Chapter 501 The whereabouts of 500 Zhang Lian

Chapter 501 The whereabouts of 500 Zhang Lian

Emperor Jiajing ordered Jinyiwei to escort Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, to Beijing. When the order was conveyed to Jinyiwei, the experience of Fusi in Beizhen began to get busy. At the same time, he prepared secret orders and sent them to hundreds of Jinyiwei households in Hangzhou through Jinyiwei's independent messaging system. The other side was busy applying for driving licenses. After getting the stamped and registered driving licenses from the Director of Ceremonies and the Sixth Section, they were quickly handed over to a group of Ti riders who had already assembled.

After receiving the driving post, the Tiqi team leader did not dare to neglect, and led his men and horses out of the city, heading towards Hangzhou.

Naturally, such a big news could not be hidden from the Manchu officials, especially after the driving post reached the sixth subject, the news of Hu Zongxian's downfall was basically confirmed.

Before Xu Jie, Yuan Wei and others left Xiyuan, the entire officialdom in the capital began to discuss the matter and speculated on who would take over as the governor of Zhejiang Province.

As news came out from the Ministry of War, the scope of Japanese invaders has gradually moved southward in recent years, with frequent Japanese invasions in Fujian and Guangdong. Zhejiang and South Zhili have calmed down. Suddenly, in the eyes of hundreds of officials, the position of Governor of Zhejiang is Even more tempting.

"In that case, let's see who is suitable to governor Zhejiang?"

At this time, in the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing asked again.

After he finished speaking, he was greeted by a moment of silence in the palace. No one came out to recommend candidates for Zhejiang governor.

After all, things happened suddenly and they were not prepared.

Now that Emperor Jiajing is asking about it, it is naturally difficult to come up with a few decent candidates.

"Your Majesty, the incident happened suddenly, and I couldn't think of a suitable candidate for the moment."

At this time, Xu Jie, as the chief minister of the cabinet, looked sideways at the people in the hall and said.

Everyone was silent. As the chief minister of the dynasty, naturally he couldn't say a word. Even if he couldn't recommend him, he should at least say a few words to break the atmosphere in the palace.

"Then you should discuss the candidate as soon as possible."

After listening to Xu Jie's words, Emperor Jiajing just said lightly: "Select from officials in the court, forget those from outside Beijing."

Emperor Jiajing selected the candidate for governor of Zhejiang in Beijing, so naturally he had his own considerations.

If they were selected from among foreign officials, they would have to go to the capital first and then set off south to Zhejiang.

Although the situation facing Zhejiang now is not what it used to be, it still faces the threat of Japanese pirates after all.

Choosing from among the officials in the capital naturally eliminates the need to return to the capital. After being selected, one can almost directly issue an order and immediately go south to take up his post.

"According to the order."

Xu Jie and other officials bowed and answered at this time.

Coming out of Yongshou Palace, everyone's expressions were solemn, and they were all thinking about who in the capital was suitable for the post of governor.

In fact, there are not many officials in the capital who are suitable for the position of governor. Generally speaking, only officials from the third rank and above are qualified to hold this position.

The ministers of the Sixth Ministry, the ministers of the five temples, and the deputy imperial envoys of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Considering that although there is no large-scale Japanese pirate intrusion in Zhejiang, it still faces threats, and the candidate for governor must have military experience. If you think so, the left and right ministers of the Ministry of War are naturally the most suitable candidates.

In addition, the main responsibility of the governor is to supervise local officials. Although he is in charge of civil affairs, most of this is done through the Chief Envoy. Naturally, the Deputy Imperial Envoy in the Metropolitan Procuratorate can also hold this position.

As a result, many people were secretly looking at Yang Bo, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Pan En, the Imperial Censor of Zuodu, on the road to see if they would approach Xu Jie and Yuan Wei and make peace with them.

The group of people quickly left Xiyuan and then headed to the cabinet together.

Emperor Jiajing wanted them to decide on a candidate for governor as soon as possible. Naturally, there was no time to waste, so he had to go directly to the cabinet to discuss the candidate so that he could submit the report as soon as possible.

In Prince Yu's Mansion, the main room in a small courtyard was quiet at this time.

At this time, King Yu, Yin Shizhen and others were all closing their eyes to rest. They had previously sent people to see Gao Gong at the Ministry of Rites and told him what the palace wanted. Governor's job.

Now that both parties have reached an agreement, the only thing left is to inform Xu Jie not to push Gao Gong out and to be included in the recommendation list.

