Legend has it that at the entrance of Jiaomen, Guangdong Province, there is a small island floating in the air. The island has beautiful mountains and clear waters, like a fairyland. A divine dragon took a fancy to the scenery of the island and used it as a cave, hence the name Dragon Cave Island. On Longxue Island, the blue sea waves lap at the golden beach. A tall, dark-faced old man, with bare feet, lets the sea water kiss his insteps. The sea water is very warm, and the old man's expression is also very gentle. He is
Reciting a poem: "The river is three thousand miles away, and the letter home contains fifteen lines. There is no other word in every line, only that I will return home soon." I chanted and chanted, and shed tears in a daze.
"Grandpa, why are you crying?" the little granddaughter on the side asked curiously.
"Grandpa didn't cry. Grandpa just let the sea breeze hurt his eyes." The old man quickly wiped away his tears and picked up his granddaughter. "Grandson, look north. That is Grandpa and your hometown!"
"Master, Sun Er came back from Gaozhou. He purchased a lot of things and brought back a piece of paper. Please go back and take a look."
The old man took out his feet, put on his boots, and walked to the Juyi Hall on the island. He walked very fast, like a galloping horse, and his steps were as fast as flying.
"Sun Er, thank you for your hard work! I heard you brought back a piece of paper?"
"Master, this piece of paper is unusual. It was posted at the gate of the county town. I couldn't read, so I secretly opened it when there were so many people reading it. I heard someone said it was an edict from King Jingjiang, who was in charge of the country."
"Huh? Show it to me."
"I heard that the people were born, and a king was appointed to support them. If the owner is unvirtuous and the government is uneven, the people will not be able to live. The people of Zao and Xu are all the people of the Ming Dynasty. How can we bear to leave them in the bitter cold. Now we change Zaoxu to the people.
, Officials in various places are not allowed to disobey. Announce it to the world, and the envoys will hear about it."
The old man looked at it, and his cloudy eyes shone with light, "Zao people are all people of the Ming Dynasty." "Now we change Zao people to people." This, this, this! This is to give us the people of the country with equal citizenship.
Identity! From now on, our children and grandchildren no longer have to stay on the boat all day long, fishing for shrimps, and taking heavy fishing lessons. We, the subordinates, can also go ashore, or we can take the imperial examination and become officials, and we can do whatever we want!
Prince Jingjiang is such a benevolent king! He is a great benefactor to his people!
Now that the restrictions are loosened, can I return to my hometown? The old man thought for a while: "Sun Er, take my letter and invite Mr. Zheng from Dahu Island, Mr. Shi from Xiaohu Island, and Mr. Xu from Shanggangdao to come to Longxue.
"Island Discussion".
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Ma, Zheng, Shi, and Xu are four Dan family bandits that have been rampant in the Guangdong River Estuary for many years. They are the four famous pirates. Along the coast of Guangdong, even children dare not cry when the names of these four pirate leaders are mentioned. But who knows, these so-called pirates
The pirates were actually originally children of the poor Dan family.
Danhu, also known as Shuhu, they live scattered in Guangdong, Fujian and other coastal areas. They have been discriminated against in all dynasties. They are not allowed to live on land and are not listed in household registration. They live on boats and engage in fishing, pearl hunting and other labors, and are counted as Ding.
Pay taxes to the official.
Emperor Taizu Gao was a great hero. After he founded the country, he divided the people into dozens of categories according to the division of labor. Ordinary households were called civilian households, those who served as soldiers were military households, those who cooked salt were called kitchen households, and those who fished were called Dan households. The Xumin people barely managed to establish a household and have a registration. Taizu was born in a poor family, and the fishing lessons he received were not high, so the Xumin people could still survive. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty Hebosi, who managed the Xuhu households, oppressed the Xumin people more and more heavily. , not only the household registration of the people was cancelled, but the fishing lessons also became more and more severe.
The people of Xu could not survive. The weak ones ran away, while the strong ones took risks and became pirates. These pirates actually have multiple identities, they are pirates, sailors, fishermen, and merchants.
The black-faced old man named Ma Xuansheng was the oldest and most prestigious among the four pirate leaders. He invited Zheng Tingqiu, the leader of the Zheng family, Shi Bi, the leader of the Shi family, and Xu Gui, the leader of the Xu family, to the Juyi Hall of Longxue Island to bring Zhu Hengjia's Show "Changing Zaoxu to the People's Edict" to three people.
"I think King Jingjiang of the Supervisory State is a virtuous man. I want to lead three virtuous brothers to join him, okay?"
"This!" The three heads looked at each other.
Ma Xuansheng said angrily: "The four of us used to be poor children of the Xu family, and we became pirates because we couldn't survive. Now that we have such a good opportunity, if we don't go ashore and return to our hometown, what are we waiting for? Why, are you going to become pirates?" Are you addicted and want your children and grandchildren to have the word "thief" on their foreheads?"
"Master Ma, what should I do if the four of us recruit An and the court reneges on our promise? Don't Master Ma remember the incident of Wang Zhi?" (Wang Zhi was a great pirate of the Jiajing Dynasty who was deceived by the court in the name of recruiting An. Wang Zhi's subordinates led the Japanese invaders to invade, which directly caused the Japanese rebellion in Jiajing Dynasty).
"Don't just look at Wang Zhi, why don't you look at Zheng Zhilong? He was made a marquis after being recruited. Isn't he very prosperous?" When Zheng Zhilong was mentioned, the four leaders were filled with hatred. Zheng Zhilong himself was a big pirate, and he not only controlled He moved to Fujian and expanded his power to Guangdong. He only allowed himself to be a pirate and eat meat, but did not allow other young pirates to drink soup. This made it increasingly difficult for the pirates named Ma, Zheng, Shi, and Xu to survive, so they decided to defect to Zhu Hengjia. thoughts.
Ma Xuansheng saw that the three of them were both interested and a little hesitant. He said: "Let's do this. I'll send someone to contact Jin Weixin, the governor of Guangdong in Jingfan, to see what the supervisor's attitude is towards recruiting us. Then we can make plans." ?"
The three of them agreed in unison.
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Ma Xuansheng sent someone to write a letter to Jin Weixin, the governor of Guangdong in Jingfan.
The gist of the letter is as follows: We, who were originally poor children of the Xu family, had to engage in illegal activities in order to survive - becoming pirates, Mazu is the best, this is indeed a last resort! Although we are pirates, we are also pirates in a good way. We only rob wealthy businessmen and do not loot the poor. Now, I heard that His Highness Jian Guo has canceled the status of Xu Min, so that our Xu family can also abandon the ship and land ashore, and become officials in the imperial examination. We We are very moved and are willing to submit to His Highness the Supervisor and become his most loyal subjects. Please accept our submission! We look forward to the court’s recruitment, just like we look forward to the rain on a dry day!
Zhu Hengjia ordered the navies from various regions to eliminate pirates in their jurisdictions and maintain the safety of maritime trade.
