In the winter of the twelfth year of Shaolong, the Sikong Prefecture ordered Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiuzhou, Runzhou, Lianzhou and other places to follow the example of Hangzhou and set up a new Shipping Department in Quanzhou to specialize in maritime trade and other matters, but Ge Boyi was not included in the order.
, the southern Zhejiang area occupied by Ge Yu and others was excluded, and eastern Zhejiang was chartered to establish a pacification envoy department. The Mingzhou Prefectural Government selected a site at Sanjiangkou in the north of Mingzhou City to establish the Mingzhou Shipping Department, opening a port to welcome maritime merchants.
mooring trade.
However, after the escape from Beijing incident, Ge Boyi, Ge Yu, Wei Chujun, Luo Wang and others led their troops to occupy the Liangzhe East Road south of Qianjiang River, focusing on Yuezhou, Mingzhou and other places. In fact, they not only directly requisitioned local people
Several shipyards built warships and developed naval forces. They also secretly used sea ships to load silk and porcelain produced in southern Zhejiang and shipped them to Luzon, Annan and other places for sale to raise funds for the army.
After Liangzhe Road divided the East and West Roads, the Liangzhe East Road mainly covers the southern Zhejiang area south of Qianjiang River. It governs the Ming Dynasty, Yue, Wu, Qutai, Wenyan and eight prefectures. The territory is full of high mountains, narrow and remote areas, and is extremely dangerous.
In addition to the number of acres in Shaopingchuan being far less than that of the northern Zhejiang region north of the Qianjiang River, Shaopingchuan is also frequently hit by storms, often destroying houses and cities. Compared to western Zhejiang and Jiangdong, Shaopingchuan is much poorer.
At this time, Eastern Zhejiang was in a bit of a dilemma trying to support 30,000 elites and more than 20,000 local security troops in the narrow confines of eight states.
If Ge Bo couldn't even support the elite members of his immediate family, how could he maintain a foothold in southern Zhejiang?
However, Hangzhou and Quanzhou previously had municipal shipping offices. As the official ports for Vietnamese merchants to dock and disembark for trade, this was inherited from the beginning of the dynasty; the endless flow of overseas merchant ships were also used to it.
Anchorage in Hangzhou and Quanzhou.
Ge suddenly wanted to engage in ship smuggling in Mingzhou, Wenzhou and other coastal states and counties, but it was not possible to develop it on a large scale for a while. He could only personally organize merchant ships to go to Luzon, Annan and other places for overseas trade.
Now the Sikong Mansion has publicly allowed the Liangzhe East Road to establish a shipping department in Mingzhou to open a port. Not only does the smuggling ships secretly controlled by Ge family no longer have to worry about selling goods overseas, it can also openly invite overseas merchant ships to Mingzhou.
The state's docking trade can encourage merchants in southern Zhejiang to prepare or lease large-scale sea-going ships to transport goods for overseas trade.
Of course, there are also widespread worries within the Liangzhe East Road Establishment of Appeasement Department. They are worried that the Sikong Mansion is so generous and is actually trying to lure the snake out of its hole. The purpose is to concentrate all the water power that Ge Shi has secretly developed over the years in Mingzhou.
One day they can be wiped out in one fell swoop.
In particular, the timing of the Sikong Prefecture's explicit order to allow the Liangzhe East Road to establish a shipping department in Mingzhou was after the victory of annihilating the main force of the East Road rebels and recovering the lost territories of Jingdong East Road, Hebei Road, Yanji, and Hedong Road. No matter how you look at it,
It seems that Xu Huai wants to clear the internal obstacles for the final seizure of power.
After the escape from Beijing incident, the Sikong Mansion did not directly send many elite troops to Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places north of the Qianjiang River at first.
When Wang Fan served as the pacification envoy for the establishment of the Western Zhejiang Province, only the elites from the direct lineage of the two capitals directly under the control of Sikong Mansion were stationed in Hangzhou; at that time, even the old capital Jianye, which was the supervisory office of Jiangnan East Road, only had three to four thousand elites.
Jia soldiers are stationed.
The elite navy stationed in Runzhou, Yangzhou and other places are mainly to prevent the Japanese navy from invading the Yangtze River again. possible.
However, after the great victory in Yingzhou, Xu Huai first transferred Tang Tiande to Hangzhou to assist Wang Fan in strengthening his control over the area on the north bank of the Qianjiang River. Later, he transferred Tang Qing to be deployed in the military and horse headquarters of the West Zhejiang Road to further strengthen military and political control over the northern Zhejiang area.
control.
At this time, Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places still did not directly increase the number of elite troops directly under the Sikong Mansion. However, before and after Tang Qing took over the deployment of troops and horses on the West Zhejiang Road, they had been recruited from the West Zhejiang area to participate in the defensive line garrison rotation over the years.
As well as the recovered generals and military officials, they began to return to the local areas on a large scale.
