daimyo of Satsuma, when staying at the Satsuma Bozu Port.

"Those Japanese pirates, they kill everyone they see! Angel, please make the decision for our Ryukyu! Too brutal." Shang Jiu's legs were still a bit soft. Before the Great Ming navy arrived, Shang Jiu had been living in fear. He never thought that his mother was Japanese, and these Japanese pirates still intended to catch him and send him to Japan!

Shang Jiu tearfully accused the Japanese pirates of their evil deeds.

On the road of more than ten *li* from Naha Port to Shuri Castle, more than 70,000 people were directly killed by the Japanese pirates, and it was a "burn all, kill all, rob all" jade-shattering order. This was the order of Shimazu Yoshimitsu, the samurai group that Shimazu Takahisa directly ordered to conquer Ryukyu.

Under Shang Jiu's accusation, Chen Lin heard about these tragedies.

For example, Japanese pirates would circle the people in a village together, move all their food away without leaving a single grain of rice, and force everyone in the village to decide for themselves, that is, to kill each other. If you kill the other party, you can eat the other party, and you can live; drive the Ryukyu villagers into a pit and bury them alive; these Japanese pirates would dance a strange dance, enter the village, kill everyone they saw, and hang the corpses of infants on a long pole...

Shang Jiu completely understood. The Great Ming would not do these things even if they were fierce, but the Japanese pirates would definitely do them.

These accumulated crimes shocked Antonio, who came from the West.

"We thought we Westerners were bad enough." Antonio sighed in admiration. Antonio swore that the colonial rule of the Portuguese and Spaniards in the New World was far from being so cruel. Killing everyone, what kind of devil could do such a thing? The colonization of the two teeth was indeed cruel, but in propaganda, they would still claim that the people of the New World were also believers of the Lord.

Of course, there were also partial realistic reasons, that is, they couldn't do it. In the New World, the Red-Haired Barbarians were after all a minority, and the natives were the majority.

Xu Fan waved his hand repeatedly and said: "No, no, no, the English like to kill everyone."

The English liked to kill all the local natives in the West Indies. Unlike the colonial style of the two teeth, at least on the surface, the Red-Haired Barbarians covered it up a little. The Golden-Haired Barbarians were too lazy to cover it up.

On this moral high ground, the Great Ming people stand at the highest point, while the Red-Haired Barbarians stand at the low point, and the Golden-Haired Barbarians stand in hell.

Shang Jiu begged the Great Ming navy to station troops at the port. Of course, it was not without any preparation, but he took out a memorial with his golden seal, as well as the stationing and farming land for the Great Ming navy, and the stationing land. Ten *li* outside the city was the Great Ming's territory. This was confirmed in writing in the memorial.

After receiving this memorial, Chen Lin had work to do.

Chen Lin launched an action. The well-trained Maritime Defense Inspector "Flying on the Sea" completed the reconnaissance. Early the next morning, the five-masted ocean-crossing ships began to go to sea. Antonio looked at the departing ships with great envy. He had twelve five-masted ocean-crossing ships and four clipper ships belonging to Philip II, but he did not have such elite soldiers and strong generals. Similarly, such sharp weapons could only exert their power in the hands of these elite soldiers and strong generals.

The military action to pacify Japanese pirates in Ryukyu began. The purpose of this pacification of Japanese pirates was: do not let go of any Japanese pirate.

Less than ten *li* from Naha Port, there was a Japanese pirate station. This was a Japanese pirate with about three hundred people. Its equipment was not sophisticated. In terms of firearms, it was equipped with iron guns, and in terms of long and short weapons, it was mainly Japanese samurai swords. The armor was "O-kashi Gusoku." This type of armor was iron, and at most, it weighed four catties, not as heavy as the cotton of the Great Ming's cloth-faced armor.

"O-kashi Gusoku" means borrowed armor, which is armor borrowed by the foot soldiers from the daimyo they were loyal to. The texture is extremely thin and can prevent arrows to a certain extent.

The Great Ming's armor is mainly cloth-faced armor, and the number of iron armors is actually not large, only about six hundred. However, these six hundred people are sharp weapons for attacking strongholds. The Japanese iron guns, arrows, and long and short weapons cannot break the defense at all.

The war showed a one-sided trend. The Great Ming navy's five-masted ocean-crossing ships would appear on the sea in a crushing posture, and the Japanese small boats could not approach at all under the bombardment of naval guns. Even if they risked their lives to approach, they would be driven away or eliminated by the four-hundred-load combat ships that followed.