Although Wei Guangde guessed that Emperor Jiajing would not let Gao Gong go, he could not bear the chance.

At this time, the sun was already setting in the west. On a hill by the sea, a figure stood on it, looking at the vast sea to the west with a complicated look.

At the foot of the hill is a small bay, with numerous large and small boats moored inside. Many people are active on the boats and on the shore, but everyone looks decadent at this time, without any energy at all.

This is a natural harbor south of Dongfan Island. Across the sea is the Fujian Province of the Ming Dynasty.

After the figure stood there for a long time, he finally sighed and withdrew his eyes that contained unwillingness, regret, and reluctance.

There was a noise from behind the hill, and the man looked back and saw a group of soldiers carrying a lot of looted food and escorting some prisoners towards the bay.

Those were the men he sent out to snatch supplies from nearby natives.

He is the leader of the thieves who once offered a high reward in the Ming Dynasty, and the leader of the Feilong Kingdom.

Even he didn't know what was going on. He was still staying well in his own team. As a result, the news spread among the Feilong Army everywhere that he had been captured by the Ming Dynasty officials. This made the rebels everywhere lose their morale. Very soon. They were quickly defeated by the Ming troops swarming around them.

The morale of the army was shattered, and he had no choice but to bring more than a thousand of his remaining troops to flee eastward. It was no longer possible to stay in the Ming Dynasty.

In his opinion, the news that he was captured was spread by the Ming court in order to break the morale of the rebel army.

This was done deliberately. Unexpectedly, just a mere rumor could coax his subordinates into running around. I can only say that I still underestimated the generals of the Ming army.

How could he have imagined that the real reason was that the officers and soldiers misidentified the wrong person and falsely reported their military exploits. Although they found out later, they were worried about being punished, so they could only find ways to cover up their mistakes.

He also understands the principle of shooting men first, shooting horses first, and capturing thieves first. , fell into the hands of his Feilong Kingdom lord.

It's just that he can only think about it, but he can't do it.

If you can't even attack Zhejiang, how can you talk about sneak attacks on the capital.

Seeing that the situation was over, Zhang Lian had no choice but to flee to the seaside with his men, and used his boat people to find some ships and escape.

But the first time he arrived on the vast sea, Zhang Lian regretted it.

He had also heard of the terror of the sea before. Even in a calm situation, according to what the boat people said, there would be strong winds at any time, and waves several feet high would come over and overturn these lucky boats. .

The sea-going ships that the boat people found for them were Fuchuan. Although the Ming Dynasty officially banned the sea, in fact many gentry families along the coast were engaged in maritime business, and they all more or less hid some sea-going ships.

But for people who are not familiar with them, it is extremely difficult to find them.

Thanks to the boat people who led the way, they were able to gather enough boats in a short time.

When he separated from Lin Chaoxi, he only had more than a thousand men under his command. During the escape, he gathered some more men along the way, and he only had about 2,000 men.

These are the capital to save his life. Of course, he doesn't want to give them up casually, so he can only take them all with him.

On the sea, it's all about strength.

The reason why he thought of taking refuge at sea was because when he first selected his soldiers, he selected a few strong men from among the boat people.

When he was at the end of his rope, seeing them made him think of the idea of ​​seizing the ship and going to sea.

Although the Ming Dynasty was great, there was no place for him to settle down, and there was only one way to die.

It is better to die than to live, and Zhang Lian still wants to make a comeback.

Now that the situation is over, it is the right way to avoid its sharp edges and stay safe.

Zhang Lian is not a man who pretends to be a hero. The one who can build a country in this era will not be a man without a city.

After assessing the situation, Zhang Lian had made his own choice, but he was reluctant to give up.

After all, it was hard to leave his homeland. He would come to this hill in the past few days and look at his homeland in the distance. That was the Ming Dynasty, the place where he was born and raised.

In this era, although navigation technology developed rapidly, Ming ships could sail directly from Fujian to Japan or to Southeast Asia, but most of them still needed to dock at nearby ports to replenish fresh water and food. Load people and goods, bring plenty of supplies, and rely on God to protect you from strong winds and waves.

After entering the sea, although Zhang Lian felt that there was a vast world for him to roam around in, he still felt uneasy until the boat docked.

After asking the former boat people around me, I decided to come to Dongfan Island first to replenish some sailing supplies, and then choose where to go next.

Dongfan Island is actually the island of Taiwan in later generations. At this time, the island was deserted. There were only natives and a small number of Han people from the other side who came here to live and make a living, either fleeing crimes, escaping from taxes or war.