Under the auspices of Tang Qing, more than 2,000 military officers and generals who returned to the local areas participated in the military deployment department, the military and horse supervision department in prefectures and counties, the county Wei department, and then the extensive inspection and inspection departments.
The military camp was completely restructured, and a local military management system that was different from the past, with a more rigorous system and stronger combat effectiveness was initially formed.
On the one hand, the Sikong Prefecture pursued the enemy in Hedong, Hebei, Guanshan and other places, and continuously achieved key victories against the Chihu people. On the other hand, the Sikong Prefecture increasingly tightened local control over western Zhejiang, Jiangdong, Jingnan and other places.
, Ge Boyi, Wei Chujun, Ge Yu, Luo Wang and other places also felt that the rope around their necks was getting tighter and tighter, but they had no countermeasures - they secretly sent envoys to contact Xi Qin Road and found that the Gao family was also muddy.
The feeling of being trapped.
In mid-March of the thirteenth year of Shaolong, with the unexpected recovery of the Yunshuo area and Zhou He, Gu Fan led the civil and military officials to petition for the canonization of Xu Huai as the King of Yu. The news reached Mingzhou, and a carriage was also riding in the drizzle.
, unexpectedly drove into the Mingzhou government compound where Wei Chujun was appointed as the magistrate.
Chen Songze, who was wearing official robes, limped out of the carriage, raised his hands to Wei Chujun, who was leading Mingzhou officials waiting in the courtyard, and said, "When we were crossing the Qianjiang River, General Tang Qing saw that the wind and waves were a bit strong, so he left Songze on the north bank for half a day.
I’ve been asking Mr. Wei to wait for a long time..."
Although newly established municipal shipping departments in various places are under local jurisdiction, and tax revenues are also integrated into local road departments, the Sikong Prefecture also requires that the municipal shipping departments have the responsibility of assisting the Military Intelligence Staff Department in collecting information on overseas foreign countries, and if necessary, they must also accept the responsibility of the Military Intelligence Staff Department.
The division dispatched military officials to directly station at the Yamen of Shibo Division.
Not to mention that all shipping companies in various cities must follow the standards uniformly formulated by the central government to prevent some places from arbitrarily lowering tax standards in order to compete for maritime merchants and actually damaging the entire empire's customs revenue. Correspondingly, the central government
It has the power to dispatch officials to conduct regular or irregular inspections and supervise the shipping departments, shipping yards, and inquiry departments of various cities.
Wei Chujun served as the magistrate of Mingzhou and also led the city's shipping envoy, and Chen Songze crossed the Qianjiang River to Mingzhou in the name of inspecting the city's shipping affairs. As long as the entire southern Zhejiang was still nominally under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, Wei Chujun could only
I can hold my nose and welcome Chen Songze's arrival.
After hastily discussing official matters and having a dinner in the state government banquet hall, Chen Songze had no intention of taking his entourage to the post house to rest in a hurry. Instead, he motioned to the accompanying officials in other places to leave first. He also had some personal words.
Chat with Wei Chujun privately.
Although Chen Songze is
Dong Cheng's brother-in-law rose to prominence not through his connections with Dong Cheng, but because of his extraordinary ability, he finally gained a place in Sikong Mansion.
When the escape from Beijing incident occurred, Chen Songze rushed to Jianye in advance on behalf of Xu Huai to join forces with Zonglian. Wei Chujun finally persuaded Ge Boyi to make a compromise. At that time, he had more private meetings with Chen Songze than with Wang Fan, Gu Fan, and Qian.
There are many more people like Zerui.
Some people within the Ge family even once criticized him for being too weak in attitude after the escape from Beijing, and for Chen Songze to take advantage of him.
For such a character, how could Wei Chujun dare to abandon everyone and be alone with him?
Even though he is Ge Boyi's eldest son-in-law, and even though Ge Boyi has trusted him a lot over the years, Wei Chujun knows in his heart that if he really does something unscrupulous and suffers Ge Boyi's suspicion, South Zhejiang will not do the same.
His footing.
Regardless of Chen Songze's explicit hints, Wei Chujun still insisted on staying in the state to judge Chen Zongbo, accompanied by Zhou Kui and others who joined the army, and did not want to be alone in the same room with Chen Songze.
After the maid removed the leftovers on the long table and brewed some fragrant tea, Chen Songze sipped the hot tea and said, "Over the years, Ge Guogong has sent fleets to sea several times to Luzon. Annan sells silk tea, paper inkstones."
, Wei Gong also worked hard and secretly went to sea in person. He must have settled somewhere overseas, right?"
Wei Chujun was startled. He gently put down the tea cup in his hand and stared at Chen Songze with slightly raised lids, as if he didn't understand what Chen Songze meant.