After obtaining the command of the sea, the Great Ming navy could launch a landing operation at any time and any place. The Japanese pirates were immediately panicked and planned to flee. As soon as they fought, the Japanese pirates immediately knew that this was not the Ryukyu soldiers. The Ryukyu guard had only 120 people in total. Just a single ocean-crossing ship fleet had more than 150 nine-pound cannons.

After the bombardment, the Great Ming navy began to land, and the ground attack began.

After hearing that the Japanese pirates were equipped with firearms, the Great Ming navy did not dare to be negligent and advanced the position step by step. Soon the Great Ming navy discovered that while the Japanese pirates' firearms were less powerful, their quantity was also small, and the gunpowder was very scarce. Usually, after one shot, it would misfire.

Japan has sulfur and wood, but no saltpeter, which resulted in Japan's gunpowder being extremely scarce.

The price of saltpeter in Japan exceeded 20 taels per catty, while the price of saltpeter in the Great Ming was 5 cents of silver per catty. One hundred catties of saltpeter in the Great Ming was only five taels of silver. If one could smuggle saltpeter to Japan, it would undoubtedly be a huge profit. But no one could smuggle saltpeter to Japan because saltpeter mines were very difficult to buy in the Great Ming's folk workshops.

The Great Ming's saltpeter mines are in Laojun Mountain. Laojun Mountain is heavily guarded, and all gunpowder is supplied to the Ministry of War's Military Equipment Supervisor and the inner office's Wang Gongchang. Taking the Wang Gongchang as an example, it can manufacture 400,000 lead bullets, 360,000 catties of various gunpowder, and 300,000 medicine lines a year. This is just one factory of the Wang Gongchang, and the Great Ming's management of gunpowder is very strict.

An interesting phenomenon appeared on the battlefield: the Great Ming fired cannons as if they didn't need money, and the fire guns kept ringing, while the Japanese pirates were shooting arrows. In such a war, the Great Ming army's advance was as if on flat ground.

"General Qi said: 'The military weapon that the barbarians fear most from the Chinese army is firearms.' It does not deceive me." Chen Lin put down the telescope and had a clearer understanding of the Japanese pirates' combat effectiveness.

A bunch of trash.

This is Chen Lin's latest evaluation of the Japanese pirates. The combat effectiveness is truly low. Of course, this also has to do with the fact that the Maritime Defense Inspector searched for enough intelligence. As soon as the Great Ming army arrived, the Ryukyu military and civilians actively provided intelligence to "Flying on the Sea," and the Great Ming's pacification of Japanese pirates became even simpler.

The Great Ming's Japanese piracy was so fierce, and there was a great relationship between the Great Ming's internal traitors cooperating with the Japanese pirates.

In the month-long pacification operation, the Great Ming army broke 23 Japanese pirate water strongholds, killed more than 1,200 Japanese pirates, beheaded more than 320, and left more than a dozen captives in each water stronghold, specifically sent to the capital for the old masters of the capital to investigate. This is also an old tradition. There are difficulties in investigation for operations outside the border and overseas. Sending a batch of captives to the capital for investigation has become a convention.

What Chen Lin did not expect at all was that the Great Ming navy caught a captive that surprised everyone: Kong Yinsong, from the Kong Fu of Yanzhou, and he was a direct descendant, not a collateral descendant who couldn't survive and went to sea to make a living, but a direct descendant.

It is obvious that the collusion between the Yanzhou Kong Fu and the Japanese pirates was far deeper than the imperial court had estimated.

The battle report and Kong Yinsong were sent to the capital together. Sent to the capital together were also a batch of wealth. These wealth were all the assets confiscated from the Kong Fu. Because the scope involved was too wide, it took more than a month for an experienced old official like Ling Yunyi to confiscate them.

"Japanese pirates are in the east of the sea, Ryukyu on the left and Korea on the right. They are beneficial to ships, and their voices and breaths can be heard. Therefore, they carry the two countries to support their mountains and rivers." Zhu Yijun approved a memorial. This memorial was an extremely rare one written by Zhang Juzheng himself during his mourning period.

The last time Zhu Yijun received a handwritten memorial from Zhang Juzheng was the last time.

Zhang Juzheng pleaded for the court officials, asking the Emperor to be somewhat wary of Wang Chonggu. The subjects who could threaten the Emperor himself were limited to the scope of the Wenhua Hall court officials. If something happened, looking for it here would be enough.