In the official records of the Ming Dynasty, this large island was called Jilong Mountain, or Dongfan.

Although it is not far from the Ming Dynasty's Fujian Province, no troops were sent to occupy it after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, it was enough for him to only recover the land of the Yuan Dynasty. As for Taiwan Island, which is very close to Fujian, because there was no official government here for jurisdiction during the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty did not regard it as territory, but only regarded it as territory. The system during the Yuan Dynasty established an inspection department on the Penghu Islands to control the Taiwan Strait.

For some Akito people who don’t understand the ocean, many people think this is the Ryukyu Kingdom.

After the Ming Dynasty and the Ryukyu Kingdom confirmed their clan relationship, Dongban Island was confirmed not to belong to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Therefore, in the official records of the Ming Dynasty, there was a distinction between the Great Ryukyu Kingdom and the Small Ryukyu Kingdom. The Great Ryukyu Kingdom was naturally the Ryukyu Kingdom. Islands, and Xiao Liuqiu is Dongfan Island, which is Taiwan.

In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, among the fifteen "countries not to be conquered" listed by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang listed Korea, Japan, Da Liuqiu, Xiao Liuqiu, Annan, Zhenla, and Siam. The Kingdom of Champa, the Kingdom of Sumatra, the Kingdom of Xiyang, the Kingdom of Java, the Kingdom of Huanheng, the Kingdom of Baihua, the Kingdom of Sambuqi, and the Kingdom of Balni are listed among them, and future generations are warned not to conquer arbitrarily.

However, for people who make a living on the sea, they naturally know what the so-called Little Ryukyu Kingdom is. It is just some tribes of indigenous people. There is no king here, and no country has been formed here at all.

Although Zhang Lian found many boat people who had gone to sea and learned about the real situation here, he did not dare to stay here for a long time.

In his opinion, once his whereabouts were exposed, given the distance between the two places, he might not find that the Ming court's army had arrived when he woke up.

Therefore, although Dongfan Island is good, it is not a place where he can stay for a long time and can only be used as a temporary residence.

The ship he snatched this time was equipped with a lot of food because it was used from time to time. However, he brought too many people out this time, about two thousand people, so it was not enough for their use. Before going to sea, he had no clear destination.

"See the King."

At this moment, two strong men had walked up to him and saluted him.

"How was your harvest today?"

Zhang Lian looked at the two captains of the soldiers and asked.

"Your Majesty, in the past half month or so, we have raided a dozen or so Tu tribes around here, large and small. We should have barely enough food to last two months."

One of the strong men replied.

"We captured some prisoners and asked about them. There are no larger tribes nearby. If we want to find them, we have to go to the mountains farther away. However, the journey is long and the mountains are steep, making it very difficult to attack."

Another person also said.

Now, the leaders who once followed Zhang Lian, such as Xiao Wan, Luo Pao, Lin Chaoxi, etc., were either captured by the Ming court or died in battle. Zhang Lian could only rely on the captains of the soldiers who had always been by his side.

What's more, at this point, he couldn't believe the leaders who had taken refuge. He was worried that they would be disloyal and would tie him up and give him to Ming Ting in exchange for his wealth.

"In that case, forget it."

Zhang Lian also knows that the morale of his men has been low since they fled here. If they attack a large tribe in the distance rashly, even if they win, there may be trouble if the casualties are too heavy.

Turning back, he looked to the east and said leisurely: "What do you think about the matter we discussed last time?"

"My lord, I don't think it's appropriate to go to the Japanese country in the east. It's better to follow Tian Erzhuang's wishes and go south. There are some small countries there, and we can easily secure a place for our brothers to rest and recuperate."

It was still the strong man who spoke first.

"Er Zhuang, what do you mean?"

Zhang Lian did not express his attitude, but still asked.

"Master of the country, I have followed the ship boss to several countries in Southeast Asia. Those so-called countries have small populations and weak countries, which is not good to hear. If we go there, we can directly destroy them and seize a piece of territory."

Tian Ergang replied loudly, "So, I think going to Nanyang is the best place."

"Is it really difficult to fight the Japanese country?"

Zhang Lian was still a little unwilling and couldn't help but ask.

"My lord, the Japanese country is also divided into many kings. Although there are only one or two cities, they can easily recruit tens of thousands of troops, and the Japanese warriors are indeed very powerful."

Tian Erzhuang replied.

"I see."

Zhang Lian cast one last reluctant look to the east, turned around and said to the two of them.