Chongming Island, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, is an alluvial island in the Yangtze River Delta.

The entire island has a flat terrain, fertile land, lush forests, and abundant products. It is a famous land of fish and rice.

At this moment, in a village north of Chongming Island, a large number of Japanese gathered together.

If you just look at the appearance, there is no difference between the Japanese and the Ming people.

In order to conceal their tracks, there are many real Ming Dynasty people on the periphery.

Maybe it's a bit strange, why would the people of the Ming Dynasty work for the Japanese?

In fact, throughout history, the truly grassroots people have never cared about who is the real master of this land of China.

For ordinary people, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and sacrificing one's life for the country are completely different concepts.

Whoever can give people a bite to eat is the boss. This is the true reflection of the current world situation, especially among the people in marginal areas.

They don't have any sense of the overall situation. Plus, there are many ethnic groups in the Ming Dynasty, so naturally they don't have any national concepts.

All they want is a life.

The saying goes, "When a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer." This is the truth.

So there's nothing wrong with working for the Japanese.

A Japanese man dressed in Ming Dynasty brocade clothes gathered all the small commanders in the lobby of the village for a discussion.

"Zhenhaiwei sent us a message saying that they agreed to buy firearms from us."

"But the price will be increased by two levels, and only 300 muskets, 30 matchlock rifles, and 30 small cannons will be provided."

The Japanese man Asai Ryoichi spoke the story in fluent Ming official language.

In fact, at present, for many Japanese nobles, especially those outside Japan, they do not communicate in Japanese, but in Chinese.

However, their spoken Chinese is more like that of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and is somewhat different from the current Ming Dynasty Mandarin.

But the way they speak, including some modal particles and speaking habits, are no different from those of ordinary Han people.

If they didn't say it themselves, even the Han people in the Ming Dynasty would not be able to feel any difference when they saw it.

After all, for a territory as vast as the Ming Dynasty, the dialect varies every ten miles, and it is already very rare to be able to understand it roughly.

Only educated scholars would learn the official language of the Ming Dynasty.

For example, Mongolian, no matter how popular it was during the Yuan Dynasty, was only limited to court officials and had no place among ordinary people.

"This price is too outrageous. Do these Zhenhaiwei soldiers really think our money is from the gods? And this amount is too little."

"It's not even enough to equip 300 people, and that's not even mentioning the purchase price of gunpowder. How can you do business this way? You're clearly trying to bully us, bastard!"

A samurai noble, with a long sword hanging from his waist, said unhappily.

However, his words were not recognized by others present.

Another junior commander said, "Lord Asai, they promised to deliver the goods at a certain time."

"The morale of the Ming army in the country is very strong now. We urgently need to get the firearms and send them back to present to General Ashikaga. Only in this way can we better fight against the Ming army."

"If we can buy some craftsmen who are proficient in gunpowder and firearms, I'm sure the Emperor will reward us."

Asai Ryoichi shook his head and said, "Mr. Aso, it's not that simple. The craftsmen who are proficient in firearms are all controlled by the Ming government. They are not accessible to the Zhenhai Guards."

"It is already very rare for us to be able to purchase firearms from the Zhenhai Guards. I summoned you all here today not to discuss how to get craftsmen, but how to successfully purchase firearms from the Zhenhai Guards."

Hearing this, all the Japanese leaders fell silent.

They were shouldering a special mission, which was given to them by His Majesty the Emperor and the Shogun.

Not only them, but other Japanese merchants in the Ming Dynasty also received such news.

If you can bring back the Ming Dynasty's firearms, you will definitely get a real reward, and it is not impossible to even become a great noble.

However, the Ming court's control over firearms was too strict. There were no scattered firearms circulating in the market, which means that there were no merchants selling firearms.

Firearms craftsmen are all subject to strict restrictions, and their current relationship makes it completely impossible for them to come into contact with them.

"Damn it, the boss of this group of British Chamber of Commerce is actually the grandson of the Ming court. How much money has his Snowflake Salt taken from our country of Japan? I didn't expect that someone of such a noble status would actually do such a thing."

A commander complained.

