Chapter 168 Nothing Can Stop It
Japanese pirates? The devils from the island nation!
Zhao Huan had only been in the Song Dynasty for a month at most. Before he had time to think about the issue of maritime ban, he didn't expect the Japanese pirates to show up first.
Speaking of Japanese pirates, Zhao Huan, who had studied world history, had a deeper understanding than all the officials in the Song Dynasty court combined.
The Japanese pirates mainly existed in the Song Dynasty from the 14th to the 16th century. They were the product of a special time born from the combination of many internal and external factors, and had a strong flavor of the Celestial Empire.
Why do I say so?
In the early years of the Song Dynasty, the tribute trade of the Song Dynasty was based on giving more and receiving less. In simple terms, you give me one dollar and I give you ten dollars. This led to many Japanese pretending to be tribute envoys and coming to the Song Dynasty to defraud money.
After paying tribute, they stayed in coastal areas and burned, killed and looted. When they were surrounded by the Song army, they sailed back to their country. This was how the early Japanese pirates were formed.
Therefore, the first person to take the blame for the Japanese pirates should be Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang.
By the Jiajing period, Japan's Muromachi shogunate was already in name only, and domestic warlords were fighting each other. The feudal lords who were defeated in the war organized samurai, merchants and ronin to engage in robbery and smuggling in coastal areas of China in an attempt to make a comeback.
In contrast, after the voyages to the West were stopped, political corruption and naval relaxation provided an opportunity for rampant Japanese pirate activities.
Therefore, the Japanese pirates became increasingly arrogant. Wherever they went, they killed people, set fires, dug up graves, and even tied babies to poles, poured boiling water on them, and watched the babies cry while clapping their hands and laughing.
Poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people, and the bastards of the island country are werewolves.
Some of the sins are caused by others, but some are also the result of one's own actions. To reap huge profits, some prominent maritime merchants and prominent families in Zhejiang and Fujian ignored the imperial court's maritime ban and engaged in trade with "foreign merchants." They formed groups and gangs, forming armed maritime smuggling rings. Some even fled overseas, colluding with Japanese pirates from various islands to plunder the coast.
Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou first suppressed the Japanese pirates and then requested to lift the ban on sea trade. After the opening of the sea in the Longqing period, the momentum of the Japanese pirates became weaker and weaker.
As Japan's Toyotomi and Tokugawa successively controlled Kyushu and strictly prohibited local samurai from going out to sea to plunder, the Japanese pirates basically disappeared.
The Japanese pirates were certainly related to the maritime ban, but we cannot simply say that the maritime ban caused the Japanese pirates.
The main reason for this is that the rulers of the Song Dynasty inherited the conservative thinking of an agricultural nation that had existed for thousands of years and lacked maritime concepts. The Song Dynasty government was unwilling to regulate maritime order, thus destroying itself and missing opportunities.
Of course, Zhao Huan would not make such a mistake, but he had to correct the stubborn ideas of the old people in the court and tell them to open their eyes to the world. It was not easy to learn from the foreigners and use their skills to defeat them.
The road is long and arduous, but I will search for it up and down.
"Lu Bing, remember the location the old man just pointed out and go check the quality of the Wangping Village coal mine. Don't rush back yet, but get a thorough understanding of the situation in Wangping Village."
"Little Ah Si, let's go back to the palace!"
I just slipped out last night and have to go back this afternoon. I guess Bai Shizhong hasn't even noticed that I left the palace yet. How boring!
The carriage creaked and soon returned to Beijing. Zhao Huan changed into a guard's uniform in his mansion and walked towards the Forbidden City with Xiao A Si.
The journey was uneventful, and after showing His Majesty's token, the two returned to the warm room smoothly.
"Little Ah Si, go to the Hanlin Academy and ask them to find the "Cang Hai Ge Wu Zhi" and the logbook from Zheng He's voyages to the West and send them to the warm room."
Little Ah Si took the order and left.
Zhao Huan changed his clothes and was about to go to Renshou Palace to pay a visit to Empress Dowager Zhang, but he heard a message from outside the warm room that the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Bai Shizhong and the Minister of War Wang Qiong wanted to see His Majesty.
"Xuan!"
"Your Majesty, I, Bai Shizhong (Wang Qiong), greet you."
This was Zhao Huan's first close encounter with Minister of War Wang Qiong. He was about sixty years old, his eyebrows and beard graying, but his face still rosy. He had a booming voice, walked with a vigorous gait, and appeared energetic, with none of the frailty of old age.
"You two nobles, please stand up and sit down to discuss this matter."
Wang Qiong didn't stand up, but instead knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, saying, "Today, the Nanjing garrison reports: 72 Japanese pirates have landed in Kuaiji, attacked eight counties including Hangzhou, Jiangning, and Wuhu, and marched straight towards Nanjing. They've been rampaging for over 80 days, resulting in over 5,000 casualties. The garrison closed the city gates tightly and dared not attack, allowing the pirates to escape without losing a single one."
"Your servant, Wang Qiong, has been entrusted with the position of Minister of War by the late Emperor. However, military discipline has been so corrupted that we dare not and cannot fight, causing the people of the Great Song Dynasty to be slaughtered by Japanese pirates. I cannot face Your Majesty and beg for punishment."
"Minister Wang, please get up first. The ice is three feet thick, and it didn't freeze overnight. The threat of the Japanese pirates is not a temporary weakness."
"The most urgent task is not to find someone to blame, but to find a way to eliminate the nest of thieves. A mere 72 people have turned the Jiangnan region of our Song Dynasty upside down. How will the people of the world view me? How can I explain this to the people of Jiangnan?"
"Does the Ministry of War have any regulations?"
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of War believes that we should urgently dispatch the anti-Japanese guards from Penglai to the south by sea to control the Yangtze River estuary. Then, we should order the officers and soldiers from Wuxi and Hangzhou to march out of the city to encircle and suppress the enemy, attacking from both sides. The Shandong Governor-General Qi Jingtong is highly skilled in martial arts and has strict military discipline, so he is qualified for this important task."
"What do you think, father?"
"Your Majesty, I believe the Ministry of War's measures are mature and steady, and this time they will surely succeed."
Bai Shizhong stood up and spoke slowly.
"Then follow the Ministry of War's advice and draft an imperial edict as soon as possible, dispatching Qi Jingtong to lead the Penglai Japanese guards south to suppress the nest."
"I will forgive the past. I will reward those who are brave and capable of fighting. Those who die in battle will receive ten times the pension, their families will be exempted from corvée service for three years, and the government will provide for their mothers until their death. If there are those who are afraid to fight, let them get out of the army as soon as possible and go home to farm. When the war breaks out, anyone who dares to escape will be executed on the spot."
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