It’s almost dusk, and Yongning Gate is slowly closing.
At this time, there was a sound of horse hoofbeats, and Gan Ning, who was guarding the city gate, looked from a distance and saw a fast horse galloping over the sand.
He immediately raised his hands and shouted: "Wait a minute!"
Because this is an official horse, and it is the highest level Six Hundred Mile Express.
If you enter Beijing at this time, there must be an urgent military situation.
The guards at the city gate stopped closing the city gate and waited for their horses to arrive at the city gate.
Gan Ning asked loudly: "What do you do?"
Immediately the knight replied: "Jinyiwei, I have something urgent to report to the emperor!"
With that said, he threw his badge over.
Gan Ning checked his waistband and found that he was indeed a Jin Yiwei, so he raised his hand and let him go.
After they quickly entered the city, the guard at the door closed the city gate and said casually: "Boss, if you report such an urgent report, is it because there is another war in the south?"
Gan Ning slapped him impatiently and said, "Don't ask questions you shouldn't!"
At three o'clock in the morning, another member of the Nancheng Army and Horses Department came to take over the handover. Gan Ning went home and changed into casual clothes, and then took advantage of the night to go to a house in the inner city.
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"Uncle!"
Opposite him is Gao Zhu, the cabinet minister.
"It's so late, what's wrong?"
Gan Ning said: "Before closing the city gate today, a group of Jin Yiwei's fast horses entered the city. It seems... there is an urgent military situation in the south."
Gao Hub thought for a while and said, "Don't you have an acquaintance in Jinyiwei? Let's go and find out about him tomorrow."
Jinyiwei's report will not go through the cabinet and the six ministries, but will be submitted directly to the emperor. If the emperor does not take the initiative to talk about the content, even he, the cabinet minister, will not know about it.
Gan Ning asked again: "Why does my uncle have to pay attention to the report from the south? If something big happens, the emperor will definitely go to my uncle to discuss it."
"I won't be able to tell you clearly for a while. In short, you should pay more attention during these days. Whether it is the Ministry of War, Jinyiwei, or Dongchang, as long as it is an emergency, when will it be sent and who will send it, you have to find a way.
Find out clearly! Remember, these things must be done secretly, and no one can discover your intentions. Do you understand?"
Gan Ning nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go first!"
"Wait a minute..."
Gao Hub seemed to have thought of something, so he said: "The Ministry of War will have a doctor's position vacant at the end of the year. I have already said hello to you, and you will take office directly when the time comes."
Gan Ning was overjoyed when he heard this. Baihu was promoted to the sixth rank, and the doctor of the Ministry of War was promoted to the fifth rank, which was equivalent to being directly promoted by two levels.
"Thank you uncle!"
…………
In Qianqing Palace and Zhu Qizhen were getting ready to sleep, Jin Ying came over with a secret memorial.
"Your Majesty, this was just sent by Jinyiwei, saying it is very urgent!"
Zhu Qizhen took the secret letter and opened it under the oil lamp. Suddenly, his body was shocked!
This letter turned out to be from Shi Heng!
It’s been a whole year since I let this guy out, and there is finally some movement today, which at least means he’s not dead yet.
This feeling... is like you sent a message to the goddess: Have you eaten?
Then three days later, the goddess replied and ate it.
Although I don’t know what she has been doing in the past three days, as long as she replies to you, there is still hope!
Zhu Qizhen picked up the letter and read it carefully. The letter detailed Shi Heng's experiences over the past year.
A year ago, more than 300 people headed by Shi Heng were exiled to Qiongzhou. However, when these people passed by Quanzhou, they took advantage of the guards' unpreparedness and escaped collectively.
Of course, the so-called unpreparedness of the guards was all deliberately arranged.
Next, Shi Heng led everyone to escape to the vast sea. By chance, they encountered the three-headed dragon Shen Lang.
Although this Shen Lang is notorious, he is not a Japanese, but an out-and-out Han Chinese.
At that time, this situation was very common. The composition of the Japanese pirates was 70% Han Chinese and 30% Japanese.
When Shen Lang saw that so many people were fugitives wanted by the imperial court, he was overjoyed, because he was not the only one who was engaged in the promising job of Japanese pirates. In any industry, as long as there are too many employees, there will inevitably be a shortage of resources.
Therefore, major Japanese pirate gangs began to fight with each other. The joining of Shi Heng and others played an important role. In just half a year, Shen Lang became the largest Japanese pirate leader at sea.
At the same time, Shi Heng also successfully became his most proud deputy and mastered a large amount of core information. He accidentally discovered that Shen Lang actually had correspondence with many officials from the DPRK and China!
The list of these people is attached to the letter, and there are thirty-nine people in total.
In addition, Shi Heng also discovered that during the recent period, Shen Lang suddenly changed his normal behavior and reached a reconciliation with other Japanese pirates, seeming to be secretly planning a big move.
As for the content of the plan, Shi Heng, as Shen Lang's most proud lieutenant, is not aware of it yet, which shows its seriousness.
However, according to Shi Heng's speculation, if the Japanese pirates make any move, it will be within the last month!
Because the intrusion of Japanese pirates on the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty followed a fixed seasonal pattern.
This seasonality is mainly due to the influence of the monsoon, because the Japanese pirate ships can sail with the wind but not against the wind. When there is a headwind or no wind, they can only lower their sails and row.
Therefore, when Japanese pirates come ashore to plunder, they cannot choose to go ashore in the summer when there are many southerly winds or in the winter when there are many northerly winds. This leaves only the two seasons of March, April, and May, the transition between spring and summer, or September and October, the transition between autumn and winter.
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It's September now. If the Japanese pirates make any big move, it will definitely happen within a month!
Zhu Qizhen took the letter and reorganized the past few days.
The first was the assassination when he returned to Beijing. According to Song Guxi's account, the White Lotus Sect colluded with the Japanese pirates and targeted the 60,000 civilians who were regulating the river in Huai'an Prefecture, preparing to do something big.
This coincides with Shi Heng’s investigation results. This time, the Japanese pirates’ target is not the usual landing and robbery, but the city of Nanjing!
During this period of time, through the overt and covert investigations of Jinyiwei and Jueshengwei, it was discovered that some officials in the DPRK and China were engaged in smuggling activities behind the scenes, and those who engaged in smuggling activities were bound to deal with Japanese pirates.
It can be seen from this that the Japanese pirates must have an eyeliner or a protective umbrella in the court.
He found the list provided by Jin Yiwei and compared them one by one with the list attached by Shi Heng. The results were roughly the same, indicating that this information was also accurate.
Zhu Qizhen was so angry. In Nanjing, Jinyiwei had found out that more than fifty officials, large and small, were either directly or indirectly related to Japanese pirates.
These people are really impatient!
Isn’t it good to be an official in the Ming Dynasty? You have to commit suicide?
He calmed down and continued reading. There was still the last paragraph in the letter.
There are only a few words, and the general meaning is that Shen Lang quietly went to Nanjing recently and seemed to have met some important person.
What is puzzling is that Shen Lang seems to have a very respectful attitude towards this person.
This kind of thing is very rare, because the Japanese pirates have always been fearless. No matter how big the official is, in their eyes, they are just partners. You give me convenience and I will give you benefits. That's it.
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Therefore, Shi Heng thought that the person he met was very important, but he didn't know his identity.