Because for these Japanese maritime merchants, the one they were most familiar with and had the most contact with was the Qunying Chamber of Commerce.

In their opinion, all the chambers of commerce in the Ming Dynasty have a sense of discrimination towards the Japanese, except for the Qunying Chamber of Commerce, which is particularly enthusiastic.

In addition to the popularity of snowflake salt among Japanese nobles and its high profits, this has led to a very friendly relationship between most Japanese merchants and the Qunying Chamber of Commerce.

Even within Japan, many Japanese merchants cooperated with the Qunying Chamber of Commerce and established branches in Japan.

This sudden reversal really caught these Japanese merchants off guard.

Because there are too many channels, without any precautions before, the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce has had mutual communication since the beginning of the Ming-Japan War.

The Japanese maritime merchants suffered an extremely severe blow, and many of their nests and strongholds were easily discovered and destroyed by the Ming army.

The hundreds of Japanese people in this village today are actually composed of more than a dozen sea merchants.

Every small commander present here used to have his own warriors and sailors.

"Lord Asai, do the Zhenhai Guards want to eat us?"

Ignoring the complaints of the commander next to him, an older commander asked.

Asai Ryoichi said, "We have cooperated with Zhenhaiwei many times. They were trustworthy friends before."

"But now, our country is at war with the Ming Dynasty. They are Ming Dynasty soldiers, and we can't guarantee whether they will have any thoughts about us."

"After all, at this time, in their eyes, we can be spies of Japan, and it is their credit."

"Zhenhaiwei has a strong territory and power in Shanghai, as well as wealth far exceeding ours, so we must be prepared for both."

After hearing what Asai Ryoichi said, all the Japanese leaders nodded.

Seeing this, Asai Ryoichi said, "Our location on Chongming Island has already been known by the Zhenhai Guards, and there is no way to hide it from them, so I suggest that we only leave half of our people behind, and the others leave and hide before the Zhenhai Guards arrive."

"If everything goes well, then there's no need to say more. If something goes wrong, it's better to let others know that Zhenhaiwei is no longer reliable."

As the proposal was agreed upon, all the Japanese leaders began to take action and make arrangements.

Just outside the house, in the corner, a thin Han Chinese citizen had golden eyes and a look of ecstasy on his face.

He was an original resident of this village, but he received the least share of the money given by the Japanese.

When he saw these Japanese rushing in just now, he guessed that something must have happened, and now he has overheard everything.

"I'm going to make a fortune. If I sell this news to the officials in the government, I will definitely get a lot of money."

"I never thought that I, Liu Laosan, would make a fortune one day."

Liu Laosan left stealthily, ran all the way to the beach, got on his small fishing boat, and headed towards the other side of the sea without hesitation.

…

Zhu Ying looked at the information in his hand and felt a headache.

Because of the situation in Zhenhaiwei, he felt it was a bit tricky.

From the perspective of justice, there would be no problem in executing all the Zhenhaiwei for what they did.

After all, it involves the interests of the Ming Dynasty court. It can be said that on another level, it is robbing the court of its wealth.

However, compared with the current situation of other garrisons, Zhenhai Garrison is still relatively good.

At least the gray business they are engaged in does not involve some moral bottom lines such as human trafficking. It can be said that they are using their own advantages to exploit the money of businessmen.

From the perspective of later generations, it is definitely not possible, but in today's fucked up world, as long as there is no money being squeezed from the people, it really isn't a big problem.

"It seems that we cannot take a hard line towards Zhenhaiwei. We can only use a combination of hard and soft tactics."

The Ming Dynasty's reform still has a long way to go. It is obviously very impossible at present to completely change the phenomenon of extortion in the army and to establish complete discipline.

Being able to handle the garrisons surrounding the capital has already reached Zhu Ying's current limit.

Unless all of the two million soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were turned into conscripted soldiers who did not need to farm, this would certainly not be in line with the current national conditions.

Especially now that the Ming Dynasty has just been founded, the vast majority of military generals are unruly and the cultivation of elite qualities is just a beginning.

At this time, Zhang Bo walked in and said, "Boss, there is a citizen from Chongming Island who came to our Chamber of Commerce to report that he discovered the collusion between the Japanese and the Zhenhai Guards."