And Zhang Juzheng wrote this memorial, naturally to make a statement, supporting the Great Ming Emperor's dispatch of troops to Ryukyu to pacify Japanese pirates. In the memorial, Zhang Juzheng first listed the continuous enfeoffment of Ryukyu during the Hongwu and Yongle years and the Jiajing years, and then discussed the important significance of Ryukyu to the Great Ming's maritime border security.

During the Hongwu years, because of the lesson of the Yuan Dynasty's failed attack on Japan, the Great Ming was extremely cautious about sending troops overseas.

In the second year of Hongwu, the Great Ming army was eliminating the remnants of the Northern Yuan in the hinterland of the Central Plains, and the main direction of attack was in the northwest. At this time, Japanese piracy broke out in Shandong, and the situation of this Japanese piracy was very complicated. Its composition included Japanese pirates from Japan, the Yuan Dynasty's son-in-law Goryeo, the Northern Yuan powerful families in Liaodong, and anti-Ming forces in the hinterland of the Central Plains.

After careful consideration, Zhu Yuanzhang appeased the King of Ryukyu, and then in the 25th year of Hongwu, supported Li Chenggui to become the King of Korea. Since then, the Li Dynasty of Korea was established, and Goryeo was officially destroyed.

And Zhang Juzheng also made a concise summary of the importance of Ryukyu's geographical location to the Great Ming: "Carry the two countries to support their mountains and rivers."

Zhu Yijun approved Zhang Juzheng's memorial and said to Feng Bao with a smile: "I used to be able to see Sir's memorials every day, and I didn't feel anything. Now that I suddenly see it, I can only say that Sir is still formidable. The summary is whip-and-piercing."

Zhang Juzheng is very easy to use, much better than Lu Diaoyang who does not express opinions and Wang Chonggu who does not work in the Cabinet. Zhang Juzheng's summary is always so precise.

There are always people patching up this ragged world; otherwise, this world would have shattered long ago.

Some people cannot care about the world, which is fine. This ragged world, it breaks its way, I live my way. Others are willing to repair it, I can't manage it. But this being a person, the most should not be, the most hateful is, not repairing it yourself, but tearing down what others have just repaired, and then stepping on it a few more times.

Zhu Yijun handed the approved memorials to Feng Bao, who took them down and sent them to the Wenyuan Pavilion. Not long after he went out, he ran in in a hurry, holding a report in his hand, and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, great joy, great joy! Ryukyu sent a report of victory. The Great Ming navy went to sea for the first time, 23 battles in Ryukyu, 23 victories, consecutive victories. Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty!"

Zhu Yijun stood up, opened the memorial, looked at the report seriously, full of joy. Looking at it, Zhu Yijun's face became heavy.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Feng Bao asked with a puzzled face. This is a report of victory sent from Ryukyu. Feng Bao had confirmed it repeatedly, and when His Majesty first looked at it, he was full of joy. How did it turn from sunny to cloudy immediately?

"The Kong Fu of Yanzhou colluded with the Japanese. I originally thought they were just seeking wealth! Now it seems, it is not so!" Zhu Yijun handed the report in his hand to Feng Bao, clenched his fists. There are not a few powerful and wealthy families in the Great Ming who secretly colluded with the Japanese, all for the silver of Japan. The Great Ming had a ban on sea ships going to Japan before, and later in the first year of Wanli, under the auspices of Zhang Juzheng, this ban was lifted.

Greedy for money, merchants are all profit-seeking, all greedy for money. But this Kong Fu actually sent its direct descendants overseas to give advice to others, which really gave Zhu Yijun a feeling of "unexpected but reasonable."

"Your Majesty, it's not surprising that the Kong Fu did any dirty things. It's not worth it to be angry for such people, is it?" Feng Bao carefully persuaded. His Majesty has a big temper. What if His Majesty gets angry?

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "This Kong Fu, seeking some wealth is fine. It's really, self-inflicted, cannot live."

"Your Majesty, the Shandong Provincial Governor Ling Yunyi, the Grand Minister Ling, sent a memorial. The list of assets confiscated from the Kong Fu has been sent. All assets were escorted to the capital yesterday, and the inner treasury eunuchs and the Ministry of Revenue officials are checking them." Feng Bao handed out a new memorial, which was Ling Yunyi's memorial, and the content was the confiscation list.

Zhu Yijun opened the memorial and took a look, stood up abruptly, pointed at the memorial and said: "Forty thousand *qing*?! Grand Minister Ling didn't make a mistake, did he?"