"We can't say that Zhejiang's methods are clumsy. In fact, in a place like Zhejiang, money and food are limited, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are waiting for food, so they can't squeeze out much to do other things. It is inevitable that there will be many flaws," Chen Songze said with a smile, "And the contact with Zhejiang is
Those gentry who initially agreed to cooperate were only thinking that Zhejiang could stand up for them, but they had no determination to shed their blood for Zhejiang. Therefore, as the Sikong Mansion army won successive victories in Hedong and Hebei, among them,
Many people took the initiative to stand up and fight for leniency from the Sikong Mansion, selling out Zhejiang West. In fact, we have already investigated the spies that Zhejiang East has in Xiangyang Palace. The reason why we did not alert the snake is also
It’s nothing more than asking Wei Gong and Ge Guogong that you know that the situation is over, and there is no need for us to send people to persuade you! Well, since you have the intention to go to sea, and you also know that His Majesty’s mind has been shaken, you might as well let us open the window and speak frankly, Luzon
Or Annan, which place have you chosen?"
Wei Chujun narrowed his eyes and said calmly
"No matter which place we like, if we give up western Zhejiang one day and find another place overseas, it should be enough. Why do we need to wrong ourselves again?"
Over the past few years, Zhejiang East had of course tried every means to place spies in Xiangyang to monitor the goings-on in the palace, and even successfully bribed several elders in the palace to pass on news, but they did not want everything to be under the surveillance of the Sikong Mansion.
However, since Chen Songze mentioned Emperor Shaolong, Wei Chujun quickly guessed his intention.
After all, Emperor Shaolong insisted on refusing to practice Zen. Even if the Sikong Mansion had various means to force him to abdicate, he could even take a glass of poisonous wine to physically remove Emperor Shaolong and ensure Xu Huai's smooth accession to the throne, but it could not change the fact of "usurpation". Especially in Jianghuai, Jinghu and other places.
As the gentry generally rejected the New Deal, this might create hidden dangers of unrest in the new empire.
Therefore, after successfully recapturing Yunshuo, Zhou He, Gu Fan and others petitioned for the canonization of Xu Huaiyu as King while facing threats and inducements from Emperor Shaolong.
Among them, the most critical condition offered to Emperor Shaolong was the promise that Emperor Shaolong's direct descendants could inherit the vassal state overseas.
Under the current situation, Emperor Shaolong, who has been under house arrest for several years, has indeed moved and even hinted that he can abdicate. However, after issuing an edict to abdicate, he will need to go overseas to join the vassal in person instead of being imprisoned in Xiangyang forever.
At the same time, the Sikong government needs to ensure that he can truly establish a stable and reliable vassal state overseas.
Chen Songze's coming here means that the Sikong Mansion wants to kick Emperor Shaolong's mess onto the Ge family.
However, the problem is that the Ge family can compromise with eastern Zhejiang in exchange for independence and establish vassal states overseas. Why do they want to go to sea for nothing with a bunch of ancestors who will always ride on their heads in name?
Wei Chujun told Chen Songze clearly that it was impossible for them to accept Shaolong's mess.
"Wei Gong, don't be so hasty to refuse," Chen Songze said with a smile, "Recovering Yunshuo is a surprise. I believe Wei Gong will not know the details of recovering Yunshuo. Let Songze tell Wei Gong one by one..."
To be able to unexpectedly recover Yunshuo early, in the final analysis, it means surrendering the Han army and retreating to Yunshuo. Morale has been extremely low. Almost all the middle and lower-level military officials and ordinary soldiers are strongly resistant to continuing to retreat north. On this basis, the resistance
As a result, riots continued one after another, and Xu Zan was finally asked to seize the opportunity at Yanmen Pass.
Chen Songze rambled on and told Wei Chujun the details of Jincheng and other victories, saying, "Your Majesty may not be able to carry it on your shoulders or carry it on your back, but no matter whether Wei Gong and Ge Guogong are interested in Luzon or Annan, without His Majesty in charge, without the full strength of Sikong Mansion
Support, it’s probably not easy to lead tens of thousands of athletes overseas, right?”
Ge Boyi, Ge Yu, Wei Chujun, Luo Wang and others want to lead tens of thousands of troops to establish a foothold in Luzon or Annan. How to maintain the morale of the army is the first problem they have to solve, even more than establishing
Supplies are more difficult.
Chen Songze came here to persuade the Ge family to first serve Zhao Xian, the eldest son of Emperor Shaolong, and go to sea to establish a vassal state. Then, after Emperor Shaolong abdicated, he would welcome Emperor Shaolong to go to sea and become the leader of the country. This process also happened to solve the problem of Ge.
After all, he was nominally going to sea to conquer foreign vassals under the decree of the imperial court, rather than fleeing overseas in embarrassment.
Wei Chujun pondered for a while and moved his wrists, but before he could say anything, Chen Songze said, "Wei Gong can just tell these words to Ge Guogong. Please also ask Ge Guogong not to put forward any conditions that will embarrass everyone. You must know that the Ge family is not the Sikong Mansion."
The only option. Many people in Sikong Mansion even advocate conquering eastern Zhejiang first, and it will be more convenient for the other family to sit down and talk slowly..."