Zhu Ying's eyes lit up and he said, "Bring the person here quickly."

Soon, Liu Laosan was brought to Zhu Ying.

Liu Laosan had never seen such a scene before. When he entered the inner room, he didn't even dare to raise his head, and immediately knelt on the ground: "I am Liu Laosan, the humble servant, and I pay my respects to the official."

Zhang Bo scolded from the side, "Hurry up and tell me everything you know."

When Liu Laosan heard the scolding, he trembled with fear and tremblingly told everything he had heard two days ago.

Although it was a bit difficult to understand because of his accent, Zhu Ying still understood the general meaning.

It is telling that in recent times, there has been a transaction involving firearms between Zhenhaiwei and Japanese merchants.

Zhang Bo was immediately furious: "What a Zhenhai Guard! I thought they were pretty good today, but I didn't expect them to be so bold as to collude with the Japanese."

"As a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, selling the firearms without authorization is a serious violation of the laws of the Ming Dynasty."

"Boss, it seems we need to gather the soldiers first and arrest all those who are colluding with the Japanese and betraying their country."

It’s not that Zhang Bo has a strong patriotic spirit, but in Zhang Bo’s eyes, the money of the Ming Dynasty is the money of his employer.

Especially the matchlock gun, which is the hard work of the boss.

How could we tolerate that it was sold out so easily by Zhenhaiwei?

Zhu Ying frowned and didn't speak immediately.

But thinking about the possibilities.

Judging from the intelligence about Zhenhaiwei, some of their actions were actually very cautious.

Even if it is just collecting money, it is not too excessive, and it can be regarded as complying with some "rules of the underworld".

The most important thing is that the money transaction involved in what Liu Laosan just said was not a large amount.

Logically speaking, this small amount of money should not be enough to make Zhenhaiwei take such a big risk.

But looking at Liu Laosan kneeling on the ground in front of him, thinking about his own little thoughts, Zhu Ying knew that he was definitely not lying.

If we directly mobilize the soldiers from other surrounding garrisons now, it would be tantamount to confirming the guilt of Zhenhaiwei.

In fact, in Zhu Ying's mind, although Zhenhaiwei had some activities to extort money, in terms of scale and method, it was a more talented approach.

They themselves did not participate directly, but carried out the work indirectly by organizing a Cao Gang.

From the news, we learned that some soldiers who retired from Zhenhaiwei can still continue to make a living from the Cao Gang, which shows that the commander-in-chief of Zhenhaiwei still attaches great importance to brotherhood.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Ying said, "It is enough to secretly mobilize the Black Armor Guards. There is no need to summon other soldiers in a big way."

"Have the Jinyiwei closely monitor the Zhenhaiwei in the next two days. If there is any action, we will follow immediately."

Zhang Bo was a little confused when he heard this, but he still replied, "Okay, Boss."

Seeing this, Zhu Ying smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, there should be a good show waiting for us by then."

Liu Laosan, who was standing below, saw that the officials seemed to have forgotten about him, so he couldn't help but cough.

Zhu Ying would naturally not treat him unfairly: "You have done a good job. I will reward you with thirty strings of treasure notes. Go down and claim your reward."

Liu Laosan kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

…

Two days later,

A large number of soldiers set out from Zhenhaiwei, led by a captain.

The Jinyiwei hiding in the dark saw them and quickly took a rough count.

"My goodness, these people from Zhenhaiwei look so imposing, they look like they are going to war."

"Stop nagging and report the news quickly, or no one will be there soon."

Following the report from the secret agent of the Jinyiwei, the three thousand Xuanjia guards who had been waiting for a long time heard the news and took action. Instead of following behind, they crossed the river directly from the other side and headed towards Chongming Island.

This time Zhu Ying did not leave, but went into battle personally.

This made Zhang Bo, who was standing by, look very anxious.

Although the boss used to often lead the team to travel to dangerous places such as the desert and grassland.

But my identity is different now. How can I take risks easily when I am worth so much?

However, looking at the boss's expression, Zhang Bo could only swallow his words of persuasion.