"No." Feng Bao took a look at the number and said very definitely. It was not a small number, it was the uppercase "forty thousand," definitely forty thousand *qing*.

"No." Feng Bao glanced at that number and said with great certainty, "It's not a lowercase number, it's the uppercase 'forty thousand'; it is definitely forty thousand qing."

Xu Jie was the Grand Secretary for half his life, greedy and known to everyone, and finally only got 400,000 *mu* of land, which is 4,000 *qing*. And the Kong Fu family alone occupied more than 40,000 *qing* of land!

Shandong has 420,000 *qing* in total, and his old Kong family occupied 40,000 *qing*!

"No wonder, other provincial governors go to the local area and can't do anything. Grand Minister Ling killed people as soon as he arrived. If it were me, I could only do this." Zhu Yijun looked at the astronomical number on the memorial and sighed. The Kong Fu of Yanzhou was truly too wealthy!

If Ling Yunyi didn't kill people, he couldn't complete the task given to him by the imperial court at all.

The Great Ming's expedition to Danning Guard and Huining Guard, the preparation of the Beijing Camp and the Songjiang navy, and the pacification of Japanese pirates in Ryukyu cost a total of about 4.5 million silver. And this confiscation produced 3.7 million in current silver from the Kong Fu. If the land is converted, it is equivalent to the military activities of the Great Ming from the first year of Wanli to the fifth year of Wanli being paid for by the Kong Fu of Yanzhou!

"That Kong Shangxian said that I was crazy with poverty and had my eyes on the Kong Fu's family foundation, so I had to deal with him. Eh, he was right. It just happened to fill the military use." Zhu Yijun closed Ling Yunyi's memorial, satisfied. The gluttonous beast that only enters and does not exit is indeed like this. The satiety of eating until full is wonderful.

Zhang Hong said with great emotion: "Your Majesty, I have figured out a problem. Why the Kai wood statue was lost. It turns out it was because of these wealth."

"A bunch of people who deceive the world and steal names!"

"Deceiving the world and stealing names" comes from the Confucian sage Xunzi's "Not Dogmatic" chapter, which is "villains will use it to steal names in a dark world, which is extremely dangerous."

As the sage of Confucianism, Xunzi revealed the true face of corrupt scholars every day, and was finally expelled from the Confucian register because Xunzi advocated "honoring rituals and respecting the virtuous to be a king, valuing law and loving the people to be a hegemon," which is respecting rituals and laws, but valuing legal systems. Xunzi also advocated "thickening the present and thinning the past, following the later kings," which is a conflict of line with the Confucian preference for "following the three generations."

"Where have General Qi and the Tan Sima gone?" Zhu Yijun looked at the map. The Kong family was still detained in the Heavenly Prison. Wang Chonggu had handled the case, but had not submitted a memorial to request execution. Wang Chonggu was waiting, waiting for Qi Jiguang to return to the capital. The Beijing Camp led by Qi Jiguang was a fierce, physical deterrent force. The army was not at home, and Wang Chonggu did not submit a memorial, preventing a situation that could not be controlled.

"Already arrived at Gubeikou." Feng Bao said with a difficult expression: "Several court officials submitted memorials saying that the army should be stationed in Miyun Guard, and after General Qi enters the capital, the army will arrive at the North Camp, preventing the Gao Qiyu incident."

Zhu Yijun sneered and said: "At the beginning, General Qi wanted to enter the capital to receive rewards, and these court officials said this was not okay and that was not okay. Now it's the other way around, begging people to enter the capital first?"

Feng Bao thought for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, General Qi and the Tan Sima Tan Lun also submitted this memorial."

The historical lesson of "wearing the yellow robe" still needs to be respected. The army is stationed in Miyun Guard. Even if something unexpected happens, the imperial court has a certain reaction time. Even Qi Jiguang himself and Tan Lun agreed with this statement.

Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth and said: "General Qi will not return to the capital for the time being. Give the promised rewards to the place, and then let General Qi return to the capital from Miyun Guard. I want to see who dares to touch this reward."

The army went out of the border to fight and returned to the capital in triumph. At this time, whoever moves this reward silver is looking for death.

The Great Ming's bureaucrats will definitely do their best to ensure that the military pay and rewards are all in place.

"Your Majesty is wise." Feng Bao said sincerely. His Majesty always has many strange and effective methods.

Seeking monthly tickets, Aowu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 309 =====

(End of chapter)